Authors: Kat Latham
Playing It Close (37 page)
“Liam?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t you want to get out there and celebrate with your team? I could help you lift the trophy, if you want.”
Ah. The real reason she was here. He’d wondered, and he probably would’ve figured it out sooner if his brain hadn’t ping-ponged against the inside of his skull a few minutes ago. What a photo op, being seen with the captain of the World Cup-winning team, especially when she had a movie to promote. Too bad for her he’d had enough of being a publicity whore. He tilted sideways so he could see Doc Bernie over Samantha’s shoulder. “Sign me off, sharpish. I need to get back out there.”
He might need someone to help him raise the trophy, and his shouts when he did it might be from agony rather than celebration, but nothing would stop him joining his team on the podium, goddamn it.
Doc Bernie kept his head down as he continued scribbling notes, his voice placid as he said, “Don’t worry, son. They’re delaying the ceremony a few minutes to give you a chance to unscramble your brains before you go out. I just need to make sure you can do it without taking a dive headfirst off the podium.”
Liam exhaled a gust of frustration and tried to block out Samantha’s chatter. Obviously he should’ve been clearer that he wasn’t interested.
He tried to concentrate on bringing into focus the small TV across from the treatment bed. The volume had been turned down to a low buzz, but he could still make out the sound of commentators talking bollocks, clearly trying to kill time while everything was set up on the pitch. There were his mates, hugging and laughing. There were the Aussies, weeping. There was Tess, picking up a ball and walking to the center of the pitch.
Liam blinked. “Bernie, how badly did my brain get bruised?”
“Well, you’re still conscious, but you’ll need someone to keep an eye on you the next couple of days. Why?”
Because he was hallucinating. Surely he was hallucinating. He blinked again as he detected a change of tone in the commentators’ voices. “Turn the volume up.”
Samantha grabbed the remote and pushed a button until the commentators became more distinct.
“...hearing a rumor there’s been a slight change in plans, other than our brief delay while captain Liam Callaghan receives treatment, but we’re not quite sure what that change is. Alan, do you have any idea who that young woman is?”
“Not a clue, but we’re checking and...hold on. The security staff seem to be perking up.”
Fucking hell. The camera caught several beefy guards standing on the sidelines pressing their earpieces deeper into their ears. They watched with hooded hawk eyes as Tess lined up twenty meters from the uprights and bent over to push a kicking tee into the grass.
“We’re not sure, but this young lady doesn’t seem to be an official part of the program.”
Tess straightened up and raised a microphone to her mouth. It echoed as she tapped it a few times. “Can you hear me? Hello?”
She must’ve received a nod from the cameraman because she drew her shoulders back and looked directly at him through the TV. “I’d like to announce the Man of the Match—but he’s much more than that. He’s the best man I’ve ever met, a man I don’t deserve but would gladly work hard to be worthy of. Liam Callaghan, I—”
As always happened when someone illegally invaded the pitch, the camera cut away to discourage other idiots from trying the same thing in the future. But before the picture changed to show England supporters singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” in the stands, Liam caught a glimpse of guards leaving their posts and jogging toward the pitch. Toward Tess, who might be mouthy but couldn’t back that mouth up with much brawn.
Liam leaped off the treatment bed and nearly collapsed as the room spun around him. Without waiting for his head to clear, he stumbled in the general direction of the door.
“Liam! Wait!”
He ignored Bernie and fumbled with the doorknob until he jerked the door open. Pain ripped through his shoulder, and he clasped his good hand against it to keep it from jarring too badly as he ran through the tunnel and onto the pitch. The daylight nearly made his eyes explode and the movement in his shoulder made him want to puke, but he kept going, so familiar with the pitch that he didn’t need to see well or even be fully conscious to know exactly where Tess stood, mimicking his stance as she glanced between the ball and the posts, judging the distance like she was about to kick a penalty. Even if he hadn’t known right where she was, the blur of movement from the guards as they rushed toward her would have clued him in.
