Team Lucas (The Saints Team #1) (22 page)

“Mia?” I heard Lucas say as he looked down the stairs.

I opened the door and found Cam making a house call.

“Morning, Mia, I just dropped in to see how the patient is this morning.” Cam grinned.

“Morning, Dr. Cam.” I stood aside and let him in. “He’s alive and kicking.”

“Just how we like them,” he said. “I’ll give the club a call today and let them know about his reaction.”

“That would be great, thank you. You know the way,” I said and gave him a wave as I disappeared into my own wing.

Fantastic timing; I slipped on my running gear, tied my hair back and got out while the doctor was still in the house and Lucas was distracted.

*****

It felt good to be running again, good to be in my own space. No matter what happened with guys and trust me, Ben and I had broken each other’s hearts a thousand times, I always had my running—my time alone to feel good, feel my body and be with nature. I totally got it when Alice said hot yoga was like sex without the morning after.

I didn’t quite know where to go now with Lucas. If he was warmer with me, I would be warmer with him, otherwise I was going to pretend nothing had happened, but it had. I saw a whole new side to Lucas with his friends and later, a vulnerable side that made him so adorable and human. How did I deal with that? Did I just go back to telling him he’s a bighead or a dick as usual? I guess that could work.

My thoughts went round in loops—no, I was going to leave it entirely in his hands and see what he did—I knew Lucas Ainswright and I knew what he’d do. He’d treat me like shit. He’ll snap a few commands at me, I decided. He’ll invite a model around tonight to show me that he’s in control and he’ll ignore me at training.

Sigh, the drama with Ben was looking like kindergarten stuff by comparison.

I was so busy in thought I forgot to take in the day: the gorgeous blue of the ocean and the smell of salt air. I didn’t realize either that someone was running nearby. I glanced around but couldn’t see anyone, but I had heard their tread. It’s the curse of the woman jogger—having to be alert all the time. I went around the next bend and glanced back. There were lots of trees and curves on the path but I couldn’t see anyone.

It was not long after seven a.m. so a few people were around on the grass and beach doing sit-ups or walking but most joggers were done by now, home and getting ready for work. There it was again, a figure in my peripheral vision. Shit, shit, shit. Don’t tell me it was another photographer or weirdo fan, I hadn’t recovered from the last one yet.

I increased my pace. When I got to the top of the bend I would come out onto the road and be more visible, as there would be passing traffic. My heart was going a hundred miles an hour. I glanced behind. I heard a sound and saw someone this time. It could just be a jogger who would run past me any minute, but I wasn’t going to stop and risk it.

My jog became a sprint. I could hear the footsteps now and I could see the bend to the road. Please God, please God, I prayed. I didn’t want to be that headline tomorrow. Fucking men. A hand touched my shoulder and I screamed and wheeled around.

“What the fuck?” Lucas held up his hands. “Will you wait for me already?”

I bent over, taking huge gulps of air.

“Why did you sneak out?” He stood in front of me.

I rose and gave him a good shove which was no mean feat when you are shoving six-foot-three and one-sixty-five pounds of muscle. He stumbled back about a foot, regaining his footing.

“You idiot,” I screamed at him. And then I kept pounding him, my hands hitting his chest.

“What? Stop! What the hell is wrong with you?” Lucas grabbed my wrists and tried to stop me. I pulled away and got a few more good chest hits in.

“Stop,” he growled and grabbed my wrists again. He spun me around, trapping my arms against my chest, pressing me against him. He stood behind me, so I could feel his body tight against mine.

Lucas put his mouth close to my ear.

“Mia, stop, shh, stop.” He held me so tight that I couldn’t move an inch.

“Let go,” I hissed.

“Stop fighting me,” he said again in a very controlled manner.

“You scared me half to death. Why didn’t you show yourself or call out?” I struggled again. “For fuck’s sake Lucas, let me go.” He was infuriating, I couldn’t move an inch.

“Are you going to stop hitting me?” he asked.

“Fine, yes.”

“Breathe with me,” he said.

“Let me go, Lucas,” I demanded. His arms continued to hold me fixed against him.

