Razors Ice 04 - Hot Ice (18 page)

Just before he lost control, she eased off,
straightened herself and searched his eyes.

“God, you’re amazing,” he managed to say in between breaths.

Suddenly he didn’t want her just for the night or the week. He wanted her for the long term. He wanted to make plans with her for the summer. He wanted to take her out on the lake on his boat and find a quiet little secluded cove where they could make love under the summer sun.

Violet
swallowed. “Mmmm. Pineapple,” she said and smacked her lips. She had known he would want to mix business with pleasure and had been sure to pack flavored massage oil. A girl could never be too prepared.

“Pineapple?”
The tropical smell wasn’t the only thing making his mouth water.

“Wanna taste?” She stuck out her tongue
and he covered it with his mouth and suckled her sweet fruit-covered tongue.

He eased her onto the floor and w
ith one hand cupped over her breast and the other between her legs, Jace thrust a finger into her sex.

The only other words on her lips were his name. He slid his
other hand from her breast down to her clit. It didn’t take his other finger long to find her G-spot and when he did she thought she’d faint from the dual sensation of his fingers and tongue.

When she was on the verge of unraveling, h
e gripped her hips and thrust himself inside her. She cried out when he filled her with his warmth and they settled into an intoxicating rhythm balancing between frantic need and decadent indulgence.

* * *

Jace stirred in his sleep. He knew he was dreaming, but he couldn’t wake himself up. It was so real. The ice, the sound of the crowd. He could feel the weight of the equipment on his shoulders and the stick gripped in his gloved hand. It
was
real. This was the exact same event that had happened in real life just a few years ago.

He glanced up at the scoreboard and it looked different, much too bright. Everything was a little off, come to think of it, but that was the way dreams worked. He knew it wasn’t real, but he was still scared nonetheless. Scared because he knew what was going to happen and how bad it was going to hurt.

Jace pushed himself across the ice and towards the net. He had the puck on his stick and the chance to score the game-winning goal. A defenseman blocked his path and he swung around behind the net. With a bone-crushing crash, Tomo “The Tank” Timonen smashed Jace into the boards. Jace’s leg was in an awkward position and his knee twisted. Just as he opened his mouth to cry out in pain, the heaviness sleep began to fade and the dream dissolved away.

* * *

Violet woke up in Jace’s bed with her body curled around his. She was spooning him and his body heat was an absolute pleasure to wake up to. The scent of pineapple hung in the air. She could imagine waking up this way every morning.

And then Jace let out a blood-curdling moan and Violet nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Jace?” Violet nudged him softly, but he didn’t budge. “Jace, wake up.”

When she pushed him a little harder
, he abruptly snapped up into a sitting position. “What? What’s going on?” He looked around frantically with a crazed look in his eyes. His jersey and skates were gone and he was naked in his bed with Violet hovering over him. What had her looking so damned worried?

“Jace,
it’s okay,” she reassured him and rubbed his arm. “You were having a bad dream. It’s okay now.”

He scrubbed his hands over his eyes. “Why’d you wake me up?”

She frowned. “I’m sorry. You made this noise that sounded like someone was ripping you limb from limb.”

“Oh.” He bent his knee, testing
the flexibility and was relieved to find the joint still working. At least the damn dream was just a flashback.

“What were you dreaming about?”
Violet asked, rubbing her hand up and down his arm.

“I don’t remember,” he lied
and moved away from her touch. He wasn’t ready or willing to share his nightmares with her. It was just sex anyway. Why did he have to let her into every dark corner of his life? Because he thought he might be in love with her? No, he thought bitterly. He wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about her.

Violet
shook her head. “Whatever it was, it must have been intense.”

Jace got out of bed and the instant he put weight on his knee, the pain made his breath catch in his throat. Defeated and frustrated, he sat back on the bed with a huff.

“What’s wrong?” She scooted over to him, the sheets tangling around her. “Is it your knee?”

He flinched in response. “It feels like it’s on fire.”

“I’ll get some ice.”

“There’re ice packs in the freezer out in the garage.”

Violet threw on one of Jace’s old T-shirts, went through the kitchen and pushed open the door that led into the garage. Inside, she was surprised by what she found.

