Chapter 7

The beginning of the week before the big CK show in NY went by quickly as I had a lot of assignments to work on and project meetings to attend. I went to the Dojo on Tuesday night and had Elizabeth over on the next night. On Thursday, she texted me her arrival to her seat in the reserved section of Yost Arena as I was waiting to go onto the ice for our warm up skate.

We were playing the Niagara University Purple Eagles in a rare Thursday night game. Start time was seven thirty five in the evening so it had been a long day already for some of us. After the warm up and National anthem, John and Ian took the ice as the first pair of defence.

One minute into the game, one of their forwards tripped Henry and we got the first power play. Joey and I manned the points for the face off in their zone. Shawn won the draw and got the puck back to Joey, who faked a shot and passed it over to me. I one-timed the puck on the net with Brad providing a screen in front of the net and was pleasantly surprised when it got through the bodies and past the goalie before he reacted. Just like that we were up one to nothing.

Three minutes later they took another stupid penalty and John made them pay with a blast from the point that Jake deflected past the goalie. They took a timeout and settled down for the next seven minutes or so, playing conservatively and focussing on defence.

Joey and I were on the ice just after the halfway point of the first period when they decided to open things up a bit. One of their defenceman, still deep in their zone, tried to hit a speedy forward with a long stretch pass. It was easy for me to step in front of the forward and intercept the pass. I accelerated through the neutral zone as their forwards were all caught going the other way. I deked the flatfooted defenceman standing at their blueline and wound up for a shot as I skated in on the goalie.

The defenceman who made the errant pass went down to block the shot so I flipped the puck over his sliding body to Victor, our third line left winger. Victor made no mistake and one-timed the puck past the sprawling goalie to score our third goal.

The Purple Eagles finally got on the scoreboard with five minutes to go in the period, when they slipped by Sam Cookson, our rookie third pair defenceman, and put the puck by Josh on a nifty two on one play. The period ended in the three to one score.

The coaches stressed defence during the intermission and it worked for most of the second period. With less than a minute left in the period, the Purple Eagles scored on a breakaway when one of their forwards intercepted a pass between John and Ian and went in all alone on Josh. Ian was lambasted by Coach Huntley during the intermission and they were demoted to second pair for the start of the third period.

The third period was tight checking until the last five minutes when the Purple Eagles tried their best to score the tying goal. Joey and I were on for the last minute when they pulled their goalie to give them six attackers against our five defenders. Joey and I tied up their forwards while ours did everything they could to block the shots. With ten seconds left, there was a goal mouth scramble for the puck after Josh made a fabulous save on a tipped shot. I shouldered their centre off his stride and managed to get my stick on the puck and flip it to the corner. Following the puck, I blocked the pass headed back in front of the net and the horn sounded a couple seconds later to end the game.

We shook hands before leaving the ice. I was awarded the first star so I had to stick around to do a quick circle while waving to the crowd. I looked up to see Elizabeth clapping as she smiled down at me before I left the ice. I quickly got showered and dressed before reminding Coach Benson that I would meet the team in Boston on Saturday morning.

"Alright, have fun in New York and remember no partying before tomorrow night," he responded.

"Don't worry, I'll be a good boy," I replied before heading out to meet Elizabeth.

She was waiting by the stairs when I walked up. She went up on her tippy-toes to give me a hug and a kiss before grabbing my hand as we walked out.

"You played very well tonight," she said with a smile.

"Thanks," I replied. "You look gorgeous as always. How was your day?"

"Good, got all my stuff handed in for this week and even finished most of Monday's assignments," she responded. "Are you ready to go?"

"I got mine done as well, but I'll have to try to fit some studying in sometime this weekend," I replied as we walked out of the arena. "Are you hungry?"

"Not really, but you might as well pick something up on the way home for yourself," she said.

We stopped at the nearby Taco Bell to pick up some food to eat at the condo. Once inside, I changed into some sweats while Elizabeth took off her pants and just left her long Michigan jersey on. We went back to the living room where I munched on the food while we watched the sports wrap up. Once I was done, she started nibbling on my ear while I tried to pay attention to the hockey highlights.

