Team Lucas (The Saints Team #1) Page 22

  I nodded slowly.

  “And I’m sorry I had to take the call when I did, but it was the coach. I can’t blow Johan off. I don’t want you to move out or give anything back. If you want to move out then I can’t stop you but the car is yours and I... I don’t want you to move out. Is that why you wouldn’t look at me all day? Because you thought I had sacked you?”

  Again I nodded, and bit my lip.

  “For fuck’s sake, Mia,” he said under his breath. “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “When?” I asked. “I can’t bring that stuff up before a match, you have to focus on the match and I thought it was pretty clear cut.”

  “Really?” He frowned. “I thought I’d pissed you off...”

  “Like when you told the doc you didn’t want me working on the guys.”

  He looked surprised that I knew and then a little sheepish. “Yeah about that...”

  “Forget it.” I gave him a small smile. “Lucas, if you don’t want me seeing that side of you, then maybe it’s because you’re beginning to like and trust me and maybe that’s all the more reason I should be doing it. Who else can you trust to do it?”

  He took my words in but kept silent.

  “And,” I continued, “I don’t see you as a druggie. I admire you for your control.”

  He nodded, his blue eyes holding my gaze. We stared at each other and I didn’t know whether to look away or not. This wasn’t a boss and employee stare, and it wasn’t a flat-mate stare.

  He swallowed. “I was going to say before the coach rang that I like having you here.” He stopped. Maybe that was all Lucas could manage. Maybe it’s more than most of his girlfriends got.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I like being here.”

  “Yeah, most people do.” He shrugged.

  I tried a bit harder. “I meant, I like being here... with you.”

  “I like that you don’t take shit from me and that you are funny and smart and fit in with my friends,” he said, watching me. He was still in safe territory; he hadn’t risked saying anything personal.

  Lucas dropped back further on the bed, leaning against the bedhead. “I needed you to see me today.”

  “I saw you,” I assured him.

  “You ignored me,” he said. “Just like my folks, like I don’t exist.”

  I inhaled sharply. I hadn’t made the connection. I moved across the bed next to him and touched his face. He flinched. Opening up wasn’t his specialty and accepting comfort was probably something Lucas had never had.

  “I never meant to hurt you. It never occurred to me,” I said. “I was just protecting myself... I was in pain, from this morning.”

  Lucas blinked a few times, his mind processing what I said; probably processing the honesty of emotion.

  “Wow,” he said.

  “Too honest?” I asked. I didn’t care. I didn’t have much to lose and my mother always taught me there’s no pride in love. Say what you feel and you’ll never regret it but you’ll always regret not saying what you meant or felt.

  Lucas swallowed. “I’m on a bit of a learning curve with that stuff.”

  Since we were having a D-and-M, I kept going.

  “You must have told a few ladies over the years that you loved them or cared for them?” I asked.

  He smiled and made a huffing sound in his throat. “There’s been a few ladies, that much is true.”

  “You know I had a love once that I was too scared to share my feelings with and I was always scared he’d call it off and he’d leave. And he did.”

  “Ah ha,” Lucas said as if proving a point that his way was best.

  I shook my head. “From that, I learned that I was always anticipating the pain and then it came.”

  “I don’t get it,” he said.

  “If it is going to end then you’ll go through the pain then. Why cloud the future and the now with that fear? Why not enjoy it, because it might never end? What’s the point of doubling your pain quota? You get what I mean?” I asked.

  Lucas nodded. “Oddly, I do.” He smiled and I returned his smile. We sat in silence for a moment and he reached for my hand. His fingers traced mine as my hand lay on the quilt. It was so sensual, so intimate and the house was so quiet we could hear the waves crashing.

  “So, you’re not going to move out?” his eyes studied me.

  I was privately orgasming from his touch. I cleared my throat to get the words out.

  “I’m packed, my stuff’s in the car.”

  “I’m having it towed away tonight,” he said, and leaned over to reach for his phone. I grabbed his arm back. He shrugged loose from me. “Then again, I’ve got a friend in the bomb squad...”

