Chapter 59

“Mathias…”

“Shh.” His thumb rubbed deeply into the sole of my left foot. He tapped out a message.

“Mmm. I love you too. But…”

“Shh. Nice, huh?” He slowly rolled down that sock, took it off, and then removed the other one. Despite Coach Keller’s strongly stated objections, I was hoping my jeans would be next. They were. Mathias tried, but I slid farther down the bed as he tugged on the hem at the bottom of both pant legs. It made him laugh. God, how I missed his laugh. “Unbutton them.”

“Should I?”

“Unless you want to fall on the floor, yeah.”

“That’s not my main concern.”

“Keller’s dumb.”

“Hey.” I still hated that word—and I hated the arrogance it took for Mathias to use it on Coach.

“You know what I mean.” He moved up to the side of the bed and unfastened my pants himself as he turned my words on me yet again. “His superstition is. We can have sex without it affecting our swimming in any way.”