Chapter 75

Over the next couple weeks, the team wasn't winning. In fact they won only two games out of 7. Karen knew not to talk about the game with Sidney unless he wanted to talk about it. She saw his frustration not only on the ice but at the house too. She thought about staying at Maggie's when there was home games, but she didn't want to aggravate the situation. She knew what he was going through but still couldn't really help him.

They decided for Friday the 19th that all four of them would go out for dinner. Both Natalie and Karen had the weekend off and the guys only played Wednesday on the road and then at home on Saturday night.

During the week, Karen kept reassuring Natalie that the date would go fine and couldn't help but laugh at how nervous she was. She had talked to Sidney and he said Max was acting the same way when he talked to him after practice.

Finally Friday came and the guys were happy to head out with the girls for an evening and not deal with what was going on with the team. They had won in Atlanta but Karen saw the frustration building with Sidney with the fight he was in. It was their third win in 8 games and she was glad to give him a night away and hopefully he wouldn't think about it during dinner. Natalie had driven up with Karen Friday after work and would just go back down with her on Monday morning. When they got up to the house, Sidney was sitting on the couch watching tv. Karen went to join him as Natalie said she was going to take a short nap before tonight.

"Is she still nervous about tonight?" Sidney asked as he put his arm around her.

"Yeah. It's funny though, they flirt like they've known each other for years yet every time I saw her today she kept mumbling 'what did I get myself into'."

"Well the guys and I had fun with Max today at practice. We would just say her name and he would miss shots or trip over his own skates."

"Tonight should be really fun."

Sidney turned off the tv "I could think of another fun thing to do before dinner."

"And that would be?" Karen said smiling at him.

"Well we both need a shower before we go."

"Um, didn't you shower after pracitce today?"

"Yeah, but I missed a few spots."

"Ok, so if we get our shower now that still leaves a couple of hours before Max gets here."

"Well after our shower, we'll just get dressed really, really slow."

"I'm not going to win this am I?"

"If you come upstairs with me, you will definitely win" Sidney said standing up and offering his hand to her.

Karen stood up and grabbed his hand "exactly how many times will I get to win?"

"As many times that you can handle" he said before leaning in and capturing her lips for a heated kiss. He didn't let her answer him, instead Sidney led her out of the living room and up the steps to the bedroom.

Karen was happy that he was in the mood to have some fun. The past couple of weeks, she tried to get his mind off of the team and losing but he didn't seem to be in the mood. She couldn't blame him but she didn't want to lose what they had together and she felt like it was slowly slipping away. Karen was brought out of her thoughts when Sidney's hands grabbed her hips and tightly pressed her body against his. She could feel his growing erection and couldn't wait to get into the shower with him.

Karen started to get undressed and when Sidney would help her, she would slap his hand away and tell him he had his own clothes to take off. She kept teasing him as she peeled off her clothes slowly and as soon as Sidney started to undress his cell phone rang. Karen smiled and blew him a kiss as she walked into the bathroom. Every couple of minutes, she would throw out an article of clothing towards him. When she threw him her bra and panties, she heard him tell who he was talking to that he had to go and she slipped under the running water. Soon enough, Sidney had taken off his clothes and joined Karen under the water.

"What kept you studly?" she said as she felt Sidney's hands roam over her body.

"Something that will never keep me from you again" he said kissing her neck from behind.

"Can I get that in writing?" she said leaning into his kiss.

Sidney moved Karen and had her face the wall. She put her hands up against it and felt the sensations of his mouth all over her neck, shoulders and back. His hands moved to the front of her body and lightly touched from her breasts down to her mound. He cupped her, rubbing feverishly over her until he inserted a couple fingers inside of her. Karen put her forehead against the wall letting her body loose control to the feelings Sidney was stirring inside her. Before she knew it, her orgasm came screaming out of her. Sidney removed his fingers and entered inside her in one swft motion. Karen's fingers tried to claw into the tile wall as Sidney pounded into her from behind. They way he kept hitting her spot over and over, Karen knew she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer and after a few more hard thrusts, another orgasm rocked through her body. When Sidney felt the tightness around him, he couldn't hold back his own orgasm and came deep inside her. He leaned up against her back and stood there holding on to her until both of them settled their breathing down.

"I hope that's what you had in mind."

"Definitely."

Sidney pulled out of her and turned her around to kiss her. Karen grabbed the soap and began to lather it washing both herself and Sidney. While she was doing that, Sidney grabbed the shampoo and washed her hair then his own. When Karen got rinsed off, Sidney playfully pushed her out of the way and got under to rinse off himself. She laughed and lightly pushed him back only to have him come back to her and push her back against the wall. He looked into her eyes and smiled at her before diving in for another kiss. Sidney lifted her leg and held it on his hip as he stepped closer into her body. Karen moved her hand from his chest to his cock and roughly rubbed over it. He didn't take long to become hard again and Karen gasped when she felt him inside her. She loved when he pounded hard into her and let all his inhibitions run loose, especially on her. Soon enough, their orgasms returned and Karen laid her head back on the wall and closed her eyes as she felt the hot liquid inside her. Sidney put her leg down and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her.

