Chapter 9

Monday rolls around and I’m behind the bar for the very quiet lunch shift at work.

“Hey baby,” I look up to see James sit down at the bar top

“Hi!” I say meeting him half way for a kiss

“How’s work been?” he asks, flipping through the menu

“Slow,”

“I was thinking you should stay with me tonight,” He says smiling

“Ok,” I say smiling back

“Ok, good. Hold on real quick,” he says answering his phone, so I go make drinks

“That, was Ray, he and Dan are at the arena and want to have a quick meeting with me,” He says, as I walk back over

“Oh?” I ask, kind of concerned

“I doubt it’s anything bad. What time are you off?”
“As soon as Rachel gets here,”

“Ok, because he wants to see me now” he says, thinking

“Ok, well head over there, I’ll be out of here in like 15 minutes, so why don’t you just come to my house when you’re done?”

“Sounds good, wish me luck!”
“Don’t worry me,”

“It’ll be fine, babe, I’ll see you in a while, ok?”

“Hey girl!” my friend Allie says as her and Melissa sit down

“Oh hey girls! How’s it going?” I ask

“Good, just finished class for the summer,” Allie says

“Good job! I need to go back to school already,”

“Girl, you won’t have a life if you do!” Melissa says

“Right? What do ya’ll want to drink?”

“I’ll have the twisted cherry limeade,”
“I’ll try the mason jar margarita,”

“Good choices,” I say, starting to make them

“So how are things with James?” Allie asks

“Great actually, he’s by far one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever been with, he was just in here too a few minutes ago,”
“Good! He seems like a nice guy, but quiet,”
“Yeah, he was quiet and really shy when we first met, but he’s like best friends with Max, so I think Max broke him out of his shell,”
“Haha, that sounds like something he would do,” Melissa says

“Yeah. So any single ones left?” Allie asks, laughing

“Um, Sid and Kris, Geno is too. Don’t even ask about Jordan because I couldn’t tell you on that one,”
“So Geno finally got rid of that gold digger?”

“Yeah, a couple months ago. She actually cheated on him with Ovie…can you believe that?”

“Aw, poor Geno! Ovie is so nasty too,”
“Well, I could make him feel better,” Melissa says matter-of-factly 

“Come out with us one night!”

*

“So we wanted to discuss a contract extension for you,” Ray tells me

“Ok,” I respond

“We like what you’ve been bringing to the game since you came out here,” Dan says

“And we’d like to add you to the core with the rest of the guys,” he adds

“That sounds great,” I say, being able to relax a bit

“Were you nervous about this?” Dan asks, halfway laughing

“I was skeptical about it, I think it was my girlfriend that was more worried,”

“Girlfriend? Nealer found a woman!” Dan says, making me blush a bit

“Yeah, and we figured we wouldn’t wait until free agency, so we’re taking care of it today,” Ray says

“I’m looking forward to staying here,” I say with a smile

“Well, let’s get into the details of your new contract before you sign,”

“Ok,”
“First thing, is that there is a no movement clause in here, so unless you ask to be traded, your stuck here. It’s a 4 year, 6 million dollar deal, how does that sound?”

“Sounds amazing,”
“Ok, sign away then!” Ray says, handing me the pen to sign

“We’ll have the announcement up by the end of the day, ok? So you can reassure your girlfriend that you’ll be a Penguin for 4 more years,”

“I will, I’m sure she’ll be as happy as me,”
“Well we look forward to meeting her at the team dinner in September,”

“Absolutely,”
“Ok, that’s all for today then,”
“Thank you so much,”
“Your very welcome! Go out and celebrate,”

I do as I’m told, and head straight to Jay’s house; on my way I call my parents to share the news with them and my brother. I also happen to mention Jay, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard my mom so happy, and says she can’t wait to meet her.

*

“Hi,” James says as I open the door

“Hi babe!” I say letting him in, “How did the meeting go?” I ask as we sit on the couch

“Great, actually. Ray offered me an extension,”

“And?”

“I’m here for 4 more years!”
“Oh, baby that’s so exciting!”

“I had a feeling it was coming, but as FA came closer, I got a little more nervous,”
“Yeah, I could kind of tell, so your excited to stay here?”
“Absolutely. I love the city and the guys I play with, it’s closer to home. And that means I have all the time I want with you,” He says, kissing me

“Well I’m excited to have you here longer, I couldn’t imagine you leaving,”

“Let’s go celebrate?”

