His voice set off Dougal into a storm of barking and Sara jumped half a foot, making an embarrassing little squeaky noise before she regained her composure. Her pulse went into overdrive, pounding in her ears, and she had to suck in a deep breath or too to calm down.
Ever since she’d gotten home, she’d been a little too quick to leap at noises and startle at things that were perfectly innocuous. Combat stress, her therapist said, and taught her some techniques of managing the adrenaline spikes. She mostly had the reaction under control now but apparently not today.
She tightened her grip on Dougal’s leash. “Dougal. Quiet,” she said firmly, looking apologetically at Alex. Only an inch or two shorter than Lucas, who stood beside him, he wore his usual jeans and a white business shirt with the collar unbuttoned. He looked tan, even at this time of year, and the sunshine made his hair glint golden. Very green eyes were regarding her, looking unconcerned at Dougal’s lack of welcome. Unconcerned and kind of ridiculously handsome. She looked from him to Lucas—who stood a few feet behind him—and back again. “Sorry,” she said. “Dougal’s a little nervous around men.” At her feet, Dougal was growling softly, the rumbles interspersed with whines as he watched Alex and Lucas.
Sara kept her eyes on Alex.
She still hadn’t gotten quite used to the level of hotness of her bosses. Together, Alex and Lucas could have stepped out of a magazine spread. All-American god versus Italian suave god or something. All that was missing was Mal’s slightly more rugged, slightly scarier but no less hot war god.
Alex didn’t come any closer. “He’s doing his job. Hey, Dougal,” he said.
Dougal barked wildly.
Sara tightened her grip. “Friend,” she said firmly. Then to Alex, she said, “He’s harmless, truly. Definitely a case of his bark is worse than his bite.”
Behind Alex, Lucas was watching the exchange with his face carefully neutral. “Nice dog,” he said.
At the sound of his voice, Dougal sprang forward, hard enough to yank the leash free. He dodged around Alex and came to halt next to Lucas, pushing his head into Lucas’s hand and wriggling happily. It was perfectly obvious that he liked Lucas. That he knew Lucas.
Sara froze. Oh crap. Where was the black hole to swallow you up when you needed one?
“I thought you said he doesn’t like men,” Maggie said slowly.
“He doesn’t,” Sara said, trying to sound surprised.
“Animals like me,” Lucas said. He looked at Sara then away. Was he waiting for her to say something? She couldn’t think, feeling certain her face must be flaming and giving her away. He bent down and grabbed Dougal’s leash then steered him around Alex back to Sara’s side. He passed her the leash.
“Thank you,” she managed. Then, inspiration struck. “What are you two doing here? Did I get the time wrong for the helo?” There, a perfectly innocent way to change the conversation. Because she really didn’t want to have to explain to Maggie and Alex why her dog loved Lucas.
“I got done with my thing earlier than I thought. Then Lucas called and said he was done, too, so we came back together,” Alex said with an easy shrug. He walked over to Maggie, looped his arm around her shoulder. Which put him farther away from Dougal. “Did you miss me?” The grin he directed at Maggie was wicked.
“Maybe,” Maggie said, her answering grin so blatantly delighted in him that Sara once again felt a twinge of envy. “Depends whether you came to try and raid my cookie stash.”
“We had pizza for lunch,” Alex said. “No cookies required. Yet.” He nodded at Sara. “And what brings you and your dog to Deacon this fine day, Sara?” he said with a glint in his eyes that told Sara he was enjoying himself.
She pretended not have noticed that Dougal was now lying against Lucas’s legs. “I—”
“I was giving her a batting lesson,” Maggie interjected. “Having fun. Unlike you two workaholics.”
“Fun?” Alex said. “I think I remember that.”
Sara snuck a sidewise look at Lucas. He was ignoring Dougal, too, apparently just listening to the banter, but she thought there was a little too much tension in his stance.
“You should ask Mal to teach you to hit,” Alex said. “He’s quite the slugger. And if you want to learn to pitch, then Lucas here can show you the ropes.”
“That’s what I told her,” Maggie said. “That Lucas would be happy to give her a lesson or two.”
