Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Twelfth encounter
“I love your smell.”
“What?”
“Well, men always smell harsh or musky. But you smell sweet. Like something you know isn’t good for you, but you still want more.”
“I’m not good for you?”
“I always want more, Lucas, focus on that.”
He said what?” Anna tried to keep her voice calm and low, but when it came to being inconspicuous, she was about as successful as a peacock – or Leon!
“It’s no big deal, Anna,” Dr. Reed replied calmly, stowing paperwork in his desk.
“But…” She gritted her teeth, her hands clenching the hem of her polo shirt. “He specifically said he didn’t want me to treat him?”
Blood rushed to her head, dancing in front of her eyes as red dots.
“Don’t take it personally,” Dr. Reed said, shrugging as if it was nothing. “Some players are just superstitious during the playoffs. They don’t want to change their routines. Some believe women bring bad luck.”
Oh, if she ran into Lucas, she’d bring him bad luck, he could count on that!
What the hell was he thinking? Did he know how bad he was making her look to her boss?
Don’t take it personally.
It was too late for that! Damn, he’d told Fox yesterday that he wanted to be friends with her and…shit, today he was questioning her competence as a doctor?
“Just be happy,” her boss interrupted her thoughts. “You’re done here for the day. It’s already late. You can go home.”
“Oh, yeah, great,” she said tightly, abruptly turning her back on her boss and stomping out of his office. But instead of heading left toward the exit to the private parking lot, she turned right, toward the players’ locker rooms. Because Dr. Reed was wrong. She wasn’t done for the day yet!
Most of the hockey players would already be gone. Lucas, however, had been treated late, so he was probably still here.
Too bad for him.
This time, she didn’t knock, but Lucas wasn’t in the completely empty locker room either.
He wasn’t sitting in front of his number one locker.
She heard water splashing in the adjacent communal shower — and at that moment, she couldn’t care less about how many naked Hawks she’d have to see to yell at the goalie, she simply pushed the door open with her fist.
Her footsteps echoed off the tiles as she looked around the room, the warm humidity seeping through her skirt and polo shirt. There were two dozen showers including two stalls whose doors were probably just for show since they were wide open — giving Anna a good view of Lucas.
He was facing the wall, water flowing in thick streams over his broad shoulders, down his muscular back, and over his fantastic ass, which Anna had stared at so many times, she could have molded it from clay.
She knew Lucas’ body inside and out. Knew which muscles danced when he raised his arms to run his hands through his hair, like he was doing now.
Knew every mole. Every dip, every ridge, every damned sinewy perfection.
And yet she couldn’t tear her eyes away. Her mouth went dry as she watched him run his hands over his own body, foam and water dripping down his smooth skin everywhere…
Heat pooled in her abdomen, and she jerked her gaze upward. She wasn’t here to gawk at him!
“What the hell?” she snapped, her angry voice echoing twice off the ceiling and walls.
Lucas flinched and turned to her. His eyes widened when he saw her, and with his mouth gaping in disbelief, he stepped out from under the spray of water. His dark hair clung to his forehead and neck like ink stains. “Fuck, Anna. You can’t be in here!”
She snorted loudly. “Says who?”
“I’m fucking naked!”
“I can see that! And I couldn’t care less,” she lied, pressing her lips together and crossing her arms. She forced her gaze to focus on his face, not down his delicious, wet torso and…
“What the hell were you thinking?” she cut through her own thoughts heatedly, stepping toward him until the water dripping onto the floor from him touched her bare legs. “You don’t want to be treated by me?”
The guy had the nerve to sigh. “Anna…”
“No! I’m not finished yet.” Angrily, she jabbed her index finger against his chest. “I’m a damn good doctor! Do you understand?”
“I never said otherwise,” he growled, yanking her finger away from his body.
“Yes, in my boss’ eyes, that’s exactly what you’re saying!
” she cried angrily. “How dare you not let me treat you!” She tried to jab his chest with her free hand, but the bastard’s reflexes were too quick.
He took a step back and caught her other hand as well.
Warm water splashed down over his stupid, broad shoulders, bouncing in all directions and soaking her polo shirt, but she barely felt it.
“Stop it,” he said, infuriatingly calm and dark, his gaze locked with hers.
“Stop what? Yelling at you or trying to punch you?”
“Both!”
“No!” Glaring, she looked up into his face. He seemed so damn calm even though he was the one naked. Even though he was being yelled at. And she hated it. “I’m not leaving until I get a fucking apology and a promise! You’re going to go to Reed in the morning and tell him you’ve changed your mind!”
