The Ice Life

Morning practice for the Pens meant that journalists had to get up just as early as the team did, so they could take notes on the teams’ regular practices. Sam, who was in no way at all a morning person, stared at the empty sheet of ice with sleep filled eyes and a cup of coffee in her hands. Her laptop sat ready on her lap as the team filed out, stretching and pouring out numerous pucks from their buckets while Coach Dan Bylsma had a quick word with one of his Assistant Coaches, Tony Granato. From her seat two rows behind the Pens bench, Sam could hear the players talking and laughing as they warmed up.

“That fucking baboon! I’m going to slap a bitch today if I hear one more idiotic word out of his mouth!” Kim slammed herself down into the seat next to Sam, huffing and crossing her arms with a dark glare on her face.

“Wha’s goin on now?” Sam mumbled sleepily, knowing very well what Kim was complaining about already.

“Fucking Lucic!” Kim growled, nearly knocking Sam’s laptop over as she threw her hands up in frustration.

“What’d he do now?” Sam yawned, beginning to type notes as the Pens started their practice with new line changes and different passing drills.

“You remember how me and Mal got assigned that big interview with Mario a few days ago?” Sam nodded, glancing at Kim as she typed up notes on Marc Andre’s play “Well since this is our first big assignment we want to make it as good as we can so for the past few days we’ve been up all hours of the damn day working on it. This morning we got here early to finish our interview with Mario and as we’re about to leave, guess who comes barging in all full of his oversized ego?”

“Looch.” Sam answered, holding back her comments on how as Mallory was now dating the Bruins player it was to be expected that Milan was going to be showing up much more these days then he used to.

“Yes! And he just starts talking to Mallory, trying to pull her out of the room so that they can go be together. I was telling him that we had a huge assignment to do and you know what he did? Just blew it off like it wasn’t anything important! These are our careers for shit’s sake! Who the hell does he think he is?!”

“He’s Milan Lucic, being obnoxious is his specialty, Kim. Remember Mr. and Mrs. Ego? Who you got together with that whole Kiss Cam stunt?” Sam said; shooting Kim a pointed look as she simmered unhappily next to her.

Kim just made a ‘pfft’ sound, not bringing up the subject again throughout the rest of the morning skate. When Dan finally blew his whistle to indicate that the practice was over, the girls got up to meet the players down in their locker room to ask them a few questions about their upcoming game against Montreal. As they turned down the hallway leading to the locker room, Kim spotted Caitlin coming out of it with an armful of stacked files that looked as though it was about to fall over.

“What’s all that?” Sam asked; grabbing half the stack before it could tumble out of Caitlin’s arms.

“Older files that need to be moved into storage, no sense in keeping these in my office with an entirely different roster of players.” Caitlin nodded thanks to Sam and led her and Kim to a separate room where she left them next to other stacks of files by a wall of filing cabinets. “I want to have enough room for the current stuff, so I’m putting all this outdated junk in storage while I put all the new stuff in.”

“Anything interesting you can tell us about the guys?” Sam asked as they walked back to the locker room, the players had already gotten off the ice and were currently milling around the room in their gear.

“I can’t tell you guys that!” Caitlin exclaimed, giving Sam a disapproving look. “It’s all confidential.”

“What’s confidential?” Sidney asked as he walked over to the three girls, rubbing his wet hair dry with a towel and walking around in only khaki shorts.

Caitlin was at a loss for words, trying to keep her eyes off Sid’s bare chest, leaving Sam to answer for her with an amused smirk on her face. “Nothing Sid, don’t worry about it. Nice deke at the end of practice though, Johnny looked like someone trying to dodge a bullet when he tried to save it.”

Brent looked up from his gear bag with a frown. “I did not!”

“Don’t inflate Crosby’s ego anymore Sam, that big head of his might explode.” Kim snorted, ignoring Sid’s annoyed glare as she waved at Max and Pascal.

