[twenty-nine]

Lillianah's POV

I watched as our chests rose and fell at the same quick pace. I rolled over on to my side after taking a few deep breaths and tangled my fingers in with his chest hair. "That was exactly what I needed, thank you Max." "It's going to be weird having sex without worrying about your ankle," he laughed wrapping his arm around my shoulders pulling me in closer to him. "So are you going to finish out the trip with us, or do you want me to get you a flight home tomorrow?" "Where's your next game?" "Philadelphia." An idea popped into my head, and as my life was changing for the better, I knew this would be something that I would want to do. It's something most couples do isn't it? "Do you want to meet my parents?" His grip around me tightened and he pulled me on top of him, my cast leaning against his calf. "Of course I want to meet your parents, they do know about me right?" A smile crept on to my face and I leaned down and kissed him. "All they know is what I told them back in January when I ran," kiss, "I haven't talked to them since," kiss, "they're going to love you," kiss, "just like I do." "Lil, I love you too." A huge smile crept over my face, it sounded so natural to hear him say that to me.

Once again I was woken up by a hand running over my hair. "Max, ten more minutes, please?" I rolled on to my stomach and wrapped my arm around his waist. Suddenly the stroking of my hair stopped and his weight on the bed shifted, trying to get out of my reach. "Max!" I moaned just wanting some more sleep. "Lil?" His accent isn't that thick. I rolled over and rubbed my eyes only to see Kris sitting on my bed. I quickly looked down, happy to see the blankets were still covering my naked body. "What are you doing in here? Where's Max?" "He had to go talk to coach, he wanted me to make sure you were awake, we have to leave in twenty minutes for the airport." I stayed there waiting for Kris to get up and leave, so I could get up and get ready, but he didn't budge. He stayed starring down at his hands in his lap. "Is something wrong Kris?" "Oh no, nothing, sorry I'll leave now." I waited until the door clicked behind him to get up and get ready. 

Once in the lobby I felt a strong grip around my waist from behind me. I leaned my head back onto his shoulder and felt him kiss my neck. "I tried waking you up this morning, but you wouldn't have any of that," he laughed kissing me again. "And sorry for sending Tanger to wake you up, sounded like you thought it was me." "Um, well yeah, he was running his fingers through my hair, how could I not think it was you." I laughed, I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but Max's grip around me got tighter and he kissed me before walking away. I almost fell, but I managed to hold myself up on my crutches. I looked over my shoulder to see Max walking around, probably looking for Kris. Was he mad?

Max's POV

"TANGER!! What are you doing right now?" I ran after him down the hallway. "Nothing, what's up?" "Can you go make sure Lil is awake, we have to leave soon and coach wants to talk to me right now, here's my room key. Thanks." I ran off down the hall toward the elevator and headed down a floor to Coach Therrien's room. I lightly knocked on the door only to have it open a few seconds later. "Come in Maxime." I followed him into the room and he motioned for me to take a seat on the coach in the corner of the room. "Well, I want to throw you on the top line tomorrow night. You, Crosby and Satan. Maybe even toss you into the second line too. Do you think you're ready to play over twenty minutes?" "Yeah, I think I am. You can put me wherever you want coach, as long as I'm logging minutes I'll be fine. I honestly think the chemistry between Crosby, Satan and myself is the best, but whatever you think is the best for the team is what I will do." A smile, a rare one at that, crept on to coach's face and he leaned back into the chair he was sitting on. "So that's settled, one other thing. Who's the girl?" Now it was my time to smile. "That's my girlfriend, she was having some issues back in Pittsburgh and needed to get out of the city so I flew her out. I hope that's okay." His eyebrow raised up. "Girlfriend Maxime? Is that why you've settled down in the locker room these last few weeks." "Yeah I guess you can say so," I laughed and he got up from his chair and showed me to the door. "See you on the plane." I turned around and smiled before heading back down to the lobby.

I saw her hunched over on her crutches and walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She straightened her back and placed her head on my shoulder. At that moment I wanted to tell her all the reasons I loved her, what she did to me that made me fall in love with her. How she made me feel when we first met, how I felt so stupid around her. How it took me six months to grow the balls to even talk to her. Diana Ross filled my ears and I kissed her neck. "I tried waking you up this morning, but you wouldn't have any of that, and sorry for sending Tanger to wake you up, sounded like you thought it was me." I allowed my lips to brush over her neck, her hair smelt like strawberries as usual and it took ever muscle in my body to not drag her back up to the room."Um, well yeah, he was running his fingers through my hair, how could I not think it was you." Excuse me? She was laughing, which meant she didn't think it was that big of a deal, but Tanger's been acting weird around Lillianah lately, now he's running his fingers through my girls hair? I quickly kissed her cheek and headed off to find him. 

"Where is he hiding?" Flower looked at me like I was crazy. "Bathroom," he finally muttered out when he saw how serious I was being. I thought it was kind of strange he knew exactly who I was talking about. I headed into the bathroom to see Tanger washing his hands. "Hey Tanger, how's it going?" "Oh you know, just going, tired." I looked at him through the mirror and I ran water over my hands. He kept his eyes focused on his hands. "I asked you to make sure Lil was awake, not to climb into the bed with her." He stopped washing his hands and looked up at me. "I didn't climb into bed with her." "Sitting on the bed and running your fingers through her hair is the same damn thing. What's going on Tanger? What was that about?" He turned the water to the sink off and grabbed a few paper towels. "I just want to be there for her when you break her heart like you have done to the dozens of other women I have seen you with." He threw the paper towels away and walked out of the bathroom. I stood there dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say, all I knew was that I wanted to beat the crap out of him.

