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Despite the week off from working hockey charters, Elle found her days filled with non-stop flights within other parts of Jetz. It wasn’t uncommon for her to be assigned to specialty flights when the Canucks were out of town but it was rare that she was scheduled six days in a row.

She was unlocking her front door after that sixth day, exhausted and in desperate need of a shower, when Nicole stuck her head out in the hallway. “Hey! Did you see the high lights from the Stars game yet?”

Elle paused to give her neighbor a long look. She should say yes, because that’s what she normally would have done during down time tonight. But there had been no down time. She knew the Stars won, but that was it. “Not yet. Long day.”

Nicole dangled a half-full bottle of wine in her hand enticingly. “Come on when you get changed.”

Elle nodded and went to take off her work clothes. The shower could wait. Wine could not. Fifteen minutes later Nicole was chatting her ear off about the Canucks game, Miller having been a god in goal that night. She pulled up the Stars from her DVR and corralled Elle onto the couch.

“Now, just remember, from what you’ve said, you still haven’t had phone sex, he’s been too busy to send nudes, and you’re both suffering from severe blue balls.” Nicole looked Elle up and down critically. “Blue ovaries in your case, or whatever.”

“Come on, stop mocking my lack of digital love life. Play the game.”

The redhead waited another second, her eyes hovering on Elle’s face. Elle raised her eyebrows, waiting. “Well, just remember that.”

The game was paused about halfway through the first. Nicole was still staring Elle down when she pushed play on her remote. Elle’s eyes automatically found the players, identifying the quick streak of Jamie as he flew right up through the center of the Blues’ forward line. She bit her lip, thinking about the required muscle for such a powerful stride.

Jamie deked right, toe dragging around first one defender, and then the other. He went top shelf, sneaking the puck between Ward’s shoulder and his blocker. It was a beautiful goal. Almost as beautiful as the wild joy in his face. Elle sighed.

“Jesus, girl. You’re disgusting.”

Elle stuck her tongue out at her friend. This was the first Stars game she’d managed to catch since she’d started texting Jamie. It was amazing, seeing the determination in his face and thinking that’s probably exactly what he looked like when he was writing out a particularly poignant text to her.

Nicole fast forwarded to the beginning of the third. The game was tied at two. Eakin caught a beauty of a pass from Spezza, blowing past a defender and making Allen look like a fool in net. The Stars were up again and the Blues were not taking it well. At the drop of the puck, Backes came in low, lifting up to catch Eakin right in the neck with his elbow. From their angle, both women thought he made contact with the head as well.

Eakin went down.

Jamie immediately jumped forward, giving Backes a rough shove that sent the other man stumbling. Elle’s breath caught in her throat as both players jostled before being separated. The camera zoomed in tight on Jamie. His face was stormy with fury, yelling and pointing at Backes. He’d be saying something about the elbow. He threw out the F-bomb a few times as well, making Elle giggle despite the seriousness of the situation.

“Oh babe, you haven’t seen anything yet.” The redhead next to her laughed softly before fast-forwarding to the end of the game. 19:39 played in the third and the Stars were clearly going to win handily. Players glided around haphazardly. Backes came back at Eakin, shoving him from behind. That was apparently enough for Jamie.

He swept Backes up with an arm around the neck and got one good upper cut on the dude before they were exchanging jabs with reckless abandon. Backes landed two good ones to Jamie’s left eye. The next punch was straight at Backes’ nose. Jamie’s jersey ripped as Backes tried, quite unsuccessfully, the hold the Star at bay.

When they tumbled to the ice, Jamie was on top and the clear winner. He got one more shot at Backes’ face before the ref pulled them apart.

Elle hadn’t blinked once, her eyes fixed on the fight. Her heart beat out a war rhythm in her chest, her cheeks hot and head swimming.

Jamie had always been a fighter. She’d seen him throw down before. This was the first time she’d really noticed how he looked after a scrap, though. His own color was up, his neck exposed through his destroyed jersey. Jamie raised his arms for the crowd and they roared back their approval.

She could almost imagine a Roman emperor in the stands, giving Jamie the thumbs up for a job well done.

“I have to go.”

Nicole’s laughter followed Elle out of her apartment. She bee-lined for her bedroom, snagging her phone of its charger. It was late, close to midnight, and she knew Jamie might be out with the team but she called him anyway.

It rang four times then went straight to voicemail.

