Nicole raised her brows and Ariana knew she didn’t know what to say.
“I made my point that off the court it was up to you and me and she was nowhere in sight.” Ariana grinned. “Plus I owed you one for fouling me and letting Chloe score.”
Nicole smiled. “We don’t need to ever think about Maggie Patterson again.”
Ariana nodded. She grabbed the ball from Nicole and dribbled away. “My turn.”
They played back and forth taking turns shooting and defending. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of grabbing each other and fouling, but also good basketball. Ariana was having so much fun. She didn’t want this day to end.
“Hey,” Nicole said, taking a break for a drink of water. “I don’t have that many friends I can talk about basketball with. Shealyn and a couple of the analysts, but that’s about it. I keep my distance frommostplayers and don’t talk strategy very often with coaches. But what I don’t understand is why you like doing this with me. You have all your teammates and coaches to talk basketball with.”
Ariana smiled at Nicole and took a long drink from her water bottle. “Let me ask you, why do you call and text me, leave me notes and give me insight into ways I can be better?”
“Because it’s fun!” Nicole immediately answered.
“Exactly!” Ariana replied. “When I talk basketball with my teammates and coaches it’s a business, it’s my job. But when you give me a suggestion, I put it into action and it works—oh Nic, that is so much fun! If my coach tells me to do something and I do it, it’s fine, but again, it’s my job. You have put the fun back into basketball for me. Actually, you put fun in everything.” Ariana felt like she was rambling again, but the way Nicole was looking at her made it okay.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed playing basketball with someone,” Nicole said. “You’ve put the fun in all of this for me. When we go over strategies or little things you can try in a game and it works—Ari, I can’t tell you what it does for my heart. It gives me such joy to help you.”
“Yeah? You know I appreciate it, but more than that, I hope you’ve enjoyed today as much as I have,” Ariana said.
“I have, but we’re nowhere near finished with this day.”
Chapter Seventeen
Nicole smiled at Ariana and watched her go up for the perfect jump shot. She was beautiful. To say Nicole had a thing for athletes wasn’t entirely accurate. The shape of a woman and how they moved had always been an art form to her. It didn’t matter if they were tall or short, big or small, she appreciated the flow and every woman had a certain flow about them.
Ariana was graceful, powerful, and rhythmic all at the same time. She was stunning to watch and Nicole had caught herself stopping to stare several times instead of trying to keep her from scoring. They had been grabbing each other and laughing along with playing basketball. When she touched Ariana and felt the strength of her muscles and softness of her skin it sent all kinds of sensations through Nicole’s body.
“Did I do something wrong?” Ariana rebounded the ball and dribbled over to Nicole.
She smirked and shook her head. “You know what’s sexy?”
“Besides confidence and your voice?”
Nicole chuckled. “Yeah, besides those two.”
“Hit me.”
“Your fucking legs.” Nicole could see the surprise on Ariana’s face. She reached down and gripped Ariana’s thigh with one hand. “Muscles are beautiful and you have them.” She pulled her hand away and noticed a hint of redness on Ariana’s cheeks.
“You should wear shorter shorts,” Nicole suggested. “It would distract the other players and to the hoop you’d go.”
“Oh yeah? Would it distract you during a game?”
Nicole laughed. “You won’t distract me, I’ll just talk about your legs.”
“You wouldn't!" Ariana exclaimed.
Nicole raised her brows and chuckled. “If I talk about your perfect jump shot you’ll know I’m really talking about your sexy legs.”
“Mmm, I think I’m with Shealyn,” Ariana replied. “Youhave the perfect jump shot.”
Nicole knew Ariana had her eyes on her when she took a shot or dribbled. Could she be thinking the same thing Nicole was? “Yeah, I elevate all of three inches when I shoot.”
“What did you say about your legs?” Ariana mused. “They aren’t as springy.”
Nicole chuckled. “Or as strong.”
