Chapter 14

Okay, I've finally had time to write and I got a little carried away packing a lot into this chapter. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a mammoth of a chapter and I had to split it into two so that I could write the next chapter well...that means a cliff hanger at the end but I plan on posting soon (maybe tonight) if it goes well.


Eliza's POV:


"What do you mean you haven't slept with him?" Mia screeched in my ear on the phone. As if I were unaware that we still hadn't done the deed.

She had called me in the middle of the day to catch up and I was just waiting for some contracts to print while I checked my email and chatted with her about everything that had been happening in our lives lately. Now I had made the mistake of telling her what had happened between Max and I two weeks ago when we almost slept together. Mia was definitely more of the sexual voyeur in our friendship and I had almost no experience to think of when it comes to sex given I've only done it with one other person- the disastrous relationship of 2006.

"I don't know, I mean I think we were getting there but I freaked out and we stopped."

"You stopped a hot hockey player from having sex with you?" she asked sounding completely disgusted with me. But hey, I couldn't do it with just anyone- no matter how insanely attractive they are.
"It's not that I didn't want to!" I said getting up to close my door fully. No one in the office really needed to hear this entire conversation. "I just, told him to stop and he did. And then we went to sleep, woke up normally, and have continued to see each other since then." I left out the part about my mini-freakout in his kitchen before we went to bed. I didn't need to give her more ammo about how crazy I am.

"So he stopped and then actually just slept with you? He's okay with that?"

"Yes!" I said getting a little annoyed. My relationship with Max was a little unconventional for people that were sort of seeing each other. "We spend most nights with each other anyway except for when he's on the road with the team." We had developed a pattern over the past two weeks where we would make dinner plans either at my place or his and then just stay over with each other. After never sharing a bed with a man for an entire night, it was funny that now, it was strange for me to sleep without Max holding me close to him.

"Do you guys just sleep together? None of the fun stuff?" She asked still apparently not understanding the concept of our relationship.

"No, I mean...there's stuff.." I told her blushing even though she couldn't see me. At my awkward response she burst out laughing and I had to hold the phone away from my ear momentarily until she calmed down.

"I'm happy that I amuse you so much. Really, it's just such a pleasure to entertain you." I said sarcastically when she had calmed down a bit.

"I'm sorry! It's just..you have to agree that this is weird, right? I mean, he's a professional athlete and he could have any girl he wants for a random hookup but instead, he's choosing to go home to you- even though it's only been a couple of weeks."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I couldn't help get a little defensive. I mean, I'm boring but I'm not that bad.
"That came out badly" she said sighing. "What I'm trying to point out to you, is that you have to admit that it's a bit comical. The big bad hockey player is falling for the innocent and romantically hardened lawyer" she said dramatically.
When she put it that way, I guess it did sound kind of stupid and cliché.

"Well, yeah. But..Oh I have to go! He just walked in." I told Mia switching to Spanish when I saw Max loitering in my doorway with a mischievous smirk on his face. Mia sighed but agreed to let me call her back later to give her more details. Why was he still smirking at me?

"So I got a text from a certain lawyer saying to meet her in her office. Very hot, Lizzy. I didn't know that you were so adventurous around here" he said laughing at the disgusted look on my face. I got up from my desk ignoring him and closing the door again so that we could talk about the different papers I had for him to sign. Even though I wanted to kiss him after not seeing him for two days.

"Ohh and now we're closing the door for privacy. I like it."

I wanted to smack the grin off his face because I was still irritated by my conversation with Mia about him being a player who all of the sudden wants to spend time with me. Him actually sitting in my office smiling at me wasn't helping me think exactly. Especially because I had actually missed him.

"Okay, so I needed you to come up here and sign these papers about the group endorsement you all have with Reebok that's coming up soon." I said pulling the pages out of their folder and handing him a pen to sign with. Instead of making another joking comment like I expected him to, he signed where I directed him to and appeared to be listening when I explained what certain things meant. It wasn't a complicated contract with a lot of legal wording but I knew that a lot of the players liked to know what things meant anyway.

"Okay and the final signature goes here" I said finishing up my explanation already thinking ahead in my day for when I would have time to run down and find some of the other players that had been eluding my phone calls all day. It was a game day and I knew that they would be around, they would just play hard to get because they didn't feel like dealing with this stuff today.