Lillianah's POV

I watched as the guys started leaving the hotel lobby out to the bus. I turned around to see where Max went and Kris walked by. A sad smiled crawled across his face and he whispered, "I'm sorry," as he walked by. Confused I watched him as he continued walking and finally saw Max appear across the lobby. He approached me with a dozen or so emotions in his eyes. He placed his hands on either side of my face and opened his mouth to talk, but stopped and thought about what he wanted to say. "Lil, I love you. You are the first woman I have ever felt this way about before. I will never, ever break your heart. Never. I love you, okay?" What was going on? He leaned forward and kissed me passionately before breaking away and grabbing our bags. I could only wonder if this had something to do with Kris. I was so confused. 

I fell back asleep on the plane, knowing in just a few short hours I'd be taking Max to dinner with my parents. Why wasn't I freaking out? There were a lot of things lately that had been confusing me. There were only a few things I was certain about, being with Max kept my mind off the drugs, just being with him made me completely forget about almost relapsing just a few days prior. Then of course there was the big, old age topic of love. I wasn't looking for it, I wasn't asking for it, but it came to me, and I was enjoying it. Of all the men to bring love in to my life, Max was the perfect fit. I felt a hand squeeze on to my thigh and I slowly opened my eyes to see Max sitting next to me smiling, looking at me through his glasses with tired eyes. "Did I ever tell you how I love it when you wear your glasses?" "Serious? I think I look like a dork." "I don't. You look hot," I couldn't help but laugh, I couldn't find the right word, and that's the word that came out. He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss just as the pilot came on over the speakers informing us we were about to land. "Is everything okay? Things seemed weird earlier," I whispered and I kept his face close to mine. "Yeah, everything is fine, I just wanted to tell you I love you and I will do whatever I can to not screw this up, and when we get back to Pittsburgh I will help you start packing up." I tried to keep the expression on my face as normal as possible, but it was a struggle. I forgot about the whole moving in together thing. I was a big mixture of emotions on the topic. Yes I wanted to move in with him, it would be good for the both of us, and just being with him all the time sounds like paradise. But honestly!? 'Hey let's move in together'. Is it really that simply and straight forward? Is there no logic behind it? "Lil?" He laughed snapping me out of my trance. I smiled and kissed him before I would say or do anything stupid. I pulled away and saw his eyes were still closed and a smile was on his face. "Max, go ahead and make fun of me, but you are gorgeous. Scruff on your face, fresh short hair, glasses and a huge smile. You sure are a thing of beauty." He started laughing, which caught the attention of the two guys sitting in front of us. "Not as beautiful as you." How come every time I look at him now all I can hear is Harry Connick Jr singing 'We Are In Love' in my ear?

Max's POV

We were going to be okay, this really was for the long haul. Was I ready to settle down? Was this the girl I was going to settle down with? Well, yeah, I can only hope so. She's perfect, in my eyes she is perfect. I was still filled with rage at the thought that Tanger thought I was going to screw this relationship up. More so that he thought he could sweep Lillianah up off her feet if I break her heart. The boy has balls. I squeezed her hand as the bus pulled up in front of our hotel and I grabbed her bags, helping her off the bus. "When do you get the cast off?" I heard Crosby ask her as he too helped her off the bus. "No idea, hopefully it will only be another two weeks. It, well, it's a pain in the ass," she laughed before hobbling into the lobby. I managed to call ahead of time and book a room so Flower wouldn't get ran out of the room again. "What time are we meeting your parents for dinner?" I asked as we walked into our room. "Oh, um, I don't know, let me call my mom." She smiled when she noticed the balcony and headed outside to make her phone call. I wasn't nervous until that very moment. From what she's told me about her family they were very straight forward, Barbie and Ken type of family. How were they going to accept me? I'm not exactly 'Ken' material. "Not until 7, want to take a nap with me before we get ready?" I turned around and saw her sit down on the edge of the bed, taking her shoe off. "I know of something else we can do." I didn't mean to say that, I knew she was tired, but I couldn't help myself, it just came out. 

She didn't think twice before grabbing me by my belt and pulling me between her legs. Her hands slipped up underneath my shirt in the back and she ran her fingers all over my lower back. If she kept this up I would be ready to go in a matter of seconds. "What do you want me to do to you Max?" Oh wrong question, I don't have that much time to even think. "Make me the happiest man alive." She laughed, in which I soon laughed too. What a lame answer. She unbuckled my belt, unbutton my pants and unzipped them. Her hands wrapped around my waist, resting just above my ass. She pulled me in closer to her and then dipped her hands down my pants, pulling them down. I ran my fingers through her hair and dipped down and kissed her on the lips. She pulled away, "no, no. No touching." She hooked her fingers into my boxers and slipped them down to the ground, all while taking my penis in her hand, making me grow bigger and harder by the second. Satisfied with herself she hopped off the bed and looked around, before walking to the other side of the bed. She crawled back on, on her back and rested her head over the side of the bed, right in front of me. "You have full control, that's why you're the ring leader." She held my penis in her hand before guiding it into her mouth. Wow. There was a sensation I had never felt before, her tongue on the top of my penis instead of on the bottom, her throat was opened up completely to me. I had complete control of depth and speed as well. After a few slow thrusts she would pinch the back of my thigh, forcing me to pull out so she could catch her breath. She took me back in her mouth and I massaged her breasts. This was my new favorite position. Her perfect body, although fully dressed, was lying out in front of me, and she was pleasuring me with her mouth. I threw my head back as I felt myself spill into her. She was very happy with herself as she pulled me down on the bed next to her. "Ready to go meet my parents?" "You're forcing me to sit through a full dinner after that? Baby, I love you, but that's cruel." "Well just think about it this way, that was the appetizer, we'll have our dinner, then come back for dessert." I leaned over and kissed her once more before the nerves re-entered my body. I was quickly becoming a wreck, I was about to meet the parents.