Knowing I was on bus duty, as if this day couldn’t get any worse, I grabbed my sunglasses and phone and headed for the lines. God, I hoped the buses and parents were running on time today. The last thing I needed was to get stuck waiting on some parent who couldn’t be bothered keeping track of time.
I was down to a handful of kids as I waited for the last bus to arrive when I saw a black Range Rover pull up with dark tinted windows. Before I’d had a chance to wonder about the driver, my name was called, and I headed in the opposite direction to see what had happened. Turns out Oliver had grabbed Charlie’s, bag and pushed him into the bushes. Now Charlie was crying, bleeding, and dobbing, while Oliver stood there protesting his innocence.
Just when I was about to have to deal with it, Oliver’s mother appeared, her overly botoxed face in a permanent scowl. “Oliver. Let’s go.”
“Mrs…”
“It’s Miss,” she snapped harshly.
“My apologies. Oliver, did you push Charlie over?” Oliver looked from me to his mother and back again before his eyes fell and he nodded. “Do you think that was very nice?”
“Look, Miss McCoy.” She made my name sound dirty. “If you’re going to stand here and waste our time with frankly stupid accusations, you can find someone else. I have more pressing things to do than listen to your dribble.”
Wow! Her bitchy claws had been sharpened today.
Opening my mouth to reply, I was cut off by a deep voice that came from behind me.
“I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s nothing more important than ensuring the safety of the children. I know you wouldn’t like it if Oliver came home with a torn shirt and a bloody nose.”
“Well… n-no. Of course not.”
“And if another kid was bullying Oliver, I’m sure Miss McCoy would have your full support in getting to the bottom of the issue. Wouldn’t she, Mrs…”
“It’s Miss…” This time it didn’t sound as aggressive. Maybe it was because the man reminding her of her priorities as a parent looked like sex on a stick. Something I’m positive she didn’t miss. I sure as fuck couldn’t. “Miss Rutherford.”
“My apologies, Miss Rutherford. I’m Luca Conti. A friend of Miss McCoy’s.”
I choked.
I choked on air.
Coughing violently, I felt a huge hand rub up and down my back.
“Are you okay, Elise?” he whispered, the warmth from his breath tickling my cheek.
“F-f-fine,” I spat out through desperate breaths.
“I didn’t know Miss McCoy had such good-looking friends.” She flirted shamelessly, while I tried not to vomit on my shoes.
The last bus pulled in and captured my attention. “Look, no one’s injured and there’s no harm here. Oliver, in future I expect better. Okay?”
“Yes, Miss McCoy,” Oliver answered unenthusiastically.
“Okay. Well, Oliver, Miss Rutherford, you have a good night. I have to go check this bus.” I scurried away quickly. I had so many questions and so many thoughts in my head but no time to sort through them. Fleeing for safety, I went over to the bus bay and made sure all the kids got on.
When the last kid, Karenya, climbed into her dad’s car, a hotted-up black sports car that took off with a squeal, I dropped down onto the metal seat and sighed heavily. How the hell it was only Tuesday I had no idea.
As someone stepped in front of me, blocking the sun from my face, a familiar voice asked, “Rough day?”
“You have no idea,” I admitted, opening my eyes and pushing my hair from my face.
“Wanna talk about it?” he offered, sitting down beside me.
I could feel the warmth of his leg through his jeans onto my bare skin. Well, it should’ve been my bare legs except for the thick green smudge of paint along my calf. Damn it! Why was it, any time I was anywhere near the sexy-as-sin soccer star, I looked like I’d just been dragged out of a drain by my hair?
“Not really. Thanks though,” I added, remembering my manners.
“Can I buy you a drink then?”
Huh! What was happening here? There was no freaking way Luca Conti, Australian soccer royalty, thank you Google, was sitting here in the bus bay asking me out. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. Shit like this didn’t happen. Especially to girls like me.
“Are you… are you asking me out for a drink?”
