Turn Over:A Secret Baby Sports Romance(14)

     



 

"But could you talk to her? She'll be back any minute."

Luke nodded. "Sure, but I'm not making any promises. Mom's make the rules sometimes."

I smiled. "How about we play a song until she gets here? Any requests?"

Daniel looked at the ceiling, sorting through his choices. "Can you play ‘Heaven Sent'?"

"Of course I can. Let's see if Luke knows the words." I eyed my new duet  partner as I settled on the edge of the bed and propped my guitar on my  knee. "Ready?"

"Ready."

After three songs we said goodbye to Daniel and his mom Stacey. She followed us to the door.

"Thank you." She squeezed my hand.

"You're welcome. I hope it cheered him up."

She leaned closer to us. "He's on the transplant list. We're praying for a miracle."

I closed my eyes. I had no idea Daniel's condition was so desperate. "I'll pray for you too."

Her gaze drifted to Luke. He shifted on his heels. I could tell he was  uncomfortable. He shoved his hands in his front pockets. "Ditto," he  mumbled.

"Thank you, both. Thank you so much."

"Is there something else I can do? Anything else?" I didn't want to walk  out of this room with a little boy fighting for his life and powerless  to help.

Stacey gave me a grim smile. "This will be something he'll never forget. Never."

I pulled her into a hug. Music could heal people. It brought them  together, and today it had brought Daniel and Stacy into my life, but  there wasn't enough music in the world to promise him he'd get his  transplant in time.

"Take care," I whispered in her ear.

I turned reluctantly, knowing there was another child in another room waiting to hear me sing.

I felt Luke's hand on my shoulder. "You okay?"

"I wish there was something else we could do. It doesn't seem like enough."

"For the kid?"

We stopped in between rooms. A nurse walked past us. She kept stealing  glances at Luke. I studied the funky artwork on the wall. Even with  sadness around us, there was hope and light in the halls.

"Yes. I want to do something."

"You made him smile. That's something. What the mom said is right. He won't forget today."

"I think you had something to do with that too." I grinned.

Luke looked away. "We have some more to see?"

I nodded. "The entire hallway. But you don't have to. It's okay if you need to leave. I understand."

He shook his head. "No way. I'm just starting to learn these songs. And  at least now I know if I get injured I have an alternate career."

"And what's that?"

"Lexi Wilde's backup singer."

I burst out laughing. "Okay, let's pray you never get hurt."

I tapped on the next door and we started our show all over again.



Luke walked me to the parking garage after we had visited every child on  the floor. I promised Jake I'd meet him at the airport. There wasn't  much he could say in front of Luke, and he begrudgingly let me walk  away. I wasn't sure where we were headed. Drinks at his place again  sounded perfect.

I hoped drinks was code for more mind-blowing sex.

"I can't believe you got me to sing." Luke puffed out his chest as if it restored some of his masculinity.

I laughed. "I think your voice is adorable."

"Adorable?" he huffed. "There is nothing adorable about me."

"Why? Because you're a strong, domineering quarterback?" I challenged.

I didn't know why I was provoking him, only that the hours we spent  upstairs not touching, drove me insane. I wanted him more than I wanted  him last night. I sang, knowing his eyes were on me, burning into my  skin, and reminding me of everything we did together.

He pulled me against his chest, pinning my arms behind me, roughly. "Call me adorable again," he dared me.

I studied the strong jaw, the cut of his cheekbones and those green eyes  that haunted me all day. "Adorable," I whispered. "You're adorable,  Luke Canton."         

     



 

His lips crashed on mine, and his mouth moved wildly, sucking, biting,  twining his tongue deep in my mouth. He let go of my hands as I reached  up to wrap them around his neck. His hands snaked under my shirt,  clawing at my back.

"Oh, God," I moaned. I was going under again, being pulled by my animal need for him.

He bit my lip. "Can we go back to your place?" He nipped at my throat, grabbing a handful of hair at the nape of my neck.

