15
Auckland was still buzzing from the victory.
At the grocery the next day Claire saw Crusader’s kits on children, people were talking, the newspapers had headlines.
Photos of mud-streaked uniforms, ecstatic fans, and Noah Wilson’s interview was in the national news and plastered on every sports page.
Claire scrolled past the coverage as she sat outside on a bench, nursing her coffee.
Every photo of Noah pulled her in ways she didn’t want to name.
He looked like a leader. She tried not to think about the way he waited for her.
Almost three hours on a bench outside the Med Box, not saying much, not needing to.
Her phone alerted Claire with a team notification: Mandatory Medical Check-Ins.
She sighed. Back to work.
Back inside, the gym smelled freshly cleaned. Most of the players were sprawled on mats, stretching or half-dozing. Kelsey was the first to greet her. Sitting up with a charming grin.
“Morning, Doc,” he said with a friendly tone.
“Hey, Kelsey, good morning.”
“How have you been surviving, Doc?” Toby asked.
“If I see one more split eyebrow, I’m filing for hazard pay.”
“We give you a show, don’t we?”
“You give me paperwork, Toby.”
There was a fit of laughter from the team.
“You’re so lame,” Miko said to Toby.
“Shut the fuck up, Smash!” Toby yelled back.
Claire walked over to Tama with a grin. “Ready when you are, Coach,” she said to him.
“Alright. Listen up, Boys, time for check-ins, Tania will call your name when the doctor is ready, until then, we are doing kinetics.” That got a low grumble from the team, but it didn’t phase Tama at all.
Claire moved through her routine of checking pulses, weigh-ins, mental health checks, range of motion, some bruises to observe, and some cuts to monitor. Professional. Efficient. Always careful not to linger too long with any one player.
Even the colorful Jack Hayworth seemed to be full of focus. Flirting a little and leaving with a wink. Players came and went.
Noah entered quietly, dressed down in team gear, hair damp from showering off, out of courtesy to the doctor. He gave her a nod that is polite and reserved.
“Good morning,” she said, keeping her voice even.
“Doctor Ashford.”
She motioned for him to take a seat on the exam table. “Any soreness?”
He shrugged, rolling one shoulder. “Just the usual.”
She pressed gently along his collarbone, the spot where she noticed he got scraped the night before. The skin was rough and tender. He didn’t flinch. Just intently watching her inspect his body.
“You should’ve let me clean this last night,” she murmured.
“It’s not that bad and you were busy.”
“I was. I’m sorry.” She met his eyes briefly, then looked away. “Take off your shirt.”
He did.
Under the harsh clinic lighting, every line of him looked carved from stone.
Muscle earned from years of brutal scrums and relentless training.
His tanned chest is broad, dusted with dark hair, a continuation of his tattoo, and his shoulders carrying the weight of too many tackles.
His abdomen looked like he had worked out every day for a decade and had no breaks.
His tanned skin bore the map of his sport with faint scars, bruises that hadn't yet bloomed and the ghost of old stitches near his ribs.
He looked beautiful and raw. It was distracting.
Claire focused on the cut near his collarbone that stood out.
“Hold still.”
He did.
The intimacy did not go without notice. This shared private moment. The air felt comfortable. Claire told herself she was studying injuries and nothing else. It was impossible not to notice the quiet power in his body.
“To answer your question from yesterday, I do like rugby. You are a good athlete,” she said quietly, applying antiseptic. “You’re… graceful.”
“Graceful?”
“Yeah, graceful. And you keep your head under pressure.”
His abdomen flexed and he huffed a soft laugh. “I have a good reason to.”
She glanced up, caught off guard by the warmth in his tone. “Oh?”
He gave a small, crooked smile. “I don’t want to end up on your table.”
Her lips curved despite herself. “Well, you failed.” Gesturing to the fact he is currently sitting on that table right now, getting patched up.
“Maybe,” he said, eyes flicking to hers, “but worth it.” He wanted to see her reaction.
Something in her chest shifted. She looked down again, refocusing on her task, aware that her pulse had picked up and that her face was close to his collarbone. One look up, and his mouth will be at hers. Claire thought about the boundaries.
She felt his breath when he exhaled deep into her hair. Then she heard him inhale as if to get even the smallest hint of her scent.
“Hold still, Captain, it might sting, but you’ve taken harder hits than this.”
