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“You’ll see.” She waggled her eyebrows, and I groaned. Who knew what was up her sleeve? The possibilities ranged from mundane to ridiculous to obnoxious with this one.
Neil.It was Neil who was up her sleeve.
A half-naked, dripping wet and pushing himself out of the water, Neil.
It was pure stupidity that I hadn’t made it to one of his swim meets yet. (In my defense, I’d been too caught up in ignoring my feelings at the beginning of all this, and then there was the whole truck fiasco, and then the misery that followed, and then the making up, of course.) But here I was now, all thanks to Syd.
Reasons why I loved her, people.Reasons. Why. I.Loved.Her.
“Oh my god.” I stumbled over the bleacher, righted myself, and sat down, huffing out a dramatic breath.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she whispered with wide eyes. I mean, I was sure they would’ve been wide had I actually been looking at her. Theysoundedwide. Or something.
Whatever.
Neil was currently taking place on his mark. He raised his hands above his head, the muscles in his back contracting, and a horn blared just before he dove into the water. I turned to Sydney. “I can’t—I’m just—I think—Fuck—What?” Swim shorts were way tighter than I’d expected them to be. That was for sure.
Her head fell back in laughter. “Oh my god,” she said between cackles. She took my chin in her hand and looked me over. “I think hot, half-naked Neil broke you.”
“Yeah, definitely,” I said, dead serious, and it only made her laugh harder.
To say the next two hours of Neil’s swim meet were eventful would be a massive understatement. I had a front row seat to every reason why he had a six-pack and muscled, toned arms and legs. In a short word: he put inwork.Swimming was a lot more strenuous than I would’ve thought—you know, when you were in a competition to kick everyone else’s asses. Because that’s exactly what Neil was doing. He was the fastest on his team. Which made me ridiculously giddy for whatever reason.
Me, giddy.
Only Neil.I smirked as he blew through the water for his last race, annihilating his opponents.
“Hell yeah!” I screamed, much to Syd’s amusement. She cackled beside me, obnoxiously loud. But she had just been chanting Neil’s name like a crazy person five seconds ago, so we were equally matched in ridiculousness.
Neil won the race, or match, or heat, or whatever it was called, and I jumped up with Sydney; we made an embarrassment of ourselves. It wasn’t like we gave a shit, though.
“Eagle!” one of his teammates shouted, clapping him on the back when he strode out of the pool for the fourth time today. (I wasn’t going to lie, it was my favorite part. Muscles tensing—all dripping wet—and those swim shorts. Had I mentioned that they were tight? Like,tight,tight?Ahem.)
The rowdiness of his teammates pulled me out of tunnel vision mode. They were all hyped, all smiles and laughter. I would be too if I’d demolished the competition like they had.
I watched Neil as he responded with the same excited energy, his eyes lit with pride and satisfaction.
When he eventually turned and scanned the crowd, his gaze quickly finding mine, the butterflies in my stomach went crazy. His smirk, the amusement in his eyes, his Adam’s apple sliding up and down his throat, all thoserippleson that damn stomach of his…
I swallowed, all virtuous thoughts fleeing my brain. (If I was being honest, there weren’t that many lingering in there to begin with.) I pulled my shit together just in time to realize he was headed our way. Long, careful strides closing the distance between us.
“I didn’t expect to see you here, not that I’m complaining,” he said as he stopped in front of us.
“You can thank Sydney for that,” I responded. “I know I will be.” I cleared my throat to cover up my snort of laughter. “So, that was, um… strangely enticing.”
Neil threw his head back in a deep laugh.
I wanted to kiss the column of his throat, lick it in front of everyone here—both things I was sure he would like but wouldn’t be cool with in front of an audience. What waswrongwith me?
Nothing, nothing at all.
“Ithoughtyou were showing off, bro,” one of his teammates said, stepping up beside him. “But now I know why.” His gaze met mine. “Nice to finally meet you, Olivia.”
“We have English together, Matt,” I deadpanned. He sat right in front of me, and we’d been paired up more than a few times on random assignments.
He laughed. “You’re officially Eagle’s girl now, though, right? It’s different.”
I raised my brows and directed my gaze at Neil. A tinge of pink rose up his cheeks before quickly fading away. He shrugged, not saying a word, obviously leaving the answer in my hands.