* * *
A PROPER FAMILY dinner.
A warm, relaxed atmosphere filled with chattering voices and laughter. No stiff formality, no criticism, no head games. Though Gio sat at the head of the table, with Tina to his right and Karina to his left, he didn’t lord it over anyone. Mostly he sat quietly, beaming at the group, his pride obvious to anyone watching.
How different would Maggie’s life have been if she’d grown up in a family like Jake’s? If she’d been supported and encouraged?
Playing what-if games was pointless—she couldn’t change the past. All she could do was ensure things were different for Emily.
“Are you okay?” Jake’s breath against the sensitive skin of her neck sent a quiver through her. “You’re quiet.”
She resisted the urge to lean back against his arm, which rested on her chair. “Just a little tired.”
“Too much excitement for one night?” A serious note underlay his teasing.
Maggie lifted her glass and sipped the cool white wine. This was hardly the place to talk about the emotional upheaval of the evening. “Probably.”
“Are you pissed at me having to fight that ass...jerk, Stemgarder, in the third?”
Her heart tugged at the uncertainty in his eyes. “A little.”
“More than a little?”
“Yes,” she admitted softly. “I was concerned about the effect it would have on Emily. I needn’t have worried.”
The corner of Jake’s mouth quirked as she explained her daughter’s perspective on what had happened. “Smart girl.”
“She’s certainly very resilient. She’s had so much to deal with, and yet she’s bounced back really quickly.”
“Thanks to you.”
The ever-present guilt over what her daughter had suffered because of her jabbed her in the chest. “I don’t know about that.”
“I do.” He nodded across the table at Emily giggling with his father. “She’ll be fine.”
“I hope you’re right.”
He pulled her toward him in a one-armed hug. “Trust me.”
Maggie couldn’t help flinching. The dilemma of whether or not to trust him had been on her mind ever since she’d agreed to come to dinner with him.
Jake stiffened and withdrew his arm. “That’s the real problem, isn’t it? Because of the fight, you’re not convinced you can.”
The hurt in his voice made her want to deny his charge. But she knew that wouldn’t help either of them. He deserved her honesty.
“It was pretty brutal—” she began, but he cut her off.
“I’d never hit a woman. I’d never hit a man off the ice unless it was to defend myself or protect someone else. I’m not that kind of guy.” He thrust his fingers through his still-damp hair. “Hell, I don’t want to fight on the ice anymore, but sometimes you don’t get a choice.”
She wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t quite dismiss the image in her head of the beast that had emerged during the fight. “It’s hard to know what you’d do if you felt you were provoked,” she said carefully.
“I know exactly what I’d do, and it wouldn’t involve hurting someone.”
“Yet that’s what you did tonight,” she snapped, frustrated that he couldn’t understand her concerns. “And you enjoyed it.”
“Stemgarder is dangerous because he doesn’t respect The Code. He likes causing trouble and doesn’t care who he injures.”
“You took great pleasure in hurting him.”
“I took great pleasure in winning the fight. A fight I didn’t want to have any part of, for the record.” He paused, jaw clenched for several seconds. When he continued, his voice was calmer. “Someone had to deal with Stemgarder or he’d have run riot. Not just in that game, but for the rest of the season. I may not have wanted to be involved, but I had no choice. I’m damned if I’m going to apologize for winning the fight.”
This wasn’t a nonapology, like Lee would have made in similar circumstances. He seemed genuinely frustrated.
“I understand why the goon had to be dealt with. Even I could see the trouble he was causing. But,” she added when she saw triumph light Jake’s expression, “I don’t see why you had to fight him.”
“Do you know what a turtle is?”
She frowned. “You mean with a shell and flippers?”
“In hockey, you call someone a coward by accusing them of pulling their head into their shell...turtling. I’m no coward.”
Maggie recalled his grim expression before the fight. It all added up. She’d misjudged him. “So you fought him because your pride was hurt?”