Team Niklas (The Saints Team #3) (9 page)

“Would you like to come up?” I
asked.

“Yes,” he said and turned off the
ignition.

We were a very direct pair. He
held my hand as we took the stairs, and my body was betraying me already; I was
wired and wet. And then Nik blew it.

“Those phone numbers weren’t
needed after all Sah-sha,” he said, “we lived to tell.”

He jinxed it. Sitting on my
doorstep was Saffron. The wedding was off. Fuck on so many levels.

Chapter 11

Nik was so understanding—he brushed my cheek, kissed
me and left me to take care of Saffron with her swollen face from crying. I
watched his gorgeous butt descending the stairs, my vagina ached for him but my
heart was breaking for Saffy—catastrophe! I unlocked and led my twin sister to
the sofa and went to make us both a cup of tea. I knew all about relationship
pain, but I also knew not to run down her fiancé, Daniel; he was a really nice
guy and this might be fixable.

Minutes later, I put her cup of tea
in front of her and sat next to Saffy on my white sofa. Prada bolted, the scaredy
cat; he wasn’t good with crying women.

“Saffy, take a deep breath, a
mouthful of tea, and if you feel up to it, tell me what happened,” I said “If
not, I can put you straight to bed. The guest room is made up.”

She nodded and followed
instructions. Wow, I was on a roll lately… I must try it on The Russian, and see
if he obeys.

Saffy took a deep breath, wiped
her eyes and took a sip of tea. I hated seeing my twin so distraught especially
when Saffron was such a sweet, up-person. The only times I remember her crying were
when our family dog Muffy died—we all cried then—and when our brothers had a
food fight with our birthday cake. Daniel was really her first big love. I was
hoping she’d cruise through life unhurt.

 “Sassy, Dan said he’s not sure
he’s ready to be married,” she said, choking on the words.

Oh not good, so not good.

“Okay, let’s break this down,” I
said to her. “He still wants to be with you?”

She nodded. “He said he does, but
he wants to do more things before settling down. He’s got cold feet.”

“What things did he say, exactly?”
I asked.

“He said we should delay the
wedding and do some travel, work overseas, maybe see more of our friends—and we
both know what that means, he wants to meet other women. He’s not sure.” She
started crying again, heart-wrenching sobs, each one like a cut in my chest.

“Saffy, we don’t know that, stop,
listen,” I said. “Remember when you graduated from teachers’ college and you
wanted to go abroad for a year?”

She nodded, picking up her tea and
cupping it in her hands.

“Remember Daniel didn’t want to
go? He wanted to get a few years’ work experience under his belt first and then
do a working holiday. You were worried being married to him might be like
wearing ‘cement boots’—your words. You were worried that he might tie you down.
Remember?” I challenged her.

“Yes.” She stopped crying long
enough to look at me and take my words in.

“You had plans to do big things
then, but you adapted and let him get his work experience under the belt. You
both forgot that dream of traveling and went straight to the marriage step.
What if… and I’m just guessing here, what if you bring the travel and working
overseas dream back again—it was your idea first, not Daniel’s. Delay the
wedding until you’ve had some more adventure. Hell, if you’re going to be
together for life, what’s a few years?” I said.

She stopped crying while she
thought. “I had forgotten about that.”

“But Saffy, I’m no expert at this,
remember I had an impulse marriage that didn’t work,” I said. “I’m just saying
it’s not a big deal that he wants to delay the wedding, he still wants you,
right?”

“Yes, he said that over and over.”

“You’ve compromised for him
before, but now he’s kind of reminding you of your original dream,” I said.

“Why can’t we get married and then
travel, like on our honeymoon?” she asked.

“Maybe he wants to use a bit of
the wedding money to travel before you blow it all on the big day and then have
to start paying off a mortgage,” I suggested. “So, do it in reverse, let him
propose in every romantic spot you visit, or you do the same. Have the
honeymoon first and the wedding later… just a thought. Maybe he’s looking at
our parents or his folks and thinking marriage means settling down and being
sensible, when all he wants is to be with you and have fun.” That was good, I
surprised myself.

She nodded. “You might be right
Sassy. I might have overreacted, kind of panicked, you know? I need to go and
talk with him.” She rose and I got up with her.

