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My knee was bouncingagainst the chair, the commotion out in the pool area making it hard to sit in this office and go over forms, scheduling, and expectations.
James Russell, the athletic trainer for Elite, chuckled, bringing up my head and halting my knee midbounce.
“Sometimes I wonder if these second swims of theirs is just a chance to goof off at the pool.”
“They’ve helped my brother improve his time,” I said pragmatically. Well, I hoped it sounded pragmatic. Really, it was just me being a big brother and protecting Wes and his loud friends.
“His time has been getting better.” He agreed, taking a stack of the forms I’d filled out to set them aside. Nudging another sheet—the one with my schedule on it—toward me, he said, “I think that’s everything.”
“If we aren’t finished, I don’t mind staying,” I said, tucking away the schedule.
“We’re finished. I’ll see you bright and early in the morning.”
I bit back the groan building in my throat and stood. “Yes, sir. Thank you for the chance to complete my clinical hours.”
“Sinclair.”
I turned.
“You earned this spot. Keep up the good work.”
“Yes, sir,” I repeated.
Laughing under his breath, he made a shooing motion with his hands. “Get out of here. Go make sure they aren’t hurting themselves.” The fondness in his tone implied he didn’t believe they were actually hurting themselves.
They were loud, though. Okay, mostly, the loud came from Jamie and Kruger, but still.
After a full day of classes and meetings, I was ready for some fun. The thought immediately conjured up the image of a pale-blond, blue-eyed angel.
I was never one to deny my urges… until he started to fill my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. He was always there, his alluring image imprinted on the backs of my eyelids, reminding me what I’d left behind. It seemed the more I tried to forget, the more he frequented my thoughts.
Just stop,I demanded.
This is why you shouldn’t deny your urges. It makes him more appealing. Just have the thought, acknowledge him, and move on.
I blinked at the rational thought.Yoda? Is that you?I questioned the voice that really liked to speak up at random and unwelcome times.
He didn’t reply. Kinda rude, but okay.
It didn’t matter how many times I stepped into the massive area surrounding the pool. I was always surprised by the lack of humidity. I always equated indoor pools to balmy, humid spaces that reeked of chlorine and pool water.
It wasn’t like that, though. Not many training pools were. The water was kept too cold because the low temperature supposedly helped them swim faster. Without the heated water, the air wasn’t that balmy. Being that it was late January and the outside temps were frigid, it seemed even cooler in here.
Yet there they all were, rocking tiny black banana hammocks with the rest of their skin exposed. My eyes skimmed over a few of the bodies, appreciating the male form. What? These guys were honed and ripped with muscle. I could appreciate the view.
Except I didn’t check out my little brother. Or his friends. That’s just wrong.
Okay, fine. Maybe I peeked at Jamie’s broad-ass shoulders. Don’t let a bro know, though. Our secret, ‘kay?
Even though there was plenty of man candy on display, my eyes kept roaming, looking for something else. No, not something. Someone. Even though I knew he wasn’t here, I couldn’t stop scanning for that pale skin, the muscles I knew not just by sight but intimately by touch. Wes had swam nearly our whole lives. I’d been to hundreds of meets and sat poolside at practices more than I could count.
But it wasn’t Wes I associated with swimming anymore.
One semester abroad. A few months withhim.And I was somehow reprogrammed to only think of him when I got near a pool.
“Bro!”
A wide grin broke over my face as I looked up, grateful for the distraction. “Bro!” I called back.
