The Screw Ball (Indianapolis Lightning Book 3) Read online

  “Can you bring it to the meeting room next to the banquet room the team meals are in?” she asks.

  “Sure can,” I tell her, slipping my phone into my back pocket. I tug her to me, dropping a chaste kiss on her lips before I step back. “Try not to panic, it will slow you down. And you look gorgeous, even if you only had ten minutes to get ready,” I tell her and then turn and walk away. It takes a few minutes for me to reach the Starbucks that is in the lobby of the hotel. Thankfully, my order is waiting for me when I walk up, so I’m able to grab it quickly and then head up to the second floor where I told her I’d meet her. I find the room easily and meet her at the doorway. “These are for you. Text me when you’re done?” I ask, handing over the cup and sandwich.

  “Yeah, sure. And Lucas, thanks,” she says, and her cheeks deepen at the double meaning of her words.

  “No need to thank me, Red. I’ll see you later.” I wink at her and walk away. I need a shower and some breakfast of my own, and I should probably plug my phone in, so I don’t miss her text message later today.

  “Where did you disappear to last night?” Matt O’Riley asks after I sit down in one of the lounges the hotel has provided for the team. They’ve got all kinds of entertainment options going on in here for us, seeing how we have so much downtime between games right now.

  “I don’t kiss and tell, man.” I smirk at him and run my fingers through my still damp hair from the quick shower I grabbed before coming to find my teammates.

  “Since when?” he retorts.

  “Since I said so,” I tell him, my tone advising him to drop it. What I did last night with Carmen isn’t up for discussion, especially with my teammates. My night with her is only for us, and I find myself wanting to protect that privacy at all cost.

  “Damn, man, calm down.” He smirks. “How’s Carmen this morning?” he asks, and it’s obvious he’s put two and two together, since he knows I escorted her back to her room last night.

  “Last I knew, she was in a meeting this morning,” I tell him, and hope he’ll drop the questioning.

  I luck out when Derek and JJ come into the room, both sitting down with us. “What’s up, guys?” Matt asks them both.

  “Nothing much, just waiting on my wife to call once the kids are napping,” Derek says. You can almost feel how much he hates being away from his wife and kids when we’re on the road. “What’s up with you guys?” he asks.

  “What you see,” I tell him. “Anyone want to hit up the gym?” I ask, needing something to do that will get some energy out. My knees won’t stop bouncing while I’m sitting here, and I think it’s because I have so much built-up energy and excitement. It’s coursing through my blood.

  We sit around, shooting the shit, until Derek gets the call he’d been waiting on from his wife. Once he finishes up talking to her, we pick up our trash and head out of the lounge.

  “Damn, this place is nice!” JJ says as we push through the doors of the hotel’s gym. It looks newly renovated with machines that look brand new.

  “Yeah, it is,” I agree with him. I head for a treadmill, first, to get in a warmup run before I hit the weights.

  “Damn, boy. How much weight are you trying to press?” Derek asks as he steps in to spot me.

  “Just my normal three fifty,” I tell him before I remove the bar from the rack and start my first rep.

  I finish up in the weight room with the guys and am ready to head for my hotel room for my second shower of the day.

  “Hey, Lucas,” Matt calls out to catch my attention.

  I stop in the doorway, turning around to look at him, and find him across the room from me. “What?” I call out.

  “You want to grab some lunch with us?” he asks.

  “Maybe, I’ll text you once I’m done showering. I need to make a call afterwards, first,” I tell him, since I want to try and check in with Carmen and see if she’s done with her meeting so we can have lunch together. I’d rather do that with her than the guys.

  He just smirks at me from across the hall, probably knowing damn well why I won’t commit to lunch with the guys. “All right, text me later, then.”

  I head to my room, stripping from my sweaty clothes as soon as I enter the room and the door shuts behind me. I step under the hot spray and let the water work its magic on my sore muscles. Once I’m relaxed, I wash up, then step out of the shower. Once I’m all dried off, I wrap the towel around my waist and stand at the bathroom sink. I pull out my razor and clean up my beard. I like to keep it on the shorter side so that it doesn’t get out of hand.