“Want me to drive you?” I only had
two champagnes a couple of hours ago and was up to the task.

“No, I’ve got my car here,
thanks.”

I walked her to the door and she
hugged me.

“Thanks for helping me see sense,”
Saffron said and pulled away. “I’m sorry I ruined your date.”

I shrugged. “You didn’t, I’ll see
Nik again on Sunday. But you and Daniel, you love each other, you’ll sort it
out.”

She smiled and opened the door,
grabbing her keys and jacket from the side table. “I love you Sassy.”

“I love you, Saffy,” I said, and
watched her head down the stairs. I closed and locked the door. Problem
temporarily solved and Nik gone home to bed. Damn and I was so fucking horny.
We were jinxed, I was never going to get to bed with Nik, at this rate, I’d
have to get a vibrator. I wondered if German vibrators were any different.

*****

I sent a text to Saffron as soon as I woke the next
morning and she texted back to report that all was good with her and Daniel and
that she would call me later. Thank you saints in heaven for that, but I guess
she wouldn’t be needing the dress in any hurry.

Ah, Saturday… all day, yes! I
didn’t text Nik because I knew he’d be at training, but I would call him later
to thank him for dinner and see if he took matters into his own hands last
night. I wondered if he’d tell me if I asked? Probably, as he’s so direct. Mm, forget
the vibrator—picturing Nik in the shower or lying in bed working his large
erection worked for me.

I did my gym workout and finished
with my sit-ups, all fueled with sexy thoughts of Nik servicing himself;
doesn’t hurt to fantasize. Despite all my efforts at resisting him, if I didn’t
have Nik soon I was going to implode and it wouldn’t be pretty. Bits of me all
over the place—tragic. I showered and changed into a pinafore with a long
sleeved shirt underneath, tights and boots. Today, I had plans and ninety minutes
later, Max and I were swanning around the display stands at the Designer and Bridal
Expo.

We worked together sometimes,
slipping each other business where we could—as well as hairdressing Max did
bridal make-up and the bridal market was a growing part of his business. Bridal
dresses were a growing part of mine too, but I didn’t really want to make
dresses, I wanted to design them; you know custom make and design for the
bride. I had my own designs on my website and I liked to look at the bride’s
figure and design what would accentuate her assets and hide those that she
wasn’t as fond of featuring.

“These sites look like crap,” Max
whispered in my ear as we passed a few ordinary looking stands. He was such a
bitch sometimes.

“Here we are,” I said, and we
stopped in front of the display where our businesses were on show. We didn’t
want a stand of our own—too expensive and we were small fry in this game, but
on the group stand we were given a small area to display our photos and cards.

“Looks good,” I said, eyeing off
Max’s beautiful bridal hair and make-up photos with his business cards propped
next to it. Beside his display were my illustrations of my bridal designs and a
rack of my business cards. We played it cool as a couple of gals
came over and hovered near our display. They were
making a day of it with their sample bags in tow. I grabbed one of Max’s cards
and so they could overhear, I started gushing to him.

“This
guy did my sister’s hair and make-up; it was fantastic. I’m going to use him
too,” I said, with a wink to Max and waved around his business card.

The
girls reached for Max’s card and put it in their sample bags. We wandered off
and left them looking at the photos.

“I
owe you a coffee for that Sash,” Max said.

“Only
if the business comes through, Maxie. Let’s get a seat.” We headed to the
catwalk area where seats were filling fast. The next bridal parade was due to
start in fifteen minutes. Next year I hoped to have a few of my own designs in
the parades. We sat and I watched as Max ran a hand through his perfectly
coiffured, sandy-colored hair. Everything about him said neat. I
always felt a bit messy sitting next to him, like a whirlwind had ruffled me up
but just missed him.

“It looks good,” I
teased him.

“Mm, too blond.” He
shook his head. I grinned and squeezed his arm as the music began to swell. I
loved a good parade and then just to take the sparkle out of my day, I saw my
ex, Adam—he was wearing a work pass around his neck—damn and the day was going
so well. I sank a little lower in my seat and watched him; he was always as
sexy as hell when he was working. The way he moved, the way he angled himself
and the camera, and more fool me for thinking I’m special because so did the
model on the catwalk that he was shooting. So special that he gave her a wink
and she gave him a special smile. Sigh, thank God he’s my ex-husband. Max is right;
it was a good thing he was out of my life.

