James
“Are you kidding me?”
Kelly’s first words, when she saw me, weren’t exactly joyful. She plunked down beside me in the golf cart and scowled. I switched it on, and we took off down the track. She didn’t say another word.
“Are you okay?” I asked. She was making me nervous. I had prepared a whole speech to say as soon as I saw her, but her reaction had set me back.
“Of course I’m not okay. I was manipulated into doing a day of something I suck at with someone who is supposed to be on the other side of the country.”
“Why are you so upset to see me?”
“I’m in total shock. Would you be happy if I parachuted into your life unannounced?”
“Well, yeah.” I couldn’t think of any place I wouldn’t want Kelly to be with me. She was so cute. In fact, she looked almost exactly the same as she had when I last saw her a year and a half before. Her pretty face, her dark hair, and her tight body hadn’t changed at all. Today, she looked like the perfect golfer in a little black and white outfit. Kelly claimed she couldn’t dress herself, but she always had nice athletic gear.
“What exactly are you doing here?” she asked.
“Supporting Baller. And organ donation, of course.”
“So, the fact that out of everyone here, we get to be partnered is a big coincidence? I think not.”
“Well, no. But it wasn’t all me. Baller told me you were going to be here, so I came. It was kind of a last minute thing.”
“Yes, because if there’s anyone who’s spontaneous, it’s you. It’s practically your middle name.”
Was she going to take shots at me all day? Hey, I knew Kelly as well as she knew me. She burned hot, but she didn’t stay mad long. And fiery was way better than cold. If she was this upset, she was fighting the feeling. I was already having trouble being this close and keeping my hands off her.
It was a shotgun start, and we were beginning on the ninth hole. The two guys we were golfing with were middle-aged businessmen. They were avid golfers and bigger hockey fans.
“I’m shocked that they didn’t publicize you were going to be here, James,” said one of them, Moe Wilson. “It would be an even bigger draw to meet one of the league’s top rookies.”
“The top rookie. You’re gonna win the Calder, for sure,” declared the other one, a guy named Stan Douglas.
“Thanks, but I’m in tough.” Although my numbers were good, I didn’t have the most points. I could have gotten more if I hadn’t been injured in the middle of the season.
“James is a two-way player. The voters have to appreciate what he does at both ends of the rink.” Then Stan remembered we weren’t alone. “Sorry, Kelly, are we boring you with all this hockey talk?”
“Not at all,” she said. “I love hockey.”
“Sure, it’s Ty Ballanchuk’s tournament, right? You gotta be a hockey fan to be here. Anyways, as I was saying, who votes for the Calder? It’s the hockey writers, right?”
“Yes,” replied Kelly.
“Gotta watch out for that Eastern bias. That’s why the Canucks players never win anything; most of the media are already in their jammies and fast asleep when our games are on. And you’re in the Western Conference, so that can be a strike against you right there. But Chicago’s in the Central Time Zone, so that’s in your favour.”
Man, this was boring. All I wanted to do was get back in the cart and talk to Kelly alone. Finally we all finished teeing off and headed down the fairway.
“If you wanted to see me, why didn’t you call and say you were going to be here?” Kelly asked. I could tell she was calming down.
“Because I was worried you’d say no. You were supposed to call me, you know, once you had everything straightened out. Like your job and that stuff. But you never did.”
Kelly made a face. “Yeah, that turned out to be out of my control. The jobs I wanted and the one I could get were not the same.” Her voice was kind of sad.
“So, were you ever going to call me?” That sounded lame the moment it came out of my mouth.
“I figured you had moved on. I heard you were partying up a storm.”
How did she hear about all that? The world was such a small place and too gossipy. Then we arrived at Kelly’s ball. It was beyond frustrating only to talk for a few minutes at a time. The round continued this way, off and on.
Kelly wasn’t a very good golfer. By the twelfth hole, she was improving, but I could tell she was getting frustrated. She drove off the ladies’ tee and came back to join us.
“What about you, Kelly? What do you do?” asked Stan.
“I work for C2C Sports Radio,” she replied.
“Oh yeah?” Moe said. “I listen to that station in my car. Are you on the air?”
“No,” said Kelly with a sigh. “I’m the receptionist.”
There was a short silence, and then Stan chimed in. “Pretty nice perk to be here. You’re a lucky gal.”
“Oh, I know that.”
When she headed down the fairway to take her next shot, Moe asked me directly. “Is that how they get young guys like you to come to these things—by providing female companionship?”
I didn’t want to be rude, so I shrugged him off. But Stan chimed in too. “Got to have something to amuse yourself in between shots. I like those beer girls that come around on the carts, they’re always hot.”
“Hell yeah,” Moe agreed. “But you see, buddy, if you’re a young NHL stud, the hot girl rides in the cart with you.”
“It’s like having your own private ball-washer,” Stan declared, and they both started laughing.
I was getting upset, but luckily it was time to move on.
