Reaching up, I push my palm to his forehead. “You’re the cockiest little shit I’ve ever met. Some things never change.”
“Thank god for that. I missed the way your tits lit up when they saw me.” The fucker waggles his eyebrows at me.
“Jackson!” I guffaw, shocked he just went there.
Bending over in laughter, Jax sets the glass down on the counter before clapping his hands in amusement. “You should see your face right now.” Standing to his full height, he tilts his head to the side and rolls his bottom lip between his teeth. “Damn. Are you mad at me? Come on, T. I thought I fucked the prude outta you when we were eighteen. You grew to love my raunchy humor. Some might go as far as saying you craved it.”
I did. Probably still do. But fuck that, we’re not going there right now. We can’t.
“For the next few weeks while I’m staying here, consider me a born-again virgin,” I grit out, narrowing my eyes at him.
“Aye, aye, captain,” he says sarcastically as he salutes me.
Rolling my eyes in exasperation, I go to pick up the glass of water, but it’s only as it’s in my hand that I realize my mistake. My chest rubs against his bicep, my pebbled nipples growing impossibly hard from the accidental contact.
I can’t be sure if I’ve imagined it, but I think a low groan escapes Jackson. A buzzing electricity thrums through my body as heat floods my belly.
Knowing I’m no longer worthy of hearing such noises, I tuck my tail between my legs and make my way to my bedroom.
Jax chuckles. “Night, Thorn.”
“Night, Bear.” The old nickname slips past my lips, and I should regret it immediately. Instead, I slip beneath the coversand trace my lips as if doing so will resurrect the memories of feeling his pressed against them.
After a restless night of little to no sleep, I’m surprised to hear Jackson’s doorbell ring at the crack of dawn. Rolling over in bed, I check my phone and see it’s not necessarily first thing in the morning. Shit, we need to leave for the airport in the next two hours to catch our jet to Texas for the Summer Stampede.
I decide to see who came over, my guess is Carson considering he and Jackson have always been so close, and he happens to now play on the Wolverines with Jax. Hesitating in the doorway of my bedroom for a moment, I peer down at my robe and decide the fluffy material covers everything and is far from immodest.
By the time I hear the feminine voice floating through the space, it’s too late for me to backpedal out of the open living space. Shit, I’ve been spotted!
“Oh my gosh, you’re Taevin Gray!” a drop-dead gorgeous woman with platinum blonde hair and the brightest smile I’ve ever seen says far too cheerily for this time of the morning.
“Tis I,” I for some terrifying reason respond with. For fuck’s sake, can the floor please open and swallow me whole?Tis I?Who the hell says something like that? How about, a quick ‘yep, that’s me,’ or, I don’t fucking know, ‘I am and who are you?’ Because as I take in this bombshell before me with tanned, toned legs that go on for days and perky breasts that have me wishing I could lay on them like a pillow, I suddenly realize I’m incredibly invested in finding out who she is and what she’s doing at Jackson’s house.
“Is it weird if I hug you? I’m a hugger and also the biggest fan of your music—well, and just you in general.”
“Lex, breathe,” Jackson chides while biting back the laughter shaking his shoulders.
Lex?
It’s only then that I notice he’s taken a spot on the sectional in the living room, looking far more relaxed than I feel in this moment. His tatted leg is sprawled on the L of the sectional with his opposite tatted arm resting against the back of the couch. How he can manage to be so blasé about who I presume is his girlfriend meeting his estranged wife who happens to be staying with him while she receives cancer treatment is beyond me.
Taking an exaggerated deep breath, Lex relaxes ever so slightly before offering her hand and introducing herself. “I’m Alexa Collins. I went to college and played volleyball with McKenna, that’s actually how I was adopted into the group.”
She gives me a handshake that is somehow firm yet gentle at the same time and I find myself perplexed by this woman. I can already tell she has a beaming personality I’ll love, and even though it kills me to admit it, I think I could find myself becoming friends with the woman who is taking on the only role I’ve ever wanted.
Clearing my throat and giving myself a mental pep talk to not sound like a fool, I say, “Nice to meet you. I’m Taevin.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, annoyed with myself for repeating my name when she clearly already knows who I am.
She lets out what I’m going to deem an adorable snort—damn her, and her adorable snorts are winning me over. “I think I’d have to be living under a rock for the past decade to not know who you are. I’m seriously, like, your biggest fan. When you performed the national anthem at Madison Square Garden for the NBA finals five years ago, I was there and nearly passed out on the sidelines.”
I can’t help but join in her laughter. “Which team were you there to watch? I don’t remember Minnesota being one of the teams in the finals, but I’m pretty awful with sports.”
Alexa’s smile kicks up another notch, if that’s even possible. “Oh, no, I wasn’t there as a spectator. I was there as a sideline reporter. Between you and me, I really don’t prefer to cover basketball, but we were down a few reporters at the time. I mostly do sideline coverage for football now. Every now and then I get to fill in for hockey, so that’s always a treat to get to see Jax and the guys.”
Recognition sets in. “Oh, yes, that’s why you look so familiar. You covered the Thanksgiving football game this past year, right?”
“Yep! I’m still sour over not getting Brody Meyer to change his mind about a pre-game interview, but he’s stuck in his ways regardless if I’m now besties with his little sister. The guy gives zero fucks about reporters, and it is what it is, I guess.” Alexa shrugs as if she’s unbothered, but her tone is laced with annoyance. “I also might look familiar from the Fourth of July lake trip we all took at McKenna’s family cabin. I came up with our other teammate, Brooke.”
