Free Wild Child by Shelley Munro

number of women present. Great. Everyone was here.
    “Warm up first. Stretches then two laps of the field.” The collective groan made him grin. But despite the rain, which had eased slightly, and the brisk wind outside, the women filed outside, eager to start training. Allen, his mentor, had said they were keen and he’d boasted that several of his players were good prospects for the Black Ferns. Tyler was looking forward to coaching them. He scanned the faces of the remaining team members and did a double take.
    “Issy? Is that you?” Issy Deans halted in front of him, a deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression on her face. His friend’s sister wasn’t all skin and bones with gangly legs anymore. He grabbed her in a quick hug, hormones zapping to stunned life and heading south. Well, hell, she didn’t feel gangly either. “Great to see you. Allen told me you’re one of his stars.”
    “Tha-thanks,” she muttered.
    Tyler hid a grin at the cute stutter. She’d always stuttered a little. “Better get out there before the rest of the team think I’m playing favorites.”
    Issy cast him an uncertain look before inching past. Did she think he was going to bite? Once clear of the changing rooms, she broke into a trot, the smooth motion beautiful to watch and the flex of her ass a wonderful thing. The woman had grown into her gangly legs. He grinned openly. Hell yeeeah . He’d like a bite of that. Maybe he’d ask her out. There was only a month left of the season. Under normal circumstances, he’d keep well away from romantic entanglements, keep things professional, but since the season was almost done and he was moving on to take the Auckland assistant coach position, he thought he could justify personal involvement. As long as her brothers didn’t appear home on leave from the army to act the heavy chaperones. Damn, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all.
     
     

Flatmates. Best friends. Casual lovers.
     
Fringe Benefits
    Copyright 2008 Shelley Munro
     
     
    Heat shimmered in the air, making patterns swirl above the sealed driveway. A New Zealand summer at full blast—hot, humid and sweltering with dazzling blue skies and a capricious breeze. Marie Wright stretched out on a towel under the shade of an old oak tree, droplets of water glistening on her partially naked body. The house she shared with Kelvin Green and Shane Coulter lay on the outskirts of small-town Tuakau. They had no close neighbors, a fact she appreciated on this sticky January day since there was no one to witness her swimming topless in the river.
    A sigh escaped as she thought of her two flatmates. Falling for both men at the same time was a disaster waiting to happen. Plain weird and kinky even, but oh, she wished she were brave enough to act on the desire. Two men and one woman. No matter how hard she tried, the thought refused to go away. It was making her crazy, but she didn’t want to lose their friendship or upset her current housing situation so she remained silent.
    “Hey, Marie. You gonna turn over and let me see those luscious breasts of yours?”
    Marie let out a shriek and bolted upright, grasping her orange beach towel to her breasts and knocking her sunglasses askew. She only relaxed when she saw it was Kelvin and that he was alone. Her breath eased out but her heart continued to race. “Don’t frighten me like that.” She rearranged her towel and tried to relax again, or as much as she could in her semi-naked state. “Where’s Saffron?”
    Kelvin dropped a towel beside her and stripped off his faded T-shirt and black shorts. “We broke up.”
    His flat tone told Marie he didn’t want to discuss it. She watched him stride to the riverbank naked, his lean and athletic form tanned to golden brown from their frequent swimming during the past month. Her mouth dried as she sneaked a look at his butt, her eyes screened by the sunglasses. Beautiful. Muscles flexed with natural grace, reminding her of the statue David