Forbidden Knight (11 page)

He was pacing and shouting, but looking at him was distracting her from his torrent of words. Justus was damp from a shower, but he was in workout clothes, shorts and one of those fancy technical material t-shirts. His height was matched by his muscles, hours of working out and skating had produced an amazing butt, powerful legs, and even with a shirt on she could see his chest and arm muscles ripple and flex as he stormed around her room.
 

Who knew he'd turn out so damn hot? Maybe she'd have stayed in....no, no, she shook off the thought. That would have been completely inappropriate.

She could even see his jaw muscles working, although that was probably because he was clenching his teeth or maybe biting his tongue so he didn't say anything worse to her.

"What are you thinking?" he yelled at her as he crossed the room. Then he kicked the sofa, spun around and sat down on it. One leg crossed over the other his foot tapped on his knee with a staccato beat. She wasn't sure she had ever seen anyone move their foot quite so fast.
 

"What do you mean? I have a job to do, and I'm going to do it. And that job is to make sure you do yours."

"There's so much wrong here, I don't even know where to begin. First of all, I'm, well I was, your brother..."

She held up her hand. "Stop right there. Step-brother. Ex-step-brother to be technical. For God's sake, they were only married for a hot minute." She stopped to calculate, "thirteen months, and for half of it they lived in apart. No one is going to remember it, no one."

Justus squinted at her. "You realize that if you're wrong,
 
if they do, it will be an even bigger story than whatever bullshit the team owner, oh, sorry, the insurance company, thought I was going to get up to. He's engaged to his sister! I can see the headlines now."

"No one is going to find out," Eva was pacing now. It had definitely occurred to her, but Colette had been so insistent, and she needed the money, and a place to stay, and the RV fixed up, and time off, she shook her head as if to shoo the thoughts out, "it won't happen. No one will know."

"You're kidding, right?" He stared at her, we're from the same town, there's what, like 3500 people there? And between the two of us we probably know 2000 of them! Hell, I can't drive into town without someone calling dad to let him know I'm there before I get to his damn house! A trip for groceries is a half an hour of conversation in the vegetable aisle. You think no one in town will remember?"

"It was so long ago, and for such a short time, yes, that's what I think, no one will remember. And if they do, it won't be until after the season is over. It's just four weeks, that's all, one short month. Then you'll have your trophy, and your life back, and I'll be on my way."

Justus shook his head with a deep sigh, "What's in it for you, anyway?"

"Justus, it's my job, that's what. I didn't even know for sure it was you until I went to the game the other night."
 

He squinted his eyes, "You didn't know it was me?"

"Well no, I mean, it's not like we stayed in touch, and well," she waved her hands, "I just didn't realize until after I agreed to do the job."

"And would you have agreed if you'd known it was me."

Eva blinked, and looked at him. She told him the truth, "I don't know, I really don't."

His eyes clouded for a moment, and she didn't know if that was the wrong answer because he wanted her to say yes, or because he wanted her to say no.

"So, have you thought this through?" he asked. "I mean really given this some thought? Traveling with the team, staying in the same hotel..."

Eve interrupted, "The same room actually."

"What? Oh, hell no. Not the same room. Bad enough you'll be in the same city."

"I have news, I'll be in the same room, and I'm traveling on the team bus. You're not understanding, they want me to really keep an eye on you. Like 100%, and I will know where you are at all times. Your salary is riding on it, and so is mine."

"That's so...infuriating!"

"Hey, don't murder the messenger. Or the minder. It wasn't my idea."

"So how are we going to work this? I mean you can't be with me all of the time. And what about the rest of it? The parts no one knows? Can we keep those secret too? We've managed for all this time. Why ruin it now?" And with that Justus began to advance on her until she was pressed up tight against the dresser.
 
"Because if we were together all of the time, things could get...complicated," he finished, as he reached down to stroke her jaw.
 

