Page 40 of On Merit Alone

I shook my head, suddenly feeling shy as his big thumb grazed over my knuckles.

He tipped his head toward the hoop. “Let’s fix that.”

Over by the basket, Ira let go of my hand to go off and retrieve the ball. I stared at the hand instead of watching him go. I knew I was missing out on perfect eye candy with him basically naked, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the way my hand had fit in his. The way it made me feel.

On fire.

That fire spread like wild when I felt that same large hand wrap around the swell of my hip and pull me against his body.

Chin to my shoulder, I looked up at him behind me.

His molten eyes were back, but instead of leaning down and closing the distance between us, he brought the ball around front for me to take.

His body felt rigid against mine while at the same time feeling relaxed, beholden. Like he was supposed to be there but he was also trying his best not to move a muscle. I shifted and as he hissed, I felt exactly why in the shape of something hard against my butt.

Near my ear, his husky voice was controlled but stern, “Take the ball, Six.”

I did, and he immediately took a step back, replacing his hands on my person by grabbing onto my waist. I felt a giddy excitement rush through me, and suddenly, I felt like Ira’s kid-like smile looked.

“You sure you can lift me?” I asked.

He scoffed. “Give me some credit, Mer. I lift three times you every day.”

“Okay!” I said, excited and not hiding it. “Hurry up, then.”

“Alright.” His soft chuckle puffed onto my shoulder. “You gotta jump first, sweetheart. On three.”

I bounced. Ready and too impatient to wait for his countdown. Quickly, I rushed through a fast, “One. Two. Three!”

Then, I jumped as high as I could, extending the ball out higher. Ira used his strength and height to lift me the rest of the way there. Pretty soon, I was dunking the basketball into the dusty old rim.

I screeched! Then I laughed, Ira’s deep timbre echoing my excitement as I watched the ball shoot through the hoop.

I’d never been that close to the rim before.

At least, not from my own jump. Which is maybe why instead of letting it go as gravity did its thing, I held onto the rim and proceeded to dangle from it like a man on a string.

When I saw that Ira had returned to the ground without me, I laughed even more.

“Alright, Jordan. Get down from there,” he called as he watched my naked ass dangle. I didn’t have the common sense to feel embarrassed, though. I tossed my head back and laughed some more.

“I can’t!” I cackled. “I think I’m scared.”

“Damn.” He tried to be serious but his laugh bubbled over too. Clapping his hands together, he set like he was ready to catch a ball. “Alright, jump. I’ll catch you.”

“No!”

“Yes, Six. If you don’t want to jump, just fall. I promise I’ll catch you,” he insisted. “Just close your eyes and fall.”

Fall?

I could do that. I mean in theory, all I had to do was let go and hope he’d be there at the bottom. Intoxicated by laughter, I for once didn’t think too much about it. I just loosened my grasp on the rim and fell.

We landed on the ground in a heap of limbs, me on top of him and his arms wrapped protectively around me.

I giggled as I struggled to push off of him.

Finally finding some traction, I lifted onto a palm as the rest of my body pressed into him shamelessly.

He was hard against me. Both his muscled body and that other part of him that I was decidedly setting aside for another time.

I couldn’t focus on the fact that I was half-naked with a hard Ira King right then, anyway.

Not when my stomach hurt from continuous laughter.

A warm hand brushed the side of my face as he pushed my braids out of the way. When I met his eyes, his smile matched my own. His eyebrows lifted. “Having fun?”

“Yeah,” I giggled. “Can we go again?”

He tried to tame his grin, but it wouldn’t disappear. “Sure. But you need to get some clothes on before you give me some type of aneurysm.”

I nodded.

His hand brushed at me again. “And no holding onto the rim again. No way that thing doesn’t just disintegrate into dust the next time you try.”

“Okay! Again, Ira. C’mon.”

He looked at me for a moment. Finger brushing my cheek again and again, even though there was nothing there. Absently, he let his voice lower as his eyes wandered all over my expression. Learning it. Tracing it with his eyes. “I knew I’d get to see it one day.”

I laughed. “What? Me in a bra?”

He shook his head, his thumb coming down to trace along the outline of my bottom lip. “Your real laugh. When it’s not weighed down by whatever you keep tucked up in your mind.”

For the first time in long minutes, I sobered. And with Ira wrapped around me, unbothered by his own vulnerability and accepting mine, I could do nothing but acknowledge his words from earlier.

Close your eyes and fall.

“And what do you think?” I asked him.

He didn’t even hesitate. “Beautiful.”

Close your eyes…

I did, my entire body shuddering against his as his words washed over me. His acceptance of both my serious side and the hidden, softer side that seemed to be seeping out more and more around him.

Fall.

He’d better know what he was asking for before he committed to that. Because I had a lot of dead weight, and when I finally did fall, it would be like a boulder.