****

Lance slipped the card key into the slot and watched as the small indicator light on the handle turned green. He opened the door and entered the spacious hotel suite, immediately dropping the bag he was carrying on the floor next to the table as he tossed the flat key onto the table next to a stack of mail and folders. He thought nothing of the lights being on in the room, he assumed that either someone on the hotel staff had turned them on as they had done on occasion to make the rooms seem more inviting, or that someone in his management team had left them on when dropping off his mail and paperwork. The tired young man quickly looked through the various papers making sure nothing needed his immediate attention. He was hoping it would all be things he could deal with tomorrow because the only thing he planned on doing was taking a quick shower before enjoying an uninterrupted slumber.

“A nine o’clock rehearsal tomorrow morning. Wonderful,” Lance muttered scanning quickly through the group’s itinerary for the next day.

“Excuse me Sir,” the bellhop said stepping into the door Lance hadn’t bothered to close knowing that the rest of his luggage would be delivered soon. “I have the rest of your things.”

“You can just set them there on the floor with the other one. Thanks,” Lance said looking up at the older gentleman briefly before turning his attention back to the schedule in his hands.

The hotel employee did as Lance asked. As he was righting himself he noticed the young woman sleeping atop the bed behind the blonde man. “I don’t mean to be a bother Sir, but should I call security for you?”

“I’m sorry,” Lance apologized for his lack of attention to the man. “But why would I need security?” he asked confused.

“It seems as if one of your admirers has found her way into your room,” the man explained pointing to the sleeping frame on the bed.

Lance turned around with a look of panic on his face. It quickly turned into a vibrant smile when he saw the petite woman sleeping peacefully in the large bed, her shoulder length chestnut hair spilling onto the pillow. “No, that won’t be necessary. I think I can handle this fan,” he grinned.

“As you wish Sir,” the older man replied with a slightly surprised expression.

“No,” Lance started to clarify. “It’s not like that. She’s my…”

“It’s none of my business Sir,” the man interrupted with a polite smile. “Goodnight,” he said exiting the room, closing the door behind him.

Lance shook his head, amused by the employee’s old-fashioned, professional demeanor. He placed the papers in his hands back on the table, they were definitely going to have to wait for morning now, as he had a much more important issue at hand. He walked quietly to the other side of the room, taking off his tennis shoes before climbing up the few steps to the elevated area where the bed and bathroom of the suite were located. Lance stood at the foot of the bed watching her for minute. If it weren’t for the fact that he missed her so much he would’ve just slipped quietly next to her and continued to watch her before eventually falling asleep himself. He decided on a much more comical way of announcing his arrival however.

“Belly smacker!” he yelled jumping onto the bed as if it were a pool of water.

Sam jerked awake quickly, obviously startled as he landed with a thud next to her.

“Hey! What’s up?” Lance asked cheerfully, a large grin on his face.

“Damn you,” Sam sighed as she collected herself. “You’re lucky I’m so happy to see you or else I’d be kicking your butt right about now. I was supposed to surprise you,” she pouted.

“Then you shouldn’t have fallen asleep Lazy,” he teased. “And I was very pleasantly surprised to see you. What made you change your mind?”

“A very convincing lecture courtesy of Mel.”

“I see,” Lance nodding in understanding. “So she agrees that you’ve served enough time too?”

“Oh my God!” she yelled. “How do you two do that!? Am I really that transparent?”

“No. We only know you so well because you let us. You allow us to really see you, deep down,” he comforted. “The same way I do with you.”

“I guess,” she conceded.

“And just so we’re clear on this, you don’t need to stay away from Justin to prove anything to me Sam. I know that you love me. I trust you and I trust in our love.”

“Okay, could you possibly be any more perfect?”

“Please,” Lance scoffed rolling his eyes. “I’m hardly perfect. I…”

“Oh hush,” Sam interrupted. “You’re just going to say something that further proves my point.”

“So what’s with the outfit? Did you get a little workout in while you were waiting for me?” he asked referring to the form-fitting pale blue FuMan tank she was wearing along with darker blue nylon warm up pants. Her matching tennis shoes with various shades of blue, white and gray were sitting on the floor beside the bed. “You don’t smell like a stinky gym rat,” he said smelling the fabric on her stomach.

Sam giggled. “Well I got here late this afternoon and I had all this energy because I was so excited to finally be seeing you again and I thought maybe I would put it to good use and get some exercise. So I got all dressed up and went downstairs but once I got down there it just wasn’t as fun as I thought it was gonna be. So I went into one of the cafes instead and had dinner.”

“Sounds… kind of boring actually,” Lance chuckled.

“It was kind of nice actually. No mobs of people, or looming bodyguards in sight. Very quiet.”

“Good point.”

