Page 30 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10

Thursday

Alina

This is it. I bounced the ball in front of me and took a deep breath. Just me and the ball. I tossed the ball up and made perfect contact with my hand. My serve sailed over the net.

The libero from Italy's team dove for the ball and hit it short to the setter. The setter ran toward it and bumped it toward the net.

I ran back onto the court, ready to dig the inside hitter's spike. But the hitter spiked it right into the net.

Oh my God.

"Ahhhh!" Kristen yelled and threw her arms around me. Soon my whole team surrounded me. The crowd chanted "USA, USA, USA!"

"We're going to the finals!" Coach Hammond yelled.

We had just secured at least a silver. We formed a circle around Coach Hammond, our arms interlaced. Half the girls were crying. I looked toward the stands. Bryce was folding up his sign. I just wanted to kiss him.

"Brazil plays the Dominican Republic in a few hours.

So we'll know who we're up against by tonight.

Tomorrow we'll watch all the footage of whoever wins that game.

We're not taking any chances. We're going for gold here, ladies.

No parties. No celebrating. Get a good night sleep tonight and drink a lot of water.

Practice starts at 9 a.m. sharp tomorrow. "

We all put our hands into the middle of the circle and yelled, "USA!"

As soon as we disbanded, I searched for where Bryce had gone. I found him standing by the exit with Tim. I ran over to him and threw my arms around his neck.

He laughed and lifted me off the ground, spinning me in the air before placing a kiss against my lips. Just when I was thinking how nice it would be if he pushed my back against the wall, he pulled back.

"Congratulations, Alina. You were amazing."

"One more game."

Bryce raised his eyebrow. "One more game till what? Gold?"

I bit my lip and shook my head back and forth. "I mean, yes, but..."

He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Of course I know what you're talking about. I actually can't stop thinking about it. One more game."

I was glad the same thing was on his mind.

"Okay, wrap it up," Tim said. "We have to get going. People will be arriving to the tryouts in half an hour."

"I can't wait. This is going to be so much fun," Kristen said.

"Congrats on the win, gorgeous." Tim kissed her cheek and put his arm around her shoulders.

Whoa, when did that happen?

"Maybe you're the ones that need to wrap it up," Bryce said.

Tim laughed. "Unlike you two, we're extremely good at multitasking. Isn't that right?" He winked at Kristen and she immediately blushed.

How did I not know what was going on right now?

"Chop, chop!" Tim said. "We need to go scrutinize some sexy male dancers."

I was seriously concerned about Kristen's mental state.

***

"Wow," said Bryce. "Come look at this."

I walked over to the door and peered out into the hallway. The hallway was filled with guys auditioning to be backup dancers.

"Holy shit," I said. "I thought we'd be lucky to get five guys. This is insane."

"Where's my first dancer?" called Tim from behind the judging table we had set up on the far wall of the dance studio.

"Sorry, I'm calling him," said Bryce. He called in the first guy and then we both took a seat at the judging table.

Tim opened a binder and clicked a pen open. "Name?"

"Artie Williams."

"Thank you, Artie," said Tim. "Just a few questions and then I'll want you to perform a few moves. Let's see...okay, what experience do you have with dance?"

"No formal training, but my hips don't lie."

"You think this is a joke? Get the hell out." Tim pointed at the door.

"For real?" Artie looked shocked.

"Next."

"Can't I show you some moves?"

"Not interested. Next."

"Fuck you, man," muttered Artie as he left the dance studio.

"That was kind of harsh," said Kristen.

"Not really. I only want dancers who will take this as seriously as I do. Let's hope the next one is better."

Bryce brought the next dancer in, a guy named Lucas. Tim greeted him in the same way he had with Artie, starting with a question about his experience.

"I've been practicing ballet since grade school," said Lucas. "My friends made fun of me, but it really helped me take my game to the next level."

Tim scribbled down some notes. "Good, good. Have you ever performed competitively?"

"A few times."

"How do you feel about being nude on stage?"

What? "What does that have to do with anything?" I whispered.

"Just trying to keep him on his feet. Part of dance is being able to improvise. The stage can be a dangerous mistress for an inflexible performer."

"I've never had to be nude for ballet, but I'm willing to do whatever the performance requires of me," said Lucas.

Tim nodded approvingly. "What are your thoughts on devil's threesomes?"

Oh my God. He's just trying to get a third for him and Kristen.

I started to tune out Tim's super inappropriate questions and Lucas's answers.

Instead I started to think about all the places in the dance studio where Bryce and I could have sex.

Definitely pressed up against the mirrors.

Maybe he could do me from behind with my hands against the stack of workout mats.

The ballet barre would give us some great angles to explore.

The possibilities with that were pretty endless. ..

"Have you practiced the dance piece from the website?" Tim asked, drawing me out of my fantasies.

I was slowly losing my mind. All I could think about was sex.

"Yes."

"Then let's see what you've got." Tim hit play on his phone and a Spanish sounding song started playing.

I didn't know what the dance was supposed to look like, but from what I could tell, Lucas did awesome.

All of his movements were crisp and on beat.

Is this the actual dance? There were more hip thrusts than would generally be appropriate, but I guess it was a strip dance.

And maybe I was just imagining it because I was so freaking horny.

Tim hit stop on his phone. "Great, thank you, Lucas. I'll email you later tonight to tell you if you made it or not."

"Thank you for the opportunity." Lucas turned and left the room.