“Yes!” I say as his phone rings again,

“Sorry babe, hold on,” He says

*

“Hey man!” I say

“Hey Nealer! What’s going on?” the voice on the other line says

“Not much, just at my girlfriends house, I was telling her that I signed a 4 year contract extension,”
“That’s awesome, congratulations! Well I was calling with some news too,”

“Oh yeah? What’s that,”
“I’m in Pittsburgh! Wilson didn’t want to resign me, since they got Davidson in the draft, so Shero got a hold of my agent, and I’m going to sign a deal with the Penguins,”

“No shit? That’s great! How long are you here for?”
“A few days, David is coming in tomorrow to meet with Ray and Dan. I have to go back to San Jose next week to clean out my house,”
“Well great! Why don’t you come to dinner with my girlfriend and I?” I ask, getting a questioning look from Jay

“Oh, I don’t want to impose, I was going to order room service,”
“No way, come eat with us, where are you staying? We will come get you, then we can show you around,”

“I’m at the Omni Penn,”
“Ok, be ready at 6:15,”
“Ok, see you soon man,”

*

“Someone joining us for dinner?” I ask

“Yeah, I’m not sure if I can say anything yet, but he’s about to sign a deal with the Pens, we played in juniors together,” He tells me

“Anyone I know of?”
“You might, he played for San Jose,”

“That’ll be tough to guess, I like the Sharks,”

“Well, you’ll just have to wait and see wont you?” he says with a mischievous smile

“Boo! Ok fine,”

About an hour later, we get into James’ car and head to the Omni Penn to pick up this mysterious new teammate that I’m still trying to figure out.  He puts the car in park and calls him to say we’re outside and to look for a black Denali.

As soon as I see the guy who was one of my guesses what out the doors, I immediately know it’s him

“Are you kidding me, babe? He’s such an amazing player!”
“And he plays for the Pens now, which is even better,”

Chapter 8

Being on a plane with my best friend and our boyfriends made it more fun to handle, the joking around and the drinks kept coming; finally, after 5 hours, we landed in Vegas.

“Oh my gosh, look at this room!” I say as we all explore our hotel room

“Pretty sure it’s like 5 times as big as our apartments put together!” Miranda says, laughing

“This is way nice,” James says

“Well, let’s scope out the rooms and see who wants where,”

“Ooh, I like this room!” I say, walking into the 2^nd bedroom

“Yeah? It looks cozy,” James says

“Well, there ya go. Let’s relax for a while then go out?” Max asks,
“By relax, you mean at the pool with margaritas, right?”

“I like the way you think Jay!” Miranda says

“Ok, be ready in 10, we’ll head to the pool,”
“Thata boy!”

10 minutes later, we are all walking down to the pool, we spent nearly 2 hours laying out and drinking.  After showering and getting ready, we decided to start with dinner…and more drinks.   

Dinner was at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, and then it was a night on the strip, which consisted of club and bar hopping. After a few stops, we went to Pure, James and Max were standing near our table while Miranda and I went for another round of drinks.  The bartender surprised me when he mentioned my name, turned out it was my friend Alex who lived in Florida; we talked for a bit while he got our drinks.  I was surprised to see him out here, because I knew how much he loved Florida.

*

“Who’s Jay talking to?” I ask Max

“I don’t know, the bartender, she’s probably just getting drinks,” he tells me
“They look like they know each other,”
“Dude, I think it’s ok, you can chill,”
“But…”
“Nealer, we’re in Vegas. If she starts macking on him, then we’ll have problems,”

“What about a phone number?”

“I don’t know, but I know I’ve never seen you like this, ask her before you blow it out of proportion,”

“Whatever, I’m going out for some air,”
“James!” He yells at me, but I’m already walking outside

*

“Hey Jay, you might want to go get James,” Max tells me as he approaches us

“What? Where did he go?” I ask, looking around

“Outside, I think he got mad when he saw you talking to the bartender, I told him to talk to you first, but he just walked out,”
“Seriously?”

“Yeah, who is this guy?” he says, trying to act all macho

“He’s my friend Alex, I know him from some friends in Florida,”
“And the phone number?”
“It’s his email address, for me and one of my friends to see his wedding website,”
“Oh shit, ok, well go find James, want me to come with you?”
“No, ya’ll stay here, I’ll be right back,”
“Call me if you need anything,”

Thankfully I don’t have to walk far, I see James down the street in front of the fountain at the Bellagio

“James,” I say walking up

“What was that all about?” He asks defensively

“Woah, can you let me explain?”

“Ok,”

“That’s my friend Alex, I know him from some of my other friends in Florida, I hadn’t seen him in years and we were just catching up while he made our drinks,”
“Is that why he gave you his number?” he asks, still defensive

“It’s his email address, and he gave it to me to give to a friend, and so we could look at his wedding website,”

“Oh. Now I feel like an ass. I’m sorry,” He says, wrapping his arms around me

“Did you really get mad?” I ask, before giving him a kiss
“More along the lines of a little jealous,”
“Really?”

