Page 294 of Well Played

Nando looked scandalized. She just laughed. “You’re a first-time donor, sweetie, I haven’t had one of those in a while.”

He closed his eyes, feeling the heat rush up his neck. “You promised to be gentle, Lila.”

“I will be.” She set the swab aside and unwrapped the needle. “Ready?”

He took a deep breath and nodded.

She met his gaze and gave another wicked smile. “It will only hurt a little. Just when it goes in.”

“That’s what he said,” he mumbled. He started to blush again at her giggle and cleared his throat. “I trust you.”

It was quick, just like she promised. And to be fair, it barely stung. “You’re very good.”

Putting tape on all the tubes and fixing the blood bag in the side tray. “So I’ve been told.”

“I barely felt it.”

“That’s what she said.”

Nando shook his head and chuckled. “I walked right in to that one.”

She just grinned, taking the clamps off the tubes. Blood started to flow into the collection bag. She noticed his attention was on the tubes and his breathing started to get shallower. “Hey,” she said, tapping his leg. “You ok?”

“Huh?” He flinched and turned his gaze to her.

She’d seen that look before and knew he was close to a panic attack or worse. “Nando, you’re ok. Talk to me.”

Nando swallowed hard. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Tell me about yourself,” she said. “Why baseball? Why not soccer or football?”

“I like baseball. The first time I played, I was hooked.” He gave her a shaky smile.

“How old were you when you started?”

“Seven.” Shifting on the cushions, he tried to relax. “Myabuelotook me to little league tryouts, thinking I needed to getoutside more. I played lots of video games back then, and my mom thought I was in front of a screen too often.”

“I was a gamer when I was younger too.” Her voice was soothing. “Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy, and Zelda were my jams.”

“Gran Turismo was good, but I love first-person shooters. Call of Duty, Time Splitters, Wolfenstein…

She nodded. “Metroid Prime was the bomb. So was Half-life. But did you ever play sports games, like Madden?”

“Nah, not like that, but I liked that snowboarding game, SSX.”

“Oh man,” she gushed, “I love that game. I still play Tricky on freeride mode after a long day at work.”

“Playstation or Xbox?”

She frowned at him. “Playstation of course.” She glanced down at the collection bag then started to prep her bandages and gauze. “Kaori is my girl,” she drawled.

He gave her another more confident smile. “I should challenge you to a game. I tore it up with Brodi.”

She took the hand grip from him and placed the gauze pad over the needle. “I’ll take you up on that any time you like.” Her hands were quick, her technique flawless. Before he knew it, she was wrapping the tape around his arm and removing the rest of the tape and tubes. “And you are done, sweetie.”

His smile was wide and genuine, filled with relief. “You are an angel, Lila. Thanks for doing this.” The bed creaked as he shifted, getting to his feet. She stood close, anticipating his being a bit wobbly.

“I’m just doing this to hang all over a cute ball player, Nando.” She took his arm and led him to the recovery area, where they had snacks, water, and juice. “You need to sit here for at least fifteen minutes, ok? I don’t want you to be oneof those stupid, macho jocks that try to leave once my back is turned. You need to steady up.”

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