Team Niklas (The Saints Team #3) (6 page)

“We’ve paid a lot of money for
that guy, Sash, don’t corrupt him,” Shayne said, sort of joking but not really.

I sighed. “Shayne, honestly I’ve
got a lot on my plate and I haven’t been encouraging Nik at all, he’s not even
on my radar.”

“I know, I believe that, but
that’s probably made you more interesting to him,” Shayne said. Again with the
can’t-have
theory. We watched from the window as Nik shrugged The Russian’s arm off him,
and he unlocked his car and got in.

Shayne cleared his throat. “I
don’t know Nik that well yet, but he doesn’t have a lot of people in his life
and he doesn’t let too many in from what the guys have said. If he clicks with
you, I’m guessing he thinks that’s worth pursuing.”

“I don’t get why; we’ve met a few
times in the office and I took him to a media interview once, that’s it.
There’s no shortage of chicks after these guys. You know all about it.” I
stated the obvious to Shayne an ex-player. “Where is his family? He’s cagey
about that.”

“He has none, well none that he’s
declared. His next of kin on his contract is his financial manager,” Shayne
said, “but keep that to yourself.”

“Wow,” I said. We watched him
drive out of the grounds.

“Can you dial-him-a date or
something?” I asked Shayne, tongue in cheek.

Shayne chuckled. “Leave it with
me. I’ll call Babes-R-Us.”

 We both grinned and got back to
the business of the media conference as everyone began to arrive.

Chapter 7

Before I left work I texted Nik to apologize about
the press conference earlier and he texted back to say no big deal and asked
again about Friday night, sigh. I let that one slide. I was meeting my brother
Ethan, my best friend Max and his partner Ren for a post-work drink. We made a
bit of a habit of doing it every Wednesday night. I was closer to Ethan than my
other brothers, not just in looks but we just got on; maybe because our
personalities were nothing alike—being a counselor, Ethan was calm and
considerate, rational and thoughtful. I was none of those things. Max and Ren
didn’t always come but Ethan and I never missed beer and burger night at the
local hotel. They were all there when I arrived.

“What the fuck?” I said. “Is my
watch slow? People keep arriving everywhere before me, it’s as though I’m in
the Twilight Zone.”

“Hi Sassy,” Ethan said, grinning.
He rose, kissed me on the cheek and I leaned over to kiss Max and Ren while we
were doing the kiss thing.

“But seriously, what time do you
have Maxie?” I asked.

“Two minutes past six,” he
answered. Ren looked at his watch. “I’ve got five past.” Ethan followed suit.
“Five to the hour here.”

I shook my head. “Synchronized
then, good.” The lads laughed.

“I love that outfit on you Sass, red
is you and cute little bowler hat,” Ren said.

“Thanks Ren, it’s just something I
whipped up.” I smiled at him. “How are you?” I asked, studying him. Both he and
Max were thin; Ren was the geeky type who looked as though a gust of wind would
knock him over while Max was solid and tall but pretty, preened to within an
inch of his life like you’d expect from any self-respecting hairdresser. Before
Ren could answer Max stepped in answering for his boyfriend.

“He’s in a green smoothie stage,”
Max said, with a roll of his eyes. “Awful. Every time I turn around there’s a
celery stick and a broccoli bunch heading towards the blender.”

“That sounds wonderfully healthy,”
my brother encouraged Ren.

“I try, God knows I try,” Ren said.
“Every time I start a new health phase they change the rules about what’s
healthy. Meat was in then out, potatoes were fine but then too starchy, garlic
is good for warding off colds, but it wards off friends too… it’s not easy.”

“I really liked it when you were
going through the chocolate fondue stage,” Max said.

I laughed. I loved these boys. I
kind of had Alice lined up for my brother Ethan before she fell for Tomás, but
there was no way she’d even notice my darling brother now, even if he was cute
and charming—a bit like Ryan Gosling, only younger and prettier—okay, nothing
like him at all. I grabbed the waiter’s attention. We all ordered the same
thing we ordered every week and then I turned to Ethan.

“How goes work?” I asked.