With a deep chuckle, he leaned back and stretched his arms over his head, exposing a sliver of skin where his shirt rode up. I thought I caught a glimpse of the beginnings of a six pack, one I’d like a much closer inspection of, preferably with my tongue.
“If you’re having to clarify, then obviously I’m not doing a very good job.”
Now I felt foolish. I should’ve just said no, then we wouldn’t be caught in this awkward silence, with neither of us knowing how to get out of it.
“Shit! Wait here a second.” He was up and sprinting away from me.
“Wait! What?”
“Just stay where you are for a second. Please,” he called out as he kept moving in the opposite direction, his long legs carrying him gracefully along the footpath.
My phone pinged in my pocket. I was almost afraid to look. The way things were going, it was going to be someone telling me my dog died. And I didn’t even have a dog. When it went again, I dug it out and sucked in a deep breath.
Jax: Don’t forget. 7 tonight
Jax: I’m picking you up. Wear something slutty
Well, that made me laugh. Rising to my feet, I looked down and noticed not only was there a streak of green across my calf, but my toes were splattered with yellow. Damn it! I was a disaster.
“Okay, let’s try this again,” Luca said, stepping in front of me, his huge, solid chest rising and falling with every breath.
He was close enough I could smell him. He smelt delicious. Like I wanted to lick him from head to toe and back again. I had no idea what exactly it was, but he had pure testosterone radiating off him, and with each whiff I was losing brain cells.
“Try what again?” I asked dumbly. Yep, it was a fact. Being this close to someone as potent as Luca made me an idiot. Jax was going to have a field day with this when he found out.
“This.” Luca whipped his hand out from behind his back, producing the most stunning bunch of flowers I’d ever seen. And talk about huge. I was a girl who firmly believed size did, in fact, matter, and if this was Luca throwing his hat in the ring, he was definitely rising to the top. “Elise McCoy, would you like to have a drink with me?” He blushed. I mean, he actually blushed. His cheeks turned pink, and I saw him rub his hand against his thigh. Luca was nervous. I was making him nervous. And that fact alone was a serious power trip.
“Luca.” Wow! If saying his name made me tingle, I wondered what his hands could do to my body. And God forbid if he ever kissed me. I’d probably combust. “I can’t tonight. I already have plans.” I was both happy and sad about the fact.
If this was for real, something I wasn’t entirely convinced about just yet, I needed a minute to pull my shit together. If it was a joke, then I wasn’t going to be made a fool of. Not publicly anyway. I was more than capable of embarrassing myself on my own, I didn’t need help.
“Oh. Okay.” Defeat flashed across his face briefly before he thrust the flowers he was crushing in his grip towards me. “Take these.”
“They’re beautiful, Luca. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Well, I better let you get on with your afternoon. Sorry to have been a bother,” he said softly as he buried his hands in his pockets and spun around before heading back to his car.
Watching him leave, I had no idea what I was doing. I couldn’t even remember the last time someone had asked me out on a date, and here I was turning down possibly the hottest guy I’d ever seen. Stupid didn’t begin to cover it.
“Luca! Wait up!”
Chapter Five – Luca
“So, she shot you down, hey?” my sister Sienna asked as I handed her a lemonade an
d sat down on the lounge beside her.
“Yeah,” I admitted. I still couldn’t believe my desperation had been so deep that I’d called Sienna asking for help.
Tuesday I’d talked my way out of training early, bought flowers, and showed up at the school to ask her out only to be rejected. Then she’d asked for my number, which frankly shocked the shit out of me. When she said she had plans, I figured that was the end of that, so as manly as I could, I tucked my tail between my legs and attempted to flee only to be chased down and asked for my number. While it wasn’t the first time someone had followed me to my car trying to get my number, but it was the first time I wanted to let them. And it confused the fuck out of me.
“Well, I like her already,” Sienna declared, her eyes never leaving Princess Phoebe who was floating around my pool on a giant unicorn.
Yes, that’s correct. I’m a single, straight, adult male with a giant unicorn floatie in my pool. And I was damn proud of it.
