Team Lucas (The Saints Team #1) Page 15

  “Were you listening at the door with a glass or something?” he asked. He stood there half undressed as if he had just got up from the sack.

  “Yeah Lucas, because that’s how I like to spend my days. Trust me; no glass is necessary; you should think about soundproofing.”

  He gave me a satisfied look as though he had taken out an acting award in the Best Screw in an Afternoon at a Beach House category.

  “Well, can I come in?” he said as I stood blocking the doorway.

  I stood back and let him enter, checking out his form in a pair of red swimming trunks. He pulled on a white fitted singlet as he entered, covering his tanned, muscle-bulging body. Stupid singlet.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “I thought we’d have our chat,” he said, “about the terms and conditions of your contract, going forward.”

  I glanced behind him and up the stairs. “Isn’t Chloe still here?”

  “Yeah she’s in bed sleeping. I wore her out.” He shrugged. He moved to a white leather stool near the kitchen bench and sat down.

  “Whatever.” Seriously I wished he would take his blatant sexual activity and stick it in a condom! I cleared my throat and tried to clear the image from my mind of Lucas having Chloe on his bed.

  “Before we talk T-and-Cs, I have to...”

  “Swab me,” he said, and rolled his eyes.

  “Blood test,” I told him.

  Lucas grimaced. “Are you qualified to do that?”

  “No Lucas. They just send me out with the gear, tell me to have a jab at it and see what happens. Of course I’m qualified. I’ve done my pathology competency in blood collection. That’s how I got the part-time work.”

  “All right, all right.” He held up his hands in surrender. “Can’t you just swab me or give me a jar?”

  “I have to do blood occasionally, I have a quota,” I said, with as much of an apologetic tone as I could muster. “It’s in my contract.”

  “Hmm, that contract. Fine, just get it over with.”

  I nodded and went to get my kit again. I could see Lucas looking out at the beach.

  “Are you coming to training?” he asked.

  “Yep, I’ll run first and finish there and catch up with Doc and Andy,” I called, washing my hands. I came back in with my small box of testing material. I looked at him.

  “What?”

  “I’m just working out the best way to do this, the best position to get you comfortable.”

  “I can help with that,” he said, his head swelling. He was such a bighead.

  I ignored him. “I need you to rest your arm on the bench and you can either stand or stay seated but you’ll have to sit up against the bench so I can... get access.” I frowned trying to get him to a better position.

  He put his arm flat on the kitchen bench, grabbed my T-shirt and pulled me between his legs. I stumbled into place.

  “Better?” he asked, his face so close to mine I could feel his breath on my skin.

  I stepped back a little. “It’ll do,” I said, not looking at him. “You don’t faint at the sight of blood do you?”

  “I haven’t yet, but there’s always a first,” he said, watching me. His eyes followed my every move. I know he was doing it to unnerve me; watch away Lucas, see if I care. Please heart, stop with the rapid beating immediately!

  I grabbed a vial and wrote his name on the tag. I asked him for his birth date and wrote that as well.

  “I’m a little hurt you don’t know that, Mia,” he said. “My fans would.”

  “Remiss of me,” I agreed. “I’ll start a dossier and gather as much personal information as I can to become your number one fan,” I said it with a slightly manic look.

  “Now you’re just freaking me out,” he said.

  I slipped on a thin glove and tapped his arm to find a good vein to slip in my needle. The man was a dream pin cushion, plenty of veins popping. I probably tapped a little longer than I needed but it was good to feel that arm definition—oh so good. I picked a spot, put the tourniquet band on, secured it and gave the skin a quick clean with a swab of alcohol. Lucas didn’t say a word, but just continued to stare. I glanced at his eyes and he looked amused. Never laugh at a girl with a needle, sports star.

  “Okay make a fist,” I ordered my patient.

  Lucas did that and his arm bulged with muscles. Be still my beating heart—I could hardly concentrate on getting his blood when the blood was rushing to all my girl parts. I cleared my throat, blinked a few times and refocused.

