Too Much of a Good Thing?

Mak sat down and looked around, eventually pointing to the plastic bag he’d dropped by the door. Will stood up and went to retrieve it, understanding that Mak needed a minute to compose himself—that he’d been seriously worried and expressed it by acting like a jerk. He couldn’t blame the guy. It was what guys did when they were unhappy. Any man would be jumping the walls if his woman vanished on him and he couldn’t get hold of her.

There was another reason not to have a partner or a girlfriend...you couldn’t get agitated and upset if there was no one to get agitated and upset about. And he still wasn’t impressed that Mak hadn’t taken better care of her at the club—kept his eye on Lu instead of leaving her alone at the bar.

Will sat in the chair opposite Mak and poured himself a cup of coffee. They waited in an uneasy silence as Lu dressed in the next room.

Mak lifted his head and his dark eyes looked miserable when they connected with Will’s. ‘Thanks, by the way. If anything had happened to her...’

Uncomfortable with the level of emotion he heard in the other man’s voice, Will shifted in his seat. ‘Sure...I’m glad I was there.’

‘Me too.’ Mak scrubbed his face with his hands. ‘Lu is...she’s—’

His words were cut off by Lu’s return. Will’s T-shirt had been replaced by a snug, cropped T-shirt of pale pink, revealing an inch of her belly above the band of low-cut white shorts. Long legs ended in a pair of battered flip-flops. She crossed them as she sat down on the couch next to him.

Will handed her a cup of coffee. ‘Black. Add what you want to it.’ He gestured to the milk and sugar on the tray. Lu, he noticed, took hers black and sweet.

‘I hope we’re not keeping you from anything?’ Lu said after sipping and sighing.

‘I have some press interviews scheduled for later, but I’m not in any rush.’ Will placed his cup on the tray and leaned forward. ‘What do you want to do about the other night? Do you want to press charges?’ He watched Lu think.

‘I don’t know. I feel fine now. A bit of a headache, but that’s it.’ She dropped her elbows to her knees and rested her face in her hands. ‘I’d go to the police but I don’t remember a damn thing.’

Will’s voice hardened. ‘I do. I can give the police an idea of who we’re looking for.’

‘Except that we can’t prove the man you saw me with spiked my drink. He could say that he was helping me,’ Lu pointed out.

Will felt his back teeth grind together as the truth of her words registered. ‘True, but I still think you should report it.’

Lu placed her thumbnail between her front teeth. ‘You’re right. It’s irresponsible not to.’

‘I’ll take you, Lu,’ said Mak as he placed his empty cup on the coffee table.

He looked calmer, Will thought, less wild-eyed.

Lu angled her head so that she could look at the face of Mak’s watch. ‘Today is Monday, right?’

Mak nodded.

‘You can’t take me anywhere. You have thirty minutes to get to that preliminary interview at the school. That’s all the way across town. ‘

It took a moment for her words to register, but when they did Mak shot out of his chair and looked panicked. ‘I don’t want Deon going to that school.’

‘It’s a back-up plan, Makhosi. We discussed this. It’s just in case he doesn’t get into St Clare’s.’

‘You’re right—I know you are right. But I don’t have time to take you home, get him, and get across town in time for the interview. Is there any chance you can hang on here until I can get back?’ Mak asked.

‘Lu and I will go to the police and then I can run her home,’ Will suggested.

Mak threw him a relieved smile. ‘Thanks, Will. I appreciate it.’

Will stood up to shake Mak’s hand. He clenched his jaw as he watched Mak and Lu exchange another tender embrace and then Mak was flying out of the door.

Lu shut the door behind him and shook her head. ‘Mak only operates at warp speed.’ She flicked her thumbnail against her teeth as she walked back towards him. ‘You’ve already done so much. I couldn’t impose on you any more. I’ll be fine on my own. I’ll go to the police and then I’ll find my way home.’

Will resisted the impulse to grab her hand and to tell her to relax, to calm down. ‘We’ll go together,’ he insisted and saw her shoulders drop from around her ears. She’d be fine on her own, his ass. But why did he care?

