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James dropped Tessa off at the airport Monday morning before practice and took Delilah out to dinner that evening. Tessa's parting words to him had been that he should tell Delilah the truth but he was terrified at the thought. He knew he should but the chance of losing her overwhelmed him.

He did however know he had to apologize for not letting her know Tessa was visiting ahead of time. He felt like an idiot for that. He had been so caught up in the time he had been spending with Delilah that it hadn't crossed his mind.

They were leaving Tuesday for a two week long road trip so he wanted to leave a hell of an impression on her tonight. He made a reservation for dinner and picked her up at six thirty.

Delilah whistled when James pulled up to the valet. "You know I don't need a fancy dinner; I'm happy when it's just the two of us."

"I wanted to say I was sorry, for not telling you about Tessa coming to town and the whole misunderstanding."

"I accept your apology, James but I'm the one who should be apologizing. I could've just talked to you instead of running."

"I think you had every right to want to run from me. Tess and I...we don't have a normal friendship. We spent a lot of time together and she took care of me. We're working on improving our boundaries with each other though. Anyway, I just want to make things right with you so here we are."

"That is incredibly sweet of you and don't think me ungrateful but I'd rather spend tonight with just you."

"Really?"

"Really. I don't need extravagant when I can have you."

"So do you want to go to my place? Tessa went grocery shopping; we can probably come up with something to eat."

She laughed. "Do you always have the women in your life take care of you? I bet Tessa did your laundry for you when you lived in Pittsburgh, probably while she was here too."

He blushed. "That's uh, actually true."

"Really?"

"Really. My mom says I'm hopeless and that I need to find the right girl."

"Sounds like it. Come on, let's go." James grinned and gunned the engine, tearing away from the curb while Delilah squealed.



His date with Delilah before the team hit the road stayed on James’ mind throughout the road trip. They were in six different cities over the two week trip and it felt like an absolute eternity for him. On non game days he called her and on game days there was always a text waiting for him when he got up from his pregame nap wishing him luck.

They flew back to Nashville following a Saturday night game in St. Louis. They had Sunday off and he had already made plans to go to her place for dinner that night.

When Delilah opened the door that evening, James swept in, pulling her to him and kissing her. It was sweet and slow, needy but taking it's time. "I missed being able to do that," James admitted when he pulled back.

"You're a really good kisser," she told him.

"I think it's just because of the person I'm kissing," he told her, touching his forehead to hers before moving to press a kiss there. "What do you need me to help with?"

"Actually, I have some stuff for you to look at." She took his hand and led him into the kitchen. Her laptop was set up at the table alongside several pieces of paper with her feminine handwriting scrawled across them.

"What is this?" James asked as he picked up a piece of the paper.

"I've been doing some research for you."

"Research?"

"For a bachelorette party for Tessa. I told you I'd help you come up with something. So while I finish dinner, you look over some of the things I found and see if anything catches your eye."

"You meant that?"

"Of course."

"What would you pick?" He asked as he picked through her notes.

"Not gonna tell you," she replied as she walked to the oven. "Besides, you know Tessa better than me. The right thing will speak to you."

James nodded and Delilah finished making dinner in silence as James looked over the things she had found. There were two things that she thought would be perfect: a visit to a local winery for an afternoon of tastings or a night out at a dueling piano bar.

She felt sure that the night out of the piano bar was more Tessa though.

"Have you ever been to a dueling piano bar?" James asked a short time later. Delilah smiled to herself as she turned towards him, carrying two plates of food to the table.

"I have actually. When I left New York and went back to Wisconsin, before I moved here, some of my girlfriends took me to celebrate my birthday."

"Yeah? I think Tessa would like that. It sounds like it would be a lot of fun."

"We had a lot to drink and a lot of fun. It has more of a party atmosphere without being a meat market like a bar can be."

"I'll check their schedule give them a call tomorrow and set something up."

"I wrote some dates down, when the penguins didn't have games for you."

"You looked up their schedule?"

Delilah shrugged. "Thought you could use all the help you could get."

"That's probably true. Thank you; you didn't have to do any of this but I appreciate that you did."

"You're welcome. Go ahead and eat before it gets cold."

"Do you want to say grace?"

"You want me to?"

"You're going to do it anyway so I just thought since I'm here we could do it together."

She smiled and reached for his hand. "I think that sounds lovely."



A month passed and Delilah and James' relationship grew. They spent time together around her schedule at the studio and around his hockey schedule. At the end of the month, the team had a four game homestand around Thanksgiving.

Delilah had already planned before she met James to make dinner for Craig and a couple of the other single American guys on the team. After starting to date James though, the meal evolved to include more of the guys, and moved to take place at James' larger home.

They played at home thanksgiving night so their meal was on Wednesday. Delilah had come over early to start cooking while James looked on, helping when she asked him to. The guys started showing up around two and at four they were sitting down to eat. Delilah, Craig, Seth Jones, and Colin Wilson made up the Americans at the table and James, Carter, and Ryan Ellis rounded out for the Canadians with Roman representing for the Europeans. A couple of the guys brought dates with them so Delilah was thankfully not the only girl at the table.

After dinner, Seth volunteered to do the dishes along with Craig and Ryan while Delilah packed up the leftovers, filling to go containers for each of the guys when they were ready to leave. They had dessert after, scattered across James' living room while football played on the TV. Slowly the others began to leave and by eight only Delilah remained still.

She hummed to herself as she wiped the counters in his kitchen. "You don't have to do that," James spoke up as he leaned against the fridge.

"If I don't then who will?" She challenged him.

He chuckled. "The maid service that comes once a week."

"You have a maid service?"

"I'm a helpless lost boy, Delilah. Of course I hired a maid service. Put the sponge down and come watch a movie with me."

She gave the counter one last swipe before tossing the sponge into the sink. "A movie sounds great."