Page 43 of The Long Game
Shane:I miss you too.
Shane:Stop stalling. Where’s my pic?
Ilya was still shirtless, which was a good start for a selfie. He stretched the arm holding his phone out and raised it a bit, angling down. Then he shimmied the waistband of his sweatpants down until he was nearly exiting the safe-for-work zone. He tucked a thumb into the waistband, tugging down a bit, and snapped the pic.
Wow, Shane wrote back.That was mean.
Ilya wished he could watch the shift in Shane’s face now. The way his cheeks flushed and his eyes grew brighter when he was aroused. He was probably biting his bottom lip.
Ilya:If you are alone we could...
Shane:Team meeting in ten minutes.
Ilya:Is that a challenge?
It took Shane forever to reply, and Ilya imagined he’d deleted several responses before finally landing on:I can’t. Sorry.
Ilya:ok
Shane:It’s going to be hard to delete that photo.
Ilya:I can take more.
He knew Shanewoulddelete the photo. They always deleted anything in their message history that could give away their secret.
Shane:You gonna watch tonight?
Ilya:Maybe. If I am very bored.
Shane:I’ll try to win for you.
Ilya huffed and wrote,Try to lose. We are in the same division, idiot.
Shane:Nah.
Andthen, with no warning, Shane sent a pic of his crotch, his semi-hard dick visible under the gray fabric of his boxer briefs.
Shane:Talk to you later.
Ilya exhaled shakily and wrote,Fucker.
Shane hated West Coast road trips because they messed up his sleep schedule. They had flown directly from St. Louis to L.A.earlier that day, and had a game at eight tomorrow night, which would feel like eleven at night. Yuck.
Now it was nine thirty Pacific Time and Shane was in bed in his hotel room, trying to ignore the fact that it was only nine thirty. If he were home, it would be past his bedtime, especially before a game day.
But he couldn’t sleep.
He could hear Hayden moving around in the room next door. Earlier it had sounded like he’d been watching a movie. Now Shane could only hear footsteps.
He closed his eyes.Sleep, he told himself.
He was in the middle of some slow breathing exercises when there was a knock at his door.
“Just a sec,” he called out as he hauled himself out of bed and began rummaging through his suitcase for some sweatpants and a T-shirt. Once he was decent, he opened the door.
“Hey,” said Hayden. He was pawing the back of his own neck, and his blond hair was thoroughly rumpled. “Can I hang out for a bit?”
“Did you watch a scary movie again?” Shane asked, already stepping back to let him in.
