Nikki Worrell - The Enforcer (NHL Scorpions)

Lacey followed Jody into the kitchen. That room was clean, too. Where were all the pizza boxes and take out cartons? “I have to tell you Jody, I’m impressed. Most men wouldn’t be quite so tidy. You must cook a lot, huh?”

Jody looked guilty, but started laughing and opened the pantry door. Pointing inside, he said, “Sorry to disappoint, but I am like most men.” Lacey spied three pizza boxes, a couple of empty soda bottles and she could see at least two beer cans. “I actually started to clean up, but then Izzy brought her ball over and we played fetch on the beach for a while instead. When I got back in, I knew you’d be over soon, so I threw everything in the pantry closet.” He shrugged as he said it and gave her one of his smiles.

“I’ll give you a pass this time,” she said with a smile of her own. “What do you do with Izzy when you travel?”

“In San Jose, the coach’s wife looked after her, but I don’t know too many people here yet that I’d feel comfortable asking. I have some interviews set up this week for dog sitters, so I’ll see how that goes.”

“Why don’t you let me watch her? I’ve had dogs most of my life, and I adore them. I actually think I prefer animals to people. I’d have to stay here when you’re away though; until I get my own place, anyway. Zoe’s allergic to dogs.” Lacey held her breath. She wanted Jody to say yes. She missed being around dogs.

“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.