“I guess, but I’m over it now,”
“Ok, I just wish you woulda let me tell you before you walk out,”
“Yeah, sorry about that too,”
“It’s ok, I just got worried when Max said you left,”

“Yeah, what do you say we hang out here for a few minutes? The water show is about to start,”
“Ok,” I say, perfectly content in his strong embrace

After everything is worked out, we try to get back into the club, but can’t because of the line, so James calls Max to tell him, and they come out a minute later.  We then decide to go to The Bank, in the Bellagio.  We end the night at an all night restaurant called Fatburger, which was your typical burger place, and it was pretty good.  The guys ate most of the food, Miranda and I were pretty gone to try and eat.

Day 2 was in full affect, and we started it early with breakfast at the hotel before lying out at the pool again.  The environment of being down there was a ton of fun; everyone was nice and friendly, which kind of surprised me since it was packed.  Miranda and I were talking while the guys got a round of drinks when I see a few familiar faces walking towards us,

“Bailey?”

“Hey! What a surprise seeing you here!” she says, giving me a hug

“No kidding! Hey Stephanie!” I say, seeing her walk up

“Hey girl! How are you?” She asks

“Good! Who are you here with?”
“I came with Ben, Taylor, Derek and Kelly,” Stephanie says

“I’m here with Briar, my mom, grandma and Aunt, and we all met up,” Bailey says

“That’s cool! Where are they at?”

“Getting drinks, who are you here with?”

“Oh! This is my friend Miranda, her boyfriend Max, and my boyfriend James,” I say, introducing them

“How long are ya’ll here for? We definitely need to go out!” Bailey asks

“Absolutely! We’re here until Sunday, lets go out tonight?” I say

“Yeah, we’re here until Monday, so I’ll ask mom if she doesn’t mind putting B down,”

“Ok, awesome!”

After spending half the day at the pool, we have lunch then take a nap so we are ready for round 2.  Miranda and I spend time getting ready while the guys do god knows what. Bailey called me and we planned on meeting at the room she was staying at so I could say hi to her family, then we were meeting up with the rest of the group outside of the Bellagio, where they are staying. 

Dinner was at Lavo; it was a pretty nice place, so thankfully we matched the dress code. After dinner we had another night of clubs.  This time we started off the strip to the Palms, and Rio.  The VooDoo Lounge was at Rio and I’m pretty sure it was my favorite club; it was an outdoor club on the 51^st floor.  Dancing, drinking and catching up with my best friends was the best part too,

“So how did you meet James?” Bailey asks as we walk to the bathroom

“Him and the guys came in for lunch one day, Miranda met them before so she introduced me to them,” I say

“They wanted to meet her, so I brought her over,” Miranda adds

“We went out with them to Diesel that night, and yeah,” I say smiling

“Aw, well I gotta give you props, he’s a handsome one!”

“Yeah girl, he’s way hot,” Stephanie says

“Thanks, he’s pretty amazing,”
“What does he do?” Steph asks

“He plays for the Penguins,”
“Oh yeah, duh,”

“You got your hockey player!” Bailey says laughing

“Right? And I hope to keep him,”

“Girl, you will, he’s head over heels for you!” Miranda adds as we walk out

The rest of the night flew by; we went for food again after the clubs before parting ways with everyone again.  Bailey and Steph promised to make a trip out to the Burgh soon.

Chapter 7

We leave his house and walk down to the main street hand in hand to one of the restaurants.  The days were starting to get hotter, but it was still really nice out.  We were talking about something when my mom called me, I thought about ignoring it but I hadn’t talked to her in a while, so I answered it.  She informs me that my sister and her family are moving to Carlisle, because my brother-in-law is in the Army and will be working out there; and also that they were coming out here for 4^th of July, and that they want to meet the boyfriend. Oh great.

After spending another day with James, I had a relaxing day at home before going back to work the next day.  It was my lunch shift behind the bar, it was a quiet start to the day, Miranda was in the bar area with me, Rob and Rachel there also, which always made for a fun day.

“Is it weird?” Kelly, a new server asks

“Is what weird?” I ask her while making drinks

“That you and your boyfriend have close names,” she says as Rachel walks up

“No, why would it be weird?”

“I don’t know, I mean your name is his name in Spanish,”
“It never really bothered me.  Besides, him and the guys call me Jay anyways, no one really calls me by my full name,” I say, annoyed now

“Oh, I just think it would be weird,”

“Well, he’s not your boyfriend, so you shouldn’t worry,”

“Thanks for my drinks,” she says, walking away

“Did she seriously ask you that?” Rachel asks

“I guess, I don’t see why she would care,” I say

“What happened?” Miranda asked

“Kelly just asked me if it was weird because my name is my boyfriends name in Spanish,”

“Really? She’s kind of nosey,” Miranda says

“Yeah. I don’t think she knows who my boyfriend is, other then his name, so let’s keep it that way,”

“Same here for Max,”

“Speaking of James, he just text me, him and Max are coming in,”

“Yeah, I just got the same text from Max,”
“Ok cool,”

*

“You ready to do this?” Max asks me

“What if she says no?” I question him

“Dude, it’s VEGAS! She won’t say no,”

“Ok, man,”
“Especially since we already talked to her boss and got it approved, she’ll go,”
“I hope your right,”
“I am! Just don’t go crazy and drag her to a drive thru chapel,”

“I’d be more worried that you would do that first,”

“Whatever! Grab the tickets, lets go tell the ladies!”

