Ariana watched Nicole line up a shot and let the ball fly. “You do have a beautiful jump shot.”
“Why, thank you.”
“You know, there are a lot of reasons I love you and this is one of them,” Ariana said, sweeping her arm through the air. “And there’s the hot sex.”
“Oh yeah, we’re very good at that,” Nicole said, taking another shot. “Championship caliber, I’d say.”
Ariana chucked. “Absolutely, but there’s also this.” She heaved a shot up and it swished through the basket. “Plus breaking down games.”
“These old legs won’t last forever,” Nicole said.
“You’ve taken a lot better care of them than I have my knees. I’m thinking we’ll both wear out around the same time.”
Nicole dribbled the ball over and stood in front of Ariana. “We’ll find something else to do together when that happens.”
“Yeah, we will.” Ariana smiled, leaned down, and kissed her. “Maybe we’ll travel.”
“Ugh, we travel enough,” Nicole complained. “Maybe we’ll spend the off season somewhere besides New York. Stay in one place that’s not here.” She dribbled once then banked the ball off the backboard and it went through the hoop.
“Won’t that depend on what we’re doing?” Ariana said, rebounding the ball. “I mean, I’ll be retired from playing basketball, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be doing something.”
“Have you thought about what you’d like to do when you’re through playing?”
“A little.”
“We already make a great team,” Nicole said, raising a brow. “Can you imagine calling games with me?”
Ariana was about to shoot but pulled the ball back and looked at Nicole. “What about Shealyn?”
“She’ll be retired by the time you decide to retire.”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Do you think I’d be good at it?” Ariana shot the ball and watched it fall through the hoop.
“You will be by the time I get through with you.”
Ariana laughed and grabbed her by the hips. “You’d better never be through with me.”
Nicole wrapped her arms around Ariana’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, I’ll never get enough of you.”
Ariana leaned in and softly pressed her lips to Nicole’s. “Mmm, another thing I love.” She smiled then her face fell into a pout. “I just realized if we win tomorrow I won’t get another song since we won’t be going back to Vegas.”
“You meanwhenyou win tomorrow.”
“Dip you in honey so I could be sticking to you,” Ariana sang.
Nicole chuckled. “You liked that Harry Styles song?”
“Yes, ‘Daylight’ is one of my favorites because I know what he’s feeling. When I stay with you I sometimes curse the daylight because then I have to leave.”
“Hmm, maybe we can do something about that.”
Ariana’s brows rose and her heart began to beat a little faster. She hoped to do something about it herself when this series was through. “I have discovered that I can be a good girlfriend and a good basketball player at the same time. I’ll be able to show you soon.”
“You already have,” Nicole said. “You’re the one who had to come over here all the time so we could be together in secret.”
Ariana shrugged. “You act like that was a hardship. Look what I was coming to. You!”
Nicole chuckled. “But won’t it be nice to walk down the street together holding hands?”