Chapter 12

Game day! It was a beautiful day, clear and bright and we were going to
beat the Houston Harriers. Right, got that sorted, now to the game. I didn’t
sleep well but it was a great not sleeping well, if you know what I mean? I had
visions of Nik kissing me, those blue eyes staring into mine, his shirt coming
off and my hands running over that washboard stomach and all his other parts. I
might never sleep again.

You would think I would learn to be just a little
cautious after one failed marriage that was born from being impetuous in love.
It appears I didn’t get that cautious gene. And first thing this morning, I got
a text from Nik to say he couldn’t wait to see me at the game. I told him all
the things I couldn’t wait to see about him—it was a long text. I can’t believe
I feel this great, scary, scary stuff.

When I got to the ground, the Houston Harrier buses
were already arriving, their fans decked out in burgundy and white. I knew Nik
would be in the change rooms preparing, and I spotted his VW in the players’
parking lot—that gave me a little chill, knowing we were so close. I swung mine
into the staff allocation. I thought about him getting strapped and iced, hmm.

I whipped up to the media room to check all was okay; later
I would stay there to watch the match with the other journos. I had to twitter
throughout the match with the key points like goals, penalties, injuries and
any great action and then post at half-time and full-time on the Facebook page.
I didn’t need to put out a release after the game because the media present had
that covered and it went onto the national media wires. It was a bit of a fine
line for Alice and me as she usually looked after the social media, but only in
a social sense while I did the news angle. Tomorrow she would put up great
photos from the game for the supporters. The radio networks especially followed
my tweets because they were timely.

All was well in the media room and I headed off to the
VIP marquee to see if Kay or Jim needed any help.

“Hey Sash.” I heard a voice and turned to see Alice
leading the Saints’ mascot to the children’s area. “Thanks for saving you know
who,” she grinned, “he’s one very happy Saint.”

I smiled back. “The things I do for this club.” I
waved and kept going. On the way to the VIP area I passed by Shayne and a
couple of the opposition management team. He gave me the thumbs up and kept
going. I stuck my head into the VIP marquee area where a champagne brunch was
being served to those guests who paid to be members and enjoy the benefits
including VIP seating. Jim was on the microphone calling up some unsuspecting
person to draw their raffle.

“All okay?” I asked, sidling up to Kay and squatting
down beside her as she sat at the staff table.

“We’re under control, thanks for checking in though,”
she said. “Um…” she looked over my shoulder and smiled. “I think someone is
trying to get your attention.”

I turned to see Nik standing to the side of the
entrance to the marquee, hiding as much as possible and beckoning me out. He
was in the team’s training gear and looked wonderfully kissable. Unfortunately my
boss Jim saw him at the same time.

“Ladies and gentlemen; don’t say we don’t look after
you here, look who has just dropped in.” He pointed the audience to the
entrance where Nik’s eyes widened in surprise.

The VIP members turned to look at the entrance like a
pack watching a tennis game and on seeing Nik, gave him a huge cheer and burst
into applause. He froze like a deer in the headlights, gave an embarrassed sort
of wave and began to back out with a quick chin up motion to me to follow him.

Jim was walking towards him. “C’mon Nik, not so fast,
just a few questions for our loyal supporters and then we’ll let you go.”

Nik gave me a look that said
rescue me
and I
smiled with sympathy and shrugged. Jim was my boss after all and he had Nik by
the arm, even if he only came up to Nik’s armpit. The audience was still
applauding.

“Now as you know,” Jim was saying, “Niklas Wagner or
the Kaiser as the boys call him, joined us this season from Germany and we’re
pretty happy to have him. So where’s home Nik?” Jim asked pushing the
microphone in Nik’s face.

“Um, Berlin, but I’m really loving it here, especially
the beach,” Nik said, winning the audience over.