“Let’s do it,”

*

“Hey pretty lady,” I hear Max say, then continues, “Can I take you home tonight?”

“Oh hey! Um you’d have to check with my boyfriend…don’t think he would appreciate that,” I say nodding to James, “and neither would your girlfriend,”

“Boyfriend, eh? That lucky bastard,” Max says laughing

“Yeah, I am, aren’t I?” James says, leaning over the bar to give me a kiss

“Um, can I get some service here?” Max says sitting at the bar top

“Chill! Can’t a girl say hi to her boyfriend?” I say handing them menus

“Not unless I get to say hi to mine,”

“Um, I didn’t know that the superstar swung that way,” I say, laughing

“What? You know what I mean,” Max says catching himself

“Uh huh,”
“Oh shut up, where is she?”

“Walking over. Drinks?”

“Landshark and Blue Moon,” James says, as Max says hi to Miranda

After a few minutes of talking with our guys, getting their food order, and Miranda taking care of some tables, Max pulls Miranda up to the bar

“So, ladies. We have a little surprise for you guys…” Max says

“A surprise, eh?” I say

“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” Miranda says

“Oh no, you’ll love it,” James tells me

“The surprise in these 2 envelopes. And before you say anything, it’s all taken care of,” Max says, handing us each an envelope to open

“Oh my gosh!” Miranda says

“Vegas?! Seriously?” I say

“Yes! We were planning on going anyways, and we figured, why not invite our lovely girlfriends!” Max says

“But the plane tickets say Thursday! That’s 3 days away,”
“You think Joey will give us days off?”
“Babe, we got it taken care of!” James tells me

“Yeah, we talked to Joey last week before we got them,”
“Aww, really?”

“Yeah!”
“I wasn’t kidding when I said it’s all taken care of,”

“How long are we going?”

“Just 4 days, we’re flying back on Sunday afternoon,”

“We’re going to Vegas?”

“We’re going to Vegas!”

“Just don’t do anything to get arrested, please?” Joey asks, walking up

“We won’t,” Miranda says

“Thanks for letting us have the days off,” I tell him

“Oh of course! You girls work so hard, and the boys came at just the right time to ask about the days,” He says

Yesterday was our last shift at Joe’s for a few days.  I think I had packed and unpacked a dozen times before I finally gave up, pretty sure I packed enough for 2 weeks.  We all met at James’s house on Thursday morning and got a cab from there to the airport. 

“Vegas baby! You girls excited?” Max says as we get in the van

“Hell yeah!” Miranda says

“It’s been so long since I’ve been out there,” I add
“Other then it being so hot, it’s gonna be so much fun!” James says

“Where are we staying?”

“The Hard Rock, we got a suite, it’s supposed to be huge!”

***Note

Sooo I'm not sure how I feel about going on with this story, I havent gotten the followers or feedback that I had been expecting. For the few followers I do have, are ya'll liking it or what do ya think about it? I think ya'll will be a part in my decision to write more or not.
So any comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated :)
~J

Chapter 6

***Dont think I mentioned it...but this is the summer after the 2011 season. :)

~J

A week had gone by since my house warming party. Work was going great; James and I became official when he asked me to be his girlfriend on the day that we were going to a Pirates game.  He came to my house that morning and brought breakfast, along with a fresh bouquet of flowers, it was the sweetest thing, and I was definitely happy to call him my boyfriend.

Miranda and I were getting ready at my apartment while we waited for the guys to come get us.  I decide on black shorts with a white Pirates shirt over my yellow tank top, while Miranda had black shorts with a black Pirates shirt.  We start a little pre-gaming when my phone rings

“Hi!” I say into the phone
“Hey, we’re walking in, are you at your house or Miranda’s?” James asks

“At mine,”

“Ok, see you in a minute,”

“Ok, good bye,”

“Hi!” I say after I open the door to James and Max

“Hey…Mrs. Neal!” Max says, joking

“Hey Mr. Talbot,” I respond sarcastically

“It’s about time you make it official, proud of my boy here,” He says, patting James on the back, then continuing, “Starting the drinking already?”

