Page 42 of Playing for Keeps (Seattle Hawks Ice Hockey #4)

Jay

“Actually,” I run a hand over my messed up hair because let’s face it, it’s been fucked into next week with a jolly good thanks to Jade Jones.

I stare at my best friend, my eyes adjusting to the morning light as he stands there leaning in the doorway with Luca hot on his heels. “I haven’t.” It’s so fucking lame.

Guilt floods over me lying to his face like that, rolling right off the tongue without a second’s pause. I’m such a fucking asshole.

“Uncle JJ!” Luca interrupts my guilt-ridden haze, keeping my rising panic down at having his Aunty Jade upstairs, stashed in the bedroom. He tugs on my bathrobe and beams up at me. “Mommy and Daddy are getting married!”

“Hey, Bud. Wow, I know right, not long to go now.” I scrub a hand down my face, hoping I’m not coming across as a panicked mess. “And a little birdie tells me that you’re going to be the ring bearer?”

He giggles, shooting his arms up in the air. “Yes! Me and Robbie! And Daddy said I get to wear a tuxedo!”

“I can’t wait to see that.” I smile, it could only be Tanner’s kid that even knows what a tuxedo is, or be able to say it. And just when I think things can’t get worse, Luca asks;

“Have you seen Aunty Jade?”

My eyes bug wide as I mash my lips together, letting them pop after a moment. “I think she’s around here somewhere, but you know Aunty Jade, she loves to get up early.”

“Maybe she went for a walk without us,” Luca says, glancing up at his dad.

“We stopped by her cottage to see if she wanted to come play golf, but she wasn’t there.”

Fuck, there’s a damned good reason for that.

“It was Luca’s idea to see if you were awake,” Tanner goes on. “He insisted you said to give you an early wake up call.”

Thanks, Buddy.

“Maybe she went on one of those walking trails,” I suggest. “She was talking about doing that yesterday. Or maybe, just maybe, she went to yoga.” I nod down towards the little guy who bends to the ground, placing his hands on the deck and pushes forwards, kicking his legs up.

“Yoga!” he calls out with glee.

“Wow, you can almost do a handstand,” I muse. “Aunty Jade will be so proud.”

“Luca, be careful,” his dad warns, trying to grab him before he tumbles over. “We don’t want any cuts or scrapes before the wedding.”

I glance at Tanner once he’s got Luca back to a standing position. “He has a lot of energy first thing.”

“You’ve got no idea.” Tanner leans in the doorway casually and I can’t help but notice a little grin on his face as his eyes meet mine.

A grin that stirs my already heightened heart rate and senses.

Fuck. Why is he looking at me like that?

There’s no way he’d be smiling his head off if he thought Jade was up in my room, naked or otherwise.

“You get lucky last night?” he quirks out of the side of his mouth.

“Huh, what?” I balk. Oh, fuck. He thinks I picked up some random chick.

Kill me now.

“You’ve got a girl stashed up there, haven’t you? Especially coming down here in the hotel robe. All a telltale sign.” He winks.

My eyes pop wide, my mouth parting to say something, stuttering a breath before I can continue to profess my innocence, which means shit by now. I’m well aware of it. “Nah, man. Nothing like that.”

Tanner shakes his head like he knows all too well and taps his nose like he’s in on the world’s biggest secret. “You always were a hit with the ladies. We can’t take you anywhere.”

“Would I do a thing like that?” I thumb towards my chest, covered with the white fluffy robe, which I’m sure looks a little ridiculous. “Now, how about I get showered and cleaned up, and I meet you guys for breakfast in an hour? Then we can have a round of golf after I wake up?”

“What do you think, Luca? Do you think you can wait until pancakes to play golf? We’ll go see if Mommy is awake and come back and have breakfast with Uncle JJ?”

“Yes!” He jumps up and down, excited as hell. “And Aunty Jade, if we can find her.”

I almost sputter a laugh. Almost. This fucking kid.

“Text me when you’re ready.” Tanner glances up in the direction of my hair. I can only take a stab at what I must look like. “That hero hair of yours might need some working over.”

