Chapter 14

For the record... I was cheering for the Devils... but I'm pretty dang impressed with the Kings right now. What a run!! Woot! And next year I'll cheer for the teams I hate since every team I put my support behind... well... not so good.

Here goes the latest for Penny and her boys. Mere, I owed you this last week but promised it tonight. It's a quarter past midnight, does it still count? Heh heh. BTW, I'm beyond stoked that you guys all seem to be enjoying this so much!!

"A movie? Like...dinner and a movie?" Lappy stretched out on the bed next to me and yawned.

"Yeah like a date, a normal date," I smiled as he pulled me into the warmth of the circle of his arms and laid my head on his chest. I was suddenly struck by the thought that this should probably feel weird talking about Chris after his road roomie had just fucked me into the mattress. Strangely it didn't.

"Nothing else?" he asked, running his meaty fingers down my back.

"Well I wouldn't say nothing else," I giggled, glad I wasn't looking up into Max's face as I felt my own start to heat up. The fact of the matter was Chris and I had been making out like horny teenagers in his car, every elevator in the arena and had once even made it as far as the couch in my condo but that was as far as he would let it go...for now.

"Chris and Penny sitting in a tree...," Max began and dug his fingers into my ribs, making me squeal and try to wriggle free except that the sheets were wrapped around my legs I couldn't get away. "You luuuuv him," he teased, pressing the full length of his body against the back of mine. Even if I couldn't say it out loud, I couldn't argue with him. Everyone probably thought it was true. Our nability to keep our hands off each other in a totally teenage crush kind of way was still new and shiny and, as far as I was aware, hadn't reached the point of pissing the other guys off...yet. "So… he really doesn't mind when I do this?" Max asked, brushing my hair away from the nape of my neck and sinking his teeth in until I gasped.

"Mmmm noo," I moaned. To be fair I'd offered to put up some boundaries, some limitations, set certain `activities' aside just for Chris alone but he'd surprised me by saying no. "He's being... I don't know...stoic is the best way I can describe it," I explained. Max chuckled and pressed a softer kiss to the spot between my shoulder blades.

"Grumpy is more like it." I could hear the mischievous tone in Max's voice and shook my head.

"No," I squirmed as Max's fingers worked their way lightly over my stomach, "I think he's honestly being respectful of my job."

"Orrr he's finally given in to the siren call of your panties," Max countered as he slid one hand down between my slick folds while the other fingers gently tweaked my nipple. My eyes fluttered closed and I leaned my head back, giving him better access to my neck. He growled and bit down on my earlobe.

"Mmm I wish." It was out before I could edit the thought and I winced, knowing how much Chris would not appreciate my discussing our relationship with the other guys.

"Wait!" Max paused, flipping me effortlessly onto my back and pinned me beneath him. The maniacal grin on his face made me cringe. Chris was going to murder me. "You haven't? Not even one time?"

Biting down on my bottom lip, I shook my head.

"Je ne le crois pas! All that grab-assing and nothing?" I shook my head again and wished even harder for the monster under the bed to swallow me whole. "Wow...merde, you really haven't, have you?" Shaking his head a grin spreak across his face. "Tabernac, all that shit about waiting...we thought it was fucking bullshit," he cackled, looking far too pleased with himself for my liking. "The guys are gonna love this shit."

"No!" I gave him a shove and crawled backwards, out from under him. "You can't say anything," I added vehemently, "Please, I shouldn't have said anything."

Max tilted his head to the side and smirked. "You do realize the only reason he hasn't is because he's waiting for you to beg, comme ça?" For the second time I didn't argue, just shrugged one shoulder. "Oh that I would like to see! I should ask him to record that for the rest of us!" he laughed while I frowned at him.

"Thanks for the sympathy!" I grumbled, reaching for my robe.

"Hey!" Max tackled me, pinning me beneath him again. "So he makes you wait a little. If you think about it, actually kind of sweet."

"But it's giving me a complex!" I whined, stuck out my bottom lip and peeked up at him, blinking innocently. 

