“Hi, Austin.” Faith raised her hand. “Are you excited for Christmas?”
“For sure.” He jogged up to them with a pencil and paper in hand. Staring up at Jag with hero worship, he said, “Can you sign this for me, Mr. Parros, sir?”
Faith smiled. He was adorable.
Jag grinned down at him, ruffled his golden-brown hair, and held out his hand. “For sure.” He took the paper and pressed it against the side of the house to write a little note to Austin and then signed it.
Austin grasped it in his hands. “Thank you,” he said breathlessly, “I hope Santa finds you.” With that, he darted back into the house.
Gavin was waiting at the patio door for him and waved to them. “Thanks,” he called.
“Thanks for letting us skate. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” he returned.
Gavin was a serious dude. He used to intimidate Faith a little bit when she was younger and hanging out with Nick, but she knew he was a good guy and he was a fabulous boss. He was really fair with all of his employees and gave generous Christmas bonuses, and she’d talked with numerous employees who he’d helped in different ways when they had family trouble or medical emergencies.
Jag walked her to his rented Audi, got her door, waited while she climbed in, and then set the skates in the back seat. Shutting her door, he walked around and settled in. “So maybe I’ll just let you surprise me. Where to?”
She loved every moment spent with him. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was eleven. “Well, we have two hours until lunch and the matinee movie with your family. What do you think about getting our swimsuits? There’s an incredible room at the spa that has different heated pools, and one pool with jets will massage every part of your body, and then there’s this bubble bed that you lie on and you think you’re in heaven.”
Jag was staring at her with rapt attention. “And I get to kiss you in each of these spots?”
She laughed. “I don’t think you’re going to want to kiss me in the cold plunge.”
He winked. “Think again. There isn’t a spot on earth I wouldn’t want to be kissing you.”
Faith couldn’t help putting her hand to her heart and sighing. She hated to think of what would happen on the twenty-sixth when he had to leave her, but she’d deal with that when it happened. Right now, she was going to enjoy every second.
Faith thought her idea was incredibly brilliant when Jag walked out of the spa’s locker room wearing his swim trunks. He looked good with his tall, lean body and his sculpted chest, shoulders, and arms, but the light in his blue eyes and the grin on his face were much more appealing than his perfect physique. He might lose that muscle tone with his disease or age, but he would never lose the qualities that made him inherently perfect: his thoughtfulness, his fun sense of humor, his dedication to God and his family, his integrity, and his love for her.
He walked right up to her and gave her a quick kiss. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured against her lips.
“So are you.”
He grinned. “Thank you, thank you very much.” He straightened and looked around at the myriad of pools. “Which one’s the cold plunge?”
Faith pointed to the right, and Jag swooped her off her feet and into his arms. She instinctively wrapped her arms tight around his broad back. “What are you doing?” she asked, breathless from being close to him.
Jag’s grin was almost wicked. He didn’t answer her, just ran for the cold plunge pool.
Faith gasped out. “No, not yet. Let’s get hot first.”
“I’m already hot just being close to you, and I owe you one for the push into the pool.” Jag winked at her, pumped up the steps, and then leapt in with her in his arms.
Faith screamed in delight. The cold water hit her like a wall. She gasped, and then her head went under. Jag was holding her tight, and her body felt like it was surrounded by ice. She tried to push her way out of his arms, but he held her close and stood easily, lifting her up. None of the pools in here were over five feet deep, so the average adult could safely touch the bottom.
She stood easily next to him, pressing against his muscular chest and shivering violently. “So cold.” She tried to push him toward the stairs. “Hot tub, now.”
“I have to kiss you in here first.”
“Make it quick.”
“Aw …”
Faith pushed onto tiptoes and kissed him, hard. Pulling back, she said, “Let me out of here and I’ll kiss you for as long as you want in the other pools.”
Jag’s grin grew. “Deal.” He swept her into his arms again and pushed toward the stairs and out of the water.
“You don’t have to carry me everywhere.” She clung to his neck, loving being so close to him.