"I checked out this morning." I breathed. I looked around for a place to  hide. A place to be with him. But we were in the bottom of a parking  garage. There was nothing down here but concrete and cars.

"My place." He kissed me harder, reminding me how tender my lips still were from last night. It was a beautiful kind of torture.

I nodded. "I have some time before we fly out." I couldn't let go,  though. My lips were seared to his in a heated kiss. I swear there was  fire in his lips. They were glazed in cinnamon.

Somehow my one-night stand, my one night to fly my hellcat sex flag, had  slowly started turning into something else. Luke had compassion under  that tough exterior. Under the tattoos and the chiseled muscle he wasn't  selfish. And as much as the bad boy image had drawn me to him, I knew  the new things I was learning about him were the reason I wanted to stay  longer. There was more to him than the dangerous fire he lit inside me.

I clung to him, wanting all of it. The kisses. The fucking insane sex. I  wanted my body gliding over his. We had to get back to the ranch before  we both burst into flames.

"Luke, I want you," I whispered.

"Me too. Last night all over again," he growled, his hands dragging  through my hair. "I want to fuck you here, Alexa. Right here."

I moaned, feeling him press his erection against my hip bone. He was  hard as steel. Steel that knew no limits. I wobbled on my knees thinking  of how he could use that steel to make my toes curl. To make my limbs  tremble. To make me claw out for more.

"Take me home, now," I urged.

And then we both heard it and saw it. The flashes. The clicks. We had  been so lost in our own world we hadn't heard the footsteps or the  whispers.

We froze. I stared into Luke's eyes. Whether we wanted it out or not,  the world was getting ready to find out I kissed Luke Canton in the  basement of the newly christened children's hospital.

"I've got this," he whispered.

He threaded his fingers through my hand and pulled me behind him.

"Come on, I'm parked over here." He took off, tugging me after him. I ran, trying to keep up with his long stride.

But we could hear them. The press was behind us. I thought they had left  through the front entrance of the hospital after I posed with the  nurses and doctors. It was the final picture. Jake had checked to make  sure they had cleared out before he let me venture near the parking  garage, but somehow they had outsmarted my devilish manager.

"Lexi!"

"Luke!"

"Are you two dating?"

"How long has this been going on?"

"Lexi, do your fans know?"

"How are they going to feel about this?"

I felt his hand clamp down harder on mine as we got to his truck. He  unlocked it with his remote, shuttled me into the passenger side, and we  peeled out of the parking garage. I didn't know what to say, and  looking at Luke I realized what he meant last night when he said he  didn't talk.

We both stared at the road, neither one of us able to come up with the  first words. I didn't know what I felt. The shock had wrapped around my  body. Luke still held my hand tightly, while he drove with the other on  the wheel. That felt like something. He was some kind of anchor. But was  it the kind that was going to make me sink?

My phone started to light up with texts and phone calls from Jake, but I  hit ignore. I'd never cut him out like this before. I could imagine the  things he was thinking. The things he would say if I answered.

I needed time. And right now I needed Luke.





11





Luke





Fuck.

Alexa was terrified. I didn't have to know her long to see every glimmer  of fear reflected in her eyes. I stared ahead at the road. The only  thing that broke the silence was the sound of the cold air whirring  through the vents as I drove us farther outside of Austin.         

     



 

It had been a fucking ambush. Cameras. Questions. We were swarmed and I  felt like a damn caged lion trapped while the shots were fired.

Every time Alexa's phone beeped she tapped the side to silence it. I  could tell the calls made her anxious. I caught her scrolling through  some sort of newsfeed, but I couldn't read it while I drove.

I clicked the button on the truck to open the double gates when we  reached the ranch. I heard Alexa sigh, but maybe it was a whimper. I  shook my head.

"No one followed us," I announced. I had watched the rearview mirror.  The press had been on foot. No one bothered to tail us once I peeled out  of the hospital's garage.