“Not…of…my nuts,” Luka ground out.
Naese slapped his shoulder as he chuckled.“We’ll get her up and that’ll ease some of the pressure.”
I gasped.“Did you just call meheavy?”
Naese rose, eyes wide.“N-no.I mean, you’re pregnant.There’s a baby in you.You’re…you’re…beautiful…glowing…”
“A delicate rose who ninja’d the fuck out of that possum.Cool trick,” Cruz said as he joined us.He shot Luka a sympathetic glance.“I’ll lift you on three.”
Cruz picked me up, and Luka curled into a fetal position, panting and cursing with each exhale.
“Trainer will be over in a sec,” Cruz said.“I caught that on video.You were magnificent, diving in under Millie, breaking her fall.”
“G-great,” Luka muttered.“I think I have splinters in my ass.”
“Not possible on the pool deck, but maybe abrasions from the concrete.They’re trophies,” Naese said, trying to keep a straight face.
“Fuck off,” Luka growled.
I tried to dart away as mortification began to burn my super-heated flesh from my body.
“Nope.You need to stay here,” Cruz rumbled, almost as if he knew my plan was to keep running through the house, out the door, and back to my condo in Colombo.He snapped his fingers and the rookie stepped forward, looking slightly awkward but determined.
“Get her some water and a chair,” Cruz barked.
The rookie nodded and hastened off.Cruz kept his bear paw on my arm.I sagged into him, wheezing.
Luka touched my arm.I glanced over, blinking back tears of embarrassment.“You okay?”he asked.
“I should ask you that!Are you?”
Luka grimaced.“I’ll be okay.”
“Dick shots are the worst,” Naese said.
“Shut it,” Cruz muttered.
Naese met my eyes and rolled his lips into his mouth.“Er…are you okay?”
“Yes,” I said through clenched teeth.Better to be angry than to show anxiety or fear.I knew that all too well.I snatched my arm from Cruz.“Thank you,” I said to the bear of a man at my side.
He nodded, but I couldn’t see much of his expression, thanks to his bearded cheeks.
I looked down at Luka, who sat up but still looked pale.He’d pressed his lips together, and the skin around his eyes was taut.His gaze never left mine.I felt a bit like a mouse under the benign eye of a roly-poly cat who was too full to do more than watch its next prey.
How did my brain come up with this drivel?
“Th-thanks, hockey man.Um, I…”
“Let’s get you inside, checked over,” Ida Jane said, coming to my side.Blade was in the house now, his bulk visible at the sliding windows.
Ida Jane was thebestof friends.I squeezed her fingers and let her lead me away, trying not to limp as I put pressure on my left leg.
I looked back in time to see Naese slap Luka’s back.“Fuckingepichow you dove in.”
Luka’s attention on me never wavered, not even as he took Cruz’s hand and rose to his feet, wincing.
Chapter12