“Just a little,” Miranda says, giggling

“What is it?” James asks, picking up the glass

“Strawberry V8 & Hypnotic,” I say

“That sounds really gross!”

“No, it’s so good, try it!” I say, handing the drink to James

“Definitely a girly drink,” He says after taking a swig

“That’s why I like it,”

“Ok, well let’s get going, we can drink at the game,”

The 4 of us pile into James’ Denali and head to PNC Park.  Him and Max whip out Pirates hats to wear so they can try and blend in

“You know that’s not going to work right,” I say, watching them

“For me? Yeah it will,” James says

“No, for Max. Someone’s going to notice you,”
“Well, then I will enjoy it while it lasts,” Max says

“Yeah, then we’ll blow your cover,” Miranda says laughing

“You would!”

“Believe it!”

“Alright, here’s the deal, for every 2 minutes that goes by and nobody recognizes me, you owe me a drink. When someone recognized me, I owe you the same amount of drinks you woulda owed me,” Max says to her

“Deal. But I’m not buying you all the drinks from the park, they cost so much,”
“Fine. And if someone sees James, then me, it doesn’t count,”

“No one will, so you’re on your own buddy,”

We get to the stadium, and meet up with Marc Andre and Vero at one of the gates and head in.  Max informs Marc of the bet he has going with Miranda, him and Vero laugh about it.  Vero and I tried to devise a plan to end it early for Max, but he caught on.

Our seats were on the right, between home plate and 3^rd base, best seats I’ve had at a Pirates game.  There was still time before the game started so we decided to walk around for food.  The bet was still going on, as of right now it was at the 13 minute mark of no one recognizing Max…until we were in line, 2 girls recognize him right away, he says hi and takes a picture with them, then looks at Miranda

“Well, lady, looks like I owe you some drinks,” He says, putting his arm around her

“Yes sir, you do!” She says proudly

“You guys are crazy,” James says as he grabs my hand

“They didn’t say anything to you!” Max says with a sad face

“Oh I don’t care really, I’d rather not get recognized,”

“So be it, your girlfriend might have attacked them,”

“No way! I’m not that mean,”

We got so much food through out the entire game, I’m pretty sure I gained 5 pounds from everything I ate.  The game went well, we were all joking around and enjoying it at the same time.  The Cubs beat us 5-4, but we kind of expected it, although the Pirates had been getting better.

It was back to work the next day for me, and this was the first time in a long time that I had gone to work hungover; at least I wasn’t behind the bar, so I wouldn’t have to smell all the alcohol.  The shift went by fast, thankfully. As soon as I was off, I called Miranda to meet at Primanti’s because I had been craving it; she said yeah, we ended up inviting the guys also. 

“I want to take you somewhere,” James tells me as were walking out

“Oh yeah?” I ask

“Yeah, so I’ll follow you to your house then we will go in my car,”

“Ok, do I need to change?”

“No…we’re actually just going to my house,”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I figured since you haven’t seen it yet, and I’ve been at your house so much,"

“Ok,”

After we drop off my car, we head out to his house, he hadn’t told me where it was, but we were driving in the direction of Sewickley, so I was guessing it to be there, and sure enough, I was right.  He lived a few streets down from the Lemieux’s, a block away from Sid’s and a few houses away from the Fleury’s.  The entire area of Sewickley was so nice; I had always loved it when I would go down there. 

Just like James had said, it was a simple 2-bedroom house, it was set up very nice too, everything was black, white and maroon, which happened to be my favorite color combinations for a house.  There was a room he turned into an office that had his computer, as well as jerseys from his days in Whitby and Plymouth, he also had his Stars jersey, all the awards he’d received and some hockey pucks. It was the typical room of a hockey player I guess.

We decided to take a stroll on the streets of Sewickley, as we walk past the Lemieux’s, I tell him about the day when my dad told me to Google his address because he wanted to see his house, funny (and totally true) story. 

After spending a couple hours walking around, we pick up some food from the little grocery store for dinner and go back to his house to cook and watch movies. After dinner we continue laying on the couch and watching movies.

Things get pretty heated during the movie.  With James lying against the back of the couch, he roams his hand up and down my stomach, and starts kissing me before he slides his hand on the other side of my shirt.  With his other hand, he pulls my face closer to him and deepens the kiss. 

Before long, he’s lying on top of me as we’re pulling each other’s shirts off, not backing away.  He works his hands up and down my stomach, and kissing from my cheekbones all the way down my neck before going to my lips again, he breaks the kiss for a second as we look into each other’s eyes for a minute before he starts kissing me again, this time, he makes his way down my stomach and stopped right at the top of my jeans.

James broke this kiss again and stood up quickly, I was clueless as to what happened, so I stood up too, only to have him pick me up in his arms and carry me to his bedroom and lay me down on his king size bed. 

