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

Will glanced at his watch. He’d been at it for a half-hour and he hadn’t even noticed. Sweat snaked down his bare spine into the back of his shorts and his hair was matted to his head. Using the back of his wrist, he pushed the hair back from his face and hauled air into his lungs. The adrenalin and anger were gone and he realised that he was utterly exhausted, his muscles beyond fatigued. Between the run this morning, the full body contact practice this afternoon and beating the crap out of this bag, he was skating on the edge of physical exhaustion.

Will grabbed the sides of the bag and rested his sticky forehead on the thick plastic. Well, he should sleep well tonight—that was if he didn’t start thinking about his crappy past. And Lu. And how much longer he could keep his hands off her...

Will turned on hearing the gentle slap of Lu’s sandals as she crossed the gym.

‘How long have you been here?’ he demanded, pulling off one glove with his teeth, then ridding himself of the other.

Lu tossed him a bottle of water which he caught with his free hand. ‘A while. Want to talk about it?’

Will cracked the lid and took a long sip before sinking to sit on an exercise mat. He held Lu’s sympathetic eyes as water slid down his throat.

‘Nothing to talk about,’ he said when he’d lowered the bottle.

Lu tipped her head and shook her head. ‘The past loses its power when it’s talked about. Secrets too.’

‘What would you know about secrets and the power they hold over people, Lu?’

Lu’s eyes sharpened and hardened. ‘Try clearing out your parents’ personal effects on your own at nineteen and say that again, Scott.’

Will winced. ‘Ouch. Did you learn some stuff you’d rather not know?’

Lu folded her arms and tapped her foot. ‘Yes. So don’t try and take the high road with me about secrets. I know what I’m talking about.’

Will stretched out his legs and placed his hands on the mat behind him. ‘Bet you haven’t shared them with your brothers.’

Lu twisted her lips. ‘There are some things they don’t need to know.’

‘And there are some things the world doesn’t need to know about my life.’

Lu’s mouth thinned. ‘I’m not talking about the world, Will. I’m suggesting that you talk things through so that you don’t have to kick a bag.’

‘I like kicking the bag.’

Lu threw up her hands. ‘OK, if you’re going to be facetious then I give up. I’ll just go and leave you to it.’

The words were stiff and staccato and Will sighed at the hurt look that passed over her face. A part of him wished he could tell her, wished he could trust enough to talk it over with her, to confess his stupidity. But apart from the fact that he was not in the habit of talking about himself he thought that talking to Lu about it would be akin to slicing himself open and watching himself bleed. He also didn’t want to see the look of disgust on her face, to see her disappointment in the man he’d used to be...a man he suspected still lurked under his tightly held cloak of control.

‘I’ll see you when I see you.’

Lu turned to go but Will’s leg shot out, gently catching Lu behind the knees. She tumbled to the mat, landing on her back next to him.

‘What the—?’

Before she could say another word Will rolled onto her and covered her mouth with his. Her fist clenched against his shoulder, but as his tongue touched hers her tension disappeared and her hand opened, fingers splaying over him and branding his bare skin.

Will pulled his head back to look down at her, raised his hand so that the tips of his fingers brushed her cheek.

‘Lu, if there was anybody I could tell it would be you. I just don’t...can’t...talk about it.’

She echoed his action, lifting her hand to touch his face. ‘You need to talk to somebody about it. You can’t kick the hell out of a bag every time you get angry.’

‘Actually, I can.’ Will’s eyes glinted down at her. ‘I need to. It’s the only way to relieve the tension.’

He knew that Lu felt his erection along her hipbone—could feel his accelerated heartbeat beneath her hand. They both knew it but didn’t acknowledge the other, tried and tested way to relieve stress. He liked feeling her under him, but he also liked the fact that she’d noticed that he was out of sorts, that she cared enough to make the effort to comfort him.

Will’s eyes collided with hers and underneath the attraction he saw sympathy there, and understanding. Flat-out affection. He could care for this woman. He really could. But when it all went south and the flames died—as they always did—he suspected that he’d be left with third degree burns.

Not an option.

Will reluctantly rolled off her and heard Lu’s sweet sigh of exasperation. He knew how she felt. He craved her too. They lay on their backs on the mat for a while, staring at the ceiling.

Lu rolled her head on the mat to look at the bag and couldn’t believe she was about to say what she was about to say.

‘Does it work for sexual tension too?’

Will sighed. ‘Not as good as a cold shower but...yeah.’

‘Want to teach me?’

‘Are you sexually frustrated, Mermaid?’

Will’s hand slid over hers and squeezed. She knew that he’d been aiming for a jokey tone, but his words had come out pained instead.

And instead of sounding cool and sophisticated her words were soft and sad. ‘Well, I have this guy that I’m mega-attracted to, and in a fit of madness we agreed that it would be better to just be friends. I’m having the best fun with him, but sometimes I just want to...’

Will pulled in a hot breath. ‘Nail him?’

