The first of twenty-two hockey players lumbered into the dark room in the basement of the Moda Center in downtown Portland, Oregon. It was the inaugural season of the National Hockey League's latest expansion team the Portland Thunder. The city had been working for years at getting a team and since the previous owner of the Moda Center did not like hockey, it had been a difficult task. New owner Barry Melrose, however, couldn't get a professional hockey team in there fast enough!

This was individual picture day and would be the first time the guys would meet the team photographers. Brian had been the lead photographer for several minor league teams and had been the Vancouver Canucks photographer until they hired a new GM that he just couldn't bear to work with. He was thrilled to be in Portland where he'd grown up.

Michal had been a professional hockey photographer for over four decades. Hockey had been his whole life from the time he played in school until the time he played in the American Hockey League while self-teaching his photography skills. He knew everything there was to know about hockey and taking amazing pictures.

Zanna Ray Morrison would round out the full time photography team this year. She had just finished her degree in sports administration with a minor in photography. She'd grown up around sports, mostly baseball but she fell in love with hockey in high school. Being raised in The State of Hockey, AKA Minnesota, she'd gotten plenty of exposure to it. She had been expecting her first year of "work" to be an unpaid internship but the Thunder administration had loved her work so much that they offered her a contract with pay. They knew that another team was going to come along and steal her if they didn't.

"Drew Doughty," the first player said as he introduced himself. Zanna jotted down interesting facts and notes about him as she worked on the bio she would be producing for the website. As she worked her way through the first few players, her nerves began to settle. Despite some of them being world famous athletes who made millions of dollars, they were still just normal guys.

The fifth guy to come in was Milan Lucic, formerly of the Boston Bruins. He had a reputation as an enforcer and he'd drop the gloves and punch a guy in the face (repeatedly) at any time. When he walked into the photo room, however, he was all smiles and friendly and courteous as could be. He chit chatted with her, told her a couple of his great locker room stories and made her laugh.

"Thanks Zanna," he said and shook her hand for the second time before heading out the door.

"Thank you! It was nice to meet you Looch and I'll see you later."

"See ya!"

A couple of the guys were pretty stand-offish and seemed like they were not going to be fun to work with but, for the most part, the guys were nice and down-to-earth. Zanna decided that with five of the players left to go, it was time for a break. She sat down at a table in the room and called her friend who'd been texting her all day.

"Bout time you called me!"

"You know it's my first day working with the guys, right?" she chuckled.

"Yeah… but I was excited to see how it's going!"

"It's going great! I've had minimal supervision today, the equipment is all working great and most of the guys have been super nice!"

"Awesome! Must be some hotties, huh?"

"Yeah, some of them definitely are!"

"Speaking of that, how'd your date with Chris go?"

"It was great… until the end when he thought I should go ahead and invite him in."

"Uh oh…" Unbeknownst to Zanna, David, the next player in her schedule had opened the door and peeked his head in to see if she was ready.

"Yeah, we were saying goodnight and he kissed me… and it was great… but then he's like let's take this inside and I told him I wasn't ready for that. He tried to persuade me and I still said no… He didn't like that answer."

"Dude, you're 22! Are you gonna be a virgin forever?!"

"No, I'm not gonna be a virgin forever! I'm just not gonna give it up to some loser that I know isn't gonna stick around after!"

"Sorry… I know. I didn't mean it like that."

"I know Maura. Don't worry about it. Listen, the next guy will be here any minute so I'm gonna run and get a drink before he's here. Talk to you later." David ducked out and silently shut the door.

"Okay. Later Zee."

"Bye." Tucking her phone back into her pocket, she opened the door and stepped outside. She almost ran right into the man who'd been eavesdropping. "Shit! Sorry!"

"I'm sorry," he laughed. "Totally not paying attention."

"No worries. Are you up next?"

"Yep. Do you need a few minutes?"

"I was just gonna find a water fountain… Do you know where one is by chance?"

"Come on. I'll take you down to one of the break rooms… There's bottles of water and juice and snacks and stuff."

"Oh cool. Thanks."

