The Enforcer (15 page)

“Yeah? You’d want to watch her? That would be great if you really wouldn’t mind. I’d feel a lot better having someone I know take care of her. She’s become pretty important to me. Two ugly beasts against the world, you know?” Jody had a mirror. He knew what he looked like and he couldn’t figure out what Lacey saw in him, to be completely honest. He had a scar under his bottom lip from getting hit with a skate about ten years ago, his nose was crooked, and his jaw line was a bit too strong. He wasn’t ‘pretty’ like Ryan Reynolds or Channing Tatum, which is what women seemed to go for now. The icing on the cake was that during the season, more often than not, he was sporting a black eye and/or some stitches.

Even though he said it casually, Lacey didn’t think he was as carefree as he pretended to be. She was kind of glad he wasn’t perfect. Not only was he a bit possessive and overly protective, but he was insecure about his looks; otherwise, would he even have said that? Lacey chuckled, “Two ugly beasts? Well, I think Izzy is absolutely adorable, and I would think you already know that I find you attractive.” She didn’t want to lay it on too thick, or she knew he’d be hell to live with. Jody had a cocky side, too. Seriously, every time he touched her she melted against him. What other proof did he need? Maybe even men needed to be told.

With a playful smile, she told him, “Okay, maybe attractive isn’t the right word, but you sir are cocky enough that I almost hate to be totally honest. But here goes anyway. I think you’re smoking hot.”

Jody just laughed it off. “You must need glasses then.”

“What? The scar? The crooked nose? Yes, I see it. I think they’re part of your allure. I have never been attracted to the pretty boy or the suit and tie guy. Not my type. I like manly men. You are definitely a manly man. And I’ve always liked some ink.” She ran her finger over the tattoo that ran down his arm – starting high up on his bicep. “To be honest, even though I sure don’t want you to get hurt, I’m kinda not dreading seeing you with some stitches or a bruise or two.”

Jody gathered her up in his arms. “Wow, vicious little thing, aren’t you? Well, thanks for the compliments, and I’ve decided you’re right; I’m a hottie, and I’m going to remind you how hot you think I am all the time.” He winked at her and grabbed her hand to lead her out of the house. “You ready to skate, sweet thing?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do it.”

The first lesson went reasonably well. Lacey still couldn’t stop without using Jody or the boards as her stopping tool though. Every time she tried the side skate stop, she fell. She was getting decent at stopping by dragging her skate behind her to slow down, but Jody yelled at her when she did that. Apparently that was not correct. Lacey figured as long as she could stop, she was good. Jody informed her many times that she was wrong.

The key to being successful, Jody assured her, was getting over the mental barrier. She needed to keep enough momentum going in the direction she was skating in to do a successful sliding stop. If there wasn’t enough forward momentum, she either just fell as soon as she put her foot sideways, or she started to do a 360 and fell anyway. The hell with it; she went back to the ‘grab onto Jody’ method. That way was more fun anyway. She even
accidentally
took him down once or twice so that he was lying on top of her. Who knew learning to skate could be so fun? She might never learn!

After a couple of hours, Lacey called it quits. Her feet were aching to the point of no return. She was sure she had bruises on her ass, too. Lots of junk in the trunk just didn’t help enough when it came to hitting the ice. And she did … a lot. Maybe skating wasn’t her thing. She sure did enjoy watching Jody skate though. Hockey players were incredible on skates. Of course, most of them could probably skate before they started walking – especially those Canadians, which a huge portion of NHLers were, including Jody.

The rink was pretty much booked for private parties until the weekend, so Lacey had a couple of days to recover. She didn’t see Jody for those days, and she was surprised at how much she missed him. She did get a few texts from him, but he was busy getting ready for the season. By the time he got home from practicing and then working out in the gym, he had just enough time to take Izzy for a walk, throw some food down his throat and go to bed. He swore that getting back into playing shape was actually harder than playing all season.

By the time Saturday rolled around, Lacey’s bruises had faded, and she was ready for another lesson.

Jody had missed Lacey and couldn’t wait to pick her up. He wasn’t quite as busy as he had led her to believe over the last couple of days. He was trying to give her some space. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but he wondered if he should have at least sent her a text to let her know he was thinking about her.

Lacey was definitely not ready for a serious relationship like he was. Jody knew, without a shadow of a doubt now, that she was
the one.
He just felt it whenever she was around. The feeling was unlike anything he’d ever felt before, and he didn’t want to take it slow. But he knew if he told Lacey that, she’d freak. He decided to let her catch her breath, but he wouldn’t be able to do that forever (okay, yes, he knew it had only been two days, but dammit, he missed her).

Before picking Lacey up for their next skating lesson, Jody had stopped at the sporting goods store and bought her a pair of padded hockey shorts. She’d look ridiculous but she might be more comfortable when she fell. And fall she would! He honestly wasn’t sure if she would get much better. Athletics did not seem to be her thing.