"So I'm good?" he asked while I shuffled his papers away for filing.

"Yep, so long as you haven't had any tickets or anything lately. I haven't had to car check you lately and I don't want to start doing it again." I didn't need to start finding lingerie back there that definitely wasn't mine even though I was pretty sure he wouldn't do that to me. He wasn't that bad for a hockey player.

"Nope. I've been good lately" he told me while pulling me down to sit on his lap in the chair he was sitting in. "Right?" he asked nipping my ear with his teeth and making me shudder. I relaxed against him knowing that my door was closed and no one could see and also that he would rub my back like he always did because he knew that I liked it.

"Are you coming to the game tonight?" He asked after we sat in silence for a moment.

"Yep. I'm going with Vero and Emma, who works in organizing player events, is sitting with us too tonight." I was excited to be sitting in the stands tonight and having girl talk while watching the game. I would be able to see more of Max up close while he played and Vero had gotten really good tickets down close to the plexi-glass so that we could wave to the boys.

"Good." He rubbed my back for a few more minutes making me want to stay there curled up against him forever but I still had a million things to do before I could go home and get ready for the game tonight.

I turned to give him a kiss on the lips as a thank-you for the back rub and had to physically pull myself off of his lap before we began to full on make out in my office. I had learned over the past few weeks that his lips were very convincing and could get me to do almost anything. Which was very, very dangerous- especially in my office.

I laughed and told him to get out so that I could get back to work and ducked my head to avoid his lips again when he tried to grab me on the way out. Did I mention how hard it is to escape his hands sometimes?

"Oh, I almost forgot. Expect a package on your doorstep when you go home this afternoon." he told me cryptically before grinning and walking away down the hallway.

What?

Max's POV:

I knew that she had been talking about me by the freaked out look on her face when she saw me at the door and how she started to speak in Spanish to the other person on the line. I really hated that she could do that knowing that I wouldn't be able to understand and promised myself that I would use French around her more often to throw her off a little bit too.

She didn't explain why she looked so surprised to see me and I expected more of a welcome then an order to sit and sign some papers because I had been gone for the past two days on the road. It was a strange experience to miss a woman while I was away because I had never had one particular woman waiting for me when I got home. I didn't know what we were right now but I was pretty sure that we were exclusive because she wasn't seeing anyone else and I sure as hell wasn't going to screw up when I had Lizzy to look forward to. While she still avoided the conversation about defining our relationship why couldn't she see that we were dating? it was pretty clear to me. I was falling for her fast and was more than willing to wait for her to catch up but I was probably going to go insane in the process. Leave it to me to find the one woman who is too afraid to commit to me when that's what I'm ready to start doing after years and years of avoiding it.

I signed her papers because that is why she called me up there in the first place but not before teasing her first. I loved teasing her when she was in her serious work mode. It was hilarious to watch her twitch and try to ignore my suggestive comments while she made me sign things and explain what certain things meant. I could tell that she was a little stressed out today though so I pulled her down to sit on my lap and rubbed her back knowing she would relax that way. My eyes took in the straight black dress and cardigan she was wearing today giving her a sexy librarian look and I mentally groaned thinking that this was not good for my body only a few hours before a game. After allowing me to kiss her and then kicking me out of her office, I grinned anyway knowing that I still had some shopping to do for her before taking my pre-game nap at home.

I also had to see if Mrs. Rollins was around to make something special for after the game tonight. I had forgotten to ask her if she was coming home with me and just assumed that she was. Maybe this time she would appreciate having some of her stuff with her. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket to text her as I walked out to the parking lot

Can you stay over after tonight's game? A few minutes later I received a text back from her.

Sure. Is it okay that I bring stuff? I texted back yes to her wondering why she thought I would mind. We spent so much time together either at my place or hers that it made sense for her to be able to bring things back and forth and feel comfortable doing so. I could tell that she was finally getting comfortable being around my house even when the guys dropped in to hang out with us and I got a little bit of a thrill seeing her car parked in my driveway when I came home sometimes. Maybe tonight will be a good time to give her a key to the house?

