Page 20 of Ruck Me Harder

He laughs. “In all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you this sprung on a woman before. You want more than just a night with her.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I try not to crawl into a hole and die. “I mean, have you seen her?”

She’s basically every fantasy come to life. Tall, nearly as tall as me, with wide shoulders and strong thighs that felt incredible wrapped around my waist. She’s got curves to go with her muscles. Her body is amazing. Her as a person? I like her. I want to know more.

We don’t talk about feelings, me and the guys. We have a very surface level relationship. I’ve met Brody’s girlfriend, she came to championships last year, but I never hang out with Tommy or Dylan outside of the gym.

“So it’s just physical, then,” Tommy says slowly.

“Yeah,” I lie. “Just physical.”

Vivienne means something to me. Our night together, the night before I brought home the bronze medal at the Olympics, it meant something. We had a connection.

After my events were over, I looked for her, but she was in the semi-finals for her medal, so I kept to myself. I promised myself I would approach her at the Closing Ceremony, but I never got the chance. Too many people were there. She was never alone.

I sent her a few messages on Instagram. She never answered. I’m guessing she was inundated with messages following the Games; I know I was, and I have nowhere near her star power. I didn’t have a way to contact her directly. What, was I supposed to call up the national rugby federation and ask for her contact info? She would have thought I was the world’s biggest stalker.

Looking back… I do regret the way I left things though. Sneaking out after she fell asleep was a dick move. I can see that now in a way I couldn’t have in the heat of the moment three years ago.

Chancing a glance in her direction again, she’s talking to her friends, absently twirling a lock of hair around her finger. I never took her as a hair twirling type. I’m filled with the sudden desire to find out what else I don’t know about her.

Brody chugs the rest of his beer. “Oh, look, my glass is empty,” he says loudly. “I need another. You?”

It’s been two point seven seconds since I gave him his drink. I glare at him. “What are you doing?”

He kicks back his barstool and ambles over to the bar. In short order, he’s served another beer, plus a short glass of a clear liquid with a lime wedge.

Brody doesn’t make his way back to our table though. He cuts his way through the crowd to Vivienne’s table.

Shit.

Hopping off my stool, I rush over to intercept him as he’s offering the short glass toward her.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Vivienne is saying.

“Come on, it’s just a drink,” Brody wheedles. “He—” He looks up at me. “What are you doing?”

“Stopping you before you end up wearing that drink,” I snap. Turning to her, I offer a chagrined smile. “Sorry about him. He has no sense of self-preservation.”

“Nor do you,” Vivienne counters with a smirk.

Brody tries to push the drink toward her again.

“Dude, no woman is going to take a drink from a man she doesn’t know,” I point out. “That’s basic safety 101.”

Surprise flutters over Viv’s face. I wonder why she’s surprised.

“Besides, I’m sober,” she says again.

“We can fix that,” Brody says with a grin.

She shakes her head. “No, I’m sober. As in, I don’t drink.”

It’s my turn to be surprised. The night we met, she was drinking rum and Cokes. I still remember the hint of spice on her breath when I kissed her in the elevator, the way she clung to me as the metal cage rose to the twelfth floor where she was staying.

I remember that night far too well for a random hookup three and a half years ago. I guess that’s because she’s not just a random hookup to me.

She’s my gold medal. Sure, I may have only brought home a physical bronze medal. But that night with her? It meant everything.