“Tough week.” Ethan exhaled. We
really did look more like twins than Saffron and me. He ran his hand through
his short blond hair and gave me a tired smile.

“I couldn’t do what you do.” Ren
shook his head. “I take my hat off to you bro.”

“Thanks, yeah, it can be tough.
This week, was just the usual court-appointed clients, but I tell you, I had
this guy today who had beaten his wife to the point that she had to
hospitalized and he couldn’t understand what he’d done wrong,” Ethan said, and
shook his head. “He said it was her fault for not having dinner ready when he
got home.”

“You’ve got to wonder what
happened in his childhood and family life, to make him like that,” I said,
squeezing my brother’s arm. We had such a great childhood that all my mistakes
were truly my own doing.

“Exactly,” he agreed with me.
“Then I get the other extreme today… a teenager who has been abused by his
father for years and now he’s been expelled from school for bad behavior. Go
figure.”

“Do you still like it, what you
do?” I asked, “because you could take a break and do some modeling or do
relationship counseling or something a bit easier.”

Ethan scoffed, “Are you offering
me a job on your catwalk? Nah, my college modeling days are over, but it’s all
fine. I always wanted to work in this area, it’s just some days you’ve got to
go and find something good to remember that this crap isn’t the norm.”

Our drinks arrived and we clinked
our glasses in a toast.

“I’ll tell you something good,”
Max said, “a group of Saints has just walked in. Know them, Sassy?”

I cringed and turned around
slowly.
Man, can’t I go out without running into the team after hours?
I
breathed a sigh of relief; it was only a few of the guys, they must live
locally—I recognized Harry and Jackson, but they moved out of sight quickly,
disappearing around the corner following the waitress who was seating them.

“God they’re hot,” Ren said.

“So hot,” Max agreed. “You’ll be
like that if you keep up that green smoothie diet.”

“Think so?” Ren said, looking at
his biceps.

Ethan and I grinned at each.

“Ah love, ain’t it grand?” I said,
admiring the two of them.

“Speaking of which, how’s the love
life?” Ethan asked me.

“Funny you should ask,” I said. “I
have a German stalker… from the Saints.”

“Not the Kaiser?” Max asked.

“Since when did you follow
soccer?” I frowned at him.

“Since you started working for
them,” he said. “Don’t say I’m not a supportive best friend. He just came in
you know.”

I flipped around again but
couldn’t see him. “Are you sure?” I asked.

“I’d know him anywhere,” Max said,
and Ren nodded.

My eyes narrowed. “Did he have a
girl with him?” I asked.

Max shook his head. “He was with
those other Saints.” Max got distracted. “There’s a friend of mine, James, I’ll
be back.” Max and Ren excused themselves and I looked towards the area that the
Saints were shown to. I couldn’t see Nik and I wondered if he saw me.

“Sassy…” Ethan started.

“Oh no,” I stopped him, “I
recognize that tone. I’m going to get the ‘get back on the horse’ lecture
aren’t I?” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “Is this my brother or my
therapist talking?”

Ethan webbed his fingers together
and leaned forward. “Both. Sass, you need to trust in love again.”

I rolled my eyes. “What a lovely
notion,” I said.

Ethan grabbed my hand. “No really.
I know we’ve spoken of this before, but when you met Adam, you were pretty
naive and he was your first major love. So you bought into it, you believed he
was going to be loyal and it would be happily ever after…”

“I blame our parents for being
such great role models,” I mumbled, sipping my drink.

Ethan grinned. “Yeah, damn them.
But not all guys are like your ex-husband; some of us believe in commitment and
loyalty, so don’t give up on that, okay? That’s all I’m saying.”

“Sure that’s all you’re saying?” I
narrowed my eyes and Ethan laughed.

“Well I wouldn’t mind adding a bit
about the fact that Adam is unlikely to change, ever, but you’ll know what is
right next time because your eyes are wide open.”

“If there’s a next time,” I said.

“Sass, there’ll be a next time.
You deserve love and you deserve someone who believes in it like you do. Don’t
let this experience harden you, take a chance.”

