by Toni Aleo
She’d love it.
“I’ll be there this Friday. I promise.”
“You better be! Penny and Philly would love to see you!”
He nodded. “I do need to see the little man. I’m so happy for you guys.”
“Thanks,” she said cheerfully. “We are so blessed. But I have to say, Tate told me where ya been, and I’m really proud of ya. I think everyone is. You seem so much happier.”
He shrugged, bashful as he met her caring gaze. “I am.”
“Good, now it’s time for you to settle down,” she said with a wink and he chuckled.
“Working on it. Which reminds me, I gotta bring my woman some water. Excuse me, okay?”
Leaning over, she kissed his cheek, and he smiled as she said, “Of course, see you Friday. Bring her with you.”
“Promise,” he said, going around her to find Kacey. He didn’t have to go far; she was standing with Baylor and Jayden, watching him like a hawk.
“That’s Tate’s wife, right?” she asked once he handed her her drink.
“It is,” he said, taking a long pull of his water. His mouth was dry.
“Good, because she has one hell of an ass, and I was about to get superjealous,” she admitted and Jordie laughed, rolling his eyes.
“While you could be right, my eyes are glued to this beauty,” he said, taking ahold of one of her cheeks.
“Please don’t sue the team for sexual harassment.”
He looked over and saw Elli grinning at him as Kacey smacked his hand away.
“Can’t sue if it’s my boyfriend,” Kacey laughed, but then she cut him a look. “Or can I?”
Jordie scoffed as Elli laughed, her eyes bright as Shea towered over her, looking ever the doting husband. But even with how large Shea was compared to Elli, Jordie couldn’t help but appreciate how gorgeous she looked in a floor-length purple dress that sparkled at the top. In the dress, he could tell that Elli had lost even more weight.
“I’m convinced you aren’t feeding this woman,” Jordie accused Shea, and he scoffed.
“Please, I’m trying to get her to eat more. She’s on some diet, wanting to be thinner for our trip to Disney,” he said, rolling his eyes. That was, until Elli smacked him.
“Do you know how embarrassing it is when you go to hug Mickey and he can’t get his arms around you? Shea ruined my body with all our blessings, and I’m getting my body back.”
“If you need help, let me know,” Kacey suggested but Elli shook her head.
“No, you’d kill me.”
Kacey laughed as Shea and Jordie said, “Yeah, she would.”
“No, I’d take it easy. We can do one of my workouts,” she suggested, but as Elli’s eyes traveled down Kacey’s beautiful, fit body, he could see the apprehension in her eyes.
“I can’t fire you if you hurt me, can I?”
“No, I’d make you sign a waiver,” Kacey said with a wink and Elli laughed.
“Fine, I’ll come down after the boys train on Monday.”
Kacey bounced on her heels. “Can’t wait!”
Shea snorted with laughter. “Do I need to hire a sitter? Or call Grace?”
“Shut up, Shea,” she snapped, smacking his stomach. “I’ll be able to walk…I hope.”
But Kacey shook her head. “Nope.”
“Jesus, what did I just sign up for?” she whined and Jordie laughed.
“Hell,” was his opinion and that didn’t seem to please Elli.
Rolling her eyes, she said, “Okay, I’m gonna go eat my feelings and prepare myself for Monday. Y’all have fun.”
“Thanks for making sure I wasn’t drinking,” he called to her, and she shot him a grin over her shoulder as her fingers tangled with Shea’s.
“I almost licked your cup to make sure, but instead I sniffed it when you were watching Kacey talk,” Elli teased and he laughed as she leaned into her husband.
“Good people,” he declared and Kacey grinned up at him.
“They love you,” she said, resting her head against his shoulder. “I do too.”
“Good,” he said, kissing her nose.
Smiling up at him, she cocked her head to Baylor. “We were talking about her dad, you know, River Moore.”
“Everyone knows River Moore. Great player, scored two minutes into overtime, game seven.”
