He jerks back and stares at me. “What does that mean?”
Oops, have I overstepped? Welp, might as well finish. “I feel like your family is difficult and has had all these dramas and you don’t want to be involved but you can’t help it because you do care.”
He’s silent for a moment. “Maybe,” he finally says gruffly.
Nailed it. I bite back a smile.
“They all want to get together again tomorrow night,” he says. “But just for fun. Lacey and Taylor will come, too. They said to bring you.”
“Oh.” I consider that. It sounds fun. “Okay.”
“And I’m having lunch with my dad tomorrow.” He nudges me with his shoulder. “Happy now?”
I laugh softly. “Why yes, I am.”
I don’t know why it matters to me, but I hate the idea that he and his dad have that distance between them. His dad seemed so happy to see him when we showed up unexpectedly at the party. And I think Jax does care about his dad, but something hurt him. I suspect it’s his parents’ divorce, but that’s a wild guess. Okay, not so wild. Lots of kids get hurt by their parents divorcing. Maybe he’ll talk to me about that at some point.
“Want to walk more?” he asks.
“Sure.” I stand. The ocean breeze tugs my hair back off my face and I turn my face to it. “I love it here.”
“Yeah, it’s nice. Would you ever leave Chicago?”
Steve asked me that once. There was a very real possibility he’d get traded somewhere else eventually, and we’d have to move. “I love Chicago. I don’t want to leave. But there’s a whole big world out there to explore.” I gesture toward the bluff and the ocean. “Like this. It’s beautiful.”
“True.” We walk farther. “You’re a pretty smart cookie, Flynn.”
“Of course I am. I’m a teacher.” I smirk at him and he laughs.
Jax arranges to meet his dad for lunch and it’s near a shopping mall, so he drops me off there on his way. It’s an outdoor, two-level mall, and I wander in and out of some shops. I spent a bunch of money on things to come on this trip, which was kind of a waste when I had perfectly good clothes and makeup at home, so I probably shouldn’t spend more. But I have some savings, which I was going to spend on the honeymoon (sigh). If we’re going out with Jax’s family tonight, I want to look decent, so I buy a pair of jeans, a black silk and lace camisole and a slouchy gray cardigan. After a salad at the food court, I discover the ice rink. This makes me smile. A skating rink in a California mall! I watch people glide over the ice through the glass on the level above the rink.
Jax texts me when he’s done his lunch, and we meet up at one end of the mall.
“How’d it go?” I ask, studying his face.
“Okay.” He shrugs.
That’s it. That’s all I’m getting. Okay. “There’s a skating rink in this mall.”
He grins. “No shit.”
“Really.”
“Do you know how to skate?”
“Of course I do.”
“Let’s go, then.” He takes my arm and starts walking.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
We find the entrance and pay to rent skates.
“What about your feet?” I whisper to him.
“I’ll survive.”
We join the people on the ice, lots of kids, some skating independently, others using big plastic animals to hold on to. I do know how to skate, but it’s been a while and I’m a little wobbly in my first efforts. Jax, of course, is a superstar, gliding easily around. Sunlight streams in through high windows and it makes me smile.
After a few laps around the ice, I feel steadier and I attempt a little spin, which is pretty much the extent of the moves I learned during my figure skating lessons many years ago.
“Ooooh, show off,” Jax says.
“I’m not showing off. You’re showing off.” He’s literally skating circles around me.
He laughs and takes my hands, spinning me around.
I let out a little screech but he’s holding on tight.
“How does it feel to be on ice like this?” I ask.
“It feels good.” He smoothly switches to skating backward in front of me. “It’s fun.”
A little boy whizzes between us and crashes into the boards. “Sorry,” he says. “I don’t know how to stop.”
Jax skates over to him. “Want to learn?”
“Yeah.”
Jax leads the boy into the middle of the ice and patiently shows him how to stop, and the kid does it a few times to show he’s got it.