When the door was closed, Tim turned to us. "So what'd you guys think?"

"I thought he did great," I said.

"Yeah, he seemed good," agreed Bryce.

Tim nodded. "I agree. My only concern were his looks. I thought he looked a little weird."

"I thought he was cute," said Kristen.

"Alright then, I guess that's a yes for him. Kristen has a great eye for the attractiveness of male features. Let's get the next..."

The door opening interrupted Tim. A woman with a measuring tape around her neck walked into the studio.

"Can I help you?" asked Tim.

"Hi, I'm Annie. I'm the stylist."

"Ah, excellent. Is what I sketched out going to work?"

"Yes, I think so. I just need to measure the girls and then I'll be able to get to work. It's going to be a rush, but I can make it happen."

"Great. Girls, will you please go with Annie to get measured?"

I kind of wanted to sit here and keep daydreaming. There was no point in me getting measured. There wouldn't be a tiebreaker. And if there was, Kristen would do it. "Sure," I said instead and followed Kristen and Annie into an adjacent room.

"Strip down to your panties and bras," Annie said as soon as the door was closed.

I glanced at Kristen. But she didn't hesitate at all. She pulled off her jersey and slid off her spandex shorts. Okay. I stripped down to my underwear and sports bra too.

Annie was a master with a measuring tape.

She expertly wrapped it around us, writing down measurements in her notebook.

I was a little suspicious of some of the measurements.

Like the one that ended an inch under my ass.

And the one that just ran from right under my breasts to right above my underwear line.

Whatever outfit Tim had sketched must have been as miniscule as possible.

But it was a strip dance. The outfits had to be sexy.

"I hope you girls like sparkles," Annie said as she wrote down a few more things in her notebook.

Kristen laughed. "Perfect, that's what I requested. Tim is really doing a good job, don't you think?"

"Yeah," I said.

"I'll be right back," Annie said. "I'm going to go grab a few fabric options."

As soon as Annie left, I turned to Kristen. "About Tim...what's going on between you two?"

Kristen shrugged. "What do you mean? He's such a gentleman, don't you think?"

"Mhm. But did something happen between you two?"

Kristen laughed. "Of course. He won a silver medal yesterday. I had to congratulate him."

"What does that mean?"

She raised her eyebrow. "I gave him a hand job during the movie."

"Kristen!"

"What? It doesn't violate our sex ban. I just pleased him. I'm still horny as hell. And don't pretend that you and Bryce weren't fooling around under the sheets."

I wish. "Nothing happened. We're waiting until Saturday night."

"Ugh, Saturday night can't come soon enough. Tim's penis is huge."

"Oh my God."

"What? I'm so horny. If I don't have sex with Tim I'm going to hop on whatever stranger I see right after our game. At least Tim is a gentleman. And sexy. He's so freaking sexy."

I laughed. "But aren't you worried that he's gay?"

"What are you talking about? All he does is flirt with me."

"Right." Does she not hear the same things I hear?

Kristen laughed. "You're so ridiculous. Your gaydar is officially broken. Tim is definitely straight. Trust me."

"Yeah, I guess so." But probably not.

Annie walked back in holding a few swatches with varying degrees of sparkle. Kristen picked out the shiniest one. If it did come down to a tiebreaker, everyone's eyes were definitely going to be glued to Kristen.

We both walked back out into the dance studio.

The guy dancing had his shirt off and was doing the weird thrusting moves that Lucas had done.

"Brilliant!" Tim shouted. He stood up and started clapping. "We'll be in touch. But between you and me, you're a shoo-in."

The guy shook Tim's hand and then left the room.

"Having fun, guys?" I asked and sat back down next to Bryce.

"Tim is having the time of his life."

"I'm passionate about everything I do." He glanced over at Kristen.

I guess he'd be doing her on Saturday night. So weird.

"I truly am enjoying this, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bummed that Python hasn't shown up yet," Tim said. "I was hoping to lure him out of hiding."

"Um...what now?" I asked.

"You do not want to know," Bryce said and put his hand on my thigh.

All of my attention was now drawn to his hand.

"Well you have to tell us now," Kristen said. "You can't just throw that out there and not tell us."

"He's magnificent. He has skin the color of creamy milk chocolate and a penis the size of a baseball bat."

"Oh God," Bryce said. "Please stop talking."

"No, this is great. Now they can join our mission to find him."

"You're a part of this mission?" I asked Bryce.

"Kill me," he whispered.

I laughed.

"He sounds like a great third," Kristen said with a laugh.

"My kinky woman," Tim said and kissed her cheek.

Kristen's phone started buzzing in her bag. She pulled it out. "Shit." She looked at me.

I knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

"Brazil beat the Dominican Republic," she said.

I thought I'd be upset. But I wasn't. I wanted to play against Brazil for the gold. I wanted to beat Gabriela Santos once and for all. "It's okay. We're going to crush them."

Kristen smiled. "That's my girl."

Bryce put his arm around my shoulders. "You're definitely going to crush her."

I was glad he'd be cheering me on instead of making out with Gabriela.

God. I hated that Chris had just popped into my head.

Stupid asshole. He'd be making out with a loser after Saturday night.

Because despite what he had said, Gabriela Santos was not better than me at anything.

Well, maybe strip dancing. But that's just because she was a whore.

Tim called in the next dancer and I let my mind wander back to all the things I wished I was doing with Bryce. Which first involved him slowly tracing his hand up my thigh. Yup, I was officially a sex addict.