Marie Donovan - The Bad Boy's Redemption - Too Much of a Good Thing? / Her Last Line of Defence / Her Hard to Resist Husband

Lu sighed. ‘Will?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Do you know that neither of us has said anything for ten minutes?’

Will shrugged. ‘OK...so?’

‘If we need to think about it so much maybe we should leave things the way they are?’

Will twisted his lips. ‘Confused and horny?’

Give the man another gold star, Lu thought morosely.

EIGHT

‘So, Carter has been cleared to come back to work in a month...’

Will stared at Kelby, nonplussed. ‘That means that I can leave Durban in a month or so?’

‘We’ll pay you out for the full three months.’

He didn’t give a toss about the money. It was leaving Lu earlier than he’d bargained for that was threatening to throw him into a tailspin.

‘Also, at the director’s meeting last night, the board agreed that Carter will retire in six months. I can offer you a position as consultant coach until then and a five-year contract as head coach when he’s gone. What do you think?’

Will yanked his thoughts away from Lu. ‘Giving control back to Carter sucks. I don’t know if I can do it and then work under him.’

‘It’s for six months, dude! And he’s a good coach. You’d learn a lot from him.’

Will placed his hands on Kelby’s desk and straightened his arms, thinking it through. ‘I’ve been getting other offers from other teams. Firm consultant and then head coach offers from Melbourne and Auckland.’

Kelby leaned back in his chair. ‘Have you talked to Lu about any of this?’

Will frowned at him. ‘No.’

‘Don’t you think you should?’

Will stood up and folded his arms belligerently. Because he was still reeling at the thought of how much he didn’t want to leave her, he narrowed his eyes at Kelby’s comment. ‘She isn’t a factor. We’re just friends.’

‘Friends! Yeah, keep telling yourself that.’ Kelby shook his head in disbelief. ‘And if you let her go then you’re crazier than I gave you credit for.’

Let her go? He hadn’t even had her yet! He’d spent most of last night tossing and turning, and when he had slept his dreams had been super-hot and had involved him taking Lu fifty ways to Sunday.

As a result he was tired, irritable, and still as confused and even hornier than he had been yesterday afternoon. He thought he was either a saint or an idiot to have dropped her off at home after their day on the beach and left her there.

No, he was definitely an idiot.

Will glanced at his watch. ‘I’ve got to go. I’m late as it is.’

Kelby frowned. ‘Late for what?’

‘Game analysis. It’s at four.’

‘Do you ever read any of the memos I send you? I asked for game analysis to be postponed because Lu is doing that nude calendar shoot with the squad this evening.’

Will turned around very slowly and sent Kelby his death-ray glare. ‘What. Did. You. Say?’

Kelby didn’t do a very good job of trying to hide his smile. ‘Twelve of the franchise clubs are collaborating on a calendar featuring the various teams to raise money for charity. Each franchise is responsible for capturing their own discreet image of the team.’

‘And Lu is doing this?’

Kelby looked innocent. ‘She is our photographer. I don’t know why you’re looking so surprised about this. I’ve been mailing you about it all week!’

‘I saw the subject heading and thought you were joking.’

‘And Lu didn’t mention it to you?’

Will frowned. ‘I think she did. I said something about it being a stupid-ass idea and that anyone associated with it was stupid...she hasn’t mentioned it again.’

‘I can’t imagine why,’ Kelby said dryly.

Will’s mouth flattened. ‘I’m really not happy about this.’

‘Lucky for you that I don’t give a toss whether you’re happy about it or not. It’s her job.’

Right.

‘Where are they doing the shoot?’ Will demanded.

‘In the gym.’ Kelby stood up as Will whipped around and headed for the door. ‘Will, don’t you dare go down there! Don’t make things difficult...’

Kelby sank back into his chair as Will ignored his order. Friends? Yeah, right! He hoped that Will didn’t make the shoot difficult for Lu, but he wouldn’t bet money on it. Kelby lumbered to his feet. Maybe he’d wander down to the gym for a little bit of light entertainment...

* * *

She needed a fan. She needed a walk-in fridge. She needed to stop blushing, Lu thought as fifteen briefs-clad, buff, super-sexy rugby players streamed into the Rays’ gym, their second home. Will was standing off to one side, fully clothed in jeans and a T-shirt, and the scowl on his face was as black as a summer thundercloud.

He’d yet to say a word to her.

Boxers, briefs, even a set of Y-fronts... Good grief, Lu, you can’t look there! Was the air-con working down here? The team members weren’t fazed about lounging around in their underwear. They chatted and joked and insulted each other about the size of their tackle and the state of their underpants.

‘We’ll let Lu decide,’ Matt hooted.

Lu lifted her eyebrows. ‘Decide on what?’

‘Boxers, briefs or thongs,’ Matt explained. ‘What do women prefer?’

Lu kept her face blank, knowing that they were trying to get a reaction. She knew boys—they’d push her until they got one. She hadn’t raised twin boys and had all their friends using her house as a second home for nothing. But she couldn’t look at Will, because then he’d know that she preferred commando.

Actually, just him buck naked would do the trick.

Matt snapped his fingers under her nose. ‘Lu! Concentrate, here—this is important research!’

Lu reached up and patted his cheek. ‘Sweetie...trust me. If I liked you enough to get to the point of wanting to rip your underwear off I wouldn’t really care what you were wearing. Though I’d have second thoughts if you were wearing a red thong with black lace...that’s just tacky.’

Matt placed his hand on her cheek and his eyes twinkled with fun. ‘But you’d like a leopard print thong, right?’

Lu laughed and played along. ‘Absolutely! Who can resist a man in a leopard print thong?’

Matt put his thumbs into his black boxers and shimmied them down his hips. Lu slapped her hands over her face and peeked out through her fingers as Matt did a slow turn, wearing nothing more than the briefest, tackiest, fakest leopard print thong.

Lu dropped her hand and bellowed with laughter as Matt posed in front of her, his hip thrust out in a typical model pose. She clapped before placing the back of one hand on her forehead and pretending to swoon.

The room roared. Matt high-fived her and Lu was still laughing when Will stepped away from the wall and cleared his throat. Cold eyes drilled through her and her laughter died in her throat as the room fell into an uncomfortable silence.

He jerked his head at the gym door. ‘Outside.’

Lu frowned. ‘Sorry?’

‘I want to talk to you...outside,’ Will stated, in a biting voice vibrating with anger.

‘Lu’s in trub-bel,’ Matt sang, and then winced when Will walked up to him and slammed his hand against Matt’s chest. Matt took two steps backwards.

‘If you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut up,’ Will stated calmly, his eyes spitting.

Matt held his hands up. ‘Yes, boss.’

‘You—outside.’

Will looked at Lu and his furious expression had Lu climbing down from the table and walking towards the door. She heard the door slam behind her and looked up at Will, who was obviously thundercloud angry. What was his problem?

‘Stop flirting with Matt,’ Will stated through clenched teeth.

Wha-at?

‘Jeez, Will, he was just trying to make the situation less awkward,’ Lu replied, confused. He couldn’t be taking their banter seriously, could he? ‘What is your problem?’