“Tess! Hit the deck!”
He ran as fast as he could, but he was too late. She took a couple of quick steps and booted the ball just before a guard twice her size tackled her, smashing her face-first into the grass. Fury-fueled adrenaline numbed Liam’s pain, and he slammed into another guard before he could pile on top of Tess too. The man was out cold before he hit the ground.
Liam turned his attention to the guard trying to wrestle Tess’s arms behind her back. He planted his foot into the guard’s unprotected side, just below his ribs, and shoved him off Tess before dropping to his knees next to her. With his knee, he nudged her onto her side. Her eyes were closed, and mud covered most of her face. “Tessy...”
Her eyelids popped open and her brows drew down in confusion before she gave him a dreamy smile. “You saw me.”
“
Saw
you?
Fuck.
” The adrenaline seeped out of him, and he collapsed onto his back, feeling like he’d bled out. “I’m dying here, Tess. You’re killing me.”
She propped herself on an elbow and leaned over him. Her suddenly serious face filled his vision. “Liam, I’m so sorry. That’s all I wanted to tell you.”
His nostrils flared. “That’s it? That’s all you wanted to tell me?”
“Um, well, there was one other thing, but judging by your crazy eyes I’m not sure you’re ready to hear it.”
“I swear to God, it’d better be
I
love you
or we’re going to have words, you and I.”
A tentative smile touched her lips before they spread into a grin that eased his pain better than any cortisone jab. “Maybe you
are
ready to hear it.”
She cradled his cheeks and laid her lips against his, kissing him long and luscious until the remainder of his pain journeyed south and he was in danger of embarrassing himself by sporting a very public erection under very short shorts. He pulled his head back as much as he could, considering he was flat-out in the muddy grass, and murmured against her lips, “Tessy.”
“Hmm?”
“You still haven’t said the words.”
Her breath warmed him as she chuckled. “I love you, Liam.”
“Good. I love you too, and you can stop pulling this crazy shit because nothing you do can scare me away. Not after this.” He tried to lift his arms to pull her closer but ended up growling instead. “Fucking hell. Do you see a gray-haired bloke standing by the tunnel watching us, probably glowering?”
She lifted her head. “Yeah.”
“Wave him over here. I think I dislocated my other shoulder hitting that security guard.”
Tess gasped and rolled off him, motioning frantically toward Doc Bernie. Liam couldn’t keep the stupid grin from his face, though, as the medics surrounded him for the second time and prepared to deliver another dose of torture. Bernie clasped his arm and said, “This is going to hurt, son.”
Liam turned his head to find Tess kneeling next to him, muddy-faced and with a bloody scratched hand pressed to her mouth. “Kiss me, Chambers. I don’t want anyone to hear me scream like a little boy.”
She wrapped her arms gently under his head and pressed her forehead against his. “I love you,” she said again, and joy shot through him just in time to protect him from the wrenching jolt of agony.
Epilogue
Water slid over Tess’s skin, cooling the pink burn she’d received during the paddleboarding lesson she and Liam had taken this afternoon. They’d been in Venezuela for two days—not long enough to get over jet lag, so she’d left Liam sleeping upstairs and wandered down to the beach where the sea had beckoned her. She scissored her arms and legs in a few breaststrokes before flipping onto her back and floating lazily. The midnight crescent moon shone down on her, painting her naked body with light and shadows.
Was Liam watching from their balcony? Probably. She’d deliberately closed the door with a loud click when she’d left ten minutes ago.
The past year had flown by. While Liam recovered from his shoulder surgery, Tess had looked after him. Gradually, more of his stuff had begun appearing at her house. Piece by piece, he’d colonized her drawers until he’d offered to buy her a bigger wardrobe to fit his clothes too. Soon, they would have to negotiate the possibility of selling one of their homes. But for now, Tess was content to snuggle with him every night he wasn’t out of town for a match.
