Scoring Lacey (16 page)

She hadn’t known that Shayne was a poet.

She ran the towel over her head, wrapped it around her body then went to get dressed in a pair of denim cut-offs and a tank top with Houston Steam’s dragon looking fierce as steam came from its flared nostrils.

She expected her breakfast of champions to be cereal. Or toast.

There was a bottle of maple syrup on the table and the scent of cinnamon clinging to the air. “You cook?”

“I have skills, baby. Mad, mad skills. Sit.”

She sat and he poured her a cup of coffee. He turned and his gaze fell to the word S-T-E-A-M printed over her breasts. He set the mug down on the table and braced a hand on the back of her chair.

“I cooked for you.” The words were gravelly as he brushed his thumb over her shoulder blade. “And you wear
this?
” He traced the thin strap that showed she was wearing no bra. His other hand traced where a nipple swelled through the middle dip of the M. He turned, staring at her stove, his mouth on her shoulder while his fingers lightly brushed over her. “Goddamn you.”

Lacey smiled when he looked back at her. He swooped in and claimed her mouth in a hot kiss. She was distantly aware of the door banging open of Carmen’s shouted, “Uncle T-”

“Excuse us. Enjoy the French toast.” Shayne bent down, put his shoulder to Lacey’s stomach then easily stood up.

Lacey saw the shock on her daughter’s face. It faded to rage. “Shayne.” She flattened her hands above his ass, pushing up. Somehow, he slid her down his arm so her feet hit the floor while keeping his arm slanted over her.

“You’re fucking Shayne?”

Something hot and painful twisted in her stomach at her daughter’s words. The rage hurt, yes, but not as much as the shattered look of betrayal in those brown eyes.

“How could you?” Carmen screamed even as tears began to fall. “I hate you! I’m glad I’m living with Dad. I hate you!” Her hands fisted.

Behind her Shayne went still.

“God.” Carmen’s gaze shifted from Lacey to Shayne then back again. “He’s...you’re...” Something bitter and dark twisted on her daughter’s face and Lacey wanted to stop it. Stop all that pain and anger inside her daughter. She slipped away from him because her baby was hurting. “Don’t!” Carmen yelled. “Don’t touch me. God, he’s young enough to be your kid. Gross.”

Technically he wasn’t. But logic wasn’t the point. “Carmen.” What did she say? She needed some magical spell to tell her what to say.

“No!” Carmen shrugged away from her, and squeezed past them as if she didn’t want to touch either of them. “I’m going now. Now!”

Lacey flinched when the bedroom door slammed behind Carmen.

“Do you want me to go?”

No. She wiped her eye because she was damned well crying again. She nodded. “I think you should. Sorry. I’m--”

“Don’t,” he whispered. He leaned down and kissed her head. “Call me. I mean it, Lacey.”

She nodded as she heard Carmen yelling into her phone. She listened to Shayne leave, each stepped seemed loud in her head, competing with her daughter screaming in her room. Pressing a hand to her stomach, she went to that closed door.

Normally she knocked. She doubted it would be heard. Carmen’s room was a mess. Clothes trailed from the dresser to her school backpack. She picked up her daughter’s favorite sweater and found herself folding it, sliding her hand over the black cotton weave. Tears were spilling down Carmen’s cheeks as she tried to shove jeans into her bag already full.

Where had all this rage and pain lived in such a slender being? Carmen grabbed her bag and screamed in frustration, throwing it across the floor. “Oh, baby,” Lacey whispered as her own tears fell.

“He said no. He said NO!”

Goddamn it, Kevin
. Lacey smoothed her hand down the hair so like her own. She had been so stunned to see such a miniature version of herself when Carmen was born.

“Don’t touch me,” Carmen said, rolling her shoulder and pulling away.

“Carm.” Lacey ignored her and wrapped her arms around her daughter. A painful sob ripped through Carmen and they went to their knees.

“He said there wasn’t room for me. And that Amber didn’t need added stress. He said I couldn’t stay with him.”

Her ex was a selfish ass. He was an idiot. Damn it. Lacey was an idiot too. “You can go stay with Coach and Grandma.”

Carmen lifted her head, tears smearing her mascara. “You don’t want me either?”

Lacey almost died at the words. “Oh, baby.” She hunched over her hurting daughter. “I always want you. I love you. I will always love you.”

“He’s not coming home.”

Lacey rested her cheek on Carmen’s back as she smoothed down that beautiful wavy hair. “No, baby, he’s not coming home.”

