Jody had mixed emotions. On one hand, he was happy that her reason was beyond her control, but on the other hand, he felt like an ogre. She was probably in discomfort and would rather be lying in her bed, and he was plotting her seduction. And oh Christ, is that a tear? No, no, no. What should he do? He made her cry. “Aw shit, I’m sorry, Sweetheart. What can I do?”
If he was any sweeter, she was going to totally lose it. Wiping her hands under her eyes, she said, “I’m fine. I’m embarrassed, but fine.” Pointing to her wet cheeks she said, “These are just hormone related. I wouldn’t say no to another piece of chocolate, though.”
His smile lit up the night. “That I can do. I’ll feed you chocolate all night.” Before she got off the bench, he took her shoes and socks off for her. Then he took her hand and led her down the beach. When he found a level spot, he put the blanket down. Gesturing for her to sit, he started emptying the picnic basket, giving her the chocolate first.
“Would you prefer champagne or vodka?”
Laughing, she said, “You brought vodka to an evening picnic? You really did think about me, didn’t you? But tonight, I’ll take the champagne. It’s not my usual drink, but it goes nicely with moonlight and good company.” Lacey had only had champagne at weddings, but knew it was supposed to be the “romantic” drink, so she’d drink it.
Strawberries followed the champagne out of the basket, along with a container of whipped cream. He was scoring major points. Lacey was definitely getting warm and fuzzy feelings.
While Jody fed her strawberries dipped in cream, his mind went off the grid. He had to stop himself from thinking about what he really wanted to use that cream for. He wanted to draw on her with it and then follow the pattern he made with his tongue. As a matter of fact, he had more back at his house for just that purpose. Knowing he’d have to wait for that was killing him.
Lacey could tell by the way his eyes watched her where his thoughts were. Time to get back to talking. “Tell me about your family, Jody. I know you have a sister named Karen, but that’s about it.” She wanted to get to know him better anyway, and maybe talking about his family would get his, well their, minds off the whipped cream. Besides that, she was curious. Jody didn’t talk about him as much as he asked about her.
Jody shrugged. “I didn’t have a great childhood, but it all turned out okay. My father left when I was about ten, I guess. We never saw him again. That left me to take care of my mom and my little sister. We lived in a rough neighborhood. I walked my sister to school every day to make sure she was safe. Lucky for me, I was a big kid, because I had to do some fighting.” He didn’t look like he was angry or even sad over that fact. He just accepted that was the way his life was. He’d been in a protection role all of his life. “Luckily I had my hockey coach as a mentor. I don’t know what I’d do without him. In San Jose, they did an annual father/son weekend. My coach always came to that when he could get away. He’s the only reason I ever made it to the NHL.”
Lacey wanted to put her arms around him and hold him in comfort for the boy he was forced to be. She settled for leaning closer to him, and letting him put his arm around her. That wasn’t close enough for him though. He shifted both of them around until he had her nestled in the V of his legs with her back against his chest. Now he was able to wrap both arms around her.
Lacey leaned back into him and reached up to put her hand on his cheek. “I’m sorry. That’s a lot of responsibility for a child to take on. Are you close with your mom and sister now?”
Jody didn’t want to talk anymore. He just wanted to sit there and feel Lacey’s silky hair against his face. Being this close to her, he could easily smell her chocolaty mint soap. He could sit there all night.
“As close as I can be. They live in Nova Scotia, so I don’t see them much. I talk to them at least once a week, though. My sister still lives at home. She just finished college.” Lacey could tell by the tone of his voice how proud he was of his sister. “She works in special education. I think you’d like her, Lace. She has a big heart and somehow always sees the glass as half full.”
“I’m sure I would, she sounds wonderful. I miss my brother all the time; you’re lucky to have a sister.” Telling him about David wasn’t as painful as it used to be. Time did help, but she’d never stop missing him. She also told him about how crazy it drove her that her mother viewed it as an everyday accident as opposed to dealing with the fact that the drunk driver who took his life was alive and well.