A hand shot up in the audience which just happened to
be attached to the arm of a very attractive woman in her mid-thirties or so.
She looked as though she had just stepped off the set of
The Housewives of
Santa Ana.

“Ah, we have a question,” Jim said, nodding to the
woman. “Just one because I know you’ve got to go and get ready for the game and
we don’t want the coach down here looking for you.”

The woman stood up. “I was just going to offer Nik a
home cooked meal if he got homesick. I make a very good Apple Strudel from an
old German recipe,” she said. The audience burst out laughing, Nik grinned
good-naturedly—it wouldn’t be the first offer he had—and he gave her a wave of
thanks. He nodded to Jim and bolted for the door. Damn, should I be able to
cook strudel? Note to self, check recipe.

“A round of applause for Nik, good luck today,” Jim was
saying, as Nik made a hasty exit, diverting by me to grab my hand in retreat. I
followed him out, laughing. I could hear Jim still carrying on about what a
great game they were expecting from our new German recruit and how he had been
a great asset to the team this season already.

Nik pulled me around the corner of the marquee and
then stopped to look at me. He smiled. “Hello gorgeous Sah-sha, next time I’m
texting you from outside to come out and meet me.”

 “Hello Nik,” I said, and looked up at him with way
too much excitement in my face, God I’m a pushover. “What are you doing here?”
I asked, rubbing my hands up his arms.

“Ah you need to stop that,” he said, and leaned in to
kiss me. I think the relief ebbed through us both at the touch of our lips,
like we could get through the day now. “No really, you need to stop it.” I
looked down and realized the track pants didn’t hide much. I giggled like a naughty
schoolgirl.

“Thank you for being so understanding last night,” I
said, touching his face.

“Is Saffron all right?” he asked.

“I think she and Daniel will be fine,” I said. His
eyes watched me all the time, watched my lips as I talked, rose to my eyes, my
eyelashes, back to my lips. This man was hellishly sexy.

“I didn’t sleep at all last night, you kept me awake,”
he said, still holding me in his arms.

I loved that he was so upfront and just said things
like that—not worried if it was too much to put out there or it made him
vulnerable. God, this was freaking me out—how good I felt. I kind of thought
after Adam that maybe I’d had a great love and that was it, now all the
feelings were so raw and real, a second chance at love.

“You kept me awake all night too,” I said, “You’ll be
busy on the ground, but I hope it’s a good game or else I’m bound to fall
asleep in the middle of tweeting.”

He grinned. “Ye of little faith, Sah-sha, it will be a
great game. We didn’t make plans for tonight. I will go and have a few drinks
with the boys and then I can meet you if you like?”

“That would be great. I’ll go to the Ska Bar but you
don’t have to come there, we can go to my place if you don’t want to party on.”

“I’ll get there and then we can go to your place
later, ja, I mean yes?” he translated.

“Yah,” I teased him, well it sounded like that anyway.
He gave me a satisfied grin as though he had everything worked out now. He took
a deep breath and pulled away.

“I’ve got to go before Lucas realizes I’m missing and
kicks my butt. Walk me back?”

“Sure.” We walked through the grounds towards the
players’ rooms when I heard a wolf whistle. I turn around to see Dan, the
journo from the local radio station; I gave him a wave.

Nik glared past me. “Who was that?”

“Dan’s just an old friend, he’s a sport reporter for
K-Talk
,
and he produces the sports show that Russian crashed on Friday.”

“Does he like you?” Nik asked, his eyes narrowed as he
continued to glare in the direction of Dan.

“Of course, I’m likeable,” I said, declaring the
obvious.

Nik rolled his eyes as he turned to face me, his lips
were a thin line. “I know that Sah-sha, but that’s not what I mean. Is he—”

I cut him off. “I’m not interested in him.” I grabbed
his jaw. “Unlock your jaw.”

He swallowed. “It’s not locked.”

“Your jaw is locked and your eyes are narrow,” I said,
releasing his chin from my grasp.

“Is he in the media box with you?” Nik asked.

“Every game, all last year too. I’ve known him a long
time. I’m not interested,” I said, keeping it as black and white as I could. My
ex-husband had played horrendous jealousy games with me and I wasn’t going
there again and I wouldn’t inflict that on anyone.