  “You can stop making a fist now,” I said. What a ham. I took a deep breath, grabbed his arm firmly and anchored the vein. In went the needle—not even a flinch, my hero! I filled the tube with his blood. His eyes could have reduced me to a pile of ash or a sweaty mess depending on his mood; at the moment it was the latter.

  “Wow,” I said in a low voice.

  “What?” He frowned.

  “I just thought, well... that it would be blue.”

  Lucas smiled. I loved it when he smiled naturally, even better when he laughed. He shuffled slightly.

  “Don’t move!” I ordered him.

  “Then don’t be a funny Minder,” he said.

  I grinned, not making eye contact with him. Yep, that’s one for me, chalk it up. When the tube was filled with his royal red blood, I removed the tourniquet and released his arm and those gorgeous muscles. I pulled the needle from his arm, swabbed the area and put a bit of cotton wool on it.

  “Just put pressure there for a minute.” I instructed him to press down on the area where I had just drawn blood while I disposed of the needle in a container I had.

  “Don’t move,” I warned him. “Given the way you sleep around, the last thing I want to do is risk being jabbed by your needle.”

  He flared with anger, his body stiffened; you never could tell with Lucas.

  “I wear protection,” he snapped. “I’m careful and I’m regularly tested, and I’m clean. Take some more blood if you don’t believe me and run a full set of tests,” he challenged me.

  I looked at his arm and was sorely tempted. I shrugged. “I don’t need to. If you think you’re clean and the girls humping you are prepared to take the risk or you on them, it’s got nothing to do with me.”

  I grabbed a plaster, removed his hand and the swab he was holding in place and plastered him. I fantasized about doing many things to Lucas but plastering him wasn’t one of them.

  “All done. Want me to kiss it better or give you a lollipop?” I gave him the conventional options and flicked my glove off.

  “Wouldn’t want you to catch anything,” he said. Lucas pulled his stool back, careful not to knock me over this time, and stormed out.

  I sighed. We were good at that, pissing each other off.

  I texted for the test van to collect it and, leaving Lucas’s specimen it in a locked storage container at the gated entrance, I headed out for a run.

  Chapter 28

  I saw the team training on the beach as I jogged towards them, finishing off my thirty minute run. Jogging on soft sand was brutal and I only did it for a few minutes before heading to the hard sand. The Saints weren’t so lucky; I could see the coach working them on the soft sand and the injured players wading through the water.

  I jogged up near Doc and pulled up.

  “Hey there, Mia,” he greeted me. “Lucas said to expect you.”

  “Hi Doc, it’s good to see you,” I said, catching my breath. I looked over at Lucas and he avoided eye contact with me, even though I saw him fleetingly gaze in my direction as I arrived—hot and cold Lucas as usual.

  “Good to have you back,” Doc said.

  “Great to be back, I’m really stoked to get to watch and take part, thanks.”

  He nodded. “I’m particularly pleased to have you here for Lucas’s sake. He was off the planet when he got to training the other day before we flew out.”

  “
He was clean,” I assured the doc.

  “Yeah, but his headspace wasn’t. I thought he was going to lose it because he couldn’t reach you. He even called out your name when he came out of the concussion.”

  “Really?” I frowned.

  “You sound surprised,” Doc said.

  I made a scoffing sound. “Lucas is totally unpredictable; I’m either the flavor of the day or watching my back with him.”

  “I hope I didn’t cause you too many dramas dropping him off at your place then,” Doc said.

  “No, it’s all good. There’s nothing going on between us, it’s purely professional,” I told him and he nodded but his expression said he wasn’t buying it.

  I changed the subject. “That looks tough,” I said, watching the team pound in and out of the waves.

  He chuckled. “One of the coach’s favorites—ins-and-outs.”

  The Saints were running into the ocean to waist height, running parallel for a distance and then back out and up the hard and soft sand in a loop. Lucas and Nik were sharing the lead and it was tough, both men looked wiped.

