Team Tomás (The Saints Team #2) (15 page)

“Are you there, Russian?” Ed
called.

I reached past Tomás, flicked the
lock and opened the door.

“Hey Ed, he’s in the kitchen. Good
timing, thanks.” I strode out and tried to avoid looking at Ed, while I blinked
to clear my eyes. I turned back just in time to see Tomás punch the wall. Ed quickly
entered and closed the door. I heard their voices for a few minutes and then I
heard The Russian enter. Boy therapy, whatever.

“Want to get some lunch? I need a
break from proofreading,” Sasha asked, interrupting my thoughts as I dropped
the folder back on my desk and sank into my chair.

“Absolutely.” I got back up so
quickly that Sasha raced to keep up with me. “Want anything, Kay?” I asked.

“No thanks love, I’ve brought a
sandwich.”

I looked in on Jim’s office but he
was missing in action. I raced Sasha out to my car and we left. When we
returned twenty minutes later with our lunch, Tomás’s bike was gone. Seriously
this could not continue or else I would have to hire The Russian and Ed as my
own personal security detail. Mm, that was a nice thought.

Chapter 27

Tomás kept away from me at work thanks to The Russian.
I didn’t want to drag The Russian in as a sort of love referee but I was hoping
he would have a subtle word to his team’s Latin American goalkeeper. The
Russian called me into his office before he left for training that afternoon.

“Alice, you seemed to have stirred
up the Latin lover,” he said in his matter-of-fact tone.

I sighed. I waved my hand around
trying to find some words to explain it in ten words or so, but I had nothing.
I shrugged.

“I know.” He nodded. “You and I,
we can’t help but attract the opposite sex, it’s a curse.” His lips twitched
into a smile. I smiled and shook my head at him. He had a good influence on me.

“His girlfriend is here from Buenos
Aires, so he’ll be just fine,” I said, assuring The Russian there was nothing
to worry about.

The Russian frowned, confused. “I
think the
family friend
is going home mid next week from what Tomás
tells me.”

“Really. Mm.” I stored that away
to think more on it later. “I may need to hire you Russian, you and Ed to
protect my turf in the office,” I suggested.

“Say no more,” he said. “After the
look you gave me earlier and that muffled sentence about not wanting to lose
your job, I had a quiet word to Tomás. I suggested it might be best to phone or
text you, and that he needed to give you some space to find your feet at work.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and
looked gratefully at the six-foot-five wall.

“Perfect, thank you,” I said.

The Russian continued. “I
mentioned that you would like him a lot less if he was responsible for causing you
trouble at work.”

I nodded. “So true. Thank you,
Russian, I really appreciate it, and your brilliant skills at muffled sentence
interpretation.”

“I have three sisters and an
ex-wife—I married very young,” he explained. “I can pretty much read any
expression and I have learned some handy skills.”

“Oh?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Yes, like when it came to dealing
with women, most things were usually my fault, the bathroom is out of bounds
most of the time, no means no, maybe means no, yes could mean no as well.”

I grinned. “Hence your success
with females now.”

He nodded and looked pleased with
himself.

“I owe you,” I said.

“Yes, and I’m collecting now,” he
said, rising from his chair and grabbing his phone off his desk.

“Already?” I frowned.

“I’m putting it out there, Alice.
If Tomás’s game begins to decline because of chick trouble, regardless of how
much I might like the chick,” he said with a raised eyebrow, “you’re going to
have to kiss-and-make-up and take one for the team.”

I opened my mouth to protest and The
Russian held up his hand.

“Think about the good of the club,
Alice. I’m not calling in that favor yet, but I’ll let you know.”

I nodded and left his office so he
could log out and head to training. I gave him a backward glance to make sure
he was serious and he was. I wondered what it would be like to go out with The
Russian. It would be pretty hard to work him up about anything. I wondered if
he was as big down below as he was on the surface.

Stop that and go back to your
desk
, I ordered myself.