"You just finished playing hockey, do you really have to watch more of it?" she whispered in my ear. "Wouldn't you rather find out what I have underneath this jersey?"

"I'm sure it's very pretty, but I need to watch the highlights," I said, patting her leg while trying hard not to change the expression on my face.

I heard an exasperated snort but ignored it as I waited for what she would do next.

She leaned in and whispered, "I'm not wearing anything under this jersey."

I reached for the blanket lying over the back of the couch and put it on her legs while still watching the TV.

"There, now you won't be cold," I said, giving her a quick smile before returning to the TV.

I swear I heard her teeth grinding together before she climbed up onto my lap and looked me in the eyes.

"Michael Stewart, you will pay attention to me and not the damn TV or else!" she growled.

"Why didn't you say you didn't want to watch the highlights?" I asked her innocently, reaching around her to shut the TV off.

Once I put the remote down on the table beside me, I looked up at her and grinned.

"I should just go to bed and leave you out here with your stupid highlights," she said with a frown.

"You're very beautiful when you're angry," I told her as I started to run my hands up her legs. "Now, you were saying something about being naked under this jersey?"

"I don't think you deserve to find out anymore," she replied as her hands grabbed my wrists. "I was going to make our last night alone special since you'll have probably fifty girls vying for your attention starting tomorrow, but maybe I should sleep in the spare bedroom alone so I get used to how it will be in New York."

I slipped my hands around her lower back and stood up with her. She squeaked as she hurriedly wrapped her arms and legs around me.

"You know you'll be with Willow, Asuka and me tomorrow night so let's not be so dramatic," I told her as I started walking to the hallway. "The four of us have some catching up to do but I'm sure they want to see the both of us."

"It's not them I'm worried about," she muttered into my ear as she held on tight.

"They're the only ones who will be spending time with us at night," I said as we entered the bedroom. "I'll be too busy rehearsing or actually in the show to spend much time with anyone else so you'll probably spend more time with the others than I will. I'm surprised you're so insecure about this. You know how much you mean to me. You three are the only ones trying to introduce new girls into the mix."

Before she could respond, I lowered her to the bed and looked into her eyes.

"I love you, and none of us will ever leave you lonely, especially in New York," I said before kissing her softly.

Elizabeth didn't let go of me with either her arms or legs, but rather held on even tighter as our kiss deepened. In time she ground her pelvis up to meet mine as we both got turned on. I spent the next hour making sure she knew how much I wanted her, making love to her in several positions and making her cum each time. We were both exhausted when we were done and quickly fell asleep after we made sure the alarm was set for four o'clock the next morning.

Friday morning came much too quickly for both of us. I put on the coffee pot while Elizabeth had a quick shower. When she was out, I hopped in while she did her hair and makeup. We were out the door by four forty-five and at the Ann Arbor Airport just after five, taking a taxi rather than park the SUV for a few days. After passing through security, we went to sit in the waiting room until our private jet pulled up to the small terminal for our six o'clock flight. I was surprised to see Elizabeth's mom and her brothers' significant others waiting for us.

Elizabeth grinned at me when I looked down at her and said, "Well, why waste money on commercial tickets when they can ride for free with us."

I shrugged and continued to walk towards them. They were all wearing nice outfits that showed off their slim figures while looking very tasteful.

"Good morning ladies," I said when we were close enough. "You all look lovely and surprisingly chipper for such an early start to the day."

"Good morning Michael," Mrs. Ford replied. "We've been up for over two hours and already have had two coffees so we'd better be chipper. Good morning Sweetie, you look tired."

"Morning Mom," Elizabeth said as she sat down beside her. "I stayed up too late last night."

"Oh, Michael couldn't keep his hands off you?" Chase asked.

"No he couldn't," Elizabeth admitted. "Then again, I couldn't keep my hands off him either."

She grinned at the others while I felt my face turning red.

