Fighting to Win (The Elite Book 1) by Nicole Flockton Read Free Book Online Page B

be a judge or a diving expert but he’d watched Julia enough times to know that the person in front of her, while good, wasn’t up to the same standard.
    He headed out into the sunshine to wait.
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    H e’d expected her skin to have the lingering aroma of chlorine, but instead an enticing floral scent teased his nostrils. Mitch plunged his hands into his pants pockets to prevent himself from grabbing Julia’s hand; maybe going to find some food with Julia wasn’t wise. If he took her hand, he’d be tempted to pull her closer so he could bury his nose in her neck and inhale deeply, before kissing the same spot. Did her skin still taste sweet?
    “Any idea where you want to go?”
    What would she do if he said he wanted to take her back to his room and feast on her? Drake was at a session in the gym, and he mentioned something about getting some physio on his ankle. So they would have the room to themselves for a while.
    Maybe they could get takeaway.
    Or maybe he could get his hormones under control.
    “How about we go to the café in the village?”
    “That’s going to be pretty crowded.”
    With the direction his thoughts were heading, being in a crowd was probably the best thing for the both of them. But if she was talking about it being crowded, did that mean she wanted to be alone with him, too? Nah, it was his imagination running away with him. He hadn’t seen her and Brett making an effort to hang out together, but that didn’t mean anything. He couldn’t watch her all hours of the day. And he’d caught a glimpse of them together when the whole team had congregated together before the opening ceremony. They hadn’t seen him, but he’d seen them. The last thing he wanted to think about right now was Brett Hunter. He put up with Brett because he was a teammate and a good swimmer.
    Why was he thinking about this shit? He finally had an opportunity to have Julia all to himself. He needed to take advantage of that.
    “Do you know of a place where it’s not crowded?”
    Julia stopped walking, and he followed suit. Thanks to her sunglasses, he couldn’t see her eyes so he had no idea what she was thinking. The way she was chewing on her bottom lip gave him some idea that nerves were vying for top place within her.
    “Well,” she started then stopped, running her tongue across her bottom lip. The action made his body harden, remembering the feel of that tongue on him. “We could grab something to go and then eat in my room. Brooke’s not going to be back for a little while. She had practice then she was going to spend time with Dane.”
    “Dane? The Australian who beat me and almost beat me in the 400m individual medley two nights ago? That Dane?”
    “Ahh, yeah. That one.”
    “Right.”
    She held her arms up in surrender. “Look, you know what happens at the Games. People hook up.”
    He chuckled. What she’d said was true. There was something about the atmosphere that encouraged people to hook up for a few days of fun. He and Julia had first met in London at the last Olympics. They’d talked, but that had been it. It wasn’t until they reconnected at one of the regional competitions a couple of years after London that he decided he wanted to see more of her. Fortunately, the feeling had been mutual. Until it had all fallen apart after the allegations of bribery came to light.
    God, why couldn’t he stop thinking about that?
    “Mitch! Do you want to get something to go, or did you want to eat at the café, or do you want to forget this whole thing?”
    “No.” His response came out harsher than he’d intended. “No, I don’t want to forget this whole thing. Hell, why do you think I came to your practice? I came to see you.”
    “Okay. Well, I’m glad you came to see me.”
    Mitch closed the distance between them, knowing it wasn’t the best idea. He didn’t care what was happening around him. He pulled Julia close, lowering his head until his lips almost touched hers.
    Right now, he