Ah, men, seriously! Can’t work
with them, can’t work without them.

*****

Tomás continued to text every morning and night, but
had given up on begging to be heard. Now they were simple messages:

TOMÁS: Morning
bella
, h8
the thought of a day not hearing from U

TOMÁS: Please wait 4 me Alice,
sorting stuff out

TOMÁS: I want U. Don’t give up on
me

TOMÁS: Goodnight Cookie, thinking of
U

And on it went. I felt sick every
time the phone beeped with a text and I was sad and melancholy, but I didn’t
know what else to do—his girlfriend was here, staying at his place. I wasn’t
going to be the standby girl, as much as I wanted to be. So, what was there to
say? I tried to be up and positive so no-one could tell that I just wanted to
sit down and cry and tell everyone how miserable I was and get their perspectives.

I can’t believe the misery wasn’t
coming out of my pores, that it couldn’t be sniffed in the air. I tried to make
nothing about me and divert every personal question that came my way—so
exhausting but on the upside, it was a good people skill to practice.

Don’t get me wrong, there were
highs to the week as well; I met Cassie’s Rick and he was lovely; they looked
so happy together. I had hardly seen her since I moved in. I bought my first
groceries which was kind of fun and on Wednesday night I caught up with Mia for
dinner after hot yoga. Tonight, I had dinner with Dad and Ryan starting up our
new tradition and Friday night, the team was flying out for an away match on
Saturday afternoon and I had a date with Dane.

Chapter 28

Dane picked me up right on seven p.m. for drinks,
dinner and dancing. I seemed to have this alliteration thing going with
Dane—sexy, sweet and single. My English teacher would be proud I’d even
remembered what an alliteration was... I blamed Sasha Saxon from the Saints who
started it. I wore the dress I bought for Lucas’s pre-season party—a little red
number with tassels that worked a treat when dancing. It hadn’t got an airing
since the party, so would be ideal for a first date.

I was kind of bummed out to meet
Dane at this time in my life. If I had met him a month before Tomás or even
several months after I was pretty sure I’d be falling at his feet, my tongue
out, my V-card ready for punching, but I wasn’t in the right space just now and
I’d have to come clean with him early up so I didn’t lead him on, then it was
his choice to stay or play.

Cassie was heading out too but
stuck around long enough to meet Dane; nosy cow, but I confess I would have
done the same to her. She gave me the thumbs up and an encouraging raised
eyebrows expression behind his back.

“We should get going then. Good to
meet you Cassie,” Dane said, being charming.

“And you Dane, hope we see more of
you,” she said, with a smile in my direction. Sigh.

Dane looked better than I
remembered, funny that, clearly I didn’t fully notice him in my lustful Tomás
phase. He wore dark blue jeans with a black button down shirt and he did look
at bit like an older version of
One Direction
’s Harry. I had a bit of a
thing for Harry even if I was about five years older than his average fans.

Cassie gave me some rude hand
signals behind Dane’s back which indicated what she thought I should be doing
with Dane—so incorrigible—and I left her to get ready for her night with Rick. Outside,
Dane unlocked his silver 4WD and opened the door for me.

“I might need a leg up,” I teased
and Dane looked just a bit too enthusiastic to help. We headed out for drinks
and it was nice to be beside him in the car. Nice. Ugh, what an awful word.
Poor Kelly from the conference would have killed to be in my place and I was
thinking how nice it was.

“Week two and still surviving the
Saints?” Dane asked. He was good on detail.

“I’ll be up for long-service
soon,” I joked. “It’s a great job, and my boss Jim says I can create some of my
own unique events once I find my feet. I’d like to do a bit more with the kids’
club and the clinics.”

“It’s the future of the game,”
Dane agreed.

“How was the week in film?” I
asked him.