“Ah, but I do. If you could see how incredible you look in that swimsuit, you’d understand.”
Faith smiled. “Thank you. I’d say it back, but it’d sound cheesy.”
“I like cheesy.” He carried her into the next pool and set her down in the almost too-hot water. Her toes and fingers tingled like crazy, but they adjusted quickly to the heat, much more quickly than they ever would to that cold.
Jag pulled her against his chest. The warm water surrounded them, but she liked his arms surrounding her even better. “Kiss for as long as I want?”
“Well, we do have that lunch appointment with your family.”
He shrugged, and her mouth went dry as the muscle rippled under the smooth, tanned skin of his shoulders. “They love you. They won’t complain if we’re late.”
Faith laughed, but he cut it off by pressing his lips to hers. She didn’t mind; quite the contrary, she returned the kiss happily.
Chapter Ten
Jag thought this was the best Christmas of his life. After their unreal spa experience of kissing in every different pool and then almost falling asleep as they cuddled on the bubble beds, he and Faith had showered quickly and gone to lunch with his family. Brielle had teased them about their wet hair mercilessly, but all of his family was so happy to see them together, to see him happy, that they didn’t seem to mind that they’d arrived late, causing everyone to miss the movie and end up playing a card game in his parents’ suite instead.
They’d spent Christmas Eve with her family, and he loved the rambunctious crew. She had seven siblings, all younger, and they were a lot of fun. Only one of her sisters was married, and Jag really liked her husband, a pediatrician from Denver.
Jag hadn’t seen or heard from Sheryl since yesterday, and he prayed she’d moved on to another story or maybe gone to see her own family for Christmas. Even nasty reporters like Sheryl should have a family who semi-liked them. She had put out some stories about his fiancée, not painting Faith in the best light, but not being outright slanderous either. Sheryl knew that line and walked it continuously, sharing stories that bordered on scandal and got the attention without being defamatory enough to warrant an actual lawsuit.
The situation annoyed him, and he considered having his agent and lawyer slap a lawsuit on her just to scare her. Nothing would scare Sheryl, though, and he didn’t care if the world knew he was engaged to Faith. If only he’d had time to buy her a ring. He hadn’t even had time to get her a Christmas present, and that bothered him a lot. When he somehow convinced her to fly to Boston with him on the twenty-sixth, he’d find a way to get her a whole bunch of presents, especially an engagement ring. Would she want to pick it out herself or have him choose? Hmm.
On Christmas Eve, he hated to leave her with only a kiss on her parents’ doorstep and no serious talk of her committing to fly home with him in a day and a half, or how soon she would marry him. She’d been married before, and he hated to think about that, but maybe she wouldn’t want the big, fancy wedding and year-long engagement. A long engagement would destroy him. The problem was that he was in season. Regular season went until April and playoffs went until June if you were in the running for the Cup. Unless she was willing to elope, they�
�d probably have to wait until June.
A snowstorm blew in on Christmas morning, and he woke up to an amazing view from his suite’s windows of the picturesque valley down below. He didn’t want to be without Faith, but they’d already pushed their moms by not spending every part of Christmas Eve with them. They decided to spend Christmas morning with their individual families, and then they’d have lunch with her family and dinner with his.
His mom had an entire Christmas breakfast, presents, and stockings in their suite. Jag, Brielle, and Mason tore through the presents like they were little kids. A knock came at the door, and his mom said, “That’ll be breakfast.”
“I’ll get it.” Jag lumbered to his feet and hurried across the large open room to the suite door. He swung it wide. The lady on the other side was familiar. She looked like she’d been through some hard times since high school, though.
“Jag?” Tracy grinned up at him. “Wow, it’s good to see you.” She gave him a quick hug and stepped back. “You look great, amazing. My son watches all your hockey games. I told him you were my friend in high school, and he thought that was amazing.”
“Thanks.” He didn’t know how to tell her she looked great, because she looked exhausted. He felt sick that she was working on Christmas morning instead of being with her son. “What’s your son’s name?”
