Page 39 of On Merit Alone

Still I felt utterly naked as Ira’s eyes ate up the sight of my legs, trailing up the length of them with a fire in his gaze. When he saw that I caught him staring, he just swallowed and asked again, “Are you dating, Six? ”

“You already asked.”

“No, I asked if you had a boyfriend. But now, before we get any further, I want to know if other men are seeing you like this,” he said, eyes sweeping over my bare legs before they snapped back up to mine. “Talking to you like this.”

I cleared my throat yet my voice still came out funny. “And if I am?”

“I’d ask you to stop,” he answered, so matter of factly, it couldn't be mistaken for anything but the truth.

My entire chest seized with something that felt like a rocket launching into space. “And if I’m not?”

“Well then…” he paused as if he was just thinking about this for the first time. Then he shrugged like it didn’t bother him one bit. “I’ve pretty much shown my hand.”

I turned away from him quickly, lest he see the look of utter embarrassment on my face. Ducking my chin, I mumbled out a quick, “No, I’m not dating. I don’t see anyone but you.”

The low breath of relief he let out just made me cower in more embarrassment. “Ball.”

He passed me the ball and I made another shot. Lefty again, since it seemed to have worked. Only he made his shot after mine, so he didn’t have to lose his pants.

I crossed my arms. “Do I still get to ask a question?”

His teeth gleamed as he smiled. “Only because you’re cute when you pout.”

“Why Denver?” I asked.

“My family’s from here,” he said like it answered everything.

“Yeah, but there are better teams you could be playing for, no question,” I said. “Not that the Defenders haven’t gotten better. But you’ve had to work up to it for so long.”

He shrugged, the question causing zero strain whatsoever. “When I look at my life, I want to see more than just basketball. Yeah, I want to play for a great team. But I also want a great relationship with my family. They mean the most, you know?”

I swallowed hard, my throat sticking. “Yeah. I get that. More than you know.”

Ira took the next shot. When I stepped to the line to shoot, he asked, “What about you? What else is there for your life? Other than basketball?”

This time, no matter how many times I dribbled, I knew I wouldn’t make the shot. My arms felt wobbly even as I lifted them to try. The ball died in the air and I watched the ground for a long time as I made myself answer. “There’s nothing else for me.”

“C’mon, you don’t?—”

“I mean it, Ira. There’s not.” I looked up to pin him with a serious gaze. “And I don’t want to talk about it any further than that, okay?”

“Okay.” He took a moment to read my face. “How about we ditch the questions?”

This brought a smile to my face. “We could keep the questions and ditch the strip tease.”

His smile mirrored mine. “Not a chance. Now are you losing the shirt, or do I have to take it off for you?”

I shook my head as I moved to work down my compression shorts. Holding them up, I dangled them on a finger. “I’m not losing the shirt yet, King. I always layer up.”

His breath left him in a slow stream, his mouth pulling at the sides. “Do you have anything else on under there?”

I shrugged. “Bra and panties.”

He nodded, but I saw the way he looked away quickly. His throat bobbing in a harsh swallow. “Okay. Shoot it.”

I did, and behind me, Ira missed an objectively easy shot for him that put him in nothing but the tightest little black boxers I’d ever seen.

His thigh muscles strained the fabric as they stretched them out.

I pointedly ignored the area of his crotch, though I’d caught a glimpse of the sizable bulge there.

If I wasn’t mistaken, it looked to be straining too.

I raised my eyebrow at his missed shot. He coughed. “I was distracted.”

I shrugged. “Fine by me. You’re the one who’s going to end up naked.”

He just shook his head, then proceeded to make his way past half court all the way to the opposite free throw line.

I balked. “If you miss that you automatically lose.”

“Alright,” he said. “But if I make it I get another turn.”

“Fine,” I said. “But I will make you streak this amphitheater. Mark my words.”

He laughed.

“Damn, Six,” he said as he dribbled his trademark one time before lining his shot up and focusing in.

Going up, he shot the ball. Then he turned to me, not even bothering to look as it soared through the air, to the basket, and…

And the son of a bitch went in. His smile told me that my face was shocked.

The smug ass just shrugged, saying, “Good thing I knew I’d make it. ”

I winced, feeling the dread of my own defeat as I trudged to pick up the ball. Taking my spot exactly where Ira had, I would never admit defeat before trying—but we both knew that I’d lost. I can’t believe he’d brought out that shot just to get me naked.