"Sure." He walked her to the kitchen and she asked him some of the scripted questions while they walked. "I'm David, by the way. But everybody call me Pasta."

"David Pastrnak, right. Nice to meet you! I'm Zanna Morrison."

"Nice to meet you too." She followed him into the team's break room and saw a couple of familiar faces.

"Hey Looch… Anze..."

"Hello."

"Hey!" Looch smiled up at her. "What's up?"

"Just getting some water."

"Cool. You gonna be at our physical training sessions? They start in a couple of days."

"Yep. I'll be there!"

"Awesome. Me and Anze were just gonna go lace up and hit the ice. Do you skate at all?"

"Yeah… but not like you guys," she chuckled.

"You should come out with us sometime. Just for fun."

"Oh yeah! Thanks Looch." Pasta handed her a water and she said see you later to the other two players in the room.

After a long day of meeting and photographing the 22 hockey players, Zanna headed home to her apartment in Sherwood. It was a 45 minute drive through traffic but she had her windows down and music up so she was content. It was a gorgeous August evening and life was good.

Meanwhile, Pasta and his two roommates, Frank Vatrano and Ryan Spooner, were hanging out at their house in southwest Portland.

"What the hell does a guy gotta do to get laid in this city?" Ryan whined. "We've been here like 3 weeks and I haven't gotten any yet."

"Post an ad on Craig's List," Frank chuckled.

"Are you telling girls you're a pro hockey player? That should work."

"Yeah. I tried that a couple of times but no luck. You guys find anything good around here?"

"Not really been trying. What about you, Pasta?"

"Nah. Too busy to worry about it. But… I did find out that a girl we know is a virgin."

"Who?" Ryan laughed. "I don't know any virgins!"

"That photography intern at the rink."

"What? No way. She's in her twenties. There's no way she's never fucked anyone before."

"I heard her talking on the phone today. Said she went out with some guy but she wouldn't have sex with him so it didn't work out."

"Dude, all that means is she wouldn't fuck that guy."

"No! Then she told whoever she was talking to that she's not gonna be a virgin forever!"

"Serious?" Pasta nodded emphatically. "Maybe I outta help her out with that; she's pretty cute. I need to get laid, she needs to get laid… it's a win-win!"

"I saw her walking around with Pasta today," Frank interjected. "Maybe she'll do it with him."

"Maybe we should take bets," Ryan chuckled. "Start a pool. Like we each put in a hundred bucks on whoever we think is gonna get in her pants first. Oh, and another hundred… Like half the pot goes to whoever deflowers her and the other half goes to whoever guessed right who it would be. So a two hundred buck buy-in."

"You're such a dog," Frank laughed. "Count me in!"

***** Saturday June 19 *****

Over the next few days, Ryan discreetly set up the pool and took bets on whom was going to show Zanna the way. He had to figure out who he could trust to keep this to themselves and offer the bets to only those men. If management or the coaching staff found out, that could be disastrous.

One evening after physical training, Looch was sitting with Zanna in the media room while she worked on the website.

"Can I see the picture you're using for my profile?"

"Sure." She pulled up his photo and showed his profile page to him."

"Cool. Looks great!"

"You like that shot okay? It was one of my favorites."

"Yeah. You did good!"

"Thanks," she smiled.

"Well, I better take off. See you tomorrow, Zee."

"Night Looch."

As Zanna was tying up loose ends in her office, Ryan spotted the light on in the room and invited himself in.

"Hey Zee."

"Hey Ryan. What's up?"

"Nothing. Just saw that you were still here. You on your way out?" She nodded and turned off the desk lamp. "I'll walk you out to your car… wouldn't want you to have to walk out alone."

"Oh. Thanks," she smiled politely.

"Sure. So… you and Looch have been hanging out a lot lately, huh?"

"Um… I guess. He's had a lot of good input on the website." She shut and locked the office door and they headed out to the parking structure together.

"Nothing more than that?"

"No," she laughed. "He's married!"

"Oh right," he chuckled at himself. "That makes a difference, huh?"