“Don’t scare away the pretty girls Sid!” Max joked, walking over to join his captain. “Most of the sportscasters and journalists are just balding old men; it’s nice to see some pretty faces around the rink nowadays.”

“Aww.” The girls said together, Sidney rolling his eyes as Max grinned.

“Shut up Max, before we sue you for sexual harassment.” Kim said, the corner of her mouth rising up into an amused half smile.

Max held up his hands, still grinning, and laughed. “Hey, I’m just saying what everyone’s been thinking since you guys got here.”

“Shut up Max!” The three said again, laughing and looking away in embarrassment as Mallory came charging into the room on Milan’s back.

“Why the eff are you telling my bestest buddy Maxie to shut up?” She asked, jumping off Looch’s back and running over to give Max a hug.

“What’s goin on guys?” Milan threw his arm around Mallory after she let go of Max, smiling happily at the girls and the two Penguins.

“LOOCH!” Sam grinned at the power forward, fist bumping with him as Max laughed and Sid and Kim rolled their eyes.
“Guess what I’m doing tonight!” Mallory beamed excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet and glancing up at Milan.

“The same thing you do every night, bitch at the hockey highlights and badmouth announcers until you pass out on the couch with your half empty drinks on the coffee table?” Sam joked, gently elbowing the taller girl and smiling innocently.

“No!” Mallory glared down at her friend before resuming her story. “Me and Looch are going out tonight!”

Sam and Kim’s jaws dropped. “Like a date?!”

“Yep!” Milan grinned down at Mallory, pulling her closer to him. “She finally gave into the charm and the money maker.” He pointed to his face, flashing a toothpaste commercial smile.

“Charm my-” Kim muttered.

“That’s great! What are you guys going to do?” Sam grinned at the two, clapping happily.

“Don’t know yet, I think we’ll just wing it.” Milan shrugged, looking unconcerned.

“Nice plan of action, Milan.” Sam chuckled, ducking her head slightly when she saw that Kris had just walked in from the showers with just a towel around his waist; Kim sent her a smirk, biting back the temptation to embarrass her friend.

“Well if you two,” Kim sent amused looks toward Sam and Caitlin, “Are done undressing the guys with your eyes, I have to get back to work before I get my ass fired. See you guys later.” With a wave, Kim walked out of the locker room and left Sam and Caitlin glaring after her as the guys looked around in confusion.

“What did she mean when she said-” Max began, getting cut off by Sam when she threw her hands out in front of her.

“Don’t worry about it, Max.” She gave him a look that threatened him to stay quiet before she attempted to kill him.

Evgeni Malkin walked over to the group, gently tapping Caitlin on the shoulder. “Who was that?” He asked in his broken English, pointing to where Kim had just exited the room.

“Her? That was Kim, the other half of the dirtiest, most obnoxious sports commentating team to ever exist.” Caitlin answered with a snort, shaking her head.

“She was yelling a lot earlier today, yes?” The tall Russian asked, looking around at the rest of the group for an answer.

“Pft, she’s always yelling so that’s nothing-” Mallory began, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah she was Geno, during the morning skate. I think she may have damaged the hearing in my right ear actually.” Sam frowned, rubbing her ear.

“Why? You interested in her?” Mallory asked suddenly, moving away from Milan to stand face to face with Evgeni.

Geno mumbled something incoherent, a mix of English and Russian, shook his head and walked back to his stall without looking back at the rest of his teammates and the three girls. Mallory shrugged and returned to where Milan was standing and talking with Max and Sam, leaving Caitlin and Sid to stand awkwardly next to each other.

“So…” Sid said, glancing between his feet and the top of her head.

“Um, did you have a fun practice?” Caitlin asked, trying to hide the blush that was tinting her cheeks.

“Yeah it was fine, just basic stuff. Nothing very hard since we don’t have a game today.”

“Right, that must be nice. To have an off day that is.” Caitlin finally managed to glance up and look Sidney in the eye, making them both blush and immediately return to staring at their feet.