Without her notice, he glanced at her. He whispers, “For some reason, I don’t think that’s true.”
“Hmm?” She didn’t hear him but made the mistake of looking directly into his light brown eyes.
A message from Tania pops up on the computer screen asking if Claire was ready for the next player.
She snapped out of whatever romantic trance she was just in, and he smiled.
“Was that…” she hesitated, trying to sound unaffected. “Was that an actual smile, Captain?”
He held her gaze, amusement flickering there now. “Don’t get used to it.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it.”
But she knew, even as she turned back to put a bandage on the cut, that she would.
That she would remember the way his smile looked.
Rare, genuine, quietly beautiful. It was something deep and intimate.
Something that made her wonder how long she could keep pretending that the line between professional and personal hadn’t already started to blur.
Later that week, Tania was handing out assignments to members of the Crusaders for their community outreach extracurriculars when Claire turned the corner to her office.
There were some medical supplies that she needed to pick up before she made the one hour drive to the Rodney area for her clinical rotation.
To keep her medical license active and to be eligible for her visa, she agreed to help a local medical center in the small coastal village of Leigh, New Zealand.
“Hell yeah! Goat Island!” Toby high fived Liam.
“We are snorkeling, baby!” Liam responded loudly and happily.
“What are you guys doing?” Claire asked with a breathy chuckle to the group of guys surrounding Tania. She couldn’t even see her friend from the height of all the men.
“The team does volunteer work to give back to the community,” Tania said, “and this lot is going up to Rodney to set up a sports program in the local village.”
Liam, Toby, Jack, Kelsey, and Miko all grinned with excitement. They turned to face the doctor.
That’s when Claire saw it. She had to do a double take. The pathetic wisp of hair on Liam’s upper lip. She figured he was trying to grow a mustache or something.
“It’s the best, Doc,” Kelsey said to Claire, “If you were going to get sent to a remote village anywhere, Goat Island is the place to go.”
“There’s no one there, just kilometers of clear beaches, blue skies and snorkeling.” Miko said.
“Not to mention I can see my mum,” Toby beamed.
“We are going for the kids.” A recognizable voice came up from behind Claire. Noah stalked up to the group and took his papers from Tania’s hand. “Thank you,” he said to her.
“Will you carpool, or should I call a coach?” Tania asked the group. They looked at each other in silent agreement.
“Carpool” a couple of them said together.
Noah just rolled his eyes, knowing that his team would speed there via the New Zealand highway.
Tania now looked to Claire, “Are we leaving now?” she asked.
“I have to get some supplies from my office, but right after, we can go.” Claire looked over at Liam again, and at the mustache or whatever it’s called.
Tania nodded her head in confirmation. “Sounds good, let's go.”
“What are you two off doing?” Kelsey asked.
The group of men looked genuinely interested in what Claire and Tania would be doing that day.
“Claire has to do her clinical rotation in Leigh, and I’m going to drive her to…
help?” Claire and Tania both knew that Tania would be relaxing on the beach while waiting for Claire’s working day to be over, but neither of the girls wanted to tell the guys that.
Jack looked confused while asking Claire, now moving a little bit closer to her, “Clinical rotation?”
“I am going to practice at the medical center there for the day.” Claire responded. Noah in particular looked disinterested in this conversation now and started to leave.
“You’re incredible,” Jack said to Claire in earnest awe, “Pretty and selfless. I can’t believe –”
Noah interrupted.
“If anyone is coming with me, I’m leaving now,” he said over his shoulder. No one moved. “I’m taking Fiona.” He yelled a little louder. Without talking, Miko and Toby and Liam started sprinting after Noah to catch up, while Liam yelled “SHOTGUN!”
“You’re a short bastard, Luck!” yelled Miko. “You have to be this tall to be in front!”
“Car seats don’t fit in Fiona!” Toby confirmed.
Claire pictured those huge guys in what she assumed was a flashy sports car that likely only had two seats and chuckled to herself.
“What was on Luck’s face?” Tania whispered.
“It was distracting, poor Liam,” Claire amused.
Tania linked her arm through Claire's, “Sorry excuse of a mustache.”
The drive to Leigh was extraordinary. It was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful things Claire has ever seen. While she wasn’t able to necessarily see the ocean from State Highway 1, she loved the sprawl of mountains and watching the rolling fields of grass.