athlete, period. God, that’s us both, for different reasons.”
“Yeah,” Tim said, unsure of what Isaac was trying to tell him.
“I showed up in Madrid expecting to get in there and get it done. To be my own man and swim my races and maybe win something. But since you and I started talking to each other? I realized I don’t want to do it alone. I mean, yeah, I’ve got my coach and my teammates. My mother and my sister are flying in tomorrow. But I just….” Isaac looked up. “No one understands. Adam, my coach, has been amazing, he knows what my goals are. My family has been sympathetic and supportive. But no one gets how hard this is. No one understands how badly I need this. Except, I think, you. And talking to you has been the best part of my Olympic experience so far.”
Tim’s heart broke for Isaac. The alcoholism, that was harder to relate to, but needing a win? Needing to do it for himself, spotlight be damned? Yeah, Tim understood that.
“For me too,” Tim said softly.
Isaac reached over and ran his hand along the side of Tim’s face. “I like you a hell of a lot. I don’t want to fuck this up. Because I think we’re going to need each other for the next sixteen days.”
That was likely true. Tim didn’t want to put their budding friendship in jeopardy either. He found himself leaning into Isaac’s touch anyway. He looked up and met Isaac’s gaze.
Tim couldn’t help himself. Sitting like this, they seemed almost the same height. Tim leaned over and pressed his lips against Isaac’s.
Because yeah, he needed Isaac’s friendship. But he needed this too.
Isaac groaned and shoved his fingers into Tim’s hair, holding him there while they plundered each other’s mouths. Oh, Isaac was a good kisser. A great kisser. A tremendous kisser. The pressure of his firm lips felt strong and exciting against Tim’s. His tongue snaked out to run along Tim’s teeth. He tasted of toothpaste and coffee. And merely by being there in that room, Isaac made Tim’s heart pound and his skin tingle. But now that they were touching, Tim worried he might go up in flames.
But he couldn’t stop. He reached out and ran his hands along Isaac’s arms, feeling all that warm, smooth skin. He’d heard people ragging on Isaac’s looks, calling his body freakish because his proportions were so odd, but to Tim, he was perfect.
When they pulled apart, Tim had a moment of worry, thinking Isaac might be angry or reject him again. Maybe kissing Isaac had been a stupid risk.
But Isaac smiled. “I suppose we could be the sort of friends who make out sometimes.”
Tim laughed. “That sounds good to me.”
ISAAC SWAM laps in the warm-up pool because it was the only way he could think of to shut off his brain.
He couldn’t get Tim out of his thoughts. They hadn’t done anything after the kiss besides eat and then walk down to the Aquatics Center together. But that kiss was very much still on Isaac’s mind. Because while he’d been completely honest with Tim, and he needed an ally more than anything else, he wanted Tim too.
He’d really only wanted to have breakfast away from other people this morning, but he’d wanted to see Tim too, so he’d texted. He hadn’t intended to do or say anything in particular. But Tim had the whole of it now. And he still wanted Isaac anyway.
So this could happen, whatever was going on between them. Isaac wanted it to happen. But he didn’t need a distraction right now.
He hauled himself out of the pool and went to find Adam. It was early still. Official swim heats wouldn’t begin for two more days. There were a dozen other swimmers practicing in the pool, but Isaac knew from experience that it would be much worse this afternoon.
The diving pool sat on the opposite end of the Aquatics Center, which was a massive complex that housed four pools and was the main venue for all swimming, diving, and water polo events. So the diving pool was far enough away that Isaac could barely see the people congregating at the base of the dive tower.
As Isaac stood near the blocks and waited for Adam—who was engaged in what looked like an intense conversation with Luke and Katie—he watched the divers, but he couldn’t see much besides when a diver jumped off the platform. Even then, the diver looked like