Water gurgled in Tess’s ears and a current rushed underneath her, alerting her too late to the presence of a big creature. She twisted and kicked toward the shore, but two arms grabbed her around the waist and dragged her under. Salty water closed over her face and flooded her mouth as she gasped at the wrong time.
She kicked again, connecting with a hard, slick body, and suddenly she was free to shoot to the surface. She spat out the water and shook her head, pushing wet hair out of her eyes. Liam’s head popped up in front of her, just in time for her to draw back her hand and slice it through the water, spraying him with a wave. “Liam! You scared the shit out of me!”
He wiped the water off his face and gave her the mischievous grin that never failed to jumpstart her heart. Good thing too, since her heart had frozen in fear for a second there. “Sneaking off in the middle of the night to swim in a lagoon by yourself? Chambers, you don’t know
scared—
but you will, ’cuz I’m renting
Jaws
as soon as we get back upstairs, and I swear to God you’ll never go in the water alone again.”
He tugged her until her wet body slid against his. Not wanting to unman him, she stopped treading water and wrapped her legs around his waist, letting him put all those muscles to good use and keep both of them afloat. Nuzzling the sensitive skin behind his ear, she murmured, “
Jaws
, huh? You sure that’s what you want to do when we get back up there?”
His stubble tickled her neck as he kissed his way up to her jaw. “Why wait till we get upstairs? That sand looks pretty soft.”
She glanced over his shoulder at the moonlit beach. “It’s too bright.”
He lifted his head. “Tessy, there’s hardly any light at all.”
“What if someone’s looking? I really don’t want to have sex pictures of us plastered all over the internet. Seriously.” She’d gone ten months without publicly embarrassing herself. She didn’t need to tempt fate.
Seeming to understand, he gave in with a quick kiss on the cheek. “In that case, let’s get back upstairs.”
“You want me badly, huh?”
“Yeah. That and, unlike you, I
have
seen
Jaws
, and being out here gives me the willies.”
“Let’s go back upstairs and
you
can give
me
the will—” A wave of water hit her face, and she sputtered. “Maybe I won’t let you give me the willy after all.”
He gave her a loud smacking kiss before launching her out of his arms. She swam to the shore, enjoying the last few moments of water slipping over her bare skin before she got to the shallows and stood. Covering her bits with her hands, she bent over and rushed for her T-shirt and towel. Liam’s laughter followed her, but she ignored him, getting dressed so quickly that she would hopefully be only a blur to anyone who might be pointing a camera in their direction.
Liam’s bathing trunks were plastered to his body as he emerged from the water, and Tess wrapped her towel around her torso just in case they ran into anyone in the lobby. They walked hand-in-hand through the hotel to the lift where they’d first met.
The doors slid closed behind them, and Tess cuddled into Liam’s side as the buttons lit up. First floor. Second floor. She glanced around. Still no security cameras.
Her hand shot out and jabbed the emergency stop button. The lift jerked to a halt, and Liam groaned. “I thought you wanted to avoid a scandal?”
Tess dropped her towel, pressed onto her tiptoes and whispered against his lips, “I can’t seem to help myself.”
* * * * *
If you enjoyed PLAYING IT CLOSE, you should read Kat Latham’s debut,
KNOWING THE SCORE
!
Praise for KNOWING THE SCORE:
“The book is funny and real and the dialogue is fantastic...I want Spencer. I want to marry this man. Not only is he patient and a sweetie, he’s sexy as hell. Spencer should be cloned and mass produced for export. Britain would have a trade surplus that would be the envy of the world.”
“This is one of the best contemporary romances I’ve ever read! I had such a fantastic time watching these two characters fall in love...”
"Latham keeps her debut fresh, with characters whose unique careers play a role in their relationship, and the romance runs at a strong pace."
Will their relationship survive once rugby season begins?
Find out in this captivating contemporary romance from Kat Latham, available now!
Knowing the Score
