Chapter 1

Eliza’s POV:
I don’t remember exactly how I even made my way into work that morning. I’ve never been more nervous for something in my entire life including the morning I had to go take the bar exam after Law School. There I was, 25 years old and close to having a mental breakdown as I forced myself to open the door to where my new office would be. You would think that a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and Georgetown Law would be able to handle herself in any situation but as I made the choice to bypass the bathroom for a pre-work-day puke I figured that maybe I wasn’t invincible.

“Eliza Smith?” Okay Eliza, just nod your head yes to whatever the receptionist says to you. I thought as she studied me up and down and abruptly got up to show me to an office.

“This is your new office, I’m the legal and marketing team’s receptionist and am here to help you with anything you need throughout the day.” Eventually as she was describing her duties to me I remembered my manners and stuck my hand out to properly introduce myself to her.
“I’m sorry. First day jitters and all, but I’m Eliza. I was a little too speechless back there to actually introduce myself to you.” I smiled warmly hoping she would accept this gracefully. I was nervous, damn it.

Luckily she smiled much more warmly at me and introduced herself as Mary. “I was beginning to wonder if you even had a voice” she chuckled. “Mr. Lemieux had said that the new lawyer he hired was a spitfire and if you didn’t start to talk, I was going to wonder about the choice he had made.” As she said this, she said it in a teasing way that only made me like her more. What can I say, I respond best to people who are snarky like me.

“I promise Mary. I do indeed talk and believe me, by the end of the first week, you’ll be sorry you even doubted me.” At this, she smirked at me and began to detail the meetings I would need to attend that morning. I decided that she would be my new favorite person as soon as she pointed out that I had my own coffee maker in my office complete with starbucks coffee. Even though it was only 8:30, I could tell that the morning was going to be okay and that I would definitely be able to survive my first day.

Two hours later I was fully settled in my office and acquainting myself with the stack of papers already loaded up on my desk. Sitting back, I still couldn’t believe that I had landed this job. The last year had been hectic to say the least and needless to say, my life had gone in the opposite direction than where I thought it was going. During my undergraduate years, I had specialized in Anthropology and Spanish and had planned to go to Law School so that I could work on immigration law and possibly go into politics one day. However in my last year at Georgetown my dad died in a car accident while away on a business trip and my mom moved back to her hometown of Pittsburgh to be closer to her family. She hasn’t been able to get over his death yet and because the three of us were incredibly close, it was easier for me to put my plans on hold and try to find a job in Pittsburgh too.
After two months of searching this summer, I finally found an open position on the legal team for the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. While sports are not my expertise or remotely even in my field of knowledge of Anthropology, Spanish or the Law, I figured that any job would be perfect as long as it paid my bills, paid for my shoe addiction and would allow me to be close to my mom. So far, everything was looking up and I was beginning to lose the clenching feeling of nerves in my stomach. I mean, after everything I had been through this year, how hard could it be to be the legal advisor to a bunch of jocks?

At the end of the day I felt satisfied. I had schmoozed with the senior lawyers on the team and was confident that I had made a good impression. I had even managed to organize my office and get through all of the files that were thrown at me that day. As a rookie, I quickly discovered that most of the files entailed rookie work, like solving the pettier legal problems of the rowdier players on the team. As I made my way through the phone calls necessary to solving un-paid parking tickets and speed limit mishaps, I decided that I should finish up for the day and start thinking about what to make for dinner for myself. A knock at the door ruined my dreams of Chinese takeout and dumplings.

“Yeah? It’s open!” I called out hoping whoever it was didn’t want anything important. My brain was on the verge of shutting down.

“Hey Eliza, do you have a minute?” To my surprise, Mario Lemieux and hockey god of Pittsburgh stood in my door with a fatherly looking smile on his face.

“Sure, what can I do for you? I hope I’m not in trouble or anything” I said with a grin.
“I hope you’re not in trouble either” he replied joking back with me.
“I actually came by to see if you had a few minutes to spare before you head home tonight. The Pens are playing at home tonight and I thought it would be a good idea for you to meet all of the players since you will be one of their legal representatives.”
While I doubted they would even be paying attention to me as they got ready for a game, I found myself agreeing and following Mr. Lemieux to an elevator that would take us below to the locker room and player’s lounge. I guess he could sense that I was nervous because he nudged me slightly and told me not to worry and that all of the boys would behave themselves in front of me. His gesture was so much like something my dad would do that I felt the clutch again in my chest and forced myself to turn the emotions off and focus on where I was now.
When the elevators opened a very long and very grey hallway lay in front of us and Mr. Lemieux briskly stepped out and strode towards double doors decorated with the Penguin’s logo. I scrambled to keep up in my heels and pencil skirt which prevented me from taking huge strides. Just look cool, calm and collected and everything will be fine I repeated like a mantra in my head.