“Shh, settle down.” He kissed the top of my head, I’m sure of it. I don’t know whether he forgot he was with me or if he meant to do it. I felt my heart rate dropping and my breathing going back to normal, and then from the adrenaline and fear, tears began to roll down my face. The fight left me and I slumped, trapped in his arms.

Lucas released me and I began to move away from him.

“Hey, hey, hold up.” He reached for my arm and spun me around. I quickly wiped the tears from my face.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“You wouldn’t,” I said. “You never have to think of shit like that when you’re running.”

He put his hand up to my face and touched it, just for a moment. Then he withdrew it just as quickly.

“I would have run with you if you told me you were heading out,” he said.

I shrugged. “Cam was there,” I mumbled as an excuse. I wouldn’t turn down a run with Lucas by my side or even better, in front, but I thought he’d be pushing me away this morning.

“Hmm,” he said. “Come on.” He started walking. I kept stride with him. “Are you all right?”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m just a bit on edge after the home invasion,” I said.

“I get it—the media, the fans, the lack of privacy, the made-up stories—takes some getting used to. But I promise, next time I sneak up on you, I’ll cough or do a bird noise or...”

“Call my name!” I suggested.

“Yeah, not as creative, but I could do that,” he said, with a smile. “By the way, I caught you looking back and checking out that other jogger’s form,” Lucas said, suspiciously.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not checking out his form, I’m checking he’s still running past me. I’m checking that he hasn’t doubled up and is near me or following me.”

“Oh, right,” Lucas said. “It’s tough being a chick.”

“You have no idea.” I sighed. “Run?”

“Sure,” he said and we took off together again.

A better turn up for the morning than I expected. Lucas Ainswright was becoming human.

That night, a story appeared online with the headline:
Tender moment
. The story went on to say how Lucas had won back his personal physio and the photo was of Lucas holding me and a second photo of Lucas touching my face. Lord knows which shrubbery the photographer was in. I guessed they’d keep the shots of me hitting him for a later break-up story.

Chapter 33

Game day. I loved game day when I got to watch Lucas work his magic and out of all the thousands of people at the game, I was the one who was with the star, even if I wasn’t with the star—the thought made me weak.

Lucas secured me three tickets this time so that Alice’s dad could come with us. The doc agreed to let me work down in the physio area during the match. Fantastic! So if I didn’t get back to the seats, at least Alice had company. How many physios get that kind of experience at student level? Taking Lucas’s swabs was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Speaking of which, he was up again at some ungodly hour, blending high protein shakes, eating bananas and carrying on. I opened the joint door.

“Can I come up?” I called.

“Yeah,” he yelled back.

I checked my jeans, light sweater and hair all looked reasonably presentable before I headed upstairs to swab the model-slash-sports star living above me. I grabbed the oral swab kit this time. It was his third game of the season so he should be able to handle the pressure of a game day swab by now.

“Hey,” I said spotting him in the kitchen. Lucas spun around and I had to stop to truly appreciate the view: Lucas stood in white fitted boxer-briefs and a white singlet. Very little was left to the imagination.

“Morning,” he said, sounding distracted.

I waved the oral swab kit at him. “I need to quickly do this. Did you want to put on something...?

Lucas turned to face me full-on. “Something that covers my huge bounty?”

I smirked at him. “Yes, it hardly seems fair to all who will follow.”

His lips curled but he tried not to let on he found me amusing.

“Nuh, let’s just get it over with,” he said. He came around the counter and pulled up a stool. He sat his gorgeous manhood down and I did my best not to look at the firm package in front of me. “Come on, get in my mouth,” he said.

I frowned. “Really Lucas, did you say that to the other minders?”

He thought about it. “I might have said that to Mrs. Compton.”

“Sure you did,” I agreed. I took the swab out and stood in front of him. We were on the same level when he was sitting down and my lips were equal with his.

“Open wide,” I said.

He opened slightly.

“Wider,” I ordered.

He shook his head and refused.

“Lucas don’t be a child, open up.” He gave me another half inch. “Whatever,” I mumbled and squatting slightly, I began to swab inside his mouth and tongue. Again he watched me with those pale blue eyes. It was like insane foreplay.

