Wild Zone (Rough Riders Hockey 4)

Jax paused the movie as Lexi answered her phone. He prayed she didn’t have to go out, and from her end of the conversation, it sounded like his prayer had been answered.

When she disconnected, her blue eyes smiled up at him from where her head lay on his belly. “Claire and David just left the reception for their honeymoon.”

He smiled, leaned down, and kissed her. “Congratulations on your first successful day off in fifteen years.” Then he spooned peach sorbet into her beautiful mouth and kissed her again.

Jax was feeling a hell of a lot better now, eight hours after starting the antibiotic, but he could still feel the drag in his body. He was so grateful Lexi had taken care of covering his shoots the next couple of days. It was good for his guys and for him.

“I feel guilty,” she said, “but I have to admit, it feels incredibly…decadent too.”

She reached up and pressed her hand to Jax’s forehead, then the side of his face, then his neck. And smiled. “Fever’s down.”

He covered her hand, sighed, and pulled it to his mouth for a kiss. “Your touch feels decadent.”

When he opened his eyes, she smiled, but the look was still worried. “What’s wrong? You haven’t been the same since you left for the market.”

“You’re awfully sensitive,” she tried to tease.

“I’m perceptive, and I’ve had enough people pull away from me to know when it’s happening.”

She shook her head. “I’m not. There’s just a lot on my mind.”

“What happened?” he asked again.

“Rubi called. She heard rumblings about me

from Jessie’s wedding and wanted to know what they were about.”

It was starting. Not twenty-four hours after being in public together for the first time, and it was already happening. And they hadn’t even truly been together at the wedding. He sighed, reached over to the laptop she had perched on her thighs where the movie filled the screen, and closed the lid.

“What did she say?” As if he didn’t already know.

“I really don’t care what she said. I’d rather hear about you from you.”

“What would you like to know?”

She lifted her shoulder. “Whatever you’d like to tell me?”

Jax licked the spoon, then put the ice cream on the bedside table. He wound a piece of her hair around his finger and decided to start with what would be most important to Lexi.

“I’ve spent my life working hard and playing harder. Was caught up in the whole Hollywood scene for several years. I’ve been successful but not truly happy. When I started taking different types of roles, looking for that…satisfaction, that…elusive happiness, it caused a rift in my already shaky relationship with my parents.”

“Also actors, I hear,” she said.

Jax nodded. “An ugly web, really.”

“I’ve heard uglier,” she said. “Go on.”

“As the rift with my parents grew, my life got shaky. My relationships with my brothers went south too. And even though my family roots were shallow, they were my only roots. Without that, I kind of…” He shrugged. “I just lost my way.”

“How old were you?”

“Early twenties. Twenty-two, twenty-three. Decent looking with a truckload of money, a famous family, a famous face, and no one who gave a goddamn about me.”

Her thumb cruised over his cheekbone. A small smile turned her mouth. “You’re lucky you’re still alive.”

“Damn straight.” He loved that she understood the deeper meaning. That she didn’t make a big drama out of it. “I met Wes on a movie set. He was grabbing stunt gigs where he could. I loved doing my own stunts but ended up standing by, arms crossed, watching guys like Wes having all the fun because the insurance company on the films wouldn’t let me do them.

“Then Wes would walk off the set like nobody, have drinks with friends, and go home to a sweet woman. No stalkers, no cameras in his windows, no interruptions when he tried to go out to dinner. Real people in his life. When that movie was over, I decided to drop acting and pick up stunts.