Sara purposefully didn’t look at Lucas.
“I’d be happy to,” Lucas said neutrally.
“Oh for Pete’s sake,” Maggie said, throwing up her hands. “You two are hopeless.”
Crap. They were about to get called on their pretense. Damn it. She knew Maggie had figured it out. “What?” Sara said, trying for bewildered.
“Give it up, Sara. Dougal has blown your secret,” Maggie said. “Besides which, the two of you are not going to win any acting awards.”
“Not to mention,” Alex said with a grin, “I can practically feel the steam rising off you both. ’Fess up, you’re seeing each other.”
Chapter Seventeen
Sara’s stomach went cold. Her eyes locked on Alex. Oh God. They knew.
Instinctively, she turned to Lucas, whose face had gone locked down and unreadable.
Alex laughed. “You two look like deer in the headlights.”
“Maybe that’s because we were just ambushed,” Lucas said in a very cool voice. “And last time I checked, my private life wasn’t your business.”
The laughter in Alex’s face dimmed a bit. “We’ve had this discussion before. It is my business and Mal’s business if it involves an employee. So does it?”
God. She was going to get fired over this. Lucas looked at her, an eyebrow raised, as if to say Up to you.
Might as well get it over and done with. If their pretense was so flimsy, it was better just to come out with it. She lifted her chin. “I don’t remember anything in my contract about not being able to date anybody at the Saints.”
“That’s because there isn’t anything in your contract about that.” Maggie stood and went over to Alex. “Because that would be pretty hypocritical of us.” She dug her elbow into Alex’s ribs. “You’re scaring Sara, she thinks you’re going to fire her.”
“No one’s firing anybody,” Lucas growled.
Alex held up his hands. “Of course not. I just want to know the truth. Are you two together?” He looked down at Dougal, who whined and licked Lucas’s hand. “Or is Lucas suddenly a miraculous dog whisperer?”
Once again she looked at Lucas, and this time he shrugged. Alex snorted softly.
Sara made an effort to relax, but her shoulders felt like they were up near her ears. “We’re … well, I don’t know if we have a definition yet.”
“Yes!” Maggie whooped. “Good going, Sara.” She grinned at Lucas, who shook his head at her. Or maybe at all three of them.
“Happy?” Lucas said. “Is the interrogation over?”
Maggie held up her hands. “I won’t shine bright lights in anybody’s eyes, I promise.” Her eyes were laughing. “Though I’m thinking some quality girl talk might be required. Everyone will want to know about the secret life of Dr. Gorgeous here.”
Lucas shook his head and put his arm around Sara’s shoulder. She wriggled closer, her heart still beating too fast, head spinning from the big reveal.
“I have no secret life. You guys don’t leave me any time for a secret life,” Lucas said.
“You found time for Sara,” Alex said. “Which is a good thing,” he added when Lucas stiffened.
“All right, so now you know,” Lucas said. “Can we change the subject please?”
Alex nodded but Sara suspected that Lucas hadn’t heard the last of this just yet. Well, that was between the two of them.
“Sure,” he said and turned his green eyes on her. “So Sara, has Maggie turned you into a batting champ yet?”
“No, I’m pretty bad.”
Maggie wagged a fi
nger at this. “Actually, no, for someone who hasn’t done this before, you did good.”
“Careful, Maggie will infect you with baseball cooties before you know it,” Alex said.
Sara smiled. “It’s … not so bad.”
“She sounds underwhelmed,” Alex said to Lucas. “You’ve obviously been slacking off. You’re meant to show off more. Impress her with your baseball team and big stadium.”
“She’s already impressed with me, she doesn’t have to care about baseball,” Lucas said, his voice more easy.
Some of the tension dissolved from Sara’s shoulders. “Don’t pick on Lucas. It’s not his fault I don’t know much about baseball. Besides, I’ve been learning lots at spring training.”
“Don’t learn too much,” Alex said. “It might be refreshing to have someone not affected by baseball insanity around here. And you must get along like a house on fire with Lucas’s family if you don’t like baseball.”
Lucas went stiff again. She looked up to see him looking oddly uncomfortable.
