back from his face and hauled air into his lungs. The adrenalin and anger were gone and he realised that he was utterly exhausted, his muscles beyond fatigued. Between the run this morning, the full body contact practice this afternoon and beating the crap out of this bag, he was skating on the edge of physical exhaustion.
Will grabbed the sides of the bag and rested his sticky forehead on the thick plastic. Well, he should sleep well tonight—that was if he didn’t start thinking about his crappy past. And Lu. And how much longer he could keep his hands off her...
Will turned on hearing the gentle slap of Lu’s sandals as she crossed the gym.
‘How long have you been here?’ he demanded, pulling off one glove with his teeth, then ridding himself of the other.
Lu tossed him a bottle of water which he caught with his free hand. ‘A while. Want to talk about it?’
Will cracked the lid and took a long sip before sinking to sit on an exercise mat. He held Lu’s sympathetic eyes as water slid down his throat.
‘Nothing to talk about,’ he said when he’d lowered the bottle.
Lu tipped her head and shook her head. ‘The past loses its power when it’s talked about. Secrets too.’
‘What would you know about secrets and the power they hold over people, Lu?’
Lu’s eyes sharpened and hardened. ‘Try clearing out your parents’ personal effects on your own at nineteen and say that again, Scott.’
Will winced. ‘Ouch. Did you learn some stuff you’d rather not know?’
Lu folded her arms and tapped her foot. ‘Yes. So don’t try and take the high road with me about secrets. I know what I’m talking about.’
Will stretched out his legs and placed his hands on the mat behind him. ‘Bet you haven’t shared them with your brothers.’
Lu twisted her lips. ‘There are some things they don’t need to know.’
‘And there are some things the world doesn’t need to know about my life.’
Lu’s mouth thinned. ‘I’m not talking about the world, Will. I’m suggesting that you talk things through so that you don’t have to kick a bag.’
‘I like kicking the bag.’
Lu threw up her hands. ‘OK, if you’re going to be facetious then I give up. I’ll just go and leave you to it.’
The words were stiff and staccato and Will sighed at the hurt look that passed over her face. A part of him wished he could tell her, wished he could trust enough to talk it over with her, to confess his stupidity. But apart from the fact that he was not in the habit of talking about himself he thought that talking to Lu about it would be akin to slicing himself open and watching himself bleed. He also didn’t want to see the look of disgust on her face, to see her disappointment in the man he’d used to be...a man he suspected still lurked under his tightly held cloak of control.
‘I’ll see you when I see you.’
Lu turned to go but Will’s leg shot out, gently catching Lu behind the knees. She tumbled to the mat, landing on her back next to him.
‘What the—?’
Before she could say another word Will rolled onto her and covered her mouth with his. Her fist clenched against his shoulder, but as his tongue touched hers her tension disappeared and her hand opened, fingers splaying over him and branding his bare skin.
Will pulled his head back to look down at her, raised his hand so that the tips of his fingers brushed her cheek.
‘Lu, if there was anybody I could tell it would be you. I just don’t...can’t...talk about it.’
She echoed his action, lifting her hand to touch his face. ‘You need to talk to somebody about it. You can’t kick the hell out of a bag every time you get angry.’
‘Actually, I can.’ Will’s eyes glinted down at her. ‘I need to. It’s the only way to relieve the tension.’
He knew that Lu felt his erection along her hipbone—could feel his accelerated heartbeat beneath her hand. They both knew it but didn’t acknowledge the other, tried and tested way to relieve stress. He liked feeling her under him, but he also liked the fact that she’d noticed that he was out of sorts, that she cared enough to make the effort to comfort him.
Will’s eyes collided with hers and underneath the attraction he saw sympathy there, and understanding. Flat-out affection. He could care for this woman. He really could. But when it all went south and the flames died—as they always did—he suspected that he’d be left with third degree burns.
Not an option.
Will reluctantly rolled off her and heard Lu’s sweet sigh of exasperation. He knew how she felt. He craved her too. They lay on their backs on the mat for a while, staring at the ceiling.
Lu rolled her head on the mat to look at the bag and couldn’t believe she was about to say what she was about to say.
‘Does it work for sexual tension too?’
Will sighed. ‘Not as good as a cold shower but...yeah.’
‘Want to teach me?’
‘Are you sexually frustrated, Mermaid?’
Will’s hand slid over hers and squeezed. She knew that he’d been aiming for a jokey tone, but his words had come out pained instead.
And instead of sounding cool and sophisticated her words were soft and sad. ‘Well, I have this guy that I’m mega-attracted to, and in a fit of madness we agreed that it would be better to just be friends. I’m having the best fun with him, but sometimes I just want to...’
Will pulled in a hot breath. ‘Nail him?’
‘Yeah.’ Lu wrinkled her nose as her rueful eyes met his. Like him, she’d been aiming to lighten the tension, but instead she’d just tumbled them into a miasma of emotion. Lu wanted to look away and couldn’t—wanted to make a sassy comment but couldn’t find any words to say.
Will’s hand contracted around hers. ‘God, Lu, I know how you feel.’
‘I’m having so much fun with you and I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll punch a bag if that helps,’ Lu gabbled.
Will rolled to his side and placed his free hand on her face. ‘I don’t want to spoil it, either so I’ll teach you to box,’ he said, his voice rough. ‘But if we don’t get up soon we won’t need to punch anything.’
Lu turned her face into his hand and dropped a kiss on his palm. ‘OK.’
But they still lay there for a while longer, his one hand holding hers, the other on her face, feeling physically and emotionally connected.
Whoops, Lu thought. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
* * *
It was late Sunday
