"Because I was worried you'd say no. You were supposed to call me, you know, once you had everything straightened out. Like your job and that stuff. But you never did."

Kelly made a face. "Yeah, that turned out to be out of my control. The jobs I wanted and the one I could get were not the same." Her voice was kind of sad.

"So, were you ever going to call me?" That sounded lame the moment it came out of my mouth.

"I figured you had moved on. I heard you were partying up a storm."

How did she hear about all that? The world was such a small place and too gossipy. Then we arrived at Kelly's ball. It was beyond frustrating only to talk for a few minutes at a time. The round continued this way, off and on.

Kelly wasn't a very good golfer. By the twelfth hole, she was improving, but I could tell she was getting frustrated. She drove off the ladies' tee and came back to join us.

"What about you, Kelly? What do you do?" asked Stan.

"I work for C2C Sports Radio," she replied.

"Oh yeah?" Moe said. "I listen to that station in my car. Are you on the air?"

"No," said Kelly with a sigh. "I'm the receptionist."

There was a short silence, and then Stan chimed in. "Pretty nice perk to be here. You're a lucky gal."

"Oh, I know that."

When she headed down the fairway to take her next shot, Moe asked me directly. "Is that how they get young guys like you to come to these things-by providing female companionship?"

I didn't want to be rude, so I shrugged him off. But Stan chimed in too. "Got to have something to amuse yourself in between shots. I like those beer girls that come around on the carts, they're always hot."

"Hell yeah," Moe agreed. "But you see, buddy, if you're a young NHL stud, the hot girl rides in the cart with you."

"It's like having your own private ball-washer," Stan declared, and they both started laughing.

I was getting upset, but luckily it was time to move on.

Halfway round the course, Kelly seemed to be warming up to me. She was talking more and being less sarcastic. The golf part was still frustrating her though. Quilchena was a beautiful course, but it was challenging even for good golfers.

"You've got to straighten out your swing," I told her on the first tee. We had gotten there ahead of Moe and Stan, who stopped at the clubhouse for a bathroom break.

"I thought I had." Kelly puffed and blew her hair off her face, then fixed her ponytail and cap. She grabbed her driver and bent over the ball. She wiggled around as she got into the correct position, and I couldn't take my eyes off her ass.

"Let me help you," I offered. I came up behind her and put my arms over hers.

She turned her head and looked up at me in surprise. "Is this necessary? I think I'm getting it."

"This'll be better. It's that whole body memory thing-I'll show you the right motion, it's way easier than explaining everything."

"Um, okay."

"Kelly, you need to widen your stance a bit." She obediently put her feet apart, and I moved closer. My cock started straining toward the groove between her ass cheeks, but this wasn't exactly the best time to get a hard-on.

Then I moved my arms slightly below hers, but this only put me in contact with the sides of her tits. I tried to resist but finally gave in and enjoyed how good she felt.

"You need to keep your arm straight."

"Straight." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Keep your head over the ball." She looked down, and I wanted to kiss the back of her neck. I wanted to kiss her everywhere. Being this close, after wanting her for so long, was killing me.

I cleared my throat. "Take a practice swing, and swivel at the hips."

As she swung, her ass pushed against my cock and her tits pressed onto my arms. It felt freaking incredible.

"How was that?" Kelly asked.

"Good," I choked the word out. "Maybe go again."

She swung again and this time made contact with the ball. It soared perfectly down the fairway. Kelly straightened up, and I let go of her.

"Nice shot," I told her. I shoved my hands in my pockets to hide the tent in my shorts. Then she turned and looked at me. Her lips were slightly parted.

"Yeah, that was my best drive all day. But unless we want to get arrested for public indecency, I don't think we should do that again." She turned and headed back to the carts, where the guys were getting their clubs out.

The front nine seemed to go a lot faster, but I couldn't wait until we could be alone together.

"Kelly, I feel like we really need to talk-like somewhere private, without a million people around. I can't skip the dinner, but let's cut out right after and go somewhere."

"Yeah, you're right. All this stop-and-go isn't exactly conducive to something real."

"We could go back to Baller's house, that's where I'm staying. It's not too far."

"Okay," she replied.

Finally, we got to the last hole.

"Take your time, Kelly," Moe called out. She was on the ladies' tee of the eighth hole, and we all watched as she bent over and took a few practice swings.

"I could watch that sweet ass all day," Moe muttered. Then he poked me with his elbow. "And maybe more than that. We saw you giving her lessons on the first tee."

Stan snickered. "You're the man."

"Amen, buddy," Moe agreed. "Enjoy the nineteenth hole, James." They both started laughing.

