Chapter 3

Eliza's POV:



Obviously, by 3:30 I had managed to do enough sweet talking to keep Max in the clear for a little bit and promised the judge that I would try to make him into a more upstanding citizen. We'll see how long that lasts. I was feeling pretty proud of myself and figured that 3:30 was still earlier than I would normally leave work so I could still get home and be in bed by 5. Maybe I'll just pick up some Chinese for later tonight...



"Hey, let me take you out to eat. You didn't eat lunch, right?" Max asked stepping in front of me and halting me in my tracks. I'm sure that I looked skeptical because he continued to talk while I once again watched my peaceful evening slip away from me.



"I promise I'll be good. I'll even let you lecture me a bit. I just feel bad about today and figured that you could eat something. Besides, I need to eat sort of early before the game tonight." He looked hopeful and I was always a sucker for the hopeful-puppy look.



"Fine. Just nowhere where we have to wait, and no skeezy dive bars. I don't think I could deal with smoke this afternoon." Even though I know I sounded ornery, he grinned suddenly at me before tossing his arm around my shoulder and leading me out of the building.



"You know, you could look excited. I mean, you are one lucky girl to be going out to eat with me right now" he said teasing. "And don't worry, I promise I won't take you to a 'dive bar' or anything. How does Friday's sound? I think it's close."



He didn't wait for my answer before leading me into the car and firmly shutting the door on any protest I could have made.



Max's POV:



After watching her in amazement for half an hour in court, really the woman could talk someone into doing anything, I felt compelled to try to make her relax after the stress I had caused her this afternoon. It didn't hurt that watching her get in the face of the judge and make her crazy hand gestures while she talked was pretty much one of the sexiest things I had ever seen. She may look like an uptight priss most of the time with her tailored suits and heels, but under that layer was someone seriously passionate about what she did. He couldn't help but feel attracted to that type of personality. Although he couldn't remember ever feeling attracted to someone quite so bossy before. He stopped himself from fully envisioning that bossy side translating over to the bedroom. Down boy. After his cue to look sad and apologize profusely to the judge (which she had made him practice in the car), his charge was dissmissed and Eliza looked pretty happy. Somehow that had led to him asking her out to eat because somehow he felt that he owed her.



As he parked in a garage and cut the engine, he looked over to see her laying back against the headrest with her eyes closed.



"Don't you sleep enough?" At his question her eyes popped open and she blinked a bit before registering where they were.



"Not too much lately."



"Any particular reason?" A hot lover maybe? She doesn't really seem like the type.



"Uhh, some family issues. Why are you so curious anyway? I thought you were buying me food." Her temper had snapped back and he realized that maybe something was off there and that he should leave that subject alone for awhile. His goal was to relax, not upset even more.



"Jesus, the restaurant will stay where it is, you don't need to bulldoze it down with your walking." I felt like I was always chasing her with the way that she walked.



"Sorry, I always forget I do that. It started in college when I had to walk to get everywhere and I'm a stickler for time so I was always walking fast to get around campus to make sure I could get a good seat in class and sorry, I'm rambling." And getting self-conscious about it he thought. It was sort of cute considering how unlike her it was.



We entered the restaurant and were seated right away considering it was only mid-afternoon. We ordered drinks and I think she was surprised to note that I wasn't ordering something with alcohol and instead ordered a water with lemon like her. It wouldn't be good to have a real drink before a game tonight.



After I watched her study the menu like she does everything else, the chirpy waitress who was getting a little too friendly re-appeared at my side. "So have you guys decided?" she asked glancing at both of us.



"Uh huh. I think I'll just have the house salad." That's all that she was eating?



"I'll have the pasta and could you add chicken? Could I also add some french onion soup?" A man needed his strength before a game.



"So how come you're only ordering a salad?" Surprisingly she smiled at my question.


"I have a hot date with chinese takeout later on tonight and I need to be on my best behavior before that."



"Oh my god. What is this? Eliza Smith actually made a joke, and in my presence?" Her laughing was making me feel 10 feet taller. Usually I just make her yell a lot and this smiling, laughing woman was definitely a new concept.



"Despite what you may think of me, I do actually have friends and we do laugh with each other. I'm not just the scary legal monster."



"I know you're not, you just never respond to my teasing well. I am happy to know that you have a life though. It's very reassuring. You know, even Mario Lemieux was getting worried about you. The team even considered taking out a personal ad on your behalf."



"God, shut up" she groaned "I would hope that I don't ever get so bad that I need your help for anything" she said smiling.



"Again, another joke! I feel like I've won the lottery or something with you."



"Hey, don't get any ideas buddy. Just because you made me laugh, doesn't mean that I will loosen up on your tendency to ignore parking tickets."



I was so engrossed in watching her actually behave like a nice person that we didn't notice that the waitress had arrived and was staring at us strangely. "Here's your soup" she said placing it in front of me before walking away again. Eliza spoke up again while I busied myself eating.



"Speaking of the parking tickets, we do need to work out a system or something. Today cannot happen again. Even I can't save you if we actually miss a court summons."



"Will you believe me if I promise never to do it again?" A steely look fixed on her face before I received a "no."



"How about doing a weekly
meeting? That way I'll have to gather everything and bring it to you and we can talk about it or whatever."



"Will you be on time? I don't want you to commit to this if you aren't going to show up and I'm the fool waiting for you."



