In the Fast Lane (Fast Series Book 1) (18 page)

“It sucks,” he began again, “but you know as well as I do that twenty-five is old for most Olympic athletes. I know you know, because you’ve already announced that you’re done after this, and babe-Jessi,” he corrected quickly, “It is time. Your body is starting to quit on you. But I promise you, I won’t. We are going to win that gold medal.” He paused. “And then you are going to retire.”

To Dalton’s surprise, Jessi relaxed. He’d been ready for a fight, but now she just looked forlorn.

“God, this sucks.” She hung her head.

“I know. But you are ready, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I want to start the rest of my life. I just don’t know quite how to let go of this one.”

“You don’t have to let go of it. Swimming will always be a part of you. You’ll always be a part of it. You just don’t have to dedicate your whole life to it.”

“How’s that working out for you?” Jessi looked up at him with sad eyes.

“Well, not so hot, but I’ll let you know if I ever figure it out.”

“Thanks.” She hesitated and then quietly said, “I’m sorry.”

Dalton tilted her face up to look at him. “I can’t say it was my pleasure, but you’re welcome.” He brought his mouth down to hers and gave her a sweet kiss. Like everything between them, it started to work itself into much, much more. What began as gentle touching turned quickly into frantic grasping. Walking her back toward the door, he quickly locked it. Then he looked around for a suitable surface.

There was no good place to do this, so Dalton improvised with his surroundings. Pushing her back to a table, he turned her around and pulled her sweats down. This actually served his purpose just fine. His favorite view was of Jessi’s backside, and it was in no better frame than right now. He stroked his hand down her smooth flesh then gave her a quick little slap.

The flush that started to creep up her ass revealed that his little angel liked it naughty, but she was embarrassed by the fact. He gave her one more, just for good measure, and reveled in the moan that escaped her lips. Then, without further ado, he pulled his own sweats down just enough to free his engorged cock. It sprang free as he quickly grabbed a condom from his pocket and covered himself. Clutching her by the hips, entered her in one hard thrust, sheathing himself to the hilt.

“Fuck.” He threw his head back in pleasure.

Jessi’s back simultaneously arched to take him deeper. Dalton wasted no time on preliminaries. She was wet enough, no doubt turned on by their verbal sparring throughout the day. Like it or not, they were two competitors going at it, and the competition was a turn on. He slammed into her, hard. The table groaned from the power of his thrusts. He blessed the screws that held it into the ground.

Jessi wasn’t one to be owned, though, and she pushed back with a ferocity that scared him. Her butt smacked satisfyingly against his legs. He watched, entranced, as his dick thrust in and out of her. Seeing the actual act always turned him on. This was his favorite position. He pumped for all he was worth.

Jessi’s toes were pointed in an effort to stay grounded, but his pounding was lifting her higher and higher. Finally he grabbed her hips harder and lifted, bringing her feet off the floor and achieving an angle that allowed for even deeper penetration. He was balls deep inside her, and when he felt Jessi convulse, he lost himself, grunting and jerking, losing all thought of what position he was putting her in.

When he opened his eyes he saw Jessi bent before him, hands clasping the edge of the table. She was breathing hard. Then she turned her head over her shoulder and grinned wickedly at him. “That was awesome. Just saying.”

God, this woman was amazing. But this was turning into a situation spiraling out of control. “Jessi, this is getting crazy. We have to stop this.” He slowly pulled out of her, missing the contact between them. Taking care of the condom, he tucked himself into his pants, then walked over to help Jessi.

Her face dropped. “Oh.” She stood and fixed her clothes. When she looked back up at him, she had her game face on. “Okay.” Her voice was distant, but defiant. “Don’t worry. I can handle the fact that we’ve had sex. Us not doing it anymore won’t affect my swimming.”

“What? No.” He pulled her up and turned her around. “I don’t mean stop having sex,” he said, panicked. “That’s just crazy talk. Don’t say things like that!” He calmed down when she quirked her lips. “I meant stop having crazy sex that results in us screwing each other in the film room.”

She glanced around the room as if taking in her surroundings for the first time. Then she brought her gaze to his face. “Oops,” she said with a hint of a smile.

“Oops? Fucking
oops
? Jessi this is serious shit. We
cannot
keep doing this! We’ve got to come up with a better plan.”

“You’re right, but calm down. We can figure this out.”

“I’m glad you think so. What do you suggest?”

Jessi stepped back contemplating their situation. Finally, she looked back up at him and simply said, “I don’t know. I’m not sure how to act around you.”

Dalton stared at her while running a hand through his hair. “You think I know how to act around you? Hell, I’ve never even spent an entire night with a woman. Now, I’m coaching the only woman I’ve ever had feelings for
and
sleeping on her fluffy, hot pink rug?”

Jessi laughed and tilted her head. “You care about me, huh?”

He pulled her to him and put her head under his chin. “Yeah, I care about you—more than I should. I can see how you would be confused, given that I just bent you over a table and screwed you like a one night stand.”

Thankfully, she laughed again. He smiled, then kissed the top of her head. “You’ve got a sick sense of humor, but I’m glad you do.” He rested his chin on top of her head. “We’ll figure things out. I don’t know how, but we will. Just talk to me, okay? Don’t fly off the handle. I’ll always be honest with you. I meant that.”

He could feel Jessi’s smile against his chest, and his heart felt as if a weight had been lifted off it. He loved her smile.

