Page 10 of High Baller

Am I making it that obvious that I want to?

He walks away from us, and Calvin taps my shoulder, making me turn to face him. “You coming out?”

I look out towards the door and see that there’s a lot of people out there. “Just going to have a nosey first,” I say, not taking my eyes off of the crowd.

Calvin said that it was a pool party, so I knew it’s be busy. A woman toward me, and I smile at her as she passes while discreetly checking her out. She’s tall, extremely slim, and there’s not a flaw on her in sight. Yep, I’m surrounded by models.

“Don’t be too long.” Calvin follows the women outside.

I begin my walk down the hallway as I scan the pictures hanging on the wall. I lift up on my tip-toes to get a better view, as they’re so high up. They’re all of Trey while he’s playing in a game.

I can’t help but smile at the next one. I can see that he loves the game. In every picture he's smiling, even when he’s playing, there's a smile on his face.

“We lost that game?” I stop tip toeing and turn to my right.

I see Trey, shirtless, leaning against the wall as he looks sideways at the picture. My eyes fall to his naked torso and I take in every hard plane, the lines of definition deep between each defined muscle, and then over every tattoo on his sexy frame.

Oh, Fuck, he’s hot.

I snap my attention back up when I realize I’ve been staring for far longer than necessary. “You look happy in it,” I say, coughing a little to cover my embarrassment, then move to the next picture.

“Shorty, if you don’t love what you do, you need to get out and find what makes you happy,” he says. “Basketball makes me smile every day. The thought of waking up and spending twenty minutes on the court every morning makes me happy.” Trey says, and you can hear the joy of the sport in voice.

He moves and I feel him stand next to me, and I quickly step toward the next picture.

This hallway seems to be never ending. “So, is there a reason for the pool party today?” I ask to hide the unease settling in my stomach. When I get to the last picture, I look up at the stairs. “You have a nice home,” I say as I turn to face him.

He flashes that sexy smile of his. “You’ve not even seen half of it yet. Would you like a tour?” Trey asks as his eyes turn to the stairs.

“I won’t go upstairs with you,” I state sharply, the fluttering sensations in my stomach coming to a dead standstill. “Knowing who you are won’t make me want to sleep with you.” I walk away, shaking my head. He thinks because he’s this big player I'll lie on a bed for him like all these bimbos here will? Well, he's very wrong; I’m not that girl.

“Shorty,” he calls out, and I stop and turn to face him. “I don’t want to sleep with you, I want to go to dinner with you. But now I know that my life, my money, means nothing to you, who knows… Maybe you’ll want to once you get to know me, and I know that day will happen.” His tone is smooth as though he’s confident this’ll happen.

“After today, I go back home, and I know for a fact that I'll not sleep with you any time soon,” I say walking away from him before he can say anything else.

Making my way outside, I look around for Calvin.

He appears in front of me, dripping wet from being in the pool. “I got you a… Something sunburn,” he says, holding a couple of glasses.

“Having a nice time in the pool I see.” I take a glass from him, this looks like a nice drink, and tastes even yummier than it looks. “Oh this is nice,” I say, raising the glass again to take another sip.

“This party is amazing, so take off the dress and get in the pool,” Calvin demands as he turns to watch some guests jumping in.

Calvin takes the drink from me, and I scan the area. “Calvin, I can’t—”

“Listen to your friend—take the dress off,” Trey says from behind me as his large, warm hand rests on the small of my back.

I turn to look up at him. “I think your friends are waiting for you, and…” My eyes dart around again. “No pictures,” I add. There’s no way I want any pictures of me taken here.

Trey laughs. “Isn’t that something I should say?” He looks at Calvin watching at me. “Okay, no pictures of you.”

“I think I‘ll stay over here and watch you all in the pool.” I take the drink back from Calvin, then walk over to the bar. “Can I get another one of these please?” I ask, pointing to my glass.

I turn around, my eyes instantly finding Trey, and I admire his sexy face, sexy smile, sexy body, and his tattoos. Oh, so many tattoos. I lick my dry lips, and at that exact moment, he looks over at me. He gives me a wink, then jumps into the pool.

“So, what’s the real reason you’re saying no to Trey?” A male voice asks beside me. I turn to see the guy from the club, the one that let us in. He holds his hand out again. “Derek, sorry, my name’s Derek.”

“Derek, nice to meet you.”