  “Drop and crawl,” the coach yelled as the team came up on the soft sand. The boys hit the sand and crawled along using their feet and elbows.

  “Good for core strength,” Doc said as we watched them.

  I couldn’t take my eyes of Lucas the Adonis working out. His muscles rippled, his body looked so supremely athletic and he was glowing with sweat. He was leading by example, not dropping a beat. So fucking sexy it should have been illegal.

  “Thirty, count it Captain,” the coach yelled and the boys rolled over on their backs with much groaning. Lucas led the way and started counting down from thirty delivering a crunch on each countdown. He was amazing, not once did he falter and the rest of the team did their best to keep up with him. As he reached number one, the coach yelled out, “Plank.”

  I watched as Lucas and the team rolled over on their stomachs, raised themselves on their elbows and feet and held the position. Lucas lowered his head, his face a study of concentration. Several of the players breathed heavily and a couple shook with the exertion. I grimaced, feeling the burn.

  The coach counted down from fifty, got to twenty-five, was interrupted by one of the injured players wading out of the ocean and turned back to the plankers.

  “Where was I? Forty... carry on Captain,” he ordered and Lucas began the countdown again at forty. The men groaned in pain and Doc and I tried not to smile.

  “C’mon.” Doc nudged me and he picked up his pack and we headed over to a couple of the injured players coming out of the water.

  I worked with Andy and Doc for the next hour and then helped them pack their gear back in the car after training. Johan the coach gave me a wave before he left and Pez came over and asked after Alice. He didn’t ask for her number but it was nice he asked after her.

  It was dark when I headed back to the pad; Lucas left when the last of the players left; didn’t wait for me but it least it was only across the road this time. He was still sulking at me suggesting he could have STDs. He was twenty-six going on twelve.

  I walked up the path and could see he had closed the blinds but his silhouette passed in front of the window. I let myself in downstairs to my pad and turned on the light. I heard a sound and stopped. Nothing—probably Lucas upstairs. I turned on the lights in the kitchen. Then I heard a sound again, as if someone had moved in the bedroom. I backed up towards the door in our joint entrance. I didn’t turn around or put my back to the bedroom, just in case.

  I thought there was someone in there. I was terrified, and my heart was pounding. I slowly unlocked the adjoining door without taking my eyes from the hallway leading to my room and called up the stairs to Lucas. He ignored me.

  “Lucas,” I called again. I didn’t want to run upstairs in case someone ran out and I wouldn’t know if I they had really left. He didn’t answer. Plans ran through my head—what I would do if Lucas didn’t come down. I’d grab a knife from the kitchen and take my phone, pretend to be calling the police and check it out myself.

  “Lucas, please,” I called up the stairwell again.

  “I’m fucking busy Mia, you’re not getting any more of my blood,” he roared back angrily.

  I stood tall. Fuck you Lucas Ainswright. I left the door open in case I had to bolt upstairs and I moved sideways to the kitchen. I slid open a drawer, grabbed a knife and sidled up to the hall wall. Staying flat against the wall, I flicked the bathroom light on as I passed and looked in. All clear. I looked through the bathroom door crack but there was no-one behind it. My bedroom was next. The guest room was on the other side, but I definitely heard the noise twice from my room. My heart was racing.

  “Is anyone there?” I asked. I didn’t really expect them to answer, “Yeah, I’m a burglar, how you going,” but I wanted them to know I was serious and I was coming. I moved a few more steps, far enough to reach the light, flicked it on and slammed the door back. I screamed in fright as a guy came out from behind the curtain and began snapping. The flashes blinded me.

  It was so quick. I heard myself screaming, he knocked me down and ran down the hallway. The knife fell out of my hand. I heard thumping from upstairs and Lucas bolted down the stairs. The next minute I heard a yell and I jumped up and ran to the front of the house. I started calling the police mumbling about a break-in and the guy still being here. In the hallway, Lucas was on some guy, a camera was sprawled across the floor and Lucas was pinning the guy down so hard I thought he was going to break him.