“Don’t send me away.” She sounded five again as her hands clutched Lacey’s back. “Please don’t, Mom. Don’t.”

“I will barricade the door on you. I’ll have Coach nail your windows shut. I will set dogs on you if you escape me. You are mine, Carmen Dana Hodges.
Mine
. I just want you to stop hurting.”

“It hurts all the time, Mom. All the time.”

Lacey gaze shifted to the door where Shayne leaned against the frame. He nodded and left them alone again. “He will always be your dad, Carm. He’s just not my husband anymore. He loves someone else.”

Carmen sniffed as she rested her cheek on Lacey’s thigh. “I hate her.”

“Me, too.” Lacey rubbed Carmen’s arm.

“Why does he love her, Mom?”

“She makes him feel young and free.” Lacey reached up and wiped her cheek. “He doesn’t feel like he’s almost forty-five years old.”

“That’s not love. That’s a midlife crisis.”

Lacey choked on a laugh then buried her face in Carmen’s hair as she couldn’t stop the giggles. “Oh baby. I love you.”

Carmen hugged her hard and Lacey heard Shayne in the kitchen. Way to leave. She wasn’t surprised he hadn’t though. White knight. There when she was hurting.

“Do you still love Dad?”

Lacey shook her head. “No. We fell out of love a long time ago, honey.”

“Why? How do you fall out of love?” Carmen uncurled from her protective ball but kept her head in Lacey’s lap.

“Sometimes you do. You don’t know why. You don’t even recognize the moment when. But I will always love pieces of him. The pieces that gave me you and Kayla. Pieces that gave me the camera. It wasn’t always bad, baby. We loved each other enough to make you and your sister. And we’ll always love you two. You’re pretty hard to fall out of love with.”

Carmen looked up at her and her tongue darted out to catch a tear. “Even when I’m a bitch?”

“Especially when you’re a bitch.”

“I don’t hate you.” Her daughter rubbed her nose and tucked her hand under her cheek.

“I know. Shayne said you get angry at me because you know it’s safe. That no matter what you say to me, I’ll still love you and you know that.”

“That’s awfully smart for a hockey player.”

Lacey smiled. “Yeah, he’s got some brains in him behind that pretty face.” She rested her cheek against Carmen’s then kissed the damp skin. “Vacuum under your bed, baby, that’s horrible.” She smiled when a choked laugh came from Carmen. “Take a bath. Then pull on your sweats and stop worrying so much.”

Carmen nodded as she sat up. She wiped a hand down her face then sighed. Slowly she stood up and headed to the door. “Mom? Do you love Shayne?”

Lacey picked up a t-shirt and began to fold it carefully. “I don’t know, Carmen. I don’t know.” She set the shirt on her lap, her skin damp from her daughter’s tears. She was not surprised when Shayne came into the room. “She doesn’t hate me, Shayne.”

“No.” He cupped her chin and tilted her head up. He studied her face then wiped the tears away.

“You didn’t go.”

“No.” He leaned down and kissed her gently. “French toast is ready. This can wait.” He took her hand and drew her to her feet. His fingers entwined with hers as he led the way to the kitchen.

She studied the breadth of his shoulders, the sureness of his grip, and knew she had lied to her daughter. God help them all, but she did love him.

Shayne looked up from scrubbing the frying pan when Carmen walked into kitchen. God, she looked like her mom. Breakfast had been an uneasy truce, with Carmen looking young and uncertain. Lacey had set her empty coffee mug down and had glared at him. Why he got the glare was anyone’s business. She had then announced she was calling Kevin.

Carmen’s eyes had gotten wider and wider the more Lacey had yelled into the phone, cursing out Kevin.

Shayne wondered if he’d get to go punch him unconscious when she was done. He very much wanted to hit the man.

“Mom is really mad.”

“Yeah, she’s really mad.” He couldn’t blame her. He was mad at what Kevin had done and Carmen wasn’t his kid. The mama bear was unleashed and clawing into the body of the man who had dared hurt her cub. Didn’t matter that it was papa bear either. Shayne stared at the pan then looked at Carmen. “Look, I know this is weird for you.”

Brown eyes rolled at his understatement. She screwed the cap back on the syrup and put it away. God, she was like her mom. So full of sass. “It’s weird for me too, Carmen. Weird for Lace. Weird for Todd. It’s just...weird.”