Kacey nodded as Baylor grinned. “Yes, him. He’s looking for an assistant coach for the Bullies.”
“Oh, really?” he asked with a grin.
“Yeah, Baylor said she can get me an in.”
“We like ins,” he noted.
“I told her she should go for the head coach position for the girls’ team,” Baylor suggested and Jayden nodded, his arm snaked around Baylor’s waist. Jordie sometimes forgot they were together until they were near each other. They reminded him of two magnets, attracted through any barrier.
“I think you should too. Those girls could learn a lot from you,” Jayden added and Jordie nodded.
“Either is good, I feel,” he decided and Kacey shrugged.
“We’ll see,” she said just as Lacey turned to them, her eyes wild with anger.
Jordie made a face, his brows touching. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Blistering with anger, she burst out, “I’m gonna kill her. She closed my store! Closed it! For a fucking week! No pay for my employees or anything.”
“Who?” Jordie asked, confused, while Karson shook his head.
“Rachel did? Oh my goodness, what are you going to do?” Kacey asked.
“Fire her ass!” she snapped, typing violently on her phone. “Karson, call your mom to see if she can keep Mena. I can’t take her, I might go to jail, and knowing them, this is a big ploy to get me home!”
“Or we can keep her,” Jordie suggested, and everyone stopped and turned their attention to him. “What? It isn’t like we are doing anything. No reason to call Ma and Dad down. We can do it.”
“Watch Mena? You two?” Lacey asked, pointing to the both of them, and he gave her a look.
“I hope you aren’t implying that I can’t care for my goddaughter?” he asked sternly and she shrugged.
“No, but…can you?” she asked and Kacey nodded.
“Sure, no big deal. We’d love to. You two go, fire some folks, and maybe have a little night out, just the two of you. She’ll be great.”
Lacey looked to Karson and he shrugged. “I mean, they are her godparents. If we die, they get her. Might as well give them practice while we’re alive.”
“Way to think, bro,” Jordie laughed, smacking his arm, and Karson grinned.
“I mean, just saying,” he said innocently as Lacey glared, but then she chewed her lip, deep in thought.
Finally, she said, “Fine, thank you. I’ll plan everything tomorrow.”
“Sounds good. In the meantime, I’m taking my woman to dance,” he said, taking Kacey’s water from her and handing it to a guy who was walking around with a platter. When he reached for her, she went willingly, smiling as they headed to the floor to dance. A few couples were dancing, and as he spun her out and back in, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as they swayed to some slow song he hadn’t heard before. Leaning his cheek to hers, he closed his eyes, dizzy from her perfume. It was a mix between fruity and floral, and it drove him crazy with need.
“We’ve never danced before,” she whispered against his cheek. “Never.”
“Yes, we have,” he said, pulling back to look at her.
“When?”
“Back in college, right before Karson locked you in the room, we danced to ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’ by John Mayer.”
She paused for a moment and then smiled. “We did. You remember that?”
He nodded. “I do, and I remember the Team USA shirt you wore, because your tits looked so good in it. And also the tight jeans, because of your ass—it was so juicy back then, unlike now, when it’s so strong. Oh, and how long your hair was. All the wa
y to your butt.”
Her grin didn’t stop. “I didn’t think you remembered me from back then.”
“How could I forget?” he asked, moving with her as the music played. “I kind of had a crush on ya, but Karson was quick to shut that down.”
Her face reddened as she nodded. “Because I liked you too.”
He smiled, running his nose along hers. “Funny thing, this story of us.”
“And it isn’t even over,” she reminded him.
“Because it won’t ever end,” he promised, and she smiled against his lips before he kissed her long and hard. Every single ounce of his feelings were in that kiss. As much as he wished that they had hooked up back then, he knew it would have been pointless. He was a baby looking for a good time to forget his friend’s death. He had always been looking for something to make him forget. It was the story of his old life.
But now, his story was different.