  I gasped and stood back, my eyes feeling huge. Within moments Jase was running down the stairs and moments later a police car screamed up the street. I don’t remember much except Lucas rushing to me, grabbing me by the shoulders and a police officer asking me questions.

  “Just an amateur photographer trying to get some shots to make it big,” Lucas was saying. I could hear his words coming to me in slow motion. I know now I wasn’t in danger but I didn’t know then and I was jumpy and freaked out.

  “I want to go home,” I heard myself saying.

  “No, you’ll stay upstairs with me tonight, and tomorrow we’ll get security bars on those windows.”

  The police officer gave me his card and left me in Lucas’s care.

  Just as quickly as they came, everyone was gone except Lucas and me. He led me towards one of the kitchen stools and leaned me on it.

  “Mia, look at me,” he said.

  He leaned over and I looked up at him.

  “Are you listening?” he asked, as his hand continued to move up and down my back.

  I gave him a small nod.

  “It was just a fan trying to get a photo, okay? I’m so fucking sorry I didn’t come down when you called me.” He inhaled. “Now you’re going to take my hand and we’re going to check all the windows and lock them. Tomorrow, I’ll get security bars for your level. But you’re staying on my level or for as long as you need to. Are you hearing me?”

  I nodded.

  “You’re going to be okay.” He said it like a question and I nodded again.

  “I know,” I said.

  Lucas stood to full height and took my hand, raising me from the stool. He led me through every room of my wing and we checked it was secure. The window in the guest room had been ajar; Lucas couldn’t remember who last stayed in the room. He checked inside cupboards and behind doors and waited with me while I grabbed what I needed to come upstairs for the night.

  Later, I lay in his guest room wide awake. What if I had undressed? What if he wanted more than a photo?

  I craved for the security of my usual lifestyle and my little room. I must have dozed off because when I woke up, I was punching against someone, I realized it was Lucas.

  “Mia, wake up, Mia!” He was pressing me against his chest, trying to ward off my blows.

  “Lucas,” I gasped. I looked around; I was upstairs, I was safe.

  “It’s me, you�
��re safe,” he said. “You were screaming.”

  “Sorry,” I said, breathing in short, sharp gasps. “I had a bad dream.”

  “I know, but everything is all right now,” he said. Lucas lowered me back onto the pillow and he lay down beside me. I rolled onto my side away from him, and he moved in closer. Lying on top of the blankets he spooned me.

  “I’m here, get some sleep,” he said.

  I slept well—I was wrapped in the strong arms of Lucas Ainswright. Kill me now and let me die happy.

  Chapter 29

  “Terms and conditions,” Lucas barked as he made us both a coffee in his kitchen.

  “Okay, sock it to me.” I sighed. I was feeling much better this morning and much stronger. The police had confirmed the guy who broke in was just an amateur photographer trying to make a quick buck and Lucas had someone downstairs fitting security already. He wanted to hire me some personal security but after negotiation, he agreed to step up the security services on the house instead.

  Lucas pushed my coffee over the counter towards me and stayed on the other side of the bench. “First,” he began, “you work for me, not my father or my manager.”

  “But...” I went to protest and he held up his hand.

  “I’ve already spoken to my manager who has spoken with your boss. It’s been sorted.” He waved a piece of paper at me. “New contract.”

  “Do I get a say in this?” I asked.

  “Yes of course, you get to sign it,” he said.

  “Lucas, stop,” I said.

  “I’m only at number one.” He rolled his eyes.

  “I know.” I took a deep breath and looked up into his gorgeous face with the one day growth and those light blue eyes.

  “We both know you don’t need me anymore,” I said. “You don’t need anyone testing you. You’re doing just fine and you have Jase and Sarah upstairs. The doc could give you a weekly or random test if the club demanded it,” I said.

  I didn’t want to be out of a great job and I didn’t want to move out, but that was the reality and I kind of felt a little bad for taking money for doing so little and getting college credits in my subject at the same time.