Tread This Fantasy

Mel was torn. Client confidentiality was one of the most important aspects of her business. Though she rarely spoke to him, she knew Mario Lemieux was a client of Mike’s. However, she never told anyone, including her friends. It was something that had been drilled into her head from her first day in the business. So, it wasn’t easy to keep the fact that Sidney Crosby had waltzed into her work and handed over her personal investment statement to her. Even harder was trying to figure out a way to tell her best friends that her mystery guy at Whim was the captain of the Penguins without getting laughed out of the room by Lisa.

“You’re quiet,” Lisa observed. They were both sitting at a bar on the corner of Liberty and 10th near the Convention Center.

“I have something ridiculous to say and you’re never going to believe me.”

“Let’s hear it.” Lisa was smiling already.

Mel fiddled with her cocktail glass. “Remember the guy at Whim? The one who was watching me?”

“Yeah. I swear you should have gone up to him that night you and Kate went out and he was oogling you again.”

“Well, I found out who it was.”

Lisa’s eyes widened. “You’re saying it like it’s a bad thing. Was it Darren? That shit. Can’t keep it in his pants.”

Mel rolled her eyes. “Lisa, it’s not your ex-boyfriend. That’s gross.”

“Well then who was it?”

“You won’t believe me.”

The bartender slowed as he walked by them. “Another drink?” he asked, pointing at Lisa’s empty glass.

“Whiskey,” she replied.

He quickly dumped a couple splashes over the ice already in the glass before continuing down the bar. “You really won’t believe me,” Mel insisted.

“Oh my god, Mel. Just say it already. Was it the Mayor of Pittsburgh? He’s, like, halfway cute, but still kinda douchy.”

“It was Sidney Crosby.” Mel mumbled.

Lisa leaned closer. “Come again? I thought you said it was the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I know that sure as shit isn’t true.”

“What? I’m not good enough for Sidney Crosby?”

“Honey, no one is good enough for Sidney Crosby. He’s got eyes for the puck and only the puck. I’m halfway afraid he’s gay. It’d be a huge blow to womankind.”

“I’m totally telling the truth, Lisa. He came into the office a few days ago to meet with someone and told me that he’s the one who waved at me.”

Lisa looked at Mel like she was full of shit. When Mel returned her gaze without flinching, Lisa’s jaw dropped. “Ho-ly shit. You’re for real. It really was him.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” Mel took a long draw off her cosmo.

“So, he comes in the office, sees you, walks up and says, ‘I want to bone you.’”

Mel blanched. “No! He was polite and then called the office for me two days later, asking if I remembered him from Whim. When I told him I would have remembered if I saw Sidney-flipping-Crosby at a night club, he said that he was the one who waved at me.”

“Because he wants to bone you,” Lisa reasoned, knocking back the whiskey in her glass in one swallow.

“I thought we established that he has eyes only for the puck. Or for penis.”

“Maybe he’s just really good at keeping those hookups under cover. I bet Super Mario taught him all the tricks of the trade.”

Mel laughed. “So, we went from him being asexual to homosexual to being a horndog who bangs every chick in sight?”

“I didn’t say every chick in sight. Maybe he’s choosey and he just wants to bang you.”

“Highly unlikely,” Mel replied with a roll of her eyes.

“He called you. Went out of his way to call you,” Lisa said. “Jesus, you have to pursue this. I need to live vicariously through you. I love Don, but he’s no Sid.”

Mel shook her head and finished off her drink. “Don treats you like a princess on a pedestal, Lisa. Don’t complain. And I’m not pursuing Sidney Crosby. He’s out of my league.”

“Yeah, but Don doesn’t have an ass like that. And abs like that. And a chest...”

Mel sighed. “Yeah, he’s fucking hot. It’s overwhelming.”

“At least cop a feel for me,” Lisa said, her face serious.

Mel burst into laughter. “If the opportunity presents itself without fear of being hit with a restraining order, then I’ll cop a feel for you. Any particular body part?”

Lisa smirked. “Gotta go for the package. I wonder if he’s hung.”

“You are sick, Lisa,” Mel said through her laughter.

***********************************

Mel couldn’t concentrate. He was in Mike’s office. Sidney Crosby was in Mike’s office. And her office was right next to Mike’s. It was smaller and the walls were lined with filing cabinets, but it was still right next to the office that currently held Sidney Crosby’s delicious body.

