Free Qualified: A Sports Romance by Ada Croix Page B

knowledge that it would be the last time she’d see him.
    At least she had a better appearance of
professionalism. She was composed at her desk before he arrived. When she saw
Marc turn the corner from the reception area she picked up her clipboard
smoothly and smiled, her motions familiar instead of flustered. He gave her a
little check of fingers that was close enough to a wave.
    “Last time you’ll have to put up with me.” Allie
was proud of how lighthearted she sounded as she motioned for him to follow her
back to the patient room she’d prepared.
    Marc scraped out a distracted chuckle. She could
see that his headphone cords were curled into the outside mesh pocket of the
backpack slung over his shoulder. She wouldn’t be driving him for his return
trip to the airport, but she wondered if that would be a repeat too—would he be
any more talkative than when he arrived? Surely his mind would already be on to
the next thing.
    Allie tried to put it out of her head and focus on
collecting the metrics which were now routine. Then came the litany of
additional basic measures which they didn’t bother with during the week so as
not to hold up the team’s training schedule. Drawing blood wasn’t really the
kind of thing one could linger over. She made do by being careful not to tape
over the hair of his forearm as she secured the little cotton ball over the
puncture point. Maybe she dragged her fingers a little wistfully over the
smooth of his inner arm where his veins tracked strong beneath his skin.
    Violet had cast doubt on what kind of life he had
led, but Allie saw little evidence of it on his body aside from the tattoos
which stained his shoulders. Marc was in peak health, which was unsurprising
for a man who’d been making a living playing a sport that demanded both stamina
and strength-burst power. She thought back to the night when she found him
alone downtown and wondered why she had pulled away from him.
    What do you want, Allie?
    It was too late. She had her lab coat and gloves
on, and he was sitting on Doctor Kaitech’s table. She finished capping her
sample vials and made sure the coded labels were wrapped around their sides.
The only thing left to do was tuck them into the shipping container in which
they’d travel to the university lab for further analysis. Her job here was
done.
    Marc was watching her expectantly.
    “Doctor Kaitech should be arriving shortly to go
over the final interview portion. Then you should be all set.”
    “I never did very well, being grilled by
professors.”
    In her nervousness, Allie let a giggle escape
before she could silence it with a bite of her lip. Maybe he was joking, but
his eyes—there was something lurking deep in those liquid depths that was more
weighty. “You’ll survive,” she said with full confidence in him. She allowed
herself to cup a hand at his shoulder. Those shoulders. She tried to tell
herself it was okay as long as she didn’t get grabby with her fingers. “It was
good to meet you. I’ll be expecting to watch you kick ass this summer.”
    “Yeah. You too. Good luck getting into med school.”
    “Thanks.” She took a deep breath and turned it into
a laugh. There was really no reason she should still be there, and she was
supposed to go over to the business office for a meeting at the top of the
hour. The countdown to August was ticking ever faster. “Goodbye, Marc.”
    “Take it easy.”
    She slipped backward out of the door and stripped
off her coat to leave on a hook. Allie got out of the office fast to be sure no
one could see her making a fool of herself.

 
     
     
12
     
     
    There weren’t any new subjects for
the study, but Allie was qualified to drive the vans and they needed someone to
run to the airport to pick up new arrivals. It was hours since Marc had left
the training center, but Allie still caught herself straining to see if a
familiar dark head of hair was towering above the crowd at the terminal. There
was a cheery