“Holy Mother of God, tell me I’m hallucinating.”
Anna jumped and jerked her head up. Her chin hit Lucas’ cheek as he cursed loudly. She barely registered his barrage of curses since she was busy staring in shock at the man standing in the doorway, who was in turn staring at her with pursed lips.
It was Austin Fox, the captain of the L.A. Hawks.
Shit! How long had he been standing there?!
“Hey… It’s good to see you, Austin. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you outside the stadium,” she said weakly, hastily sliding off Lucas’ lap before smoothing down her skirt, which was noticeably rumpled.
“Yeah, I wish it had been longer!” he snapped.
Lucas sighed.
Hesighed! As if Austin was trying his patience. Then, he slowly rose and turned around.
“What the hell are you doing here, Fox?”
“You left your damn pills again, and since your house is on my way home, I thought I’d drop them off.”
“That was thoughtful. Thanks,” Anna said politely because Lucas didn’t look like he wanted to respond.
“Yeah, I’m a fucking saint,” Fox growled. “So saintly that when you didn’t answer the door, I thought I’d just leave them on the kitchen table.”
Oh. Maybe her ears hadn’t been ringing after all.
“Because I thought you might be putting Melody to bed. But no. You were putting someone else to bed, weren’t you?”
Groaning, Anna threw her head back. She was really glad Lucas hadn’t undressed her yet. “Oh, come on, Austin. No bad puns, please. And why does everyone have a key to your house, Lucas?”
“Because they babysit,” he said, running his hand through his hair, making his pectorals tense, temporarily distracting her from his angry center.
“Ah,” she said, running her eyes down the dark hair that fanned out across his chest until…
“Your shirt is open,” Austin growled, glaring at Lucas.
“Yeah, I thought you’d enjoy seeing me half-naked,” his teammate replied dryly. “Maybe it’s time you leave? We’re busy here.”
Anna hid her smile behind her hand, but Austin didn’t find it funny at all.
“What the hell are youdoing? And withwhom?”
“I thought that was pretty obvious,” Lucas stated calmly. “Keep your voice down, Melody’s asleep.”
“God!” Austin squeezed his eyes shut, one hand to his head. “How the hell…how…when? And by God,why?”
“You left outwho? andwhat? Then you’d have all the reporter’s essential W-questions,” Anna blurted out.
“Oh, it’s crystal clear to mewhoit is!” Fox whispered. “As to what, I’m trying not to think too hard about it so I don’t have nightmares!” He rubbed his forehead feverishly before pacing in front of them. “Fuck! Oh, fuck… This will cost us the playoffs. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck…”
“Fox, shut up,” Lucas said, annoyed. “It won’t cost us anything. Anna and I ended it.”
“Oh yeah, that’s not what it looked like!”
“We just had a…relapse, that’s all,” Anna jumped in.
“Yeah.” Lucas nodded. “No one will find out.”
“Ifound out, Moreau!” he shot back, and Anna flinched. “I know now. And I’m the damn captain. It’s mt job to maintain the peace. And you’re hiding a damn atomic bomb in your bed!”