Halfway round the course, Kelly seemed to be warming up to me. She was talking more and being less sarcastic. The golf part was still frustrating her though. Quilchena was a beautiful course, but it was challenging even for good golfers.
“You’ve got to straighten out your swing,” I told her on the first tee. We had gotten there ahead of Moe and Stan, who stopped at the clubhouse for a bathroom break.
“I thought I had.” Kelly puffed and blew her hair off her face, then fixed her ponytail and cap. She grabbed her driver and bent over the ball. She wiggled around as she got into the correct position, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her ass.
“Let me help you,” I offered. I came up behind her and put my arms over hers.
She turned her head and looked up at me in surprise. “Is this necessary? I think I’m getting it.”
“This’ll be better. It’s that whole body memory thing—I’ll show you the right motion, it’s way easier than explaining everything.”
“Um, okay.”
“Kelly, you need to widen your stance a bit.” She obediently put her feet apart, and I moved closer. My cock started straining toward the groove between her ass cheeks, but this wasn’t exactly the best time to get a hard-on.
Then I moved my arms slightly below hers, but this only put me in contact with the sides of her tits. I tried to resist but finally gave in and enjoyed how good she felt.
“You need to keep your arm straight.”
“Straight.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Keep your head over the ball.” She looked down, and I wanted to kiss the back of her neck. I wanted to kiss her everywhere. Being this close, after wanting her for so long, was killing me.
I cleared my throat. “Take a practice swing, and swivel at the hips.”
As she swung, her ass pushed against my cock and her tits pressed onto my arms. It felt freaking incredible.
“How was that?” Kelly asked.
“Good,” I choked the word out. “Maybe go again.”
She swung again and this time made contact with the ball. It soared perfectly down the fairway. Kelly straightened up, and I let go of her.
“Nice shot,” I told her. I shoved my hands in my pockets to hide the tent in my shorts. Then she turned and looked at me. Her lips were slightly parted.
“Yeah, that was my best drive all day. But unless we want to get arrested for public indecency, I don’t think we should do that again.” She turned and headed back to the carts, where the guys were getting their clubs out.
The front nine seemed to go a lot faster, but I couldn’t wait until we could be alone together.
“Kelly, I feel like we really need to talk—like somewhere private, without a million people around. I can’t skip the dinner, but let’s cut out right after and go somewhere.”
“Yeah, you’re right. All this stop-and-go isn’t exactly conducive to something real.”
“We could go back to Baller’s house, that’s where I’m staying. It’s not too far.”
“Okay,” she replied.
Finally, we got to the last hole.
“Take your time, Kelly,” Moe called out. She was on the ladies’ tee of the eighth hole, and we all watched as she bent over and took a few practice swings.
“I could watch that sweet ass all day,” Moe muttered. Then he poked me with his elbow. “And maybe more than that. We saw you giving her lessons on the first tee.”
Stan snickered. “You’re the man.”
“Amen, buddy,” Moe agreed. “Enjoy the nineteenth hole, James.” They both started laughing.
I was steaming, but I realized that this was my fault too. Kelly had been put in an unnatural situation, because I wanted to see her. She wasn’t famous, and she couldn’t golf or pay for a ticket, so why would she be here other than for her looks? And I shouldn’t have been all over her in public either. Hadn’t Kelly said that was one of our problems in the first place?
“Look, guys,” I said, politely but firmly. “Kelly is a good friend, and I’ve known her for years. She came here as a favour to me and Ty. She’s a hockey player too—she’s the captain of the McGill women’s team that won this year’s national university championship. I should have made all that clear right off the hop, so you didn’t get the wrong impression.”
“Sure thing, James. We’re sorry.” Stan looked over my shoulder. “Sorry, Kelly, for anything untoward we might have said.”
I turned, and she was standing right behind me.
Once we got in the cart, I tried to explain. “I’m really sorry about everything that happened today. You’re right; I should have asked you out directly. And I should have said something to those guys earlier.”
“That’s okay, Jimmy. Unfortunately, sexism is something I’m getting used to at work. But…” she paused and smiled at me. “I didn’t know you knew all about my hockey stuff.”
“Well, sure. I mean, I checked out the final. The game wasn’t online or anything, but I read the game summary. You scored.”
“It was a great season. The championship game is one of my best memories—ever.”
“I sure wish I could have seen it.”
“Really?” Kelly looked the happiest I’d seen her all day.
“Sure, I’ve never seen you in a real game.”
She dropped her gaze. “I wish you could have seen it too. My dad came and a whole bunch of friends and relatives.”
“So, you were the captain?
“Oh, yeah. Clearly, the captain’s not always the best player.”
I reached over and held her hand. “Don’t do that. Don’t put yourself down. The captain is the best person to lead the team, and that’s what you did.”
“Oh wow. That’s so sweet.” For the first time all day, I felt like things were back to normal between us. I pulled her hand up to my mouth and kissed it. And felt something hard.
“Uh, Kelly. Why do you have an engagement ring on?”