She growled and hung up only to call right back. It rang three times and then the call connected. The other end was loud and noisy, the sounds of a bar or a club obvious in the background. But it was Jamie who yelled her name.

They hadn’t actually talked on the phone since their aborted phone sex.

She sank to her bed, her knees unable to hold her weight. “Hey Jamie.” She spoke up for him. Her voice was even too, which she was immensely thankful for. A flash of his fist crashing into Backes’ face hit her. She would not groan and get hot and bothered while he was out celebrating.

“Elle! Did you see it?” The words were a little slurred. “Did you see my fight!? I won! We won!” A chorus of whoops and ‘fucking right!’ sounded over the line.

“I did. You kicked the shit out of him. How’s your face?”

He scoffed. “Segs says he’s the prettiest now.” In the background, Tyler squawked in outrage. “I’m okay though. Black eye, nothing more. I heard it took twelve stitches to put Backes’ face together again.” The noise was lessening in the background. He was probably moving to the front or even outside.

“Serves that asshole right, throwing an elbow like that.”

“Yeah, fuck that guy.” He giggled a little and that made her laugh. Jamie Benn drunk was a new experience. She found it delightful. He quieted quickly though. Cars were moving in the background, horns honking. He was outside, then. “Hey. I missed hearing your voice. Hi.”

And just like that, Elle gave up on life and fell backwards onto her bed.

Jesus fucking Christ. This guy.

“Me too. I mean, yeah. Sorry we haven’t had a chance to talk. Work. And stuff.”

He hummed at her. “Totally understandable, just. You know. I don’t like it.” His thoughtful silence felt comfortable, if that was even possible. “Only 72 days.”

Only 72. That wasn’t that long. Only a couple months.

“72 days. Now I don’t know how we’re going to make it.” Her chuckle was rueful. Jamie had been the doubter a week ago. Right now she was mentally considering if she’d have time to fly down to Dallas on a redeye and wake Jamie up in the morning. The Canucks were playing their last game in New York at 5 PM Vancouver time. She could be in Dallas and back in 20 hours. That wasn’t too bad.

“Hey, I did have a thought about that.” Jamie pulled the brakes on her train of thought.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Do you think you’ll be working over the All-Star break?”

Oh yeah. They were just two weeks away from a break in all official NHL action. “Um. If I want to? Jetz will have me doing something unless I tell them no. Why?” She was almost positive she knew where this was going.

“Well,” he drew the word out, sounded nervous about his proposition. “I was thinking maybe we could hook up-“ Jamie coughed, immediately back peddling, “I mean meet up. Meet up somewhere, just spend some time together.”

It was an interesting prospect. The sexual aspect of their relationship was sort of stalled, both too nervous to make that initiation again. If they met up, they could have real conversations instead of just trading texts at all hours like they’d been doing for the last week.

Or not talking at all. Just doing stuff.

Right. Stuff.

“Where do you have in mind?”

She could hear the grin when he answered, knowing that she was sold on the idea. “New Orleans. A couple of the guys went during the Olympic Break last year and had a blast. There’s an adorable house in the Tremé, close to the Quarter but not on top of it. Tons of bedrooms and space for both of us. There’s a music festival that weekend that sounded kind of fun and since you can basically fly anywhere-” His voice trailed off and Elle was impressed. He’d thought about this a lot.

“That sounds amazing, Jamie.” She couldn’t commit, not yet. Her heart and her head were in agreement on that. But she could sure as shit think about it. “Let me see if I can get my ducks in a row before I say yes. Couple of days at the most.”

He wasn’t quite able to keep the excited ‘yes!’ under his breath and she laughed with her whole body. “Well, I’m going to let you get to thinking. Rous just stuck his head out to let me know that we’re doing shots. Yay shots.” He did not sound all that excited about the prospect.

“Don’t do too many. And make good choices.” He mother always told her that while she was still in school. She’d rarely listened.

“I will. Text you later?”

She hummed an affirmative. “G’night Jamie.”

He started to say something, thought better of it, and just wished her a good night. Elle flung her arms wide and stared up at the ceiling for a long while. A four-day weekend in New Orleans with Jamie Benn. She’d been to the city a couple times before. She knew the romance NOLA held. She could imagine walking the river, her hand surrounded by his, the moonlight bouncing off the Mississippi. Lazy evening jazz down on Frenchmen Street. The messy delight of crawfish at the City Park. The museums, the shops, Café du Monde at midnight and Envie in the morning.

