The second we exited the doors of the Consol Energy Center Evgeni planted a kiss square on my lips. Oh how I had missed them. His sweet, soft sensual kisses. Walking hand in hand we made our way to his black Patriot with "GENO" on the license plate.

"I can't believe that you are here," he said smiling and unlocking the door.

"Are you pleasantly surprised?" I said smiling back and opening my door, hopping in the passenger side.

"Yes I am. What made you come here?"

"Well, when I got back to my car I read the letter that you wrote me and I couldn't take it. I bawled my eyes out."

With a look of concern on his face he said, "Oh, I am sorry. I did not mean to make you cry."

"No no, it was happy tears. It made me realize that I didn't want to be without you anymore. I had waited long enough to be with you and I wasn't about to let you go again. You spent the summer showing me that you loved me and wanted to be with me, now it is my turn to show you."

"I have always known you loved me Annlie, you don't need to prove anything to me."

"I didn't want to be away from you any longer. I want to be with you, cheer you on. I want to be there for you when you celebrate a win and remind you that you are an amazing hockey player when you lose. I want to be there with you through every aspect of this journey, if it's important to you than it is important to me too."

"Annlie, you are the most amazing woman in the world," he said kissing the top of my hand, "I love you."

"I love you too."

Turning his blinker signal on we turned left onto a road titled "4th Avenue," and into the parking garage of the apartment building.

"This is it," he said turning the key in the ignition, shutting the car off.

Taking a deep breath I got out of the car, grabbed my bag and followed him to the stairs.

His apartment was located on the seventh floor, the second highest floor possible. And of course, the last door in the hallway on the right. Finally we reached it and he put his key into the lock. When the door opened I was blown away, his apartment overlooked the city of Pittsburgh and I could see the Consol Energy Center from his front window. It was unbelievable. The apartment was all open and spacious. There was a black leather couch that faced a fireplace, a plasma, flat screen television hung above the mantle, a glass coffee table sat in the middle of the floor with various pieces of mail and hockey magazines strewn across it. A typical bachelor pad.

"How about you go take a nice long bath in the tub and I'll make us some dinner reservations?" he asked setting the keys on the kitchen counter.

"Okay," I said kissing him softly on the lips before bringing my things to the bathroom.

It felt good to be here, and even though it was an apartment, it still felt homey. It was definitely something that I could get used to. As I stripped down to my bare ass and dipped my toe into the jet propelled bath tub, I took a deep breath. This was what home would feel like.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Evgeni's P.O.V.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked up and saw her standing in the stands. My heart began to skip beats and I could feel my cheeks burning from smiling so wide. My Annlie was here, to be with me. She wanted to be with me just as much as I wanted to be with her. The moment she told me she wanted to be with me on my journey, I knew. I knew that I wanted to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her.

As she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her I went to the bedroom. I opened my top dresser drawer and pulled out a small box with my mother's engagement ring. Although in Russia engagement wasn't typically a big deal, here in the States it seemed to be every woman's dream. I wanted this day to be special to my Annlie and I knew an engagement wouldn't be something she was expecting, so I made up my mind to give her the ring at La Tavola Italiana during dinner. I wanted her to experience all the wonderful things about America and to know how much I loved her. What better way than to propose my love to her after a romantic dinner.

Calling the restaurant I made reservations;

"Hello, La Tavola Italiana. This is Jenn how may I help you?" the voice on the other line said.

"Hi Jenn, this is Evgeni Malkin calling. I was wondering if I could get a dinner reservation for seven, a secluded table if you could."

"Sure Mr.Malkin, I can get that for you. Special occasion?"

"Yes, I am going to propose my love for my girlfriend and ask that she become my wife."

"Congratulations Mr. Malkin, we'll see you at seven."

"Thank you very much for your help Jenn."

"You're welcome and congratulations once again."

Hanging up the phone I got myself ready. I threw on a nice pair of black dress pants and a light blue dress shirt, Annlie's favorite color. I wanted everything to be perfect for her. This was going to be a night that we were both going to be remembering for the rest of our lives. A night that we would tell our grandchildren about one day.

As I checked myself over in the mirror one more time I heard the door to the bathroom open.

"Feel better love?" I asked coming around the corner, catching my breath at the image in front of me. Annlie looked stunning, she had changed into a thigh length red satin dress. A diamond gem placed just under her breasts, showing off a tasteful amount of cleavage. Her soft blonde hair fell loosely down the small of her back, and a red lipstick coated her perfect lips.

"Yes, I feel much better. Are you feeling okay?" she asked smiling.

"You look beautiful Ann."

"Thank you Evgeni," she said blushing.

"No thanks needed. Are you ready to go?"

"I believe so, you don't think I'm over dressed do you?"

"Annlie, you worry too much. You look stunning, you are beautiful."

"Okay, I just don't want to stand out."

"Annlie, you could be in a full sweat suit and still stand out, you're beautiful."

Laughing she grabbed a shall and headed for the door.

Taking a deep breath I followed her. This was it.