“Hero hair!” Luca chimes and they both laugh. It’s a sharp contrast to my very nervous chuckle, one that in no way, shape, or form feels natural. And as they take off back to their room, with a little wave to me, I feel all kinds of emotions rush over me at once. Guilt. Panic. Disbelief. Confusion.

How unlucky could we be? almost being sprung by Tanner and his kid.

I’m not even sure how we thought we’d get away with this having the family so close.

But as I step back inside and lean back on the door, I close my eyes for a second to recoup my thoughts and take a breath.

When I reopen them again, Jade is standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at me with wide-brimmed eyes.

She’s also wrapped up in her hotel robe, the belt looped around at the side, staring at me with her mouth open.

“Shit!” She finally lets out a cry, like she’s been holding it in.

“You can say that again.” I make it to the bottom step in seconds and dart up to her two at a time. I can see the panic and the same disbelief as I felt etched into her pretty features. “Tanner knew I had someone here. Thank fuck he didn’t suspect it was you!”

Jade continues to stare at me, no words forming as we walk back into the bedroom.

“This is a disaster,” she whispers, hands roaming through her hair, which clearly looks like it’s been smoothed out while I’ve been gone.

It did not look like that when I left to answer the door.

“I can’t believe they’re even up this damned early!

I mean, what are the chances they’d come looking for us! ”

“Obviously pretty damned high.” I hold my face in my hands for a second while I think and take a seat, dropping to the edge of the bed. It dips with my weight and I rest my elbows on my thighs. “I just fucking lied to a three-year-old little boy and my best friend!”

Okay, technically I didn’t lie to Luca, I said Jade must be around here somewhere, and that she likes to get up early, and technically, both things are true.

“Well, what were you supposed to say? Come on in, she’s upstairs in bed with me? I knew I jinxed it before even talking about them coming knocking.”

I blow out a breath and scrunch my hair in my hands while I think, not that it’s going to do me any good. “The good news is, no one saw you and we’re okay for now.”

She plops down beside me and I inch my arm around her shoulders, pulling her to my side. “For now?”

“We just gotta get through this wedding. Though how the fuck am I supposed to keep my hands off you in public? We took fucking dance lessons!”

She rocks me with a nudge of her body, I barely move but it’s cute all the same. “Well, it could be a good chance at restraint, or maybe a little you can’t touch me foreplay. I think it’s going to be fun, at the very least.”

I turn my head to look at her slowly. “Foreplay?”

That sweet little giggle is doing things to me again. My god of thunder gives me a nudge to let me know, like I’m not already aware. “It could be fun trying to keep our hands off each other, knowing that no one can know,” she says.

“I’m not sure that sounds like so much fun.” I raise a brow, surprised by her calm and collected approach, but she is a yogi after all. “Do you like that idea?”

“It’s kind of sexy, until we figure out what the hell we’re going to tell Tanner, and when.”

“I don’t know if right before the wedding is a good idea to confess our sins, but I felt like such an asshole down there. Especially with Luca asking where you were.”

“I guess we have to figure out what we are first, before we go running our mouths off to our families.”

I stare at her for a long moment, taking in the sweet little pink glow to her cheeks. Her skin is like butter, so soft and smooth. “Figure out what we are?”

She mashes her lips together, not looking at me, but I feel the depth of her shoulders sag and her eyes drop.

“Babe, we’re a thing,” I clarify. “If you want to be, that is.”

She parts her lips. “It’s just — I didn’t think — I have no idea how to navigate this.”

“Well, we can talk about it later. We don’t have to have it all mapped out right this second.”

Her head bobs and I realize she’s nodding thoughtfully. “I have a spa day later with Deb and two of her friends after yoga and lunch, you have training and the game tonight.”

“We’ll talk,” I assure her. “One way or the other later tonight, or tomorrow. We’ve got this whole weekend, and a few days after.”

“Okay.” She lets out another breath.

“There’s nothing to worry about.” I try to sound as positive as I can, because realistically I don’t know how her parents are going to react, or what she wants to do from here.

