Authors: Melissa Johns
She snapped out of her trance when the water turned off. He opened the door too quickly and she didn’t have time to run out of the room. He stopped dead in his tracks as he reached for his towel. “Good morning, sweetheart.”
Madison
quickly turned around and turned a deep shade of red. “Morning, I’m so sorry.”
“What are you sorry about that?” Hunter asked. She could tell that he wasn’t embarrassed about the fact that she had witnessed his intimate moment.
She could hear him exit the shower and wrap the towel around himself. “I didn’t mean to intrude on your shower.”
Hunter laughed as he put his hands on her shoulder and slowly turned her around to face him. “You can intrude at any time,
Madison. I’m not embarrassed. Now maybe you will realize what you do to me.” He leaned down and kissed her lips softly. “Did you sleep ok?”
She nodded. “I slept like a baby. Did you want me to make you breakfast?”
He smiled at her. “You don’t have to but if you want to I wouldn’t object to it. There should be some food in the fridge that you could use.”
Madison
turned to leave but not before she glanced over his body one more time. As she entered his kitchen, she quickly familiarized herself with the surroundings and decided to make him an omelet and some fresh orange juice.
Hunter walked into the kitchen wearing a dark navy blue suit. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. “You look incredible. I didn’t realize that you guys had to dress up.”
He nodded as he sat at his breakfast counter and drank his juice. “We always have to wear a suit on game day, especially today. There will be a lot of cameras and media attention from around the country.”
“That’s so cool, are you excited?”
Hunter nodded as he ate his breakfast. “It’s a pretty cool event. I know you will enjoy yourself. Just so you know, I need to leave soon. It’s going to be a long day but Alicia is going to stop by and pick you up this afternoon so you can ride together. She knows where my suite is, so she will show you around.”
“When will I see you again?”
Madison asked as she cleared his plate, knowing that she would be counting down the minutes.
He stood up and walked over to her. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. Her hands fell against his chest as he deepened the kiss. She moaned softly as she pulled away. She had started to crave him.
He smirked at her. “I will see you tonight after the game. Stay in the suite and I will find you.”
She nodded. “Sounds like a plan and I would like to talk with you tonight.”
“Is that a good or bad thing?” he asked.
“It’s a very good thing.”
“Good,” Hunter said as he leaned down again. “I dreamt about you last night. I couldn’t get the sound that you make in the heat of the moment out of my head.”
“Well, I guess I will leave you with this thought before you leave,”
Madison said as she slid her hands down his chest. “Tonight, it’s your turn.”
Hunter groaned as he captured her mouth, their tongues became entangled with each other. He whispered her name over and over again against her lips as he finally backed away. “How the hell am I supposed to play hockey now?”
She couldn’t help but laugh at his boyish laughter. He walked him to his door and said good bye. As soon as he was on the elevator, she closed the door and leaned back against it. She closed her eyes and sighed. She was in love and there was no way to deny it anymore.
********************
Around noon, Alicia arrived at Hunter’s apartment and threw some shopping bags down on his kitchen table. “What did you bring?” Madison asked.
“Well, I kind of figured that you wouldn’t want to wear those clothes that you bought because of meeting his parents. So, I grabbed some items out of my closet for you.”
“You are amazing! That’s exactly what I needed!” She said as she started to sift through the clothes. “I still want to wear those jeans I bought but I like this top.”
She held up a light long sleeve red t-shirt with a soft design in the background. She headed into her bedroom and changed into her new clothes. She looked in the mirror and smiled at her outfit. She was causal enough for a hockey game and to meet her boyfriend’s parents but sexy enough to keep Hunter’s eyes only on her.
Alicia was the phone as she walked back into the living room. She whistled at Madison as she hung up. “Seriously, how is it that you have never had a boyfriend before?”
She started to laugh. “Do you think I should still wear my boots or a pair of sneakers?”
“Save the boots, I think you would want to save those for Hunter’s eyes only.”
Madison
agreed and started to lace up her sneakers. “I’m ready to go when you are but I have to tell you something.”
Alicia grabbed her purse off the table and headed towards the elevator. “What’s going on?”
“Hunter and I had a moment last night.”
“What kind of moment?” Alicia spun around and smiled.
“A very intense moment,” Madison said as she blushed.
Alicia gasped as the elevator door opened. “Did you guys have sex?”
“No, not that, but what did happened never happened to me before.”
Alicia laughed as the light bulb went off in her head. “It’s incredible, isn’t it?”
Madison couldn’t help but nod. “Yes, it is.”
They got into her car and headed towards the arena. “It only gets better from here.”
“That’s what he said but I don’t know how that’s possible. It was so intense”
“Did you guys talk about the future?”
“Briefly but we don’t know how to handle it.”
“You will figure something out, I’m sure of it.”
As they pulled into the parking lot, the atmosphere became electric. Everyone had on their hockey jerseys and there were television trucks from all over the country. “This is just crazy!” Madison said as she looked around.
Alicia nodded. “Keep up with me. I don’t want to lose you.”
As they passed through the gates, Madison noticed on the above monitors, videos of the players as they skated through practice. All the different teams were represented and the players competed in different events.
They rode the escalators to the second level. They walked towards a private entrance with a couple of security guards. They examined and scanned their passes and allowed them to enter.
“At least we are away from the crazy fans now. This staircase will take you up to the suite level. Hunter’s suite is a couple rooms over from your parent’s suite.”