He rinsed the pan off then set it in the drying rack. “Did you know what I was doing one week ago?” Folding the cloth, he then leaned against the counter as she put away the rest of the ingredients. When she flicked a look at him, he continued on. “Unpacking. No way was I getting on that plane. Five minutes later I was packing. Fifteen minutes after that I was trying to figure out how to cancel my flight. Then came Friday and damned if I was in the goddamn taxi going to the airport. I kept hoping I forgot my passport so I couldn’t get on the plane.”

“Well I don’t give a shit!” Lacey yelled from her room.

He grinned and mentally high fived her.
Go, baby
. “Unfortunately I had the goddamn passport and I was getting on the plane. Hoped it would crash. Boom. No more having to come here. It landed in Calgary. No problem.” He glared at that. “I didn’t miss my flight. It was fucking on time. Got off the plane and there was your bloody uncle. I hate this place,” he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Why?”

“It’s got a lot of shitty memories for me. Then came Saturday. Jesus.” He rubbed his mouth as he lost focus. “She was this goddess. Beautiful. Most beautiful thing I ever saw.” Carmen hopped onto the counter, watching him. “I was reeling and then she smiled at me and it wasn’t a shitty memory.

“So this is weird for me, Carm. Really fucking weird.”

“Well fuck you too!”

He smiled as he looked over his shoulder. Her door banged open and he listened to her stomp down the hallway. “Two minutes for bad sportsmanlike conduct, Magerin.” She lifted her hand and flipped him the middle finger. He grabbed her wrist and drew her into him. “You okay?”

“Go hit him. Just...hit him.”

“Really?” His mood perked up. He rubbed his thumb over her wrist. “Can I borrow your car? Todd’s truck is gone.”

She sighed and rested her head on his chest. She shook her head negatively. Damn it. He wanted to hit the bastard.

“Get your skates,” he said as he kissed her head. “Both of you.” He took the phone from her and dialed Todd. Carmen was studying him, her head tilted to the side. She looked a lot like Coach in the way she was mentally dissecting him. “Rally the troops” he said once he heard Todd’s voice on the line. “Game’s on. Bring my shit to the rink. Thanks.” Hanging up the phone with a flourish, he ran the back of his fingers up and down Lacey’s arms. “Let’s see if you can score without dirty tactics, Magerin.”

“Blow me.”

He lowered his head, his mouth against her ear. “Not in front of minors. Put on some pants.” He watched as Carmen hopped down from her perch and darted from the room. God love the Magerins. They were so easily distracted with hockey.

Lacey smiled as she listened to Carmen and Todd argue in the kitchen about how her penalty was unfair and he had purposefully tripped over her stick because he was losing. The game had been fun. In typical fashion they had all swarmed on her parents’ house where dinner had consisted of pizza and popsicles.

“You awake there, Magerin?”

“Basking in my win.” Plus the sofa was surprisingly comfortable. Would her parents miss it if she dragged it home with her one day? In the family room, the television was on and she could hear her mother discussing some luncheon thing with Janine. The last she had seen Coach, he had wandered into the kitchen, no doubt to watch his son and granddaughter bicker. He always knew how to find a good game to watch.

“You horrified your brother-in-law when you flashed him. Tsk.”

She grinned without opening her eyes. Shayne sank down beside her and caressed down her arm. Her skin prickled beneath his touch. “It worked.”

“Don’t do it again.”

She opened her eyes as he leaned down and kissed her slowly. “It wasn’t like it was my bra.”

“This is killing me.” His hand glided over her stomach, petting the dragon decal. “Come for a walk with me.” His hand tugged up the fabric of her top. Her breath caught as his fingers brushed over her stomach. “Come get naked with me.” He lowered his head and kissed her stomach, his tongue circling her belly button as he tugged on the tie of her yoga pants she had worn for the game. The man was stripping her in the middle of her parents’ living room with family scattered
everywhere.
“Every time you bent down in these pants...”

His hand glided over her hip, following a mental path in his head to her ass. “Shayne,” she whispered as his hand tugged on the back of her pants. She gripped the front because of that bit about family being everywhere.

“You smell of hockey.” He licked up her stomach as he covered her, sealing his mouth over hers.

Holy hell. His tongue conquered hers as he rocked his erection against her while pulling on her pants. Maybe they should have gone back to her house. Shayne’s mutter of, “This is a bad idea,” suddenly made a lot of sense.

Ice did indeed make him randy.

“Let’s go,” he whispered, tugging at her shirt and pulling at her pants. “Get naked. Tired of not being inside you.” He slowly pushed his pelvis into hers. “Want to come inside this hot, hot body.” His mouth closed over hers as his hand slid beneath her pants. “Want to pound into this hot, steamy pussy. Fuck you now.”