The thought was intoxicating.

She would marry him, if he took her to NOLA.

Maybe that would be just fine.

Her phone buzzed and she pulled it back to her face, a grin splitting her lips instantly. Jamie had sent a selfie, his free arm around Tyler’s neck. Both were grinning and he’d made sure that the light would catch this shine off his back eye. It wasn’t too bad, yet, but it would be later.

Elle resolutely did not think about that as an analogy for her infatuation with Jamie Benn. She was surviving, barely. She shook her head, blowing out a huff of air. Either she played this whole thing close to her chest or she was going to have to find a job in Dallas.

-------

The next morning, Jamie’s smudged left eye had bloomed into a full on bruise. He had some swelling around his bottom lip where Backes had split it, but the eye was piece de resistance. He snapped another selfie as he woke up for practice and sent that along to Elle. She’d sent a couple of laughing emojis the night before after his pic with Segs and this morning was no different.

She didn’t include any text in the message, just the laughing, crying smiley faces. He was holding stones in his stomach, waiting for her to make a decision about NOLA. It’d been on his mind for a couple of days, ever since Fids had waxed poetic about the city.

Jamie had been angry and disbelieving when he found out he hadn’t made the All Star game, but then considered the media circus going to Columbus would have entailed. Getting out of Dallas and away from hockey for four days was actually starting to sound like an amazing idea. Doing it with Elle was the only thought that had kept him afloat since he’d had it.

He needed to see her. He needed to wrap her up in another hug but finally get that kiss he’d been aiming for when they’d physically said good bye. And hopeful a lot more than that. He was jerking off twice a day, every day. It wasn’t bad, per say, but it was mildly distracting. If he had her, had a chance to map her body and find out what she sounded like when he made her break, he’d be better. He was sure of it.

The alternative, that he’d get to spend the night between Elle’s thighs but it would make all of this worse, was untenable. Other than forgetting about her, which, no, he just had to do something.

She texted while he was on the ice, a short message that made his heart leap to his throat.

Elle: Boss says I can take a few days next month while the NHL is on break.

Jamie fist pumped, much to the room’s amusement. He ignored all questions and concerns for his behavior as he replied, letting her know that was amazing. He asked to call, later. They were free until practice the next day and she’d said the Canucks wouldn’t be in until after midnight. She sent back a smiley and he hurried to undress.

“Jesus, dude. You’re gonna break your gear ripping it off like that.” Jamie rolled his eyes in Segs’ general direction and continued to strip. “If you’re rushing home to jerk off again, I won’t allow it. You spend all your free time alone, texting and mooning about.”

Jamie did look up at that, backhanding Segs across the upper arm, hard. He let out a yelp. “Don’t be a douche bag Seggy.” His voice held a warning to drop the subject.

Tyler was having none of it. He mocked Jamie’s tone of voice when he replied, “The point is valid Benny. I’m coming over to your place. Some pool, some grilling, maybe some beers.”

Segs at his house was the last thing Jamie wanted at that moment. He opened his mouth to protest, but Segs beat him to the punch. “Lunch at the captains! BYOB. And meat. And plan on swimming. One hour.”

Jamie stared his best friend down and Segs just grinned back. The smaller forward knew about NOLA, knew that Jamie had asked Elle about it last night, and knew that Jamie was waiting on a response. Segs was fucking with him, hard core, but he was helpless. He was now on the hook for half the team at his place.

“I fucking hate you sometimes.”

“It’s not good to be alone so much Benny.” Segs reached up and pinched his cheek. “And you fucking love me. One day, when you and Elle are married with a million babies, at least two of which are named after me in gratitude, you’ll remember this day as the day I didn’t let you waste the end of your single life alone.”

For Christ’s sake, Segs was insane. “Shut the fuck up. I’ll see you at mine.” Jamie pushed past Segs because he now needed to get home to make sure the place was in some sort of array.

Forty five minutes later, Jamie was shoving the last of his dirty clothes into the closet when he heard the front door open. Jordie’s voice echoed in the entry hall, followed by Segs and Eakes. It was show time. His house was modest, compared to the monstrosity that Segs had purchased. Four beds, four baths, on level. It was the openness that had attracted him. Fifteen foot ceilings were standard, full glass windows on the south wall to his back yard. There were little nooks everywhere too, which gave him pockets of memories. He passed the small alcove that held his international award paraphernalia and he had to resist the urge to run his hand over the case holding his gold medal. Most days it still felt like a dream that they’d won, that he’d scored the winning goal, or that he’d even been to Russia. Today he was more worried about making sure his guests didn’t make a mess of the space he’d just straightened.