Lacey continued, “I guess that’s just her way of coping with it. I don’t know why it bothers me so much. I think my mom feels that if she thinks of it that way then it wasn’t so tragic. Maybe it helps her deal with the injustice of the whole thing.” Lacey knew she was hard on her mother. She viewed her mother as weak, and she had a hard time understanding weak people. Maybe it wasn’t right to feel that way, but she did.
“Everyone deals with grief in their own way, Lace. When my dad took off, my mother hit the bottle. She was mean when she drank, but I tried to understand. I kept Karen away from her when she was drinking. Me? I got physical. My aggression escalated when the kids started calling my mom a drunk. I think it just went on from there. When I wasn’t able to walk Karen to school, the kids would steal her lunch. We didn’t have much back then so it really impacted her. I think that’s when I started getting protective of my things. If I wasn’t, people took them away. And I included my sister in that. I was afraid social services would take us both away. I couldn’t allow that.”
Jody saw that the strawberries were gone, and Lacey had drunk quite a bit of champagne. Leaving Lacey sitting on the blanket, Jody got up and started cleaning the stuff up. He was putting it back in the basket when she reached out and touched his face again. How he loved it when she touched him. “How’s your mom now?”
He reached up and touched her hand on his face, smiling. “She’s been sober for almost ten years, and she’s got a new beau. I haven’t met him, but Karen says he’s good to them both, so I already approve.”
Lacey felt so much tenderness for him at that moment. The champagne or the romance of the whole evening may have amplified it, but it was there for whatever reason. “You were one heck of a boy, Jody, and I think you turned into one hell of a man.” She leaned towards him and pulled him over for a kiss.
Jody loved that she did that. It was so sexy to him when a woman made moves on him. Well, the right woman anyway. He leaned into her gently, laying her down on the blanket. His hands brushed her hair away from her face as he placed kisses on her nose and cheeks. “Thanks for saying that. I don’t know that I did everything right, but everything I did was for my family.”
Lacey looked up at him and traced his cheekbone with her finger, just to keep in contact with him. She leaned up and kissed the scar under his bottom lip. “I don’t know how you look into a mirror everyday and see anything lacking in this face, Jody. You are so handsome.”
Jody smiled down at her and said, “Well, maybe I have a broken mirror. But whatever the reason is, I’m glad you don’t see me like I do.” He wanted to kiss her lips until they were swollen from the attention, and then he would slip his tongue inside so that he could taste the strawberries and champagne on her. But he didn’t. Since the idea of getting her naked was shot, he didn’t want to start anything that would leave them both frenzied. He knew from their kissing episode on the deck that they would both get caught up in each other. Maybe she could stay with him, and they could just cuddle. Besides, what said romance more than cuddling anyway? Oh who was he kidding? It would be awful. He’d suffer all night. But he already told her he wanted her to stay the night. It was going to be a long night with little to no sleep for him.
Jody lifted off of her, and Lacey immediately felt the loss. “Are you ready to go? I thought maybe we’d go back to my place. I’d still like you to stay the night if you want to. Cuddling is my second favorite thing to do in bed.” He wiggled his eyebrows, making Lacey laugh.
“A
re you serious? Jody, it would be torture. I don’t think it’s the right night for our first sleepover.” At the word sleepover, she let out another laugh. She sounded like a teenager. Or maybe she’d simply drunk too much champagne.
“Okay, fair enough. How about you just come over and visit with Izzy and me for a while? We’ll sit out on the deck wrapped in a blanket and talk some more. I’ll take you home later.” Jody simply wasn’t ready to let her go yet, even though they both had to be up early the next day. “It’s only a little after eight now. How about if I promise to have you home by ten?”
“That sounds good. I always want to see Izzy anyway. Let’s go.” Lacey was having some bad cramping, but tried to ignore it. She didn’t want the night to end, even though she wasn’t feeling well. Jody must have seen her grimace when she started to get up, because he looked at her with sympathy.
