Page 32 of Unrivaled

Graceful.He came up sputtering. Chlorine stung his eyes as he front-crawled to the ladder.

“You okay?”

Max wiped a hand down his face and blinked up at Grady. Did he look a little green, or was it a trick of the light? “Nothing hurt but my dignity,” he said damply. He swung himself out of the pool, and Grady handed him a towel.

Weird. Max had expected him to fail.

“Can’t hurt what you don’t have.”

That was better. Max dried his face and hair and then wrapped the towel around his shoulders. “Looks like you’re up.”

Maybe it was because he had the advantage of learning from Max’s mistakes, but Grady didn’t have trouble with the benches. Hedidhave an issue with the rings, though, because they’d forgotten to reset the course. Max collected them and handed them up.

To his surprise, Grady didn’t start on the obstacle. Instead he sat on the edge of the platform and cracked his neck.

“What are you doing?”

Grady stretched his arms. “It’s first through the course without falling, right? Time doesn’t count. So there’s no hurry. I’ll take my time to make sure I win.”

For a second, Max didn’t know what to say. “Are you that obsessed with winning, or do you just want my ass that bad?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. It’s definitely about winning.” But his cheeks were pink, and not with exertion. This was a carrot-and-stick scenario.

Maxtsked. “It’s not nice to let your date think you’re not attracted to them, you know,” he said as Grady hooked the first ring.

“Are you”—he hooked the third ring—“actually fishing for compliments right now?”

Of course he crossed the obstacle easily. The guy was superhuman. Max could see his nipples straining against his shirt. Nice.

Grady could probably see his too, now, since his shirt was wet.

“I’m preparing you for a life beyond practice dates. Come on, tell me something you like about me.”

He thought Grady might get distracted and lose his balance on the Shrinking Steps, but no such luck. He made it to the platform and then sat down again.

“Really?” Max said judgmentally.

“I’m concentrating on the question! Wouldn’t want to lose my focus and fall in the water. That would be embarrassing.” He said the last part smugly.

“Don’t strain yourself thinking too hard.”

“Okay, okay. How about, you give good head.”

Max made himself smile, because he knew Grady meant it, because it was expected, and also to cover the sting of hurt. All the texts they’d exchanged in the past couple weeks and that was all he could come up with? “Good effort, also very believable delivery, but how many first dates are you going to be able to say that on?”

With a huff, Grady crossed his arms. “Look, we’ve established that I’m bad at this. You’re supposed to be teaching me. So… teach by example.”

“Oh for—” Max couldn’t believe it. Grady didn’t want to give him a compliment because, what, he was afraid Max would hold it over his head? How insecure could he be? “All right. Grady.” He settled the towel more securely around his shoulders, like it could protect him from Grady’s judgy face. “You’re a good hockey player. I like how controlled you are on the ice, how tough it is to make you lose your cool. I admire that. It makes you challenging to play against, and I like challenges.”

He waited a moment for that to sink in—waited while Grady’s cheeks went a little redder and he dropped his gaze.

Then he added, “Also you have a really nice dick.”

Grady jerked his eyes up again and narrowed them in anger. “If you—”

Max tilted his head. “Feels different, doesn’t it.”

Grady closed his mouth, his lips pursed. Point made. He wouldn’t forget that lesson.

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