I had to stop myself from getting too far ahead. It didn't seem unreasonable to want to give her a key so that I didn't have to leave the backdoor unlocked or give her my key to use instead but I wanted to make sure that it wasn't something that would freak her out about moving fast. I wanted her around though. In the last couple of weeks we spent a majority of our time at my house anyway because it was larger than her apartment and she liked to use my kitchen. I liked that she waited up for me sometimes in my bed working until I came home and I liked that my sheets smelled like her.

And even though she was careful not to leave her things lying around in plain sight, she did occasionally forget things like a book on the nightstand or one of her lotions which continued to sit out on the bathroom counter even though neither of us mentioned it being there. My own fears kicked in and I decided to stop over-thinking and plan for tonight instead.

I had called in a favor through the Pens merchandise store to have them make me a t-shirt for Lizzy. I had thought of the idea a few days ago after talking to her on the phone while I was away playing in Chicago and she told me that she didn't have any Pens gear and especially not anything with Talbot written on it. She was joking but I decided to get her back and send her a custom designed shirt with my name on it for her to wear to games. Partly it was to make her wear a t-shirt, something I never saw her do unless she was sleeping, and also because I knew it would be a huge turn-on to see in her something with my name on it. She definitely wouldn't be able to deny that we were dating after this shirt.

After a short trip and a run to the closest Hallmark store, I convinced one of the sales ladies to wrap everything nice for me in a bag so that I could leave it outside of her apartment door. I was feeling pretty good about my plan by the time I got home to take my pre-game nap before I had to be back at the arena later tonight.

Eliza's POV:

I had been so busy by the time I left my office that I had completely forgotten about the present Max was leaving me until I walked up to my door and saw it sitting there wrapped up in a hot pink bag with glittery, red kisses all over it. It was literally the most obnoxious thing I had seen in a long time but it made me laugh and think about Max which was probably his plan all along. Only he would send me something so ridiculous and know that I would like it too.

I almost didn't make it inside I was so curious to see what was in the bag that I quickly dropped my briefcase on the counter before tearing out the tissue paper in the bag. I noticed a card that said "Read Me!" on it in Max's scrawl. The card itself was one of those goofy singing ones and he had written a note instructing me to wear what was inside the bag at the game tonight and to meet him at his house afterwards. I grinned once more at the card and the x's and o's he had filled it with before finally getting down to the gift itself.

My jaw dropped when I saw more pink hiding in the bag and I picked it up only to find that it was a t-shirt designed like a jersey with Talbot written across the back in white and his number below it. Now this was the most obnoxious thing I had ever seen and I remembered what I had told him a few nights ago about not owning anything with his name or number on it. He must have pulled a favor or something to have a sports company make something so pink for him.

After examining the back some more it was sort of cute- sort of, I flipped the shirt over to look more closely at the front and saw that it was plain aside from the pens logo on the left breast of the shirt. I spotted bright red on the right sleeve of the shirt that I hadn't noticed before and found that there was a heart on the sleeve with "MAX" written in the center of the heart. I shook my head thinking that he must of been laughing his ass off while designing the shirt and decided I would indulge him by wearing the t-shirt tonight even though I was sure to look like a crazed puck-bunny wearing it, especially since it looked on the small-ish side and was short sleeved. Not exactly something intelligent people chose to wear to a hockey game. If I was going to wear this tonight I had to make him sweat about it for awhile though and I grinned before digging my phone out of my purse and texting him a quick message.

I decided on Hey, I didn't get the surprise. Is it in my apartment?

A few minutes later my phone buzzed. No, I put it right outside your door. You didn't get it?

No, I just got home and didn't see anything sitting there. I hope no one took it!

He didn't respond and I laughed knowing that he would worry until he saw me wearing the shirt tonight. I couldn't wait to see his reaction and headed off to shower and re-do my hair so that I looked extra nice tonight.

Max's POV:

"Dude, calm down. What, are you nervous or something for tonight's game?" Marc shoved me jokingly and stilled my arm from bouncing my stick up and down before we headed to the ice to warm up. I couldn't help it, I was still worried about what had happened to the gift I had got her. What did she mean she didn't get it? It was right there! It was also bright pink so now I was worrying that someone saw it and took it just because they were a present stealing asshole.

