right? She was forbidden. Luka knew that. It was information that ran like a ticker tape scrolling in his mind. Gia wasn’t some beautiful woman he’d flirted with at a club or some Blue Devil-proud girl eager to thank Luka for his performance on the field.
She was his coach’s niece. She was his coach’s eighteen-year-old niece.
He could have taken her right then. She was already wet. He was sufficiently hard, but Luka held back, teeth gritted, jaw working as he grabbed the towel hanging from the hook next to the entrance. He moved close, his skin wetting as he grazed her chest and shoulder when he covered her body with the thick towel in his hand. The smallest twist of his head and he could reach her mouth. Their lips were so close already, their breath heated and mixed and did things to Luka’s head he wasn’t sure he liked.
Gia shifted her gaze, moving her chin like she was prepared for whatever he gave her. Like she wanted it all and wouldn’t settle for anything less. But Luka reminded himself one last time who she was and why he shouldn’t be there with her. He lingered, unable to pull back out of her reach before he inhaled, taking in that lilac scent and the teasing delicious taste of her breath.
He moved his chin, a half an inch away from her lips, then grinned, a half smile gesture that made her release the breath she’d been holding.
“Be sure to lock up before you head out,” he told her, winking before he turned to grab his clothes and put as much space between that off-limits girl and himself as he could.
4.
GIA
Drew Lavigne was a tall creole guy from Thibodaux who seemed to always be hanging around the coaches’ offices every time Gia dropped by for the weekly meetings her uncle insisted they have. Each time, Drew flirted with her, seeming not remotely worried about the “hands off” warning she knew her uncle had given the players about her.
Drew was Teflon. He didn’t care about Uncle Mike’s warning or not getting any field time. There would be plenty when he began first string for the Crimson Tide the following semester. The pending transfer made Drew bold.
Gia respected that.
But her thoughts weren’t concerned with Drew and how he kept glancing her way. They seemed to be focused on reminding her how embarrassed she was.
As much as she tried to ignore the fact that the earth had not opened up and swallowed her whole after she’d humiliated herself in front of Luka, the day wasn’t horrible. Not completely.
She knew he watched her. The defensive line was just a hundred feet away, congregated by her uncle waiting for instruction and Luka was there. She caught his shape in her peripheral.
She just couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
Be sure to lock up before you head out, he’d told her. Gia winced, lowering her face, hoping her hair fell low enough to cover the expression. What the hell had she’d been thinking? The truth was, she wanted Luka. And she wasn’t a prude. She could have sex with him, and it could be just sex. This was college. This was a time for new experiences.
But she’d never acted that way before. Not once in her life.
And she wasn’t blind. She wasn’t simple. He’d been turned on by her bold words and forwardness. Luka’s expression had been strained. He’d been a little overwhelmed, that much she could make out from how he clenched his jaw and how deeply he inhaled as he pulled a towel over her shoulders.
But he had rejected her. No amount of meaning behind his mannerisms would change that. It didn’t matter if he’d been turned on by her words or her body or the blatant way she offered herself to him. Luka still rejected her.
It had been the heat, and maybe the close proximity of his nearly naked body as he stood there staring at her, she’d told herself. That was explanation enough for Gia to reason away what had diminished her surprise and shyness when she turned to find Luka staring at her. The heat numbed her, but Luka’s expression, the slow rake of his gaze over her body had eradicated her hesitation.
But now…God.
No matter how many times Drew Lavigne flirted with her or how much of an effort Gia made not to look at Luka as the defensive line ran drills in one last post-holiday training session, the fact still remained—Luka rejected