So this was Jace’s boat,
Ace in the Hole
.

The boat
was clearly designed for speed with its slick styling, sleek lines and sexy paint job. Even though the boat sat motionless in the garage, Violet could almost hear it slicing through the water and feel the wind on her face. She imagined going out on the lake with Jace in the summer. There’d be skiing, barbequing, fireworks over the lake on the Fourth… And then she stopped herself. Would they still be together come summertime? You weren’t supposed to make future plans with someone you were having “just sex” with.

Violet
grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and hurried back inside.

While Jace iced his knee and nursed his crappy mood, Violet pulled her clothes on in a rush.

“What’s got you in such a hurry?” he asked bitterly. Christ, he really did sound like a crotchety old man. Well, how was he supposed to sound when Violet had his mind and heart twisted up into knots?

“I’ve gotta go. I’ve got Molinari at
nine.”

Jace’s brows drew together. “What’s a Molinari?”

Violet sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She looked rumpled and sleepy and incredibly sexy. If it wasn’t for his shitty nightmare, they could be having morning sex right now.

“He’s a regular client of ours who
Pats and I fight over not taking,” she explained.

“What’s his deal? Is he a creep or something?” Jace asked, pushing aside the rising need to protect her.

“No. He’s actually a fairly nice guy. It’s just that he…well, he has a forest of hair growing on his back.”

He made a face and Violet instantly felt bad.
“Oh. That’s all?”

“God, that sounds mean of me to say that, but it’s really nasty and distracting.”

When she started for the door, Jace grabbed her wrist and she spun around to face him. “Go easy on Mr. Molinari, all right?”

“I’m always nice to him,” Violet defended.

“I know, but the guy can’t help it that he has a forest growing back there.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry, but sometimes I just wanna take a Weedwhacker to him.”

Stretching up on her tippy toes, Violet kissed him goodbye and rushed out the door.

Chapter
Eleven

Sec
rets

For the next few weeks, Violet spent nearly every night at Jace’s cabin. It felt nice to settle into routines with him. Sleeping late, drinking coffee in bed, taking long steamy showers together, eating dinner in front of a blazing fire. But it also made her uneasy whenever she thought about Phillip. Phillip was the ugly name of the situation she wasn’t ready to figure out yet. But there was one thing she was sure of. She had to tell Jace. He deserved to know she was a horrible person.

After a long workday, she returned to his cabin and paced the living room while Jace was in the kitchen scrounging up something for dinner.

There was a fire blazing in the fireplace and it was toasty inside, but Violet shivered and hugged her arms around herself in anticipation of Jace’s reaction to what she had to say. Maybe he would understand. Maybe he would send her away and never speak to her again.

She went to the window. The lake was breathtakingly beautiful in the
soft evening light, but she didn’t see it. Not when her mind was focused on the past.

Suddenly, she was
hurtled backward in time to two years ago. She had gone about her day the same as any other and then, in the blink of an eye, everything was ripped out from under her. She remembered that day so clearly like it was only yesterday.

She had been making housecalls all morning
and when she finally checked her phone, she frowned at the 23 missed calls. Most of them were from her mother.

She dialed her mother’s number and held the phone to her ear with a shaky hand.

“Oh Violet, finally. Thank God. Your father is in the hospital.”

Her hand flew up to cover her mouth and she collapsed into a chair.
She’d never forget that horrifying feeling of utter and complete helplessness.

“What happened?”

Then Violet was miles away in the hospital waiting room, huddled with her brothers and mother. When Phillip entered the room, Violet shot up out of her seat and embraced him.

“Thank you so much, Phillip,” she told him when they were alone. “Thank you for saving my dad.” If it wasn’t for the talented doctor, Lord knows what might have happened.

“It was
a routine prostatectomy,” Phillip replied coolly.

He used some other long and complicated words that she didn’t understand, but it didn’t matter. Phillip had saved the day and saved her father.

“What can I ever do to thank you enough for everything you’ve done?” she asked, still clutching his sleeve.

He squeezed her hand and put his other hand on her shoulder.
“You can promise you’ll marry me.”