He just laughed, leaned down to nip at my bottom lip."You're having sex, several times a day, with what, twenty guys?"

"Hey!" The gross exaggeration sounded, well, gross.

"You're really trying to tell me that one hold out is making you feel inadequate?" I held up my hand, forefinger and thumb about an inch apart. Max rolled his eyes. "So my getting engaged and still wanting to fuck the shit out of you doesn't help at all?"  

"It does I absolutely swear but…" I scrunched up my nose. All my boys were special to me in their own ways but how did I tell them that they weren't as special as Chris was? That he was...well, different.

"I'm messin'. I know you two are all loved up," he snorted, easing himself down beside me and reaching out to tuck a stray curl behind my ear. "Just remember though, ma cocotte, he had to run after you, don't let him make you come crawling, d'accord?" I shivered as he ran his fingers gently over my hip.

"D'accord," I nodded and then yawned. "I better go, I need my beauty sleep," I mumbled, closing my eyes for just a second. Max always wore me out, a fact about which he was very proud.

"Stay," he said quietly, pressing his lips gently to the corner of my mouth.

I smiled and ran my fingers through his thick, dark hair but shook my head. "Can't," I whispered and sat up to pull my robe on. He frowned and then tilted his head to the side like a dog does when they're listening to a strange noise.

"New hard limit?" he asked. I shrugged one shoulder as I climbed off the bed and tightened the sash around my waist.

"Something like that," I replied softly. Rolling over onto his stomach he leaned his chin into his hands and smirked.

"Oh I get it," he snorted, "Il met le pied à terre." I rolled my eyes and turned to leave. As I walked through the door I was serenaded with another round of  "Chris and Penny sitting in a tree," along with a bark of maniacal laughter. Heaving a sigh I dug in the pocket of my robe for my phone.

On my way 2 bed I texted. It took less than three seconds to get a reply.

Higgy20:  ur watch dog is waiting. c u @ breakfast beautiful. sweet dreams

I shook my head and smiled as I dropped my phone into my pocket and dug for my hotel swipe card.

"Hi Hammer, I'm home!" I called as I pushed the door open. I heard the volume on the TV go way down and as I turned the corner my real live body pillow was fluffing the pillows and turning down my side of the bed. As guard dogs went, this one didn't bite.

"Good day at the office, dear?"

I narrowed my eyes and thought about giving him the finger. "Oh indeed," I replied huskily instead, stretching until the robe slipped to reveal my bare shoulder. "It was a lot of… hard… dirty… back-breaking work." I flashed him a sultry smile and watched him swallow hard as he stared at the little bit of skin I was showing. "If I start moaning in my sleep, don't wake me until I've finished. Twice."

Dan groaned and whipped his pillow at me. "BRAT!"

Laughing, I picked it up and tossed it back to him. Nothing was likely to ever happen between Hammer and I but he wasn't exactly immune to the situation. Even his wife had gotten in on teasing him about the fact that many nights on the road he was curled up with someone that had the skills to get his teammates hard by simply whispering their names while he only cuddled with her. I absolutely respected his boundaries but liked to poke at him occasionally just for a giggle.

"I'm gonna have a shower and come right to bed."

"Why is your sex hair always the worst after Max?" he snickered and turned the volume on the TV back up. He was watching re-runs of Dexter. Not the wisest before-bed fare as far as I was concerned.

I shrugged, heading into the bathroom when my phone vibrated again. I slipped it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen.

MadMax40: Chris and Penny sitting in a tree…  k. i. s. s. i. n. g! 

MadMax40: first comes loooove, then comes marriage then comes Max in a baby carriage xoxo

Seriously? The boy took the time to actually  type out the damned rhyme? Obviously I hadn't worn him out as much as I'd thought. I shook my head but couldn't resist texting back.

Sucking his thumb and  peeing his pants and doing the chicken dance :-P  Go to SLEEP!

Then I turned off my phone. Once you got Max started...well... yeah, you get the picture.

Everyone was sticking unusually close together. Even some of the guys who normally would have still been asleep in bed were at the Glendale golf course because they couldn't rest.