He smiled thinking about her. She was such a breath of fresh air. She didn’t care that she wasn’t athletic. Lacey told him that in high school, she had tried out for everything and never made the team. Instead of letting that bother her, she did other things, like learned to ride a motorcycle and drive fast cars. His girl had it all as far as he was concerned. She didn’t need to be athletic. Of course, having his hands all over her and getting pulled down on top of her when she fell was no hardship for him. He thought that she might have been falling just so that she could grab on to him. Well, a man could hope anyway.

When Jody got to the house and gave Lacey her gift, she laughed. “Oh my God, I am so
not
wearing them. Take them back. My ass is big enough without extra padding!” Turning Lacey around so he could look at said ass, Jody responded with a growl. “Yes, your ass looks fine just like it is, Lace. Perfectly fine.” He then turned her around again and grabbed her ass to pull her close, as was his habit.

Lacey had on another great top. This one was baby blue and snug like the red sweater. It had a low V-neck with a tiny piece of lace right at the lowest point. With her so close and his height advantage, he had a great view. Even with the great view, he still wanted to rip that lace off with his teeth to uncover her breasts. Why did women want to cover them up? There was nothing prettier than some great cleavage – made a man’s mouth water just thinking about it. He wondered how she’d be when he finally got her naked beneath him.

Would she be shy, or would she be brazen like before? Would she be a hellcat and rake her nails down his back, or would she want to make love sweetly? He’d take a little of both. But the first couple of times, he wanted to take her hard. He wanted to pick her up and make her wrap her gorgeous legs around him and thrust into her as he pinned her against the wall. He wanted to make her beg him to let her come. She’d be so crazed with desire that she wouldn’t even think about holding back. Maybe she’d nip at his lip while he …

Snapping her fingers Lacey said, “Jody? What in the world are you thinking about?” She had been asking him if he was ready to go, and he was just staring at her. Then his thumbs started brushing the undersides of her breasts. Jesus, he looked like he wanted to devour her. It was a great look on him.

Jody quickly dropped his hands and turned around. He was rock hard and knew it would be painfully obvious should she glance in the general area. “Huh? Nothing. Sorry, let’s go.” After grabbing the hockey shorts he had bought her (and holding them in front of him as camouflage), he went back out the door. His truck was parked at the curb with Izzy inside. She gave a short howl when she saw Lacey, which made her laugh. “Oh, who’s a cutie? Who’s a cutie?” By the fierce wagging of her tail, it was obvious that Izzy knew
she
was the cutie.

“I hope you don’t mind riding with Izzy. She’ll stay in the back. I’ve been gone so much the past couple of days that I hate to leave her home if I don’t have to. The security guards let me bring her. They keep an eye on her for me. Izzy pretty much wins over anyone who has even a remote liking for dogs.” Jody opened Lacey’s door for her and scratched Izzy’s ears before telling her to get in her seat in the back, which she immediately did.

“So are you looking forward to today’s lesson or dreading it?” She had to be sore after her first lesson, but she’d had a couple of days for her muscles to relax.

“I’m looking forward to it. I’m not so sore today. But I have to tell you, I’m not sure I’ll ever improve. It’s fun though.” Lacey would like to become a better skater, but it wasn’t a must. She just enjoyed being out, doing something fun. Hopefully Jody didn’t care if she could skate or not. She’d never be a good athlete.

When they pulled into the back lot of the rink that was reserved for the team, Lacey noticed that there were quite a few cars there. Jody remarked, “Looks like some of the other guys are here.” Grabbing her gear, Jody ran around and opened Lacey’s door for her. As soon as Lacey hopped out, Izzy followed. Jody linked his pinkie with Lacey’s (which she thought was adorable), and they walked into the rink.

Ian was there with his wife Kathy and their three-year-old son, Zach. They were already out on the ice, and it looked to Lacey like Zach skated better than she did. But hey, those hockey people had different DNA, didn’t they? No need to feel embarrassed. But maybe she’d just watch today.

Jody saw Lacey watching little Zach skate, and he knew what she was thinking. He turned to her and said, “You
are
going to skate today Lace.” Grinning he added, “Don’t worry, I’m sure with a couple more weeks of practice you’ll be up to Zach’s speed.” Lacey gave him the old evil eye, but laughed at the same time, while she said, “Give me the padded pants, smartass, and let’s go.”

Lacey did marginally better her second time out. Some of the other team members came in with their wives/girlfriends/children, and it became a little party. Sadly enough, Lacey was still the worst skater, even among the children. She was having a great time though. It was nice getting to know some of the other women in the group. She discovered that she had a lot in common with Keith Lambert’s girlfriend, Kelly.

It had to be tough being the captain’s girl.
All
of the players got entirely too much female attention just because they were professional athletes, but the captain got the lion’s share. Kelly had a great outlook on it all though. Her mantra was, “He comes home to me, girls.” Whatever they were doing, however they handled the attention, it seemed to be working for them. They were very much in tune with each other.

Kelly worked as an accountant in a financial company. They both shared a love of numbers and right and wrong. That was one of Lacey’s favorite things about being in the accounting field. In accounting, you either balanced or you didn’t. When you did, you knew your work was correct with no loose ends (except for the in the tax accounting area, which she didn’t do). Not having a grey area worked out well with Lacey’s OCD. She could do something, have it balance, and file it away.