I was steaming, but I realized that this was my fault too. Kelly had been put in an unnatural situation, because I wanted to see her. She wasn't famous, and she couldn't golf or pay for a ticket, so why would she be here other than for her looks? And I shouldn't have been all over her in public either. Hadn't Kelly said that was one of our problems in the first place?

"Look, guys," I said, politely but firmly. "Kelly is a good friend, and I've known her for years. She came here as a favour to me and Ty. She's a hockey player too-she's the captain of the McGill women's team that won this year's national university championship. I should have made all that clear right off the hop, so you didn't get the wrong impression."

"Sure thing, James. We're sorry." Stan looked over my shoulder. "Sorry, Kelly, for anything untoward we might have said."

I turned, and she was standing right behind me.

Once we got in the cart, I tried to explain. "I'm really sorry about everything that happened today. You're right; I should have asked you out directly. And I should have said something to those guys earlier."

"That's okay, Jimmy. Unfortunately, sexism is something I'm getting used to at work. But..." she paused and smiled at me. "I didn't know you knew all about my hockey stuff."

"Well, sure. I mean, I checked out the final. The game wasn't online or anything, but I read the game summary. You scored."

"It was a great season. The championship game is one of my best memories-ever."

"I sure wish I could have seen it."

"Really?" Kelly looked the happiest I'd seen her all day.

"Sure, I've never seen you in a real game."

She dropped her gaze. "I wish you could have seen it too. My dad came and a whole bunch of friends and relatives."

"So, you were the captain?

"Oh, yeah. Clearly, the captain's not always the best player."

I reached over and held her hand. "Don't do that. Don't put yourself down. The captain is the best person to lead the team, and that's what you did."

"Oh wow. That's so sweet." For the first time all day, I felt like things were back to normal between us. I pulled her hand up to my mouth and kissed it. And felt something hard.

"Uh, Kelly. Why do you have an engagement ring on?"

8.

Bedtime Stories

James

The tournament dinner seemed to take hours. Kelly was acting all paranoid and insisted that we couldn't sit at the same table, so I was stuck with all these old guys who had plenty of suggestions for improving my play on the ice. I could see her across the room, and she didn't look that happy either.

Kelly and I snuck out as soon as we could and met in the parking lot. For the dinner, she had changed from her golf clothes to a dark top and white jeans, and she looked hot.

"I hope nobody saw us," she said, as we pulled out.

"Why? Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?"

She laughed. "Of course not. It's this guy from work, Brian Ford. He's kind of creepy. If he sees us together, you'll end up doing a four-part interview at the station or something."

There was always some reason that things couldn't be straightforward between us. I was fed up with waiting. During the season, I focused on hockey, but now that it was summer, I could get my personal life in order.

Kelly collapsed against her seat. "Man, it's been a long day. I worked all morning, then sucked at golf all afternoon. I thought I was going to fall asleep during those dinner speeches. And of course, seeing you was huge."

"You make that seem like a bad thing." That sounded whiny, but I couldn't help it. I hoped that once she saw me in person, everything would go back to the way it used to be.

She looked over at me. "It's always pretty intense when we see each other, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I agreed. But it was the kind of intensity and excitement I liked. Finally being alone with her was like taking the brakes off what I'd wanted to do all day-touch her, kiss her, undress her, and then make love to her all night long. Still, we had a few things to settle before we got down to the fun stuff.

Kelly seemed pretty impressed when we got to Baller's house. "He lives here alone? It's huge. Is his house in Chicago this big too?"

"Well, yeah. He's into designing his own places and getting them custom-built. But I'm not living with him next season. I bought my own condo."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, I liked living with Baller, but I wanted to have some more room. You know, privacy. Now I can have guests and stuff." She didn't pick up on this hint.

We got out of the car and headed into the house. I concentrated on disarming the alarm system and then gave her a quick tour. While we were in the kitchen, I grabbed a couple of bottled waters, and we headed into the living room. We sat down on the couch together.

"Finally, alone," I said.

"Yes, it's been a long time," she replied. It had been sixteen and a half months.

"Can I go first?" Kelly asked. She turned to face me. "Well, the Coles Notes version of my life is that I graduated and couldn't find a job in anything remotely hockey-related. So I took this receptionist position at C2C Sports, hoping I could move up. But Karen said it was really sexist there, so she and April suggested that I pretend I was engaged to keep the guys away. And that's why I have a ring on."

I blinked at her. "Okay."

"Okay? So, you're not upset?"

"Of course not. If you were really engaged, I'm sure you would have told me. But maybe you shouldn't always do what your girlfriends tell you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Like at the World Juniors, when you had to leave because April got too drunk. Or when you wouldn't meet me after the Gold Medal game."