“Wait, my parents own a suite here?”
Alicia stopped on the staircase. “You didn’t know that?”
“Of course not, they can’t afford to give me any support back home or send me to college but please let’s rent out a luxury suite.”
Alicia sighed. “I’m so sorry. I should have known that they wouldn’t have told you.”
As they walked down the hallway, they passed a bunch of service workers as they prepped each suite.
Alicia pointed to an open door. “This is your parent’s suite.” As they entered it, her parents were standing at the mini bar.
“Hello Mother, Father. How are you?”
They looked at Madison with no emotion on their faces. “Everything is wonderful. I didn’t think that you were joining us today.”
“I’m not. Alicia just wanted to show me your suite, which I didn’t know you had.”
“We rented it as soon as your brother was traded here. We didn’t want to sit in the stands with everyone else.”
Madison
nodded as she felt the uncomfortable silence fill the room. “I can’t imagine that you come to every game.”
“We have friends who want to come to the games and the games we can’t attend, we allow Carter to give away the tickets.”
Alicia piped in. “I should take you down to Hunter’s suite.”
Madison
said goodbye to her parents and was grateful to leave. She felt the tears form in her eyes and wiped them away as quickly as she could. She realized that it was another family event that she was never included in.
Alicia opened the door to Hunter’s suite.
Madison noticed an older couple by the buffet and a bunch of other people laughing and drinking.
“Hi Mr. and Mrs. Longo,” Alicia said as the couple hugged her. “I want to introduce you to Madison Sinclair.”
Hunter’s mom embraced her. “It’s so nice to meet you, Madison.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Longo.”
“Please call me, Helen. This is my husband, Frank and this is my other son, Henry.”
Madison
smiled as everyone welcomed her and made her feel like she was part of their family, even if it was only for the afternoon. Alicia excused herself and headed back to her suite.
Mrs. Longo grabbed
Madison’s arm and sat down next to her. The activities started on the ice below as the lights went out and the announcer started to call out the names of all the players.
Everyone was on their feet and cheered for their favorite players. As Hunter was announced the fans went crazy as did the suite filled with his family. She smiled as he skated to center ice and held his stick up in the air towards his family.
She cheered along with the rest of the fans as Carter’s name was called out as the captain of their conference. They remained standing during the national anthem and she started to get excited to watch the game.
As they sat down, Mrs. Longo reached for her hand. “My son is very taken by you, Madison. I never had him call me and tell me that I had to meet a girl that he was dating so soon. He told me that you had just arrived in town this week to spend time with your brother.”
Madison nodded. “That’s right. I was way overdue for a vacation and decided to come to a warmer climate and experience something different.”
“Hunter told me that you still live in
Canada near your parents,” she paused. “Long distance relationships are hard.”
Madison
nodded and started to feel uncomfortable. She felt that Hunter’s mom was judged their relationship before she even got to know her.
“Honey, I can feel you pulling away from me. Please don’t read into my comment. I’m the type of parent that is happy as long as her children are happy. I just pointed out the obvious, that’s all. Hunter has told me that you have had a difficult relationship with your parents and as long as you are dating my son, I want you to know that you can always talk with me about anything. We are a very open and loving family.”
Madison calmed down and smiled at her. “Thank you. It’s been a pleasure to get to know Hunter. He’s been a complete gentleman and you can tell he was raised correctly.”
Mrs. Longo beamed with pride. “A mother loves to hear that.”
They continued to watch the game, eat the specialty made food and Hunter’s father kept serving drinks to everyone. Madison caught herself having the time of her life and blended in with Hunter’s family. She met some his cousins and was able to talk with his father. She had a strong vibe from every member of his family that they were so proud of Hunter.
As the game ended and crowds started to clear out,
Madison sat on one of the barstools and waited for Hunter to come up and get her. His mother sat down next to her and smiled at her. “I like you, Madison. You have a good head on your shoulders and I think you will be a good match for Hunter. Someone needs to keep his head out of the clouds.”
Madison
laughed as Hunter came through the door. “Who has his head in the clouds?” he asked as he shook his father’s hand and kissed his mother’s cheek.
Madison
couldn’t help but smile at him and her heart raced when she saw him appear in the room. “That was a great game. Sorry, you couldn’t score a goal though.”
“It’s all good. It was fun. How did everything go up here?”
“Madison is a lovely girl, son. Please don’t screw this up,” his mother said as she hopped off the barstool and gathered her things.
“Wow, thanks for the confidence Mom.”
“Madison, it was my pure pleasure to meet you and I hope we will see you again in the near future. If my son gets out of line, here’s my home number, cell number and work number,” his father laughed as he handed her his business card.
“Ok, both of you can leave now. I will see you in a few weeks,” Hunter said as he walked over to
Madison.
They were alone in the room as he kissed her lightly. “Did my family behave?”
“Yes, everyone was wonderful. I honestly didn’t know that a family could love each other like that. It’s beautiful thing.”
“I’m very lucky to have them in my life,” Hunter said as he smiled.
“So, what’s the plan for tonight?” she asked.
“Well, we can head back to my place and have a quiet dinner in or we can go out and I can show you around the city. I figured we would head back to the beach in the morning. I wanted to offer you the chance to stay with me but I don’t want to take you away from Carter.”
Madison smiled as she ran her fingertips down his tie and pulled him closer to her. “I would love to go out tonight and see the city and then tomorrow, I will see how everything plays out. But first, I need a favor.”