She blinked as her brain scrambled to compute
and she forced herself to focus on Phillip’s face. Did he just say what she
thought
he said? “M-marry you?” she asked, unable to hide her surprise.

“Yes. It doesn’t have to be right away.
But eventually.”

She thought about it and couldn’t find a reason to say no. The fact that he’d just saved her father’s life might have swayed her decision. They’d known each other for most of their lives and her family loved him.
Her brothers liked to make a habit out of scaring off anyone who came within five feet of her, so Phillip seemed like a logical choice for a husband. He was a successful doctor with a growing practice and he had a smart head on his shoulders.

“Okay.”

“You’ll need to accompany me to the hospital fundraisers and any other events I attend.”

“But…” She let the sentence trail off when he stared at her with cold, dark eyes.

“You promise to be my wife?”

“Y-yes.
I promise.”

He gave her elbow a
pat and said, “Good. I have some paperwork to finish up. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

He smiled and squeezed her shoulder again before walking away. And that was the extent of his proposal.

When Dale was out of the hospital, Phillip enthusiastically announced his engagement to Violet at the family’s monthly dinner. Surprise had flashed across her brothers’ faces and her mother had jumped up out of her chair with a zealous squeal and proceeded to capture Phillip into a death hold, er
hug
.

Everyone had been happy about the situation and Violet had just sat there feeling numb.

The concern in Jace’s voice sent Violet’s scattered thoughts back into the past where they belonged. “You okay, Vi?”

She kept her back to him and heard his voice get closer as he walked toward her.
“It’s a shame that something with such an incredible view sits empty so much throughout the season.”

She heard Jace
stop behind her and smiled when he wound a tendril of her hair around his fingers.

“I’m here enough to enjoy it. When I retire, I plan on living here full time.”

“I can’t think of anywhere more beautiful to live.”

“
My ex-wife always hated this place,” he said, a hint of sadness in his voice. “She hated the water and the bugs and the snow. Everything about it really. I swear, whenever that woman got more than fifteen miles from a Macy’s she’d start having a panic attack. Maybe that’s part of the reason why I love this place so much.”

Violet
turned to face him. “Because she hated it?”

The corner of his mouth lifted in a smile.
“Because it was the only thing she didn’t take away from me. It was the one thing she didn’t want. Simone took everything from me but I wouldn’t let her take my baby.”

Violet
’s stomach flip-flopped and she swallowed. “When you say baby…?”

He grinned. “I’m talking about my boat.”

She nodded. “Right. I saw it in the garage. It’s very nice. You didn’t have any children together?” she asked when he didn’t say anything else.

“No.”
He didn’t explain any further. He wasn’t sure how long things with Violet were going to last, but his position on having kids was something he didn’t think she needed to know just yet. Or at all.

“Well that helps simplify things.”

“I guess so,” he sighed. “Simone was simply a gold digger.”

Violet
turned back toward the window and looked out at the lake again. Whip cream clouds floated in the sky and a fish jumped, causing a ripple on the water.

“What?
” Jace asked, his hand stilling in her hair. “You look like you’re about to tell me something.”

She pressed her lips shut and decided against it. “No.” She tucked her secret away and looked through the window. Something was different on the
deck. The wood pile was stacked high. “You didn’t stack that wood, did you?” she asked, concerned for his shoulder.

“Nah,” he said simply and she cocked an eyebrow. “Cody brought his twin boys over and we put them to work. I swear they have so much energy, you could harness it and power the entire North state.”

Violet nodded, pleased with his explanation. She should have known he would never jeopardize not getting to play hockey by overexerting himself while injured. “Pats’ son Carter is the same way. He’s a good kid, but he can’t sit still for more than two seconds. He makes me feel young and really old at the same time.”

“I know what you mean.” Jace veered the conversation away from the subject of kids.
A discussion about children didn’t belong in a conversation with someone you were having “just sex” with.

Violet took a deep breath. It was time to come clean.
“I haven’t been completely honest with you,” she told Jace and turned to face him.

“Right.
I knew it all along. You’re after my money, too.”

