CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Noah
Practice wrapped up, and most of the guys hurried off the ice. Noah stayed behind and took some extra shots on the empty net. He had a ton of things going on in his head, and a few quiet moments on the ice was just what the doctor ordered.
“Do you mind a little company?” Harrison asked, skating towards the net.
“Sure.” Noah didn’t mind Harrison joining him. He just didn’t want a whole crowd while he was still trying to get his bearings. His world had been turned upside down with his dad’s accident, and on top of that, his whole family had got on his case about his feelings for Jordan and what he should do about it.
He’d starting thinking about asking Jordan to be his girlfriend. He had never, not even once, called any girl he dated the G word. None of them had been that girl. But with Jordan, the word seemed to suit her.
Harrison shook his head with amusement as he cleared all the pucks from the net, then shot each one to center ice. “Look at you. I never thought I’d see it.”
“See what?” Noah asked. Clueless as to what his friend was talking about, he grabbed a puck and stick handled it, avoiding Harrison’s stare.
Harrison joined him at the blue line, grabbing a puck of his own. “You’re walking around here with that dopey look on your face.”
He shrugged. “I’m sure it’s no dopier than usual.”
“Pretty sure it is, in fact, even cheesier than usual. Plus, you’re humming,” Harrison teased.
“I’m what?” Humming? He shook off the comment, knowing he had never hummed in his life. “Stop playing around. I don’t hum.”
Harrison shrugged. “You were. You shot that last puck, then skated around the net humming.”
“Well, I scored from the blue line,” he responded. “That explains the cocky grin on my face.”
“Nope. That wasn’t a scoring grin. The smile you’ve been carrying around here is about you finally being happy.”
“I have no idea what you’re going on about.” He picked up speed as he skated around the ice, but he wasn’t really bothered by Harrison’s word games.
“You’re in love.” Harrison informed him.
“No I’m not.” The L-word now? But he had to stop himself from smiling at this.
“Keep telling yourself that.” Harrison grinned.
Noah had such warmth in his heart when he thought about Jordan. Yes, he had been grinning nonstop, and he realized he had indeed been humming. He was, in fact, in love.
“Earth to Rodgers!” Harrison Dash teased, smacking him on the shoulder and tapping Noah’s pads with his stick. Then he shot the puck at Noah that barely missed hitting him.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts of Jordan, Noah glared his friend. “Are you trying to take my head off?”
“Just keeping you on your toes. Gotta stay sharp, ya know.” Harrison chuckled. “But in all honesty, it’s good to have you back, bro. I’m sorry about what happened to your dad. I bet it’s a huge relief to know that he’s going to be okay.” Harrison skated around in front of him, spraying ice as he came to a stop. “And if you need anything at all, let me and Tal know. You already know you can stop over any time, day or night.”
“Thanks,” Noah said. “It is nice to be home.” Home. His heart swelled. It was strange how quickly Pittsburgh had become his home, and these people had become his extended family. It felt good. Solid.
“Jordan,” Noah said quietly, as he walked into Slap Shot. The lunch rush was turning into the dinner rush.
“Hey, stranger.” She smiled at him kindly as he moved towards the bar.
“Hi there, boss,” Mo patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry to hear about your dad’s accident. How’s he doing?”
Noah looked around at his work family as warmth filled his chest. This was what he needed, to come home to these welcoming smiles, warm hugs, and concern. “He’s doing well, better than expected, and the doctor thinks he’ll make a good recovery.”
Mo smiled. “That’s very good to hear.”
“Jordan, can I talk to you for a second?” Noah asked.
The buzz of the dining room surrounded him. Slap Shot was a success, and he was thrilled about that. But right now, the last place he wanted to be was in the middle of a busy dining room.
“Sure. Things will probably settle down soon,” Jordan said, as she checked the list at the hostess stand.
Things weren’t going to settle down, and she knew that. Soon the crowd coming in to see him would be lined up at the door, in addition to the normal Saturday night traffic. She was trying to avoid being alone with him.
