Two Minutes for Hooking

Chapter 13

Celly: A celebration after a goal. (Bleacher Report)

I nearly left a thousand times. The hallway outside the locker room was filled with girls in high heels, short skirts and more cleavage than the playboy mansion. Okay so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but seriously there were puck bunnies everywhere.
"Oh my god, did you see number 23? He is so fucking hot."
"I know! He was drool worthy but still not as hot as Ryan. Did you see him in his suit? God I just wanted to eat him up. He is so delicious. I wonder why he wasn't playing?"
I readjusted the hem of my emerald green sweater and considered leaving again. He didn't really want to take me out, did he? Did he think I was like these girls? Why would he want me when he can have any one of these gorgeous girls. I took another deep breath and decided I would wait five more minutes. If he didn't come out then I would leave and chalk this up to yet another case of my taste in men getting the best of me.
"Oh my gosh, look it's James!!! Hey James! It's me Tiffini, do you remember me?" a blond to my left squealed as she moved to block James' path. He was walking out of the locker room with his hockey bag slung over one shoulder, his eyes on the floor.
"Tiffini" he said and gave her a somber nod before maneuvering around her and lifting his eyes from the floor. The moment his sea green eyes made contact with mine all of my nerves disappeared to be replaced by a slow burn deep in my core. The corner of his beautiful full lips turned up and his eyes scanned me from head to foot and back again.
Ellena had taken my jersey home for me, leaving me in a formfitting emerald green sweater and snug jeans with my most comfortable flats. "Jocelyn, you look beautiful" he said as he came to my side. Eyes twinkling with humor. Weather at my embarrassment or my obvious discomfort, I didn't know.
"Thank you," I blushed to my bones. "Are you ready? I just need to stop by my place to change really fast and then we can go. Is that okay?" he asked."Oh yeah, that's more than fine. I'm sure you don't' really want to wear a suit for whatever it is we're doing. What are we doing anyway? You never did say?"
His smile grew broader and more mischievous and he said "I guess you'll have to wait and see, won't you? Come on." he said taking my hand and sending a jolt of heat from my finger tips to my toes.
As we left, from somewhere behind me, I heard the bunny named Tiffini huff in a pissy voice, "who the hell does she think she is?" And my smile grew even more.

James

We pulled up at my apartment and I killed the ignition, hurrying around the cab to help her out. I grabbed her hand again, unwilling to part with her even for a few moments.
"It'll only take me a second. I just need to change and grab our tickets. Do you want a water or anything while you wait?"
"I'm fine, but thank you." She said smiling at me. Her normally blue eyes were burning a bright emerald green, betraying her nerves. She was so damn beautiful, with the way her sweater hugged her curves and brought out her eyes, I was having a hard time keeping my hands to myself. Not to mention the view of her ass when I helped her climb into my truck earlier. I changed clothes faster than I think I ever have and was nearly running out of my bedroom to get back to Jocelyn.
When I came out she was standing with her back to me looking at the movie cabinet.
"Are you ready?" I asked making her jump. She laughed as she turned to face me and I couldn't help but smile. Her beauty took my breath away.
"So, are you going to tell me where you're taking me?"
I grinned and shook my head. "Not a chance. It's a surprise."
She huffed in a playful pout and followed me to the door. On the drive over we talked about the game and I found myself pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed talking hockey with her. Previous girlfriends would talk about the game but they couldn't really break it down and analyze it. And the bunnies just threw around lingo like they were cast members of Letterkenny.
"What got you into hockey?" I asked after one energetic retelling of our power play midway through the second period. She dropped her head back on her seat and closed her eyes like she was watching the memory.
"I think I was about six years old and my mom took me to a friends birthday party at the ice rink. I remember I had never skated or anything and I wasn't too thrilled to go ice skating and when we got there, there was a high school game going on and there was one girl I could see playing with all the guys and she stole the puck and went coast to coast to score a perfect top corner wrist shot. I remember being so awed and then after the game she was leaving and I somehow got the courage to tell her she was awesome and she laughed and smiled and gave me her stick. After that I made my mom exchange my figure skates for some rental hockey skates and I fell in love. After that I begged my parents night and day until they found a mites program they could get me into."
"So love at first skate, huh?"
She smiled, "yeah, after that I stumbled on an Avalanche game on tv and went completely nuts. I wanted to be the female Milan Hejduk. My family thinks I'm crazy, none of them are really sports people but they've been very supportive."
"Well thank god you're crazy then," I said picking up her hand and placing a kiss on her knuckles. "Otherwise I don't know where I would have met you."
Her skin smelled like coconut and vanilla, I wondered if she smelled like that all over. Her sharp intake of breath let me know she was thinking along the same lines as me.I found a spot just off the main street parked the truck.
"What is this place?" she asked.
"Last year a group of locals started up a street fair during the fall. It happens the first Saturday of every month." I answered as we maneuvered through the crowds.
"How did I not know this existed?" she said on a breathy exhale. The streets were lit with artificial gas lights, illuminating the booths lined up along both sides.
"My billets helped start it up, it's still pretty small, nothing like the bigger cities but it's pretty cool. Are you hungry?"
I pulled her hand toward my favorite booth as she nodded, eyes wide as she tried to take in as much as possible.
"Do you like shwarma?"
"There's schwarma here? I love schwarma."