And I Thought I Loved You Then

"Keep that goddamn thing away from me!" an irate and terrified deep voice bellowed from the trainers' area next to the locker room.

There was a loud scuffle from behind the closed doors. The sound of furniture crashing together and tumbling to the floor, followed by the scuffling of feet as they rushed towards the closest available exit. And as Autumn glanced up curiously from her BlackBerry, the heavy metal doors across the hall exploded open and a lone male figure clad only in tight fitting black boxer/briefs came bolting into the hallway. His shoulders and chest were broad and strong; the latter was covered in a smattering of wiry, dark hair. His arms and legs were powerful and well defined, and his face was scruffy and his brown hair wet with sweat and sticking up on end. But what she really noticed as he rushed in her general direction, looking over his shoulder the entire time and oblivious to her presence, was his...package.

Before she could react, his right foot hit a small patch of water on the floor and both legs threatened to go out from underneath him as his balance was disrupted. Overcompensating when righting himself, he instead slid across the hall and nearly collided face first with her. Having enough sense and quick enough reflexes to plants his hands on the wall on either side of her head, effectively trapping her with his semi naked body.

His eyes scanned her face, then flickered down and travelled over her body before looking back up at her. "Well hello there..." he drawled in a French accent, a grin curling his lips.

Autumn swallowed noisily and ordered herself to not look down. And to compose herself before he realized how flustered she actually was. Never let them see you sweat. It was a great motto to live by.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"I certainly hope so," he replied.

She rolled her eyes and attempted to duck under his left arm to escape.

He sidestepped in the same direction and narrowed the distance between their bodies.

"You've got issues," Autumn informed him.

"Do you have French in you?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Why?" she inquired warily.

"If you don't, would you like some?"

She couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Are you serious? You can not be seriously? That's the best you have? Your number one pick up line? Does that thing actually work?"

"It's never steered me wrong once."

"Well, then I hate to be the first girl that tells you how pathetic it is...but, sorry...yes, I do have French in me. And no, you can't put anymore inside of me. So if you don't mind, take your cheesy ass horrific pick up line and your..." she glanced down. "...little friend there and take about two steps back before I turn you into a girl, hun."

"Feisty..." he said with a grin, neither embarrassed that he was half naked and pressed up against her, or put off that she'd just attempted to deliver a blow to his ego. "I like that..."

"You won't like it when I..."

The door to the trainer's room opened across the hall, and was followed by a heavy sigh.

"Max...come on...quit humpin' the poor girl against the wall and come back in and..."

"I'd rather hump a pretty girl against the wall then come back in there and have you come near me with....with....with...THAT!" he yelled over his shoulder, nodding wilding in the direction of the objects in the trainer's hand. A cotton ball in the left, a rather large syringe in the right.

"You know you have to have your B12 shot. Now just come back in here and...."

"It's not the shot and you know it!" Max bellowed, and Autumn gave a shriek as he grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to stand in front of him; using her as a human shield.

"You're being a first grade pussy," the trainer informed him. "What is this? A hostage situation? I'm going to have to call in the SWAT team to liberate the girl? Quit acting like a baby and let her go and get your ass back in here."

xxxxx

The dressing room door clicked open and Sid stepped out. A backwards and perspiration stained Pens hat turned backwards on his head, effectively covering his sweat soaked hair, and his black underarmour and the most hideous pair of yellow Crocs Autumn had ever seen on his feet. A frown immediately covered his face at the sight that greeted him. His nearly naked team mate holding his girlfriend's tiny body in front of him.

"Talbo...what the hell?" he asked. "What are you doing to my girl?"

Max frowned, then peered around at the pretty brunette held firmly in his grasp. "You're Autumn?" he asked.

"That would be me," she confirmed.

"For real? Little thing like you inflicted all those war wounds on him?"

"Small but lethal," Autumn chirped. "Now do you want to let me go before the last thing you have to worry about is getting a needle in your ass? I'm deadly with a steak knife. Ever heard of Lorena Bobbitt? You know, she cut off her husband's..."