“Ah. I take it you haven’t met the Angelos yet?” Alex said. “Lucas, are you keeping Sara a secret from everybody, not just us?”
“I’m not keeping secrets,” Lucas said coolly. “Some of us like a bit of privacy. It’s not like you and Maggie would’ve announced your relationship so soon if your hand hadn’t been forced.”
Alex held up a hand. “I was joking. Ease down.”
Sara felt her teeth catch at her lip. “We’re just taking things slowly,” she said. “It’s only been a few weeks.” Beside her, Dougal whined softly, his ears lowering.
“I’m not going to get into this right now,” Lucas said. “Look, Sara needs to get ready for the flight later. So I think it’s time we got on our way.”
Maggie looked unhappy. “Lucas, don’t go. Alex is being his usual idiotic self. If you and Sara don’t want to be public yet, then we’ll keep our mouths shut. But you need to think about this. The press has been leaving us alone here for the moment while the team is in Florida, but that’s not going to last forever. And it only takes a picture at the wrong moment and everyone will know.”
“I’ll worry about that when I have to,” Lucas said. But he didn’t look quite so defensive, and he smiled crookedly at Alex. “Sorry, A. It’s been a long week.”
Alex ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, too. You’re right, it has been a long week. I promise, my lips are sealed. You might want to give Mal the heads-up though.”
“I will,” Lucas said.
Maggie stepped back. “It’s a pity, though. If you were going public you could’ve brought Sara as your date to the ball.”
Sara’s stomach tensed all over again. Of all things, a goddamned ball. The only images the words fund-raiser and ball brought to mind were beautiful people in the very expensive clothes and jewels that she’d seen in the papers. She couldn’t afford even one-tenth of one of those gowns.
“It’s okay,” she said quickly. “I don’t mind. Lucas can go. I have two left feet, anyway.”
“No, you don’t,” Lucas said. He was frowning again. Damn.
“A ball means photographers and pictures in the papers, doesn’t?” Sara said. “So, really not a good idea. It’s okay, really. Plenty of time for balls later on.”
Maggie’s eyes narrowed. “There would only be pictures if you arrive or leave with Lucas. We’re keeping the press out of the actual event.”
“Who else would I be going to the ball with?” Sara said, confused.
Maggie smiled suddenly, and the expression was so full of satisfaction that Sara had a vision of her holding a wand and saying, Bippity boppity boo. Only in Maggie’s case her fairy godmother wand was more likely to be a baseball bat.
“Well,” Maggie said. “Last time I asked him, Mal hadn’t lined up a date, either. You could use him as a smokescreen.”
Beside her, Lucas made a noise deep in his throat.
“No, don’t go all caveman on me,” Maggie said with a flip of her hand. “Think about it. Mal can escort her through the press and out again at the end of the night. Once she gets inside, she’s all yours. Cinderella can go to the ball!”
“Cinderella doesn’t really want to go to the ball,” Sara muttered, but she had a feeling that once Maggie Jameson got the bit between her teeth, getting her to back down from an idea was about as easy as landing a helo in a storm. “And Cinderella thinks that there will be a whole lot of people at the ball who know Lucas, so if he hangs out with me there, everyone will know anyway.”
“Cinderella doesn’t know what’s good for her,” Maggie retorted. “Admit it, you must want to see Lucas in a tux.”
“I’ve seen him in a tux,” Sara said. “I survived.” Of course, it had also been the tux that had led her to the moment of madness that was her jumping his bones. Lesson learned. Avoiding Lucas in a tuxedo was the sensible thing to do.
“Oh really?” Maggie said. “When did you see him in a tux?” She tilted her head at Lucas. “The only tux-worthy event you’ve been to lately was that fund-raiser in the Hamptons.”
“You don’t know my every movement, Maggie,” Lucas said. “I have events for the hospital as well.”
Maggie pursed her lips. “Yeah but that was one that Sara flew you to, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Lucas said. “Now stop bullying Sara. If she doesn’t want to come to the ball, she doesn’t have to.”
“Everyone wants to go to a ball,” Maggie said. “Especially when I’m throwing the party.” She shot a sideways glance at Sara. “I throw excellent parties. And besides, it would be nice not to be the only female dealing with the terrible trio.” She shook her head at Alex who stuck his tongue out in response.