“Ah, busy—some big budget films
coming which means big promotion budgets and that’s very good for me.” He
pulled into a parking spot in the city and we wandered to a bar not far from
where he planned for us to grab a bite and party on. We found a table and Dane
went to order. I noticed all the televisions were on sport and one of them
featured interviews about the weekend’s soccer games. Johan, the Saints’ coach,
was on the screen and then there were some flashbacks of last week’s game
including the supremely talented Tomás Carrera. The program moved on to another
team and Dane returned with our drinks. There was no escape, I’m telling you,
no escape!

Later that night or actually it
was about two a.m. the next morning when Dane dropped me at the door, I didn’t
invite him in. It was only the first date and late enough.

“I had a great time, thank you,” I
told him.

“Me too,” he said, not dropping
his gaze. He moved in for the kiss... his hands found my hips and his lips
found mine. Thank God that Tomás had left for an away game—I wouldn’t put it
past him to spring out from the shadows to reclaim his property.

 It was a soft kiss before Dane
moved away slightly and looked at me, almost as if he was seeking permission to
proceed. I was pleased he didn’t push himself up against me; I could already
see his pants were tighter.

The kiss made me sure of one
thing—I wanted to kiss Tomás. Damn, damn, so unfair.

“Dane,” I began, “I just came out
of something and you’re gorgeous, but I don’t want to leap straight in too fast.
I want to be fair to both of us and if you want to run a mile now…”

He nodded and kissed me again. My
body began to respond. Damn Tomás, I wished I hadn’t met him. Dane’s kiss ended
with a tease of his tongue. Holy mother of kisses that was good and got my
attention.

“I’ve got all the time in the
world, Alice,” Dane said. Then he kissed my forehead and moved away. “I’ll call
you tomorrow. Thanks for a great night.”

“Thank you,” I said feeling just a
bit giddy. Dane stopped half way down the stairs, turned and came back. He
kissed me again. A really amazing kiss and this time I not only felt his
erection against my leg, but my own body reacting.
Good grief, go already
before I invite you inside.

He pulled away, gave me a sexy
grin and left. Mm, wonderful, weak-kneed and wet was I.

Men. Thank God for them. Dane was
wonderful medicine.

*****

It was Saturday midday and Mia took the avocado from
my plate and I took the tomato from her salad. We sat in the food court in the
mall with salads and a second-round of coffee.

“We’ve done well,” I said, looking
at my shopping bags, “consider the bedroom decorated and all within my budget.”

“When have you not shopped well?”
Mia asked. “You’re the queen of shopping; I am but your humble follow-behind
servant.”

“You lasted, thanks, I know it is
not your thing.”

“The coffee helped.” She smiled.
“So...” she grabbed some lettuce on her fork, “you’ve had a hot kiss from Dane
and you’ve still got the hots for Tomás. What now?”

I groaned and sat back brandishing
my fork mid-air. “I don’t know. I want Tomás but am I just being an idiot? Did
Lucas say anything?”

Mia scoffed. “You’re kidding
aren’t you? Men are clueless when it comes to that sort of stuff. I’d be
surprised if Lucas even knew Tomás had a visitor or that he was going out with
you. I’ve kept it in the vault as you told me.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate
that. But Lucas knows Tomás and I started something,” I reminded Mia.

“Yeah, but any time I mention you,
all Lucas says is, ‘she all right?’ Guys, they’re not big on detail.” Mia
glanced at her watch. We were going back to her posh beach pad, well Lucas’s
place, to watch the game at two p.m. on his enormous television—that just
reminded me of Tomás again for some reason, sigh. I still needed and wanted to
watch the game, I was a Saints’ employee and team player—watching Tomás as part
of it was just unavoidable. After the game, I would go home and spend my night
redecorating my room, drinking wine and wallowing in the pathetic-ness of my
indecision. Wow, that’s poetic.

“I did get a bit of info from
Laura, Buzz’s partner,” Mia said, hesitantly.

“Buzz the defender,” I said, still
learning my players. “You didn’t say anything to her did you?”

Mia gave me a look that made me
feel guilty for doubting her skills.