Max released his grip on her and held his hands up in surrender. "I value my boys where they are, thank you."

"Too bad," the trainer snorted. "Her cuttin' them off would spare the female population of this city a whole lot of money on birth control."

"I am not that bad," Max said, then gave Autumn a wink as he slipped out from behind her. "Can I help it if I'm a lover, not a fighter?"

The trainer coughed noisily, attempting to disguise the word 'manwhore'. "Come on Max," he coaxed. "The sooner we do this, the sooner it's over."

"I am not going back there unless you hide that shit! Tell them Sid," he turned pleading brown eyes on his team captain and friend. "Tell them to hide that shit."

Sid looked over at the trainer and gave a nod.

"Pussy ass motherf...." the trainer grumbled and placed his hands behind his back. "Get the hell back in there!" he ordered.

"You first," Max said. "Age before beauty."

The older man glared at him, then gave an exasperated sigh before turning on his heel and retreating to the medical room once again.

"That was close," Max breathed a sigh of relief. "You know how those things just make me cringe."

"Wouldn't want you to have a panic attack," Sid teased.

"Bad enough they have to give you that shot in the ass," Max shook his head. "I mean, it wouldn't bother you 'cause you got all that goddamn padding back there..." he turned to Autumn and nudged her playfully with his elbow. "I always ride your man about that. About his huge lips and his huge ass."

"Well, you know what they say..." she smiled sweetly. "About guys and the size of their hands and their feet. It's the same with their lips and their asses too. I speak from experience."

Max grinned.

"But in your case I guess it's not the size of the..." she cast a glance down at his midsection before looking back up at him. "...ship. But the motion of the ocean."

Sid couldn't hold back the laugh. Amused by both Autumn's words and the initially stunned expression that besieged Max's face. No woman had ever succeeding in rendering him speechless or putting even the smallest puncture in his overly inflated ego, and he'd just had his ass handed to him by someone half his size. Autumn wasn't backing down. No matter long and how hard he stared at her with that 'deer caught in the headlights' look. Her eyes were resilient and unwavering, and as the seconds ticked by, it was Max that cracked first as a grin begin playing on his mouth.

"I like her!" the French Canadian exclaimed, and wrapping an arm around her slender shoulders, pecked the side of her noisily. "This one is feisty Sid! You don't stand a chance! She'll destroy you!"

"At least I'll go with a smile on my face," Sid retorted.

"I can see why," Max allowed his eyes to wander her body once more before finally letting her go and journeying back towards the trainers room. "If you're ever in the mood for a real man, Mouse..."

Autumn stared at him expectantly.

"...number 25," he told her, smacking a hand against his chest. "Give me a shout."

She smiled. "I think...not."

Max smirked and shook his head. "You are finished!" he informed Sid, then gave a hearty chuckle before disappearing into the trainer's room while yelling, "Okay boys! I'll drop my pants, bend over and cough now!"

Autumn shook her head in disbelief. "He's a little..."

"Obnoxious?" Sid offered.

"I was going to say forward. But you do know him better than I do."

"Max is harmless," he told her. "He just like the ladies a little too much."

"Yeah, I've heard. He's well known around my hospital apparently. I heard he had a thing with some nurses on the oncology ward."

"Some?" Sid asked curiously.

"Half a dozen," Autumn clarified. "Now I don't know if it the entire six at one time or if they were solo flings or if it was two at a time or whatever, but what I do know is that they speak very, very, very highly of him."

"Why am I not surprised? Max has always been a little..."

"Flirtatious?" Autumn finished.

"I was going to say slutty," he chuckled. "Sorry he acted like that. There's honestly no controlling him."

"I've dealt with worse," Autumn said with a shrug. "It's why I don't do the whole bar thing anymore. Who honestly wants some douche spewing out sexual comments while spilling their beer on your fake Jimmy Choos? What's his problem anyway? Tough guy's scared of needles?"

"Cotton balls actually."

Her eyes widened. "Come again?"

"We're not exactly sure why," Sid told her. "We just know that he's got this huge paranoia about the things. Weird, huh? Someone goes near him with one and he's practically hyperventilating. Mind you, there was this girl on Maury once that was afraid of caterpillars."