"Yeah. A big one!" She got the sense that he was trying to ask her out but failing miserably. She had zero interest in him so she wasn't going to make it any easier for him.

"Right..." They reached her car and stopped. "Will you be at practice on Monday?"

"I will be everywhere you guys are all season long!"

"Cool. Well, I'll see you then."

"Night Ryan."

***** Monday June 21 *****

Monday morning the guys all suited up and would be getting photographed on the ice. Zanna was looking forward to working with the goalies most of all. The plan was for her to work with each team member then compare her work to the other photographers. Together they would pick with photos to use for the website, banners, trading cards and the like. There was an off chance that none of her photos would be used but she was confident that many of them would be.

"You ready for me, Zee?" Tuukka Rask skated up to her and smiled.

"I am!" The starting goalie made his way to the crease to get into position. "Pasta's gonna shoot some pucks at you… just do what you do best and try to ignore the camera. We can get some face-on shots in a bit." He nodded in agreement and David Pastrnak began flinging pucks at the net-minder. "Pasta, do a few more glove-side please?"

"You got it." She snapped shot after shot trying to capture the perfect moment. "Okay Tuukka, just a few more. For these, there won't be any pucks. Just eyes on the lens and as intense as you've got." She fired the shutter several more times then called it a wrap. "Perfect! Thanks Tuukks."

"Thank you!"

After shooting the backup goaltender, Looch and a few of the other guys she knew pretty well, it was Patrice Bergeron's turn. He was the soft-spoken captain of the team and he was so easy to work with. He was very handsome and the camera loved him. After him, it was Ryan's turn and she was not particularly looking forward to working with him. He stayed focused for the most part… until the end when he said:

"So, you want some sexy shots?"

"Nope. I think we're good!" She smiled, trying to suppress what she really wanted to say to him and turned to walk off the ice.

"Nice try," Patrick Kane winked at him as they passed each other.

"Bite me."

"Nah. I ain't into you either!" He laughed at his teammate as he stepped onto the ice. "Hey Zee!"

"Hey Kaner! How's it going?"

"Great! How are you?"

"Doing awesome. Ready to shine in front of the lens like you always do?"

"You know it!" Kaner was one of her absolute favorites to work with. He was funny and goofy and not afraid of anything. On the flip-side, he could be serious and focused and give her exactly what she wanted without much effort.

"Okay, now straight-on into the lens… gimme that sexy, kinda cocky 'I know you want me' look that I know you've mastered."

"This one?" He did precisely what was requested of him and looked awesome doing it. The sly smile, the sparkle in the eyes – he had it down.

"Yep. That's the one! Perfect!" A smile brighter than the sun spread across his face and she had to stop and smile back. "You're so adorable," she chuckled.

"Why thank you," he winked at her making her laugh even more. "Okay Zee… who ya want next?"

"Um… Will you send Backstrom out?"

"You got it. See you later."

"Bye Kaner." She changed out the lens of her camera and the memory card while she waited for Nick Backstrom to join her on the ice. She only had four guys left to go and she was looking forward to getting off the ice for a while.

"Hi Zanna."

"Hey Nick! How are you today?"

"Good. Ready to get this over with," he admitted. She knew he wasn't a huge fan of being in front of the camera. He was shy and quiet and had a hard time getting into whatever frame of mind she asked him to be in. "How are you?"

"I'm great! And I promise to make this as easy for you as I possibly can. Okay?" He nodded and would happily accept any direction she could provide him. "So for this first few, I'll be down here behind the net and you'll be shooting at the net." She stood behind a protective sheet of Plexiglas that had holes in it just big enough for the camera lens. "Just focus on being on net… don't worry about me."

Those shots were easy enough to capture of him but when she needed the "look directly into the lens" shots, those were much more challenging. He skated up to her to discuss it.

"I'm sorry, I feel ridiculous."

"Why?"

"I mean I kind of know what you're looking for but I feel weird trying to be… sexy or whatever."

