Page 7 of Forbidden

Someone gasps like it’s a fucking telenovela.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Aldo seethes. “I’m the fastest here. This is bullshit.”

Coach steps close enough that their chests are touching. “What’s bullshit is that you think it’s acceptable to go out partying the night before practice.”

Aldo’s responding laugh is cold and bitter. “Fuck you.”

My eyes bug out of my head. Something is going on here and I’m not sure what, but this is not about swimming. I close the distance between us, not sure what I’ll do if this turns physical. I’m taller than average at five foot eight, but short of pushing them both into the pool where they’ll likely drown each other, I’m at a loss. I fling a longing look at Wes at the far side of the pool, willing him to sense the mood and get his ass over here. He’s probably loitering over there on purpose, though. He hates shit like this.

Not thatthishas ever happened before.

I open my mouth to say something, anything, to diffuse the situation, when a deep voice slices through the tension and cleaves my soul in half.

“This team is in worse shape than I thought.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.” My heart is hammering so hard in my chest, the word comes out more breath than sound, but I mean it.

Lane pulls a hand over his face, the emotion in the dark blue eyes I know as well as my own flickering between concern and something deeper. Something I’ve felt more and more myself over the last couple of years.

I swallow. “If I have to choose. I choose you.”

Reaching out, he traces his fingers down the side of my face, and I tremble under his touch. We’ve known each other forever, but over the last year, things changed. Teasing tickles and hugs became lingering touches and caresses that ignited a spark that now burned between us, brighter and hotter than either of us were prepared for.

Lying beside him, I trail my fingers over his body—his broad shoulders and trim waist. The thick muscles of his thighs. It’s a body I’ve seen develop alongside my own, but now it’s different. Over the last few months, it’s become mine. Mine to touch. To taste. To pleasure. I craved him like air.

When we first crossed that line, I was certain it wouldn’t work—that it was stupid to sleep with my best friend. A year older than me, he was heading off to college in Minnesota on a swimming scholarship and I still had a year of high school left. But now I was addicted, and I couldn’t even begin to imagine how I could give him up.

“We won’t be able to see each other as often,” he says, his voice rough. “I won’t be able to take you to prom. You should be with someone who can be there for things like that.”

“You think I give a shit about prom? I want this.” I lean back far enough to look into his eyes, slivers of doubt beginning to cool my heated skin. “Unless you don’t. I mean, you’re going off to college. You’ll be able to sleep with a different girl, or guy, every night if you wanted to—”

“Joy.” He presses a finger against my lips, exhaling a cinnamon scented breath that fans my skin. “I have zero plans to sleep my way around campus. But you could meet someone next year. Maybe someone new will start. You could get a boyfriend.”

I don’t miss the way he swallows around the word as if it pains him.

“I don’t want a boyfriend,” I whisper. “I want you.”

We lie there in silence for a moment, holding each other on the bed in the small college dorm room where the July Midwest trials are being held. The idea of trying to make this something more feels like an insurmountable peak, but I want to try. I don’t want him to disappear off to college without knowing.

“Okay,” he says. “Let’s try and make this work.”

Relief floods through me, but I barely catch my breath before he closes the gap between us, and our mouths collide.

Every time we kiss, it feels like coming home. The taste of the cinnamon gum I’m sure he’s addicted to combined with the confident way his tongue explores, has me melting against him, my body heating with longing.

Lane rolls us, holding himself above me, his pupils huge and his tanned skin flushed. He’s never looked more gorgeous.

“Are you sure?” I ask, my voice breathless.

He smiles, kissing me with a tenderness that has my eyes burning. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”

I stand there, frozen, staring at the man who used to be my other half but now may as well be a stranger.

Lane Masters took my heart and walked away without ever looking back.

LANE

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