"And the other one that was scared of flowers," Autumn added. "I saw that episode. I prefer the whole paternity dramas and I have been known to yell 'You're not the father!' at the tv or scream obscenities at the morons who talk trash about the girls they slept with long enough to knock up but won't pay for their kids. It's always sweet revenge when they turn out to be the father, isn't it? You actually watch Maury?"

"Every morning at ten," Sid confirmed. "If I'm near a tv that is."

"A guy that watches Maury," she shook her head. "We must be soul mates. I..." her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed when she'd realized what she'd just said. It was stupid and immature and she tried furiously to cover up in hopes that he hadn't put too much stock into it or that it hadn't scared the crap right out of him. " I guess I'm a little early or..."

"We're actually a little late," Sid told her. "A lot late actually. I'll just go and grab a shower and get dressed. You can wait here or there's a lounge down the hall where the press kinda hang out. I don't think there's anyone there besides Mario and he's..."

"I don't think I'm quite ready for the whole meeting Mario thing just yet," Autumn said. "I had this massive crush on him when I was little girl and honestly? If I was to come face to face with him? I'd probably turn into some squealing, obnoxious fan girl. It's better if I stay here."

Sid grinned. "You had a crush on Mario?"

"Oh hell yeah. He was the hottest guy on earth to me back then. And his accent?" she sighed dreamily. "I couldn't believe it when I saw him on tv during the play offs and he looked so damn good."

"Mario's going to love hearing about that. That my girlfriend has some wild crush on him."

"That's twice you've called me that in the past ten minutes," Autumn said with a smile. "First you called me your girl when Max was all but rubbing his sweaty, half naked body against me and now you've gone and called me your girlfriend."

"I'm not suppose to call you either of those things?" he asked, as he closed the distance between them in two short strides. "What am I suppose to call you then?"

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with you saying it," she informed him. "In fact, I actually like hearing you call me that. It's just that I was a little shocked to hear you say it and I'm..."

Laying his hands on the side of her face, he silenced her with a soft, lingering kiss. Autumn could taste the sweat on his lips, smell it on his shirt and in his hair. It was utterly masculine and sexy and strangely erotic. And the mere thought of the latter word, and of what she wanted to do to him right there in the middle of the hallway, caused her to giggle. And put an abrupt end to the moment.

"Sorry..." she blushed, and reached up to tuck a strand of his hair behind his ear. "I just had the most dirty thought and if you were to keep kissing me like that, we'd be finding the nearest available empty closet and that...that just would not be appropriate. At all."

"It would be our little secret," he teased. "And trust me. We wouldn't be the first people to take advantage of some unoccupied room."

"And one day I promise I will indulge both you and myself. But right now..." Autumn fanned herself with her hand. "Right now you need to just go and shower...or maybe I'm the one who needs the shower...a cold one....ice cold in fact..."

Sid laughed at that, and pressing a kiss to her forehead, reluctantly backed away from her. "You look really pretty by the way," he commented, as he headed for the dressing room door.

"And you look..." she eyed him from head to toe, admiring the view that the tight fitting underarmour gave her. "...so, so, so, so very very hot," she finished, then laughed and hid her face with her hands. "Go!" she ordered. "I'm unable to control my libido right now! And if you don't go..."

"There's a janitor's closet just down the hall," he suggested. "If you're that worked up we can go there. And I don't think there's anyone hanging out in the girls dressing room."

"Just go!" she practically pleaded. "And please! Do not wear that stuff around me again! Unless you want me to throw you down and do some serious damage to you!"

"That could actually be really fun."

"Sidney!" she cried. "Please!"

"Alright...alright..." he chuckled. "I'm going. But if you're still worked up when I get back out..."

"There's no one home at my house," she finished for him.

"In that case, I'll only be about ten minutes," he told her, then slipped into the dressing room.

Autumn peered through her fingers. Making sure he was gone, she removed her hand from over her face and issuing a heavy sigh, leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes.

God help me, she thought.