“Yeah it usually is, but when there’s nothing to do-”

“CAITLIN!” Mallory waved wildly to her friend from the locker room doors, where she, Milan, and Sam had gathered. “Don’t you have a job to do? Leave Captain Oblivious alone and get your ass over here!”

Caitlin sighed, smiling apologetically at Sidney. “Bye, Sid.”

“See you.” Sid muttered, watching her disappear out the door with the other three and leaving the locker room quiet again.

♦♠♣♥

“CAITLIN! DOOR!” Sam bellowed from the kitchen, her head inserted in the fridge where she was scanning the shelves for food.

Caitlin stomped out of her room, glaring at the half of Sam’s body that she could see sticking out of the fridge. “Why can’t you get it?!”

Sam retracted her head from the fridge, giving her an exasperated look. “I’m eating! Can’t you see that?” She grabbed a box of left over Chinese food, waving it over her head for emphasis.

Caitlin rolled her eyes, shuffling over to the door while mumbling under her breath. Mallory, Caitlin, and Sam were currently sharing an apartment in Pittsburgh and despite having to buy food more then once a week and loud hockey debates, the girls got along perfectly well. When Caitlin pulled the door open, she froze and stared at the two people standing in the doorway with surprise. Jordan and James smiled and quickly stepped past her to walk into the apartment, saying hello to Sam when they spotted her sitting on the counter and rummaging through the cabinets for a plate.

“What are you doing up there?” James asked Sam as she jumped down from the counter and made her way over to the kitchen table.

“Her short ass can’t reach the cabinets so she climbs up all the furniture and appliances to get the shit she wants.” Kim smirked, joining her friends in the main room.

“So where’s Mallory?” Jordan asked; cutting off the retort Sam had been ready to spit out at Kim.

“In her room, getting all dolled up for her date with Lucic.” Kim made a face, moving to sit on the couch in front of the TV.

“Thanks!” Both players hurried out of the room and down the hallway, leaving the girls to look at one another in wonder.

In her room, Mallory was doing a quick check of her makeup when her bedroom door flew open and James and Jordan came barging in. Startled, Mallory jumped up from her desk chair and stared at the two hockey players with wide eyes and her hands held up defensively.

“What are you guys doing here?” She demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

“Are you really going out with that Lucic guy tonight?” Jordan asked, crossing his arms as James did the same.

“Yes, I am.” Mallory answered stiffly, walking out her room and into the kitchen to grab her purse off the counter.

“Where are you guys going?” James asked, both he and Jordan following Mallory into the kitchen and back out again when she moved into the living room to get her house keys.

“And how long do you plan to even keep seeing him? After all, wouldn’t it be easier just to date someone local and not some guy who lives all the way in Boston?” Jordan put in, stepping in front of Mallory as she made a move to get into the bathroom.

“What are you guys my gay parents?!” She threw her hands up and shoved Jordan aside, swiftly getting inside the bathroom and locking the door.

“Well we’re only concerned for your welfare!” James yelled through the door.

“My what?!” Mallory threw the door back open, having done up her hair and tamed it with a little hairspray.

“We do not approve of you seeing this guy Mal, you could definitely do better.” Jordan clarified, both men still following Mallory from room to room.

“Then it’s a good thing I’ve never asked for your opinions on who I date! And get out of my room!” Mallory attempted to shove both men out of her room, when they refused to move she whirled and threw some random heels and bras at them.

Jordan snagged one of her new bras out of the air, holding it up and smirking. “A lacy push up, eh? You know, I think you should have worn this one. But not on a date with him, but if you were to go out to dinner with, lets’ say me, for instance-”

“What the hell man? You need to learn to be more respectful towards women!” James snagged the bra from Jordan, smirking once it was in his hands.

A knock at the front door forced Mallory to leave her room and answer it, both Jordan and James following behind her while trying to keep the bra away from the other. Huffing, Mallory yanked the door open and smiled when she saw that Milan was standing on the other side with an amused smirk on his face.