  Once finished in the bathroom, I pull a pair of joggers, a T-shirt, and a pair of boxer briefs from my bag and take them over to my bed to get dressed. I sit on the bed, sans shirt, and grab my cell from the nightstand. I pull up my text messages, and hover over Carmen’s name for a few seconds, trying to decide if I should send her a message or just wait for her to come to me. I’m not here to pressure her into anything, even if we were perfect for each other last night.

  Fuck it, I think as I hit her contact and type in a quick message.

  Lucas: Will you be free for lunch?

  I toss my phone on the bed next to me while I pull my shirt on then kick back and turn the TV on. I’m sure Carmen is busy in her meeting, so I don’t really expect to hear from her until it is almost time.

  I flip on ESPN, watching some sports highlights while I pass the time. My phone buzzes next to me, so I flip my phone over and see my sister and nephew’s faces on the screen. I hit accept and they both fill my phone’s screen.

  “Uncle Lucas!” Milo practically screams when he sees me.

  “What’s up, buddy?”

  “I’s had to have pokes today,” he says as he sticks his bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout.

  “I’m sorry to hear that, buddy,” I tell him. I hate that he has gone through so much in his short life already. He was born prematurely and has had health complications since. Thankfully, once he made it out of the NICU after a two-month stay, he’s not had any life-threatening issues, but more so just lingering complications due to being premature. He has a feeding tube that they are working to get him off of, but have to go through food therapy, first, which wasn’t easy. Everything would make him puke, due to the textures. Because of his complications, he has to get regular bloodwork and other tests done to make sure that he’s staying as healthy as possible. The doctors are all predicting that he’ll eventually outgrow most of these things, it just takes time. “How many pokes did you get?” I ask him.

  “Two,” he says, his lip quivering.

  “Aww, I bet you were a superhero, though.”

  “I got a sucker and then Mommy took me for ice cream!” he says, the quivering lip gone, and a smile plastered on his face once again. He learned quickly that he loved ice cream, so it often becomes a reward when he has to have doctors or therapy appointments.

  “A sucker and ice cream? Man, you must have been a good boy!” I praise him. There have been many days that I’d get calls from Tiffany as she sobbed after a hard day of him screaming through a therapy appointment or having to be pinned down just for them to take blood. Once I got called up to Indianapolis, it has allowed me to come and help her sometimes. The day he broke his leg and had to have surgery was the day of the fan event that I blew off because my family comes first. Maybe I should explain to Carmen why I missed that event, not that it would change anything since it was weeks ago, but at least she’d know why I wasn’t there.

  “You ready for game one tonight?” Tiffany asks as Milo slides off her lap and disappears out of view.

  “I think so, had a good morning and now I’m just hanging out in my hotel room relaxing. Will head out for some lunch here, soon,” I tell her, just as a text notification pops up at the top of my screen. I can’t read all of it but can tell that it is Carmen texting me back, so I grab my iPad from the bedside table and pull up my messages.

  “What’s that smile for?” Tiffany asks, always the obse
rvant one.

  “I just got a reply from someone I was waiting to hear back from,” I tell her.

  “Oh god, please don’t tell me you have a booty call that lives in each city.” She grimaces.

  “Damn, jumping to savage right off the bat.” I chuckle and bring my eyes back to the camera so I can give her my ‘not amused’ look. “But no, not a booty call. It was from Carmen, the team’s PR person,” I tell her.

  “Ooh, is she the one that you have the crush on?” she pries.

  “A crush, really?” I deadpan.

  “No sense lying about it. I can tell you like her just by the way you, one, always bring her up when we talk. I don’t even think you realize that you do it, but I have. Two, the way you say her name and the way your voice changes. It’s okay, baby bro, you’re allowed to like a woman. I’d actually encourage you finding someone to date, and, I don’t know, maybe marry one day.”

