Free Unwrapping Her Perfect Match: A London Legends Christmas Novella by Kat Latham

wasn’t too good for her. Still sexy? Bloody hell
yes. Still funny? That too. But confident? Clearly not in every
area of his life.
    That knowledge helped Gwen kiss goodbye the
residual embarrassment she’d felt about the way she’d reacted when
she’d found out about the bet. At work, she could hold her own with
the toughest patients. Around her family, she felt loved and
understood. But with men she didn’t know, her confidence
crumbled.
    She would love to get beyond it, but she no
longer needed to beat herself up for it. Watching John struggle to
even greet his daughter showed her that.
    When they got into the bedroom, John closed
the door and leaned against it, blinking hard. “It just occurred to
me that you didn’t have time to pack any nightclothes. Don’t ask
how it occurred to me. You probably don’t want to know.”
    “Oh. Yeah. I was so focused on getting you
back here that I never even thought about it.”
    “You’re welcome to wear any of my things.” He
pushed himself away from the door and lumbered over to a wardrobe,
his steps heavier and more purposeful than they’d been all evening.
Pulling open a drawer, he said over his shoulder, “T-shirts are in
here—clean, obviously, otherwise they’d be piled up on the
floor.”
     
    Yeah, his bedroom was a bit of a tip. A green
and white duffel bag with a London Legends logo sat on the floor
vomiting out clothes. A rugby ball had been tossed onto the middle
of the bed. “Do you usually play rugby in the bedroom?”
    He shrugged. “No one’s ever asked me to
before, but I’ll give it a go if it’s your kink.”
    She laughed. “John, I think you’d collapse if
I touched you with my little finger right now. I doubt you could
handle rucking with me.”
    A competitive, taunting spark came to his
eyes. “You’d better watch out, honey. Rucking’s what I do
best.”
    Shivers of anticipation danced up her spine.
“That’s disappointing.”
    He came away from the wardrobe, hands empty.
“Really? Why’s that?”
    She backed up a step, then another. “Because
I was hoping you were good at other things.”
    “Oh, I’m very good at other things.”
    She reversed another step, but the backs of
her knees hit the mattress. “For example?”
    “For example, I’m good at… tackling .”
He pounced, lowering his head and wrapping a strong arm her waist.
For a second, she was airborne, and she barely managed to bite back
her squeal of surprise. She hit the center of the mattress,
knocking the rugby ball onto the floor. She bounced between the
mattress and John’s body, which sank on top of her.
    The air squeezed from her chest like an
accordion. She poked his ribs, then shoved at him as she grew more
frantic.
    He rolled off her and groaned, holding his
head. “That was a mistake.”
    Concerned, she flipped onto her side and
raised herself onto her elbow. “You have to be more careful. You’ve
injured your brain. I don’t know how to get that message through
your thick skull. Be. Careful .”
    “I get it now. Believe me, I get it.”
Growling deeply in the back of his throat, he pushed himself
farther up the bed until his head sank into the pillow. “I think
I’m going to fall asleep now. Sorry for not being more
hospitable.”
    “That’s all right. Resting is the best thing
you could do. Do you need help getting undressed?”
    His eyelids opened enough for her to see a
gleam of interest. “Cheers, but I should probably do it myself—in
the interest of getting some sleep.”
    He wanted her. He’d made it plain and obvious
without being smarmy about it. She couldn’t remember many men
making her feel this desirable before.
    He untied his tracksuit bottoms and slid them
down until he could kick them onto the floor. Beneath them, he wore
dark blue boxer briefs, which she assumed Liam had brought along
with the rest of his clothes since John had still been wearing his
muddy Legends kit when he’d arrived at the hospital. His muddy
Legends