“Jordan, this can’t wait.” He moved closer to her, causing her to pause what she was doing.
A few patrons in the waiting area gasped when they realized who he was. Usually, he’d stop for selfies and autographs, but right now he only wanted to talk to Jordan.
“Please?”
Jordan turned to him, ready to say something but instead stopped when their eyes met. “Yeah, sure. We can go into the office.”
Once the door was closed, Noah wrapped his arms around Jordan, hugging her tight. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Her rigid demeanor relaxed, and she hugged him back.
“You know we can postpone the guest bartending session tonight. You’ve been through a lot. The fans will understand,” she reassured him.
“No, let’s do it. I’m good.” He nodded. “I need this.”
Jordan eyes him suspiciously. “Are you sure you’re fine?”
“Yes.” He opened a bottle of water and took a long sip. After the week he’d had, he just needed something to take his mind off everything. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“What’s up?”
“I had a lot of time to think while I was away.” He had what he was going to say all planned out in his head, but now standing in front of her, he was drawing a blank. “I really miss you,” was all that came out.
“Noah.” She put her hand up in front of her. “Let me stop you right there. This is not the time to have this discussion.”
“I respectfully disagree,” he said.
“You almost lost your dad, you just came home from a whirlwind visit with your family, and you must be exhausted. And I think you’re too emotional to have this conversation right now.”
“But—” It didn’t matter if they talked about this now or in a week, he would still feel the same. His dad was on the mend, and things were clear in his mind now.
“Can we please just put a pin in this for now? We can revisit later.”
Three hours of guest bartending went by quickly. He felt more alive than he had in a long time, even more than scoring the overtime goal last month. He wiped down the bar and put the dirty glasses in the dish bin. He thought of all the selfies, the autographs, and all the smiles on his fans faces. He’d had this kind of fun before, but for some reason tonight was the best night he’d had in a long time. He felt as though a fog had lifted, and he was seeing things clearly for the first time in years.
Maybe he had missed his calling. But then again, if he was simply a bartender and not a hockey star, there wouldn’t be lines of people out the door waiting to buy a beer from him. He smiled to himself.
Jordan sat down at the empty bar, pulling his thoughts back to the present moment. “You look good behind the bar. If you ever consider a career change—” she teased.
“Funny you should say that,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m good for now. But, yeah, this felt really good. I needed this for sure.”
She was so beautiful sitting there in her business attire, her hair up in her signature prim little bun. Her legs were crossed in the tight suit skirt that barely came down to her knees. He had missed her so much. Not just while he was gone, but he missed the way things had been before, sharing a laugh, having her in his arms. Life didn’t seem complete without her in his orbit. “Can I get you a drink?”
All the staff had gone home, it was just the two of them alone in the place, and it was quiet. Exactly how he’d planned to approach her again. This way, she’d have no excuses to run away.
“Sure, since I’m off the clock now, a white wine sounds perfect.”
He uncorked the bottle and took down a wine glass. She tugged at the clip in her hair, and her bun unraveled, her dark blonde waves tumbling down on to her shoulders. He stared at her, distracted by her beauty, and lost focus mid-pour. She was stunning, and the sight of her took his breath away.
“Noah.” Her voice snapped him out of his daze.
“Huh?”
She nodded pointedly at the glass. “Spilling.”
“Oh, crap,” he said, and quickly righted the bottle, just as the liquid flowed over the rim. He smiled at her apologetically, and grabbed a bar cloth.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?”
“I might be, if it helps with what I have to say,” he said, cleaning up the spill.
He needed to tell her how he felt and he didn’t care that she thought he was too emotional. He carefully put the overfull glass of wine in front of her.
Leaning on the bar, he gazed at her. “Jordan, please hear me out.”
Her shoulders slumped in a ‘here we go again’ gesture. “You’re not going to try to sell me the friends-with-benefits option again, are you?”
“No.” He chuckled. “And I apologize for that. God, I’m such an idiot.”
“Good.” She sighed, looking relieved. “And yes, sometimes you can be.”