‘Yeah.’ Lu wrinkled her nose as her rueful eyes met his. Like him, she’d been aiming to lighten the tension, but instead she’d just tumbled them into a miasma of emotion. Lu wanted to look away and couldn’t—wanted to make a sassy comment but couldn’t find any words to say.

Will’s hand contracted around hers. ‘God, Lu, I know how you feel.’

‘I’m having so much fun with you and I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll punch a bag if that helps,’ Lu gabbled.

Will rolled to his side and placed his free hand on her face. ‘I don’t want to spoil it, either so I’ll teach you to box,’ he said, his voice rough. ‘But if we don’t get up soon we won’t need to punch anything.’

Lu turned her face into his hand and dropped a kiss on his palm. ‘OK.’

But they still lay there for a while longer, his one hand holding hers, the other on her face, feeling physically and emotionally connected.

Whoops, Lu thought. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

* * *

It was late Sunday afternoon and Lu was attempting, unsuccessfully, to make the transition from lying on her surfboard to standing up. Will, standing hip-deep in the Indian Ocean off North Beach, was trying to hide his smile.

‘Stop laughing at me, you jerk!’ Lu shouted at him as she popped up from under a two-foot wave. ‘We weren’t all born super co-ordinated!’

‘You’ll get there,’ Will told her, laughing as she rubbed her face.

She would have given up hours ago, but she knew that learning to surf was a way to get some distance from their emotionally charged discussion in the gym the other night.

Constantly looking like an idiot and getting sand in her bikini bottoms was a small price to pay to put the fun and laughter back into their...whatever it was they had.

‘I would like to point out, for the record, that we only seem to be doing things you like to do.’ Lu slapped her hands on her hips. ‘We never made it to that art exhibition—and what happened to dance classes?’

‘We’re going to the photography exhibition,’ Will pointed out.

‘That’s in two weeks’ time,’ Lu retorted. ‘I’m sick of sucking at sport.’

Will laughed. ‘Say that again—five times and fast.’

‘I’m sip at supping at...aaargh!’

Will laughed as he walked through the water to her and took her board from her grasp. ‘That’s enough for today; Mak and Deon look ready to leave anyway.’

Lu looked towards the beach, where Mak and Deon stood at the water’s edge, Deon’s head droopy against Mak’s arms. The four of them had spent the afternoon there and Will and Mak had spent hours tossing a rugby ball to Deon, much to his delight. They’d all taken turns to swim with him too, and the little guy was utterly, happily exhausted.

Lu scooped him up, gave him a huge kiss and handed him over to Will, who piggy-backed him back to their bags and towels scattered over the still hot sand. Will put Deon on his feet, helped Mak load up their bags and rubbed Deon’s head.

‘Are you coming to the stadium with the St Clare’s kids on Tuesday?’

Deon nodded. ‘I’m their main man.’

Will grinned. ‘That you are. Later, dude.’

‘Later, dude,’ Deon echoed and the adults laughed.

After they’d left, Will cocked his head at Lu. ‘I’m going back in. You coming?’

Lu nodded and they turned back to the sea, sighing as the warm Indian Ocean crept higher the further in they went.

‘School and work day tomorrow,’ Lu said, as the waves lapped against her chest.

She wondered what the twins had been up to today...if they’d had as much fun as she had. On days like these—beach days, happy days—she missed them with every cell in her body. She’d been fighting the urge to call them all day, and the couple of messages she’d sent them still, as of ten minutes ago, remained unread. They were never without their phones, so what had they been doing all day?

Lu felt Will’s thumb brush the space between her eyebrows and she turned her head to look at him. ‘Sometimes you drift away and then this frown appears.’

‘Sun in my eyes,’ Lu replied blithely.

‘Yeah, tell me another one.’ Will snorted.

Lu snuck a look at his frustrated face. ‘How come you want me to talk but you don’t...or won’t?’

‘Because I’m a guy.’

Lu’s snort was bigger than his. ‘We’re really good at having fun and really bad at talking to each other about the things that go deep,’ she commented. ‘I know that you were seriously upset after seeing your ex on TV—’

‘I wasn’t.’

‘Will.’ Just her saying his name had his protest dying on his lips. ‘And I’m missing the twins. Yet we still try to pretend that everything is fine.’

‘I don’t know how to—’ Will stopped and automatically reached out to steady her as a large wave broke over them. Using his strength, he planted his feet and kept her upright as water rushed over her head. Lu linked her arms around his neck, droplets of water on her face.

‘I wish you’d talk to me, Will,’ Lu murmured, frustrated. He was holding back, keeping her at arm’s length mentally, and she didn’t like it. If he could push her out of her comfort zone why couldn’t she do the same for him?

The problem was that he just had to look at her with those hot eyes and she forgot about comfort zones and talking and anything else but her need to have his mouth on hers.

Will kissed her shoulder as he whispered, ‘I’ll tell you that I think you are incredibly beautiful.”

Lu hiccupped a laugh. ‘Freckly and skinny.’

‘Beautifully, gorgeously freckly and skinny,’ Will insisted. He looked down into her eyes. ‘I don’t know how to do this...the other stuff...the talking stuff. I can’t do it—haven’t the skills. But this...this I know.’