"Nervous? Me? No I got Lizzy a present and put it outside of her door and she told me she never got it. So now I think someone stole it." Normally I would do my pre-game boxing round with Marc but I was too preoccupied to do that and Marc rolled his eyes at me before leaving to bother someone else.

On the ice I scanned the crowds looking for her blonde head. I spotted her sitting with Vero and a girl I recognized from different player events that must be Emma. She too was looking around the ice and when she spotted me she smiled and waved. She still had her coat on and I grimaced wondering if there was a lunatic on the streets of Pittsburgh wandering around with her t-shirt and a heart with my name on the sleeve.

I skated around focusing my mind on warm-ups and ignoring how cute she looked laughing in the stands all bundled up in the cold arena. I should have thought to get her long sleeves. That idea would come in handy for when I had a new shirt made for her. I looked up to see her again before heading off the ice and almost slid into Staalsy after seeing her grinning down at me in the shirt I left for her. That little.. she waved to me before getting up to show me the back of the shirt with my name on it. Vero and Emma were also waving to me giving me and the boys thumbs up signs.

"Close your mouth" Marc said skating past me towards the locker room. I couldn't help it, she was the sexiest thing I had ever seen wearing that t-shirt and a pair of jeans with her hair falling down around her shoulders. She had worn a white turtleneck underneath the t-shirt to stay warm but it didn't hide any of the curves I had been fantasizing about for weeks.

"Stop staring at her unless you want to draw attention to her" Sid said skating by and grabbing my arm to tug me off of the ice with him. I looked back at her still smiling at me and realized it was going to be a long game.

Eliza's POV:

"So I think you succeeded in surprising him" Vero said laughing at Max's obvious reaction to seeing me in the shirt. I nodded still watching him skate off of the ice enjoying the view from behind. There was something about hockey players butts in all of that padding.

If anything, wearing this t-shirt tonight was worth it just to see his face when he noticed me. His eyes had darkened and connected with mine in a way that made my mouth go dry.

"Are you okay? You look a little...flushed" Emma said nudging me with a grin on her face.

"Oh shut up" I said laughing. "I wouldn't talk- I saw you staring at Crosby's butt the whole time he was warming up" I whispered watching her flush.

"Does he know you're interested?" Vero asked leaning over me to address Emma who was still red.

"Of course not! He doesn't even notice me unless he's working with me directly or if I'm visiting the Lemieux's with my family. He's oblivious to everything but hockey" she said suddenly looking a lot less cheerful. Maybe she has a bigger thing for him than I thought.

Vero and I quickly exchanged looks before becoming distracted by the starting of the game.

The rest of the game was fun with the girls even though the boys were losing 4-2 to Tampa. Max had been playing well until he was cross checked in the second period and then he just played rough living up to his nickname "Mad Max." It was evident that the entire team was getting frustrated as the minutes evaporated on the clock in the third period with Emma shaking her head and sighing every time Sid missed the opportunity to get the puck in the net.

"How do you stay so calm during the games when they're losing?" I asked leaning close to Vero. She was the only one of us who had remained perfectly calm throughout the game.

"Oh, I've been with Marc for so long that I just don't worry about it anymore. He does his best and I'm home waiting for him, telling him to get over it if he worries about a particular game for too long" she said with her eyes on the game. It was the most serious I had ever seen her and I realized how much she had probably sacrificed to be with Marc through all of the ups and downs of hockey seasons. What exactly had she sacrificed over the years just to be with Marc here? What would I potentially have to sacrifice if Max and I were ever to really be together and be super serious?

Before I could say anything back to Vero, Sid scored making Emma rocket out of her seat to cheer with the rest of the crowd almost knocking my drink out of my hands and all over my t-shirt.

The goal wasn't enough to tie the game though and when the buzzer rang it was clear that everyone was beaten up and feeling pretty bad. As I made my way out of the arena I only hoped that Max would be in a good mood when he got home. Just in case I decided to make sure I had something ready when he got back. It gave me another excuse to use his amazing kitchen again anyway.

Max's POV:

After getting cross checked, I knew that the game wasn't going to end well. We had all played so hard but we weren't as sharp as Tampa at getting to passes and moving quickly to the net. I was happy when the press crowded around Sid to barricade him with questions and left pretty much everyone else alone.

"Hey man, you wanna go grab a bite?" Jordan asked putting his gear away.

