Page 26 of Undeniable Love

“If she’s flying all the way here just to yell in my face a little more, I’ll have to kick Tyler’s ass,” he murmured.

He’d been at the stadium for practice since dawn and what he really wanted was to go home and relax, but knowing that Lucy was there waiting for him had every muscle in his body tensing up. Jax had given Tyler all the codes to get through the front gate and into the house. Picking them up at the airport hadn’t been an option, but he was fortunate that his friend didn’t mind taking an Uber and entertaining himself for a little while.

Pulling up to his house, he let out a long breath and told himself to unclench. Nothing bad was going to happen. Some friends were here to visit and go to his game; that’s all. Everything was going to be fine.

“And it’s my house, dammit. I shouldn’t be afraid to go into my own home.”

Big words for a guy still sitting in his truck…

Muttering a curse, Jax opened the garage door, climbed from the truck, and made his way into the house.

“Hey! You’re earlier than I thought you’d be!” Tyler said as he walked over and shook his hand. “Good to see you!”

“Yeah, you too. How was your flight?” he asked, as he put his duffel bag down and did his best to focus on his buddy for a little longer before turning his attention to Lucy.

“We had a slight delay in Dallas, but other than that, it was pretty uneventful. Lucy even got us upgraded to first class.”

Looking over at her, he saw her shrug. She looked a lot less confident than she had the last time he saw her, and rather than gloat about it, he figured he’d wait and see how things went.

“If you don’t ask, you don’t get,” she said softly. “I don’t fly a lot, so when we checked in, I mentioned that to the ticket agent and we got the upgrade.” Another shrug. “It was kind of nice.”

“It was freaking awesome,” Ty said with a small laugh, walking over to the refrigerator. “I hope you don’t mind, but we helped ourselves to something to eat and drink. Want a beer?”

Jax held up a hand, shaking his head. “Game weekend. No alcohol.” Glancing at Lucy, he waited to see if she was going to say something snarky about his recent suspension, but she didn’t.

Okay…this is possibly going to be fine…

“We appreciate you letting us stay here,” Tyler was saying as he grabbed himself a bottle of beer before grabbing two bottles of water. “I’m sure you normally come home and relax after practice. Don’t feel like you need to entertain us.”

Accepting the water bottle he held out, Jax shook his head. “You’re talking like you’ve never been here before, Ty. Relax. I figured we’d go out to eat somewhere and then come back here and hang out. Nothing exciting. But if you want to show Lucy around the city…”

“We’re going to do some sightseeing tomorrow while you’re at practice. With the game being Sunday, I figured you’d be at practice all day tomorrow too, right?”

He nodded. “We get the day after the game off.” Pausing for a moment, he tried to remember when they were leaving. “Are you going home Monday or Tuesday?”

“Monday,” Ty said. “I could only get off today and Monday. Lucy has off until Wednesday, but I’m sure she’ll be fine flying home with me.”

Jax smirked when he caught her nodding in agreement.

“So, what are you guys in the mood for?” he asked. “Italian? Steaks? Mexican?”

At the same time that Tyler said it didn’t matter, Lucy said Italian.

Laughing softly, he figured he might extend the proverbial olive branch if he went with Lucy’s suggestion.

“There’s a great Italian place not too far from here, Ristorante Duomo. Their menu is amazing and they have some killer pizza too if that’s more what you’re in the mood for.”

“Pizza we can get anytime,” Lucy told him. “But if they have some good pasta dishes, I’m here for it.”

“White sauce or red?” he asked.

“Um…usually a red, but I’m not fussy. You know all the places back in South Creek or the surrounding towns. They have all the basics. I’d love to try something new.”

He already knew the dishes he was going to order for them to share. “Let me get changed and we’ll go.”

“I hope you don’t mind that we already claimed our rooms,” Tyler commented. “I took the front bedroom and Lucy took the back one with the door out to the screened-in porch.”

Jax looked at him funny. “You gave up your room?” he asked with amusement. “I seem to remember you mentioned how you called dibs on that one for all future visits.”