  “Fuck, Tiff. That’s a little fast, don’t you think? I’ve only slept with her once,” I blurt, and slam my lips together after letting that slip out.

  “What!” she yells, slapping her leg or the couch or something that causes a loud smack sound. “Tell me everything, well, not everything, but I want all the details outside of the actual smexy times, because eww. You’re my brother, I don’t need to know those specifics.”

  Before I answer her, I look back at the text from Carmen so that I can reply.

  Carmen: Sorry for the delay, I just got done with my morning meetings. I’m free until about two.

  Lucas: Meet me for lunch?

  I shoot off the question, and the bubbles immediately pop up. “Just a second, Tiff,” I tell my sister while I wait for Carmen’s reply.

  Carmen: Sure, can you give me twenty minutes?

  Lucas: Yep, do you need longer? I’m free until the bus takes us to the stadium.

  Carmen: Thanks.

  Lucas: I’m in my room, just come here when you’re ready, sound good?

  Carmen: Sure.

  Knowing that Carmen is coming to me when she’s ready, I put my iPad back down and turn back to my sister. The Cheshire smile filling her pretty face tells me she is not going to let this little tidbit of information go.

  “You were about to tell me all about Carmen and the fact that you’ve, apparently, already slept together. Why haven’t you told me more about her already?” she asks, and I can tell she thinks that I’ve kept things from her.

  “It just kind of happened,” I tell her, reaching for my water and taking a quick drink before I continue. “When I first got to Indianapolis, I wasn’t her favorite person. I kept doing shit that she’d have to spin. After the baby debacle, I’ve laid low, as you well know, and did my best to stay out of her radar. When we have been around each other, I’ve tried to make it a pleasurable time. I sat next to her on the flight here and we talked for a good chunk of it. Then, the guys convinced her to come hang out with us last night. I’m confident the attraction goes both ways. So, anyway, the tension kept building last night and, well, I offered to walk her to her room at the end of the night, and let’s just say, we didn’t part ways until this morning. Now, we’re meeting up for lunch once she gets here to my room,” I tell my sister, filling her in on everything that has transpired.

  “Damn,” she says, waving her hand in front of her face like she’s hot.

  I quirk an eyebrow at her. “Damn, what?” I ask, hoping she’ll elaborate.

  “I’ve just never seen you get all dreamy over a woman, and you went dreamy when you just told me all of that. This one has got you all wrapped up and it’s only been a few hours. The fact that you are having lunch today is very telling.”

  I hear a soft knock on the door, my eyes going in that direction like I can see through the wall. “Gotta go,” I say. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Give Milo my love,” I tell her as I jump off the bed and head for the door.

  “Don’t do anything stupid! I want this one to last long enough so that I can meet her,” she says before I disconnect the call in time to open the door.

  I about swallow my tongue when my eyes land on Carmen. She’s obviously gone back to her room, as she looks freshly showered. She has on minimal makeup with her hair pulled up into a ponytail, is wearing some tight ass jeans, a team polo and chucks. If she isn’t the fantasy of every red-blooded male on this planet, I don’t know what they’re thinking, because standing in front of me is the most beautiful woman I’ve laid my eyes on.

  “Hi,” she greets, and it comes out a little shy or breathlessly. I can’t tell which one just yet.

  “Hi, want to come in?” I ask, stepping back and opening the door all the way. I swing my arm in a welcoming gesture.

  She bites her bottom lip as she looks both ways down the hall. I have to bite back a groan at what that lip bite does to my cock. I’ve also never been more jealous of someone biting their own damn lip.

  “Sure,” she finally says and steps over the threshold of my room. I normally wouldn’t ever have a woman up in my room while on a road trip. Management frowns on that, but since Carmen has access to this floor, I know I wouldn’t get in trouble for having sneaked a woman up here.

  “How were your meetings?” I ask as I move about my room. I slip on some socks and shoes before I grab my phone, wallet and then slide a baseball hat onto my head.

  “Good!” she says, lighting up. “We went over everything for this afternoon and evening.”

