Love Delayed (6 page)

“Twenty-nine.”

“Well, don’t be concerned about me wanting you. Remember, I’m void of ulterior motives here.” She slightly rolled her eyes over her folded arms.

So fucking cute.

“So, tell me something about you,” I forged ahead, finding myself entertained by this conversation.

“
Hunh?” she asked again, confused.

“I’m sure you know everything about me. Shit, my life is laid out for the world. Tell me something about you.”

“I know everything about
you
?” she scoffed. “My. How presumptuous we are.”

“Yeah…isn’t that why you chose this summer program?”

“No. And I only know what I need to know about you.”

“Which is?”

“Your name, your height, the team you play for, and my cousin is going to have your babies—or
was
going to have your babies,” she corrected herself just as the waiter came with our food.

I laughed. I mean, I cracked the hell up.
My babies? Me…kids?
Parenthood for me wouldn’t be for another ten to fifteen years. I thought I’d be the type of father that would be rolled into my child’s high school graduation in a wheelchair because that’s how far off in the distance it would be for me.

“What? What’s so fun
ny?” Zoey frowned. “See, you don’t know the other side of it. You just dribble the ball, smile every once in a while, and show off your fancy tattoos, but there are actually some women…and young girls, who take to that and they include you in their dreams.”

Hmmmm
…

“Well…we have no perfect idea of anything but of a perception,” I say under my breath, not intending
for her to catch it, per se.
No one knows me
. They all swore to have wanted to. “People just know what they want to know.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

I glanced over at her. “It means that’s all your cousin told you about me because that’s basically all she wants to know.”

And the fact that I’m paid out the ass.

“No. She knows about your tattoos. She knows what the ones on your arms mean, at least.”

“Yeah,” I said dismissively. “But that’s not the totality of me. She doesn’t know the essence of them. She doesn’t know what idea
s they were born out of, the significance of them, where they came from. She has no idea the state of mind I was in when I got them.”

“She knows you’re from Newark,” she argue
d.

“Yeah, because those are easily
obtained facts. But what about truly knowing people for who they are…through conversation and really getting to know them?”

“Well, people don’t have the
luxury of opportunity to do that with folks like you. You can only get what’s accessible through Mr. Google. Besides, it’s not like you’re willing to give every interested person the opportunity to get to know you. You’re a celebrity for crying out loud.”

“I can’t be too inaccessible if
you’re
here, having lunch with me.”

“Yeah,” she rolled her eyes. “
But that’s because your bestie over there—”

“I don’t have a
bestie,” I cut her off to clarify.

“But you and Alton are always together from what I see.”

“That’s because Alton is a good friend. We’re teammates…partners in many respects, but I don’t have a best friend.”

“Well, that makes two of us,” she uttered with her chin
slightly in the air, appearing stubborn, and cute as hell.

“Angela isn’t your best friend?”

She shrugged, still not facing me. “Angela has been my partner for years, but we’re not the same people, we just have the same goal.”

“Which is?” My interest was piqued.

There was a long pause. “I don’t want to get into that.” She picked up her fork. “Let’s just eat.” Then, with her head still toward her plate, her eyes coyly rolled up to me. “Oh, and I won’t be using Google to get to know you.”

Amused, I chuckled at that one as she ate her food.
Did that mean she’d be trying to get to know me?