“Who is that?” Jordan asked, yanking the bra free from James’ hands and running up to the door to look over at Milan from Mallory’s shoulder.

“What’s he doing here?” Milan asked, his eyebrows scrunching up as he saw that James and Jordan were standing in the middle of Mallory’s apartment.

“Oh nothing!” Mallory said, trying to push Milan out the door “They just swung by to say hi since they were in the neighborhood, let’s get going!”

Milan ignored her shoving at his chest, trying to look over her head at the two players. “What are they fighting over?”

“Probably some leftover take out, nothing important. Let’s go!” Mallory gave another huge shove at the Boston player’s chest, frowning when he didn’t budge an inch.

Milan stood up on his tip toes, finally getting a good enough view to see what James and Jordan were having a tug-o-war with. His eyes went wide and his fists clenched as his jealous rage flared up in his eyes; upon seeing the look in his eyes, Mallory squeaked and threw her shoulder into him again. Milan stumbled back, a growl escaping from his chest, as Jordan and James continued to fight over the bra.

“Where’d they get that?!” Milan roared, pointing a finger at the two men who froze upon hearing him yell.

“Now look what you guys did!” Mallory turned to glare at the Penguins players, both of whom still had the straps of her bra in their hands.

“Why do they even have that?! WHY?!” Milan growled, trying to push past Mallory to get at Jordan and James.

“Go! Go! Go!” Mallory screamed as she finally managed to push Milan out the door and shove him down to the car.

The tires of Milan’s car squealed on the pavement outside, leaving the three girls and two Penguins in the quiet apartment. Sam stood up and dumped her plate into the sink, tossing the empty boxes of Chinese food into the trash can and then turning to face Jordan and James. Jordan, who was still holding Mallory’s bra, snorted and threw himself down on the couch next to Kim.

“Well that was interesting.” He said, looking around at the others for their reactions to Milan’s rage.

“Good job guys, you just had to go and make a mess of Mal’s first date with Looch.” Sam rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

“He’ll get over it!” James said, waving off Sam’s comment and joining Jordan on the couch.

“I wonder where they’re going.” Caitlin mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

Jordan jumped up from the couch, smiling eagerly. “Let’s go find out!”

“Are you nuts?! She’ll murder us all if she catches us spying on her!” Sam gasped; both intrigued at the idea of following Milan and Mallory, and scared of what would happen if they were caught.

“Then we won’t let her catch us.” James grinned, standing up next to Jordan. “I’m so in, you guys want to come?”

“Why the heck would we want to spend all hours of the night hiding out with you two morons?” Kim asked, making a face.

Jordan smirked and took out his phone. “Don’t worry; we’ll bring stuff for you all to play with.”
♦♠♣♥

“He took her to the batting cages? Seriously?”

“Are you kidding, this is perfect! It has just enough violence to keep them both happy, while also allowing them to enjoy each others company. Although, Mallory holding a bat is a little scary.”

Sam whirled and glared at the group of people behind her. “Will you guys shut up?! They’re going to hear your loud asses and beat us to death with those bats if they catch us!”

Kim, Caitlin, Sidney, Kris, and Evgeni all froze and shut their mouths, sinking lower in the bushes they were all hiding behind. In front of the bushes were the batting cages where Milan and Mallory were whacking baseballs around like it was nobody’s business. Jordan and James had run off a few minutes after the group had finally found where Milan and Mallory were playing, claiming they had something important to do before they joined in on the spying.

“Where in the name of Ovechkin are those baboons?” Kim hissed, peering around in the dark. “They should’ve been back by now.”

“They probably ditched so Mallory wouldn’t be able to murder their asses.” Sidney muttered, stretching out on the ground next to Caitlin and Evgeni.

“Way to stay positive, Sid.” Sam looked down at where Sidney was laying, lightly flicking him in the forehead.

“Ow!” Sid shot Sam an annoyed look, which she answered with an innocent smile. “I say we just go, this is boring anyway. Besides I don’t want to sit here all night and watch them swap bodily fluids.”

