WALK-THROUGH
Lucas
THERE WAS A good chance my arms were going to turn into fins.
If an NFL player typically spent twice as much time in meeting rooms as they did on the field, he must spend three times as much time in water.
Seriously, between hot tubs and cold tubs and showers, I was starting to feel like a fish. The heck of it was there was no denying I was feeling a whole lot better.
Almost normal.
After throwing on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, I left the locker room and strode down the hall toward the exit.
For some reason, I slowed just before the training room. The lights were still on and I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.
Stopping near the doorway, I poked my head in. I had no idea why I was doing this, but a part of me was hoping . . .
I spotted the Coach’s daughter immediately. I think my heart nearly skidded out of my chest when I realized—I missed her.
Missed talking to her.
Being with her.
Her.
Gillian.
She was over at the whirlpools, cleaning them out. Her hair was back in a ponytail and a few strands of red glinted from the glare of the overhead lights shining on it.
I watched as her ponytail swung from the amount of effort she was putting into scrubbing the basin.
I watched as her long lashes brushed her checks when she closed her eyes from the effort she was putting into her work.
I watched her.
“S-s-s-s-s-h-h-h,” she muttered, as though wanting to swear but not doing so.
Biting my fist to stop from laughing, I stepped inside. “New curse word I should learn?”
Her head jerked up and when her gaze landed on me, she froze. “Lucas.”
With my eyes locked on hers, I found myself walking her way. Normally, I wouldn’t bother going after a girl. Not ever. And yet, this was my second time with her. In this case, I wanted to close in before I changed my mind and hightailed it out of this dangerous situation.
“Hi, Gillian,” I greeted smoothly.
“What are you doing here?” she asked breathlessly.
I glanced down into the tub and then up at her before shrugging. “Just wondering if s-s-s-h-h-h is another way of saying this part of the job sucks?”
She rolled her eyes at me. Rolled her eyes. And then she shook her head. Shook her head.
“Is it?” I asked.
As if she were planning on ignoring me, she turned the water on and began rinsing the cleanser away.
I reached inside the tub and curled my hand around hers. “Gillian, did you hear me?”
I knew she did.
Yanking her hand away from my mine, she used the sprayer to wash down the sides. “Yes, I did.”
“Well, are you going to answer me?”
She sighed. “No, it isn’t.”
Trying to connect with her some way, I kept on. “If you ask me, it sounded like you were going to say shit.”
Her gaze lifted. “Look, Lucas, I’ve had a crappy week and have a lot to do.”
The agitation in her voice hit me hard. She was dismissing me. And although everything in me screamed fuck it, just turn and walk away, I couldn’t. “Why? What’s going on?”
There was a moment I was fairly certain she thought about aiming that water nozzle at me, but then she cocked her head to the side. “Let’s see,” she said, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. “Where should I start?”
“At the beginning,” I suggested, trying to be funny, however I was certain I sounded more like a smartass.
“Oh right.” She gave me the fakest of smiles “That’s easy. On Monday I got up extra early to meet this football player who decided to flake on me without so much as a text. He must think he’s hot stuff.”
Drawing in a breath, I had to interject. “What makes you say that?”
Water splashed her face, but she ignored it. “Well obviously his private training sessions mean nothing to him.”
“That’s harsh.”
She turned the water pressure up. “It’s true. I mean even after I texted him to remind him to show up on Tuesday, he didn’t.”
I took the nozzle from her to finish the rinsing. “He sounds like an inconsiderate bastard.”
Her lips twitched and her eyes flashed. I’d almost gotten a smile out of her. I really wasn’t a bastard, but in her defense what I did was pretty rude. “I wouldn’t use the word inconsiderate. I’m sure he wanted to let me know. Perhaps scared would be a better way to describe him.”
I shut the water off and moved around the tub to be closer. “Scared? Is that what you think?”
The room looked spotless, but she walked over to the counter and picked up a container of Clorox wipes, yanking one up. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
After reaching for some paper towels to dry my hands, I tossed them in the trash and followed her across the room. “This guy’s ego is taking quite a beating. I bet he already feels like a big enough ass.”