The girl had had her drink spiked, he reminded himself. If he hadn’t interfered she could’ve been raped, subjected to abuse... Will ground his teeth as his blood pressure spiked. Damn straight he’d go to the police with her.

‘Maybe I should just write it off as a bad experience and avoid clubs—no matter what my brothers want me to do,’ Lu said, picking up her cup again.

‘What do your brothers have to do with you clubbing?’ Will asked, intrigued.

‘Ah...they think I need to get out more,’ Lu explained.

He felt disappointed when she waved her words away.

‘It’s a long story which you’d probably find boring.’

Strangely, he thought he wouldn’t. Sure, she wasn’t glamorous or glossy, like the women he normally came into contact with, but he had a feeling that Lu was far more interesting than most of the women he met. There was something settled about her...calm, down to earth...wise.

He admired her coolness under pressure. Her assumption that they’d slept together had been funny because she’d had a good excuse to lose it earlier. Instead she’d reined in her emotions and thought the situation through, keeping calm and in control, her emotions in check. He’d been dreading having to deal with a weepy, scared creature and her undramatic reaction had been a very welcome relief.

Impressive. He valued keeping his control and he admired her ability to do the same.

And those eyes, God...a mermaid’s eyes, reflecting the greens and blues and aquas of a tropical sea.

Will rested his head against the back of the wingback chair and thought that his brief visit to Durban had started off on a very interesting note.

THREE

Will turned into the driveway Lu indicated and parked in front of the huge iron gate as she scrabbled in her bag for her keys. He looked through the bars of the gate to the huge, sprawling house with its deep, wraparound veranda and nodded his approval. With a haphazard garden and pitched roof, it looked as a house should—homely and lived in. Big.

Will looked through the gap between the house and the garage and caught a glimpse of the sea. ‘This is home?’

‘Yep,’ Lu said. ‘Thanks for the lift and for coming to the police station with me. You were a lot calmer than Mak would’ve been.’

‘He probably would’ve shouted at you the whole time,’ Will stated calmly.

‘He did go a bit berserk, didn’t he? Sorry about that.’

Will’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel. ‘He’s crazy about you. How long have you been together?’

Lu sent him a puzzled look. ‘We’re not. Why would you think that?’

Oh, maybe the fact that he kissed you on your mouth, whirled you around and wouldn’t stop touching you! Freaking big clues!

‘My mistake,’ Will said aloud, but he wasn’t convinced. And that wasn’t jealousy he felt. It couldn’t be. He didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t jealousy.

‘He used to live next door to us and we remained friends when he moved. Mak is just...intense. Protective of me. He adores me, but we’re only friends,’ Lu explained as the gate slid open.

Yeah, and rugby isn’t a contact sport, Will thought as he drove up the circular driveway to her front door. She might think they were only friends, but he was a man and he knew how men acted and thought. How could Mak not want to sleep with her? She was gorgeous! A natural beauty with those incredible eyes...

‘I saw the look on your face...you think that Mak was irresponsible because he lost track of me.’

He couldn’t deny it.

Lu sighed. ‘He isn’t—not really. He just has a lot on his plate, and when he gets time to step away, to socialise, he goes at it full tilt. And I’m not the type of girl that needs to be looked after...Mak knew that I wanted to go home and I knew that he wanted to stay. I’ve left him behind at many functions, so he wouldn’t have thought it unusual. I have taxi companies on speed dial.’

Will just lifted his eyebrows and looked unconvinced.

His mobile rang. He pressed a button on the steering wheel to activate the hands free and greeted his caller. Lu felt that she should give him some privacy to take his call and tried to get out of the car, but his hand on her arm kept her firmly in place.

Through the car speakers somebody whose name she didn’t catch was talking about that afternoon’s press conference and Lu listened as Will was briefed on the questions he could expect.

‘And obviously there will be the usual questions about your ex-wife.’

‘Yeah, OK, I’m so happy to answer those!’ Will barked, obviously frustrated.

She didn’t need a degree in sarcasm to realise that he really didn’t want to answer any questions on his old life, ex-wife and their marriage.