“For once, I agree with Captain Concussion. Let’s bail.” Kim nodded in agreement

“Oh come on!” Sam looked at her friends disappointedly. “Mallory always edits out all the juicy details of her dates; I want to see what really happens on these things.”

Before anyone could offer up a retort, laughter coming from the batting cages drew their attention back to the two love birds. From behind the bushes they could see that Milan had accidentally swung the bat so hard that it flew out of his hands and gone crashing into the fence, startling the two women that had been walking by it.

“Sorry about that!” Milan said to them, jogging up to the fence and grabbing the fallen bat. “Are you two ladies okay?”

The two women, both of whom were very tall with broad shoulders, wide chests and bad dye jobs, nodded silently and hurriedly continued walking down the sidewalk with their heads down. One had flaming red hair and the other’s hair was bleached so blonde it was almost white, Milan stared after them for a moment and then shrugged off their behavior and turned back to Mallory.

“Nice one.” Mallory said, pointing her bat at him before turning back to swing wildly at another baseball.

“Oh please, you still haven’t beaten me yet.” Milan smirked, moving to stand off to the side so he wouldn’t get hit.

“Just you wait, Lucic.” Mallory warned, glancing at him before swinging her bat to hit a baseball with a resounding ‘thwack!’; she turned and smiled triumphantly at him, sticking her tongue out at him.

Milan glowered unhappily at her. “Best two out of three?”

“If it will make your rapidly diminishing ego feel better.” She joked, walking up to him as she threw the bat over her shoulder.

“I know something else that will make me feel better.” Milan said, using his pointer finger to tilt Mallory’s chin up higher so she had to look him directly in the eye.

A small smile lit Mallory’s face as she leaned up to meet his lips, the kiss beginning soft and tentative before becoming deeper and more passionate. Milan’s arms wound securely around Mallory’s waist as her arms encircled his neck, both of them nipping gently at the other’s lips and pulling themselves as close to the other’s body as they could. From the bushes, the group was gaping openly at their two friends.

“Oh damn girl, get some!” Sam whisper-cheered, grinning widely when she saw Milan twist his hands into Mallory’s hair when she scratched her nails down his chest.

“Oh god I’m not watching this.” Caitlin turned away with a disgusted look on her face, Kim and Sidney doing the same.

“Yeah, as happy as I am for Mal to be getting some action, I definitely don’t want to watch the epic event unfold.” Kim snorted, pulling out her phone and starting a text message.

Mallory had pushed Milan up against the fence by now, biting at his collarbone while he bit down on his lip to keep from making too much noise. Smirking, Mallory leaned up and reattached their lips again as Milan groaned softly when he felt her hips press harder against his.

“What the hell man?! Ow!”

“Will you shut up?!”

“Get off my foot moron!”

Startled by the arguing they heard a few feet away from them, Mallory and Milan turned and saw that two people had tumbled out of a clump of bushes on the other side of the fence. It was the two women that Milan had just apologized to moments earlier, only they didn’t sound at all like females and had more muscle then most girls would even want. The woman with the bleached blonde hair rolled over so she was lying on her back looking up, only her ‘hair’ had slipped off to one side and a familiar face sat beneath the mass of cheap hair.

“JORDAN?!” Mallory exclaimed, detaching herself from Milan and taking a step closer to where the Penguins player was laying prone on the ground under the red headed woman.

“Uhhh…” Was all that Jordan could say as he stared up at the tall girl in terror.

Mallory looked up at his red head counterpart, her eyes going wide when she saw who it was. “JAMES?!”

“Um, hey gorgeous how’s it hangin?” James grinned innocently at the fuming sportscaster, Milan just coming to realize what was going on and growling angrily at the two Penguins players.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!”

“It’s not just our fault!” Jordan yelled, scrambling backwards away from Mallory and Milan while looking around frantically for his friends.

“Yeah! Don’t kill just us!” James nodded hurriedly in agreement, backing up with Jordan as Mallory and Milan advanced on them.

