The Bad Boy's Redemption. Joss Wood

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