He has one hand on my cheek and uses his other hand to unbuckle my jeans and start peeling those off, so as I’m kicking mine off, I pull his jeans off him to see his growing erection.  He pulls at the bra strap resting on my shoulder before the next one and eventually throwing it to the floor and quickly paying attention to each breast equally.  The nibbling and licking was driving me crazy as I arched my back and ran my hands through his hair.  Working his was back up my neck and then to my mouth again, this time with need, and more passion.

By that time, our clothes were thrown all over the floor and we were under the covers, James gives me a questioning look, and without him saying anything, I know what he’s asking; all I do is shake my head before he kisses me again and starts working himself inside me.  I grab his face to pull him closer as I spread my legs further so I can get the full effect of him before wrapping my legs around his hips.  We move in motion together, I felt my nails digging into his back as he started going faster.  I could feel it coming as an orgasm was building slowly, one more thrust and he came inside me before collapsing on top of me; both of us completely out of breath.

We both fall asleep in no time, after I get comfortable with his arms around me; I fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat, and once again, slept like a baby. I woke up the next morning, as comfortable as I could be. I look up at James to see him looking down at me

“I could get used to this,” He says giving me a kiss

“To what?” I ask

“Waking up to my beautiful girlfriend in my arms,”

“Well, sounds like your girlfriend is pretty lucky,” I say sarcastically

“Let’s go get some breakfast,”

“I don’t have any other clothes,”

“Wear your jeans again, I’ll give you a clean shirt to wear,”

Chapter 5

***Im apologizing now to any Habs fans....there is a little bit about them in here, and I personally dont like them. So if your a fan of them....sorry!

I walk into Joe’s and head straight to the bar. I always look forward to going to work when I’m behind he bar and since it was a Friday night, there was always 2 bartenders…tonight it happened to be me and Rachel, who was my other partner in crime.

“Hey girl,” Miranda says as she walks up to the bar

“Hey! I was wondering when you’d be here,” I say pouring some drinks

“So how was last night?”

“Oh my gosh, it was amazing! He’s so sweet,”

“That’s good! He seems like it,”

“And you? We ran into Max in the hallway,”
“Yeah…about that…”
“You slept with him, didn’t you?” I whisper

“No! He was like I really like you, and I don’t want to see you as just a girl to sleep with,”
“You mean to tell me that Max Talbot spent the night with you, and ya’ll didn’t sleep together??”

“That’s right!”
“Wow! Um, well I’m impressed!”

“So you didn’t sleep with James?”
“Nope. We just watched movies, but he stayed over too. He wants to take me out more,”
“Yay! Ok, I got sat, I’ll be back,”

So I end up talking to some girls sitting at the bar top, I get their order and drinks. It’s still early so it’s pretty slow, which gives Rachel and me time to catch up. I tell her about my date, but quietly, because I didn’t want people around knowing everything.

The shift at work went by fast, I was in first so I didn’t have to close and I was off by 11pm.  I checked my phone to see that I had a text message from James…!!

“I wanted to tell you again that I had a great time with you last night and I can’t wait for our next date. Can’t wait for your party tomorrow! Let me know if you need help with anything. J” –James

Aww, how sweet is he? Miranda comes up to me as I respond to him and say that I’m excited for more dates and that I can’t wait to see him tomorrow. We get a late dinner before we make it an early night, knowing that tomorrow will be a long day.

*

“So, when are you guys heading to the party tonight?” Jordan asks, while they have breakfast at Sid’s

“It starts at 6, so probably a little after that,” Kris says

“Yeah, I was going to go to Miranda’s before, but she said she’ll be at Jay’s helping her,” Max says

“When are you going, James?” Sid asks

“Around 6,” I say

“Dude, you’re so struck by her!” Max says

“I know; she’s amazing! I really like her,”

“Well, she’s cute! Just make sure she’s not a puck slut,” Jordan says

“She’s not, she said she was raised better then to be like that, and she’s not after my money either,”

“That’s always good!” Sid says

“Do you think she’ll care that Kelsey is coming?” TK asks

“No, she said it was ok,”

“Ok, good. Well boys, we’ll be seein’ ya tonight,” he says getting up to leave

*

“Hello!” Miranda says, opening the door

“Hi! Ready to go shopping?” I ask, standing in the hallway

“Yep, let’s get going! And let’s make a Starbucks stop on the way,”
“Definitely,”

After our coffee run, we head to Giant Eagle for food and such.  I decided to make spaghetti, since it was easy and was a favorite. So we got a ton of pasta, sauce, salad and French bread.  I also got some beer and margarita mix.  I think I had enough food to feed a small army, which would probably be equivalent to the people coming over, especially considering half of them were hockey players.