Gillian started furiously wiping down the counters. “Oh, I doubt that. Like I inferred earlier, he’s a little full of . . .” She shook off the rest of her thought and didn’t finish.
First hot stuff.
Now full of myself.
Is that what she was thinking?
I grabbed her hand to stop her. “If he were here, I’m sure he’d say he was sorry for the way he treated you.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, but she couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from tilting upward. “It doesn’t really matter, I’m over it. In fact, I’ve moved on. I have other things to worry about now.”
My face fell, and I think my heart did too. “What do you mean by other things?” I air quoted the last two words.
There was a desk at the end of the counter and she flopped in the chair. “Just what it sounded like. I have other things to worry about.”
She was wearing a pair of blue shorts and a white tank top, but it wasn’t until she propped her feet up on the desk that I noticed how sunburned her long, lean legs looked. Curious, I leaned back against the counter and stretched my own long, muscular legs out in front of me. “What? Like the sunburn on your legs?”
That comment went ignored, but she did move her head in an exaggerated motion to make sure I saw how she was looking me up and down.
“I’ll take that as a no. So what is it?”
This time she shrugged, as if annoyed, and without taking her gaze from mine, she said, “If you must know, the team had a number of injuries today and we were short handed. Liam flew home for undisclosed personal reasons early this morning. The five of us have to pick up the slack, so as it turns out, I don’t have the time anymore to dedicate myself to just one player.”
That felt like a sucker punch. What was more, I deserved it. “Strawberry Fields,” I said with a sigh, “don’t be this way.”
Those green pools narrowed on me. “My name is Gillian, not Strawberry Fields,” she responded. Her tone was clipped, almost pissed off. With a huff, she set her feet on the floor and whirled around to the computer, which was on the other side of her.
“Come on,” I pleaded to her back. “You like it when I call you that. I know you do.”
Or I thought she did.
Maybe not?
That didn’t make her turn around. However, it did seem to stop her from doing any work. She let her fingers hover over the keypad, but she didn’t type anything. Then again, she didn’t say anything, either.
“Gillian,” I groveled, this time a little rougher, a little more raspy. Not only did I not like this silent treatment, I didn’t like anything about this current situation.
In less than a heartbeat, she twirled back around and glared in my direction. With a thump, she got to her feet and strode over to me. “Stop whatever this is you’re doing.”
Understanding the need to get it out, I stood there and gave her time to finish. I knew she wasn’t done. I could tell.
She poked my chest with her finger hard enough that I had to lean back. “I’m not going to play games with you, Lucas. I don’t like them. I’m sure you’re used to getting any girl you want, whenever you want, but I won’t be one of them.”
I blinked, not expecting this rant. “I don’t want you to be.”
Now she was waving her finger at me. “Then stop thinking you can come in and out of my life when it suits you because I have news for you—you can’t. Do you understand me?”
I stood where I was, an odd ache in my chest.
Her hand dropped to her side. Clearly, she was finished.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice soft.
With a shrug, she took a step back. “That’s great. I feel so much better now. I think this conversation is over. You should go. It’s almost time for dinner.”
A quick glance at the clock told me I had a few minutes. “Gillian, I’m not trying to hurt you. It’s just,” I stopped. Ran a hand through my hair, and grouped my thoughts. “It’s just I . . . don’t know how to say it . . . we can’t be together. We just can’t.”
She sighed and looked away. “You don’t want to jeopardize your career. I get it, Lucas, and I don’t blame you. I just think you could have talked to me about our situation before you shut me out the way you did. That’s all. Now please go.”
I shook my head. I hated this. She had it wrong, or at least most of it. I moved a little closer and lifted her chin. “Gillian, listen to me.”
Again, she glanced away.
“Please.”
Her piercing gaze found mine.
“I’m not good at any of this, and it seemed like letting it go was better than trying to put my feelings into words.”