I went to brush Ethan off again
but he knew me too well.

“For me?”

I groaned. “You’re not going to
play that card are you?”

Ethan nodded. “I am. Take a chance
for me because seeing you happy would bring a lot of happiness into my world.
Try?” he said.

I didn’t answer and he nudged his
foot against mine under the table. I nodded sort of and he smiled.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Let the man
in,” Ethan said. “You got to remember he’s had some experience too and his
heart might not be whole either.”

I scoffed. “He told me he’s never
been turned down, ever.”

“That doesn’t mean that he’s found
what he wants,” Ethan said.

Chapter 8

I had had company or gone out nearly every night
since the weekend, so I decided Thursday night was my designated stay home with
Prada night. The music was pumping and I was pushing through my sit-ups in sets
of twenty, then to the push-ups which I didn’t manage quite as well, back to
the weights set and then the skipping. I had my twenty-five minute circuit
worked out and my music tracks timed perfectly for them. I finished, panting
and went to the kitchen for water. I loved the feeling after a workout, when
the mind and body were relaxed. I did some of my best thinking when I worked
out. Even Prada got into it with a few stretches before deciding he was svelte
enough and returning to his bird watching post.

I showered, dressed and spent an
hour
getting a head start on cutting Saffy’s
wedding dress. I was on fire tonight—I could achieve so much when I was
boyfriend-less. Tick that box, right, then I headed to the kitchen, grabbed a
glass of wine and made my way to the sofa. It wasn’t the best diet, so maybe
I’d have some toast later. While enjoying my wine, watching
Outlander,
in the company of a beautiful male… cat—the love of my life, I realized I hadn’t
heard from Nik since the return text after the press conference or Adam since
he told me by text that he loved me. Fuck you, Adam and Nik. Life sucked
sometimes—I was perfectly happy before Nik decided that he needed to be in my
life, now I just had to remember that.
Either he really was shitty at me
about the press conference or he saw me sitting with my hand on Ethan’s arm.

I kind of missed hearing from him,
damn him… damn men, but I wasn’t going to make contact. I told him I wasn’t
ready and it was best he stayed away for his own safety and now he was doing
just that, I would just have to accept that. Maybe he had just decided to let
it go, which was a good thing, even though I felt flat. See, this is why you
shouldn’t start these things. It creates a space and then you’ve got to fill
it.

Getting
over Adam was easier… seeing him flirting with one of the journos at my Saints’
press conference brought back all the drama he caused me and there had been
plenty of it—cheating, lies, snorting drugs and there had been plenty of great sex
too—I wish the sex was bad; it would make it so much easier to forget him.

My telephone
rang and I debated whether to tear myself away from watching
Outlander—
I’d
love to personally fit that kilt that Jamie wears, he was so manly yet
vulnerable, sexy and—where was I? Oh yeah, or just ignore my phone. Ah, the
pull was too strong. I went to the counter and grabbed it. It was my ‘bestie’ Max.

“Hi
Maxie,” I answered, taking the opportunity to top up my chardonnay while in the
kitchen. I returned to sit next to Prada

“Babe,”
he said, “so what’s happening with the German?”

I
sighed. “Nothing. We were jinxed. I warned him to stay away for his own safety
and it looks like that worked.”

“Why
would you do that?” Max’s voice went up an octave.

“Because
I’m an idiot.”

“Oh,
right then,” Max said, agreeing.

“Because
it is too soon. I’ve just got into a really good space, I like that space,” I
said.

“I
understand but major bummer on the timing,” Max said.

I shrugged, not
that Max could see that on the phone. “It’s a good thing, really,” I said. “I
didn’t mention this last night in front of Ethan, but Adam dropped in the
divorce papers earlier this week and Nik was here. There was an incident.”

I heard Max sigh
and he dropped his voice as though someone else was in the room with him.
“Fucking Adam, I’m sorry Sassy, but I’m glad he’s out of your life. That boy
was nothing but trouble. Ooh, I sounded like your father then... not the
fucking part; I don’t think I’ve ever heard him swear.”

