‘Thanks for the update,’ Lu muttered. ‘So, nothing happened?’
‘No, nothing happened...sex-wise.’
Damn, was that disappointment she felt? OK, even if she couldn’t remember it, re-losing her virginity—and after so long she was pretty sure that she could be reclassified—to such a wonderful-looking man could only have been a fabulous thing.
A headache she hadn’t been aware of started pulsing behind her eyes as confusion swirled around her head. ‘So, if I didn’t sleep with you then why am I half undressed and in your bed? Bra less? Did I say I would and then pass out? Should I start feeling scared?’ But she didn’t. Not yet. Weird, yes. Confused, definitely. Scared? Not so much.
‘I promise that you are safe.’ He must have sensed her confusion.
Lu looked into his sincere eyes and nodded. She wasn’t sure why but her gut was saying that she could trust him—that despite his size he wouldn’t lay a finger on her.
He sat down in the chair to one side of the bed and rested his forearms on his knees. After a short silence he spoke again. ‘I’m Will Scott, by the way.’
Will Scott! She’d thought he looked familiar. What on earth was she doing in the hotel room of the new—crackling hot—coach of Durban’s super-starry rugby team?
‘Ah...’
‘Do you want coffee? I need coffee. Actually, I need a drink. But coffee will have to do.’ Will stood up and walked over to the phone next to the bed, placed the order with Room Service.
Lu pulled up the neck of the T-shirt that had fallen halfway down her shoulder. His shirt, obviously. Which meant...what? Had he undressed her? And if they hadn’t slept together why was she out of her clothes?
‘Where are my clothes?’ she asked, unable to forget that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
‘Bathroom. Disgusting,’ Will replied. ‘You vomited all over yourself.’
Lu winced. OK, gross. Gross to the factor of four hundred. This story just kept getting better...not!
‘Why did I vomit? I never drink enough to vomit. I don’t understand.’
Lu dropped her legs and swung them off the side of the bed. For a moment she thought she saw Will’s eyes on them, but when she looked at him again he was staring at the beige carpet beneath his bare feet.
‘What happened to me?’ Lu questioned as she stood up and his shirt fell to just above her knees. Of course it still revealed most of her shoulder, but better that than her naked breasts...though she suspected he’d already seen those since he’d undressed her.
‘I saw you in the club and you looked sober. The next time I saw you—Lu—you looked spaced...high. You were also in the arms of a man I hadn’t seen you with and he agreed that your name was Flora.’
‘Flora? Who is Flora?’ Lu demanded. ‘And if we’ve never met before how do you know my name?’
‘Oh, you have some business cards in your wallet. After I got you settled I went through it to try and find someone I could contact for you.’
That made sense. She did have business cards in her wallet that she occasionally handed out to promote her photography.
‘So, you saw me with this guy...?’ Lu prompted.
‘I pulled the name Flora out of the air and he went along with it. That was a pretty big clue that something wasn’t right. So I grabbed hold of you and tried to figure out a way to attract a bouncer’s attention. Then you puked all over him. And yourself. And my shoes,’ Will added ruefully.
Lu closed her eyes. ‘Oh...hell. Seriously?’
Will nodded. ‘Thank God you did. Puking probably saved your life. You got all the rest of that undigested date-rape drug out of your system.’
Lu blinked and held up her hand. ‘Whoa! Date-rape drug? What date rape drug? What?’
‘It’s the only reason why a stone-cold sober person would be reduced to a high, spaced-out, unresponsive robot in fifteen minutes,’ Will explained.
Lu felt the pounding in her head increase, followed by an unpleasant whirling sensation. Date-rape drug? Lu staggered to the edge of the bed, dropped down and felt nausea building in her throat. She could have been held hostage, raped repeatedly, subjected to indescribably disgusting acts...
In her head she was screaming, panic was bubbling, and she bit down hard on her bottom lip to keep from whimpering. She would not cry. She would not lose control, she thought as stark images conjured up by her imagination—hard and cruel—slapped her again and again.
She couldn’t get any air...she needed air.
Will crouched in front of her, his arm resting on his knee. ‘That’s quite an impressive show of control. Most girls would be hysterical by now. Right—now, breathe. The important point is to remember that nothing happened. I took you away after you threw up. So just breathe, slow and deep.’ It was the voice from her dreams, calm, steady. In control. The images disappeared.
‘But...’
‘Nothing happened, Lu.’
Will hooked her chin and made her look into his calm face. She could see hot rage bubbling in his eyes...for her? She grabbed his wrist and held onto to him, needing his steadiness, needing the contact, needing to lean, just for a minute, on his strength.
She sucked in more air. ‘OK, nothing happened. You’re sure?’
‘Very sure. A thousand percent sure. You were in my sight the entire time, apart from the fifteen minutes just after your drink was spiked. You’ve only been alone with me the entire time. Believe me?’
She did.
‘Your mobile is dead, so I couldn’t contact anyone, but I took you to the closest hospital, they pumped your stomach and you stayed there the night.’
‘What? I stayed the night in hospital?’
Will nodded, his face grim.
‘So today isn’t today, it’s tomorrow?’ Lu cried. ‘I lost an entire day?’
Will grimaced. ‘Yeah. You came round for a while this afternoon and the doctors thought that you were well enough to be discharged, provided someone kept an eye on you.’
‘I don’t remember anything!’
‘Apparently that’s normal.’
‘That’s your opinion. Nothing is vaguely normal about this. So you brought me back here?’ Lu looked around. ‘Where is here?’
‘The Bay—penthouse suite. My temporary quarters until I find a flat to rent. Well, I didn’t know who to contact, and I couldn’t leave you alone, so I changed you into one of my T-shirts and let you sleep it off.’
Lu looked at the bed they’d shared. ‘You slept with me?’
‘Just to keep an eye on you,’ Will reassured her. ‘You were having some nasty dreams. Judging by your quick downhill slide, the hospital doctors think it was GHB, which is very easy to overdose on. You were very lucky. Because you weigh next to nothing, the doctors were worried. An overdose can lead to a coma or death. ‘
‘I never leave my drink unattended,’ Lu protested.
‘You did. You put it on the bar when your friend came back from the dance floor. You checked the time...’ Will cursed.
Lu raised her eyebrows. He’d been watching her? How? From where? And yet she still didn’t feel creeped out. Just protected...and safe. As if she had a burly guardian angel looking after her.
Will