I Want You Back (Want You #1)(89)

“You’d have to catch me first, and the only time you’re faster than me is when you’re on skates.” He adjusted his wool scarf. “And back atcha, showing the love tonight. Speaking of . . . are you going home? Or over to Lucy’s?”

“What do you think?”



* * *



? ? ?

I texted Lucy that I was on my way over.

She answered the door before my second soft knock. “Hey. You didn’t have to come over. Mimi is already asleep.”

“Did she . . . ?”

“Get mouthy? No. She didn’t bring up that she saw us kissing either.”

I kicked off my shoes and hung up my coat. “You’re sure she saw us?”

“Jax, baby. Everyone saw us.”

My arms circled her and I tugged her against my body. “Did that bother you?”

“Only in that we haven’t given Mimi a heads-up that we’re . . . God, if I can’t come up with the right words for us, how are we supposed to explain it to her? Boyfriend and girlfriend sounds juvenile. We’re not lovers.”

Lucy paused, waiting for me to tack on yet, and I wanted to, but the thought of telling her the reason I’d been holding back with her made my heart race, and I had the urge to flee.

“Jax?”

I looked into her eyes, seeing confusion. “We tell her that we’re replacing yelling with kissing.” Then I kissed her. And she melted into me like she always did. When I broke the kiss and lifted my head, pain shot down the side of my neck, and I winced.

“What’s wrong?”

“Wrong angle for my neck. No worries, though. That kiss was worth it. Your kisses are worth everything.”

Lucy stepped back and propped her hands on her hips.

Never a good sign.

“Even if we can’t define what we are to our daughter, we both know this is an intimate relationship. Intimate means more than sex—it also means we tell each other things.”

My heart picked up speed.

“Is there something important you forgot to tell me, Jax?”

There’s no way that she knows. Don’t act paranoid. “Such as?”

“Such as you replaced Flint and Lund as your general contractors on the remodel.”

I exhaled, silently thanking the universe for a reprieve, even when I knew it was temporary.

“I had to hear it from Simone.”

“To be honest, I don’t know how to be a normal couple, Luce. I haven’t been part of a couple since we were together, which for me has meant I had no one to talk to about the daily life stuff. There’s been no ‘How was your day, dear?’ with anyone else. I talked hockey with my teammates, I talked about addiction issues with my counselors, I talked health concerns with my doctors, I talked bar business with Simone, I talked property management issues with Chris, I talked career issues with Peter, I talked to you about Mimi and I talked to my family. That’s it.”

“So neatly compartmentalized,” she murmured.

“It works for me.”

Lucy moved in and smoothed her hands over my pecs. “Well, it doesn’t work for me. If I’m part of your life, I want to know about all of that because that’s what makes up your life. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“And you can start by telling me who the hell this Chris ‘property management’ person is, because that’s the first time you’ve ever mentioned that name.”

I gave her a quick peck on her frowning mouth. “This building isn’t the only property I own.”

“Shocking.”

Such a smartass. “Stonewall Enterprises is the company I started for property investments. Chris is a former college teammate who manages everything and advises me on potential purchases. My cousin Brady is such a numbers geek that he runs my financials for fun. As of right now, Stonewall Enterprises owns the entire block that the bar is on, an office building in Wayzata and one in Burnsville. Last year I acquired an abandoned strip mall and several parcels of land adjacent to it. I’ve looked at a dozen options to turn it into something besides a big money suck, but nothing has been decided.”

She stared at me.

“What?”

“This is what you deal with all day?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“How did you ever think you could do all that and run LI?”

“Hey, I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t sooner rather than later, remember? That counts for something.”

Then she got right in my face. “No wonder your neck hurts. So here’s what’s going to happen. You will strip down to just your socks and underwear. Stretch out on my bed and let me massage your neck and back.”

Half-naked with Lucy touching me . . . I’d jacked off to that thought more times than was healthy. How could her bossiness piss me off and turn me on?

Because this is your Lucy, the one you fell in love with because she’s always had that special ability.

A firm tug on my hair brought my attention back to her.

“Let me take care of you, Jax. While I’m massaging away the aches and pains of the day, you can fill me in on what happened with Walker, and we can both use the time to remember the intimacies of being a couple.”

I was too choked up to say anything; she’d known what I needed before I did.