I
asked after Ren and we chatted for a bit, before hanging up. I unpaused
Outlander
and watched for ten minutes before my phone pinged with a text. I flicked
the screen, and saw the text was from Alice.

ALICE:
wot hav U done 2 my housemate?

I
rolled my eyes.
What the fuck? Anything that has happened to Nik now is not
my fault; I haven’t seen him since the press conference.

ME:
Can’t take credit 4 any recent injuries

ALICE:
He’s morose. Been so since Wed night

Mm,
I thought back to last night and dinner with Ethan, Max and Ren. I wonder if he
saw us. I texted Alice back.

ME:
Define morose?

ALICE:
Polite but not talking. Plays with console non-stop. Not eating

ME:
Prada was like that once, off his food. He had a fur ball

ALICE:
Ha ha, I’m serious

Great,
what does that mean? It might not even be about me… he might have had bad sex
or be fighting with a groupie for godsake
.

ME:
What could it B?

ALICE:
U know what it is. Do U really not like him?

Fuck,
here we go. I won’t get any work done if a guy enters my life, although I guess
if it is Nik he’s away playing every second weekend. But then I’d be going out
with a player—how cliché and incestuous when I’m working there, I’ll lose all
credibility. Plus I’ve got to focus on Saffy’s dress and now the mother-in-law’s
dress and I need to make a new hat for the wedding—hell yeah, that will take
some time. He’d be good in bed though, I can imagine that strong, muscular
tanned body, those arms that could hold themselves over me, and I’ve felt the
imprint of his erection already… that was memorable.

The
room was getting hotter. My phone pinged again.

ALICE:
Hello?

ME:
I like him a lot.

ALICE:
Then what’s the problem?

ME:
It’s me.

ALICE:
Yeah we all know that. So get over it :)

ME:
Thanks

ALICE:
What’s the worst that could happen?

I
could have a broken heart again; spend weeks in agony; have to go underground
to lick my wounds; leave town to get away from seeing, hearing or reading about
him; have to give up my job… the list is endless.

ME:
A lot

ALICE:
What’s the best that could happen?

I
could have some fucking great sex if he’s capable in the sack; I could enjoy some
great eye candy; maybe a bit of company beside Prada; get my family and friends
off my back about getting back on the horse; have some fun; put Adam well and
truly behind me; have a date for my sister’s wedding besides Maxie… and maybe, fall
in love.

It
did kind of weigh up pretty evenly both ways.

ME:
OK

ALICE:
OK, you’ll contact him?

ME:
Yes

ALICE:
Fabo Sash. Can U do it ASAP?

ME:
OK

ALICE:
2night?

ME:
OK

I
took another sip of chardonnay and drew a deep breath. I thought about what to
say.
Hi and how are you?
seemed pretty lame,
Want to see my catwalk?
sounded a bit suggestive, something nice wouldn’t work, he knew me enough
already to be suspicious about that. So I sent him a text.

ME:
Still shitty with me?

Yep, that covered it
nicely, the last of the romantics… watch out Shakespeare, this girl could turn
a verse. Then I waited. What if he didn’t text back now and Alice was wrong?
Fucking fantastic, I’d look like a dickhead who doesn’t know my own mind. I
sighed, this is the problem with relationships—I just want something direct and
easy without all the coding and deciphering required. My phone beeped and I
reached for it with speed and hesitancy if you can imagine how that works. It
was from Nik.

NIK: Not shitty with U.
Thinking of me, huh?

ME: Yep.

I’m going for the
direct approach, we were both okay at that from the small window of experience
we had communicating together.

NIK: Where’s the
boyfriend?

Ah there it was. He did
see me—given how direct he normally is you’d think he’d just ask. But maybe he
didn’t think I’d be honest. Why?

ME: What boyfriend?

NIK: Wed night at
hotel?

ME: My brother, best
friend and his guy?

There was a temporary
lull in communications. This was interesting… then the phone pinged again.

NIK: Can I come over
now?

ME: Yep.

That was it. A few
minutes later the phone beeped again and it was Alice this time.

ALICE: U R the best. Nik
now up.

ME: How up?