I finished and stood full height as I left the swab in his mouth for just thirty seconds more. I returned his stare. We had seen a lot of each other in the last few days... not just physically but emotionally. I’d like to see more of the physical.

Yet, he pretended I hadn’t seen inside him and I pretended I hadn’t cried in front of him. I refused to look away from him and he insisted on staring me out. I glanced at the clock and pulled the swab from his mouth.

“Done, thanks.”

“I won,” he said.

“What?” I asked.

“The staring contest. You broke it when you went to look at the clock.”

I put my head on the side and stared at Lucas. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-six,” he said. “And you?”

“Twenty-one, and yet I’m so much more mature.”

He groaned. I moved away from him and he rose and returned to his blending in the kitchen.

“Want a juice?” he asked. Wow, things were looking up.

“No, I’m good thanks. I’ve got to go and run this test. Are you sorted for today’s game?”

He nodded. “Are you coming with me?”

“No. You go too early. Doc said to be in the physio rooms by ten.”

“You’re going to be in the seats when it starts though?”

“I will. With Alice and her dad. Thanks for getting an extra seat for him.”

“Easy,” Lucas said. “But you’ll be there.”

“I will, assuming Doc’s finished with me in physio.”

“No,” Lucas snapped. “You need to be sitting there when we run out.” His blue eyes blazed intensely at me.

“I know you guys like your routines but...”

“Mia. Please, can you just be there then? I’ll talk with Doc, let him know you’ll be helping me before and after the match. Okay?”

“I’ll be there.” I was super pumped that I was part of his routine, me, not some glamour-puss. But I wanted to be part of all of his routines. Not sitting in a seat so he could see me then hearing him screw some model upstairs. There’s a breaking point where every heart has to decide it can’t sustain any more hits.

“Take my car, I’ll get Nik to pick me up on his way through,” Lucas said.

I stopped and gasped. “That’s it, you’re an alien, I’m convinced. Where the fuck is Lucas and what have you done to him?”

He turned back around flashing his front package at me. The white boxers were more fitted and revealing than the black. I much preferred them.

He crossed his arms. “You complain I’m a bighead and a dick, then I try and be nice and you think I’m E.T. Take my car so I know you’re going to get there in one piece and...”

“My VW is fabulous. It’s not that old.”

“It’s nearly ten years old, we need to get you a new one,” Lucas explained as if the concept of driving a car that old was outrageous.

“
We
don’t need to get me a new one.” I sighed. “It’s perfectly fine, thanks.”

“I need to be sure you can get where I need you to be. A new car can come with the job, like a company car,” he suggested.

“And what do I do with my car while I’m driving the new car? I can’t afford to run two cars but if you get rid of me, I have to give the new car back and then I won’t have a car.”

Lucas sighed, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and his blue eyes sized me up.

“I’ll put it in your name like I said from the start, so it’s yours whether you work for me or not. Why do you have to be so... independent?”

“Because I learned at a very young age that men come and go, girlfriends and cars don’t.” I smirked.

He shook his head. Mr.-don’t-trust-anyone was seriously telling me to trust him.

“Fine then, but today you drive my car, then we can come home together in the one car.” He got the keys and gave them to me. “I’ll call Nik.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said, hardly able to hide my smile. I walked downstairs with the swab and the keys to a Lamborghini and a guaranteed ride home after the match with the captain of the team.

If only I could hire a social media team to capture all this with such short notice!

Chapter 34

Did I mention I loved game days? Okay this was only my second game, but I loved them. The atmosphere was electric and it was as though every Saint supporter was there to see Lucas. He had breathed new life into the club, taking them up the ladder, raising their profile with his skills, looks and endorsements and the club was keen to look after him—hence providing a minder for starters.

When I arrived, I parked the divine Lamborghini in the player area; all the guys’ heads turned to check it out—the car, not me, but I felt like a million dollars getting out of it. It was early so only players, staff and ground staff were present and some keen fans trying for photos and autographs with the players as they arrived.