Chapter 1
Tegan Massey.
Tegan fucking Massey!
The NCAA Women’s Basketball league scoring champ, who should be heading into the NCAA tournament right now, was instead lying in a hotel bed next to me, panting for breath as I watched her with a self-satisfied smirk. Yeah, I had a good tongue game. Of course, less than an hour ago I was the one panting thanks to her fingers!
I had no idea what she was doing in Fort Lauderdale during spring break, other than having me in her hotel room of course. I’d seen her the previous week guiding her North Carolina State Wolfpack team to the ACC Tournament championship, and a number one seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. So why on earth did her coach allow her to be here on vacation, instead of heading up to Connecticut where I knew her opening round game was?
I guess it didn’t really matter, did it?
“Fuck, Rey, that was amazing!” she murmured once she’d caught her breath.
I couldn’t deny that. We’d been going at it all night and into the early morning after she’d taken me home from my uncle’s restaurant.
I wasn’t supposed to have been working that night. On a normal night I would have been home studying, since I was a High School senior. But it was spring break, and the restaurant was packed, and one of the other waitresses, Melina, had called in sick. The place was called Ray’s Bar and Grill and my mom cooked the food in the back for the grill, my uncle covered the drinks at the bar. They had an odd relationship, since my mom had been married to my uncle’s brother, my dad. But now they were both single and running the place together.
A few years ago, my dad was killed in a carjacking gone wrong. He’d worked in a gym downtown as a boxing instructor, and I guess he thought he could fight back, but the bullet was faster than his fist. The scary thing was, I was supposed to have been with him, because it was my boxing training day. But I’d missed that day because I had a sprained ankle from basketball, otherwise I might have been in the car and killed too. I tried to keep up with boxing after that, but it just wasn’t the same, so other than just hitting the speed bag and heavy bag at home, I hadn’t really kept up with it.
As for my uncle, he’d been married to a gorgeous Hispanic woman who made the most delicious Cuban sandwiches ever. But I guess she was sick of Florida and took off with a wealthy businessman from New York almost ten years ago.
Will my uncle and my mom end up together? I have no idea. Honestly, they were both great people, and if it made them happy, I’d be okay with it. They both supported me when I came out as a lesbian, and both wanted me to concentrate on school and basketball instead of working. Well, except in emergencies. My uncle was doing his best to be a father figure, regardless of their relationship, or lack thereof, and he was a great guy.
Now, Fort Lauderdale is one of the most popular spring break destinations in the country, and the restaurant was packed that night. All I was doing was running food back and forth to the patrons and then bussing tables as needed. Picking out a single person in that place would have normally never been possible.
Normally.
But Tegan is not normal. She is a six foot blonde goddess who would stand out in any crowd. Odder still, she was all alone at the bar just before midnight ordering a late dinner. None of her friends or teammates were there, so I was quite surprised that she was. I mean, to me she was a sports icon. We’re close to Miami and have had several players from both the Dolphins and Heat stop in, so I was able to stop myself from fangirling, but just barely.
I had to take my glasses off to clean them and put them back on to make sure I wasn’t seeing things! Had I not been a basketball player myself, and had her college, the NC State Wolfpack, not been one of my final three choices for schools to attend, I might not have known who she was. She might as well have been just some random gorgeous woman on the beach.
But I did know. She was one of my favorite players to watch play, along with Imani Dale over on their rival team at the University of North Carolina. I just never expected her to be in my uncle’s restaurant. I also didn’t expect her to run her eyes over me when I was delivering her food. Yeah, I was in tight jean shorts and a tight red tee shirt with a plunging neck that showed off the breasts that my mom had kindly passed along to me.
“Well damn,” she purred with a smirk. “Aren’t you a tall glass of chocolate milk!” Yeah, that was her opening line. I had to give her credit, she could have said almost anything, and I would have gone back to her hotel, but she came up with something cute. I mean, I don’t jump into the sack with just anyone, I’d only been with four girls before this, and had been dating each of them when I had. But this was one of my basketball idols. Hell, I hadn’t even realized she was gay! Unlike Imani and her almost 2 million Instagram followers, Tegan’s profile was private so I could never stalk her. I mean, visit respectfully and drool a little. My followers had jumped to over 250,000 once I was officially listed as a top five basketball recruit, and I was hoping for more once I started playing in college. If Tegan had gone public, she’d easily have more than Imani.
I slid the bacon cheeseburger onto the bar in front of her. “I noticed you didn’t order any dessert. Maybe chocolate milk would hit the spot?” My uncle and father had skin that my mother called dark chocolate, where I had her milk chocolate skin, which explained why Tegan had made her comment.
“I like that,” she replied. She held out her hand “Hi, I’m Tee. Does that mean that when you get off work you wouldn’t mind being my dessert?”
Okay, so she was using a fake name. Got it. “I’m Rey. I haven’t had any dessert either, maybe you could be my vanilla shake while I’m your chocolate milk?”
“I like the sound of that,” she said in a low whisper. “What time do you get off?”
“Probably a few minutes after I get you off.” Yeah, we could flirt all night.
“Seriously! What time can I take you back to my place?” she was giggling, so I knew she wasn’t upset. I looked down at my watch and did some mental arithmetic.
“I’ll talk to the boss, but things are cooling off so I should be able to leave when you’re done eating.” I was pretty sure my mom and the rest of the crew could hold down the fort without me there by that time.
“Talk quick, I’m famished!” She winked before taking a big bite of her burger, and I slipped into the back to talk to my mom.
“Mom! I’m taking off in a few, okay? I met a girl, might not be back for a bit.” Okay, I could hope. For all I knew this was a one night thing, but I was hoping she was here for a lot longer!
“Reign Josephine Rivers, you know better than to get with those spring break girls! They’re nothing but trouble!” she chided me. Damn, she’s dropping the middle name on me! I mean, she was right, and I’d listened to her every year in the past. But this year I was finally 18, and it was Tegan! It wasn’t some random girl that I didn’t know at all. Hell, I could even pick to go to school at NC State since I had a full ride scholarship on the table from them, and then I could see her again!
“I know better than that mama! But I know this one! Trust me, this will be okay!” She just waved her hand at me, and I ran back out to the bar, sitting next to Tegan as she polished off her burger. I hadn’t noticed what she was wearing before, I was too busy staring at her face, but it was hard not to notice the insanely long legs that were being shown off in her shorts, and the toned belly that peeked out of the crop top. She was gonna be my dessert for sure.
“I guess you’re free to go?” she asked while holding out a fry for me.
I popped the fry into my mouth and munched happily. They were always good here, and I might have already had a bunch. “Yep. I can leave whenever you’re ready, and I can stay as long as you like.”
She looked over at me while biting her lower lip. “Like, you could hang out with me for a few days?”
“You think you’ll be walking after tonight?” I asked her. “You might need those recovery days!”
“If you do it right, I’ll take that gladly,” she said. “But you might to recover as well.”
My heart was beating a mile a minute, and I was still having a hard time believing this wasn’t a dream. “Is this really happening? You really want to do this?”
She spun in her stool, reaching up and running her hand through my dreadlocks. “Hell yes, I want to do this!”
“Okay, okay, me too!” It still seemed surreal to me, it would be like Zendaya inviting me back to her hotel, but from a sports standpoint.
“You’re a gorgeous woman, Rey. You go to school?” I nodded dumbly. “I’m a sophomore, how about you?”
“I’m a senior.” I mumbled. Well, in high school. There was no way I was admitting that though. There would be no chance that she’d ever consider this if she knew I was in high school.
She took a final sip of her beer, then tossed some cash on the bar under her bill. “Well, let’s go have some dessert then!”