“Listen, I know that you think I need time to process my dad’s accident, but I don’t agree. This is something I’ve been thinking about long before any of that happened, and I still feel the same now as I did then. In fact, dad’s accident has in some ways brought me a lot of clarity.”
She tilted her head to the side and waited.
“I didn’t like being without you. Jordan, you are so good for this place, I hated to ruin that. But I knew you’d still be here at least, even if we weren’t together.”
She nodded, but her expression was of frustration. “You already made that abundantly clear.”
“But that’s not all, Jordan. I hated putting on the brakes.”
“Yeah, well,” she added, unimpressed. “Probably for the best.”
He would ignore that comment, hoping she didn’t mean it.
“You were there for me in Canada,” he continued, “and that meant the world to me.”
She shook her head, but her words were more gentle. “I did what any friend would do.”
“But you’re not just a friend. You are so much more to me.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that I hate your rules.”
Back to the damned rules. Why had he ever thought them a good idea?
“Forget the rules,” he said, frustrated. “Erase them from your mind. We’ve already established that I’m an idiot.” Noah ran his and through his hair. “Jordan, we make a great team, on and off the clock. You can’t deny that.”
“Yeah.” She looked around the business they had built together. “We do.”
“Then hear me out. I have a proposal for you. You’re an amazing general manager, but you are so much more than that. You’ve made this place what it is.”
She frowned in confusion. “I didn’t do much.”
“You most certainly did. I was just here to sign off on documents and fund the venture. You did it all.” He took her hands in his. “Without your expertise, this place would be failing miserably. I think you deserve more than just being the general manager.”
“What are you talking about? I’ve simply been doing the job you employed me to do.”
“I don’t know why I didn’t do this from the beginning. I’d like to bring you on as co-owner of the bar. Be my partner. You already do the work; now take the title, too.”
He let go of her hands to walk around the bar. Once he was standing close to her, he guided her off the stool.
“Jordan,” he said, looking into her eyes. Being this close to her again reminded him how much he had grown attached to her, how much he needed her in his life.
He cradled her face in his hands. Her lips pursed as he gazed into her eyes, and they told him all he needed to know. “Tell me you don’t feel the same way.”
Without letting her answer, he pressed his lips to hers.
“Um—” She pulled back, clearing her throat. “Didn’t we decide that this wasn’t going to happen?”
“I changed my mind,” he said, with a crooked smile. “Let’s erase all of that, too.”
She hesitated. “You don’t want me to be co-owner just so this is okay? Do you?”
Noah shook his head. “Not even close. I’ll kiss you even if you don’t take the offer.”
Jordan half smiled, but stepped back from him. “I’m not sure I understand. What is going on with you?”
“I had everything planned that I wanted to say, but it’s coming out all wrong.” He sighed. “This is what I really want to tell you. You’re the first woman to leave a mark on my heart.” He sat on the bar stool and pulled her to sit beside him. “I let fear get the best of me when I suggested casual. Then I let everyone get into my head about not having a relationship with an employee. And honestly, I think some folks would disagree with this relationship no matter what your title was. Thinking I was abusing my power or something.” He wanted to laugh at the notion. “When actually, you are the one who holds all the power. Just being with you made me a better man. You somehow made me want to stop being single and commit to you and only you. And that”s a feat no other woman had ever been able to accomplish.”
“I did?”
He let out a deep chuckle. “Yes.”
“Whatever you say, but I don’t have that kind of influence. And no matter what my job title, the people getting in your head aren’t wrong. If this goes bad, even a little bit, the business could suffer. And you’re willing to risk that?” she asked.
Noah couldn’t tell if she was really worried, or testing him.
“I’m willing to take a chance because I have faith in us.”
“You say that now, but a lot of things could go wrong.”
“What things? Tell me.”
“Well…” She thought for a moment. “What if you get tired of me? You’re the one with the ladies’ man reputation, and there’s temptation after every game with all those bunnies wearing your jersey outside the arena.”