“Josh.” Her smile got bigger, making her look more like the Tracy he remembered. “He’s seven and absolutely hilarious.”
Jag almost expressed his condolences that she wasn’t with him today of all days, but he said instead, “So he’s a fan?”
“Oh yeah. I even got him your jersey for Christmas. He’s going to flip. He’s with my mom right now, and I’ll have Christmas with him when my shift’s over at two.”
“I have some posters, shirts, hats, and stickers over in my suitcase. Would you like to take him some?” He always tried to throw some of that stuff in his suitcase; that way, if he ran into fans, he could easily hand it out. He’d already left some with Gavin for his brother, Austin, and signed the logoed Bruins hockey stick Gavin had bought for his brother for Christmas.
Her face lit up then. “Are you serious? Oh my, he would go nuts.”
Jag looked back at his family, who were watching him curiously. He took the cart full of breakfast and rolled it into the room a little bit. “This is my friend Tracy from high school,” he said. “I’m going to go get her some paraphernalia for her son.”
Her mom and Brielle both waved. “Nice to see you, Tracy,” Brielle said.
“Merry Christmas,” Mason added.
Tracy smiled and waved, stepping back from the door.
Jag headed across the hall to his suite.
“Did you ever get married?” Tracy asked.
Jag stopped next to his room door. He wanted to tell her about Faith and how he was going to marry her, but he just shook his head. “Not yet. You?”
“Yeah. A guy from Denver.” Her smile disappeared. “Married and divorced a year later. I’d say it was the biggest mistake of my life, but I wouldn’t have Josh without him.” She leaned a bit closer and said, “Didn’t you and Faith used to be close?”
He smiled. Maybe he could share that he and Faith were more than close now. She obviously hadn’t seen Sheryl’s article about them being engaged now.
“Did you know she married Blaine Grainger?”
The smile disappeared, and his gut tightened. “Yeah,” he forced out.
“Man, that was so sad when he died. You should’ve seen them together. So in love they lit up the room. Couldn’t take their eyes or their hands off each other.” She winked as if they were sharing some joke.
Jag’s stomach was full of lead now. He backed toward his door and opened it up with the key card.
“I’ve always thought if I could find a love like Faith and Blaine had, it would be the second miracle of my life.” Tracy smiled more broadly. “The first was Josh.”
Jag just held the door wide for Tracy. “Do you want to wait in here?”
She shook her head. “I shouldn’t go in your room without another employee. I’ll wait right here.”
“Okay.” He wondered if that was a company policy, but he thought it was smart to keep employees and guests alike safe.
He hurried through his room, trying to push the image of Blaine and Faith desperately in love from his mind. Faith had said that while Blaine had claimed to love her, she’d always been in love with Jag. But now Tracy was saying they’d been so in love that they couldn’t keep their hands off each other? Jag didn’t think he’d be able to eat any breakfast with those awful thoughts rolling around in his head. He wanted to storm to Faith’s house right now and demand to know that she was telling the truth that she hadn’t loved Blaine. If she was lying about that, could she be lying about how much she loved Jag? No. She couldn’t fake the way she looked at him. Had she looked at Blaine the same way?
He took the stairs up to the bedroom two at a time. Shuffling through his suitcase, he grabbed one of each of the fan paraphernalia that he’d brought, and then he grabbed his wallet off the dresser, pulled out a couple hundred dollars, and hurried back down the stairs. Still reeling from Tracy’s words, he pushed the door open and handed her all the stuff, shoving the bills in her palm.
“Wait, you don’t need to …” Her voice trailed off as her eyes brightened.
“I wanted to.” He forced a smile. It wasn’t her fault that she’d observed Blaine and Faith acting head over heels for each other. Maybe it was true, and Faith hadn’t told him about it because she knew how it would hurt him. “Merry Christmas,” he said to Tracy, raising a hand and walking back to his parents’ suite.
“Merry Christmas,” she repeated. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
He knocked on the door, and his mom answered it quickly and ushered him inside. Breakfast was all spread out, and he mechanically followed his mom and started dishing up a plate. He sat down to eat, listening to his family chat and thankful they didn’t seem to notice he was feeling off.