It was trade deadline day and despite Coach AV's insistence that the club had no plans to make any major moves, this wasn't the first rodeo for a lot of the guys and they knew that promises were meant to be broken. It was my first trade deadline day though and I'd barely slept all night, as if staying awake and keeping an eye on my boys could prevent the heavy hand of management from snatching any of them away from me.

It was a very subdued breakfast gathering. Everyone was on edge, wondering about their futures, all of our futures. I picked at the cranberry muffin on the plate in front of me, very conscious that it had been this day a year before that had brought Chris and Max to Vancouver. 

"They're not going to trade me," Chris insisted softly, reaching across the table and gently tugging my phone out of my hand. I stared after it and whimpered. I had been glued to both Sportsnet and Sports Center and their streaming updates. "Pen, Coach calls me `The Band-Aid'. He knows I can step it up in the playoffs and that's all that they're thinking about today, I promise." I nodded but didn't look up at him. I was certain that if made eye contact with any of them I was going to burst into tears. "Max, tell her it's gonna be fine."

"Yeah, if anyone gets traded today it's probably gonna be Schneids or Eddie." I looked over at Max, alarmed and my breath hitched as my eyes immediately filled with tears. I was a heartbeat away from sobbing my guts out.

"Thanks," Chris glared at Max who shrugged, took his coffee and pushed his chair back.

"Face it, someone's probably gonna leave today, that's the way it goes," the burly forward shrugged again, got up and walked over to the omelette station where Lou and the twins were chatting amiably, like they didn't have a care in the world. The tense lines of their shoulders, however, told the real truth .

"Hush, babe, it might not happen," Chris said softly, coming around to my side of the table, slipping into the seat beside me and sliding his hand up to knead the back of my neck. "They've put a lot of time and effort into Eddie, they're not gonna give him away for a bag of pucks." I noted he didn't say anything about Cory but then we'd heard that speculation for days. Our ginger haired goalie was the biggest trade bait we had and everyone in the league knew it.

"How can he play golf at a time like this?" I sniffed, finally looking up into Chris's big blue eyes. He smiled and handed me a napkin.

"Because gambling on the greens is what's taking his mind off of it. Plus," he added softly, leaning forward to kiss a tear away from the corner of my eye, "he wants to be a number one and he can't be that here. He deserves it, Pen and you know if he doesn't go now, he's gonna go in the summer, right?"

I nodded, sniffing and hiccupping. Of course I knew it. But that didn't mean I had to like it. Dammit, these were my boys!

"I don't wanna be in big Mike's shoes if he does move someone today." I felt a hand come to rest on my shoulder and looked up into Kess' soft brown eyes. "Has anyone told him how fierce you are when you're pissed?" he smirked and I felt the tiniest bit better.

"Well stop leaving the fucking toilet roll empty!" Our `temporary' co-habitation had introduced sides of each other we hadn't expected to find. Like the fact that Ryan was a pretty decent cook but wouldn't clean a dish to save his life. And the fact that apparently I'm very anal about dirty dishes and have a wicked temper when provoked. And that I hate discovering there's no toilet paper in the master bathroom after I've already sat down.

Differences aside, I enjoyed having him there and loved it when the guys would just show up to hang out or grab a bite. Or to grab me and take a bite. The very thought that any one of them could be leaving… that they could be just… gone.… 

My chin started to tremble again and I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to keep the tears at bay.

Kess' eyes widened and he glanced sharply at Chris. "Did I…?"

"No," Chris shook his head and pushed his chair back from the table. "It's not you, it's…" he gestured vaguely around the room and Ryan nodded, understanding.

"I'm gonna get some food," he stated and gave my head an affectionate rub before stepping away.

Part of me wanted to pull him back to my side, to grab all of them and bind them to me somehow, to lock them to me and "lose" the key or something. Irrationally I began doing a headcount and tried to calculate how many pairs of handcuffs I would need.

Beside me, Chris rose to his feet and tugged me up as well. "C'mon."

