Falling for the Backup (Novella): The Assassins Series (8 page)

Helping her into the truck, Jordan hoped he hadn’t
 
hurt her feelings. It was the last thing he wanted. He walked around to the driver’s side of the truck and got in before Aynslee glanced over at him and said, “By the way, I like your flirty talk. It’s super hot.”

Jordan smiled as he started the car and pulled out onto the road.
 
Reaching over taking her hand in his he noticed how soft and small her hand was but how perfectly it fit into his. Resting them against his thigh, Jordan was convinced that no one could wipe the grin off his face if they tried.

A half an hour later, Jordan sat beside Aynslee at a romantic corner table at Maggiano's Little Italy. He loved this place, not only was the food amazing but the ambiance really felt like a little Italian cafe. Jordan usually went there with Shea and the guys before the games so they could talk about strategy but this was much better.

“This is amazing,” Aynslee gushed as she took another sip.
 

“It is,” Jordan agreed just as the waiter came over to their table she was amazing. Jordan took the liberty of ordering all of his favorites for them to share. He then reached over turning her chair so that she was sitting between his legs as he
 
leaned over, kissing her cheek softly. “Did I tell you that I thought you were gorgeous tonight?”

 
“I think you did when you told me I reminded you of a naughty sailor,” she laughed.

.
 

“That’s right, I did,” he said, “I had to tell you again.”

She looked over at her glass, running her finger along the rim of the glass before saying, “Thank you.”
 

 
“Tell me everything I need to know about you,” she said, surprising him.
 

.
 

“Tell me everything about you first and then I’ll answer the same.”

“Okay,” she said, . “Let’s see . . . I don’t have any pets because I am so busy, but I want a dog. I love dogs.”

“I do too, but I don’t have time either.”

 
She continued, “I could be classified as a nerd. I like Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, comic books and stuff like that. I played World of Warcraft all through college and at one point I wanted to name my kid Frodo.”

 
“No way,”he laughed.

“Yes way, it was bad, I’m over that now, but the only reason is because I’ve moved on to Greek Mythology and now I want to name my son, Perseus.”

“Really?” he asked.. He was falling for her more every minute.

She nodded eagerly before pointing to herself and saying, “Total nerd.”

“No, I said really, because I love Greek Mythology too.”

“Really?!”

“Really,” he said with a smile.
 
Leanna hated Greek Mythology and pretty much everything else that he was interested in.
 
Aynslee was made for him.
 

“That’s so awesome. I also love to read. A lot. I read a book every two days or so.”

“Me too,” he said with a nod, “The guys on the team tease me because I’m always reading instead of playing Xbox with them.”

She laughed as she looked deep into his eyes. He was usually shy and awkward when he was under the gaze of someone, but not with Aynslee. He couldn’t remember enjoying himself more. They talked about everything. They both agreed that the Wrath of the Titans was a great movie, but it could have been better. Jordan loved country music because of his South Carolina roots, while Aynslee was more into Rap. It made him laugh to think of her rapping about hoes and bitches as she drove to school, but she guaranteed him she had ‘mad flow’, whatever that meant.
 

They talked about living in Nashville and how she loved it more than Knoxville. Jordan talked about South Carolina, telling her how much he loved growing up there close to his relatives and grandparents. She loved Buffalo but sometimes wished that she had grown up in the South. She liked the Southern hospitably and loved the food. They talked about their families and it still blew Jordan’s mind how many siblings she had. Apparently the niece that she stood up in the wedding for was pregnant.
 

“It’s insane! I don’t have kids or am even married for that matter.
 
And she’s pregnant?! ACK! Jordan, I’m gonna be a great aunt!”

 
“You’re the hottest great aunt I’ve ever seen.”

 
“You only say that so I’ll sleep with you again.”

 
“Maybe,” he teased, taking another mouthful of fettuccine.
 

She laughed as she smacked his thigh, taking another sip of wine. After having their plates cleared from the table, they ordered dessert. Jordan didn’t want the night to end.
 