  “Anyone realize that you were coming in at the last minute?” I ask, knowing that she was panicking after waking up late this morning.

  “Nope, we actually started about twenty minutes late because a few other people were running late, so no one noticed that I wasn’t ready on time,” she tells me.

  “Shall we?” I ask, now that I’m ready to head out.

  “Yep, where did you want to go? I’m guessing not the team’s lounge?” she questions as we step out into the hall.

  “If you’re okay with leaving, it looks like there’s an Italian place a block or two away that we can walk to.”

  “That sounds perfect,” she tells me as we get onto the elevator. I send a quick text to Matt, letting him know I won’t be joining the guys for lunch today.

  We walk the few blocks to the restaurant, our conversation flowing easily on our way.

  As soon as we’re seated, a waiter approaches and goes over the specials. We end up ordering one of their wood fired pizzas to split.

  “So,” Carmen starts to say once the server walks away. She picks up the water glass the young girl set down and takes a sip before returning it to the cardboard coaster it was set on. “About last night.” She worries her lip as she takes her time.

  “Was special and a night I’ll never forget,” I interject. I can see the writing on the wall, here, she’s ready to claim it was a mistake and can’t ever happen again. I beg to differ.

  “Wait, what?” she asks, the surprise evident in her question.

  “Last night was one of the best nights I’ve ever had, and I’m not just saying that to blow smoke up your ass. You can’t deny that there is a mutual attraction between the two of us. I’ve felt it and I’m confident in my assessment that you’ve felt it. Last night was explosive. It was special and something I hope we can pursue,” I tell her, laying it all on the line.

  I watch as Carmen opens and closes her mouth a couple times, obviously trying to figure out how she’s going to reply. I give her the time she needs, as she’s obviously struggling with what to say.

  She reaches for her glass once again, this time draining half of the glass of water before replacing it on the coaster.

  “Talk to me, Red,” I plead, tossing in my nickname for her that I know riles her up.

  Her eyes pop up from the table to meet my own. I can see that spark of hers come to life as she straightens her spine and readies herself.

  “We can’t do this, Lucas,” she starts, pointing between the two of us. “I won’t deny that I’m attracted to you, and last
night was not expected, it can’t happen again.”

  “Why can’t it happen again?” I press, wanting to know why she feels that way.

  “A few reasons, one, I don’t date players. Especially players it is my job to represent on behalf of the team. Second, we are co-workers, in a sense. Yes, we work in completely different departments, but I still work with everyone on the team on a regular basis. What happens when word gets out and things get weird, who is the team going to replace, the PR person or one of their star players? I cannot lose this job. I’ve worked my ass off to get to where I am. Not to mention that I’m not looking for a good time fling. I’m ready to look towards my future. I want to settle down and start a family. I know I’m only two years older than you, but I feel like that two years makes a difference in where we are at in our lives.”

  She pauses again and I look over my shoulder at what has pulled her attention. Our sever arrives at that moment, setting our piping hot pizza down between the two of us, along with two plates. “Can I get you guys anything else?” she asks.

  “Can I get a lemonade and a side of ranch, please?” Carmen asks.

  “Of course, and you, sir?” She turns my way.

  “I’m good, thanks,” I tell her as I reach for a slice and place it on my plate. I top it with some parmesan before I take a large bite. The server was spot on when she suggested we get their famous pizza.

  “Holy crap that is good,” Carmen says after her first bite.

  “Yeah, it is.” I take another large bite, cramming in half of my slice in the one bite.

  We both focus on eating our pizza, our conversation set aside due to how good it is. Once we’ve both devoured a few slices each, I bring us back to the conversation at hand.

  “I understand your concern about the work aspect, but I don’t really see it as a deal breaker. It isn’t against the rules, from what I remember,” I tell her, pausing to take another bite. “And if we decided to see where things could go and we realize that it isn’t what we’re hoping for, I don’t see why we can’t both be adults about it and part as friends. No one needs to lose a job over a breakup.”