"Baby, not to interrupt this moment but could you turn the water off, it's turning cold" Karen asked with a shiver to her voice. Sidney kissed her and then let her go to turn off the water. When he came back over to her, she was grabbing for a towel but Sidney got to it first. He brought her out of the shower and had her stand on the rug. He dried her off and then wrapped the towel around her. She leaned up and kissed him as she took the towel out of his hands and tightly tucked in the ends before walking out of the bathroom. Sidney got a towel and dried himself off. When he was finished, he wrapped the towel around his waist and joined her in the bedroom. He stood in the doorway and just watched Karen look through her closet for what she was going to wear tonight. He watched the way she moved, how she stood back and looked at everything. Sidney couldn't help but smile at her. Karen found the outfit to wear and as she turned around she saw Sidney staring at her. She smiled back to him and went to put her clothes on the chair.

Sidney walked over to her and put his hand on her waist "do you know how beautiful you are to me?"

"I have an idea, but why don't you tell me."

"You don't try to be, it's like it comes natural to you. The clothes you wear, they way you wear your hair, your make up is flawless and it just brings out your natural beauty. You present yourself with confidence. I have never seen that with any woman until now."

"Ok, is one of us going somewhere or are you planning to never see me again? Why are you talking like this?" Karen asked in a quiet voice.

"Neither of us is going anywhere and I plan to see you for the rest of my life. I just wanted you to know what I see in you when I look at you" he said as his hand caressed her cheek. His hand went to the back of her head and brought her closer to him as their lips met in a soft yet passionate kiss. He walked her over to the bed and Karen took off his towel. Sidney undid her towel and let it fall to the floor. She got on the bed and laid down, waiting for Sidney to join her. He crawled on top of her and Karen spread her legs to let him fit closer to her. After three weeks of therapy on her knee, it was back to wear she could move it comfortably. They laid there making each kiss last longer than the one before. Sidney didn't feel the need to rush this round as he took it as slow as he wanted to. Karen lifted her hips and slowly grinded up into him. Sidney took the hint and grinded himself back into her, making himself become hard. Karen couldn't stand waiting any longer and reached down between them, putting him at her opening. Sidney obliged and entered her until her couldn't go any deeper. She put her hands on his hips and moved with him as he pumped in and out of her slick opening. Karen began to whimper her feelings the more Sidney moved inside of her. It was like he couldn't get enough of her the way he would milk every last thrust into her. Karen felt her body start to tense up and knew her third orgasm was building deep within her. Sidney sensed she was close and began to pump faster to draw it out of her. Karen squeezed his hips and her fingernails dug deep into his skin as her body shook hard underneath him. Sidney rocketed a couple more hard, deep thrusts until he came shooting into her for the last time. He collapsed on top of her and Karen wrapped her arms around him.

Sidney lifted his head and looked deep into her eyes "I love you baby."

"I love you too" she said as her fingers traced his jawline.

"As much as I hate to move off of you, I guess we need to get ready."

Karen looked at the clock and saw it was 5p "yeah considering Max will be here in an hour."

"Trust me, he'll understand why we're late."

"I'm sure he will stud."

Sidney kissed her as he rolled off her and sat up. Karen got up and grabbed her bra and panties going into the bathroom. She came out 10 minutes later with her hair pulled back with a clip and her make up done. Walking over to her clothes, Sidney stopped her and kissed her cheek before heading into the bathroom himself. When he emerged a few minutes later, Karen was dressed and putting on her jewerly.

"I am going downstairs and see how Nat is doing."

"Ok, I'll be down in a few minutes."

Karen kissed him quickly and walked out of the room. Sidney got dressed and fixed his hair, joining her a few minutes later. As he got downstairs, he went to the kitchen to get a drink of water and heard the girls talking in the guest room.

"I can't do this."

"What do you mean you can't do this? Nat...Sid and I will be there with you. Why are you so nervous about this? It's just a leisure dinner with friends, just look at it that way."

"I don't know why I am so nervous alright." Natalie looked over at Karen who happened to be laughing at her best friend "I don't find any of this funny."

"Nat, you like him and it's scaring you that you might have finally found someone to make you happy. Let your guard down just for tonight and see what happens."

Just then, there was a knock at the door and Karen looked at Natalie "I need 10 more minutes then I will be ready to go."

"Ok. If you need anything, just yell" Karen said before walking out of the room and into the living room. She saw Max standing, talking to Sidney and she smiled when he turned around "beautiful flowers Max."

"When I saw them I instantly thought of Natalie. Is she ready?" he asked with hopeful eyes.

"Yeah, she'll be just a few more minutes. You need to relax Max, you look just as nervous as she does."

"I am. I want to make a good impression."

"Well the flowers are a good start" Natalie said coming into the room. Max smiled and handed them to her as Karen walked over by Sidney "how did you know that Tulips were my favorite?"

"I didn't. I was looking over all the flowers and the Tulips just stood out to me. They're beautiful yet simple."