“I wish I could make you feel better.” Before she had a chance to resist, Jody leaned down and picked her up. “I’ll carry you to the truck and come back for this stuff.”
“Put me down!” Lacey was giggling as she said it, so her command didn’t carry much weight. She didn’t protest any more than those three words for two reasons. First, he was going to do what he wanted to do anyway and second, she liked it when he picked her up. She supposed she shouldn’t, women’s lib and all that, but she did. Lacey loved an alpha male.
Izzy was excited to see them both. After the initial hand licking and tail wagging, though, she went over to her bed and collapsed. When Izzy lay down, the floor shook.
Jody got Lacey a glass of vodka with a splash of cranberry juice and grabbed himself a beer. On the way out to the deck, he snagged the blanket off of the back of the couch. When Lacey went to sit in the rocking chair, he tugged on her shirt to lead her over to the lounge chair. He sat down and motioned for her to sit between his legs again. Sitting like that at the beach was nice, and he wanted to be able to feel her hair against his face again.
Lacey took the blanket from him and sat down. “Let’s see if I can cover us both up.” It was a bit chilly with the breeze coming in off the ocean so she was glad for the warmth of Jody’s body and the blanket.
They talked some more and kissed a little bit. It felt strained, though. The beach was perfect, but when they got back to Jody’s, things just felt weird. She probably should have just ended the date at the beach. The sexual tension was overwhelming and was taking away from their time together.
About forty-five minutes after they got there, Lacey had finished her drink and was feeling mellow. And tired. Even though she was tired, she wanted Jody so badly; she could punch Mother Nature in the face. Repeatedly. She could tell she was about to get teary and pathetic. The best thing for her to do was to go home and go to bed. “Jody?”
“Lace?”
“Would you mind terribly if I asked you to take me home? I’m just not feeling great, and I’m beat.” God, she hoped he didn’t think it had anything to do with him.
I knew I would somehow mess this up. She wants to go home. Perfect. Jody felt like shit. “Sure Lace, whatever you want.”
“Thanks.”
When they got to Zoe’s, Jody opened her door and walked her up the stairs. “Thanks for coming out with me tonight. I’m sorry you aren’t feeling well.” What else should he say? Should he just ask her if he messed something up? God, he was so pathetic. He turned around to leave.
“Whoa. Where’s my goodnight kiss? You can’t end a date without a goodnight kiss at the door, Jody.” She knew he wanted to kiss her, but was afraid he’d done something wrong. He was such a mix of cocky, bordering on arrogant, and unsure, bordering on insecure. In all actuality, she was the one who screwed things up. Well, her body did anyway.
Jody turned back around and gave her a hesitant smile. “You’re the boss.” He leaned down and gave her such a sweet, gentle kiss that it brought tears to Lacey’s eyes. He was so gentle with her sometimes.
Jody looked at her and took a step back. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! I made you cry. Again. I really suck at this, don’t I?” And now I’m almost yelling at her. Shut up! Stop the madness.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just overly emotional when I have my … well, right now. You’ve been so great tonight. You put so much thought into our date, and …” now Lacey had some tears escaping, “You bought my favorite things, and I haven’t had anyone treat me like this in forever, and then you kissed me so sweetly, and I …”
Jody stopped her with a finger to her lips. “Lace, stop, you’re killing me. Your tears are like kryptonite. Tonight was the best date I’ve ever had. I’m going to leave now so you can go tuck yourself in bed, okay?” He gave her a kiss on her forehead (more tears for that one) and left.
Sunlight filtered in through the blinds onto Jody’s face as he slowly awoke. His first thoughts upon waking were of Lacey. She was definitely not herself on their date, and he hoped she was feeling better today. Just in case it was more than her not feeling well, he thought he’d give her a Jody-free day. He didn’t want to suffocate her.