"Oh look, Michael still blushes," Simone pointed out. "Isn't that cute?"

"Michael, you're an underwear model for Calvin Klein, you shouldn't still be blushing about your relationship," Danielle remarked.

"Yeah, well I'm not used to people talking about it out in the open, especially with Elizabeth's mother right here," I retorted. "I know you ladies talk about that stuff as much or more than guys do, but I'm a bit more reserved when it comes to our private lives."

"As you should be," Mrs. Ford agreed, looking at the younger ladies. "We're in a public setting so let's keep your bedroom activities private please. We'll have plenty of time to discuss Michael's prowess later."

Her frown turned into a grin as she looked at me and I just groaned and shook my head. Elizabeth patted my leg before squeezing my hand. Luckily they moved on to another favorite topic – shopping, which allowed me to tune them out while watching the runway out the window.

Our jet landed around twenty to six and taxied to the terminal. Once the jet stopped, the steps were lowered and a stewardess walked into the terminal to find us.

"Hello Mr. Stewart, my name is Marie," the pretty blonde said with a smile. "Do you and your guests have any luggage besides your carry-ons?"

"Yes, we've put them on the cart by the door," I replied, pointing to the loaded luggage rack. "Shall I push it out to the plane for you?"

"Heavens no, Mr. Stewart, you're our VIP passenger!" Marie replied, clearly surprised that I even suggested it. "The ground crew will load the luggage. If you and your guests will follow me with your carry-ons, we will get you settled in the meantime."

I followed the ladies to the plane, enjoying the view from behind as we walked out onto the tarmac and then climbed the stairs. Inside the very luxurious jet were four pairs of captain seats with a table between each pair. Further back was a couch and two matching recliners situated around a low table. A second stewardess, this time a raven haired beauty, was working in the back kitchen area but walked forward as we filed in.

"Good morning, my name is Gayle," she said with a smile. "Please pick any of the captain's seats to sit in for take-off and then once we are in the air you can all relax in the lounge area if you wish. There is stowage space for your carry-ons in the above compartments along the one side or beneath your seats. Once we are flying, Marie and I will be happy to provide coffee, tea and a hot breakfast."

"Thank you Gayle," Mrs. Ford responded before picking one of the seats and slipping her bag beneath the seat.

Simone sat beside her while Danielle and Chase took another pair of seats. Elizabeth led us to a set in the back where we put our bags in the overhead compartment before sitting down. We slid on our seatbelts and Elizabeth looked out the window as the luggage was loaded into the belly.

Soon enough the steps were pulled up and the door shut. The captain came on the speakers and wished us a good morning before letting us know we would be in the air about an hour and twenty minutes plus another fifteen minutes on the ground at the airport in New York. After he was done, the plane taxied to the end of the runway and we were rocketing down the runway less than half a minute later. After we quickly climbed to our cruising altitude, Marie and Gayle came around with a service cart and provided tea and coffee service to the ladies.

"Mr. Stewart, here is a Diet Coke with a glass of ice for you," Gayle said with a smile.

"Thank you Gayle, someone must have tattled," I replied.

"Yes, the people at Calvin Klein let us know your preferences," the stewardess informed me with a grin. "Now, we have pancakes, waffles, French toast, or scrambled eggs; all with toast, bacon and sausage, as well as hash browns."

Everyone placed their order and we were soon eating the very excellent breakfast of our choice in the back lounge area. I had French toast while Elizabeth had waffles. She quickly exchanged a waffle for a piece of French toast before I even had the syrup poured, giving me a grin as she did the deed.

After we were done, we talked about the weekend coming up and what the ladies planned to do while in New York. Elizabeth was going to split her time between shopping with them and hanging out with Willow, Asuka and I. Her mom tried to get us to meet for dinner that evening and then go to a Broadway show afterwards, but I reminded her that Willow and I would be rehearsing for most of the day and into the evening.

"Maybe Asuka and Elizabeth can make it then," she suggested, looking at her daughter.

"We'll see," Elizabeth replied. "The four of us might want to spend some time together since Michael will have to leave for Boston early in the morning and won't be back until Sunday morning."

