Undercover Read Online Free Page A

thirty minutes. Their hot, damp bodies touched and bumped as they went for the goal. Hands lingered on one another in an effort to gage the others movement. Their eyes locked and assessed. They shoved, grinded and grunted.
    She was good, but in the end, his size won out.
    Derrick raised his fisted hands in the air with the victory, but then bent at the waist panting. He turned his head to look up at her. “I wore you out.”
    She laughed. Unlike him, she was not trying to catch her breath. “No, you wore yourself out. You gave me a good workout. There’s a difference.” She sauntered over to the bench, snatched a hand towel from her bag and wiped the dampness from her face. She grabbed her water bottle next and took a drink. She held it out to him as he approached.
    “Actually, if you don’t mind, I think I will.” He took the water and chugged the rest. “So do you play basketball on the school team?” He tossed the empty bottle in the garbage.
    “I use to.” She shoved the towel back in the bag and moved it so she could sit down.  
    “Moving to a new school at the start of your senior year had to be pretty tough.” He sat down beside her, the bag between them. He didn’t have to wonder why he kept bringing up the subject of school.
    “Yeah. Sure.” She shrugged. She turned sideways on the bench toward him, her arm on the back of the bench, her head supported by her hand.
    “Do your parents know where you are this late at night?” His gaze riveted on her face, a striking combination of youthfulness and the woman she would become. She took his breath away and stole his ability to think.
    “My mom works nights at the county hospital. She trusts me. And my dad split years ago.” Her smile gleamed against the weak lighting.
    “Any brothers or sisters?”
    “An older brother. He’s a doctor.”
    “How much older?”
    “Going to be a doctor,” she clarified. “Enough about me. Joey told me about your parents. Now that had to be rough.”
    Derrick glanced down at his hands. “Yeah, it was. Sometimes still is. But we survived.”
    “You had to give up your baseball dream.”
    Hearing the sadness in her voice, he looked at her and saw the sympathy reflected in her eyes. Her sweetness sent warm pleasure surging through his veins. “I did, but baseball was just a dream after all. I had no guarantee I’d make the majors.”
    “But you were good enough?”
    “We’ll never know. I like to think so, but maybe it’s good I never had to learn the truth. This way I can keep telling myself I was good enough without having to prove it.”
    “I bet you were something to watch.”
    He got lost in her eyes, in the belief and softness he saw in their depths. His eyes dropped to her lush pink lips and wondered how they would feel against his, against his skin. He grew hard.
    “Derrick…” she said his name and touched his arm.
    It jolted him from his trance. “Jeez, I’m sorry, Erica. You must think I’m an idiot.” Looking away, he shoved his fingers through his hair.
    “No. I think you’re pretty terrific. You’ve sacrificed your own dreams to take care of your brother and you aren’t even resentful toward him.”
    “Of course not. Joey wasn't to blame. I would make the same decision again.”
    And he would. He loved his brother and knew his parents would want him to give Joey the same chance in life they had given him.  
    “You’re a good man, Derrick,” Erica said, her voice soft and low as she ran her hand up his arm.
    Derrick captured her hand, stopping its movement, stopping the torture. He carried her fingers to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I should go.” He pulled away, his voice cracking as he stood. “It’s getting late and you have school tomorrow.”
    Her beauty was like a wicked trap, tangling him up inside. As he walked away, forcing himself not to look back, he knew he better try a hell of a lot harder to keep his distance.
     
    ****
     
    Wow! Erica brought her knuckles