“Dalton?”

“Yeah,” he said, still holding her and enjoying the first moment of peace he’d had since leaving her that morning.

“I liked being screwed like a one night stand...a lot. And you like my fluffy pink rug.”

Dalton chuckled and kissed her head one more time. “Yeah, yeah.”

Chapter 18

Dalton and Jessi didn’t have a plan, but they fell into a routine--an admittedly complicated routine, but a routine nonetheless. She still had a hard time separating her coach from the man she was sleeping with, but she took some solace in the fact that it appeared Dalton struggled with same problem.

For the most part, he just acted like a grumpy old man—the norm. But now and then, he’d give her an intimate smile when he saw her enter the pool. His eyes tended to follow her a little too much. If Sawyer noticed, he didn’t say anything. Jessi and Dalton were careful to keep things hidden from him. As long as their relationship didn’t affect her swimming, Sawyer would probably remain oblivious.

At least, that was the theory. At the end of an afternoon practice, Dalton called Jessi to the end of the pool. She swam up to the edge and gave him the coyest look she had.

“Yes, Coach?”

“Your freestyle looked like shit and you need to focus.”

“You’re right. Want to come up to my room and work on it? I hear you’ve got some pretty good moves when it comes to freestyling.” They’d been having sex in some fairly creative places: closets, the equipment room. Despite Dalton’s reservations about getting caught, the film room had become its own little porn set. It had been a while since he’d stopped at her room, and she figured they could get away with a little conjugal visit without anyone noticing.

It was only her and a few other coaches in the pool area. Everyone else had headed out. Dalton reached out a hand to pull her out of the water. Once she was standing, he slapped her butt. Coaches had been slapping her ass for doing a good job her whole life. This should have nothing more, but the chemistry between them was too strong. Dalton held on longer than he should have and the “Smart ass,” he whispered in her ear was far too suggestive. Like the teenagers they used to be, they’d forgotten themselves, letting their attraction take over their good sense. Unfortunately, Sawyer had been one of those other coaches still present, and he’d been watching them. Apparently, this was the last straw.

“McKinney. Pruitt. Meet me in my office.”

Dalton tensed briefly, and he and Jessi shared a look. He shrugged and gave her a reassuring smile, then started walking toward Sawyer’s office.

“Wait.” Jessi reached out and grabbed his hand.

Dalton quickly glanced around the room, but there was no need. The other two coaches were looking at them. They were busted, and Jessi didn’t care. She was tired of hiding things.

“Baby, he’s going to be seriously pissed at me. I appreciate the gesture of solidarity, but holding my hand is only going to make things worse.”

They’d talked about this. If they got caught, they would come clean. Dalton did not agree with Jessi’s assessment of their relationship as being a minor detail in the grand scheme of Olympic Swimming. He had carefully pointed out that regardless of all the examples of swimmers and coaches hooking up throughout the ages, it was still an inappropriate work relationship.
Plus
, he had elaborated, Sawyer thought of Jessi as a little sister, and was not going to be pleased with this scenario.

Jessi had huffed, once again pointing out that she was by no means a little girl. Besides, weren’t they all so busy reminding her how old she was? A little consistency would be nice.

“It’s going to be fine. I really don’t care what anyone thinks,” Jessi said, squeezing his hand tighter as they walked.

Dalton snorted. “Yeah, well, you’re not the one who’s going to take the punch, are you?

“He is not going to punch you,” Jessi admonished. “That’s fostering a violent work atmosphere, or whatever the HR people call it.” Jessi had never really been employed, so she didn’t know the correct HR verbiage, but she was pretty sure it was called something like that.

“Yep. It sure is. And sleeping with one of your swimmers is considered sexual harassment or something equally terminatable,” Dalton said dryly.

“You can harass me anytime you want,” she replied.

“You’re a serious pain in my ass. You know that, right?”

“Sure do. You wouldn’t want it any other way.”

He shook his head, then kissed hers.

Walking into Sawyer’s office, Jessi felt far less confident than she had when she and Dalton had talked this possibility out. Sawyer rounded on them the second the door closed.

“Let go of his hand, Jessi.”

Jessi did as she was told but glared defiantly at Sawyer.

“It’s not what you’re thinking, man.”

“The fuck it isn’t. I know you, McKinney. Can you tell me you’re not sleeping with her?”

“Nope.”

“God damn it!” Sawyer slammed his hand on his desk.

“For someone who just said he knew what was up, you seem pretty pissed.” Dalton had a cocky look on his face.

Jessi cringed. Baiting Sawyer was not a good idea. Particularly in this situation.

Sawyer pointed a finger at him. “Don’t fucking start with me right now. I’m doing everything I can not to punch you in your goddamn face, you asshole.”

Jessi stepped in. “Sawyer, calm down. This isn’t as bad as you think.”

“And you!” Sawyer pointed his finger in her direction. “You know better. Do you seriously think this is going to end any differently than it did eight years ago? I thought you’d grown up, Jessi. I thought you were more of a professional than this. I guess that gold doesn’t mean as much to you as you say it does.”

“Dude, leave her out of this. This is between you and me,” Dalton warned.

“Oh, hell no, it isn’t. You are both fucking part of this. She’s my swimmer, and you’re my employee. You are both here for specific reasons. Fucking each other isn’t one of them.”

“Back off, Sawyer. I’m serious.” Dalton looked like he was just as ready to fight as Sawyer was.