Page 84 of Blitz

“Naked.” He shakes his head and closes the door. “Your friend is naked.”

“Fred?”

He nods, his tan skin flushed a dark pink. He looks shell-shocked.

“It’s not like you’ve never seen a naked woman before.”

Slowly, his lip curls into a smirk. “Sunshine, when I’m with a woman—”

“No! Stop! I don’t want to hear it.” I throw my yoga block at him, and it falls limply to the floor between us. The porous foam block is not an ideal throwing device. “I get it, you get laid a lot. That doesn’t mean I want to hear about your conquests.”

Micah smirks. He’s awake now. “You sure about that?”

I raise my eyebrows. “I can tell you all about the times Tucker and I hooked up. You want to hear what happened in this bed on Monday? Be glad I changed my sheets.”

He shudders. “All right, all right. You like to play dirty, I get it.”

The shower starts. I can hear the curtain get pulled aside as Fred gets in on the other side of the wall.

“You’re going to have to wait now,” I tell him. “She takes forever.”

Eventually, he gets his turn in the shower and dresses in warm clothes. He’s still bitching about the weather. Fred, Melissa, and I hustle him to the dining hall, where Melissa uses a guest pass to get him in. We fuel up for the day. He stares miserably into a coffee-flavored protein shake. He’s going to get his workout in at the ASC gym while we’re getting ready for the meet. Afterwards, he’ll find his way to the indoor track to cheer us on.

I don’t know if he’ll meet up with Tucker. I don’t know what’s going on there. I’m a little afraid to ask. I don’t know that either one of them will give me a straight answer.

Tuck sent me a brief good night text last night, and I woke up to an early good morning message. Normally there’s a little more substance to his text messages beyond perfunctory sentiment. I like that he’s the last person I talk to before I go to bed, and he’s the first person I talk to when I wake up. I like it even better when he sleeps in my bed, but when life gets in the way and we’re in our own beds, I like that he’s still there with me.

I don’t know what our issues are. Clearly we have a few. He’s still refusing to sleep with me. I don’t know how to make him understand that sex isn’t as big a deal for me as it is for him. So what if sometimes I’m withdrawn after? I need my space. So what if sometimes I don’t feel good about myself after? That’s on me. It has nothing to do with him.

There are a number of reasons why I transferred to Newton. Tucker is only one of them. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would get back together so easily. Sure, I had to spend a semester basically pursuing him from afar, but now we’re together and everything is hunky-dory.

Except for this little sex disagreement.

There has to be a balance. I’m not sure where the middle ground is, but we have to find it. There has to be something between celibate and where we are now.

Tucker is in the stands within the first ten minutes of the meet. He’s joined by Amir and Barrett. Wes is there, too, reading a book. Miles, Greg, and Sam aren’t there—nope, there they are, in the row behind them. Greg has an enormous backpack with him. As I stretch, I watch him pull a multitude of snacks out of the bag and assemble it on the empty bench beside him.

Between events, I jog over to the stands. Tucker makes his way down to the front row. He leans over the railing and kisses me. I melt into him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He chuckles and pulls away.

“Good morning, Princess,” he says, a smile on his face.

“I missed you last night.”

His thumb caresses my cheek. “Missed you, too.”

“Tomorrow night we’ll have a sleepover?” At the worried look on his face, I quickly add: “No sex. Just a sleepover. I like when you’re in my bed.”

He softens. “Yeah, sunshine. That sounds nice.”

“And you’ll look out for Micah? I haven’t seen him yet.”

“He’s not here?” Tucker frowns. “Isn’t he supposed to be visiting you?”

I scratch at his beard, and he relaxes, nuzzling into the contact. “He went for a workout. I don’t run until later. He’ll be here when it counts. I’m not sure when.”

He sighs. “Yeah, I’ll keep an eye out.”

Fred calls my name.