He didn’t want to go home to his empty condo, he wanted to stay nuzzled up beside Aynslee just listening to her. As she talked about how she got her suitcase back from her aunt, he wondered if she was feeling the same as he was.He knew that such strong feelings usually didn’t come until months, maybe years, into a relationship but he felt at home with her. He didn’t care if he laughed too loud or if he was being a dork.
 
She seemed to like him just the way he was.

As the waiter served their dessert, Aynslee said, “I have the best job ever. I love it. Yesterday, one of my kids told me he was going to be a world class Hippogriff fighter.
 
How cute was that?”

“Very cute, ” he agreed.
 
He though she was too.

 
“Yeah, I love my kids. I’m not one of those teachers that think my kids are all I need though, I want my own one day.”

He looked up, knowing that she was making sure he wanted kids too.
 

“I want kids too, as my mom loves to point out she wants grandchildren and I hope to one day give them to her,” he said receiving another smile.

“My mom is the same way,” she said slicing into the decadent red velvet cake. “Even though she has seventeen grandchildren and a great grandchild on the way, she still wants more.”

“Seventeen? Sheesh.”

Aynslee laughed before putting the forkful of cake into her mouth. When she loudly groaned enjoying her dessert, Jordan’s cock came to life. He went to move closer but then stopped himself, knowing that he needed to tell her about his job situation. He was enjoying himself, immensely, but he knew he owed it to her to tell her how things were with him and his job and his very soon-to-be-realized transfer.
 

“You got quiet on me, what’s up?” she asked, causing him to look over at her.
 

“Sorry, I was thinking,” he said giving her his full attention.
 

“About?” she asked a sweet smile on her face. His mouth pulled up at the side when he saw that she had a little piece of whip cream on her lip. Reaching over, he licked the whip cream off replacing it with his lips. She tasted of the cake and wine and he basked in it as he moved his mouth over hers. Parting slowly, but with a few small kisses before pulling completely away, he looked at her beautiful flushed face. His heart hammered against his chest as he held her gaze, her hand resting against his cheek.
 

What if he told her and she decided not to see him after this? He wouldn’t be able to handle it. She was funny, beautiful, crazy, and she scared the living shit out of him, but he wanted her. All of her. The thought of not being able to kiss her, or touch her was not an option. He didn’t understand how this had all happened so quickly, but it had. Now he was left in the position to tell her about his unsteady future and hope for the best. When really, what was the best? No matter what, he would be leaving her behind and someone would get hurt but even knowing that didn’t stop him from wanting to see her. Be with her, sleep with her, and laugh with her.
 

He couldn’t walk away.

Taking a deep breath, he looked down before saying, “I need to tell you something.”

***

Aynslee decided that she liked every single thing about Jordan.
 

Holding his face in her hand, she took in every delectable thing about him. She loved his eyes, his mouth, hell his whole face, but most of all, his mind. He talked with such confidence now that he was past his initial shyness. He was a completely different guy than the one she talked to on the plane, or even at Starbucks. He was relaxed and even funny. It probably had a lot to do with the fact they skipped the first date and jumped right into bed. She liked the Jordan from before, but this Jordan, she was sure she could fall for.

Hard.
 

 
It was scary and she couldn’t even believe she was thinking that, so soon, but it was hard not to when his hand would graze along her knee, or hold her hand, or really, when he just looked at her. When he talked to her, he looked directly into her eyes, veering away only to eat or to take a drink.
 
And when he laughed, he laughed with everything inside him. He was so fucking hot, it should be illegal. Who would have known that having sex first would loosen this guy up?
 

Aynslee had been nervous that when he left to go home and change she would never see him again, but there he was, at her door promptly at six o’clock, devouring her with kisses before taking her to one of her favorite restaurants. He was sweet and caring, but what totally blew her away was how much they had in common. He loved Greek Mythology! He loved dogs, he wanted kids, and he was basically everything she wanted in a man. It was refreshing and exhilarating and she was sure she had never felt this way about anyone. In her heart she felt good about Jordan, and throughout the whole dinner, she felt that her heart was right and that maybe he did feel something for her but then his eyes dimmed and she could see that something was wrong. She just hoped that he wasn’t about to walk away because she was pretty sure that if he did, he’d take a big chunk of her heart with him.

