He turns his back to me and places the ball on the ground, seeming to line it up between the goal posts at the far end.

“What’s the other rule?” I ask him, wiping rain off my forehead.

“Normally you can’t tackle around the neck or head. But for you I’ll let it slide.”

“What about your crotch?”

He looks back at me and frowns. “That’s off limits, too.”

“Just during the game, or like always?”

He laughs. Actually lets out a laugh and it’s a beautiful sound. “Just keep in mind that we don’t wear a cup in rugby.”

My mouth drops. “Ever?”

He shakes his head and picks up the ball, holding it out in front of him. “I’ve had my nose broken a few times, my face smashed, my shoulder dislocated, my ribs broken, my Achilles tendon torn. I’ve had a million cuts and bruises. But I’ve never had any injury to the family jewels.”

“That’s good to know.”

Another laugh. “Is that right?” Then suddenly he springs into action, dropping the ball and then kicking with one sweep of his leg, his thigh muscles bulging beneath his tiny shorts.

The ball goes soaring down the field, landing short of the end.

“Oh come on,” I say, standing there as he starts to run off.

He doesn’t stop, just waves at me to follow. “Are you going to play or not, you pansy?”

Pansy? I don’t think so. And so even though it’s extremely unfair that a tiny Asian barefoot girl has to run down a wet field after a Scottish pro rugby beast, I do it anyway.

Because, really, like I’m going to let this man get away.

I sprint down the field as fast as the slick mud and skinny jeans and short legs will let me. I know it’s futile to even try, but Lachlan starts to slow down.

“You want me to catch up with you?” I yell at him, nearly slipping.

He stops near the ball. “I realize the cleats give me an advantage.”

“Oh sure, the cleats.”

He goes for the ball and I know I’m close enough to tackle him.

“Well what the bloody hell are you waiting for?” he says to me, stooping over, the ball in his hands. “This is when you tackle me so I either release the ball so you can get it or I’d pass to another player. Either way you need to prevent me from making the try.”

He’s just given me permission to put my hands all over him. I am not going to pass this up.

I run at him, yell some kind of warrior cry, and fling myself at his upper body. It really is like throwing yourself against a brick wall. I bounce off, my legs sliding back through the mud, and I grab on to his shirt for dear life as I fall to the ground.

Of course it doesn’t bring him down. All it does is stretch the neck of his shirt and I’m hanging off him like a monkey. But I refuse to let go.

“If you don’t let go, you’ll rip my shirt right off,” he says, staring down at me, rain pouring off his face.

“That’s the idea, isn’t it?” I yell back. “You gotta give me something here.”

He drops to his knees beside me in the mud, his thigh pressed against mine. I can feel the heat of his skin through my jeans which starts an inferno between my legs. I’ve never been so close to him. All his wet, glistening skin, close enough to lick. His immense size makes me feel so small and easily overtaken, and he smells like sweat and rain, a deadly cocktail.

I swallow hard, my breath heavy in my chest. He gazes at me through wet lashes, those eyes of his laced with intensity that I can feel deep inside.

I have to be professional. I have to hold it together. And the vow, think of the stupid vow. But damn, if he kissed me, that would unleash a beast of my own. There would be nothing stopping me from ripping off the rest of his clothes and fucking him here in this muddy field.

God, I pray, briefly closing my eyes, I know praying for dick isn’t a new thing for me, but if you could please make muddy field sex with Lachlan McGregor happen, I’ll erect a church in your name.

“Here,” Lachlan says, voice gruff. My eyes snap open as he pushes the ball out ahead of us. “You tackled me. This is me releasing the ball.”

No, no, no. Forget the game. Make a play on me.

But Lachlan hasn’t forgotten the game. He nudges me with his elbow. “Go get it.”

I toss my hormones aside for the moment, give him a brave nod, and reach for the ball.

The minute it’s in my grasp, feeling so large and heavy that it makes me want to come up with a million sexual innuendos, he bellows at me, “Now, run!”

Agh! Those are some powerful lungs. I scamper to my feet and immediately start running back down the field toward the goal. I slip a few times, my feet slapping the mud, but it’s basically like running on ice.

I fall backward, completely ungraceful.

Splat!

Mud flies everywhere.

“Are you okay?” I can hear Lachlan yelling in the distance.

Though I’m winded, I take a deep breath and quickly get to my feet. I’m not going to stop now, even when I can hear him approaching close behind me.

I start running again, my own muscles straining as I try and go as fast as I can without eating shit. I don’t care that I’m absolutely filthy, that I’m scampering like a colt, that I can barely see through the rain in my face. I’m going for the try and I am fucking loving it.

I’m only a few yards from the end. I know Lachlan is going slow, that he’s going to let me win, but it doesn’t matter because—

Splat.

I slip again and faceplant straight into the mud. I immediately try and get to my feet, but I feel Lachlan looming over me like a storm cloud. He steps on either side of my body, straddling me, then drops to his knees, so my sides are between his legs.

“Nice try,” he says gruffly.

“Is that a pun?” I say, spitting out grass. I attempt to turn over but his tree-trunk thighs grip me in place. I’m not complaining.

“It would have been a pun if you made the try,” he says. “You didn’t. I stopped you.”

“I fell,” I say through gritted teeth. “I was already down.”

I hear him grunt from behind me. “And I wasn’t about to tackle you. So let’s just pretend you didn’t fall, and I brought you down, like in a normal game. Now release the ball.”

“Fuck that,” I mumble, holding the ball tight beneath me.

“It’s the rules,” he says, leaning over me so his lips are near my ear. I can’t be sure but I’m almost certain he has an erection and its pressing against the top of my ass. He said he wasn’t wearing a cup so it has to be all him.

Please let it be all him.

“Fuck your rules,” I manage to say.

He pauses. “No rules, then? All right.”

I feel him lean back, easing off me slightly.

Then his hands are down at my shoulders and underneath my arms and his fingers are going crazy.

I yelp in surprise. My fucking god, is he tickling me?

“What?” I cry out before bursting into nervous giggles. “You can’t tickle!”

“No rules,” he says, and I can hear the enjoyment in his voice.

“Stop!” I yell, laughing again. “Please, this is torture!”

“Release the ball.”

But I can’t. I’m laughing too hard, my body attempting to curl up into a ball even though I’m between him like a vise.

“I’m going to bite your leg,” I warn him, trying to twist around and see if I can get a nip of his grass-stained knee. I’m flexible but I’m not that flexible.

“Release the ball.”

“Fine!” I shout, but since I can’t move I can’t even get it out from under me. “Fine, you win, you can have the ball.”

Suddenly he gets up and I’m free. I roll over onto my back and stare at him, holding up the ball. If he was one step closer to my face and his shorts weren’t so tight, I could try and see up them.

He looks down at me, not smiling, but there is a hint of triumph in those expressive eyes.

I shake the ball at him. “Aren’t you going to take it?”

He continues to stare. I can’t tell what the hell he is thinking. I feel like he’s trying to memorize me.