In the Fast Lane (Fast Series Book 1) by Evie Anderson Read Free Book Online

head and plowed on in true Jessi fashion. “Doesn’t matter. Anyway, I’ve got everything set up for the fall. I’m going to do some scouting work for Florida’s swim team with Sawyer. Yeah.” She nodded. “I’m just ready to move on with my life.”
    All this had been delivered at breakneck speed. Just like the kid he remembered. Balls out to the wall and back. Jessi Pruitt never did anything slowly.
    “That sounds...grown up. And responsible.”
    “Yes. Some of us are capable of those things.” From the tone of her voice, she’d probably meant that as a joke, but her words hit a little too close to home.
    “Yeah, then there’re the rest of us punks.”
    “Hey, Dalton, I didn’t mean it like that. I was joking.”
    “I know,” he said lightly. “So was I.” Sort of.
    Jessi looked at him dubiously but let it go. “All right. Well, I’m going to get ready for lunch. You going to be there?”
    “I’ll be at the coaches’ table.”
    “They feed you guys the same stuff on that side of the tracks?”
    “No.”
    “Seriously? That is not fair.”
    “Okay, they do, but we have the right of refusal...and Jimmy Johns. I sent one of the assistants out earlier.”
    “Asshole.”
    “Yep.” He bumped her shoulder and walked out of the weight room having enjoyed their verbal sparring and worrying that maybe, just like when they were younger, Jessi Pruitt saw more than he wanted her to see.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
    Lunch was the same ritualistic affair it always was. Coaches sat at a table across the room; swimmers sat in small groups. Conversation was limited by food, drink, supplements, and sheer exhaustion. Still, there was a calm sense of camaraderie that cut through the competitive tension and made the group a team.
    Jessi was too distracted to enjoy it. She couldn’t take her eyes off Dalton, who was currently laughing at something Sawyer was saying. He was so in his element here. She couldn’t imagine him in a world that didn’t involve swimming. How had he survived the last eight years without it?
    “Not your problem,” she muttered to herself. She was spending way too much time thinking about her coach.
    “You okay?” Amelia looked up from her tray.
    “Yeah. I’m just tired today. I’m going to head up to my room for a little R&R before afternoon practice.” She picked up her tray and started for the doors. She’d almost made it down the hall when she heard Dalton’s voice.
    “Jessi, wait.”
    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She couldn’t get away from him. Opening her eyes, she turned to see Dalton jogging to catch up to her. “What do you need, Dalton?”
    Reaching out to hand her a sheet of paper, he said, “Here’s your revised schedule for the day. We’re going to start with resistance training in the water. Then we’ll work on the stroke.”
    Jessi reached out to take the paper from him. She looked down at the sheet and then up at him, wide-eyed with shock. “I’m with you all day—no breaks.”
    He grinned. “Sucks, doesn’t it?”
    “Kind of.” She was going for snarky, but it was all smoke and mirrors. Inside, she was reeling. Dalton was going to run her ragged, no doubt. That she could handle. The physical stuff wasn’t the problem here. Not being able to get away from him and being kind of happy about that fact was far more troubling than a little ass kicking.
    “Well, get your mind around it. I’ve got all kinds of fun activities planned.” He winked at her and turned back toward the coaches’ table.
    Shit, shit, shit . On so many different levels.
    An hour later, she was thinking up far more vulgar phrases.
    “Pruitt! God damn it, are listening to a fucking thing I say?”
    “No! Because everything you say is stupid,” Jessi yelled back and threw the empty water bottle he’d chucked at her mid-stroke. “You threw a fricking water bottle at me?”
    “Yes. Because you wouldn’t stop, and you suck!”
    “I couldn’t hear