"Nick, on a purely professional note here… you don't have to try to be sexy at all. You are incredibly gorgeous and the camera loves you. Just let go of whatever you've told yourself about not being enough." She wasn't getting the sense that he believed her. "Okay, let's try this…" She took a breath and decided what words to use. "Imagine that I'm the girl you want more than anything in this world." He chuckled and she cocked her head to the side. "Is that so hard to imagine?"

"No! No, not at all! I'm just not great at using my imagination. I'm better with tangible things."

"Work with me here, Nick. Now… Look at me. I'm the girl you want more than any other. You, for whatever reason, cannot speak to me. But you can show me how you feel." Gazing into his green eyes, she saw that she was starting to get through to him. "You want me to see in your eyes how you feel about me. You're a man who goes after what he wants. You're like a big strong lion and I'm a lioness. You want me to see that you're the king of this jungle. The more I look into those gorgeous green eyes, the more I know I'm yours. I don't have a choice… and I don't want one." Completely lost in her words, he gave her exactly the look she wanted. She raised the camera and snapped off a few shots before he could snap out of it.

"Whoa… Did you get it?" She nodded excitedly.

"Told ya you could do it! Great work, Nick!" She started to change out the memory card while he recomposed himself. "Can you send out Artemi next please? He's the last one."

"Yeah. Sure." He skated off the ice still trying to figure out what just hit him. Artemi, who was still working on his English, skated onto the ice for the last photo shoot of the day. He hadn't been there the day of their studio photos so they still had to do those as well.

"Hi Artemi," she smiled at him.

"Hello Zanna," he grinned back. If any of these guys truly interested her on a personal level, Artemi Panarin was the one. He was sweet and friendly and always doing his best no matter what the task was. He was a 25 year old left winger who was born in Russia. He'd been in the United States for a few years now and he was working very hard to learn America's ways. "How are you doing?"

"Great! How are you?"

"Very good. Thank you." His Russian accent was absolutely adorable to her.

"So, Big Zee told me to ask you what your favorite American phrase is." He chuckled and looked away shyly. "What?" she laughed. "What is it?"

"What the fuck," he grinned.

"That's awesome."
"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Very cute."

"You think I am cute?"

"You are cute," she smiled shyly.

"You are cute too."

"Oh!" She blushed. "Thank you! Well… guess we better get to work here."

After his on-ice shots, Artemi helped Zanna pack up and carry the camera equipment back to the studio. He carried the heavier bag along with his stick. Stopping outside the studio door, he held another bag for her while she unlocked the door.

"Thanks Artemi."

"You welcome." They went into the room and she closed the door behind them. "You want help to set up any stuff?"

"I'm just gonna set the camera up on the tripod then we'll be ready to go!"

"What is this?" he asked of some of the lighting.

"They're ring lights. This one is really cool… when you do a close up face shot, it creates this circle of light in the eyes." He looked confused so she decided to demonstrate. "Here I'll show you. Sit here." She set a stool in front of the camera for him and he sat down. "Ready?" He smiled and nodded. She turned on the light and let him adjust to it before snapping a couple of shots.

"I can see?"

"Yeah." She sat at her desk and uploaded them onto her laptop. He leaned down beside her to look. "Isn't that cool? Your eyes look amazing… with or without the ring lights."

"You like my eyes?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "They're really beautiful." Their eyes met and for a split second he looked at her lips like he may kiss her. "We should get your pictures done," she turned away quickly and stood back up.

"I am sorry, I give you nerves."

"What? No, don't be sorry. I mean, yeah you sort of make me nervous but not in a bad way."

"How do you have nerves in good way?"
"Um… I don't know how to explain it in a way that doesn't make me sound like an ass," she blushed.

"Come on," he smiled. "Tell me."

"Okay, well… You can be like excited-nervous. Like you don't know if something good is going to happen or not… But it could. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I understand."

Zanna and Artemi made it through the rest of his photo shoot then she sent him on his way. She had a lot of pictures to go through so she could pick the best ones for the website and trading cards. He had procrastinated on leaving her office for as long as he could. She was getting the sense that he may actually ask her out or something so she nicely kicked him out before that could happen.