"Well, maybe tomorrow the three of you can join us," her mother proposed.

"I'll see what they say and what their schedule is," Elizabeth responded. "We'll have to play things by ear for now."

"Alright," her mom said before changing the topic to what shops they planned to visit.

The sun was peeking out of the darkness as we started our decent to LaGuardia Airport in New York. We landed around quarter after seven and pulled into the charter hanger ten minutes later. We had to wait a few minutes for our luggage to be loaded into the limo that was waiting for us, but we were soon on our way to the Plaza Hotel on the south side of Central park.

We arrived at the Plaza just after eight and porters soon had the luggage inside. Katie had arranged for early check-in for all of us so we quickly got everything set in our suite. Elizabeth and I took the limo over to the Calvin Klein Headquarters, while the others stayed behind to begin their shopping excursion. The show was going to be held there on the main floor as it had been for the last few years. The show was for the 2010 spring collection. We were met at the front entrance by Stacey, the woman who I had helped out of the Islander's organization and into a position with Calvin Klein.

"Hey Stacey, this is Elizabeth; Elizabeth, this is Stacey, the woman I helped back in the summer," I made the introductions.

"Hello Elizabeth, it's nice to finally meet you," Stacey said.

"Hi Stacey, it's good to put a face to the name finally," Elizabeth replied.

"So Mike, you ready to get busy?" Stacey asked after turning to me. "Mr. Klein has been anxiously awaiting your arrival for the past hour."

"Well, we'd like to say hi to Willow and Asuka before we get started," I admitted.

"They're both in the auditorium," Stacey informed us. "I'll take you there, if you'd like to follow me."

We followed her down a hallway and into a large room with a stage at one end and a runway leading down the middle of the room. On both sides were rows of seats banked up to allow for easy viewing and it looked like they could hold about eight hundred people at full capacity. On the left hand side of the stage, Willow, Rachel and Crystal were set up along with Willow's piano and their backup band. They were testing the sound levels of the equipment, with Vera and their tech man giving them feedback from the back of the room. I did see Asuka sitting off to the side, watching both the band and the others on the stage.

Mr. Klein was on the stage with some models and various helpers, setting up the lighting and directing the models how and where to walk. Barb, Trisha, Tracey and Molly were among the models I recognized but there were a few that I didn't, including a few male models. Elizabeth and I followed Stacey over to the left hand side of the stage until we were spotted by Asuka and then the others in the band.

"Mikey!" Willow shouted, causing everyone in the room to turn as her mike picked it up and blared it around the room.

"Sorry everyone!" she said sheepishly before jumping down and running to me.

I picked her up and twirled her around as she held onto my neck while we kissed.

"Hi there Beautiful," I said when we came up for air. "You're a sight for sore eyes. I've missed you."

"And I've missed you," she said with a big smile.

I put her down and looked over her head as Asuka walked up to us in a more sedate pace.

"Hey there gorgeous, I've missed you too," I told her.

"Hi Michael, it's good that you're finally here; Willow was going crazy in anticipation of finally seeing you again," Asuka responded.

"Hey, you were just as excited about seeing him as I was," Willow protested, turning in my arms.

"At least I have a bit of decorum in front of all of these people," Asuka stated quietly. "Hi Elizabeth, it's good to see you as well."

"Hi Asuka, thanks for noticing," Elizabeth replied with a grin. "Hello Willow."

"Hi there Elizabeth, I was going to get around to you eventually," Willow responded, grinning back at her. "I'm saving my hugs for you when we can be alone."

I looked up at the stage and saw that we were all being watched, by the rest of the band close by and the models farther away.

"Hey Rach and Crystal, how are you?" I asked.

"Hi Mike, we're good," Rach replied.

"We'll be even better now that Willow will finally get her Michael fix," Crystal added with a wicked grin.

Willow gave her the finger but did finally release me from her grasp and said, "You better go say hello to Mr. Klein, he's been waiting for you for almost an hour already."