"I'm simple?" Natalie questioned.

"Simple as in natural. They have a natural beauty to them yet they always get passed over. You don't try to be something you're not. You stand out because you're naturally beautiful too."

"Did you guys rehearse this at practice today?" Karen whispered to Sidney.

"I swear we didn't baby. You said they acted like us but this is just scary" he whispered back.

"They start to go at it and I am calling an exorcist."

"I think they're going to be fine" Sidney said giving Karen's waist a squeeze.

"Nat, why don't we go put those in water so we can go?"

"Ok." They head into the kitchen to find a vase and came back out a minute later ready to go. They headed out and got into Sidney's SUV. Max had talked Sidney into taking them to Red Lobster because it's usually dimly lit and has a date atmosphere for dinner. He had called ahead so they could get a booth in a corner and not get hassled. On the drive over, Sidney held Karen's hand and smiled to her nodding his head to the backseat. Karen glanced back and smiled when she saw Max and Natalie locked together in a sweet kiss. She turned around and felt Sidney squeeze her hand as they continued to the restaurant.

When they reached Red Lobster, they got out and headed inside. Not waiting long, the hostess showed them to the booth and the guys let the girls in first and then sat in beside them. Soon the manager came over to greet them and told them if they needed anything during their dinner to call upon him. Sidney and Max was gracious and humored him. After ordering their drinks and dinners, they all settled in for their evening.

Sidney and Max started to talk about practice and Karen put a stop to it. He kissed her cheek and they changed the subject.

"How's your knee Karen?" Max asked.

"Its gotten better. The swelling has gone down tremendously with this new medication but I think there's still some fluid around the joint."

"You still think there's the possibility of surgery?" Natalie asked her friend.

"Yeah, I can't keep walking around on it with all that in there. But I'll see what the doctor says in a couple weeks at my next appointment."

"We'll deal with it when we need to baby."

"I know."

"It'll be ok Kiki, we'll all be here to help you afterwards."

"Ok, I need to ask....how did you get the nickname Kiki?" Max wondered.

"Yeah, I kind of wondered that too" Sidney added.

"Well one night at the house when all of us girls were together and drinking rather heavily..."

"Why doesn't that surprise me" Sidney said which got a look from Karen.

"...anyway, Liz started playing this name game where you say a word and the next person rhymes another word with it. Well she started with the word beak and we were making up words when we ran out and Sheril said keek. Being her drunk self, she kept saying the word over and over again until I told her to stop and she looked at me and pointed and laughed saying it until she came out with Kiki. It just stuck from there."

"I may need to find another nickname for you baby."

"The way you talk about her in the locker room Sid, the whole team could find a few nicknames for her."

"Like what Max?" Karen asked somewhat stunned.

Max saw the look Sid was giving him and decided to play it off "nothing bad Karen, anyways, what is said in the locker room stays there."

"Nice try Max" she said turning to Sidney "as for you, I thought you didn't talk about your personal life?"

"I didn't talk about our personal life, just the highlights."

Karen looked at Sidney then turned to Max "has he described in detail about certain nights we've had?"

"Only one."

"Oh god, please tell me it wasn't..." Karen said shaking her head before looking at Sidney.

"Which one?" Natalie was just as curious to find out.

"Alright, so I told them about the night after the game when we went into the showers at the arena. That night we played the drinking game at your house and Max brought it up to make us drink, some of the other guys found out and started in on me about it. I had to give up the details."

"I don't believe you" Karen said then started laughing.

"Sorry baby, but we're guys. It was bound to happen."

"See what you have to look forward to" Karen told Natalie.

"Oh I don't think that would ever happen, right Max?"

"Never" Max said kissing her.

He broke apart from her when their food came and they continued to talk as they ate. When they were finished eating, they stayed around for a little while longer having a few more drinks until they were ready to head back to Karen's house.

When they got back to the house, it was nearing 11p and Max didn't want to leave Natalie just yet. Karen invited Max to stay if he didn't feel like driving home. He just smiled and went inside with them. Sidney went upstairs to change and Karen went to the kitchen for a drink of water. AS she got back to the living room, she saw Max and Natalie on the couch kissing and she walked upstairs to change her clothes.

Natalie broke the kiss "wait Max, I think we need to slow down."

"Ok, I won't pressure you but can you honestly tell me that you don't feel this attraction too? I haven't been able to think of anything else but you."

Natalie got up and paced around the room "I do feel it Max, I just don't want us to jump into anything this early and then have you decide that I'm not what you want."

"There's no one else that I want. When we met during the playoffs last year I started to feel something then. After going back home for the summer, I thought about you on a regular basis. I thought that night at Pops was my chance and I didn't want to let that chance go."

"I don't want to be another notch for you. If we start this, we go all out. I want a relationship with you, not just a casual dating thing."

"I want the same thing, you and me. We can go as fast or slow as you want it."

"Good" Natalie smiled at him before grabbing his shirt and pulling him to her "we'll take it slow after tonight." She brought his lips down to hers for a searing kiss. When the kiss ended, she took his hand and led him to her room.