“That’s not happening again,” she spat at him.
“Is that a dare?” He swatted her backside, and she yelped.
The play was hard and fast, and he loved it. Especially as he was marking Luna a lot because he was the tallest and she was too. They both went up for a rebound; her body hit his as he tapped the ball to a teammate, and he adjusted to take her weight as they landed.
“Nice move, city girl.”
“Suck on this, rancher.” She dropped her shoulder into his body then ran.
At three quarter time they were up, but the margin was small.
“Now we’re not acting like pansies, we need to press on,” Ford said.
“As opposed to pressing off, do you mean?” Davie always had good comebacks.
“Just get out there and win the game.”
Nash sat on the bench as they took the court. It was his turn to sub. Looking to where the camera dude was, he noted Pearl and her posse had surrounded him—literally.
“So a nice big boy like you must have some really big ones,” he heard one of the ladies say. “Lenses,” she added as the man choked on air.
Satisfied his plan had worked he returned to watch the game.
“Nice work, Nash.”
“Thanks, Mr. Goldhirsh.” The man was sprinting up and down the sideline wearing his fanny pack of medical supplies.
Mayor Gripper ran the other court in pinstriped black-and-white shorts and a white top with lemon collar. His fanny pack was lime green.
“The guy’s got style,” Piper said from beside him.
“He’s certainly got something.”
The play was fast and physical. The women in their team were young and fit and played hard. Nash felt every muscle in his body tense when Luna ran in to the basket. Leapt, raising an arm she went for the basket. Her shirt had come free, and he saw her ribs and that really nice ass.
“You like that girl, Nash?”
“What?” He dragged his eyes from Luna to look at Piper.
“Luna. You like her, so why don’t you do something about it?”
“You’re deluded.”
“Really?” Her smile was smug. “Is that why you let that ball Luke threw hit that asshole with the camera, then you went up to have a chat with him? Pretty sure you weren’t welcoming him to Ryker.”
“Anyone would have done that,” he protested. “Now shut up. I need to watch the game. You have enough cousins to worry about; leave me alone.”
She gave him a sickly smile. “I assure you I have more than enough worry for you as well.”
He and Luna had fought, played nice, then had two spectacular nights of sex, and clearly people had picked up that he thought she was a lot more than just hot.
She’d said they were done; he didn’t want that. He wanted her. How that happened, he wasn’t sure, but he couldn’t change what was going on inside him.
When you decide to fall again, you go for the one woman who should be completely off-limits.
Their lives were as different as night was to day.
“What would it take for everyone in this town to leave me alone?”