"I've got plans actually, you guys go have a good time" I looked at my watch and calculated that I could be home by 12:30 at the latest if I hurried up. I saw a look pass among a couple of the guys. "What?"

"I can't believe it." Jordan stated with a shit eating grin on his face.

"What?" I groaned knowing that this would probably end up annoying me.

"You've become a one woman man. Our resident womanizer is settling down!" A few of the guys cheered as I shoved stuff in my bag and left telling them all to fuck off. Jordan continued to grin at me as I walked out. "Don't forget to get that blood off your face before you go see her!"

I remembered the cut on the side of my forehead that had now dried and chalked it up to another thing that hadn't gone right tonight.

After signing autographs and making my way to my car, I pulled up to the house to see it lit up against the private darkness of the property. It was definitely nice to go home and see that someone had waited for you or was expecting you home. Before her, I didn't even have dogs to go home to because I knew that I would be away too much to take care of them and I couldn't expect Mrs. Rollins to either.

In the house, I could hear her moving around the kitchen with the TV on in the background. After dumping my stuff in the laundry room, I heard her call out "Max?" to make sure that it was me. She was busy pulling cookies out of the oven and sliding more in when I made my way into the kitchen looking right at home baking cookies.

"Hey! I know it's kind of lame but I thought it would make you feel better about the loss if you had cookies" she said turning around to smile at me and push her hair back from her face.

Seeing her in that t-shirt and jeans and standing in my kitchen, I knew I had to kiss her. God, she had even made me cookies. The smile slowly started to disappear when she saw me staring at her. Before she could say anything, I covered her soft lips with mine and tasted that she had been eating the cookie dough. Her blue eyes blinked in surprise before fluttering closed and I took the opportunity to pull her closer as she slid her arms around my neck. She moaned as I massaged my hands up and down her spine making my body stiffen in response uncomfortably.

"You're welcome for the cookies" she said breathlessly pulling back to finally greet me. Her hands were still at the base of my neck now playing with the short hair there. She frowned when she noticed the cut on my face reaching up to touch it.

"Did you have fun at the game?" I asked pulling her hand down and kissing her palm.

"Yeah. You know you should put something on that" she said still focusing on the cut.

"Are you going to be my nurse?" I asked teasing her and pulling her closer. I didn't know why I was torturing myself with the feeling of her breasts against my chest. Especially now that she was wiggling around to get away and fix my cut.

"No" she said giggling. "I just think you should at least wash the blood off- it's kind of gross." Her face was scrunched up as she turned my chin to examine the cut on my face. She wiggled away and wet a paper towel returning to hop up on the counter so that she was able to see my face better. She concentrated on wiping the dried blood off while I was trying to ignore how good she smelled and the reaction my body was having to it. It was becoming a lot more difficult to control myself around her and not make her feel rushed when all I wanted was for her to be naked and waiting for me in my bed every night. It was that feeling of permanence that made me nervous and had kept me from doing anything.

"How does it look?" I asked. She was still sitting up on the counter and I used the opportunity to stand between her legs and lean down to plant a kiss on the underside of her jaw.

"Mm. It looks better.." she said even as her hands gripped my shoulders. I knew I needed to cool off and back away soon but I couldn't help it. And she wasn't exactly helping.

Eliza's POV:

I finished cleaning his cut for him so that he didn't have to walk around the rest of the night with blood on his face. I guess this was an injury that hockey players didn't even bat an eye at but it was still ugly to look at. How did he shower and not notice it?

And now he was looking at me strangely again and asking me if it looked better while kissing one of the spots that he knew made me weak. He moved closer kissing up the line of my jaw and I moved my legs wider to accomodate him while he continued to softly torture me.

"Kiss me" I ordered getting tired of all of the attention my neck was getting when I really needed his lips on mine.

He grinned before meeting my lips with his own and I felt a lance of heat hit my belly. We were both getting caught up in the moment quickly and I felt the evidence of how excited he was getting as he stood between my legs. I knew that we were both getting caught up in the moment but after weeks of us dancing around the status of our relationship and our physical relationship, I knew that we were hitting the edge of a plateau and one of us needed to leap already.

He broke away from my lips to look at me and ask "Are you okay?" and I knew he was leaving the decision up to me. Now what do I do?