"Huh?" I nearly stumbled, trying to put on the brakes by digging my heels into the carpet. "But we… the deadline… I have to.... "

"C'mon," he said again, gently towing me along as he crossed the room. "Come with me."

We were almost out the door when I finally got him to stop. "Wait! Chris, I just, I need to…"

What? I needed to what? I needed to keep everyone in my sight to make sure they didn't vanish into thin air was what and as much as the idea appealed to me, it wasn't very...practical.

Fuck. My shoulders dropped and I sighed, turning my attention to the floor. This day sucked.

"What you need," Chris said softly, cupping my chin in his hand and bringing my attention back to him, "is a distraction of your own." His gaze softened and slid down to my lips and stayed there long enough to make me squirm before he slowly raised his eyes to meet mine again. "There must be something we can think of to get your mind off all of this."

Oh. 

My heart tripped inside my chest. The mere suggestion of intimacy had flipped my switch from desperately unhappy and anxious to, well, just plain desperate.

"Penny and Higgs sitting in a tree...." Without even turning to look I flipped Max the bird.

"If you even try and finish that sentence, so help me Lappy, I will kill you with my bare hands," I promised. Chris bit down on his bottom lip in an effort not to laugh and it took every single solitary ounce of will power I had not to lean in and tug that lip free with my own teeth. "Let's get out of here," I whispered instead and the grin that broke across his face was like looking into the face of the sun.

Grasping my hand he pulled me behind him all the way to the bank of elevators in the hotel lobby. He pressed the call button and stared anxiously at the numbers as they lit up above our heads. An older couple in matching azure blue track suits appeared beside us. The woman looked down at our joined hands and then up at me and smiled. I grinned back at her.

Chris nodded for them to go into the elevator first and then guided me to the rear of the car with his hand at the small of my back while they were choosing their floor. As the doors closed I felt his hand travel softly over my ass and down the back of my thigh until his fingertips brushed my skin just below the hem of my linen sundress.

I drew in a sharp breath and glanced up at him. His smirk was playful even as his gaze remained straight ahead and he held a single finger to his lips. As the numbers climbed so did his fingers, slowly but surely working their way up the back of my thigh. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to stop from gasping out loud. Had it been Kess or Juice I'd have laughed and probably done something just as naughty back, but this was Chris so all I could do was stand there, doing my best to stay upright and not moan out loud.

By the time his fingertips brushed the lace edge of my panties I was ready to slump to the ground but by the grace of God we had reached our floor and the door slid open. With wicked grins on our faces we high-tailed it out of the elevator and down the hall, hand in hand, like a couple of horny teenagers.

The door to his room practically embedded itself into the wall as we burst through it and then the entire frame shook when Chris kicked it closed behind him. My fingers worked furiously trying to yank his shirt free of his pants while he kicked off his shoes. Why he felt the need to tuck in his shirt during breakfast on a non-game day I could not understand.

We fell onto the bed pawing at one another like we couldn't wait another second to be naked.  It felt like there were only two choices in the world; nudity with Chris or oxygen.

Breathing was overrated. 

I shoved his shirt over his broad, muscular shoulders baring all of that yummy chest and six-pack to my greedy gaze and then held him there, at arms' length, staring like I was standing in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre.

No, I take that back. I'd seen the Mona Lisa close up and that bitch had nothing on the view in front of me.

"Holy fuck you're beautiful." The words were out of my mouth before I realized that they weren't just in my head.

Chris laughed lightly and rolled his eyes, reaching for me.

"Wait," I leaned out of his grasp and waited for him to stop chuckling. "I'm serious, Chris."

"What? C'mon, Pen." He shifted restlessly on the bed and made grabby hands in my direction but there was a tinge of color in his cheeks that fascinated me.

A lot of women found Chris attractive. No doubt a lot of men as well. Photos of his famed physique had been praised up and down the information highway but I had to wonder, had anyone ever stopped to share their genuine appreciation for how incredible he was? Beyond the washboard abs and the sinfully sexy cuts at his narrow hips, past the boy next door grin and sparkling baby blues… the man was pretty, without question. But he was also undeniably beautiful.