After his morning routine and a quick jog to warm up for practice, he hit the road for the rink. A lot of the guys were already there. Cars and trucks of all kinds filled the lot. They ranged from the young kids with their Hondas and Fords, to the veterans with their Audis and BMWs. There was a Harley parked next to Lacey’s car, which reminded him that she used to have one.
The idea of Lacey riding a Harley was hot. Admittedly, it did surprise him a bit when she told him she previously owned one. She didn’t have one of the smaller ones, like a Sportster, either. He looked it up. A Fat Boy was a big bike. It wasn’t that he didn’t think she was capable, but he just couldn’t picture her as a tough biker chick. But that was stereotyping, wasn’t it? Now he could picture her wearing leather. Oh yeah, that wasn’t a problem.
Almost as if she knew he was thinking about her, she called. His phone started playing “Take My Breath Away” from the movie, Top Gun. He knew it was corny, but he felt like they were just like Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis. They had an instant, hot connection. God help him if the guys heard it, though.
Lacey felt more human after a good night’s rest and a hot shower. It occurred to her in the shower that she really needed to tell Jody about Steven soon. She had checked her e-mail account that morning and saw that Steven had e-mailed her the night before saying he would see her on Saturday. She responded and said he shouldn’t come because she wouldn’t see him; she also thought about blocking his e-mail address, but ultimately decided not to, just so that she would know where he was in case he decided to e-mail her again telling her when he would be there on Saturday. She didn’t want to be caught unaware.
Now she had to decide how to tell Jody – and more importantly, where to tell him about Steven coming back. A restaurant seemed like an ideal setting. Maybe Jody wouldn’t freak out if they were in a public place. Fingers crossed, she called him to see if he could meet her for lunch.
He picked up on the second ring. “Hey Lace, how are you feeling today?”
Lacey was still somewhat embarrassed over her mushy tears the previous night. “I’m fine. I’m sorry about the old gloom and doom last night.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for. I don’t want you to ever pretend with me. If you weren’t feeling well, you weren’t feeling well. I just hope I didn’t do anything to make it worse.” Even though he controlled himself for the most part, he felt bad about his constant wayward thoughts after finding out she was uncomfortable.
“God no! You were wonderful. I’m going to make it up to you, but right now, I’d like to know if I could take you out to lunch. There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
That sounded ominous. “We have practice until noon. Can we go after that, or is that too late?” Jody would say yes anytime he had a chance to see her.
Since Lacey was in the administrative building next to the rink, she told him to meet her by her at her car at half
past noon. She knew there was an Olive Garden right down the street that seemed like it was usually crowded. Being in a crowd would be good for this conversation.
“Yeah, that’d be perfect. See you then, Lace.”
“Bye, Jody.”
Ugh, she was not looking forward to this.
The morning dragged on for Lacey. She had plenty of work to do but she was a tad nervous and just wanted to get her conversation with Jody out of the way. He had told her he was working on his temper, but she knew he wouldn’t have it under control overnight.
The clock finally told her it was time to leave for lunch. Gathering her purse, she walked out to her car. It only took a minute or two to get there, and she smiled at the sight of Jody waiting for her. His hair was still damp from his shower, and he smelled heavenly. No cologne, just man and soap. Maybe a little fabric softener, too.
Jody took in Lacey’s black, high-waisted slacks and her silky, deep purple blouse. The high waist on her pants made her legs look a mile long, and her long, dark hair looked as silky as her blouse. He couldn’t wait to feel her hair draped around him. Jesus, stop, Jody thought. He honestly couldn’t help where his thoughts went when she was around.
Lacey walked right up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Looking up at him with a smile, she rested her chin on his chest and said, “Hi.”
Jody ran his thumb under her bottom lip and gave her a gentle kiss. “Hi back.” He stuck his face in her hair and inhaled. “Oranges?”
He seemed to make a game out of guessing what soap she used. “Yup. Orange sage. Citrus with a little spice.” Ready to get her news out of the way, she let go of him and got into her car. “Let’s go.”
The Enforcer (NHL Scorpions) Page 14