The three were standing by the island in his kitchen, beers already cracked. Eakes and Segs already had their swim trunks on while Jordie was unloading packages of fresh chicken. He thought he spied potatoes and onions hiding in a grocery bag.

“Is your pool clean? I didn’t even think to ask.” Segs may have the bigger, flashier house but Jamie had snagged a place with a full lap pool.

“Yeah, the cleaners came while we were gone.” Most mornings Jamie was up swimming laps if the weather was good but a few weeks ago they’d had a series of storms. And he’d neglected to cover the damn thing. Segs had come over to swim and was disgusted. Jamie hadn’t thought it’d been that bad.

Segs gave him a nod and wandered to the backyard, Eakes on his tail. Jordie attempted to help trim the chicken; after he dropped the knife the third time Jamie handed him the seasoning and forbade him from touching anything sharp. His older brother tried to glare him down but Jamie was having none of it. Jordie was a walking disaster in the kitchen on the best of days. Without anything dangerous in his hands, Jordie worked in tandem with Jamie, coating the chicken in a light lemon pepper rub once the fat was removed. They were rolling the potatoes and onions in tin foil when the rest of the guys rolled in.

At least he’d have enough beer left over from today to last him to the post-season.

He absolutely loved his team. They were good guys, every single one of them, and they always gave him everything they had. The Stars had a reputation of being a hardworking team; Jamie rarely had to remind them of it because they played with that thought in their heads every night.

After lunch was demolished and cleaned up, they spent a good hour in the sun, splashing or lounging. Jamie threw sunscreen at everyone, sometimes watching with a critical eye while they applied it. He was fine with having a party; he was not fine with possible sunburns.

As the sun started to lose it luster in the late afternoon, guys started saying their goodbyes. Segs was passed out inside somewhere, that asshole, when Jordie gave his brother a tight squeeze in farewell.

The house was still clean, nothing and no one had been broken, and Jamie was relaxed. Truly relaxed. He’d left his phone inside and had actually managed to think about something other than Elle for a whole half day.

He found Segs in the largest guest room, his favorite place to nap, still fast asleep. This was the perfect time to finally get around to calling Elle. He left his team mate passed out and went to the living room.

Me: Hey, sorry I was absent today. Can I still call you?

Elle: Yeah, but I was thinking maybe Skype?

Elle: Kinda want to see how that eye is doing in real time.

His stomach clenched again. He was totally on board with that plan. He’d seen nothing but selfies from her for weeks.

His laptop booted quickly. When he typed in her phone number he was pleased to see she popped up immediately. A wave of nerves hit him hard when he pressed the video call button. He hoped he looked all right. He should have checked himself in the mirror. His hair was probably a mess from swimming.

Her face filled his computer screen, grin bright and eyes sparkling. It felt like a hard punch to the gut and he remembered to smile back.

“Hi.” She sounded happy. No, more than that. She sounded really fucking excited and Jamie kicked himself for not thinking of doing this sooner.

“Hi.” He didn’t think his voice cracked, but it could have and he wouldn’t have known, distracted as he was by the sight of her. She was stationed in a kitchen, the sun drifting in through the window and backlighting her hair. He could swear there were glints of gold in the dark brown. She was angelic. “It’s nice to finally see you again.”

She laughed, moving too fast for the camera to follow. When the blurring stopped she was leaning farther forward. Jamie gulped down air. The low cut tank top she was wearing fell open at the front and-

No. Bad Jamie, he admonished to himself. Do not look down her shirt.

“It’s pretty fucking awesome. I think this is the first time I’ve actually seen you in something other than a suit. Well, in person. Well, this is as close to seeing you in person out of a suit that I’ve seen you.”

Was she rambling? He glanced down. He had his favorite cut off shirt and his trunks on. Her gulp was audible over Skype. Yeah. She was rambling. Jamie smirked. “I had some guys over for lunch; we were swimming.”

Elle closed her eyes and tipped her head back. Jamie watched the elongation of her neck with fascination. “Dear god. Don’t tell me things like that. It’s still below freezing here.”

“Don’t worry, in a few weeks we can be in Louisiana. More humid but still warm.”

She snapped her gaze back to the screen with a head tilt. A smirk crossed her face. “Yeah. I guess that’s true.”