But we will work it out. I want her. Not being with her these past few weeks was torture, not something I want to repeat.

But there’s a lot to discuss and work out if we’re going to be together.

Would she base herself in Seattle for me?

Could that fit in with the life she’s trying to create with her new business?

There’s no way I can do what Ashton does with long distance, I mean, I would if it were the only option right now. But having to say goodbye all the time would kill me.

Despite this, my body buzzes with excitement over the prospect of us being in the same city, being together, because I realize I don’t want anyone else. There’s only her in my sights.

She pushes up off the bed, but before she gets all the way up to standing, I grab her around the middle and she falls back toward me, resting her knee on the bed so she doesn’t tumble down. “Jay!” she squeals in that way I love.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Umm, Tanner and Luca are on the prowl looking for us, they’ve already been over here once!”

“Well, they went back to the room. Surely we got time for a quickie?”

“A quickie?” She tilts her head, oh so cutely, her hair sashaying to the side.

I tug at her robe, ignoring her incredulous tone, reaching for that looped around fluffy belt because I know a true treasure lies beneath. “It’s possible, I’m sure. I can only try.” I shrug.

Peels of laughter tumble from her sweet little mouth, and I can’t help but laugh too. “You better be quick, Mister.”

My eyes pop in surprise, my eyebrows rising to the heavens. “Yeah?” I dip down to peck her on the lips.

She smiles as I successfully pull her robe apart and I glare down at that sexy little body that does so much for me without having to do anything at all. “Yeah, JJ. Do you darndest.”

My darndest turns out to be plundering my princess from behind while she hangs onto the headboard for dear life.

So much for taking things a little on the slow side.

But that ass facing me as I held onto her hips, my hard as fuck length sliding into her was like having my own slice of heaven on earth.

“I really hope I’m not going to be suffering for that later,” she giggles as she’s about to slip out to her cottage before any more disasters strike with her family and they send out a search party.

“Oh, Babe, I really hope you can feel everywhere I’ve been today.”

“I might need that massage today in the hotel spa to recover.”

“Best to, then I can do it all again later.”

“We’re playing with fire, you know that, right?

” She nips my chin with her thumb and forefinger, her smile playful and carefree.

She really doesn’t seem all that worried about it, and that makes me feel slightly better.

But I’m still going over in my mind what I’m going to say to Tanner.

I need to be the one to talk to him to break the news, it’s only right.

“Fire can be fun , Baby. You seem to like that.”

She slaps me on the butt as I pull the front door back to check the coast is clear before she makes her escape. I return the favor, giving her a tap on her cute ass as she slips away, casting me a little wave as she totters back to her cottage quicker than lightning.

I watch her go, resting my palms on the edge of the patio rail.

She turns once and gives me a smile over her shoulder, my eyes roam down her body in a matter of seconds as I watch that cute, sexy ass.

She only has her robe that she came in last night, so I guess that’s why she’s trying to get back inside without being sprung. That would kinda be hard to explain.

I know I have a huge day today. First breakfast with the family that has been my landing board for the better part of ten years, after that there’s golf with the guys, then I head off to meet up with the team.

Hopefully, I’m not going to choke on all the guilt now running through me with Jade leaving.

It’s kinda like cold water being splashed on my face watching her go. I want her close. I feel more alive than I have in such a long time when I’m around her.

I breathe in the mountain air for a sec before I head inside, making a mental note to appreciate it a little more down by the lake later when I return.

I whip out my phone as soon as I’m inside and type a message to the group chat Taylor, Ashton, Tyler and Jake recently started.

Maybe they can offer me some advice on the timing of talking to my childhood best friend about screwing his sister behind his back.

Not that I’d obviously word it that way, of course.

I just don’t like keeping secrets, they’re like a fungus that just spreads and grows.

And I don’t want that on my conscience. If Grandpa Ray taught me anything, it was to be good to the people who are good to me in return.

I sigh, flopping back on the bed. Knowing I should be showering and getting ready for the day, but I quickly type out a message.

Me

Boys, we gotta talk