So fucking cute…

~~~~~~~~~~

The following Tuesday, after training, I found myself alone with
Zoey again. Alton and Angela took off to the hotel, but today, Zoey and I agreed to wait at the club for them to return, seeing that Alton and I drove into Jersey together. There were several amenities on site and somehow Zoey and I agree to swimming. I knew it was against the club’s policy to have employees patron the grounds, but I admittedly threw my weight around for Zoey’s clearance. She initially declined, saying she had no swimwear, but we were able to get her one with the assistance of the accommodating staff.

I was done changing and in the pool before her, taking a few laps. When I came up and wiped my eyes, I saw
Zoey tiptoe in, wearing a bikini. My eyes strained. I’d never seen much of her body outside of her legs when she wore those khaki shorts, but this day I saw it all. And I do mean all; the bikini hid nothing. Zoey may have had slender legs and likely no ass in her clothes, but in true form, she was very busty. I mean, Cs type of busty. Her waist was small and hips somewhat narrow, yet undoubtedly feminine, and when she turned away from me to put her towel down on the bench, I saw her ass. Zoey had a nice plump ass. Not the type you saw when she approached you, but the kind that swallowed the small bikini bottom. One side of the cloth was wedged in her ass and I noticed the little dimple on her right cheek. I wondered was there a matching one on her left.

I found myself swallowing hard. When she turned around, I redirect
ed my line of sight, suddenly feeling like I was invading her privacy. Shit, Zoey had a fucking body. Her hair was out and wild as she walked to the opposite edge of the pool and sat. I couldn’t help but notice the wide belly button of her flat belly. The bikini they managed to find her either fit her perfectly or was a size or two too small because her breasts looked to be screaming for release. My dick twitched at that thought.

“Is it cold to you?”
Zoey called over. “It feels cold to me.”

I needed to
switch gears here; it wasn’t that type of party.

“You’re just
gonna have to jump in,” I returned before throwing my own body in for another lap.

Minutes later, after
Zoey got acclimated to the water and swam a few laps herself, we found ourselves in the same area of the pool. I was on my back floating on top of the water.

“How did you learn to do that?”

I stood straight. “Pardon me?”

“How did you learn to float?” she asked.

“Do you know how to back stroke?”

She
nodded her head, yes.

“It’s the same concept.”

She shrugged. I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t want to offer to teach her because that would have meant touching her, but she wasn’t giving me any clues as to what the fuck she was asking.

I motioned m
y hands above the water to gesture my confusion.

“Well…show me.”
Zoey’s tone wasn’t salacious. She even seemed a bit resentful for having to ask.

I waded over to her. “You have to try to lay flat on your back. I’m going to
hold you from beneath the water to be sure you don’t sink. Is that okay?” I asked, looking directly into her eyes, trying to avoid her bountiful breasts.

Damn
, they’re beautiful.

Zoey
nodded and managed to lay on top of the water. I immediately took her between her shoulder blades and the back of her thighs.

“Straighten your spine and extend your legs to lengthen your body.
Stretch out your arms, too, but not over your head.” Zoey did as I asked. “Your body’s alignment affects your ability to float. The human body is made up of about two-thirds water. This means your body’s composition…its density is similar to the water we’re in now. Anything with a higher density than water will sink. That being said, you don’t have to do much to get your body to float on top of the water. Your body’s natural inclination in water like this is to float.”

She stared at her toes while I spoke, and I could feel her trying to relax.

I continued, “You’re doing a good job at trying to relax. That’s the first step. Look up. Good. Now, slowly fill your lungs to capacity with air. That’s going to help balance you.”

As
Zoey pulled in air, her breasts pushed out of the water, and seemingly into my face…maybe not so much, but at least that’s how it seemed.

“Good,” I continue
d. “Now let it out and do it again. Slowly. Put more weight into your shoulders until your head floats naturally. Okay, now your arms can extend over your head…just slightly.”

Fuck. Looking at her arms coming together over her head
was almost my undoing. I needed to get it the fuck together.
She’s a young girl—fucking twenty!
But Zoey didn’t seem shy or embarrassed to be almost naked and alone with a man in a pool. She didn’t seem the least bit self-conscious about her body, neither was she flaunting it. And that fucked with my head.

“Use your abdominals; they’ll help with the balance. Don’t forget to kick your legs, but not wildly.” I kept with my instruction until I could see her progression in staying above the water. I tried to keep quiet to allow her to focus on her balance.

When she was damn near floating alone, I asked, “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Zoey
’s eyes shot up to me, but she didn’t lose her balance, neither did she change her breathing pattern. I wasn’t planning on asking her that, but so many things about her intrigued me. Between Zoey paying for her own lunch at the diner last week and our conversation at the restaurant, I was somewhat fascinated by her.

“Yes,” she answered evenly.

“Where is he when you’re here, playing sidekick to your cousin during the day?”

“
He works,” she supplied quickly, trying to maintain her breathing pattern. “He’s kind of sort of not my boyfriend.”

That statement took me by surprise. I found my face w
rinkling. Zoey released her weight over the water, losing her balance to stand.

“Thanks for that,” she
offered with a smile. “I think I finally get the idea. I’m going to practice. I’ll have it down pat before you know it.”

She sidestepped my question and reaction to her answer to it. I didn’t get the impression she did it deliberately; she just didn’t find her response significant enough to dwell on, I
had supposed. But I, for some stupid reason, wanted to dig.

“What do you
mean he’s not your boyfriend? Either he is or isn’t. I didn’t know there was an in between.”

Zoey
paused to consider my comment. She shrugged and said, “It’s just something that we fell into. Someone I found myself dating.” She quieted for a moment, contemplative again. She shifted next to me, resting her elbows on the ledge of the pool. “He’s a nice guy…”

“But?”

“But…I don’t know…there’s not that
wow
factor there. I want that
wow
factor…,” she gestured with a swing of her arms, “…with a guy. I’ve had it before and know it exists.” Her eyes fell. “It just doesn’t exist with him. He’s really nice, very responsible…good man of God. So, we just hang out.” She stretches her eyelids.

Man of God
. She’d mention God and church before.
Is that important to her?
And what was up with that
wow
factor? Was that code for simple attraction or sexual chemistry?

“So, have you had a lot of those
wow
factors?” I attempted covertly. I found myself desperate with wanting to know.

I didn’t mean to pry, but
Zoey was throwing me off with her signals. It would have been easy to dismiss her as a groupie, an opportunist, but that didn’t match her actions. I’d given her several chances to out herself. But nothing.

Although she didn’t call me out on my prying, the way
Zoey lifted her brow told me she had a clue as to the nature of my inquiry.

“I’ve had enough,” she answered and swam off.

I stayed in place for a while, stumped while Zoey took more laps, appearing content in solitude. Eventually I decide to do the same.
This girl is an anomaly.

At one point when I came up for air, I heard, “So where’s
your
girlfriend?”

I swiped the water from my eyes and saw
Zoey floating while holding on to the ledge. “Huhn?”

“Your girlfriend. Where is she? And is she okay with you hanging out at the country club after training while Alton cheats on his girlfriend?”

Oookay
. “Well, first of all, I don’t know what the situation is between Alton and Tynisha.”

“The world is confused about the situation with Alton and Tynisha,” she quickly returned.