She stared at her computer screen. Stock symbols were flashing in green and red as her system updated each second. She should have been working on compiling information on a large trust they just opened for a client, but she couldn’t focus on anything other than the fact that there was a wall between her and Sid the Kid and he’d been in there for over an hour.

The phone ringing made her nearly jump out of her chair. Mike’s name was displayed on her caller ID. Her stomach flopped over and she answered.

“We need to open accounts to move everything over. We’ll need to do a Q & A on the annuity before we decide what we’re going to do. Think you can pull together some paperwork and overnight it so Sid gets it tomorrow?”

“Sure, I’ll get to work on it right now.”

“What? Oh wait, hold on.” Mike said before pressing the receiver to his shoulder. She could hear Sid’s voice and then Mike’s respond.

“What do you have on your plate right now?” Mike asked her.

“The McCallister trust, but it’s not pressing. What do you need?”

“Think you can draw up the paperwork right now. I’ll send our new client in so he can give you all the details.”

“Wait, what? Now? You’re sending him in here now?”

“Is that okay?” Mike asked.

Mel looked down at her wardrobe. She was wearing a black sheath dress that hit mid-thigh and a white cropped suit jacket with basic black pumps. It wasn’t exactly her most flattering outfit, but she’d had no idea she’d be entertaining Sidney Crosby in her office.

“Uh, sure. Yeah.” She stood up and started shoving the paperwork on her desk into a drawer.

“Great, we’ll be right over.”

Mike hung up and Mel frantically ran over to snatch her coat off the chair in front of her desk and throw it on the hanger on the door. Just as she turned back to the open doorway, Sidney Crosby was in front of her. “Hi,” he said. And then he gave her that stiff, dorky wave that she remembered from the club.

“Here you go,” Mike said, gesturing for Sid to enter Mel’s office. “I’ll leave you in Melanie’s capable hands.”

Sid smiled and extended his hand to her while responding, “Thanks, Mike. I appreciate it.”

“Hi, nice to see you again,” Mel said, shaking his hand. It was big and rough and strong. And it made her swoon. He was too perfect. “Please, have a seat.”

Mel hurried over to her side of the desk as Sidney seated himself in the armchair across from her. “Thanks for taking the time to help me. I’m the worst at paperwork.”

“No problem.” Mel flashed him what she was sure had to be the most awkward smile ever. “Let me just pull up the forms here and we’ll go through them together.”

“Nice view,” Sid said, nodding toward the window to her right. Mel look outside. The building overlooked a few shorter ones and the North Shore. You could see PNC Park and the rolling hills of green dotted with houses to the right of it.

She smiled at him. “Yeah, it is nice. I guess I take it for granted since I see it every day.” Mel glanced at him and saw the corner of his mouth lift in the slightest smile. Quickly, she looked away, arranging his statement in front of her so she could pull information off it to complete his paperwork. Sidney Crosby was dangerously attractive. “I’m just going to input your name and address in here and we’ll get started.” She tried to focus on typing the information in, but her fingers were hitting all the wrong keys.

“Did you go to school for this?”

Mel looked up from her computer screen. “Uh, no. I actually dropped out of college before I graduated. I met Mike through a temp job I took a few years ago when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. He thought I was a hard worker, so he offered me this position.”

“Mike told me you are a broker too.” He was watching her intently.

Mel squirmed under the attention. “Well, I took the exams to become a stock broker and investment advisor. And I just got my insurance license a few months ago.”

“Wow, that’s really impressive.”

She chuckled because the statement sounded heartfelt. “It’s not that impressive. Read the material, memorize it, take the task and you’ve got licenses.”

“So, you could do Mike’s job.”

“Oh no,” she replied, going back to the form on her computer screen. “I’ve got the same credentials, but not the experience. Social security number and birthdate?”

“Me?” he asked.

Mel nodded. He responded by reciting the information. She typed everything in as he spoke, trying not to let her fingers get tied into knots.

“Phone number?” she asked, cringing at the idea that she was now in a position of asking Sidney Crosby for his phone number.

He rattled it off easily, watching her face as she typed it in. “So, you go to Whim often?”