  I laughed and reached for his arm again and we wrestled for the phone with me winning. A text beeped and a name came up on the screen. I saw the message: “Where R U Honey? Tania x.”

  “Um, it appears Tania is looking for you,” I said.

  He grabbed the phone from me, opened the first drawer beside his bed and threw it in, closing the drawer with a slam. He lay back on the pillow and looked at me.

  “Can I tell you something?” he asked.

  “Sure,” I said surprised. Lucas-iceberg-Ainsworth wasn’t always forthcoming so I welcomed it.

  “It’s pretty personal stuff,” he warned.

  I inhaled. “Okay, sock it to me.”

  He clasped his hands behind his head and I noticed a significant rise in his shorts.

  “Every time you’ve swabbed me, even when you took blood, I had a hard-on and look what you’ve done now.”

  “Eww, Lucas, that’s my work you’re talking about.” I hit his arm. But that bulge was a thing of beauty and the way he lay had it on full display.

  “Well you’re very, very good at your work, maybe too good.” He shrugged. “I should have set up a bonus like my father did—a boner bonus.”

  “Eww again with that word. My job is not giving erections, it’s monitoring,” I reminded him.

  He laughed. “I love how you say erections. Everyone else would say hard-on or boner, but not you. Erection. I bet you say penis too.”

  I could feel myself blushing.

  “Go on,” he teased. He watched me, as he sat back looking smug. “Tell me that the erection of my penis is unacceptable to your professional standards,” he said in his British accent.

  I blushed even more. “Well it is and that’s the correct terminology.”

  “You’re such a prude,” he teased me.

  “I’m so not.”

  “Say it then,” he dared me. “Say ‘Lucas you’ve got a hard-on which is not on’.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “You can’t say it,” he laughed.

  “Go away Lucas.”

  “This is my room.”

  “Oh yeah.” I looked around. “Fine, I’ll go away.”

  “No you don’t.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me back on the bed beside him. We moved to lie side on, looking at each other. He reached up and pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear.

  “So you’re not going to text Tania back?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “There’s something else I’d rather be doing tonight, someone else I’d rather be with.”

  My heart stopped beating. I would give anything for him to say it was me. I took a deep breath and I put my walls up... I wouldn’t put it past Lucas to mention some other girl’s name now and laugh. I took control.

  “Well, best I get going downstairs to my posh pad then so you can contact them,” I said, with a shrug.

  I saw doubt flicker in his eyes and then he slowly smiled, as though he was going to forge on regardless.

  “Are you wet, Mia?” he asked.

  “Lucas!” I said, alarmed. “Shut up! You can’t talk to your staff like that. Keep your dirty talk for Tania and your model friends if they put up with it.”

  “So you’re not?” he persisted
, “you’re not wet?”

  “You’re disgusting.” I hit his arm and he grabbed my wrist, his eyes laughing at me. I hit him with my other free hand and he grabbed it too. He pushed me on my back and rolled on top of me, his arms holding his weight. Lucas grinned at me. I could feel his erection pushing into my leg.

  “So you don’t want to swab me now?” he said pressing against me. “I’ll give you a bonus.”

  “This isn’t part of our contract, stop mixing business with pleasure,” I snapped. I couldn’t get a fix on what he wanted from me and I didn’t want to make a fool of myself.

  Lucas rolled his eyes. “I know, I know, I’m only joking, lighten up.”

  “You’re hilarious. Let me go.”

  “Not until you agree I’m funny,” he said, looking at me.

  “You’re not funny.”

  “I’m very funny, Mia. Say it.”

  I narrowed my eyes and took a different tactic. “Why do you care what I think Lucas Ainswright?”

  He shrugged. “You’re right, I don’t.”

  But yet he kept me pinned and the bottom half of him hadn’t deflated.

  I started to smile at him as I teased him. “I think you like me.”

  A smile began to play on his face.