Eva turned her head to the side to deflect him, but her body was betraying her and going into overdrive. Not good. So not good. God, everywhere he touched her she felt like flames were licking her skin. Ooooh, licking her skin, if Justus were licking her...her legs threatened to buckle.
 

Eva pushed the thought away and stood to face him. "Don't," she warned him, "just don't. That's not happening either."
 

Ignoring the alarm bells being set off by her animal instinct to push him down on the bed and impale herself on him, she looked into his eyes and said "Enough, Justus just... enough. Stop fighting it, it's like one of those finger puzzles, the more you struggle, the harder it will be. "
 

She looked into his eyes and held his gaze, "It's just work. You do your job, I'll do mine. That's all." And I'll do my best to keep my hands off you she thought, but wisely, didn't say.

The team bus was jammed. You'd think that with the kind of money riding on things they'd have, like six buses or something. But you'd be wrong, they had one. It just barely accommodated their players. Just barely. The bus was nice enough, just really jammed. And it might as well have said "He-Man Wimmen Haters" on the front door.

It was the ultimate boys clubhouse, leather sofas in the front and back, with bunks above them, room for a dozen more guys sleeping in the middle, and in the back another leather sofa with bunks above that. Flat screen TV's were stationed in several spots, and there was plenty of food. Tons of bananas, stacks of chips, homemade cookies from someone. And coffee. And a lot of booze tucked into the ice barrel next to the sink.

"Where should I put my stuff?" Eva asked.

"I guess here, at the end of my bunk."

"We're sharing, right, that was the deal?"

"Yup, couldn't ask someone to not take the bus anyway, so you're in with me sweetheart."

"Excellent, what could possibly go wrong?" Eva mumbled.

"What?" Justus raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Nothing. I'm going into the bathroom to change." The bathroom was surprisingly clean, and Eva managed to slip into a track suit she had brought to sleep in. Even shorts and a t-shirt would be too risqué with this crew.

"Nice, is that velour?" Justus said as he stroked the fabric on her arm.
 

"Shut-up, it was the least sexy thing I could find," she swatted at his hand.
 

"Well, it worked. Totally not sexy. We're in this bunk here, might as well hop in. I'm gonna go up front and play some cards."

"I'll go too."

"No, seriously, I'm right here, I won't do anything", he made air quotes, "naughty, but please don't hawk me here on the bus. The guys are already calling you my nanny, and we'll be lucky if none of them calls us out to the press. Just um, read or something, I'll be in later. You can sleep closest to the wall, less risk of falling out, or...being pinched by a random passing hockey player."

All of her life Eva had worked for people who often clearly had no idea what her job was like, even though they made the decisions. It had made for a lot of bad policies that were implemented by people who had no choice. Like when the cashier is told to confiscate a customer's credit card, or decline a return.

This reminded her of that.
 
Obviously no one at the insurance company had thought very carefully about how she would fit in on a team bus with a dozen hockey players and their coaches. But this part of it was her job, making it work.

She crawled into the bunk, and laid there, staring at the ceiling of the motor coach that she was about to call home.
 

**************************************************************

Justus sat squished against the booth seat in the front of the bus. He had just folded his hand because he wasn't paying attention to the game, and he was deep in thought.
 

About her. About Eva. Who'd have thought she'd turn up? His dad and her mom had been married so briefly when he and Eva were teens. He had never forgotten her.

She was just as lovely as he remembered, soft and round, not all pointy edges and sharp plains like so many of the girls who he had dated. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but he preferred his women like her, a little more curve.
 

They had been teenagers thrust together and then apart by their parents bad decisions. Terrible ones, really. His dad and her mom had just fed into each others' crazy.
 

They had shared the same roof only briefly, but Eva had always been good to him. He smiled as he remembered when she was going through her baking phase.
 