Sara bit back a laugh. “Are they really so bad?”
“Only when they’re being difficult,” Maggie said. “So basically all the time.”
“Not letting you have your way about everything doesn’t constitute being difficult,” Alex said with a teasing tone in his voice. “Don’t forget we employ you.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’d be lost without me,” Maggie said. Then she turned back to Sara. “See what I mean? I’m outnumbered. There’s far too much testosterone around here.”
“What about the players’ wives and girlfriends?” Sara asked. “Can’t they help you out?”
“They try. But they have to be nice to the terrible trio so they don’t trade their boys to other teams.”
“Oh yeah, they’re so intimidated by us,” Lucas said. “That’s why I had Hana on the phone for half an hour yesterday demanding that I let her husband come home for the weekend. Hana’s Brett Tuckerson’s wife,” he said to Sara as an aside. “Who is a former Olympic tae kwan do medalist and one of Maggie’s pals. I’m not sure she’s ever been intimidated by anyone in her life. She definitely didn’t have any trouble telling me it was unreasonable for our starting pitcher to have to be in Florida for all of spring training.”
Maggie laughed. “Well, that may be true but Hana’s married to Brett, not one of you three. It’s not the same thing. I need an ally.” She made puppy-dog eyes at Sara. “You have to come help me out.”
“Stop harassing the poor girl, Maggie,” Alex said. “Let her think about it for a few days. After all, you haven’t even asked Mal about this. Maybe he has a date by now.”
“He would have told me,” Maggie said. “Malachi is the sensible one.”
“If you think that, then you really haven’t figured Mal out yet,” Lucas said. Sara’s curiosity spiked a little. Mal was clearly the strong, silent type. There was a story there. But she wasn’t going to try to pry it out of him.
If she stayed with Lucas then there’d be time to figure it all out. “I’ll think about it,” she said to Maggie. “It’s a very nice invitation,” she added. “But I need time to think.”
Maggie opened her mouth to reply and Lucas held up a hand. “She said she’ll think about it, Maggie.”
He stood and planted a quick kiss o
n the brunette’s cheek and then straightened and held out a hand to Sara. “We’ll see you all later.”
* * *
The silence when they got back to her apartment seemed to weigh a ton. Sara let Dougal off his leash, and he nosed around his food bowl hopefully. When no early dinner magically appeared, he flopped down in his dog bed and closed his eyes. He had the right idea. Ignore the whole situation.
Sara stowed her purse and keys and shed her jacket. Lucas hadn’t made a move to take off his yet.
He’d been quiet during the drive back from Deacon. She wasn’t sure she’d pinned his mood down, though. He didn’t seem to be actively mad about anything, but he did seem … distracted. Distant. Almost how he used to be during those first few flights.
Was he upset because they’d run into Alex and Maggie? Upset about being outed? Upset that Maggie had invited her to the ball? Upset that she hadn’t immediately accepted?
She took a deep breath. Too many options. Given that she wasn’t a mind reader there was only one way to find out and that was to ask. But first it might be a good idea to restore some goodwill. She made her way over to Lucas and put her arms around him, tilting her head up to look at him.
His hands came to her waist—that was a good sign—and she stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his. Gently at first, but then the kiss turned hungry. She almost dragged him off to her bedroom but she didn’t think that a postcoital glow was quite the time to have a relationship discussion. Better to do it with a cooler head and then use the sex part to smooth over any bumps the conversation might cause.
A cooler head and a full stomach, she thought as hers rumbled slightly, reminding her that it was past lunchtime and she hadn’t eaten anything except a few cookies since breakfast.
“So, Dr. Gorgeous,” she said, pulling back from Lucas a little. “How about you make me some lunch?”
* * *
Forty minutes or so later she was sitting at her kitchen table, biting into the pasta that Lucas had made and trying not to moan with pleasure. Apparently he not only cooked, he cooked well. Divinely.
Figured. He was the sort of man who made sure he excelled at something once he decided to do it at all.
Angel in Armani Page 20