Page 9 of Triple Power Play 3
“It’s your baby daddy,” he tells Aurora then plops his ass in a leather chair in front of the fireplace.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” She beams at me from the floor, folding and packing newly bought clothes.
She’s like a kid at Christmas, and I love it.
Bending down, I cup her face and kiss her lips. “Visiting my favorite person.”
“I hear we have a new place.” Jax fixes me a halfhearted glare. “I thought we weren’t buying any more property?”
I settle into the chair across from him, Aurora between us. “It was already hers. I’m just encouraging her creativity.”
He stretches out his legs. “She has a whole Pinterest board of design ideas. Be prepared.”
“Come show me, baby girl.”
She grabs her iPad and climbs onto my lap, wearing an oversized T-shirt, tiny shorts, and those tall socks that drive me crazy. Relaxing into me, she flips through pictures. “I wanna stick with the industrial aesthetic. I like the exposed brick and wooden beams.”
“Me too.” I point to a picture of a bathtub facing a city skyline. “What’s this?”
Mischief dances in her eyes. “For us. Much bigger, obviously.”
Now I look at Pinterest and take bubble baths. Jesus, fuck, what have they done to me?
Aurora reads on my lap while Jax and I discuss the game and upcoming schedule.
My body, heavy with exhaustion from the day, sinks into the chair. Why am I always tired around them—so bone-tired,maybe Idosnore—but can’t sleep alone? It’s as if my brain instinctively knows this is home. I can relax.
“Your suspension ends soon,” I tell Jax. “After this weekend, we’ll be flying with the team.” I don’t have to remind him this leaves our girl with no protection or support.
She catches on quickly. “I can fly solo.”
“Absolutely not.” I smother a yawn with the back of my hand. “We could hire?—”
“No.” He cuts me off, firm and nonnegotiable, before I even say Reece’s name.
“What’s your plan then? You know how chaotic traveling can be. Media, ice time, team meetings…”
Shy whiskey eyes peer up at me. “You don’t want me to go?”
“No, I do. If I had a choice, you’d be waiting for me in my hotel room, but I need you to be safe and for Jax to acknowledge my expectations. You can’t travel with him.”
He leans forward, eyes narrowed. “That needs to fucking change.”
I tell it to him straight, knowing if I give him an inch, he’ll take a mile. “If I made an exception for our girlfriend, I’d have to make an exception for the entire team. We’d have a plane full of family. It’s a logistical nightmare. She can’t go.”
A threat burns in his gaze, gripping me. His distress is palpable, and my chest tightens—not out of fear of him, but of my intense feelingsforhim. His anguish is my anguish.
Before I can make sense of it, he’s hitting me with another blow.
“And if we hire yourboy toy?” he sneers, jaw set.
I don’t understand his jealousy toward Reece, at least not where I’m concerned. The bodyguard follows Aurora’s wishes, not mine. Like everyone else, he’s wrapped aroundherfinger. Reece listens to me and protects Jax because it serves Aurora—that’s the only reason.
She straightens in my lap at Jackson’s harsh tone. “I’ll stay home. It’s not a big deal.”
It’s a tremendous deal. His sanity depends on her. He plays better with her in attendance; therefore, someone must accompany her. “He’s not my boy toy. Don’t start. He’ll fly with her to games, sit with her in the crowd, and she’ll sleep with you at night. We’ve done this before.”
A spiteful, tight-lipped grin stretches across his face. “Too bad he’s a little busy right now.”