Going for it, my shot didn’t even come close. I rolled my eyes as I turned to him in horror.

“Go on then,” I said.

“What?” His eyebrows pinched, confusion marking his features.

“Take it off me,” I said. I held my arms up, my long T-shirt riding just a little more up my legs.

His eyes trained on the motion for a second and he gravitated a step forward. But then shaking his head he halted. “Wait, wait. What’s the catch? ”

“ You can take my shirt off me, and we stop the game there,” I said.

“I thought you weren’t shy,” he said.

“I’m not,” I bit out, but I sucked a lip into my mouth, dropping his eyes. “I just don’t know if we should.”

Peeking back up at him, I watched as Ira gestured down to himself with his eyes before pinning me with a look. “My cards are on the table, remember? Meet me wherever you feel comfortable.”

He was talking about more than just his lack of dress, and I knew that, but I couldn’t think of it right then.

I’d come to this spot to take a break from the way he was making me feel.

And now, even though I somehow felt closer to him and more open than I was trying to be, I was also having a lot of fun.

And enjoying the fact that he was playing around with me.

That he wanted me to play back. That he was comfortable enough to take his clothes off with me and ask me to do so in return.

It didn’t make any sense. This is what I’d been running from in the first place, but… but if he was willing to take this on my lead, like he’d implied multiple times before, I could concede a little.

Nodding, I said, “Okay.”

With steady hands, I gripped the bottom of my T-shirt and slowly lifted the fabric over my head.

There was a split second of darkness where the cloth of the shirt passed by my eyes that I wondered what he’d think of my body.

But I got my answer a mere moment later as I brought the shirt clean over my face only to see those gray-brown eyes looking black as he stared me down from a few steps away.

He must have been holding his breath, because when he finally breathed again, it was in a curse. A biting hiss of a curse fell from his lips as he shook his head and scrubbed his face. He groaned, his voice coming out choked. “You’re going to fucking end me with that, Six. Goddamn.”

“Sorry? ”

“You wear that under all your outfits?”

My skin tingled, flushing with heat under his appreciation. My heart skipped to its own happy beat, and I couldn’t help smirking. “Never seen a bra and panties before, King?”

He shook his head, his eyes eating up every line of my body hungrily even as he worked to compose his face.

Coughing, he tried to take it down a notch, but every time he wrenched his eyes away, they would slowly trail back to my body once again.

“I just didn’t expect the color… or the lace… or the triangles?”

I laughed outright as his voice squeaked at the end like he was at a loss for air.

In reality, it was a reasonable enough sports bra, and while the strings of my thong were a bit thin, they were a stretchy, durable lace fabric that was comfortable to play in.

And I did wear stuff like this under my uniform often, though he didn’t seem like he could handle that bit of information yet, so I just gave him time to work it out himself.

“Had enough or are you gonna take your next shot?” I asked.

“Can I, uh…” He cleared his throat again. “Can I walk it off first?”

“Walk…” I started, confused. I stopped quickly, my lips sucking into my mouth as I giggled. My eyes shot to the obvious bulge in his briefs. “Oh. Um… no?”

“Evil,” he said, but as requested he retrieved the ball and started his way toward the net.

At a full speed run.

All of a sudden, Ira was soaring through the air, looping the ball through the hoop in a fast and furious dunk.

My jaw dropped. And then I was sputtering out a laugh so deep I couldn’t control it. I had to look deranged because as he reappeared by my side, he started laughing too.

“What?” he asked.

“That is so unfair!” I guffawed. “I can’t dunk and you know it. ”

He grinned, looking like a little boy in his mischief. His eyes trailed down my body again, as if he couldn’t help himself. “No?”

“ No! ”

“Damn.” He shook his head. It took me a second to realize he was still looking at my body. Admiring me with a light of desire I wasn’t quite used to in his gaze.

“Would you stop?” I asked, actually a little embarrassed.

“Impossible,” he answered.

“Ira.”

“Merit.” He whistled again. “You’re fucking beautiful.”

I rolled my eyes, starting to walk away.

Ira groaned, but then jogged to catch up with me.

Before I knew what was happening, his hand was skating down my arm and our fingers were lacing together in a soft tangle.

Half-naked and bare to see, and the gentle touch of his fingers on mine is what brought a gasp from my lips.

“What are you doing?” I asked as he used our joined hands to tug me along.

He gave me a smile. “You really haven’t dunked before?”