‘Jo’s blonde, gorgeous and successful. You’re handsome, talented and successful. She’s still single. So are you. You were once married and everyone still wants to know what happened to your marriage,’ the voice replied calmly. ‘The press know there’s a story there and they want it.’

‘They can all get...’ Will shot Lu a look and swallowed the word he wanted to use. ‘Stuffed. As per normal, Jo and anything to do with her is off the table, not open for discussion. It was all so long ago you’d think they’d get over it.’

With Will’s hand still holding her arm, Lu stayed where she was and thought that they couldn’t be more different if they tried. Like Mak, like her parents, even her brothers, Will was a breed apart. One of those successful, innately confident, very-sure-of-their-niche-in-the-world people.

She wanted to be like that.

She didn’t have a niche. Her place—her space—had been ripped away when her parents died, and two weeks ago when her brothers had left it had shifted again.

After a decade of the twins being the centre of her world she was alone, and she had to live in this empty house without the daily responsibility of being their guardian. No more suppers to cook, errands to run, parties to keep an eye on. For the first time in her life she wasn’t defined by her relationship to her popular parents and her orphaned twin brothers.

Isolation and loneliness kept creeping closer, and she frequently felt ill-equipped to cope with a life that didn’t have the twins in it. If she wasn’t careful she could slide over the edge into self-pity, and from there it was a slippery slope to depression. She couldn’t—refused—to let that happen.

She had to do something about her life, and quickly. After everything that life had thrown at her so far she refused to buckle under because she was alone and feeling at sea. That was why she’d agreed to go clubbing with Mak. She’d realised that she had to get out of the house, out of her own head. The boys were right. She had to start living her life.

Of course getting her drink spiked was an embarrassing start.

It had been a tough decade, she admitted as Will lifted his hand from her arm and carried on with his conversation. She had just started exploring her options for a career when she’d been catapulted without warning into caring for the twins. With the inheritance covering her basic costs she’d run around her brothers, caught up in making their world as secure as she possibility could, determined that they wouldn’t feel as lost, as alone and as scared as she did. She’d kept herself and them active and busy in order to keep the grief at bay, and while she’d tried to keep up with her photography she hadn’t been able to give it the dedication it required for her to succeed. Somewhere along the way she’d stopped thinking about herself, her place in the world and what excited her.

Who was she? Lu was terrified to realise that she hadn’t the slightest clue. It was OK, she told herself. She had time to figure it all out. She just needed a plan.

‘Sorry about that.’ Will’s voice pulled her back to the present. ‘Lu? Are you OK?’

Lu blinked and focused on his face. Will, so very up close and personal, was even more mouth-wateringly, panty-crumpling, breath-hitchingly gorgeous than any photo anywhere. He wasn’t perfect—that would be far too intimidating—and she liked his flaws as much as she liked the rest of the package. Creases at the corner of those warm eyes, and his deep brown hair was, sadly, six inches too short. He had stubby eyelashes and untamed brows and a slash of a nose.

‘Do you want me to come in with you? Are you going to be OK?’ Will asked.

‘I’ve taken far too much of your time already,’ Lu replied, glad to hear that her voice was reasonably steady. ‘Thank you for all your help. As I said, I am in your debt.’

Will’s eyes tracked over her face. ‘If you start remembering anything and you have questions you’re welcome to give me a call at the rugby union. They’ll make sure that I get the message and I’ll get back to you.’

It was a nice offer, Lu thought, noticing that he didn’t give her his mobile number. She wasn’t that out of practice that she didn’t recognise the gentle brush-off. He wouldn’t call again and she could live with that.

After all, she had her own life to get back on track. She didn’t need the distraction of a super-sexy rugby player.

But, damn, how she wished they had had sex. Just one little time and preferably of the blow-your-head-off variety. Just to...you know...clean those cobwebs out...

* * *

Two days later Lu sat on the floor between her leather couch and her coffee table, her laptop in front of her. She was updating her website in an effort to attract more photography work and thought she’d made pretty good progress. The site was hipper and brighter than before, and she liked the photos she’d put on the front page. There was the Johnsons’ newborn baby, stark naked with a bright blue bow tied around his tummy and a tag that read ‘Special Delivery’. Below that was her favourite photograph of a bridal couple, caught in a loving look so profound it made her throat catch every time she looked at it.