“Thanks, mister!” he says as Jax skates back to me with a smile on his face.
My heart is warm and soft. “He has no idea he just got a lesson from an NHL star.”
Jax rolls his eyes. “Don’t know about the ‘star’ thing.”
“Your family is hockey royalty.”
“Whatever.”
We spend a little more time fooling around on the ice, then head off.
“My shins hurt,” I complain. “Who knew there are muscles in the shins?”
“Anterior tibialis.”
I purse my lips and look up through my eyelashes as I unlace my skates. “Really? That’s good trivia.”
“Really. You need to stretch. I’ll show you.”
With his shoes on, he demonstrates. “Toe drag stretch.”
I follow what he does, feeling the stretch. “Thanks.”
We walk out. “Where to now?” he asks. “You done shopping?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go for a drive.”
We end up at a lighthouse. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, sitting atop the cliffs. The lighthouse isn’t open, but we wander around and explore the views of the ocean from up here. Then we stop at a Starbucks for coffees and head back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner out.
“Where are we going tonight?” I ask. “Will I be okay if I wear jeans?”
“It doesn’t matter what you wear.”
“Yes, it does.” I roll my eyes and teasingly say, “Men.”
He laughs. “Let me check. Everly sent me the name of the place.” He pulls out his phone. “It’s called Coastal Kitchen.” He swipes and taps, then shows me his phone with the website of the restaurant.
“Okay.” I nod, satisfied that it’s not some swanky place in Hollywood, or something.
“JP and Taylor live in Long Beach, so she was trying to find something in between there and Santa Monica.”
In our room, the light is blinking on the phone with a message. I point it out to Jax, who picks up the receiver and listens. He hangs up and looks at me. “The resort has some room openings. We can get you your own room now.”
“Oh.” As weird as it was at first sharing a room with Jax, we’ve kind of settled in. Mostly. The last two nights I’ve been intensely aware of him sleeping only inches away from me in that bed. Yes, it’s a big bed, but he’s a big man and takes up a lot of space.
There’s also the issue of money. I had no idea he was staying a resort this expensive when I impulsively begged to tag along with him. There’s no way I can pay five hundred dollars a night for the next…I mentally count…six nights. Holy shit.
“I’ll call the desk and see what’s available.” Jax picks up the phone again.
I sit at the small round table and wait, nibbling my bottom lip, listening to Jax. Eventually, he ends the conversation and hangs up.
I clear my throat. “So?”
“We’re going to move tonight.”
I blink. “What? We?”
“Yeah.” He rises and stretches. “The rooms are expensive here, but they have a suite that has a separate bedroom and a sofa bed in the living room.”
I swallow. “I’ll pay for half of it.”
“Phhhht. No, you won’t.”
“No, really, Jax. I don’t want to cost you more money.” I jump up and twist my fingers together. “It’s bad enough I made you bring me and we had to share this room the last few
nights.”
“It’s not a big deal, Flynn. Pack your things while I go to the front desk and get the keys.”
I sink back down into the chair, my chin dipping. Shit. My chest tightens. I’m sure the suites are a thousand dollars a night, which doesn’t save me any money at all if I pay half. And I can’t let him spend that much money. I lift my head. “Let’s just stay here,” I say firmly. “This is working fine.”
He cocks his head and scrutinizes me. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah! It’s fine, right? And it’s a pain packing up and moving.”
“Yeah,” he says slowly. “It’s fine.”
11
Jax
I’m only doing it to save Molly money. I know she’s not enthusiastic about spending so much. I’d have no problem springing for a suite so we could each have a bed in separate rooms, but I also see she feels guilty about that. So we’ll stay put. It’s no big deal.
She spends a long time in the bathroom getting ready. I hope she’s not upset. When she finally emerges, her eyes are a bit pink and bright, confirming my suspicions. I guess I could say it serves her right for insisting on coming with me, but damn, I don’t want her to be sad. She’s got enough problems, with a lying, cheating fiancé.