“Well, it wasn’t.”
“I get that.”
“Good,” she said. “Now, will you please go?”
I shook my head. “No, I won’t. I want you to understand where I’m coming from.”
She looked at me, but said nothing. I took that as a green light.
“Sure, my career is part of the reason I know I should stay away from you,” I said. “The fact that your father has the power to make it or break it is also most definitely a factor that I have to take into consideration. But there’s so much more to us. To the reasons we should stay apart.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like your reputation,” I blurted out. “It’s at stake every time you’re with me. All it takes is one affair with a player to get out, and then all the guys will think . . . well you know what they’ll think.”
“No, what will they think? That I’m easy, that I’m loose, that I’m an easy score? Is that what you mean?”
“Yeah,” I admitted, “and I won’t have that hanging over your head. Whether you’re here or not, I don’t want that for you.”
She crossed her arms. “Is that what you think about me?”
“No!” I said adamantly. “Not at all.”
“If you’re worried about me, you don’t have to be. I can take care of myself, and my own reputation. I’ve been doing it for a long time.”
Her words sounded tough, but the quiver of her bottom lip gave away the fact she was upset, and I hated that I was the cause of her sorrow. “Believe me,” I said, taking my voice down a notch. “I know you can.”
“Then it looks like we have nothing else to discuss.” She unwrapped her arms from her body, and then pivoted on her toe in the direction of the open door.
I reached for her and tugged her to me. “I don’t want to want you,” I breathed, my mouth hovering just centimeters from hers.
She tried to pull away, but not whole heartedly. If she wanted me to let her go, I would have, but I knew she didn’t. “Then stop,” she sighed.
I took her face in my hands. “I can’t. I don’t know how to.”
And I really wished I did.
“Neither do I,” she whispered.
Unable to stop myself, I crashed my lips to hers and drove my tongue into her mouth to retrace every inch that I had explored days ago.
Gillian pushed herself against me and placed her thigh between my legs. I thought I might go out of my mind the minute she nudged upward. In the position she was in there was no doubt she could feel me getting hard, which was fine by me because I wanted her to really understand what she did to me.
Without another thought, I was moving her hand to the bulge in my pants. “Feel this,” I muttered into her mouth.
The hoarse, low raspy noise she made was one I knew I would remember for a very long time.
I moved my mouth down her throat. “That’s what you do to me every single time you look at me the way you do. Remember how my hard cock feels under your fingertips the next time you question what it is I’m feeling toward you.”
Her hand inched up the fabric of my sweats until it settled on the waistband. “I don’t think I can ever forget it, even if I wanted to.”
I groaned out loud when she pushed her hands inside my sweatpants. There was a really good chance I would get lost in the moment as soon as her fingers found purchase on my more than ready cock, and that wasn’t a good idea.
Despite knowing this, somehow our mouths were fused together again. Her tongue slid along mine as her fingers traveled a little further down. She was close, so close to having me in her grasp, and I knew if she did, I would never be able to stop her.
I wouldn’t want to.
“Not here,” I somehow managed to reason. And then I pulled back and cupped my hands in her hair to lift her face toward me. “I want your touch too much. I have been aching for you. I haven’t been able to think about anything else.”
“Lucas,” she moaned. “I don’t want to stop.”
“Me either, but here isn’t right. Sunday night is our first night off. We’ll meet somewhere. It will be just you and me, and no one will know where we are.”
Her eyes were wide when she spoke. “But that’s three nights away. Come to my room tonight.”
I shook my head. “The first time I have you I don’t want to have to worry about how much noise we make or who might be outside the door.”
Her mouth twisted in thought. “You have a point. But where are we going to go?”
Getting some distance seemed like a good idea, so I stepped back and leaned against the counter, propping one of my Adidas on the lower cabinet. “I know a place,” I grinned.
Her eyes glittered with instant interest. “A place?”
“Well, I don’t personally know of the place,” I confessed. “But I heard my roommate making plans with one of his girls to meet at a historic hotel in the village, or rather I heard him agree to meet her there after he suggested Motel 8.”