When the music changed to “Marvin Gaye” by Charlie Puth, Kacey pulled back, her eyes widening as she cried, “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes!” he said, pulling back and starting to dance, pelvis thrusting to the beat. Anytime this song came on and they were together, he’d serenade her and she hated it. He wasn’t sure why though. Every girl loved when a man sang to them, but Kacey did not. Maybe it was the way he humped her as he did it. Nonetheless, he yelled out, “This is my jam!”
“Please stop,” she begged as he pulled her to him, moving like they did in Dirty Dancing. “Please, tell me you didn’t plan this!”
He sang very loudly, ignoring her. “Of course not, it’s fate.”
“Jesus help me,” she said as he jerked her around playfully, rubbing himself all over her. “Oh my God! Jordie!” she screeched as he started singing at the top of his lungs. Everyone around them was laughing and cheering him on, while Kacey’s cheeks burned the same color of her dress. She was going to kill him, but he didn’t care. If he couldn’t drink to have fun, he’d find another way to do it.
And singing to her was the ticket.
“Come on, baby, dance with me. Sing the chick part,” he urged and she shook her head, her face twisting in horror.
“This is not High School Musical!” she complained as he slowly humped her leg, getting catcalls from the guys while she tried to shake him off.
“You’re right, because the things I’m gonna do to you as soon as we leave are definitely NC-17,” he said and her eyes widened, but her mouth curved before she started laughing.
Then finally, she stopped fighting it and moved with him to the music. As she smiled, her eyes twinkling while their bodies became one, he knew that their story was just beginning.
And he couldn’t wait to fill the pages with their adventures.
Especially the NC-17 parts.
“Babe, come on, this is it.”
Kacey looked around the living room. The high ceilings were appealing, and she did like the floor-to-ceiling windows, but it didn’t have a fenced-in backyard, and the driveway was on a slant because the house was on a hill. The winters in Tennessee were so unpredictable, so no telling if she’d be able to leave the house. Also, it just felt so large.
“I don’t know. It’s big,” she said to him, looking through the kitchen once more. It was huge like she wanted, almost like Karson’s, and an open floor plan like theirs, but it seemed so much bigger and not theirs. She always imagined when she walked into a house, it would be hers, and this did not seem like hers.
“It’s empty, Kace. Once we get some furniture in here, a dog or two, it’ll be perfect,” he said, coming to stand by her, looking out the windows she was staring out of.
“There is no fence,” she said, pointing outside.
“I’ll make sure they put one in. It’s a new build, so that won’t be a problem,” their Realtor Jamie said in her thick, happy, country accent. She was always so chipper and ready to sell. It should have made Kacey happy, but she was a bit annoyed. She wanted to do this with only Jordie so they could talk and discuss it without someone trying to sell to them.
“I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem like us,” she admitted, looking up at him.
“Really? I think it does. I like it,” he said simply as he looked down at her.
“You like anything to get out of Karson’s,” she accused and he shrugged.
“I mean, an apartment would be fine too, baby. Whatever, as long as I’m waking up beside you.”
She sent him a smile because she did feel the same, but still. This wasn’t it. “But I think a house would be a better idea. And also we can be close to Lacey and Karson so I’m not lonely while you’re gone,” she protested and he nodded.
“I got you. That’s why we’ve spent the last two weeks looking at houses, and I really like this one.”
“It’s nice and, yeah, it would give us everything we need. But it’s really far out from where my family is. For the longest time, we’ve always had hundreds, almost thousands of miles, between us. Now that we live in the same city, I’d like to be close.”
“Yeah, I get that. But it’s only a twenty-minute drive to them, and also the price is killer good. They are selling it twenty thousand under the value for a quick sale. It’s move-in ready, babe.”
She shrugged. “I know, but I don’t want to move in to a house that isn’t us.”
“But what doesn’t make it us? I think it’s us,” he said, getting annoyed. He had a short attention span when it came to things other than sex and hockey. She knew this, but she wouldn’t rush into something as big as buying a house.