She looked up at him, surprised by the turn in conversation. “I, uh, sometimes? I’ve been a couple times in the past three or four months. Is that often?”

He shook his head. “What brought you there?”

Mel tried to focus on the form she was filling out. “Um, just a girls night out sort of thing with my three friends.”

“Single and looking for guys?” he asked, looking at his hands in his lap. She could see that he was feigning disinterest and the vulnerability and dorkiness of it endeared him to her.

She laughed lightly. “No, not really. Two of us are taken.”

Sid’s gaze lifted abruptly. “You?”

“My friend Kate is engaged and Lisa has a boyfriend. Actually, Sophie, our other friend, went out on a couple dates with a teammate of yours she met that first night.”

“Oh yeah?”

Mel nodded. “Brandon Sutter.”

“Yeah, he’s been excited to jump into the dating pool of a new city.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t think it worked out between them. Sophie is a little flighty.” Turning back to the form, she continued to fill out the transfer section. Her mind was only halfway on the task at hand because he kept distracting her with conversation. The most surprising thing of all was how easy he was to speak to and how easy it was to forget he was the best hockey player in the world. “Risk tolerance? Moderate?”

“Whatever you think,” he replied.

“So, why were you watching me at Whim? Did I have something in my hair?” She continued filling out the form on her computer without looking at him.

He laughed lightly. “No. I was intrigued.” When she looked up at him Sid’s eyes were downcast, not looking at her. He almost looked shy or embarrassed.

“Intrigued? Is that a nice way of saying I looked crazy?”

“No,” he laughed again, glancing up briefly before dropping his gaze. “You were sitting at that table by yourself and you looked like you were so far away from everything. I wondered what you were thinking and why you were alone.”

“Want me to solve the mystery?” she asked with a grin.

He nodded, smiling back at her.

“My feet hurt because I wore four-inch heels to a dance club. My friends dumped me for dancing to one of their favorite songs and my other friend was busy chatting up your teammate at the bar.”

“That’s a shame,” he said. “You learn your lesson on the high heels?”

“I did,” she replied. “Investment objective?”

“Keep my money?”

“Growth and income?”

“That sounds way better than what I said.”

“That’s what you pay us for,” she quipped, flashing him another smile. “You need to review this and sign the last page while I print out a couple other forms.” Mel pulled the fresh report off her printer and slid it across the desk to him with a pen.

“This is over my head,” he admitted, looking over the first two pages.

“That’s not unusual. Most clients are overwhelmed by this stuff. But that’s why we’re here. You can always call me if you have questions.” She rattled off the usual lines she served up to clients. After the words left her mouth she remembered that she was speaking to Sidney Crosby. “Besides,” Mel added with a smile. “I don’t know the first thing about ice skating or shooting a puck. That’s all over my head.”

“That stuff is easy,” he said, signing his name on the last page and looking up to Mel. She was printing a couple transfer forms for him to sign. “I bet I could teach you to skate in one afternoon.”

She snorted. “Not a chance. At least not how you skate.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. I bet you’d be good at it.”

“Here. Sign there and there.” She pointed at the signature lines on the transfer forms. “And the privacy policy,” Mel added, pushing it across to him.

Sid signed everything she asked him to.

“Once the accounts are open, I’ll fill in the number and mail you copies.” Mel stood up and smoothed her dress down over her hips and thighs.

He stood as well, extending a hand to her again. “Thank you for your help. Will you call me when the transfers happen?”

She shook his hand. “Of course. I’ll be in touch. And if you need anything you can always call.” Mel plucked one of her business cards from the holder on her desk and held it out to him.

Sid took it and tucked it away inside the pocket of his suit jacket. “I appreciate that. Just don’t get mad when I call you all the time with dumb questions.”

Mel laughed as she showed him out of her office. “I’m not about to tell the captain of the Penguins that he can’t call with dumb questions. Just keep doing what you’re doing during those games.”

He smiled shyly at her and gave one of those awkward waves as he walked toward the exit. “Talk to you later.”

She curled her fingers into fists and walked back to her office. Shutting the door, she leaned against it and squealed into her clenched hands.

A soft knock at the door made her jump. “Mel? Are you okay?” It was Mike.

“Fine,” she called out.

“I saw you oogling my new client,” he teased.

“Shut up, Mike.”

Notes