She was good at it, she mused. Capable of capturing the essence of the moment. And now that she had the time to devote to it she realised how much she missed being behind a camera. She’d tried to establish herself as a photographer a couple of times over the past decade, but every opportunity had fizzled out. She’d been offered an apprenticeship under one of the better photographers in the city about a year after her parents had died, but when she’d realised that after-hours work and out-of-town shoots were a standard condition of her employment she’d resigned because she had to be at home for the twins.

She’d done small weddings, worked part-time in a photographic studio before it had closed down six months ago, and done some freelance graphic work, but she hadn’t, because of her family situation, been able to land her big break. Her fellow students from photography school were flying and she was ten years behind.

It wouldn’t take much to kick-start her business. She had a studio already outfitted in the cottage next to the main house: lights, props and backgrounds. She just needed the clients to get back on track; she had to make up for all this lost time.

Her mobile buzzed on the floor next to her and she frowned at the unfamiliar number. Debating whether to answer it, she took a sip of wine and wondered whether she felt like speaking to anyone. You’re becoming a hermit, she chided herself as she pushed the green button. Six steps away from becoming that self-conversing, crazy cat lady the twins mentioned.

‘Lu? It’s Will Scott.’

Lu’s eyebrows shot up as her mouth dried up. Of all the people she’d expected to be on the other end of the call Will was last on her list.

‘Um...hi...’

‘I called to see how you were doing? Whether you had any lasting effects from the drug?’

‘No, I’m fine.’

‘Nightmares?’ Will demanded.

‘One or two,’ Lu admitted. ‘Normally when I let myself think about what could’ve happened. Uh...how did you get my number?’

Lu swore that she heard his lips pull up into that super-sexy grin. ‘I swiped one of your business cards from your wallet. I see that you freelance...how’s the photography business?’

‘Slow, actually. I was just updating my site and racking my brain about how to get more clients. How’s the rugby coaching business?’

Will’s sigh was a combination of frustration and weariness. ‘Honestly? Right now it’s a pain in my ass. I have some squad members who have the maturity of a two-year-old.’

Lu leaned back against the couch and took a sip from her glass of wine, happy to hear his voice sliding over her. Her mouth curved. ‘They’ll get used to you.’

‘They don’t have a choice,’ Will stated, his tone resolute. ‘It’s either my way or the highway.’

‘So you’re a dictator?’ Lu teased, and then bit her lip. Lord, what was she saying? She didn’t know him nearly well enough to tease him!

‘Only in my job. I know what I want and exactly how I intend to get it.’

So sure, so confident. She wished she could rub herself against him and have some of that innate self-assuredness rub off on her. Oh, hell, forget anything else, she just wanted to rub up against him, full-stop. He set her nerve-endings on fire... This is why you shouldn’t go so long between dates, Sheppard! When your hormones are invited to a party they head straight for the tequilas and start doing the Macarena.

‘Well, I’ll be rooting for you,’ Lu said, after a longer than normal silence.

‘Thanks,’ Will replied. ‘It’s nearly seven. I’ve been here since six this morning. Any ideas for where I can eat? I can’t face Room Service or takeout.’

‘Are you going to live in that hotel for three months?’ Lu asked.

‘Hell, no. I need to find a flat I can rent, but I haven’t had any time. I’m planning to look around on the weekend.’

‘So...restaurants. What do you feel like eating?’

‘Mac and cheese,’ Will responded promptly.

‘Mac and cheese, huh?’ Lu looked towards the kitchen that sat at the other end of her open-plan lounge. Did she dare? What if he said no? She was mad. Of course he’d say no. But there was a chance—a numpty billion-to-one chance—that he might say yes.

And, because her mother had raised her right, she should do something to say thank you. Yeah, keep telling yourself that’s the reason you are about to invite him over. You might convince yourself in a millennia...or two.

Pull on your brave girl panties, Sheppard.