“Everyone decent in there?” he called out and I had to stop myself from mentally breaking down. What did he mean decent? Didn’t you have to wear clothes to play in a freezing arena? Before I could freak out some more, I skidded to a halt beside Mr. Lemieux just in time to see over 20 inquisitive eyes all focusing on me and whatever Mr. Lemieux was saying.
“Boys, this is Eliza Smith, our newest and brightest young lawyer to join the Penguins legal team. You get in trouble and you have to answer to her.” Yeah, like any of these huge guys are going to be intimidated by me right now.

“Hey, at least she’s cuter than Mr. Rogers!” I heard a voice shout out among the crowd of players staring at me and lacing up various parts of their equipment. Luckily I didn’t have to think of a response to that before Mr. Lemieux led me around and introduced me to some of the players closest to us. Everyone seemed genuinely nice but after spending a few moments with them, it was easy to detect what kind of personalities I would be working with.
The young captain, Sidney Crosby was polite and sweet and if I was correct about my first impression of him, I probably wouldn’t be seeing much of him because he didn’t seem like the type who needed a lot of help staying out of trouble. Others including Jordan Staal and Kris Letang also seemed like do-gooders who I wouldn’t be dealing with too much unless I was assisting them on contracts for endorsement deals and general paperwork that wasn’t headache-inducing. Okay, so far so good. Maybe there aren't any real nightmares on this team afterall...

“Hey Mr. Lemieux! What’s up boss?” I heard booming across the room towards our direction. I looked up to see a hairy, muscular and very sweaty male approaching us with a very self-satisfied smile on his face. In short, he looked like a mess complete with what I think was the beginning of a bruise around his left eye and a tattoo on his shoulder. “Who’s the lady?” he asked as he finally made his way around other players to stand in front of us.

“This is Eliza Smith, she’s the team’s new lawyer. Eliza, this is Maxime Talbot, one of our players and jack of all trades on the ice. I’m sure you’ll be seeing him as he is always requiring legal assistance.” I studied the man standing in front of me and inwardly grimaced at the last part of Mr. Lemieux’s introduction. Although he said the last part as a joke, I could tell that it would actually turn out to be a truthful statement. Great, I knew that this job would have to have a hitch.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Talbot” I said and tried to smile as I stuck out my hand for him to shake. He continued to smile at me in that taunting way of his and wiped his hand off on the only clean part of the towel hanging around his neck before enveloping my hand with his and giving it one long shake. After a few more minutes of conversation, I was able to make my excuses and leave the locker room. The game would be starting in a half hour and I figured that they would all need to do their pre-game pep-talk or whatever they had to do before a game. As I clacked down the hallway the little voice in my head reminded me to stay away from any form of trouble in my new job and that definitely included Maxime Talbot. What kind of name was Maxime anyway?


Max’s POV:

As I watched her walk away on her snappy, prissy heels, all I could think was Oh yeah, definitely the Princess type. Ever since I had returned from the trainer’s room and saw her standing with Mario looking reserved and quietly studying everyone around her, I knew that I had to mess with her. I could detect her type from a mile away. After all, my brother was married to a lawyer and the girl was exactly like her. Sure, I’ve grown to love my sister-in-law but she was still uptight and easy to rile up with my messy and slacker attitude. Guys like me were born to get under the skin of girls like her and I fully intend to see how long it takes her to lose that ice queen look. She definitely fit the description of ice queen too with her pin-stripe black skirt and white oxford blouse and pearls. Her blonde hair had been neatly pulled back and for as sensible as she seemed, it was surprisingly long reaching the middle of her back. That along with her fancy looking heels was the only part of her that didn’t seem perfectly coordinated out of a diagram labeled “What a Lawyer Should Wear.” Yes, he would definitely enjoy getting on the nerves of Eliza Smith.