Cake after cake had come out of the kitchen, and brownies and cookies. She had always asked him to sample whatever she had made. She had acted like she was his mom or wife or something and set out the goodies with milk and a napkin. For a growing boy who was always hungry because he played hockey every day, except when he was playing baseball or soccer, the endless treats from the kitchen were heaven.

After their folks marriage had imploded, he had tried to keep track of her, at least at first. He had attended every one of the ice shows she had been in, watched her blossom and become beautiful. He had kept an eye on her, and had even shut down a couple of the guys when they had said some stuff he didn't like. He didn't want them breaking her heart just to get in her pants.
 
She was better than that, she deserved better.
 

Of course he'd had a few fantasies of his own about her, but he had kept his distance. The whole thing would have been too weird, and she deserved someone special. He was just an everyday jock, drinking and fighting, and riding a bus from city to city. She could do better.
 

And now? Now here she was. In his bed. Not that he could do anything, or even would if no one was around. They were from different worlds now, she was trying to live her vagabond dream life free and unchained from the world, and he had a team to answer to. But the thought of her, waiting in his bunk was completely distracting. He was getting hard just imagining what he'd like to do to her.

"Justus! Justus! Man, we're talking to you! Hello!" Nate was snapping his fingers in front of Justus's face to get his attention. "Al pulled us over for a pit stop, wanna go in and get a drink?" He looked out the window and saw one lone neon sign in the window flashing, 'Ope.. '

Perfect, a little hole in the wall place in the middle of nowhere, where no one would know him.
 

"Sure, sure I'll go in." One drink, just one, would help him forget, and relax, and somehow sleep with Eva barely a breath away from him. He held his finger to his lips to indicate they should be as quiet as possible, in case Eva was sleeping. He didn't intend to check.

The boys from the bus pushed the door to the bar open and the familiar smell of damp wood and beer floated out. The digital jukebox was singing some sad country song and most surprisingly, the place was jammed. Must be this was the only place to drink out here in the middle of nowhere.

Justus and some of the guys headed for a table while Nate and a few others went to the bar to rustle up some pitchers. No sense trying to drink anything but beer when it was this busy. The table was sticky and Justus leaned his back against the wall to avoid touching anything.
 

Across the room, a dark-eyed brunette with a beautiful smile caught his eye. Justus was startled and looked away. He hadn't had a steady girlfriend in, well, he didn't know how long, and it seemed like a hook-up was out of the question with his pretend fiancée along for the ride. He ducked his eyes, but it was too late.

"Hey, you're a player aren't you?"

"Hockey, you mean?"

"I mean any kind of playing you might have in mind."

"I was only thinking of playing some pool, to be honest."

"Well, I'm a damn fine shot, how about it? I'm Lainey." She tossed over her shoulder.
 

"Justus," he replied as he followed her to the pool table.

And just like that he was playing with fire all over again. He almost didn't care, the insurance company could pound it. He could handle himself.
 

Justus let Lainey break, and right away he realized she hadn't been lying. She almost ran the table before one missed a pocket by a hair's breadth and he was up. He was a pretty fair player himself but no match for her. And honestly, he wasn't feeling it tonight. Besides surely Eva was awake by now and had noticed the deafening silence on the bus.
 

No sooner did he think it, than his fears came true as the door to the bar banged open and Eva stood in the doorway. Her hourglass figure was outlined in the neon of the bar, with the black night providing a sultry backdrop. He couldn't help but stare at her, and for the first time he realized just how hard...um...difficult, sleeping with her in the same bunk was going to be.
 

Her jeans fit her hips like a glove, outlining her beautiful legs and tapering down to her come fuck me heels. Her top was white and billowy, making him think about sliding his hands under it. Except for her scowl, and the smoke coming out her ears, she was just what he would have wished for. If he had time for wishing.

As it stood right now, he didn't have time for much.
 

Eva stood in the doorway for one beautiful moment, she was a vision. And angry vision. When she moved she was a ship under full sail. She spotted him and made a beeline for the pool table.