"Alright, I'll see you later," I replied, looking at all three of them.

I left the three of them and followed Stacey over to a set of temporary steps leading up to the runway. Mr. Klein met me at the top and we shook hands.

"Welcome Michael, how was your trip?" he asked.

"It was great, Mr. Klein, thanks for sending such an impressive jet for us," I replied.

"My pleasure, Michael," he said. "Do you need a few minutes to freshen up or get something to eat or drink before we start rehearsals?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks," I answered. "I'm okay in what I'm wearing for now?"

"Sure, today is mostly just about letting you get familiar with the sequences and your place in them," he replied. "After everyone is comfortable with what we want, we can have everyone practice getting into a few outfits so we can work on the timing. There will be a final dress rehearsal this evening and maybe again on Sunday morning if things still need work."

"Sounds good," I said.

So, for the next couple of hours we several walkthroughs of the show, with some of the models taking the place of those who had not arrived in New York yet. There was a good mix of men's and women's fashions; sometimes alternating and sometimes a bunch of one or the other. I was usually leading the line of men but a couple of times two of us would go down the runway at the same time. Other sequences had a man and woman model paired up and of course sometimes just the women went out. Mr. Klein was a perfectionist and as such, had much to say about how the models walked down the runway and what we did when we reached the end.

The beginning and the end of the show were meant to highlight the crème of the new collection, so that was where the special models were to be used. None of them were there yet and their identities were a secret. I knew Donna would be one of them but not any of the others. Molly and the others filled in for them as we practiced how we were to interact on the runway.

After a quick break for lunch, we continued our practicing, this time to music, either by Willow or some pre-recorded songs. Mostly we just tried to walk in time to the music, but for one segment, the three members of Willow walked down the runway as they sang one of their a cappella songs. They did their normal dance moves in unison and Mr. Klein wanted me and a couple of the other male models to walk down the runway after they started and then dance with them for part of the song and then walk back to the curtain before the song ended.

"I'm probably not your guy on this one," I told him. "I don't dance, let alone dance in front of an audience."

"Let Sergio show you what he thinks will work and the three of you can at least try it," he suggested.

Sergio was the choreographer that had been helping Mr. Klein with our movements to the music. He had Willow dance and then demonstrated what he wanted us to do. The song wasn't fast and the girls were moving in unison with some sexy swaying to the music rather than intricate footwork. Sergio showed us his interpretation of the male counterpart dance to their dance and I had to admit it looked good when he did it with Willow, even if I didn't think I could pull it off. There were a lot of sexy hip movements either in unison with Willow or directly opposite what she did.

"Okay, let's see you three try it with the girls," Sergio commanded.

As I predicted, I looked nothing but awkward, while the other two did much better with Rach and Crystal behind us.

"That wasn't very good," Sergio stated.

"Let me try something," Willow suggested. "Those four can do the dance as Sergio demonstrated while Mikey and I do something a bit different."

Mr. Klein and Sergio agreed so she told me walk up beside her once we got to the end of the runway and she would demonstrate what she had in mind. The three singers switched to small headset mikes before we continued. They took it from the top of the song and I did as she directed, moving to her side while the other two started their dance with Rach and Crystal.

Willow moved around me while doing her dance and I just stood there and turned my head to keep her in my sight. She draped herself around me on one side and then twirled around my back to my other side. As she continued to sing, she grabbed my hand and lifted it up before twirling around underneath it and then wrapping it around her waist. After a singing a line while looking up at me, she twirled away, unwrapping herself from my arm and continued dancing and singing around me.

She did the same thing on my other side and then stood in front of me before putting my arms around her as she ground her butt back against me. After a bit, she moved behind me and used her hands on my hips to start them swaying to the beat of the music. Once I was moving how she wanted, she moved her hands to my arms and got them moving as well. Before the song ended, Willow had me moving my feet a bit to accompany her as she moved us around the front of the runway.

"Not bad at all," Sergio said when the song ended. "It needs a few simple adjustments and some practice, but I think it could work."