‘If you’re interested, I can do one better than mac and cheese. I have a lasagne that I made and froze. I can whip up a salad to go with it if you...well, don’t feel obligated...but I feel like dinner is the least I can do for you since you... Um...you’d probably prefer to eat out,’ Lu stammered.

‘Lu?’

‘Mmm? Yes?’ He was going to blow her off. She just knew it.

‘Homemade lasagne sounds really great.’

‘Ah...OK. Good.’ Lu closed her eyes. Eek! Now she would actually have to defrost the lasagne and make a salad. And have a shower and do something with her hair...

‘I could be there in half an hour? That work for you?’

‘Sure.’ She’d prefer an hour to primp, but that wasn’t going to happen. Well, as per usual, make-up would be sacrificed.

‘Do you remember how to get here?’ she asked, almost reluctant to let him disconnect even though she’d see him soon.

‘I have a pretty good sense of direction, but keep your phone close in case I go off course,’ Will told her. ‘What is Lu short for, by the way?’

‘Um...don’t laugh.’ Lu blushed. ‘Tallulah.’

‘Tallulah?’

His tongue caressed her name and Lu shivered.

‘Lu suits you better. See you soon.’

* * *

As Will pushed the button on the intercom outside Lu’s closed gate he thought that the heat and humidity of Durban were obviously frying his brain. What did he think he was going to achieve from this visit apart from, obviously, some homemade pasta? Lu had crossed his mind more than once over the last few days but he’d be lying if he said it was only because he was worried about her, worried that the date-rape drug might have had a side effect that neither of them, nor the hospital doctors, knew about. He’d been thinking about her and, unusually, not just as someone he wanted to get into bed.

‘Why don’t you try being friends with a woman instead?’

Kelby’s words from last week kept popping in and out of his head, quickly followed by a flash of Lu’s freckled face, her sea-coloured eyes. For the first time in for ever he could see himself being friends with a woman—being friends with Lu. Sure, he was attracted to her. But from the little he’d seen of her he really liked her as well. She seemed unconcerned about who he was and what he did.

She was, he decided, refreshing.

He was in a new country, trying out a new type of job. Maybe he should try something different when it came to the opposite sex too.

Will felt himself relaxing as her gate rolled open and he steered the SUV up the long driveway. A change is as good as a holiday, he thought, pulling to a stop.

Then why did his heart thump when he saw her standing by the open front door, dressed in a similar outfit to the one she’d changed into in his hotel room—a pair of white cotton shorts and a teal tank top with thin straps that showed off an inch of her flat belly? He lifted his hand as he left the car and patted two dogs of indeterminate breed, sliding a hot glance at those long, tanned legs and bare feet tipped with fire red toenails.

Friends. New approach. Don’t let your libido distract you. It had, as he well remembered, led him into far too much trouble before.

‘Hi.’ Lu lifted her glass. ‘I started without you. Want one?’

‘Hi, back.’ Will waved the bottle he held in his hand as he walked up the two stone steps to the door. He brushed past a pot plant and his nose was filled with the scent of sweet lemons. The bigger of the dogs nudged his hand and Lu grinned. ‘Harry, stop it!’

‘Harry?’

‘Potter’s behind you. The cat’s are Dumbel and Dore.’

Nice place, Will thought as he stepped into a huge hall and Lu closed the door behind him. She took the bottle he held out. He searched her face, happy to see some colour in her cheeks, less blue under her eyes. Lu dropped her eyes from his and Will looked around. A coat rack stood next to the door and a large antique credenza squatted next to the wall, photographs in silver frames crowding its surface. A massive vase of haphazard flowers stood on a narrow high table, and the wall in front of him was dominated by two oversized canvas photographs of two young boys, their faces a chocolate smear.

‘My brothers,’ Lu explained as he stepped up to look at the photographs. ‘Come through this way. I thought we’d eat on the veranda.’

Will followed Lu through a huge kitchen and his mouth started to water at the smell of garlicky, herby, meaty pasta. The kitchen flowed into a large, messy lounge with battered leather couches, a laptop on a big coffee table and a large screen television. Oversized glass and wooden doors led onto a wraparound veranda, which had its own set of couches, a casual dining table and an incredible view over the city to the Indian Ocean.

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