  “You’re okay,” he said.

  “No.” I shook my head. “I think you LIKE me.”

  He grinned his boyish grin.

  I continued, “I think you couldn’t wait to get me alone.” I began to sing it. “Lucas likes Mia… Lucas and Mia sitting in a tree...”

  Lucas came closer to me, within inches of my lips and then, quickly, he licked my neck.

  “Yuk.” I struggled to push him off. “What did you do that for?” I cringed.

  “You said lick me!” he teased. “You said ‘Lucas lick Mia’.”

  “I said ‘like’ not lick. Ha, ha, you’re very funny,” I said.

  “I told you I was a minute ago but you wouldn’t agree.” He continued to look down at me and our eyes held. He was inches from me.

  “Mia...”

  “Yes,” I whispered. It’s all I could get out.

  “Breathe,” he said.

  “Right,” I agreed. “Then get off me.”

  “Mm. I’m thinking of letting you go now. But I want to be sure I’m not going to score a knee in the groin or smack in the head.”

  I bit my lip and thought about it. “Can you take that risk?” Then I remembered something else to throw at him.

  “You know, I think you’ve liked me for a long time Lucas Ainswright.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why did you run from my room when I was giving you a sports massage?”

  Lucas looked away, chewed on the inside of his cheek while he thought of a response and then looked back at me.

  “Don’t tell me Mr. Cool is embarrassed?” I had him.

  “Mr. Cool?” He laughed.

  I shrugged. “Why did you run off?”

  He dropped his forehead to my chest and mumbled, “Blowing my load during your massage wasn’t the coolest of moves. I just made it out of there.”

  I laughed. “The groin workout did it, huh? Ah, well I’m flattered, I think.”

  He looked up, and again, smiled his charming, boyish smile at me that would melt any woman. I was so weak with lust, I wouldn’t have been able to get my knee to his groin even if I needed to. Lucas was pressing into me, his erection hard and urgent, his hands pinning mine to the bed, his eyes studying me and his lips inches from mine.

  “I could just... lick you again,” he said softly without taking his eyes off me. He lowered himself the final few inches to my lips and he touched mine with his. I was frozen, wanting him, wishing and willing it. I felt a deep ache inside, a sexual ache for wanting him inside me. His lips pressed down on mine and his tongue softly slipped between my lips. I moaned with the electricity it created throughout me.

  My lips pressed back into his and my whole body tingled. Lucas released my hands and moved his to my waist. He pulled me closer, not taking his lips off mine. I slipped my tongue between his lips and he groaned softly. His erection felt harder if it was possible. I was here at last; how many nights had I dreamt of this? I’d never expected for a moment it would be with a likeable Lucas, not ass Lucas.

  “There’s no bonus for this you know,” he said.

  I pushed him off. “Did you have to ruin the moment?” I struggled up and pulled away from him. I swung my legs over the side of the bed.

  “I’m kidding,” he said, looking up at me.

  “You have no idea how to treat a woman, Lucas, but you’re good at killing the mood—although your model friends wouldn’t care, they just want you to ride them so they can say they are bedding Lucas Ainswright,” I raved on. “I’m kind of okay without that kind of publicity.” I rose, adjusted my clothing and headed for his bedroom door. “Thanks for reminding me why I shouldn’t be here.”

  I got to the door but Lucas leapt up and got there before me.

  “Wait Mia, sorry,” he said, grabbing my shoulder.

  I brushed him off but he pulled me back and pressed me against his bedroom wall.

  “I’m sorry,” he said again.

  I studied his face. He seemed sincere, and sincerity wasn’t his strong suit. “I’m not good at letting people get under my skin.” He swallowed.

  “I know,” I said. “You pull me close with one hand and push me away with the other.”

  His eyes briefly looked away and he gave a barely discernible nod.

  “You’re squashing me,” I said.

  “You’re such hard work,” he sighed.