He made a guttural sound in his throat. I leaned up
and kissed him and his jaw relaxed; he looked down at me and smiled. He walked
with his arm around my shoulder, while I was nicely tucked next to him. I loved
that he was tall and muscled but not a wall like The Russian. Nik was fit and
agile. We came around a corner and got sprung. Someone called out his name and
before we knew it, he was mobbed by fans that had got to the grounds early to
spot the players. I looked around and beckoned for one of the security guys to
come over and help clear the way to the rooms. It’s part of the marketing
team’s job—it’s better if we or security move the players along, than have the
players tell the fans they can’t stick around. He signed autographs as he
continued to weave towards the gate. We got separated and I saw him look back
when he got to the change rooms and look for me. He found me for a second, gave
me a smile and disappeared.

Fuck I was in so much lust and like, and maybe love,
who knows but I hadn’t fallen in this deep for a long time.
Come on in
my heart was telling me, the water was just fine.

*****

I got my laptop set up in the media room; I loved working from there,
such a great view of the game. The room was filling up and I chatted to the
usual journos as we waited for the game to start. Drinks and sandwiches were
delivered and everyone helped themselves. I grabbed two Diet Colas… not that
many of the journos wanted low-calorie, just me and Carla—one of the ladies
from
The Sports Daily—
and I took one over to her
.
She was a big
girl, a former professional basketballer who now reported on sports.

“Thanks Sash,” she took it and opened it right away.
“Was that the Kaiser I saw you cozying up to before? That new?”

“Pretty new,” I said, taking a gulp of my drink. She
reached for a couple of sandwiches.

“I could have sworn you told me that you’d rather
masturbate than go out with a player when you worked around them all day,” she
teased me.

“Yeah, well my fingers got sore,” I shot back and she
laughed.

“Lucky bitch,” she said, and squeezed my arm. “What
about that Russian? I met him at the press conference the other day, he’s
huge—a very good size for me. Is he single?”

“He’s a wall,” I agreed. “Newly single.”

She groaned. “Not touching that.”

“I’ll let him know that if he needs a date for the
Best and Fairest Awards though, that you’ll play handbag?” I asked.

“Hell yeah, that I could do, and he’d actually be
taller than me which would be nice for a change,” she said. I grinned and
headed back to my chair next to Dan and within minutes the game began with the
teams running on the field. My stomach always fluttered with nerves; I can only
imagine how the players felt with all that pressure on them. It was even more
intense now that Nik was in my orbit.

The Houston Harriers came on first, did a lap and got
a good response. They were a good side, third on the ladder so far, we were
second so it was going to be a competitive game. Then the Santa Ana Saints came
on, led by Captain Lucas—he stopped and gave each player a pep talk as they
moved past him. I loved watching the boys come out to play; The Russian was all
fired up, well as much as he could be given he didn’t do anything with any
great pace; Ed was doing short, sharp runs, back and forward and sideways; Tomás
was jittery but that was part of his job as goalkeeper; and my Nik looked calm
and superb. I saw his eyes sweep over the other side of the ground, assessing
the Harriers, then he had a few words to Lucas before jogging into central
midfielder position. The siren went and I drew a breath as the game started.

I put my radio earphone bud in one ear so I could hear
the radio live commentary which was set up in the next room, and kept my other
ear free to hear any comments around me. The game was tight; neither team gave
each other any ground and I had to keep tearing my eyes off Nik to make sure I
watched all the guys. I tweeted randomly as play unfolded.

We held our breath as the ball went dangerously close
to the goals but Tomás did one of his legendary dives and sent it packing. We
held our breaths again in the media box when Lucas found the net after the
second attempt following a mix up in our back line. Johan our coach would have
a word to say about that when they analyzed the game during the week.
Defend,
defend, defend and stick to your man!
I could hear him now.

Then my guy, yeah, I’m claiming him... Nik did an
excellent strike from the edge of the box and brought it home for the team’s
first goal. I listened to the broadcast guys as they raved about it—“Legendary!”,
“That’s what we’re talking about”, and “They’ve paid an awful lot for this
young man and I’d say it was well invested.”

Yep, damn fine investment, I’d say.