“You don’t even know her!” I countered. Sienna was my sister. My baby sister. And she wasn’t even on my side. She was a traitor, that’s what she was.
“Luca, I know this whole dating thing’s new to you, but you’re going to have to actually step out of your comfort zone and try.”
“I did! I bought flowers. I went to the school and asked her out, what more does she want?” I didn’t realise how bitter I was about the whole situation until I heard myself say it out loud.
It’d been ten days since I’d made a fool out of myself, and I was in no hurry to do it again anytime soon. Okay, maybe Elise wasn’t the one for me. But I’d taken the first step in putting myself out there. I might’ve been turned down, but I’d tried. Eventually I’d try again. I guess. Maybe.
“So what? You bought flowers. Have you thought about how she felt?”
“What do you mean?”
“You showed up at her work and basically ambushed her. Did you ask how her day was?”
“Yes. I’m not a complete Neanderthal.”
“And what did she say? What were her words, not what you thought you heard?”
Sienna was a bitch sometimes. I had half a mind to toss her over my shoulder then straight into the pool. I asked for her advice not her counselling.
“Well, I can’t remember exactly, but she wasn’t having a good day, I know that much.”
“Well there you go,” she said proudly as she stood up and dropped her wrap on the lounge before diving in without the hint of a splash.
“Wait! What? What do you mean, there you go? How’s that supposed to be helpful?” Frustrated, I stood up and tugged at my hair, needing the burn as the ends pulled my scalp.
“Think about it, dumbarse. She was having a shitty day. You show up unexpectedly and assume she can just drop everything that’s going on in her life and go out with you. She doesn’t even know you.”
I hated when Sienna was right. It was almost as annoying as admitting Isabella was right. That one was the queen of ‘I told ya so’.
“I’m a nice guy though. Aren’t I?” Now she had even me doubting it.
“Yeah, Luca, you’re a nice guy. But she doesn’t know you. Not really. And if she’s not into soccer, which I hate to break it to you, big brother, not all girls are, she may not even realise you’re a big deal.”
“Well, I am,” I huffed.
“You’re nice, Uncle Luca,” Phoebe confirmed with a wide smile that wrapped around my heart.
“Thanks, Princess. How’s that unicorn?” I asked, pushing all thoughts of others from my mind and concentrating on the most important and most beautiful girl in my world.
“I love it!”
“That’s great!”
“Thanks for letting me ride her.” I had no idea where Phoebe got her manners, certainly not from her mother who swore like a sailor most of the time. And her grandmother! She was the worst of all of us. She might pretend to be the sweet old lady who bakes the best cannoli around, but it was all a front for her filthy mouth.
“Anytime, Princess. She’s always here waiting for you.”
“See, Mummy?” she said, turning to face her mother who was shooting me the evil eye over her daughter’s head. “I told you Uncle Luca would let me swim whenever I want.”
“Well maybe next time Uncle Luca needs to find his board shorts and come in with you. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“That would be the best ever. Uncle Luca, will you swim with me?”
How the fuck was I supposed to say no to that? It was impossible. From her huge, pleading brown eyes staring up at me to the crooked smile and those pink spotty swimmers she wore, it was just not going to happen. Not with me anyway.
“Absolutely! Next time, count me in.”
Sienna laughed, and I waited until Phoebe spun around before flipping her the bird. For the next twenty minutes, I sat on the side of the pool, alternating between scrolling through my phone and watching them splash around. Sienna was an awesome mum, and I was so damn proud of hert. When Phoebe started complaining she was hungry, it was time to call it a day.
She climbed out of the pool before running over and launching herself into my arms, soaking my shirt. “Phoebe!” Sienna scolded as she climbed up the stairs and wrapped herself in a towel.
“Did you just wet me?” I asked Phoebe, ignoring Sienna.
Who cares if I was drenched? The sound of her giggling had me completely undone. She could’ve pushed me into the pool while wearing my best tuxedo, and I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid as long as she kept laughing like that.
“Sorry?” she said, making it sound more like a question than an actual apology.
