Page 4 of Only for Tonight
“Wait, Jaxon?” I say his name, my mind finally placing him as he moves his hands off of me, and I take a step back to look at him. “Hi.” I move into him again, this time to kiss his cheek. “I haven’t seen you in, like, forever.” His musky cologne makes my knees buckle a little.
“Yeah.” He takes a step back and out of my way so he can look down at me. My five-foot-six height is nothing compared to his six-foot-whatever frame, I think, he’s a foot taller than me. “I usually can get out of attending certain things,” he starts, putting his hands in his pockets and I stupidly give him an up and down, “but this is one I couldn’t get out of.”
“Same,” I admit to him, laughing as he does his own up and down of me and I have to say I’m really happy I wore this black dress. It shows off my toned legs, as well as the toned body I spend seven days a week doing Pilates for. “I couldn’t get out of it.” I look around, wondering if he’s here with someone.
“When was the last time I saw you?” he asks me, and I’m taken aback by his question as he stands here talking to me.
“Whenever it was, you didn’t have the beard.” I point to the soft beard he has, which makes him look even more rugged.
“I think the last time I saw you, Zoey was sneaking you drinks, since you weren’t of age,” he jokes with me and I push his shoulder.
“I think I had just turned eighteen, if I’m not mistaken.” I shake my head, smiling. “What about when you were sixteen and got drunk in one of the hockey suites during a game, and you threw up on Evelyn’s shoes?” I remind him and he throws his head back and lets out a barking laugh. “It’s ’cause of you that for the next ten years all alcohol was monitored and they brought in a bartender.”
“I forgot about that.” He puts one hand to his stomach and I see the ink on his hand, and my mouth waters. He has definitely added that since the last time I saw him. “Definitely good times.”
“There you are.” I see his sister coming up to him and her eyes light up when she sees me.
“My favorite babysitter in the whole world,” Tori declares, hugging me tightly as she moves me side to side. “Ariella used to always bake with me,” she says to Jaxon.
“I’ve never seen you bake in my life,” he tells Tori.
“It was a million years ago,” she scoffs at him, “I was eight.”
“And it was not her strong suit,” I cut in, “but she was good at other things. No one could color quite like her.”
He just stares at me and, for the first time, I feel nervous around him, which is crazy since I’ve known him my whole life. He is seven years older than me, so we never really hung around with each other too much. I was probably the young annoying kid who was always asking him questions. When he got older, he was never really around, especially once he got drafted.
Our fathers played hockey together and then retired at the same time and worked in the front office of the organization, side by side. They are still the best of friends and vacation together all the time. My phone buzzes in my purse. “I have to get in there before they send out a search party,” I tell them and Jaxon nods.
“Yeah, Mom and Dad are looking for you.” Tori looks at Jaxon, who just nods his head at her as he looks over toward where people are walking into the two doors pushed open. My eyes are transfixed on the ink on his neck, and I’m curious to see if his whole chest and arms are tattooed.
“I was coming,” he says and waits for me to walk ahead of him before he follows a step behind me.
“Did you just get here?” I ask him over my shoulder.
“We got here together,” Tori fills in for him, “but he forgot his phone in the car.”
“The horror,” I joke with him as we walk into the ballroom. The green, white, and black balloons are everywhere, mixed in with gold all around the room. “Wow.” My gaze travels around, noting the pictures of the Dallas Oilers organization throughout the years. “Look at our dads.” I point over to a picture of my dad with Manning on the ice from when they won the Cup. Manning is holding the Cup in the air and handing it over to my father.
“I still remember that game,” he says with fondness in his voice and I laugh.
“That’s how old you are.” I push him with my shoulder jokingly, and it hits him mid arm since he’s so much taller than me.
He doesn’t have a chance to answer, he just smiles while his father comes up to him. “Was looking for you,” he states. “Come say hi to the guys,” he tells him and then Jaxon looks over at me, then Manning notices me.
“Holy shit, Ariella,” he blurts, coming to me and giving me a big hug and kissing me on my cheek. “I didn’t even—” he starts to say, letting me go. “You look different. More grown up.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Jaxon counters right away, “she looks the same.”
“Well, I hope I look a bit older than I did when I was sixteen with braces,” I joke. “It’s nice to see you, Manning.” I nod at him. “If you guys will excuse me, I have to find my sister and my mother, who are blowing up my phone right now, thinking I’ve been kidnapped.” I look around. “Got to say, I’m a little disappointed they haven’t sent out a search party.” That makes Jaxon laugh and, for the life of me, I don’t know why I like to hear it so much. “I’ll see you guys later.”
He doesn’t say anything to me. He just nods his head as I walk around them and look around, spotting my Aunt Zara with her twin sister, Zoe, who have their heads together, no doubt talking shit about someone.
“Hey,” I say when I get close enough and Zara’s eyes light up. Zara is married to my Uncle Evan. The two of them have the best meet-cute story of life. When she found out her ex-boyfriend was getting engaged a couple months after he broke up with her, she tweeted my uncle, who was playing for Dallas also back then, and asked him to crash the wedding with her. Never thinking he would answer her back, he did, and it caused a media storm. It’s a story everyone always tells because they did all that and ended up falling in love and never going to the wedding. It’s also karma since the ex-boyfriend has been married three times and she’s still with my uncle.
“My favorite niece,” she smirks and then corrects herself, “My favorite twentysomething niece.”
I laugh at her as I give her a big hug. “Hi,” I reply and then get the same hug from Zoe. “What are you two in the corner gabbing about?”
