I Want You Back (Want You #1)(100)

“She’s a pro, and the closest I’ve come to finding a player on my level who doesn’t hold back. It was fun to blow off some steam with her, and I think she needed it too.”

He opted not to share whatever had put a wrinkle in his forehead.

I glanced at Ash. “You two hitting the town tonight?”

“After we change clothes,” Nolan said. “Thank god Flurry has a dress code.”

“Have fun.”

“What are your plans? I mean, you could come out to the clubs with us,” Ash offered.

“Thanks, but those days are long behind me.”

In the locker room I ditched my gear and took a fast shower. By the time I dressed in my street clothes and headed out, I saw I’d missed two texts from Lucy.

    LQ: Everything OK? Edie said Mimi is having an overnight with them.

LQ: I’m home if you want to talk.



The time had come to have the talk with her that I’d been avoiding.

    ME: OMW



Before I walked out the main entrance, I heard arguing. I stepped into the hallway and saw Gabi and Nolan locked in battle. “Hey. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Gabi snapped. “Your brother was lost so I was telling him exactly where to go.”

Nolan snarled something I couldn’t make out.

“Do I need to stay and referee you two? Or can I go home to my”—I almost said wife, but Nolan would question that, so I amended it to—“family?”

“Go ahead, bro. I’m sure Lucy is anxious for time alone with you since Mimi is with her grandparents.”

What the hell? Did I even want to know what that meant?

Nope.

Gabi said, “Go. I’ll lock up.”

“See you Monday.”





Nineteen





LUCY




I’d had a serious case of déjà vu when Edie called me and said Mimi was spending the night with her and Archer. That had been the norm during Jax’s visitation periods with Mimi, although I hadn’t been aware of his drinking issues at the time; I’d merely chalked it up to Jax opting to do something other than spending time with our daughter.

When I’d quizzed Edie on why Jax and Mimi weren’t playing house in their new apartment, she told me he’d gone to the ice rink and suggested I contact him after I finished working.

There hadn’t been enough space in my brain to worry about Jax’s Saturday plans, when my head was about to explode with scheduling and spreadsheets and team assignments and computer upgrades. I’d always known Lennox defined efficient, but I hadn’t realized she’d done the work of like three people. I selfishly hoped she would come back after her maternity leave, because I did not want to do her job.

Our weekend work attire had been casual, but I needed movement and comfort, so I slipped on my trusty robe immediately after I got home. Once again Jax would catch me lounging around half-naked while I finished a PB and J for supper.

Three knocks sounded.

He could’ve come in, I’d left the door unlocked, but he waited for me to let him in. I considered teasing him that he wouldn’t find me doing anything remotely interesting behind closed doors, but I still wasn’t sure how he’d react to sexual banter.

I opened the door and almost swallowed my tongue.

With that gorgeous face, Jax always looked good. Tonight, though, with his hair damp and scruff darkening his cheeks and a look in his eyes that bordered on wild, he was devastating.

Then he aimed that wild look at me, his gaze dipping to my cleavage and back up to my mouth. “Lucy. I . . .”

He seemed so forlorn that I stepped into his arms without hesitation.

Jax buried his face in my neck and lifted me off the floor, his hands gripping my ass as he carried me into the living room.

Okay then.

He gently lowered me to my feet, his mouth searching for mine and finding it.

The kiss was sweet and resigned and slightly desperate. In our past when Jax kissed me like this, I’d find myself pressed against the nearest flat surface—vertical, horizontal, it didn’t matter—with his hands tearing at my clothes.

Thank god I was barely clothed. We could get straight to the next phase where his hands and mouth and need fired my blood so fast he could drive into me without hesitation because my body was ready for his.

But something clicked in him and he eased off.

His big hands were actually shaking when he framed them around my face.

“What?”

“I love you.”

Why were his eyes so tormented when he told me that?

“I love you so fucking much. It’s been a goddamned dream to get a second chance with you. To be with you and work on being us again.”

“But?”

He shook his head. “No buts. There is something I need to tell you. Something that might change everything back to the way it used to be.” He dropped his hands from my face and stepped back. “It’s an ugly thing, Luce. Really ugly.”

“I’ve dealt with ugly before.”

“Not like this, you haven’t.” His hair nearly stood on end from where he’d been running his hands through it. “I don’t . . . You haven’t asked how I went from being a social drinker to being an alcoholic.”