We get back home, Miranda decides to go shower while I work on cleaning up the house.  Once she gets back, she starts on the food while I shower and get ready.  I decided on a black and white flower halter-top dress that I wore for graduation, and opted to leave my curled hair down.

By the time I was ready and food had started cooking, it was 6:00 on the dot and not a minute later, there was a knock on the door. I open it to see Max and James on the other side,

“I shoulda known ya’ll would come together,” I say letting them in

“We just happened to get here at the same time,” Max said, kissing my cheek and handing me a bottle of wine

“Thought you might like this, maybe you two can share it,” He adds with a smile and walks to find Miranda

“Hi,” I say to James

“Hey, you look really good,” he says hugging me

“Thanks, you clean up pretty nice too,” I say smoothing his shirt before he lifts my chin to give me a kiss

“Oh come on you two, the night’s still young,” Max yells from the kitchen

The next to arrive was TK and Kelsey, who was so sweet, her and TK were perfect together.  By 6:30, everyone had arrived.  I had to borrow a table from my aunt and uncle so we had a little more room to sit and eat.  Bottles of wine and vodka filled my liquor cabinet, Jordan had bought me a bottle of Patron.

“Surprise!” he says, handing it to me

“Oh, Jordan, how did you know?” I ask, taking the bottle

“Know what?”

“That Patron is my favorite!”

“I think I remember you mentioning it the other night,”
“Well good memory, you just keep racking some points in my book,”

“Just don’t go crazy with it tonight!” Rachel says, joking

“All we need is to hear ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ and it’s all over,” Miranda says

Dinner went well, everyone enjoyed the food.  Vero brought a chocolate cake for desert, which I was thankful for because I totally spaced that.  We sat and talked for a while, my other co-workers met all the guys and everyone was getting along good, so we spent the majority of the night talking and drinking.

People started heading out around midnight, most of the guys sobered up, while TK and Marc Andre drove their ladies home, because us girls drank a little more then the guys did.

Miranda and Max spent some more time at my apartment with James and I, talking and drinking.  Max mentioned that he wanted to take a trip to Montreal, and invited the 3 of us,

“Can I rock my Crosby jersey out there, and walk past the Habs arena,” I say sarcastically

“If you have a death wish,” Max says

“Yeah, they hate Sid,” James says

“I don’t understand how they could, he’s Canada’s golden boy,”

“They are probably jealous,”

“You think they would be a little nicer, but no!” James adds

“Right? I have my teams that I really don’t like, and they are definitely one of them,”
“Well, I hope you can at least tolerate them,”
“If I had to, I could. But if one of their fans is mean to me, you can guarantee that I won’t be nice back,”

“You’re a feisty one, eh?”

“Sometimes,”

“To be safe, you might want to wear a different jersey,”

“Psh, I dare them to mess with me,”

“If you say so, but I don’t like them either, so knock yourself out,”

Not too much later, Miranda and Max decide to head out, well at least down the hall. I was willing to bet that Max would be staying the night again.  I cleaned up a little bit of the kitchen before I decided to finish it in the morning. 

“Stay with me?” I say to James with puppy dog eyes

“I’d love to,” he responds, giving me a kiss

Chapter 4

***Thought I'd put this up now since I have a 12 hour work day tomorrow. Gotta thank Lileannee and Aeryn for all the comments so far! Maybe I can get more followers and comments? :)

Enjoy!

~J

James and I had been talking since the night at Diesel.  We agreed to go to dinner on Thursday night, after I got off from working the lunch shift.  Miranda came over before she went to work to help me figure out what to wear.  It was 6:30 sharp when there was a knock on my door; I open it to see James standing there, with a bouquet of red and pink roses

“Hi!” I say

“Hey, wow, you look amazing!” he says, handing me the roses

“Thank you! Want to come in while I put these in water real quick?”
“Sure. I like your apartment,”
“Thanks, it’s nothing too big, but it works for me,”

“Yeah, same for me, I just have a 2 bedroom house for now. But Shero has been talking with me about another contract extension, so I may do an upgrade eventually,”

We head out to his car while continuing our conversation

“Oh that would be cool, you’d like to stay here?”
“Yeah, I like it a lot better then Dallas, and it’s closer to home,”

“I bet, I won’t lie, I’ve never been a big fan of Texas in general,”

“Well you live like right next to it, yeah?
“Yeah! You know where New Mexico is?”
“Yeah, I only know of it because of where it is, and we’ve driven through a few times for road trips,”

“Wow, I’m impressed, most people don’t think it’s a part of the states,”

We get to Capitol Grill, where James picked; it was a really nice restaurant.  After ordering wine and food, we keep talking. I ask him about growing up in Ontario and playing in the minors, he asked me about my childhood and growing up in New Mexico.  We had a lot to talk about and it turns out we had more in common then I thought; he loves country music (Luke Bryan and Kenny Chesney are his favorites), he’s traveled all over Europe, too. I was glad that there weren’t any awkward silence moments.