“Are you really?” I teased with a tickle to her ribs, earning me another ear-piercing squeal.
She looked at her mum who only gave her one of those, ‘I’m not saving you’ looks. Standing up, I cradled Phoebe in my arms as I toed off my shoes. Sienna snorted. She knew what was coming, but Phoebe was completely clueless.
Phoebe bit her bottom lip and shook her head, her matted hair going everywhere. “I didn’t think so,” I confirmed before I jumped fully clothed into the pool, Phoebe still in my arms.
We went under the water for a second before I planted my feet firmly on the bottom. Shocked by the whole thing, Phoebe clung to me so tightly she almost strangled me. Sienna was wetting herself laughing at the look of disbelief on Phoebe’s face. Damn, I wish I could’ve captured that look. It was priceless.
“Uncle Luca!” she whined, her grip tightening.
I should’ve felt guilty.
I didn’t, but I should’ve.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re in the pool in your clothes.”
“Oh yeah, I am. Aren’t I silly?” I asked, and Phoebe nodded her head a little too enthusiastically that her head banged with mine, immediately bringing tears to her eyes. Tears were my weakness. I didn’t do tears. Especially not from my favourite little princess.
Heading towards the stairs, I pushed the hair from her face and softly rubbed the spot she’d hit. “Hey, Mum? Have you got a towel there for Princess Phoebe?”
“Yep. A pink unicorn one. Or is that yours, Uncle Luca?” Sienna teased, drawing Phoebe’s attention from the bump on her head to fighting me for her favourite towel. The towel I’d gotten in trouble for touching in case it got boy germs. Yeah thanks for that, Sienna.
“I think that one’s mine,” I answered, keeping the gag going.
“No!” Phoebe wriggled in my arms until she was facing me with a stern look on her face. “It’s mine, Uncle Luca. You can’t have it!” With that there was no doubt she was Sienna’s daughter. Little Miss Sassy Pants was alive and well.
“Aren’t you going to share?” I shouldn’t bait her, but I just couldn’t help it.
“No!”
“Oh, okay then.” I pretended to be sad as I deposited her on the ground next to the pool and watched as she scurried towards where Sienna was waiting with the towel.
An hour later, Phoe
be was fed, changed into her pyjamas, and I was buckling her into her car seat before heading to the stadium. Tonight was another game, and I was hoping to hell not another loss. There was only so much a guy could take, and right now my patience had pretty much run out.
When Phoebe was buckled in, sitting there having a conversation with the ugliest doll I’d ever seen, but one she loved anyway, Sienna turned back to me. “So, you figured it out yet?”
“Figured what out?”
My head was full of plays and scenarios for tonight’s game. Most of which ended with our team bathed in glory for a change, so I had no idea what Sienna was talking about, but I was willing to bet my house it wasn’t about how to set up for a left-hand corner.
“Elise! Geez, Luca, focus. No wonder you’re still single!”
“You can be a real bitch sometimes, you know that, right?”
“Yeah, Hunter doesn’t let me forget that one. Now, you’ve got a game to get to, and I have a child to get tucked into bed. But it sounds to me like this girl, the one who’s got your head all twisted up and is probably responsible for the carpal tunnel you’re giving yourself, could be the one big brother.”
“What?”
When she made the jerking-off motion, I laughed so hard I ended up folded over in two. I was standing in the middle of my driveway in the late afternoon with my sister pretending to be jacking off. How was this my life?
“Try again. And this time, think before you show up. She’s a teacher. Which means at three o’clock every day she’s going to be ready for five minutes peace and quiet, and if she’s anything like me, a very, very large glass of wine.”
“She’s nothing like you,” I muttered, wishing this conversation would end so Sienna would shut up, get in her car and leave.
“Well, that’s your loss. I’m awesome.” With a final flick of her ponytail, she jumped in the car and started the engine. When she wound down the window and poked her head out, I steeled myself. I knew her well enough to know she wasn’t going anywhere without one final dig. “Play hard tonight, big brother.”
Overtime (Playing The Field Book 1) Page 3