“Yes,” she asked, looking down at the cake they were sharing, “What’s that?”
 

"You know how I said I was the backup goalie for the Assassins right?"

She nodded before saying, “Actually Google told me that, you just confirmed it.”
 

He rolled his eyes playfully as she giggled, hoping to lighten the mood, but when he looked back up at her, all the seriousness was back.
 

"Okay, well, I'm not happy with that. It bothers me. Actually it drives me insane that I'm not on the ice as the starting goalie. My dad, he's my agent, knows that I'm not happy and has been looking at other teams for me to transfer to."

Aynslee didn’t know what he was talking about but she had a feeling it wasn’t good. Nodding her head she said, "Okay . . "

"Well, the reason I was in Buffalo was because I had a meeting with the New York Islanders and the Buffalo Sabras. Unfortunately, they don’t want me, so that leaves the other team I wanted to go to which is the Carolina IceCats."

"Okay." she said again. He looked at her like all this meant something but she was completely confused. "I'm sorry, I don’t know what you are trying to tell me."

He took in a deep breath before he said, "I'm probably going to leave Nashville and move to another state that has a team I can start for."

Whoa, what?

Her eyes went wide as she looked at him confused.

"What? I thought you loved Nashville."

"I do," he said softly, "I love my team and I love this city but ever since I hurt my knee, they don’t want to play me and Aynslee, hockey means the world to me. I want to play, I don’t want to retire. I am healthy, and I need to play."

She knew he was awesome. All the videos she watched on YouTube proved that so why couldn’t he stay here? Why couldn’t he be the starting goalie for the Assassins?

"When?"

He looked away.
 

"I'll finish the season here, and then start somewhere new next season. I am hoping for Carolina since my family is there, but if that doesn’t work than I'm not really sure."

She nodded and asked, "It's a sure thing? That you’ll be moving, that is?"

"Yeah, I have to play, somewhere. I can't do this much longer."

"But there is a chance that maybe you can stay?"

Looking up at him, hoping for the answer she wanted, she watched as he shook his head.

"Unless the goalie they have now quits or leaves, no, I won’t be staying."

She took in a shaky breath, looking down at the table again. She couldn’t believe this. She finds the guy that she has been dreaming about and he already has one foot out the damn door.
 

Shit!

Shaking her head, she knew she should chalk this up as a loss and walk away but when she looked back up at him, she knew she couldn’t. Just like he couldn’t walk away from her anymore. Maybe they would get lucky and he wouldn’t go. Or maybe in the short time they had, he'd fall for her like she knew she was falling for him and ask her to go with him. Even though this was her first year at New Life, she knew she would be able to find a job somewhere else and if this relationship went the way she felt in her heart it would go then she'd relocate, no problem.
 

Just to be with him.

"What do you want Jordan?" she asked quietly before moving her hand into his, "Do you want to keep going with this? Or stop it right now? Because I want to keep going. I've never felt like this about anyone and I’m not ready to let it go."

He smiled, leaning in closer to her, reaching up to run his thumb along her lips.
 

"I've been so closed off to everyone but with you it's different. I like the way I feel around you. Call it crazy but I like you. A lot. I don’t want to walk away but I also don’t want to hurt you."

Her heart skipped a beat,

"I like you too and we'll just have to remember that we both knew your future plans going into this and if we make it to the end of the season we'll reevaluate everything."

He nodded, leaning into her placing a sweet kiss on her lips. When he smiled against her, she smiled back before kissing him again. Aynslee's heart was pounding in her chest, while her brain was going crazy. She was worried that she would fall hopelessly for this man and he would hold back because he knew that he was leaving. But when he kissed her and held her, it didn’t feel like he was holding back. It felt real. It felt like forever.