“She is,” I agreed.
“Okay, if it makes all of this easier on you, I’ll get the hotel room and you purchase your own train ticket. Does that work?”
“I can pitch in for the hotel—”
“Do you have any idea how expensive London hotels are? You can buy me a pint.” He kissed my lips. A quick peck. But it was sweet.
“Okay. That sounds good.” I smiled. I started to feel the bubble of excitement in my stomach.
“See, not everything has to be a battle,” he said.
“Maybe not. But you can’t have everything too easy.”
Perhaps this was more than sex. Perhaps this was something else entirely.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
Sleeping together was one thing. Trips and weekends away were something else.
“You’re anything but easy, Morgan,” Lucas assured me.
Lucas
“The reservation is under the name Johnny Parks.” I dropped my bag on the pile in the middle of the pavement and climbed the steps onto the team coach. I headed up the stairs to the upper level of the double decker. I found my usual seat towards the back.
I wiped my face with the hem of my T-shirt. It was pouring down rain and I was soaked through. It would make for a less than comfortable trip to London. It was eight o’clock in the morning. The game was scheduled for a three o’clock kick off. It took four hours to drive to the stadium, more if traffic was bad. We’d head straight to the grounds, no stop offs. I had arranged for Morgan to check into the hotel that was booked under an alias. The hotel had been accommodating.
“Why Johnny Parks?” Morgan asked.
I sat down in the seat and turned my face towards the window, speaking low. “It’s my dad’s name,” I told her. “He’s not around, so no one would think it’s me.”
“Oh. Okay then. Well I’m leaving here in ten minutes to catch the train. I should be there around twelve-thirty. So I just get a cab to the hotel from the station?” She sounded nervous. She had asked me to repeat the details half a dozen times since I had finalized our plans.
I had gotten a room at a trendy hotel in Shoreditch. I let Anna make the reservation. I was useless when it came to that sort of thing. She assured me it was a nice hotel in a part of town with lots to do. I hoped she was right and not setting me up to look like a numpty.
The plan was she’d come to the game this afternoon and I would stay on in London with her for the rest of the weekend. We’d catch a train back on Sunday evening.
Asking Morgan to come to London for the match had been impulsive, to say the least. I hadn’t asked a woman to go away with me in years. Not since my last disastrous relationship.
I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I had been adamant about not making things with Morgan serious. Given the chaotic insanity of my life, I wouldn’t subject someone to that. Yet I had asked her to spend the weekend with me. As if we were a couple.
Here I was overthinking shit like I was a damn thirteen-year-old girl.
But I couldn’t deny that I was incredibly attracted to Morgan Carter. She was gorgeous. She was sassy. And that bloody accent drove me wild. I liked the way she said my name. Loo-cus. Lazy and slow. Like an early morning fuck when you’re still half asleep.
I wanted to spend time with her. More than I thought I would. Yet my schedule made that nearly impossible. So I had asked her to come to London.
After the dance around who would pay for what, she had seemed excited about it. I, on the other hand, was edgy.
Because I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing with Morgan. Things seemed to moving along in a way I hadn’t anticipated. And I couldn’t decide if I was terrified or happy about that.
“Yes. You’ll be fine. Stop stressing,” I told her. Someone threw a pair of socks at my head. I glared at the few teammates on the coach and every single one of the wankers laughed.
“Your game is at three?” She seemed to be going through a mental checklist. She was obviously a nervous traveler.
“Yes, three. I’ve booked a car to take you to the stadium at two. You’ll get there in plenty of time.”
“I’ll have trust you,” she said, though she didn’t sound sure.