“Come on, let’s head home to watch
the game, I’ll tell you on the way,” she said.

I grabbed my bags, giving half to
Mia and we left the center. As we sat in Mia’s BMW, a gift from Lucas, yeah
wow, she went into detail.

“I had coffee with Laura the other
day. We’ve kind of connected after a lunch bet I had with her and I think she’s
a bit lonely. She and Buzz only moved here for his contract and she doesn’t
know many people,” Mia explained. “Anyway, Laura met Valentina at a couple of
the games; she came a fair bit last season supposedly.”

Mia was killing me, get to the
point already.

“They started talking about Tomás,
and Valentina mentioned that he had had a girlfriend for years, and they’d been
going out since the start of high school.

I felt that sharp pain in the
chest again, even though Mia wasn’t telling me anything new. She reached a hand
over to squeeze mine.

“Laura said that the girlfriend
wanted to move here with Tomás last year when he got signed but
he
didn’t want her to,” Mia said. This was promising again.

“Hold that thought,” Mia said, as
she turned into the driveway and parked the car in her side of the garage.

Lucas’s house on the beach was
truly amazing, I didn’t envy Mia, I feared this. If it ended, how do you go
backwards? I knew I should think everything would go on happily ever after, but
I’d lost my mother and I’d lost my potential new boyfriend, so I was a bit
neurotic, or at least wary.

I moved my shopping bags from her
car to my car which I had left at her place earlier, before following her
inside to watch the game. Ten minutes later we sat on Lucas’s huge leather
couch and Mia put the game on. We got glimpses of the players and the football
management team as they checked out the grounds and set up. It was still thirty
minutes until it started and the commentary team was doing their analysis.

Mia continued where she let off.
“Valentina told Laura that Tomás’s girlfriend was very upset about that, so
they made an agreement that she would come over at the start of his second
season when he would be well and truly established.”

“You would think Tomás would want
her to come over and be with him,” I said, “especially when it was all new, you
know, to give him some stability.”

Mia shrugged. “According to Laura,
Valentina said he wanted to have the first year by himself just to concentrate
on his football.”

I made an ungainly snorting sound.
“Maybe, but it sounds as though he wanted a year free of responsibility and to
concentrate on tarting around. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, he’s
young and gorgeous and he told me he’s had a lot of responsibility all his
life.”

“Exactly,” Mia said. “Valentina
told Laura the girlfriend was holding Tomás to their agreement, and here she
is, I guess.”

I nodded. “Well that’s
insightful.”

“Is it?” Mia asked.

“Yeah. He told me it was his
girlfriend but things had changed and that he had to do some sorting out of
stuff.”

“Sounds to me as though it is
over,” Mia said.

“I hope so, that’s what I want to
hear. But maybe now that she is here, he’ll be taken by her again... you know
it will rekindle or something. Regardless, he should have told me… how was he
going to hide a girlfriend for a week?”

“It’d be hard to call it off,” Mia
said. “You know if you had to let someone go that you’d been with a long time
and made promises to... you know how hard it was for Ben and me to break up.”

“I never knew if you were on or
off,” I said.

“It might be easier for Tomás if
he wanted out now that he’s had a year’s separation,” she said. “Maybe that was
his plan... maybe he hoped she would move on in that time as well.”

I did feel a bit more sympathetic
now that I knew the difficult situation he was placed in and he had told me he
wanted out of all the family responsibility. But he just had to man up. Then I
remembered I was stalling Dane too...

“Are you okay?” Mia asked.

“Thanks for telling me that, it
helps. Now you know why I’m not quite ready to move on with Dane just yet and I
can’t give up completely on Tomás.”

“It’s worth hearing him out,” she
said.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. The
practical side of me is shitty with Tomás. Why not just say, ‘hey it’s over’
and send her back? She’s been here a week and she’s still here and in his
house. I bet she’s in his bed.” I touched my chest at the thought. I just put a
knife through my own heart.