“I mean, it’s nice, yes, but I don’t like that it’s on a hill or that the backyard looks so shitty.”
He looked out and shrugged. “Okay, then what do you want to do?” he snapped, and she glared.
“It doesn’t matter what I want, and it’s your money. Do what you want,” she said dismissively, and when she glanced over at him, she could tell she’d just pissed him off.
“Don’t be like that.”
“Don’t be all pissy with me because I don’t want to rush into this.”
Letting his head fall back, he let out a long breath. “Sugar thighs, it’s a house. It’s not choosing a name for a kid.”
“I understand that, but if I am going to live here, make a life here, it better be what I want.”
He pulled in a long breath through his nose and she glanced over at him. The annoyance was very apparent on his face, but his eyes had humor in them. As much as they picked and argued about stuff, he still loved her difficult ass.
“Do you want this house?” he asked. “Because it will be our house, both our names, and you will live in it with me. Probably forever.”
Her heart skipped a beat at his words. She hadn’t expected that. She thought it would be his house; she didn’t think he’d want her to be on the paperwork. She knew moving in meant she wasn’t going anywhere, but it would have her name too? “Really?”
“Yes, we are making a life together. So everything will be fifty-fifty.”
She glanced over at him. “Are you trying to tell me I don’t need a prenup so you can steal all my money?”
He laughed, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to his chest. “No prenup. Do you want this house?”
She shook her head, smiling against his jaw. “No.”
“Okay, have you seen one that you think is us?”
This was a pick of both of theirs, and they had already seen all the others they liked. But only one stood out in her mind. It was smaller than they wanted by a bedroom, but it was perfect for them. The backyard was huge and fenced. The kitchen was gourmet and had an awesome double stove she wanted. The master bedroom was huge, essentially two rooms with a bathroom to die for and enough closet space for all her gym clothes. There was even a little nursery that made Kacey breathless when she stepped into it. The basement was finished as a man cave that would be perfect as a gym and playroom for Jordie. It screamed them, and he had loved it but wanted to se
e more houses. She had gone along with him, but now it was time to speak up for what she wanted.
“The one behind Karson’s.”
He scoffed. “I knew it. I knew when we left that you didn’t want to leave it.”
“I didn’t. I loved it, Jordie.”
“You know that means we can’t have sex on the deck, ’cause more than likely Karson will see us,” he told her and she giggled.
“Is that a negative factor for us?”
“Well, yes, it’s a huge factor for us. We do love sex.”
She smiled, her body breaking out in gooseflesh. “You are correct, but I don’t think that’s an issue. Karson is getting older, his eyesight is going,” she teased and he laughed.
“Okay, if that’s the house you want, it’s the one we’ll get.”
“You sure?” she asked, biting her lip.
“If it makes you happy, yes. I told you, I don’t care as long as we are together.”
Her face broke into a grin. “Okay, well, I can throw in maybe a grand on the price.”
He smiled, cupping her chin. “Do you want it then, or do we need to go back and look?”
“No, I could tell you everything about it. I want it.”
“Then give me your thousand bucks, and let’s go buy it.”
He kissed her nose and she smacked his chest before hugging him close as her heart went wild. The last two weeks while they had looked, she almost didn’t believe it was happening. But as he talked to Jamie about the house and what they needed to do, she dug her nails into her arms, waiting to wake up.
But she didn’t.
They were really doing this.
Her happily ever after was happening.
“What is one of your biggest regrets, Jordie?”
Kacey crossed her legs and glanced over at Jordie as he leaned on his thighs, looking over at his therapist, Julie, and chewing on his lip. Folding her hands in her lap, she watched as his gaze flickered to her and then back to Julie. This was the second therapy session she had sat in on, and she was still as nervous as the first time she came. In the AA group, he was more laid-back and chill as he shared his daily struggles. But in therapy, it was different. He was closed off, he moved his hands continually, and he couldn’t sit still. It made her stomach hurt watching him so uncomfortable.