Page 55 of For the Captain
She laughed slightly. "Not a recent development." Jordan nodded in understanding, willing her to go on. "When I dated him, he was nice, I guess, but that's probably because I ignored the signs that he was cheating on me."
"You never suspected anything?"
She shrugged. "I just didn't want to think that about him."
"What changed?"
"I caught him screwing some woman in the equipment room at the arena."
He sneered. "Yeah, that sounds like him."
Charlotte gave him a reassuring smile. "Anyway, he had a pair of skates delivered to my place to make up for it. Didn't work, of course, but they were nice skates so, you know, I got that out of the relationship."
Jordan stared at her intently before reaching out and grabbing her hand. "Remind me to get you some new skates."
"Don't worry about it," she said reassuringly. "I broke in those skates and I don't use them that often now anyway so—"
"Charlotte." Jordan squeezed her hand tightly. "I will get you a new pair of skates."
She tried to swallow down the emotion threatening to break free. "They're just skates."
"They're not just skates."
Jordan knew. He just knew. Those skates represented who she was then, not who she was now, and the fact that he understood that made her realize how important it was for him to at least do that for her.
"Thank you," Charlotte said quietly.
"You can thank me when I put those new skates your feet.
"Well, the thank you is for more than that," she said.
"What else is it for?" Jordan asked.
"Thank you for knocking on my door last night."
He leaned over and smiled. "Thank you for not holding my bruised ego against me."
"And thank you for punching Declan."
Jordan groaned. "The fallout from that was awful!"
"Yeah, it was."
"Although to be fair," he said, his face suddenly perking up. "I did enjoy punching him."
She grabbed his arm and laughed. "I've wanted to do that for so long!" she yelled. "Tell me it was amazing."
"It was glorious!"
"I knew it!" she said, throwing two fists in the air in triumph.
He leaning in to kiss her on her forehead. "More coffee?"
"Yeah."
She handed him her coffee mug and followed him into kitchen, leaning on the counter as she watched him refill her mug. Yep, he definitely looked comfortable in her place. It also helped that his shirt was tight, his muscles underneath it were lean, and he moved around her kitchen like he lived there.
But despite the distraction, something was still bugging her. Something she had wanted to ask him ever since that game in New York.
