Page 67 of Foul Line

My breaths are coming out raspier and raspier the more his fingers play over me. I guess he really did just want to see boobies, but I’m not going to let that stop me from having my fun either. I reach out, bridging the distance between us through the water until I clasp his dick in my hand. He stills, then lets out a groan that echoes far and wide with the help of the water. I run my thumb over his tip until he’s sucking his lower lip through his teeth. “Not fair, Dale.”

“Completely fair,” I exhale.

“I really just wanted to go skinny dipping and yet here you are violating me.”

I work on him harder. He throws his head back, but his jaw locks tight, keeping whatever sound that was begging to come out at bay. One hand leaves my breast and drops to my ass. He pulls me up his thigh until I’m straddling his hip. My breasts just peek out of the water. He takes in their roundness and kisses me softly. “Fuck, Sloan.”

I maneuver to the front of him, so I can grab him again. I stroke him as he takes my nipple into his mouth, thrashing it with his tongue until I’m squirming over him, looking for a relief. He gives it to me happily. After locking me down with one arm, he spreads my knees and then follows my inner thigh until his finger pushes inside. I cry out, then bite down on my lip. I don’t want to call attention to ourselves, especially now that I’m arching my back to give him better access to my breasts.

“Fuck me, Tessa,” he says. He’s not asking for it, he’s only voicing his approval of our hidden touches right under everyone’s nose. He pulls one finger out, then pushes two inside. I gasp at the feeling, having to steady myself on him with one hand. “So fucking tight,” he grits out.

We stroke one another in unison. With his mouth, he drops kisses to the curve of my breast and my cleavage, groaning when we reach a crescendo of touch. I know I’m so close to slamming head on into a rush of euphoria and I don’t think he’s that far behind me.

“Hold on,” he says.

My free hand digs into his back as he pulls his other around. While he’s still moving his fingers inside me, he uses his other hand to swirl around my nub. “Oh, Sloan,” I cry out.

He pitches his hips forward, and then it’s a mad frenzy until both of us release our contentment to the wind. For a brief moment, I wonder how far our moments of ecstasy traveled, but then Sloan is pulling me close, dropping a kiss to my lips as he holds me to him. My legs automatically tighten around his hips and we just stand there and hold one another.

I’d tell him I really like his idea of skinny dipping, but I have a feeling he already knows.

32

It turns out there’s a video of Sloan’s dad going into a hotel room with his now former secretary. Sloan assures me that his father’s team will hush it up, so it won’t impact his senatorial career, however it’s probably World War Three in his house right now. When things like this get out, the offended party makes the whole house miserable—in this case, his mom. Even though he knows his mom just got back from a weekend trip with one of her many boyfriends.

Honestly, all of it sounds terrible. I know my parents are separating, but at least it’s not like Sloan’s parents, where image is everything and nothing else matters. For me, I’d rather be with someone who cares about me for me, not because of some job I hold or how good I look on their arm. It brings me back to Mrs. Ivy dismissing me from their house the one and only time I ate dinner there and how no one asked me how basketball was going for me. Sloan’s mother doesn’t like me, that much I can tell. I’m sure she doesn’t like the fact that I play basketball, that I wear shorts instead of dresses, that I sweat instead of glow, or that I get up and move when I really should be sitting with perfect posture with my legs crossed at the ankles.

So not me. It’s so unlike me that the image of me doing that makes me laugh.

Tension’s high at camp as the next week passes. On Friday evening, the coaches reveal that I’ve taken the number one spot in the shooting guard MVP ranking. A thrill shoots through me. I have to bite my lip to keep from celebrating. Hayes squeezes my shoulders. Alec and Sloan smile my way. Ryan nods at me, but I can tell most of them are torn. If I’m number one right now, that means Lake is number two. River has always been number three. He’s good, and he’ll be amazing when he grows a little more, but this is really just a two-person race for the top spot.

Everyone files out to go to dinner, but I stay behind. I sneak a picture of the rankings and send it to my mom and Dawn. My mom, of course, has no clue what’s at stake, but she’s rooting for me anyway. Even if I win, I’ll have to talk her out of sending me to Springs, but Dad will be on my side. Dawn, however, knows everything. She sends me a bunch of cartwheel emojis and a few middle fingers I’m guessing are directed toward Lake.

My sentiments exactly.

“You earned it,” Jacquin says.

I startle. I hadn’t realized anyone else was still in the room with me. “Thanks,” I tell him. I shift from foot to foot, watching as he walks up to the corrugated board they’ve put all our rankings on. I watch as he runs a finger under the piece of paper with my name on it. “I hope I can keep it that way.”

“I want the best person to win.” He swings his gaze my way with a playful smirk. “But I’m pulling for you.”

My jaw hardens. I hate situations like these because it’s so easy for someone to think I’m getting things handed to me. “I want the best person to win, too.”

He cocks his head. “I know, Tessa. You don’t have to go on the offensive. Not with me. Lake needs to realize that hard work gets people things. It’s not always pure talent, not that you both don’t have plenty of that.”

“Is that why you orchestrated this whole thing? To teach Lake a lesson?”

He bites his bottom lip and smiles. “No. Nothing like that.” He stops in front of me. “I hate to see anyone who deserves to be on top taken down by jealous, ignorant haters. Our world has too much of that.”

His voice is soft, dropping several notches in the span of a few seconds. It makes me think he’s had to deal with things like this. Maybe this is a him ‘paying it forward’ type of deal. “I should say thank you for doing this.”

“Don’t thank me until you beat him out for the spot on your own merit, then you can finally flourish at Rockport instead of getting stuck on the sidelines.”

He keeps moving closer to me. I shift back on my feet. My dad’s words are penetrating my brain. He thinks Jacquin likes me. I hope he doesn’t. I’m already juggling the guys I want right now.

The tips of his shoes touch the tips of mine. He reaches up to run a hand down the flyaways that have escaped my ponytail. I slip out of his grasp. He frowns. “You remind me of my girlfriend.”

Oh shit. No, no, no.

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