Gently I took his chin in my hand and forced him to meet my gaze. "Hey,"

It took a moment but finally he stilled. "Pen – "

"Hey," I said again and smiled softly when he finally sighed and gave in.

"What?"

My thumb brushed his bottom lip lightly. "You. Are. Beautiful."

It wasn't hard to read how bad he wanted to shrug me off but he tamped it down and swallowed hard, his hand slipping around my wrist to hold it in place. He kissed the tips of my fingers and said, quietly,  "Thank you,"

It was a moments, our moments, that I knew I'd always remember.

"You're not so bad yourself, Money Penny," he growled in very poor English accent.

Aaaaand, moment shot to hell.

 But it set me off giggling again which is when he decided that he was going to tickle me until I puked and fell on me with a throaty chuckle, digging is fingers into my ribs while I squirmed and kicked and squealed.

"Uncle, Uncle!" I cried, trying and failing to roll into a ball beneath him. Grinning like he'd just scored in overtime Chris straddled my knees to survey his handiwork, which consisted of my skirt being rucked up around belly button and both spaghetti straps fallen down somewhere near my elbows so that everything up top was damn close to spilling out.

The amusement drained from his eyes and was replaced by something darker, more...visceral.

"Damn baby," he whispered, lowering himself beside me on the bed and running the back of his hand over my collarbone, up to my shoulder, along my neck and finally around to cup the back of my head. He brought my lips up to his in a kiss that was gentle and soft but entirely toe curling, panty melting and pussy lubricating all at the same time.

I hooked my leg around the back of his and pressed up against him, grinding myself against him and whimpering with need as his lips moved across my jaw and down my neck. He ignored my heartfelt pleas and pressed butterfly kisses along the curve of one shoulder while he toyed with the strap of my dress.

I groaned as his lips pressed lightly against the revealed slope of my breast. My nipples tightened painfully as he slowly, at a snail's pace, mouthed his way down to where the dress was only just maintaining my modesty. One more moment, one more kiss and he'd be there. I held my breath, squeezed my eyes shut, grabbed two handfuls of the sheets and bit down on my bottom lip.

This was new territory for us and the anticipation was killing me.

"Is this okay?"

My eyes flew open and I stared down at him in disbelief. "What?" The man had to be joking.

He wasn't playing. He really wanted to know. "Is this…?"

"Yes," I whispered, "Hell yes," Barely able to form the words I looked into eyes that were dark with carnal desire, animalistic with such blatant want. He groaned and with a slight movement of his chin the fabric of my dress fell away and his tongue swept, warm and wet, over the aching tip of my breast.

My back bowed and I cried out. I had felt that touch right down into the core of my lady bits, which clenched deliciously as he swirled his tongue around my nipple and then closed his lips around it, suckling gently. I let go of the quilt and dug my fingers into his sandy blonde hair instead.

"Sensitive are we?" he whispered, releasing it and blowing across the pouting pink nub. I nodded jerkily, not trusting myself to speak and a slow, sexy smile bloomed on his face. "Both sides?" he asked, using his chin to pull the fabric away from the other breast. I moaned before his lips even got there, a moan that turned into a long, high-pitched cry as he gently tugged the tender pink stub between his teeth. "If you're gonna make this much noise when I'm just doing this..." he let his voice trail off and just looked up at me with that devastating grin and began kissing his way further down, taking the dress down slowly with him. "Your belly button tastes like vanilla icing," he mumbled while I did my best not to squirm and eyed the corner of the nearest pillow. I was going to have to bite down on that soon or the whole hotel was going to hear me.

"Chrisss," I hissed as he pressed his lips just above the tiny decorative bow on the front of my panties.

"I told you I had skills you couldn't even begin to imagine," he purred, kneeling over me so that he could pull my dress off the rest of the way. He let it dangle from his fingertips for a moment, I`m sure because as he did it all of the muscles in his chest, abs and arms flexed. I nearly swallowed my tongue. "I told you I could make you scream so loud they'd call the cops," he reminded me as he hooked his thumbs in the elastic of my panties. I was ready to plead no contest. I was almost there as it was and we had barely even started.