She lifted a brow. “Your roommate has girls? As in more than one?”
I raised my hands in surrender. “Hey, it’s not my business.”
“Why do all of the unmarried players have to have harems?”
Seriously, I had to laugh. “Harems? Ummm . . . I honestly have no idea.”
Her eyes narrowed on me. “Do you have a harem?”
“Me?” I pointed a finger to myself. “That’s pretty funny.”
“Why not? Girls don’t interest you?”
I straightened. “I think you already know they do.”
“Then why is it funny?”
“Because I don’t . . .” Hmmm . . . I wasn’t sure how to say it without sounding callous.
She cut me off before I could fully explain. “How many girls do you have on speed dial?”
“None.”
She raised her hand, palm up. “Let me see your phone.”
I shrugged and pulled it from my pocket. Once I unlocked it, I handed it to her. “Have at it.”
Gillian pressed the favorites button and her eyes scanned the short list. “Who’s Tess?” she asked with speculation.
“She’s my sister-in-law.”
She didn’t look convinced.
I took my phone and brought up a recent photo and then handed my phone back to her. “That’s her with my brother and their kids, Nicky and Sophie.”
The smile on her face when she saw the picture made my heart beat a little faster and I wasn’t entirely comfortable with that. “They look so happy.”
“They are,” I said, and I might have sounded a little wistful, but I had no idea why. “And you didn’t say anything about the name above hers.”
Gillian’s smile grew wider. “I saw it.”
“Give it to me,” I said putting my hand out again. “I can change the name right now from Strawberry Fields to—”
She set the phone on the counter. “Don’t do that.”
So yeah, I wore an obnoxiously smug smirk. “But you said you didn’t want me to call you that.”
“I never said that. I said my name is Gillian. Which it is.”
“So I can call you that?”
She shrugged, and I took that as a yes.
“Just so you know,” I said, “when you asked me if I had a harem and I laughed, it was because I’ve never found much use for girls, other than sex that is.”
“Women,” she corrected. “At our age I think the term women is more appropriate, and I’m not exactly sure how to take that comment, or what it even means.”
“It means football has been my life, and since girls, women, whatever, don’t play, I’ve never been inclined to stick around.”
“I play,” she said, sounding offended.
My lips twitched in amusement. “Yes, I’m sure you do, and I’m also certain you’re pretty good at it. But if you’d let me finish, what I’m trying to say is other than my sister-in-law, I’ve never really had a meaningful conversation with a woman . . . until you.”
Those green eyes glittered with an emotion I couldn’t quite define, and for a moment the sassy, full of fire woman standing in front of me was speechless.
Admitting that should have made me look arrogant and uncaring, but hell, I was, so I didn’t let it bother me. It felt good to say it out loud. Confess something I had never realized about myself until her.
All of this taking place right now though meant I was going to move forward. That I was Adam and I would be giving into Eve’s temptation.
That I would take a bite of the forbidden fruit standing in front me. And God help me, I hoped I wasn’t going to burn in hell because of it.
Or in the context of my world . . . lose my position on the team.
I glanced back up at the clock. “Shit, I have to go.”
Her head twisted to look at the time. “You better hurry,” she said, swatting my ass as I rushed passed her.
Oh, no, that was not going unaddressed. I whirled around and took her in my arms. “Extra-low fives are for the field, between players. A girl should kiss a guy properly when saying goodbye,” I breathed really close to her mouth.
When she brought her lips to mine, I pulled away, and strutted backwards. “Meet me in our spot on the bridge at ten.”
Gillian’s mouth was hanging wide open in protest. “But you just said you wanted to wait until Sunday?”
“I do, to be inside you, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start the foreplay early.”
That made her smile and blush.
“Oh, and have those lips ready,” I winked. “I want that proper kiss.”
She smiled even wider. “You really are too much, Carrington.”
She had no idea how much I was, but then again . . . neither did I.