After dinner, we went for a drive up to Mt. Washington, James opened the back of his Denali and we just sat and watched the city lights, and talked some more

“I’m glad I got to take you out tonight,” he says, putting his arm around my waist

“Well, I’m glad you asked me,” I respond, moving a little closer
“This is going to sound corny, but I knew I wanted to ask you when we met you that day at lunch,”
“Yeah? I noticed you that day, I kept wondering why you were so quiet,”
“I’m just shy around new people. Then that night at Diesel, before we started talking, Max caught me looking at you while you girls were dancing. He said I’d better talk to you before someone else does,”
“That sounds like Talbot for you,”
“Yeah, so can I tell you something?”
“Of course,”
“I want to get to know you better, I think you’re an amazing girl and I like spending time with you,”
“Really? I’d like that. I’ve been liking the time we’ve hung out,”
“I think I’ve been more focused on hockey since I got traded out here. Everyone always said to live my life too. And when I saw you that day at Joe’s, I knew I wanted to talk to you,”

“Aww, I think I noticed you because I had never seen you off the ice. I remember asking Miranda if she knew anything about you, she just said I should talk to you,”

“Really? Well I’m glad I’m not the odd man out here,”

“Definitely not. I actually really noticed who you were when you got traded, I was sad that Goligoski got traded, but when I saw you play, I knew you’d be a good addition to the team,”

“Oh nice. So I’d definitely like to take you out more,”
“I would like that,”

“Yeah?” he says looking at me

“Yep,” I say before he closes the gap between us

I have to say that he really was a good kisser. It wasn’t a short one like when we got caught at Diesel, but it was long and slow.  He put his hand behind my neck to pull me closer and deepen the kiss after he broke it for a second.

A few minutes later, we end up leaving so we don’t risk getting caught. Especially after TK told a horror story after him and Kelsey got caught up here. 

“Well, here we are,” James says, pulling up next to my car

“Do you want to come up? We could watch a movie or something,”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” he says with a smile

So we get out and start walking to my apartment, when we run into Max on his way to Miranda’s apartment. He just gets that look of his on his face while laughing before he stops at her door while we walk down to mine.

“Do you want anything to drink?” I ask after I lock the door behind us

“Um, just water is fine,” he says

“Here ya go,” I say, handing him bottled water

“Thanks,”

“Sure, just make yourself at home, I’m gonna change real quick,”
“Ok,” He responds as he sits on the couch

I come back out of my room in yoga pants and a Pens t-shirt to see James looking at the pictures I have on my wall.

“Looks like you had a lot of fun back home,”
“Yeah, we’ve definitely had our nights, these are my 2 best friends, and this is the group of us that usually go out together,”
“What did you guys do? Like what’s there to do out there,”
“Not much, actually. We stuck with the country bars a lot. It’s a little but big city, and it was always the same people and same drama, so it got old after a while,”

“Yeah, I know how that is. I noticed you have a lot of movies too,”
“Yeah, wanna pick one out?”

“Already did,” as he smiles, with GREASE in his hand

“Good choice,”

The next movie we watched was “What Happens in Vegas”, then “The Dilemma” and by that time, it was a lot later then I expected. Probably because we only attempted to watch the movies.  It was the beginning of an awkward moment of saying bye, but not quiet.

“Wanna stay here? You look about as tired as I do,”

“You don’t mind?”
“Not at all,”
“I think it would be the perfect ending to an amazing night,”

“Absolutely,”

“Ok, then I wouldn’t like anything more then to wake up with you in the morning,”

James goes to the bathroom while I turn off the lights in the house.  I walk into my room and shut the door right as he walks out of the bathroom.

In his boxers.

I think I had a hot flash just now. Wow, what a banging body that man has.

After I change and stuff, we crawl into bed and get comfortable.

“Did I tell you yet how beautiful you are?” He asks, kissing my forehead

“I think you did a few times,” I say, smiling

“Well, I’ll tell you again that you really are,”

“Thank you,” I say before kissing him

“We should probably get some sleep, yeah?”

“Yeah, that might be a good idea,”

I slept like a baby last night, maybe because I was so comfortable sleeping his arms.  We woke up around 10am.  I decided to make some breakfast before he had to make a stop at home before going to the arena, and I had to go by my aunt and uncles house before work. 

About an hour later, James headed out, so we said our goodbyes and a few more kisses before he left.  Not a minute after I closed the door, I heard some guys laughing, so I open it to see that him and Max ran into each other, both with ‘what the hell’ looks on their faces. Oh those boys.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one to have a one of the guys stay the night.  I’d have to get the dirt from Miranda at work tonight.