Page 28 of Undeniable Love

She wasn’t afraid to make fun of herself.

She was passionate about her career and helping kids.

She was fiercely protective of her family, even though she admitted how crazy they made her.

Plus, she could eat almost as much pasta as him.

And all of that was on top of her beautiful face and killer curves. If he had to describe a woman who was the total package, it would be Lucy.

But thinking like that was like wading into dangerous territory. Normally, that wouldn’t bother him. Playing professional football made wading into dangerous territory something he loved doing.

On the field.

In his personal life? Not so much.

“Screw this,” he murmured, kicking the blankets off. If he wasn’t going to sleep, then he needed to do something to help him clear his damn mind. Walking into his closet, he grabbed a pair of swim trunks from the built-in dresser and quickly changed into them before taking a towel from the linen closet. His hot tub was closer to Lucy’s room than his, but there was a small privacy wall to help with the noise. With any luck, she was a heavy sleeper and he’d get thirty minutes of down time so he could get some sleep.

Best laid plans and all…

Opening the door in his bedroom that led out to the back porch, he looked up to see Lucy trying to quietly climb into the hot tub. Her perfect ass was covered by her bathing suit, but still gloriously on display.

“Shit,” she hissed. “That’s hot.”

Swallowing hard, Jax stepped out into the darkness. Apparently Lucy didn’t want to risk waking him up so the only light was coming from the moon. He waited until she was fully submerged in the bubbling water before he spoke.

“Sorry about that,” he said as he strolled over. “Sometimes I forget that not everyone likes their water scalding hot.”

Even in the dark he could see that her eyes went wide. “Oh, um…I hope I didn’t wake you. I was really trying to be quiet.”

Tossing his towel on one of the nearby chairs, he climbed in but made sure he was on the opposite side. “You didn’t. I just couldn’t sleep, and this is what I usually do when that happens.”

She nodded. “Worried about the game?”

“What?”

“The game Sunday. Is that why you can’t sleep? You’re playing the top team in the league right now. I would imagine that has to be a bit intimidating. I mean, Marshall’s been throwing something fierce this season. Didn’t I read somewhere that he’s thrown the most touchdown passes in the league for the last three years? And Fielding’s assists on tackles their last game beat the league record, didn’t it?”

Was she seriously talking to him about football stats right now? It was all he could do to stop trying to look at her breasts in a bikini top and she wanted to talk sports?

“Um…yeah, they’re a good team, but I’m not worried,” he said, his voice sounding ridiculously gruff even to his own ears. Trying to relax, he spread his arms out over the ledge of the tub. “We’ve played them before and the coaches have been studying their recent wins, so…we’ll be fine.”

“So then, how come you can’t sleep?”

Because you’re a distraction I didn’t see coming.

There was no way he would ever admit that out loud, but it didn’t make it any less true.

“It was a good time tonight,” he said instead. “Good food, good conversation, and I guess I just needed a little more time to wind down.”

“It’s a shame you couldn’t drink. The wines you picked to go with our meals tonight were the best I’ve ever tasted.” Tilting her head, she studied him for a moment. “Were you always this disciplined, or does this have to do with your recent suspension?”

He didn’t take offense to the question because there was no condemnation there—just a simple inquiry.

“More because of…recent events. One glass of wine probably wouldn’t have hurt, but I feel like I’ve been under the microscope a little more since everything happened, so I’m trying to make sure I don’t give anyone a reason to say anything bad about me.”

“Smart.” She paused for a moment and shifted a bit under the water to get the jets to exactly where she wanted them. “It’s got to suck living like that. It’s not like you did anything that was so terrible. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing you could have done, but it wasn’t the worst either. And to have people watching you like that would seriously get on my nerves. I don’t know how you do it.”

Shrugging, he said, “I’m kind of used to it. And compared to someone like Simon, I’ve got it easy. He literally has paparazzi chasing him wherever he goes. He and Jules bought this amazing house and have a ton of security, and yet they’ll find people hiding out in the bushes at least once a week. Now that would go beyond getting on my nerves.”