it, couldn’t wait to get his hands on it later. A lot of swimmers looked like that, but there was something about Isaac’s particular combination of the swimmer’s body, the long arms, his great height, and his movie-star face that made him particularly appealing.
“Good Lord,” said Ginny, echoing Tim’s thoughts.
Tim wondered, if the press was interested in Isaac enough to determine if he had a girlfriend, what would they do if he had a boyfriend? Could being with Isaac invite more of the press attention Tim wanted no part of?
Maybe he was getting ahead of himself. Likely this was an Olympic romance. He’d fly back to Colorado and Isaac would fly back to North Carolina, and they’d never see each other again. So why not have as much fun as possible in the meantime? They were relatively safe in the Athlete Village, away from the prying eyes of the media, which wasn’t allowed beyond each country’s designated public space. Hell, even the families of the athletes weren’t allowed in the dorms.
“He’s going to swim again tonight,” Ginny said.
“So?” said Colin. Tim detected a little jealousy in his tone. Maybe he was sweet on Ginny.
“So, as swimmers age, it takes their bodies longer to break down the lactic acid in their system. So it’s actually kind of dangerous for swimmers over thirty to sprint so close together.”
“Isaac is twenty-nine,” said Kayla. “He went to UNC with my sister.”
“I’m so jealous of your sister,” said Ginny. “Flood was really cute as a kid. But he’s dead sexy now.”
Colin was glaring daggers at the screen.
Tim laughed softly.
“Come on, Timmy, you have to agree,” Ginny said.
“That Isaac Flood is dead sexy?” said Tim, deciding to play along. “I agree 100 percent. And now he has a gold medal, which makes him even sexier.”
“Do you have a gold medal, Colin?” asked Ginny.
Colin looked like he wanted to kill someone. Probably Isaac. “No,” he grumbled.
“I have one,” said Tim, enjoying himself. “Technically, Isaac has seven of them now.”
“Flood is a wanker,” Colin said.
Chapter 9
BACK AT the Aquatics Center, Isaac climbed out of the warm-up pool. He felt good. A fair amount of excitement and adrenaline flowed through his system from his win earlier. Adam walked over and said, “Think you can swim a hundred meters in forty-eight seconds or less?”
“In my sleep.”
“Good, you’re swimming anchor.”
Isaac nodded. The other guys were ready to go, standing in their coats at the American Lounge corner. Isaac located his caps and goggles, and then Adam helped him into his coat. He walked into the little holding room where the athletes had to wait until the announcer summoned each team. Isaac slipped his headphones over his ears and reached into his coat pocket for his phone, starting the white noise app. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down, to focus. It was one thing to swim his own race, but he had three other guys depending on him now.
Luckily, they all knew better than to talk to him once the headphones were on.
Adam slapped each of them on the back, and then an official gave them the signal to walk out. Luke grabbed Isaac’s hand, so Isaac grabbed Randy’s, and all four of them raised their hands together as they walked through the pool entrance. They were a team, the gesture was supposed to say.
They were expected to win.
Isaac tuned out the crowd noise and everything else except for the pool in front of him. The Americans were in Lane Six, which wasn’t the best lane assignment, but the prelim team had qualified third overall, and this was the placement they were stuck with.
Adam had assigned Conor to the first lap, so he got ready, got up on the block, and went when the buzzer sounded. Isaac still had about two minutes to collect himself, so he kept his headphones on and took a few cleansing breaths. He shrugged out of his coat as Conor returned and exchanged with Luke. Randy walked over to the block. Isaac watched Randy as he finished stripping and pulled his second cap on. Isaac did the prerace dance as Luke and Randy exchanged. He had no notion of where the team swam in the race relative to the other teams, although now Luke and Conor were standing at the edge cheering Randy on. Isaac stepped up on the block. Isaac saw from that vantage point that Randy had a healthy lead, a good body length and a half ahead of the next