Page 52 of Game Changer
“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.