“Do you really want to go?” He was trying so hard not to sound desperate or nervous or worried. He failed on all accounts most likely.

Elle leaned back forward. “Yeah, I think I do. 72 days is too long. I’m either going to explode with the thought of you or give up on life and move to the Yukon. The cold will really distract me up there.”

“Oh, don’t do that. Vancouver will warm up soon enough.”

They were quiet for a moment, just watching each other’s faces. She looked the same, just casual. Her hair was down, unkempt but not messy. She had a smaller pair of glasses than normal, more reading glasses than anything. And that tank top. It had strings over the shoulders and he couldn’t see any other straps which meant she was likely not wearing a bra. His thoughts were leading him down a dangerous path and he shifted on his lounger.

“The eye looks epic. I didn’t even notice the lip last night. Her hand moved up from the counter, almost like she wanted to touch the screen. He rubbed at the tender flesh, wincing at the ache.

“No stitches, just some swelling. It’ll be gone by the time we see each other.”

And another lull. Jamie desperately wanted to tell her all about the place he found on Airbnb for their trip. It was a full house with four bedrooms and a courtyard. The pictures looked amazing. And it better be, for the $1500 a night it would cost him. He’d made the reservations the night before in a fit of drunken excitement. Before she’d even agreed.

“Too bad. It makes you look rakish.” She winked and took a long drink from the coffee cup posted at her side. “So. NOLA. Have you been before?”

He shook his head. “I don’t get time during the season to go on vacation and I know how bad Dallas is in the summer. I would never go to a swamp.”

Her eyes softened and she leaned forward to rest her chin on one hand. “It’s actually one of my favorite places to visit. I’m a little excited I get to play tour guide with you.”

“I’m a little excited I get a tour from such an attractive guide.” It was supposed to come off a little cheesy, but Jamie didn’t have it in him and it was just honest. She pursed her lips, probably fending off a pleased grin. “So, I’ve got my flight booked and I can send you the info so you can coordinate. I was thinking of just getting a cab from the airport then walking from there. Google maps says it’s not that bad to see the city on foot.”

She shrugged. “Depends on where things are. But cabs are easy enough to find once you get out of the Quarter. You said you found a place in the Tremé? Hotel?”

“No, rental house. But, lots of space. We both get like, two bedrooms a piece.” He had rationalized the expense of the accommodations with the thought that if Elle didn’t want to have sex, for whatever horrific reason that might be, she wouldn’t feel pressured to do so by being in close quarters with one another. He absolutely wanted to fuck like rabbits, but despite their mutual acknowledgement of attraction, she hadn’t really talked at all about sex since that first call.

Elle was quiet, a trait he’d noticed with their phone calls and texts. What he hadn’t known before seeing her converse was it was a thinking break. Her brow drew in slightly and she looked over her computer to the distance. “I’m just going to assume you’re saying that to make it sound like I’m not flying to another country for a booty call.”

He recoiled, horrified that his careful words hadn’t been effective. “Oh, no. Elle, no. I mean, I just want to see you. The phone calls and texts are cool and everything but I just-“ he was straying towards pathetic territory. Dammit.

“Jamie. Relax.” She actually held up her hands. “I really want to see you, too. But I’m pretty sure we both want this,” she gestured between herself and the computer, “to involve nudity. Lots of nudity. Like, maybe we should just get a room in Red Deer or something and not leave for a weekend.”

Jamie felt the tension to drain from his muscles instantly. He was a fucking idiot sometimes. Of course she wanted to have sex. She’d never shied from the topic and, well, he was pretty sure at that moment that she’d have said something if she was uncomfortable. There was a piece of Elle that was missing through the calls and texts and that was her honesty. She was just straightforward, as much as possible. He wondered how much of that was her and how much of that was the byproduct of years of customer service.

“I mean, that’s basically what we’re both walking into, right?”

He grinned at her and nodded. “Yeah. I just didn’t want to sound like a sleaze ball, you know.”

She laughed, the sound bright and amused. “I know. And it’s adorable. But we’re consenting adults discussing a weekend of sightseeing and fornication. Let’s not make it more complicated than it needs to be.”

Jamie could absolutely get behind that.

Notes

I'M SORRY I WAS ON VACATION I HAD LOTS OF GOOD BEER AND LAID IN THE SUN SO I'M NOT REALLY ALL THAT SORRY. But, I'm back now. Sadly, and happily.