Nikki Worrell - The Enforcer (NHL Scorpions)

Jody saw that the strawberries were gone, and Lacey had drunk quite a bit of champagne. Leaving Lacey sitting on the blanket, Jody got up and started cleaning the stuff up. He was putting it back in the basket when she reached out and touched his face again. How he loved it when she touched him. “How’s your mom now?”

He reached up and touched her hand on his face, smiling. “She’s been sober for almost ten years, and she’s got a new beau. I haven’t met him, but Karen says he’s good to them both, so I already approve.”

Lacey felt so much tenderness for him at that moment. The champagne or the romance of the whole evening may have amplified it, but it was there for whatever reason. “You were one heck of a boy, Jody, and I think you turned into one hell of a man.” She leaned towards him and pulled him over for a kiss.

Jody loved that she did that. It was so sexy to him when a woman made moves on him. Well, the right woman anyway. He leaned into her gently, laying her down on the blanket. His hands brushed her hair away from her face as he placed kisses on her nose and cheeks. “Thanks for saying that. I don’t know that I did everything right, but everything I did was for my family.”

Lacey looked up at him and traced his cheekbone with her finger, just to keep in contact with him. She leaned up and kissed the scar under his bottom lip. “I don’t know how you look into a mirror everyday and see anything lacking in this face, Jody. You are so handsome.”

Jody smiled down at her and said, “Well, maybe I have a broken mirror. But whatever the reason is, I’m glad you don’t see me like I do.” He wanted to kiss her lips until they were swollen from the attention, and then he would slip his tongue inside so that he could taste the strawberries and champagne on her. But he didn’t. Since the idea of getting her naked was shot, he didn’t want to start anything that would leave them both frenzied. He knew from their kissing episode on the deck that they would both get caught up in each other. Maybe she could stay with him, and they could just cuddle. Besides, what said romance more than cuddling anyway? Oh who was he kidding? It would be awful. He’d suffer all night. But he already told her he wanted her to stay the night. It was going to be a long night with little to no sleep for him.

Jody lifted off of her, and Lacey immediately felt the loss. “Are you ready to go? I thought maybe we’d go back to my place. I’d still like you to stay the night if you want to. Cuddling is my second favorite thing to do in bed.” He wiggled his eyebrows, making Lacey laugh.

“Are you serious? Jody, it would be torture. I don’t think it’s the right night for our first sleepover.” At the word sleepover, she let out another laugh. She sounded like a teenager. Or maybe she’d simply drunk too much champagne.

“Okay, fair enough. How about you just come over and visit with Izzy and me for a while? We’ll sit out on the deck wrapped in a blanket and talk some more. I’ll take you home later.” Jody simply wasn’t ready to let her go yet, even though they both had to be up early the next day. “It’s only a little after eight now. How about if I promise to have you home by ten?”

“That sounds good. I always want to see Izzy anyway. Let’s go.” Lacey was having some bad cramping, but tried to ignore it. She didn’t want the night to end, even though she wasn’t feeling well. Jody must have seen her grimace when she started to get up, because he looked at her with sympathy.

“I wish I could make you feel better.” Before she had a chance to resist, Jody leaned down and picked her up. “I’ll carry you to the truck and come back for this stuff.”

“Put me down!” Lacey was giggling as she said it, so her command didn’t carry much weight. She didn’t protest any more than those three words for two reasons. First, he was going to do what he wanted to do anyway and second, she liked it when he picked her up. She supposed she shouldn’t, women’s lib and all that, but she did. Lacey loved an alpha male.

Izzy was excited to see them both. After the initial hand licking and tail wagging, though, she went over to her bed and collapsed. When Izzy lay down, the floor shook.

Jody got Lacey a glass of vodka with a splash of cranberry juice and grabbed himself a beer. On the way out to the deck, he snagged the blanket off of the back of the couch. When Lacey went to sit in the rocking chair, he tugged on her shirt to lead her over to the lounge chair. He sat down and motioned for her to sit between his legs again. Sitting like that at the beach was nice, and he wanted to be able to feel her hair against his face again.

Lacey took the blanket from him and sat down. “Let’s see if I can cover us both up.” It was a bit chilly with the breeze coming in off the ocean so she was glad for the warmth of Jody’s body and the blanket.

They talked some more and kissed a little bit. It felt strained, though. The beach was perfect, but when they got back to Jody’s, things just felt weird. She probably should have just ended the date at the beach. The sexual tension was overwhelming and was taking away from their time together.

About forty-five minutes after they got there, Lacey had finished her drink and was feeling mellow. And tired. Even though she was tired, she wanted Jody so badly; she could punch Mother Nature in the face. Repeatedly. She could tell she was about to get teary and pathetic. The best thing for her to do was to go home and go to bed. “Jody?”

“Lace?”

“Would you mind terribly if I asked you to take me home? I’m just not feeling great, and I’m beat.” God, she hoped he didn’t think it had anything to do with him.

I knew I would somehow mess this up. She wants to go home. Perfect. Jody felt like shit. “Sure Lace, whatever you want.”

“Thanks.”

When they got to Zoe’s, Jody opened her door and walked her up the stairs. “Thanks for coming out with me tonight. I’m sorry you aren’t feeling well.” What else should he say? Should he just ask her if he messed something up? God, he was so pathetic. He turned around to leave.

“Whoa. Where’s my goodnight kiss? You can’t end a date without a goodnight kiss at the door, Jody.” She knew he wanted to kiss her, but was afraid he’d done something wrong. He was such a mix of cocky, bordering on arrogant, and unsure, bordering on insecure. In all actuality, she was the one who screwed things up. Well, her body did anyway.

Jody turned back around and gave her a hesitant smile. “You’re the boss.” He leaned down and gave her such a sweet, gentle kiss that it brought tears to Lacey’s eyes. He was so gentle with her sometimes.

Jody looked at her and took a step back. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! I made you cry. Again. I really suck at this, don’t I?” And now I’m almost yelling at her. Shut up! Stop the madness.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just overly emotional when I have my … well, right now. You’ve been so great tonight. You put so much thought into our date, and …” now Lacey had some tears escaping, “You bought my favorite things, and I haven’t had anyone treat me like this in forever, and then you kissed me so sweetly, and I …”

Jody stopped her with a finger to her lips. “Lace, stop, you’re killing me. Your tears are like kryptonite. Tonight was the best date I’ve ever had. I’m going to leave now so you can go tuck yourself in bed, okay?” He gave her a kiss on her forehead (more tears for that one) and left.