Page 39 of Undeniable Love

“Shit,” she hissed.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Jax asked sleepily.

“Ty’s home. I just heard the front door!” she whispered even as she scrambled from the bed and reached for her robe. Panicking, she looked around as if unsure of where she was supposed to go or what she was supposed to do.

Meanwhile, Jax lazily climbed from the bed and strolled to the bathroom. She wanted to scream in frustration, but unfortunately, she had to stay quiet.

Dammit.

When he came out in a pair of flannel pajama pants and nothing else, he looked so damn appealing that she seriously hated her brother at that moment.

Focus!

Yawning, he raked a hand through his hair and stretched. “Okay, I’m gonna go out to the kitchen and see if he’s out there making coffee or whatever. You go out through the door that leads out to the back porch and get back to your room that way. If Ty’s out in the kitchen or living room, I’ll keep him distracted. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.” As soon as she turned to go, he reached out and gently grabbed her arm, turning her toward him. “Jax! There’s no time! I need to…”

Her words were cut off by a kiss that was soft and tender and…everything. When he lifted his head and stared down at her, she saw the sadness there and maybe…regret?

“I hate that our morning is ending like this,” he said quietly. “I wish we had more time.”

“Me too,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “I…I should go.” When she went to take a step back, he released her and she already missed his touch. They never talked about how things were going to be afterwards. It seemed like an unspoken agreement that they weren’t going to tell her brother—or anyone—about what happened, and she hated that this was their only night together.

But…was it?

Why didn’t we talk about this?

Now wasn’t the time to figure that out. She needed to get back to her room and shower before facing Ty. So, with a sad smile, Lucy turned and quietly let herself out the back door. When she got close to the sliding glass doors that led to the living room, she carefully peeked to see if her brother was anywhere within view and…he was. He was in the kitchen making coffee but facing the back porch. Luckily Jax came out and distracted him. It was almost comical how he managed to get the two of them to turn their backs, but as soon as they did, she darted for her own door and stepped inside.

Her heart was both racing and breaking at the same time, and she had no idea how she was supposed to act normally when she joined the two of them for breakfast.

“I guess I’m going to have to figure that out. Fast.”

Jax prided himself on being a good friend and teammate. He was always quick to lend a hand or an encouraging word. So it wasn’t a surprise that he was having a hard time looking Tyler in the eye. He was fine until Lucy came out of her bedroom after taking a shower. She was fully dressed, but her hair was still damp, and he could smell her shampoo.

I’m in hell…

Somehow they’d gotten through breakfast and then made plans to go on a tour of the stadium and then to lunch at the Warrior’s Club—an exclusive restaurant for players, management, and other executives and staff. There were a ton of museums, galleries, a zoo, and a lot of other tourist attractions around the city, but neither Ty nor Lucy were interested in doing that. So after lunch, they were going to play it by ear before hitting up some of the local craft breweries for dinner, like a pub crawl. Jax wasn’t going to drink, but he didn’t mind taking them there.

As they drove to the stadium, he did his best to focus on the task at hand and not on thinking about everything he and Lucy had done the night before. There was a part of him that still couldn’t believe they’d crossed that line and slept together, but he didn’t regret it. She was someone he genuinely enjoyed being around, and if it weren’t for his friendship with her brother, he’d be out with her alone today instead of this friendly little trio.

Unfortunately, there was no way he could blow Ty off to get time alone with Lucy, no matter how much he wanted to.

“Hey,” Lucy said, interrupting his thoughts. “What happened with your meeting?”

“Um…”

“I think she means me,” Ty said with a laugh before twisting in the passenger seat to face her in the back. “The meeting was scheduled for tomorrow, but we’re going to handle it as a Zoom call tomorrow night after we get home. Personally, I think it could have waited another day, but these are big clients and they’re interested in the land the old Creek Motel was on.”

“Oh, wow,” Jax said with a grin. “Remember how we all went there on prom night?”

Ty laughed, nodding. “Hell, yeah! Marcy Valentine and I in room 302.” He sighed dramatically. “Alas, it was not meant to be.”

Jax laughed with him. “I don’t think anyone who was together on prom night is still together now.”

“Not true. Rich Collier and Debbie Monroe got married last year. They were in the room next to mine and Marcy’s and they played some sappy music on full blast most of the night,” Ty explained, thoroughly amused. “I asked him about it the next day and he said it was Debbie’s idea so no one would hear what they were doing!” More laughing. “I had to break it to them that their headboard banging against our shared wall was louder than the music!”

“Yikes!” Lucy chimed in. “At least my prom weekend was spent at a place near the beach. We had to drive an hour to get there, but it was clean and a little more soundproof than what you’re saying.”