“I might be an idiot, but I’m not stupid.” He gazed at her intently. “What I want is to be with you after every game. Besides, I haven’t looked at another woman since I met you. I don’t want to. There’s no way I’d risk losing you. And as for getting tired of you, I don’t even understand those words. I want you in my life, always.” He took a deep breath. “Did you really go on a date with that blogger guy?”
She gave a little laugh. “No, and you know why. I was too hung up on you.”
“Thank God for that.” He wiped imaginary sweat from his brow. “You have no idea how that turned me inside out. Even the guys were on my case about it.”
“I didn’t know you felt that way, since casual was your thing. That was so stupid, by the way.”
“Agreed,” he said, with a huff. “But what if I do or say something else stupid and make you upset? Because, realistically, we’re talking about me, so that’s bound to happen.”
She shook her head, but smiled. “You’ve said and done a lot of stupid things, and I’m not afraid to tell you so. I’m pretty sure I could survive a few more, so long as you weren’t intentionally trying to hurt me.”
Noah stroked her cheek. “Hurting you is the last thing I ever want to do.” He dropped a light kiss on her lips. “But what if it’s out of my control?”
Jordan frowned. “Meaning?”
“The situation hasn’t changed with me. The Renegades haven’t offered me a new contract yet. If they don’t, I could still have to make the decision to sign elsewhere. What happens if I have to leave, and you want to stay?” His heart thudded in his chest as he waited for her answer.
She eased out of his arms and sat back on the bar stool. “That’s the big question, isn’t it?” She crossed her legs, which was so sexy, it distracted him momentarily. “Eyes here,” she reprimanded.
“Sorry. You have that effect on me.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. He bet she liked that she affected him that way.
“I’m thinking,” she began, “that if you sign with another team, we’d probably have to hire another general manager for Slap Shot.”
“You mean—”
“I mean, Pittsburgh isn’t the only place we can open a bar.”
Of course. Why hadn’t he thought of that himself? “So you’d consider coming with me?”
She laughed. “I’d definitely think about it.”
He scooped her up into his arms again. “Jordan, I don’t want to regret not taking a chance with you. We’re so good together.” He toyed with a strand of her hair. “In case I haven’t made it clear to you, I’m falling for you. I don’t want to be without you.” He searched her eyes. “Unless you don’t feel the same?”
“Oh no, I very much do. Just one thing.”
“Name it.”
“I need strings. Having fun is great, but I want to be tied down. Uh—I mean—” Her cheeks turned dark pink, and she fidgeted where she stood. “That didn’t come out right.”
“Lady, I would love to tie you down,” he said, his voice low and husky. He was quickly at half-mast just thinking about it.
She gave his chest a little shove. “You know what I meant. I want—”
Noah couldn’t wait to hear those words. He pulled her into his body. “You want a relationship.”
She nodded, her eyes wide. “But I know that you don’t do relationships.”
“Woman, have you not been listening? You’re different than any other woman I’ve ever met. When I’m not with you I want to be, and when I am with you, I never want to leave your side.” He paused. “Jordan, I’m all in. I want you and only you. I want to call you my girlfriend.” The word crossed his lips so naturally, it slightly freaked him out.
“Is that the first time you’ve ever said that?” she asked with a laugh.
“What? Girlfriend? Maybe. Why?”
“You flinched a little as you said it, almost like you surprised yourself.”
“And you find that amusing?” he teased.
“A little bit.” Jordan shrugged. “But I liked it. And I want all that, too. I’m also all in, but to be honest, I think I was all in from the beginning.”
She smiled and stood on tiptoe to kiss his lips.
“So, you didn’t like the idea of casual? Sharing me was too much to handle?” he said smugly.
“Yes. Just like thinking of me going on a date with another man was too much for you to handle,” she countered with a smirk.
“Touché.” He gazed into her eyes, memorizing every inch of her gorgeous face. He leaned down to kiss her, but before their lips touched, he added, “I don’t want to waste any more time being without you. Please, be mine.”