Nick stepped into the Jive office building the next day, a cooing Zack in his arms. Apparently he'd enjoyed the elevator ride.
"You like that, baby?" Nick asked his son, his voice raised an octave or two. "Yeah... you liked that, didn't you?"
"Nick," a voice interrupted his thoughts, "I don't think you should talk to your son in the same voice you use with your dogs, man."
Nick looked up to see Justin Timberlake standing at the receptionist's desk, apparently waiting for her to finish typing something. Contrary to popular belief, Nick didn't really mind NSync too much. He could talk to Justin without popping a blood vessel or getting into a fist fight. In fact, the guy was kind of cool.
"Hey, Justin," Nick grinned, reaching his hand out for a friendly handshake. "What can I say? You have a kid and you go through a reverse voice change."
Justin laughed and shook his head. So he and Nick weren't best friends... but he could admit that the guy was funny. "What are you and the little guy doing here?" He reached out and hooked one of Zack's tiny fingers with his own, smiling when the baby began cooing again.
Nick shrugged and readjusted Zack in his arms. "Just picking up some papers. You?"
"Just signing some."
"Hey, guys," one of the head execs called out to them as he passed.
They both nodded in his direction before catching sight of the young woman with him. Nick quickly recognized her as Paige Alexis, but didn't say anything about her to Justin. It didn't matter... because Justin said something.
"Man, have you met her yet? She's a doll."
Nick nodded and glanced at her again before turning back to Justin. "Yeah, I met her for a brief moment at an after party last night."
"Yeah? What do you think of her? Cute, isn't she?"
"Sure."
"Sure?"
"I have a baby. I'm not exactly looking for a girl. Plus, what girl our age is gonna wanna hook up with a Backstreet Boy and his baby?"
"Paige Alexis, maybe?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, she's not exactly a girl our age, for starters. She's twenty-six... and she has a baby."
Nick's eyes widened. He hadn't been expecting that one. "Serious? How?"
"Well," Justin rolled his eyes and laughed, "I assume she had sex with someone. Maybe the condom broke, or maybe-"
"J, man, shush," Nick scolded, trying to plug Zack's ears. "There are innocent, virgin ears in the room."
"Yeah, definitely not yours," Justin laughed again. "Seriously? About Paige? I dunno much. Something about a fiance who left her when she told him she was pregnant or something. I think she's got a little baby girl."
"Oh..." Nick paused, shooting another look Paige's way. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'm not looking."
"You sure?" Justin grinned. "You'd sure make a cute couple... a perfect All-American family."
"Shut up, Justin. I'm not looking."
But he couldn't stop himself from looking in her direction again. He grinned sheepishly when she caught him and smiled at him.
It didn't go unnoticed by Justin.
Not looking, my ass, Justin thought, a smile forming on his face as he watched them.
Oh, he was definitely looking.