“I will not,” he said impassively, his quiet voice barely audible over the falling water.
“Damn it, Lucas, you will!” she snapped.
“No. It’s nothing personal…”
“Of course it’s personal!” She might have been screaming now. “What else could it be? I’m good enough for you to go down on, but not to look at your fucking knee?”
“Anna,” he said threateningly. “This isn’t the fucking place to…”
“I couldn’t care less,” she snapped, twisting her hands in his grip. “I want an explanation, Lucas. Why can’t I treat you? Why do you have to trash me in front of my boss? You said we were friends! Friends don’t do that!”
“I…” He paused. He frowned. And then his expression darkened. “I never told you we were friends,” he said sharply. “Shit, you were eavesdropping on Fox and me?”
Oops. “It was unintentional, okay?” she replied heatedly.
He laughed dryly. “Now listen to me carefully, Anna,” he whispered, leaning toward her so that drops of his wet hair fell onto her cheek.
The warmth of shower steam surrounded her, and Lucas’ own heat.
His honey scent lulled her. “When you treat me, you touch me — and we both know what happens when you do that.” His gaze darkened, bringing heat with it that triggered a tingling sensation deep in Anna’s stomach.
“And that has to stop. Fox is right. You don’t want it, but you’re drama just waiting to swallow me whole.
And I’m not what you’re looking for, damn it!
Because, what did you say?” He narrowed his eyes.
“You want a man who can communicate well?”
She widened her eyes. She had never… Oh, the bastard! She opened her mouth in disbelief. “And here you give me shit for eavesdropping?”
“It was unintentional, okay?” he replied, unperturbed. “That makes up for everything, doesn’t it?”
She snorted. “I don’t believe a word of it. Such bullshit! Surely, you can control yourself. The only place I would probably touch you is your knee, anyway, Lucas!”
He didn’t answer, just stared at her steadily, his pupils dilating with each passing moment. His gaze wandered over her now-damp hair, down her neck to her shirt, which clung to her torso – to her nipples, visible beneath her shirt, which continued to harden under his gaze.
Her breathing quickened as Lucas’ large, rough fingers loosened around her wrists, and he ran them up her arms, leaving wet trails…
“Hey, Moreau? Where are you?” a deep, annoyed voice said, followed by footsteps.
Lucas froze in his tracks. “Fuck.” He jerked her into the stall and pulled the door closed before his gaze wandered down her body and…
“Your feet. He can see your feet,” he growled.
The next moment, he dug his fingers hard into her hips and lifted her into his arms as if she were nothing more than a puck he was fishing off the ice.
But his body was wet and water was running over her, almost causing her to slide back down. Frantically, she gathered her skirt so she could wrap her legs around his waist to lighten his load, and wrapped her arms around his neck. The voice spoke again.
“Moreau, is that you?”
“What do you want, Alvarez?” he replied, annoyed.
Leon sighed dramatically. “So rude. I’m supposed to remind you to take your stupid pills.”
Lucas’ hands moved to Anna’s buttocks. His fingernails scratched at the hem of her skirt, pressing into her bare skin. A soft gasp escaped Anna and Lucas looked at her warningly. “Okay,” he said.
His voice was so damn rough. His chest so damn hard. His smell too damn sweet. His fingers were way too close to…
“You really need to take them,” Leon said loudly. “Otherwise, Dr. Reed will send Anna over to force-feed them to you.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow and glanced at Anna’s face.
She nodded and raised her chin because that was what she would do.
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, I’d leave them here if I were you,” Leon continued. “A house call from Anna doesn’t sound bad.”
Anna felt Lucas stiffen. She slid a few inches down his hard body until he tightened his grip on her.
But she sat lower. On his hips. She gasped and dug her fingernails into his shoulders.
She told herself she had to do it to hold on…
but it was a lie. It was the heat that was taking over her body and gathering urgently between her legs. Because Lucas…
“Get out of here, Alvarez,” he said harshly.
“Yeah, yeah, my God.”
A few seconds later, Leon slammed the door shut.
Anna stared into Lucas’ eyes. She didn’t move even though she wanted to. Everything in her body longed to rock back and forth on him, to take what Lucas’ body was offering her.
Instead, she waited for Lucas to let go and set her on the floor. But he didn’t move.
“See?” he said quietly, reaching behind him and turning off the shower so that a new silence surrounded them. “I can communicate.”
“Really?” she whispered tonelessly. “So that wasn’t…just idle chatter?”