ALICE: U tell me ;) C U
at work 2morrow xx

*****

Nik must have hired a Learjet because he was at my door in about twenty
minutes, showered, smelling delicious and earning that nickname the Kaiser—the
emperor in English—oh yeah, conquer me, Nik. Wow, how fickle was I? One minute
I’m saying stay away, the next I’m opening my front door and my legs to a
gorgeous German man. Clearly I am only human and here I was thinking I was above
humanity, sigh. He wore his jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt in pale gray which
made his blue eyes really stand out and a navy jacket.

We stood looking at each other for just a few moments.
I confess the feeling of relief and excitement seeing him there in the flesh
swept over me. I hated that. Thank God he arrived quickly before I had time to
analyze myself and the situation to death—phew. Did I mention he looked
gorgeous?

I smiled and stood aside and he entered. I closed the
door and when I turned around he was right next to me, only inches from me. He
pulled me the final few inches closer and rested his chin on my head, wrapping
his arms around me. I hesitated for a minute, and then my arms wove inside his
coat and around him. He was all muscle. I tried not to feel him up.

I felt him exhale and he stayed there for a few
minutes as if he was losing the tension of the day and drawing strength from
me. He pulled away, leaned down and then his lips found mine. It was so
sensual. His hand moved behind my neck and into my hair and he pressed against
me, his lips touching mine with a softness and passion. Holy fuck, this was
good, very good. Then he pulled away and looked me in the eyes with his
beautiful crystal blue eyes.

“Sah-sha.”

“Niklas.”

He smiled, a dimple appearing in his tanned face. Damn,
he was a beautiful man, I could design an entire fashion line around him and I
might—I’ll call it the Kaiser!

“I knew you would come around,” he teased me. “I was
waiting for you to make the next move, but then I thought maybe you had a guy.”
He released me, slipped his navy jacket off and placed it with his keys on the
entrance table.

“Mm, waiting on me huh?” I said, “What if I didn’t
make contact?”

“I would have died,” he said, teasing me.

My hand went to my heart. “Thank God I called.”

He grinned and followed me as I walked into the
kitchen to offer him a drink. I knew he wouldn’t have alcohol with the game this
weekend.

“Niklas you are so very smooth,” I said. “Dying for
unrequited love, how romantic and all this time I thought the French and
Italians were the true romantics, not the Germans.”

He shook his head. “So wrong. No spin, I’m not into it
but I’m into you, Sah-sha. I always know what I want straight up, always have.”

I studied him. “Lucky you. There’s always been gray
areas for me. Will you have a cola or a juice or coffee?”

“Coffee thanks.”

“White with none,” I said.

Nik smiled. “How romantic, Sah-sha, you remembered.
What else do you remember about me? Sitting on my lap?”

“Um.” I flicked the kettle on and looked towards the
ceiling as I thought. “I remember you bleeding all over my guest sofa and
holding ice to your black eye and…”

“Right,” he sighed, “happy memories.”

I folded my arms across my chest and leaned against
the kitchen bench. “So Mr. Black-and-white, you’re telling me that with all the
friends you’ve met since arriving here late last year, and all the sex you’ve
had…” he went to deny it and I cut him off, “… you’re a single player, c’mon on…”
His eyes narrowed as he waited for me to finish and I continued: “Do you mean
to say that you haven’t found anyone yet that you knew you wanted straight away…
no spark?”

“You’re fishing so I can say you are the only one,” he
read me.

“Yes and no,” I said. Two can play at direct. “I want
to understand why you know you want this, it’s not like we’ve had a great
start.” I reached for a cup, put coffee in and pulled the milk from the fridge.

His tongue briefly appeared between his clenched teeth
as he thought, then he used it to lick his lower lip and he swallowed.
Fuck
that was sexy. I have to think of more hard questions to ask so I can see that
again.

“I just connected with you, from the start… there was
something,” he said. “You’re different, you’re full of energy and you do your
own thing, have your own style. That’s the best way I can describe it.”

“I think it was just an electric shock from the carpet
in the office,” I reminded him. “What if you’re wrong?”