  “You have to be kidding me—I’m hard work? You’ve just done it again!” I pushed him away again. “I am so easy going. I spend my day biting my tongue around you because you’re so high maintenance. I’m treading on eggshells all the time...” I stopped for breath.

  He blocked the doorway and stood with his hands on his hips. The bulge of his erection took center stage. It was a sensational view... it should be declared the eighth wonder of the world.

  He shook his head. “If you were any other chick, Mia, you’d be lying on your back with your legs spread begging for it. Why aren’t you?” He frowned. His pale blue eyes flicked from the bed and back to me.

  “Well Tania’s looking for you.” I gave a nod to the drawer where he threw his phone. “Besides, if the entire female population is prepared to put out for you, why are you working so hard for it?” I looked at him incredulously. “Maybe I want more than just a roll in the hay.”

  But right now a good screw would be fucking fantastic.

  He smiled. “Where do you get these sayings from? That’s something Grandma would say.”

  I tried not to smile.

  “Shut up or I’m going to swab you, just to put something in your mouth.”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” he teased and moved towards me. He towered over me, lowered his head and placing his hand at the back of my neck, tilted my head back and moved his lips to mine again. They hovered so close I wanted to push forward and taste him. Reading my thoughts, his tongue slipped into my mouth and he rubbed his hardness against me; he was so very hard. I ran my hands up his arms, feeling his definition and strength. He was the complete package.

  He kissed me... pressing his lips against mine so softly and slowly, releasing me and kissing me again. Hot and fast, slow and warm. I don’t know how I kept standing and I leaned into him, pressing against him for support. Lucas bent slightly at the knees and picked me up so our faces were equal. Still kissing me, he carried me over to the bed, laid me across it and gently maneuvered my wrists together. He held them above my head in one of his large hands. His breathing was as short and sharp as mine as he pushed his erection against me.

  “Breathe,” he ordered me and I inhaled, my eyes clouded with the fever of him, my body tingling. I leaned into him, my body compressed between Lucas and his bed. I wanted to touch him
but he wouldn’t release me.

  I watched as he kept my hands pinned and with his other hand ran his fingers around the back of my neck, his lips gently kissing mine, his eyes closed and his breathing fast.

  Lucas’s hand moved under my blue knit button-up top. I hadn’t put a bra on after the bath and as his hand moved up my body, he left a trail of goose bumps on my skin. He stopped when he got to the mound of my breast and ran a thumb under and around it. I gasped. Lucas opened his eyes and stopped kissing me.

  “Okay?” he asked. His eyes were hazy and swimming. He had the soft edges I had seen with his friends—relaxed and comfortable, off guard.

  “Yes,” I said, my voice faint, “more than okay.”

  He smiled, encouraged. Lucas’s thumb found my nipple and skimmed across it, I breathed in and moaned with pleasure. I wanted to touch him, to run my hands along his muscled arms and back, work my way down towards the swollen length in his boxer-briefs and release it. Everything I had been dreaming of since I first laid eyes on Lucas. I struggled against him trying to free myself to touch him.

  “Settle,” he whispered, not releasing my hands. He moved his free hand out of my top and away from my breast. Then he gently undid the small button at the bottom of my knit top. My breathing came in small gasps.

  He looked away from my eyes and to the buttons.

  “Four buttons from heaven,” he whispered and then he undid the third.

  Lucas worked his way up, slowly. He reached the very top button and I was now open to him. He ran his finger down the naked line of my chest between my breasts that were still covered.

  “Lucas,” I groaned. I wanted him but I was terrified of the fallout, I had grounds for fear with Lucas.

  “It’s okay, relax,” he assured me.

  He pulled one side of my knit top across my breast revealing it completely. His eyes gazed at my breast and hardened nipple. He moved his hand to the other side and pulled the top back, skimming my nipple as he did so. It was so erotic, so sensual and I thought I was going to pass out. My nipples were aching for him. Lucas stared at my body. I feel insanely self-conscious with my breasts on display for this man who one day I fought with, the next I desired.