Mason was teasing his mom and Brielle. “Think how insane the presents will be on Christmas morning when your mom has grandbabies. We’d better get busy having some for her, Bri.”
Brielle stuck her tongue out at him and turned on Jag. “I’m sure Jag is going to beat us at that.”
Mason hugged her and murmured too loudly, “I think making grandbabies for your mom sounds like a great idea.”
Brielle laughed and pushed at him. “If you sweet-talk … maybe.”
Mason pumped his eyebrows at the rest of them. “I’m great at sweet-talking.”
“Stop,” Jag protested. He liked to tease with them, but he couldn’t dismiss the picture Tracy painted of Faith and Blaine. Watching Brielle and Mason light up the room was difficult.
“Mason started it,” Brielle pointed out.
Mason shrugged and kissed her again. Jag concentrated back on the food. He was sure it was amazing, but it tasted like sawdust to him. Faith and Blaine couldn’t keep their hands or their eyes off each other? His stomach churned.
His phone rang, and he hurried to pull it out. His agent. “Excuse me,” he murmured to his family.
He went out into the hallway to have some privacy. If Mike was calling on Christmas morning, it must be important. Mike didn’t have much family, but he respected his clients.
“Merry Christmas,” Jag said.
“The story is breaking late tonight,” Mike said. His voice was depressed and cautious, as if afraid Jag could jump through the line and throttle him. “They didn’t want to do it on Christmas morning, so they’re holding it.”
“The story?” Jag crossed the hallway and entered his own suite; the hallway was still too much of a public place to chat with Mike. “Sheryl already shouted far and wide about me being engaged to Faith. I know she didn’t spin it into great publicity, big surprise, but being engaged to Faith is solid, man. I know it’ll help me look stable and a good bet to r
e-sign—”
“Not that story,” Mike cut him off.
Jag waited, but there was silence over the line except for a few heavy breaths. “Mike … what’s going on?”
“Sheryl somehow got wind of the multiple sclerosis.”
Jag heard a roaring in his ears and was hardly able to listen to the next bit.
“I got word from a contact at The Rising Star that the story is coming out. There’s nothing we can do to stop it, but we can request a meeting with your coaches and the owner tonight, or worst case first thing tomorrow morning, and deal with the fallout. Do you want me to call and charter you a plane? I’ll set up the meeting. They all love you as a player, and I’m sure they’ll come if they can. If we can tell them before the article comes out, it will be better, but I just … don’t know how it’s going to go.”
Jag could hardly comprehend what was happening. He’d worked hard to protect this secret. How? Who? He cleared his throat and muttered, “Yes, thank you, please charter a plane. Either out of Vail or Denver would be great.” He paused, but he had to ask. “Did your contact have any idea how Sheryl found out?”
Mike let out another heavy sigh. “It’s all in the article. Your fake fiancée was telling a friend, and Sheryl overheard. She makes your girl look like a gossipy gold digger.”
“You’re sure?” Jag could barely get the words past the tightness in his throat.
“Sorry, man.”
Jag grunted something and hung up. He sank onto the couch and passed a hand over his face. Faith had told a friend? It wasn’t nearly as bad as her telling Sheryl directly, but it still stung. He’d thought she knew how important it was to guard this secret. He’d entrusted her with it when he’d revealed it to his own mother. And she’d gone and blabbed about it to a friend? He wondered when. They’d been together almost nonstop since he’d revealed his secret.
He pushed his way to his feet and hurried up the stairs to the bedroom. He was going to shower quickly, tell his family goodbye, and then find Faith before he had to get to the airport. He understood rationally that she hadn’t meant for this hailstorm to come down on him, hadn’t meant to ruin his career, but he bristled at the idea that she’d casually chatted about his condition with someone and given Sheryl the golden ticket. It felt like almost as big of a betrayal as the day he’d heard she’d married Blaine.
Her Hockey Superstar Fake Fiancé: A Strong Family Romance Companion Novel Page 8