"If we make it after a morning skate during the days that we are home, then yes, I'll be there because I'll be at the arena anyway. Unless we're at Southpointe that day then maybe..." At her sharp look I corrected myself with "But if we're at Southpointe then I'll drive back to the arena." She seemed satisfied with this response and I thought I was in the clear.



"Okay, that does sound like a surprisingly reasonable option but I have one more stipulation." What other stipulation could she think of? "I want you to let me check your car once a week to make sure that you aren't hiding any tickets or papers in there."



"Oh come on, don't you trust me to at least make sure that I get everything to you?"



"Definitely not, Max. How many times have I had to do things for you last minute, including today, because you leave your stuff everywhere and god knows what your glove compartment actually holds. I'll only agree if you let me search your car weekly to guarantee that today does not happen again."



I wanted to point out that the court summons from today had been laying on my kitchen counter for a couple of weeks and not in the glove compartment but recognized the look on her face and realized that it was useless.



"Okay, but no complaining about what you find in my car. You are allowed to complain about my legal life, not my personal one."



"Fine, we start after lunch."

I couldn't do anything because our food arrived and soon I was too busy eating.



Eliza's POV:



Though I was skeptical of his lunch offer, I found that it was actually okay. He made me want to pull my hair out most of the time but he also made me laugh when we weren't working together and that was something that I needed after the long week. If he would just take my rather blatant hints about responsibility more seriously, I think I could actually start to like him and see him as a friend instead of a nuissance. He hadn't pushed anymore after I mentioned my family when we first got out of the car which was good because lately all anyone ever did was push at me to address the feelings I had about my Dad's death. I loved my mother more than anything but she wanted us to be in mourning together and that was something that I didn't have time for right now. Did I miss my Dad? Of course, so much so that it wasn't really letting me sleep but did I need to have the breakdown everyone said would make me feel better? Definitely not.

So instead of pushing at me to talk, Max was his normal self and joked with me. I almost couldn't believe it either when I joked back. I didn't even notice initially that his arm had snaked around my shoulders in a friendly manner as he led me back to his car. Of course he ignored me when I requested he put his arm back where it belonged by his side, not my shoulder and efficiently opened the car door for me before I could realize it had happened. Tricky bastard.



As he pulled out of the garage and back into the streets of Pittsburgh, I remembered his promise. He groaned when he saw that I had already opened the glove compartment and was eyeing it cautiously. I decided that it would be best just to dive in with eyes wide open and both hands. Literally.



"What do you need all of this stuff for anyway? Can you even find your license and registration everytime you get pulled over?"



He mocked laughter "Ha ha ha. Aren't you just full of jokes today Lizzy?"



Ugh, did I just touch something lacy? "Oh my god, Max. There's underwear in here. You actually have a strange pair of woman's underwear in your glove compartment." He didn't even so much as bat an eye when I held the offensive garment up to his face.



"Really now. Well isn't that just the strangest thing? I don't know how that got there, I promise."



"Yeah, yeah, yeah" I grumbled flinging the pink thong in the back and taking hand sanitizer out of my purse. "I heard that you were bad but I didn't realize how bad."



"Been gossipping about me Lizzy?"



"Ugh. You'd have to be living under a rock to miss all of the gossip the women in the office talk about concerning you."



"Let me guess, you and your prissy ways frown upon naughty behavior of any kind." Damn that smirk of his. I should have just let it go. Within the Penguins organization, news of any kind traveled fast including gossip about the players and Max was often a favorite topic of some of the women.



"I'm going to ignore your loaded statement and try to avoid anymore thongs in here." After rifling around his glove compartment for a few more minutes, I concluded that he actually hadn't been lying this time and aside from other questionable objects, it was clear of any tickets, court summons and general legal documents. We were also back at the igloo and I was pretty sure that aside from traffic, there was now nothing standing in my way of going home and falling into bed. I thanked him for taking me out to lunch and was ready to skip along when he called for me to turn around again.



"So does your hot date with Chinese include hockey tonight?" Why would it include hockey?



"Oh, that's right. You guys play tonight. Well, good luck, maybe I'll catch some of the game on TV. " I turned to walk away again.



"As a member of the Penguins organization you should support the team by at least watching it!" He called after me. He sounded genuinely perplexed at the idea of me not watching the game and I couldn't help but egg him on a little bit.



"Maybe I'll TiVo it. Remember to call me on Monday about our meeting, bye!" When he didn't do anything but stare after me looking perplexed again, I laughed and finally made it to my car.



Now for a weekend of sleep.



Max's POV:



What did she mean she would TiVo it? You can't watch a game a day later, the score will have already been posted. It didn't make any sense. She didn't really make any sense in general though so this was nothing new. Our afternoon together had made me like her a lot more. She wasn't completely prissy like I had originally thought and damn she was amusing. And still sexy in that suit. Who knew Eliza Smith wiggled her butt a little when she walked? He would win her over eventually so that they could at least be friends. He could tell that she needed someone to be her friend right now and after hearing her joke and laugh this afternoon, he definitely wanted to be one of her friends. Maybe if he and a few guys from the team got her to go out with them and loosen up a bit, she'd stop needing to take all of that aspirin would ease up on whatever was bothering her.



Hell, what am I thinking? I need to go get ready for the game.