She
looked up at him and frowned. “No.”

“Here, let me go get my checkbook.”

“No,” Violet repeated and caught his sleeve when he turned to leave.

He put his hands on her hips with a twinkle in his eyes.

“I’m serious, Jace. I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you this.”

His smile disappeared. “Just tell me.”

She sucked in a breath. “Jace, I…I live with someone and…I’m sort of engaged to him.”

Jace didn’t seem to be phased by the news and she was relieved he didn’t throw her out
, headfirst into the nearest snow bank. “Okay,” was all he said.

“He’s never home and we
have never even been intimate and I’m beginning to question why we’re together in the first place because we’re
not
really together.” She felt herself rambling and clamped her mouth shut when Jace put a finger to her lips.

“It’s okay,” he said.

“It’s okay? How is it okay?”

“I’m okay with it as long as this guy doesn’t show up on my doorstep wanting to kick my ass.”

Violet cracked a smile at the thought of Phillip in a confrontation with anyone, much less brawny hockey player Jace McQuaid.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that
,” she said with a laugh. “Phillip is out of town all the time and even when he is in town, he’s always at his apartment downtown to be closer to the hospital. He’s a doctor, by the way.” She studied Jace. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.
I guess I’m a little surprised to find out your engaged, obviously, but I’m okay.”

She let out a sigh. “It doesn’t mean much after all these years.”

“Years?”

Violet did the math in her head. Sheesh, no wonder her mother harped on her constantly about setting a date.
“Two years,” she said quietly.

Jace’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “You’ve been engaged for
two years
?”

She crossed her arms in front of her and gripped her elbows.
“Yes.”

Jace shook his head.
“Who is this guy?” This doctor guy obviously didn’t make her happy or else she never would have jumped into Jace’s bed. And why had they never been intimate? Was she just pulling Jace’s leg or was there really a man out there who could resist a woman like Violet? Who was this guy and what in the hell was wrong with him?

Jace
put a hand up to stop her from answering. “Wait, I don’t wanna know who he is.”

“His name is Phillip Krandall. He’s
a urologist.”

“Damn
, Vi. If I were this Phillip guy, I would have snatched you up and taken you off the market, no questions asked. Well, except for the obvious one, of course.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Jace McQuaid, are you proposing?”

He let out a snort. “I’m just saying I wouldn’t have you sitting on the back burner while I got my shit together to finally marry you someday.”

She smiled and watched him focus on something outside the window. He looked a million miles away and she wondered if he was really as okay as he said he was.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked softly.

“I’m just wondering about something.
”

“What?”

He looked at her. “You don’t seem like the type of person to sit around and wait for something for
two years
.”

Her breath caught, surprised at his accurate assessment of her.
“What type of person do I seem like?”

“Well,
” he answered thoughtfully. “You’re the type of person who takes what she wants and doesn’t follow someone else’s rules and timelines.”

He was right. At least that was how she used to be. How she
wanted
to be. How she was when she was with Jace.

“Why
did you get engaged to him in the first place?” It certainly wasn’t the only question he had, but it was the first one he blurted out.

Violet shrugged and shook her head.

Man, Jace thought, this guy really had her tied up in knots.

“I think it was more for my mother than anything
,” she finally answered. “Her only daughter engaged to a successful doctor... It sounded like something she could be proud of and it looked good on paper. I don’t really know how it all happened. I’ve never lived my life for anyone else before. I was grasping at anything and everything that represented family and it wasn’t like I had any other prospects at the time anyway. I said yes out of gratitude and then obligation and then I don’t know…”

Jace looked at her questioningly and there was only one explanation she could give him.

“Phillip saved my Dad’s life. If the cancer hadn’t been detected at an early stage and if Phillip hadn’t operated…”

Jace frowned.
“That doesn’t mean you have to marry the guy.”

Violet’s shoulders slumped.
“Well, it seemed like it at the time. He’s friends with my brothers and we always got along and my Mom was and
is
always pressuring me to get married. I guess I thought it would keep her off my back for a while.” The reasons sounded weak, even to her own ears. “I’m sure you know what it’s like to feel pressure from people and not want to let them down.”