A Little More You (Jonathan Toews)

Chapter 24

The next morning, Jon stretched and rolled over to pull Mati into him, but was met with a very hairy, very large dog, staring into his eyes.

He jumped a little bit, startled.

"Well good morning to you too, Dozer." Jon told the oversized dog as he rubbed his belly.

Mati had just emerged from a shower after an early morning run. She walked in her room to find Jon and Dozer snuggled up together.

"Aren't y'all the absolute cutest?" she said with over exaggerated enthusiasm.

An hour later, after a brief encounter between the sheets and another round of showers, Jon and Mati were hand in hand, heading to the diner that Mati had worked at for 4 years for breakfast before their day started.

They walked in and Mati was welcomed like an episode of Cheers. She couldn't contain the grin on her face; these were her people. After she talked to her old neighbors about their daughter, and took her regular teasing from the old guys at the counter (whose orders she still had memorized), they finally sat down.

"Jon you have to get the country breakfast. With bacon. And over easy eggs." Mati instructed.

Jon was going to pay for this in a few weeks in training, but the food was so worth it. He could hardly move by the time they finished. They paid and walked out the door, and as they headed to the truck before they headed out to take the tour de McKinley, a voice behind them stopped them both.

"Well Mati Ross, I thought I heard you were back in town."

Mati wheeled around and ran to the guy who had just said that.

"Cody!" she squealed as she jumped into his arms.

Jon tensed up. He was instantly jealous as she watched him hold her close. He looked like he just stepped out of a western.  Wranglers, cowboy boots, long sleeve plaid shirt with a leather vest despite the heat.  Jon wasn't sure what to make of him.

He hadn't even realized how tense his jaw was until Mati introduced them.

"Babe, this is Cody Miller, Taylor's fiance. Cody, this is Jonathan Toews, my boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you." Cody stuck his hand out.

Jon shook his hand as he relaxed. He didn't have to worry about this kid.

"See y'all later?" Cody smiled.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Mati returned the smile.

She side eyed Jon as they got in the vehicle.

"Did ya think I didn't notice that little wave of jealousy, Mr. Toews?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't know."

She giggled. "It was kinda hot."

They spent the day tooling around McKinley. Mati showed him her favorite places and the most sentimental places. She took him to Taylor's and forced him on to a horse, and they spent their afternoon riding.  Jon kept protesting that the Captain of the Hawks couldn't miss the season because he fell off a horse, but Mati reminded him that he had at least 3 months to heal.  It wasn't a valid excuse.

And now, they were at one of the local bars that was a favorite of the girls', where the 3 of them were taking shots of whiskey and chasing them with beers while Jon and Cody watched protectively from a corner booth. They were wildly different-Jon, a Canadian hockey player; Cody, a Texas bronc rider but they got along well, and both hated the fact that a few guys four of the five had known forever were also going shot for shot with the girls.

Mati was having a hell of a night. She had her boyfriend and four of her best friends by her side, the whiskey was going down smooth, and there was good music on the jukebox.

She was happy.

She pulled Jon onto the floor to dance to a few old country love songs and shook her ass with her girls to a few others.

Jon was happy because Mati was so happy. He was laughing as Mati and Taylor danced together and screamed to a song about a queen of a double wide trailer.

Somehow, Jon eventually wrangled Mati into bed sometime around 3am. She curled up into him and kept planting sloppy kisses on his lips and mumbling about how much she loved him.

The next day, they laid low, hanging out with the girls and ending the night with dinner at Mati's grandma's. For the second day in a row, Jon knew he would have to work twice as hard in training but it was so worth it.

Sunday morning after church they loaded up to head back to Dallas to catch their flight to Nashville. Mati cried as they pulled away.

"Baby it'll be okay. I'll make sure you're back before summer is over." Jon murmured as he kissed her hand.

She nodded and wiped her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to cry. It's just hard to be back and leave so soon." Mati sniffed as she laid her head on Jon's shoulder and quickly fell asleep.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

A plane ride and a few hours later, Jon and Mati pulled up to The Hermitage Hotel, much to Mati's surprise.

"Jon you shouldn't have. This is too much. There's a nice Holiday Inn a few miles away." She protested.

Jon shot her a look.

"Mati. You know I don't like to use my salary as leverage but this isn't too much. And we are not staying at a Holiday Inn." He shot back.

She rolled her eyes as they grabbed their bags from the back of the rented SUV.

Mati's apartment was still being subleased out, so for another two months she would be living the hotel life in Nashville.

They unpacked and decided that room service would do tonight. They both wanted a night to relax and enjoy each other's company.

And Mati wanted to properly thank him for taking her on this whirlwind trip of her life.

Jon was scrolling through his phone when Mati came strutting out of the bathroom. His jaw dropped. Her tan skin popped against the pale pink of the lace that barely covered her body.

"Holy shit." was all he could muster.

"Hey baby." She smirked.

She pushed him onto his back and straddled his lap as she started placing soft kisses on his jaw.

She continued trailing south as she slowly started pulling his clothes off.

Mati could never get tired of Jon. Everything about him made her happy. And right now, his chiseled body was doing it.

Jon gathered his strength and flipped her into her back.

"My turn now." He grinned. 

AN: I'm working through a few fillers to get to where I want to get to with the story!