Yes, Lu thought. And it was the perfect end to a wonderful day as Will’s tongue slipped into her mouth and his hands pulled her hips into his.

Her stomach pressed against his erection and her breasts were flattened against his chest. She felt uninhibited and free. His actions under the water were hidden from the last few people on the beach, and the surfers were too far away for them to see and too uninterested to give a hoot. Scooting her hand up his hip, she caressed his stomach, feeling the wonder of the warm skin over hard muscles. Will responded by cupping her breast, instinctively seeking her nipple, which instantly bloomed in his hand.

Lu gasped and wrenched her mouth away from his, arching her back as she buried her face in his neck and swiped her tongue across his skin. This was what she’d been missing—this intensity, this flood of lust and emotion that she hadn’t experienced with a man in a long, long time.

Will groaned as he snuck his hands under her pink bikini top and tangled her tongue with his. He sensed her frustration and responded with a silent chuckle. She wasn’t the only one who craved more. But suddenly this wasn’t about him. This was about Lu and the pleasure he could give her—the pleasure he knew she hadn’t experienced in a long, long time...if ever.

‘Wrap your legs around my waist, honey,’ he murmured against her mouth.

Lu, eyes glazed with passion, obliged. Will dropped his gaze to look down between them. Her thighs were slim and baby-smooth; he could feel her hipbone under the palm of his other hand. A beaded ring was hooked through her belly button.

‘Just enjoy, Lu,’ Will told her, and saw the soft reply in her eyes, tasted it in her lifted lips.

She became compliant beneath him, her trust that he would take care of her blindingly obvious. Will braced himself by pushing his feet into the sand while kissing her—he couldn’t get enough of her luscious mouth. He moved his hand over her ankle and calf, tracing his way up her thigh, lingering to knead her bottom. His long fingers slid under her bikini bottom to stroke lightly between her legs. He ignored her whimper and felt her intake of breath as he moved his hand between them and trailed it over her, bending his head to kiss her again, feeling her throb beneath his fingertips. His fingers—urgent now—slid into her furrows, automatically finding her nub, causing her to lift her hips, thrusting into his hand. Astounded at her passionate reaction, by the tension he could feel in her, Will felt immensely powerful, intensely male.

He felt her orgasm against his hand, saw it in her eyes, heard it in her whimpered cries.

She made him feel more of a man...

Long, long minutes later she dropped her feet back into the sand and pushed her hands through her hair. As long as he lived Will knew that he’d never forget Lu standing chest deep in the sea, tipping her face up to catch the last of the sunshine, looking a lot like the mermaid he sometimes imagined her to be.

‘What are we going to do about this, Lu?’ he demanded as they walked back towards the beach. ‘We’re dancing around it and something is going to have to give—soon.’

Lu ran her hands through her hair again, making spikes. ‘I don’t know, Will! I don’t! I know that I want you, but I don’t want to stop having fun with you either—and that was the deal, remember? Sex and you walk. No sex and you don’t.’

‘Whose stupid idea was that?’ he muttered under his breath. ‘Oh, that must have been yours, Scott. Moron.’

It was the deal, and he’d thought it made sense all those weeks back, when his life had made sense. Will grabbed a towel off the beach mat and swiped it across his face. He didn’t know how much longer he could resist her—resist the temptation to take her to bed, to make her his. But she terrified him. She had the ability to make him lose focus, to do the things, feel the things he’d used to when his life had been out of control. Like acting first and thinking later. His life had the potential to spiral out of control when he allowed that side of his personality to rule.

With Lu, his devil-may-care side was demanding a lot more decision making opportunities and—what had Kelby called him?—Mr Disciplined Control was taking a beating.

Either way, he felt as if he was fighting a demonic alien invasion with a water pistol in a desert.

Lu could see all her confusion reflected in Will’s eyes. He wanted her—she’d have to be dead not to realise that—but he didn’t want to want her. As for her, she knew that if they moved from friends to lovers then she would be inviting a whole bunch of complicated craziness into her life. It would be a lot harder to say goodbye to a lover than a friend when he left, and even worse it would be so much more difficult to keep her mind thinking friends, her body thinking lover and her heart out of the equation if she was sleeping with him.

Lu held his gaze, hating his rigid self-control. He wasn’t going to ask her to bed, wasn’t going to take that step. If only they could really talk to each other...

What would she say?

I love spending time with you, she told him silently. But I don’t think that I’m ready for a relationship, strings or not. I’m just getting to know myself again, learning to be on my own. I’m finally coming into myself, learning who I am without the responsibility of raising the twins. If we hook up I’ll have someone back in my life and I don’t know if I’m ready for that. Because you are a strong character, a protector, another alpha personality, and when you go I’ll be back to square one, learning to be on my own again.

It was so hard to resist him, and it would be easy to let him slide into all the empty spaces in her heart and home that the boys had left. But for the first time in her life she had to think about what was best for her and, as much as she thought it would be fun, she didn’t think it was a smart move long-term. For the first time in a decade she didn’t have to worry about someone else—and she liked it.

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.