Sidney popped up from the bushes, glaring and pointing at his two teammates. “Lies! This was all your idea!”

“Sidney, you moron!” Kim and Caitlin hauled the Pens captain down and began shoving the rest of their group out of the bushes, all of them panicking and flailing around wildly as they made a break for the parking lot.

Mallory gasped at her friends, starting forward after them. “Oh my gawd, you a-holes!”
“Our cover is blown!” Sam screamed, shoving Kris along in front of her. “Get to the cars!”

Milan roared, swinging the bat around and smashing it into the fence repeatedly as Mallory stood glaring holes into the back of Jordan’s Escalade and Sam’s Ford Fusion. When their taillights were no longer visible, she turned around with an angry huff and stomped back over to where Milan was beating the fence with his bat. With a sigh, she caught the bat as he swung it back over his shoulders, preparing to strike again for the umpteenth time, and yanked it out of his grasp.

“All right, all right, destroying public property isn’t going to bring them back here so we can decapitate them.” She tossed the bat away and stepped closer to put her arms around him, looking up into his eyes to try and calm him with a reassuring expression that the night hadn’t been ruined by their friends’ intrusion.

“Stupid Penguins.” Milan muttered, putting his arms around Mallory and resting his forehead against hers as they both closed their eyes and began to relax again.

Mallory quickly closed the remaining gap between them and kissed Milan softly, winding her fingers through his hair as his large hands settled on her hips. Milan slipped his tongue inside her mouth, the two of them battling for dominance as Mallory ran her hands down Milan’s chest. He moaned softly into her mouth, both of them pressing their bodies closer together and breathing heavily. With a gasp, Mallory pulled back to allow the oxygen to return to her brain; when she looked back up at Milan the heat in his eyes, sent shivers all over her body and sparks shooting through her veins. With a quick glance around at the near empty batting cages, Mallory grabbed Milan’s hand and began pulling him back toward his car.

♦♠♣♥

“I’ve never been so glad to be alive!” Jordan and James burst through the apartment door, flying into the kitchen and hurling themselves down into two of the chairs by the kitchen table.

“You’re both idiots.” Kim glared in irritation at the two players, who were still half dressed as women, and walked to the fridge to get herself and Evgeni a drink; Geno’s eyes were glued to her form the entire time, fascination dancing in his eyes as the two made small talk next to the fridge.

Sidney and Caitlin were left alone in front of the TV, both looking nervously around at the small but comfy living room that held the girls’ large flat screen, numerous CDs, sound system, and other devices that were used to loudly annoy the neighbors. Caitlin gestured quickly to the couch, both her and Sid scrambling over to sit down while everyone else conversed in the kitchen. Minutes of tense silence passed between the two, both would occasionally glance at the other before ducking their heads and looking elsewhere before their eyes would inevitably meet again.
“So, psychology huh?” Sidney asked; turning so he was looking at Caitlin’s bowed head; she was picking at her chipped nail polish, having been refusing to look the Penguins captain directly in the eye in fear of saying something stupid.

“Yes, it’s something I’ve always been interested in. After I realized I could be involved in the two things I loved most, hockey and psychology, I decided to pursue this career. It was also nice to know there was a very good chance I’d end up working with my friends.” She glanced up at Sid and smiled when she saw him grinning down at her, true interest in what she was saying written clearly on his face.

“So if I walked into your office one day with some kind of problem, you’d have me lay down on one of those long sofa things and talk for an hour? Or just hold up those cards with the black ink splattered all over them, and ask me what I saw on them?”

Caitlin snorted and laughed, rolling her eyes and gently punching him in the shoulder. “No! I’m not your personal therapist!”

Sidney laughed with her, holding his hands up in the ‘I surrender!’ position. “Okay, okay I was just asking!”