Other than that, she looks amazing—jeans that show off her fantastic ass and long legs, a sexy, lacy cami and a loose cardigan over it. Her bright hair’s the usual mess of shoulder-length waves, her lips shiny. “Ready!”
I changed while she was in there, so I’m ready too, also wearing jeans. If I’m wrong and the restaurant is super classy, we’ll both be in jeans.
Coastal Kitchen is nice, but we’re dressed fine. Everly and her boyfriend Wyatt are already sitting at a long table. Wyatt plays for Grandpa’s team, the Condors. How does it feel to be dating the team owner’s daughter? I guess he’s okay with it, since he and Everly both look happy.
We all greet each other. Everly and Wyatt are sitting on a long banquette loaded with blue and white cushions on one side of the table, so Molly and I take seats on tall white stools opposite them. We’re still looking over the drinks menu when Taylor and JP arrive, followed soon after by Lacey and Théo.
We may have weird relationships, but we’re all close in age and we’re all united by hockey and our wacky family so hopefully tonight isn’t a fiasco.
“It’s Trivia Night here!” Molly announces beside me, holding up the table card.
“Really?” I turn to her.
“Yep!”
We lift a hand in the air and high five each other.
“This is a thing?” Taylor asks.
“Yeah, and we kick ass at trivia,” I reply. “Let’s sign up.”
It doesn’t start until later, so we’ll have time to eat first. I think better on a full stomach.
We order bottles of wine, then appetizers to share. There’s lots of noisy chatter and laughter, food being passed around and glasses filled. Molly talks animatedly with Taylor and Lacey, laughing at the story about the fight that broke out at Lacey and Théo’s wedding, and telling them about her job teaching third grade.
“I work with kids too,” Taylor says. “They’re so much fun.”
“They can be. One of my kids had been away for a few days because his grandfather passed away. When he came back, he said that he’d been away because his grandpa died and he had to be a polar bear.”
They gaze blankly back at her.
“He was a pall bearer,” she finishes smiling, cracking everyone up. “It was so cute.”
At one point, JP returns from the men’s room, shaking his head. “Well, that was awkward.”
“What?” Wyatt asks, picking up a potato skin.
“Some dude in the bathroom came and stood at the urinal right beside me. Every other one was empty.”
All the guys make appropriate sounds of consternation.
The women exchange looks.
“At least he didn’t try to make conversation,” I say.
“Oh, he did,” JP says.
We all groan even louder.
“That’s not allowed?” Molly asks with a grin.
“It’s an unwritten guy rule,” I reply. “There’s nothing than can’t wait to be said until you’re both finished.”
Everyone cracks up.
“Are there other unwritten guy rules?” Everly asks.
“Oh yeah,” I say. “We have to kill all the spiders.”
“Not me,” JP says. “I’m not going near those fuckers.”
Taylor grins. “I’m the spider killer.”
“Also, when you’re in the bathroom in a stall and someone else comes in, you have to cough or make some kind of noise so they know they’re not alone,” Wyatt puts in.
The rest of us guys nod solemnly in agreement.
“And never leave a bro hanging when he tries to high five you,” I add. “That’s just wrong.”
The women are falling over in laughter.
Molly and I convince the others to sign up for the trivia event. As things get started, she and I do our secret handshake—two fingers, a couple of backhanded slaps and a fist bump.
“What was that?” Théo asks, ginning widely.
“Lucky handshake,” I reply. “We do it every trivia contest.”
I catch Everly giving me a strange look.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing.” She shakes her head, lips tipped up. “It’s cute.”
“Cute,” I scoff. “Please. This is serious business.”
“I’m already regretting participating in this,” Wyatt says.
I rub my hands together.
I’m having fun. With my family.
There’s a lot less tension than I’ve ever felt at a family get-together and it’s a goddamn relief, to be honest. And it’s fun being here with Molly. She fits right in, and everyone loves her.