"Pleeeeeaazzze," I begged as he continued to toy with my panties and stare at me.

"Please what, baby?" he asked, tipping his head to one side and grinning like it was the highlight of his day to hear me beg.

"Just...god...just...touch me, pleeeeaaazzze," I moaned. His grin grew and his eyes sparkled as he looked down at me.

"But I am touching you," he whispered, running one hand up between my breasts and then down again, over my hip this time and down my thigh. I mewed like a kitten. "I can touch you here," he added, sliding down the bed, lifting my leg by my ankle and nibbling on my big toe. I made a face. "Or here," he continued, pressing a kiss to my instep, "or here," he said running his hand over my calf and following it with his lips, kissing the side of my knee.

I tossed my head from side to side. This was grossly unfair. I grabbed hold of the quilt again and clenched my teeth.

"Did you have something else in mind?" he asked, batting his eyes coquettishly at me. I growled in frustration.

"I. Want. You. To. Fuck. Me!" He laughed. It wasn't exactly the reaction I was looking for.

"What's the rush?" he asked, moving to the other foot and nibbling at my instep until I squirmed. How could I explain to him that, despite the fact that I'd fucked my way through almost all of his teammates that I'd been waiting months for this moment? For him.  "We have all day baby," he said softly, the playful look suddenly replaced by an expression that I'd seen glimpses of before.  A look that said more than either of us had spoken aloud so far.

He opened his mouth but before any words could come out there was a heavy knock at the door and both of our heads whirled in that direction.

"Higgs, Penn, you in there?" It was one of the twins. Chris got off the bed, grabbed my dress and handed it to me. If either one of the twins was at the door it was obviously something serious. Very rarely did they join the guys to play Nicky Nicky nine doors.

"Be right there!" Chris called, sending me an apologetic glance as he grabbed his shirt from the edge of the bed and pulled it on. "It'll be okay,' he said quietly.

I wasn't sure if he meant the deadline or if he was talking about what we'd just almost done.

 

"I can't believe you're going!" I wrapped my arms around Cody's neck and felt his arms settle around my waist.

"It's kind of a relief," he admitted in a whisper before he kissed my cheek and tried to let me go but I clung to him. It had happened. They were trading one of my boys. It felt like we were breaking up; like a break up where you both knew it was over but you still loved the person.

"You'll do amazing," I promised, giving him another hug. He laughed but it sounded nervous and uneasy.

"Thanks," he shrugged.

"No, you listen to me. They must want you pretty bad. I heard we got two guys for you so you go there and you kick some ass," I shook my finger at him.

He grinned like a little kid. "Thanks Pen, You've always been on my side," Cody said softly, "and that means a lot. I won't forget you."

I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes. Yep, I was gonna lose it.

"You will when you get between the thighs of the Swords' Specialist," Lappy smirked and punched Cody in the arm. The rookie turned all kinds of shades of pink and red.

"Yeah, you don't get counted as the rookie if you get traded. Now you can partake in the pleasures," Higgy nodded. "Congrats dude," he added in a totally Jersey Shore douche bag tone. Cody's entire face went up in flames.

 "Awwww!" I threw my arms around him again and he buried his face in my neck. "Just remember," I added in a whisper for his ears alone, "time to put all the bitching aside. You got what you wanted, now go be a superstar."

"I will," he promised, giving me an extra hug and then stepping back. "Thanks guys. You've all been great." He turned to go and I felt my heart try and crawl out of my chest.

One of my boys was leaving. It felt so wrong. It made me want to stomp my feet, cry and yell all at the same time but all I could do was watch him go.

"He'll be fine." Chris's hand snaked around mine and our fingers laced. I sagged against him, sad but… there was a heavy current of relief flowing through me.

I'd been terrified about what misery the day could bring; tortured over the idea of anyone leaving but it could have been worse. It could have been so, so much worse.

"Told you they wouldn't trade me," he added in a whisper and leaned in and kissed my forehead.

"Yeah ya did." I couldn't help but grin.