"I agree," Mr. Klein added. "Why don't we move on to the women's section with the others while Willow and Michael practice off to the side for a bit?"

Willow and I nodded and moved over in front of where the band was set up. Vera played the song through a small speaker on stage so that the girls didn't have to sing. We figured out the place in the song where I would come up beside her and started our dance sequence again. Since she didn't have to sing and the music was much quieter, Willow talked me through the moves and Sergio added his suggestions over the next hour or so. When they both were satisfied, and the others watching agreed it was much better, we tried it again on the runway with the others.

"Much better," Mr. Klein reacted favourably. "A bit more practice over the next couple of days and it should be quite good."

"We'll practice as much as we can," Willow assured him.

"Good, let's go through the entire show one more time and then break for dinner," Mr. Klein suggested. "We will have the dress rehearsal this evening."

Without too much groaning, everyone got ready to practice the show one more time. When we got to the end, the final segment was to have a pair of females accompany a male model down the runway while the band played one of their slow songs. I was to take the lead with two of the super models and then each of the others would follow. There was steps in place at the end of the runway for us to continue out of the auditorium and then the three of us would walk around to the back stage so that I could do a final walk alone and then two super models could escort Mr. Klein out for his bow to the audience to end the show.

We finally got through the walkthrough without any major disruptions and were led to another big room set up with a buffet for dinner. The trio and I were joined at our table by the rest of the band as well as the models that we knew. It was impossible to have a private conversation so we just talked about the band's tour and what the models had been doing.

The tour was already a success, with sold out shows in the larger venues in each in Eastern Canada. They had also done a couple of the morning shows and Letterman while they were here in New York and garnered great reviews in the papers and the entertainment shows afterwards. After Sunday's fashion show, they were off to Winnipeg, Manitoba to finish off the western part of their Canadian tour before visiting southern California to do some TV shows there.

Barb and Trisha had taken Tracey, the younger model I had done an impromptu photo shoot with when I got Stacey a job at Calvin Klein, under their wing. They moved her into their apartment and helped her with her modelling. Stacey was now their model coordinator for Calvin Klein and their unofficial agent for other gigs around town.

Molly was still staying in my new London house when she was in England. Her career was taking off and her name was often mentioned when the topic of new supermodels was discussed. As was always the case when we met up, it was hard for both of us not to show how much we wanted each other to the others at the table. She was sitting across from me beside Elizabeth, while Asuka and Willow were on either side of me. I must have missed a look that passed between Elizabeth and Willow, because they both leaned over to Molly and me at the same time to whisper in our ears.

"Michael, you have to put poor Molly out of her misery very soon," Willow whispered. "She's been very patient but the poor girl is going to explode if you don't take care of her."

I looked quickly at Willow and saw nothing but a smile before looking over at Elizabeth in time to see Molly's face light up as Elizabeth informed her. Molly looked at me with a careful inquiring look and, when I nodded, she gave me such an adoring smile that I knew that this wasn't going to be a onetime event.

"First Asuka and I get you tonight," Willow informed me, forcing me to break up our moment as I turned to look at my blonde beauty. "We'll make sure Molly visits Ann Arbor soon."

"Of course," I replied as she grinned at me. "You three always come first."

"And don't you forget it," Asuka said, squeezing my leg under the table.

"As if you three would ever let me," I rebutted, "as if I ever could forget any of you."

That got me smiles from both of them while Elizabeth and Molly just smiled from across the table.

We had to drop that conversation as others at the table wanted to talk to us. The powers to be left us alone for another twenty minutes before gathering us up for the next phase.

The dress rehearsal was organized chaos. The amount of costume changes was staggering so there was at least one assistant for every model plus several hair and makeup people hovering around for every change. They split the back room into men's and women's areas using some curtains and then each model had an assigned area to change. There were several times during the show when I had to speed change with the help of my assistant Carly. The only time I stepped behind a small curtain was to change the underwear or swimsuit I was wearing. The rest of the time it was out in the open if I was just changing pants and my shirt.