“How did you get into trivia?” Everly asks me curiously.
I shrug. “I read a lot when we travel…on the plane, on buses. Weird stuff just sticks in my head.”
The announcer begins the trivia night, welcoming everyone, outlining the rules and the prizes. “Tonight’s theme is ‘Carnal Knowledge.’ ”
“Wait, what?” I turn to Molly at the same moment she looks at me, her eyes big as plates.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” she asks.
“That’s right, it’s all about the bow-chicka-wow-wow!” the announcer booms. “Driving Miss Daisy! Doing the horizontal greased-weasel tango.” The crowd makes a displeased noise. “Putting ranch dressing in Hidden Valley!” Now the crowd boos. “All right, all right, enough of that! Let’s get started!”
“I know a lot about this subject,” Wyatt says enthusiastically. “I was afraid I was going to look stupid.”
Everly cracks up, falling against him.
“First question! Where did the term blow job come from?”
We’re given four possible answers. Molly and I confer quietly, our heads close together. Close enough to smell that fresh grapefruit smell. “A musician who said it was like playing a horn?” she whispers incredulously.
“Sounds plausible to me.”
“No! That is not the answer.”
“Okay, which is it?”
“Number four.” A merging of the Victorian slang for prostitute and ejaculation.
Christ. I can’t even think about these answers without turning red in the face. How the hell did we end up at sex trivia night?
“Early condoms were made of everything but…a. animal intestines; b. animal horns; c. linen soaked in chemical, dried and tied on with a ribbon; or d. snakeskin.”
“Snakeskin condom,” Everly muses. “Hmmm.”
Molly and I again confer. Again, she seems confident of her answer. “I have no fucking clue,” I whisper. “Except an animal horn on my dick sounds pretty damn painful.”
She winces. “Um, yeah. It’s snakeskin. For real.”
“What is the average number of sex partners for wom
en?” the announcer calls. “Three, seven, nine, or twenty?”
I look at Molly. Her lips twist up. “I think it’s seven.”
I blink at her. Has she been with seven guys? That’s…well, that’s none of my business. “Okay.” Once again I have to go with her answer.
The next question is average number of sex partners for men—four, seven, nine-point-five, or eleven.
“Nine-point-five?” I ask. “How do you have half a sex partner?”
“Maybe blow-up dolls count,” Harrison says, cracking us all up again.
“It’s an average,” Molly says. “What do you think? You’re a man.”
“It has to be eleven.”
She bites her lip. “Are you sure?”
“I have no idea.”
“Okay, eleven.”
“What percentage of woman can orgasm from intercourse alone? A. 25%; b. 50%; c. 85%; d. 100%.”
“Twenty-five percent,” Molly whispers immediately.
“Uh, wow.” I tug at the collar of my shirt. Is it getting hot in here? I think it is.
“How many nerve endings does the clitoris have?” The possible answers are three hundred, one thousand, eight thousand and ten thousand.
“What’s the difference between a bar and a clitoris?” Lacey asks.
We all look at her.
“Men have no trouble finding a bar,” she answers.
The women laugh, the men groan. “Not you, honey,” she says, patting Théo’s cheek.
He smirks.
“It’s the only organ in the human body whose sole purpose is pleasure,” Molly informs us.
I draw back to level a look at her. “Jesus. That wasn’t even a question.”
She tosses her head with a know-it-all look that’s so damn cute.
We run through questions about how many women report having an orgasm during anal sex, where a man’s G-spot is, the best position for women to have an orgasm, and if men can fake orgasms.
“Why would you want to?” Wyatt asks with a puzzled frown.
“I have,” JP says.
“Wait, what?” Taylor glares at him.
“Not with you, babe.” He grimaces. “I just wanted to be done and out of there. Wasn’t happening.” He pauses. “I was hammered.”
“Well, we’re all getting to know each other so much better,” Molly quips.
Game Changer Page 10
