The Off Season

Katherine stood at the door to her hotel room, realizing that she had left her purse at the bar and that everything she would need to get into her room was in her purse. “Goddamnit,” she said under her breathe and turned to walk back down the hallway to the elevator. She pressed the button and waited, hoping that by the time she got back down to the bar, James was gone and her purse was still there. The elevator dinged, opened and standing there with a smile on his face and her purse dangling from one finger was James.

1018, that was an easy enough number to remember, James thought to himself. After James paid the bar bill, he carefully searched Katherine’s purse, without being overly intrusive, to find her cell or even the room key. He searched for the familiar folded card that the hotel card keys were given and James felt something in that dimension on the outside pocket of the purse. He pulled the card out and, success; one room key to guest room 1018. James casually carried Katherine’s purse out of the bar with him and headed over across the lobby to the elevators. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was some type of a set up by Katherine, some type of test to see if he was trustworthy enough to bring her purse back, but not try to take anything else in return. He wasn’t the Boy Scout that Crosby was, not even close, and he knew that if there was any chance in the world that he was ever going to get to see Katherine naked, it was tonight, before she became part of the Penguins.

Katherine stood in front of the elevator door dumbfounded. “What….why do you have my purse?”

“Well, I figured you might need it to get into your room,” said James as he walked out of the elevator onto the hallway. “I assumed your key was in here.”

“But, how did you know what floor my room was on?” Katherine looked at him, questioning every fiber of his good intentions.

James just looked her and smiled as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the card key. “1018, right?”

Lust, there it was. The next thing she knew, Katherine had James pinned to the hallway wall, trying to get the room key from him.

“James, you can either give me my key and walk away or you can take my key, go to my room and we can continue this in a little more of a private setting,” not believing the words that were coming out of her own mouth. And with that, she crushed her lips onto his, pulling him in to her and away from the wall. Katherine distracted James long enough to take the card key out of his hand and back away from him with the card in her hand. James stared at her as if he had just been checked into the boards at the Consol Energy Center.

“And now what am I supposed to do?” James asked. “You have your key, so I might as well get back on the elevator and go home.”

“What exactly to you want to do James?” Katherine looked at James with her blood coming to a slow simmer under her skin. She could feel herself getting flush and she knew James could see it to.

James smiled predatorily and walked toward her until he was very, very close. She looked up at him surprised. He took the key from her hand and placed it back into his coat pocket. James shot out an arm with his sharp reflexes, curled it around her waist and pulled her flush against him. "I’m not leaving here until I find out something about you that I’ve been dying to know ever since I met you."

Katherine got a very determined look on her face and in a throaty voice asked "really?"

They stood there in the hallway for what seemed like an eternity until James replied, “yea, really,” and begin his assault on Katherine’s lips. James’ mouth teased hers in all the best ways possible. His teeth nipped at her lips. His tongue licked at the corners of her mouth. His tongue toured her mouth leisurely. Katherine melted into his kiss and responded by reaching up around his shoulders and snaking her fingers through his hair.

James pulled his mouth from hers and pressed his forehead to hers. “Left or right,” he asked her huskily. She looked up at him apprehensively. "Left or right, which way to your room?” Katherine began to move away from James, but he grabbed her hand and with a glance from her eyes, Katherine showed James the direction to her room.

Six doors and exactly ten strides away was room 1018. James jammed the card key into the lock and with a swift flick of his wrist, unlocked the door to Katherine’s room. The door barely shut behind them before James had Katherine plastered up against the entrance way. She stared into those unwavering turquoise eyes knowing that if she told him to leave, she’d be branded a tease and if she torn off all of his clothes and had her way with him on every horizontal surface in her room, well, she knew what she would be.

“James Neal, you better be worth it,” Katherine said as she tugged on James’ coat. James just, smiled and slid his coat off onto the floor.

“This goes no farther than tonight, and this room,” “This is a one-time only deal.”

Good God, wasn’t his PR handle “The Real Deal James Neal?” Katherine scoffed at the thought the she was getting “The Real Deal” for a one-time deal.

James could tell what was going on in Katherine’s mind by the laugh and the smile. Damn, PR Department. Who comes up with this shit?

“Don’t even go there,” James said as he placed his hands on the wall next to hear head. “It’s bad enough I have to hear that every time I score a goal.”

“Well, don’t expect me to yell it out every time you score,” as Katherine looked at him knowing full well there was no turning back now.

“Trust me, tonight that won’t be the only thing you’ll be screaming.”

Notes