Outside a car door slammed and ten minutes later Mallory walked through the door with a large, dopey smile on her face. With an ethereal sigh, she tossed her purse and jacket onto the Lay-Z Boy recliner and flopped down onto the loveseat. Laughing to herself, she grabbed the afghan off the back of the couch and wrapped it around herself while her friends began congregating around her. When Mallory looked up, she smiled and waved dreamily to the group of people staring down at her with serious expressions on their faces.

“Oh god what did he do to her?” Caitlin whispered, staring down at Mallory and roughly shaking her shoulder. “Say something!”

“Someone got laid!” Sam declared, throwing her hands up and smirking.

“WHAT?!” Caitlin, Jordan and James shrieked, closing in on Mallory to question her further.

“Nobody got laid.” Mallory laughed, waving them all away with an amused smile on her face.

“Well what did happen?” Kim asked, crossing her arms and looking at Mallory with a highly interested expression.

“Well after you guys bailed out, which I’m going to have a talk with you all about later,” She shot her friends a dark look. “I had to stop him from beating the fence in with a bat and we kissed a lot. After that we got back into his car and drove into the city, walking around and just talking about everything. It was really nice, and he didn’t pull anything too crazy like you all expected him to. Then we grabbed a quick bite to eat and he brought me back here.” Mallory finished, smiling to herself and then looking up at her friends for their reactions.

“Huh.” Sam said; her expression half way between confusion and amusement. “Well points for him for not trying to drag you back to some hotel so he could get some.”

Mallory snorted, heaving herself off the loveseat and starting toward her room. “I wouldn’t have done anything in the first place; it was our first time out together!”

Everyone exchanged a quick glance while her back was turned, smirking to themselves before dispersing back throughout the rest of the apartment. Kim and Caitlin brought Sidney and Evgeni over to the kitchen table, the four sitting down to chat and laugh over drinks while James and Jordan flipped through the TV channels on the couch. Kris threw himself into the Lay-Z Boy, having intended to watch TV with his teammates, but grinned widely when Sam made her way into the living room and perched herself on the arm of the recliner. She smiled down at him and ruffled his long hair playfully.

“Kris.” She stated, not even trying to keep the smile off her face.

“Sam.” The hockey player looked up at her, his trademark smirk dancing across his features.

“Don’t ever, ever cut all your hair off.” Sam tugged on the end of a lock of his hair, Kris grinned and turned fully to face her and caught her hand with one of his.

“Why not?” He asked, smirking fully with mischief glowing in his brown eyes.

“Because I love your hair long, much hotter.” Sam answered, entwining their hands together. “Plus you’ve got that rep for having the best hair in the NHL, you don’t want to disappoint anyone by chopping it all off.”

“Hmmm,” Kris said, locking eyes with Sam as he brought their interlocked hands to his mouth and skimming his lips very lightly over her knuckles. “Well, if it’ll make you happy mon cheri…”

“KRIS!”

Kris squeezed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath to keep his temper restrained, and turned to look at James-who had a smirk on his face. “Yes?”

“We’ve been trying to leave for like, five minutes. Let the gorgeous girl go and get your ass in the car.” James winked at Sam, turning to walk out the door with Jordan close behind him.

Kris cursed angrily under his breath in French, glaring daggers at where his teammates had just left the room before turning to Sam with a sad smile. “Sorry, looks like I’m being dragged out against my will.”

Sam shot him a small smile, reaching up to hug him good bye. “Its fine, it’s not like I’m not going to see you in a day or two anyway.”

Kris chuckled, pulling back to look down into her eyes. “Still, I would’ve preferred more time alone with you tonight.”

A blush heated Sam’s cheeks but she refused to let herself break eye contact with the defenseman. “Next time then.”

“Until then, mon amour.” Kris said softly, softly kissing her forehead before releasing her and disappearing out the door with Sidney and Evgeni.

With her head spinning wildly, Sam wobbled over to the couch and fell onto it with a low grunt. She grabbed the pillow behind her head and slammed it over her face, growling in frustration and wildly cursing every interruption that had occurred since she met Kris Letang.