Body Check (Blades Hockey, #4)

by Maria Luis

Some things change . . . he hasn’t. Hard, square jaw. Formidable body. Shrewd brown eyes that I imagine terrify his opponents on the ice when he comes barreling toward them. Jackson Carter. Captain of the Boston Blades. Otherwise known as my ex-husband.

Dark eyes flit over my body, lingering on my thighs and waist before returning to my face. His grin is slow, knowing. “You look flushed, Holls. Feelin’ overheated?” Unfortunately.

“You know how they say if you’re a cool mom or whatever? I’m that, without the kids. The cool ex-wife.” “The cool—” Jackson breaks off, his hand lifting from my leg to pinch the broken bridge of his nose. “I’m going to be straight with you, that’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard.”

Losing Holly broke me—even if I was the reason we were broken in the first place—and only now, under her touch, do I feel as though I’m coming alive again.

“What we have . . . what we have doesn’t stay between the lines. It’s messy and beautiful and one-of-a-kind. It’s us.”

Family doesn’t come down to a piece of paper,” I say, brushing my hand over his bare chest. “It doesn’t matter if you have a hockey contract or a marriage license marking it as true and legal.” Palm flat on his heart, I risk a glance up his face. “You need them just as you need me. Now go let them in before they break the door down.”