“Yep, and after dinner I roamed around the hotel for awhile checking everything out. I don’t usually get a chance to do that because we’re always so busy. I kind of forget how much I love hotels,” she smiled. “And then I came back here to the room to wait for you and I guess my quiet evening was just too much for me because I passed out,” Sam joked. “And you’re late by the way.”

“I know. Our flight was delayed,” he yawned.

“Did you get much sleep on the plane?”

“Some. But it wasn’t very restful.”

“You should get to bed soon. You have early rehearsals tomorrow and the jet lag is bound to hit you sooner or later,” she reminded. “You’ll need a good night’s sleep.”

Lance smiled at her as he rested his head on her stomach. “I have everything I need right here.”

“Okay, you win,” Sam smiled back as he grabbed for her right hand. Lance exhaled loudly as she began running her fingers through his blonde hair with her left hand, gently grazing the tips of her fingernails along his scalp.

“God, I missed you.”

“Are you talking to me or my chest?” she asked with arched eyebrow as she looked down at him. He chuckled as a smirk formed on his lips. “Oh that’s it! Get off of me,” Sam said pushing him away while trying to sound upset. Lance quickly bounded up and straddled her hips, still holding on to her hand.

“Come on, you know I was only kidding,” he smiled as he took hold of her free hand as she struggled playfully with him. “I missed all of you,” he assured as he pinned her arms down against the pillows above her head.

“Well I only missed one thing about you,” Sam said indignantly.

“Oh really? What was that?” Lance asked as he leaned his face closer to hers.

“Everything,” she giggled. He silenced her laughter with a deep kiss, eventually releasing her hands as he placed a series of quicker and more playful kisses on her warm lips.

“I really missed that look too,” Lance whispered, sliding his legs down along hers as he stared into her brown eyes. Her gaze was so wanting, so deep, so full of passion but somehow never lost her innocence. And it drove him wild. “I love you,” he said softly as he lay carefully on top of her, resting one hand at her waist as he tipped her chin up with his other and kissed her gently.

“I love you,” Sam echoed as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her hands on the back of his head. “And I really hate to ruin the mood,” she started, squirming slightly as Lance began placing a trail of tickling kisses down her neck and along her collarbone. “But what is that smell? Some weird Japanese cologne?” she asked crinkling her nose as he stopped and looked up at her.

Lance look confused at first before sniffing the air a few times. “Oh, it’s probably that nasty food they were serving on the plane,” he said turning his head and smelling the cotton fabric on his shoulder. “Yep, that’s it. I should go take a quick shower.”

“Or just take your clothes off,” Sam suggested with a coy smirk.

Lance smiled. “Also a good idea, but the scent is probably in my hair too. And I need to shower anyway, because it’s been about 15 hours since my last one and well, I just do.”

“Yes, I know, ya clean freak,” she mocked. “Go shower, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Give me five minutes. And don’t lose that look,” he ordered before kissing her again. “Make that two minutes,” he corrected with a grin as he rose from the bed.

“I really hope you’re referring to the duration of your shower and not… yeah,” Sam finished with a laugh.

“Oh I think you know the answer to that,” he replied with a cocky tone before turning his back to her and heading for the bathroom.

As Sam watched him walk the short distance to the other room she decided she no longer wanted to wait for him to shower. She quickly stood up on the bed and leaped into the nearby chair and then onto Lance’s back just as he approached the bathroom door.

“You nut! What are you doing?!” he asked laughing as he grabbed for her legs that she had wrapped around his waist.

“New plan!” she exclaimed. “Since it’s already late and we have an early morning, I’m putting some of my time management skills into action. We have some reacquainting we need to take care of since we’ve been apart for a week. So why not do that while we’re both getting clean and get a little dirty in the process?” she propositioned mischievously. “And since we’re multi-tasking and saving time, we can probably still get a good night’s sleep. Plus I believe I promised you a joint shower when we were here for my birthday,” Sam reminded.

“Gotta love that memory of yours,” he smiled. “But you’re wrong about one thing.”

“What’s that?” Sam questioned as he grabbed her arm and pulled her around to the front of his body. “Ooh, that was kinda cool,” the brunette giggled locking her legs around his back this time.

“I don’t think we’ll be getting to sleep anytime soon,” Lance answered, sliding his hands around her thighs. “There are some parts of you that I’m going to have to spend A LOT of time getting to know again,” he said taking a quick survey of her curvaceous frame with his green eyes. “Yeah, make that all of you.”

“Losing some sleep is just a sacrifice I’ll have to make then. All in the line of duty Sir,” she joked with a mock salute as he carried her into the bathroom.

****

The next morning Lance was awakened as Sam placed a series of kisses all over his neck, saving the last one for his prominent Adam’s apple, unable to contain her giggles as she did so. He moaned slightly, tightening his grip around her body as he opened his eyes. “Good morning,” he said kissing her forehead.

“Morning,” she echoed as a yawn escaped from her mouth.

“What time is it?”

“Almost eight. I let you sleep as long as I could.”

“I didn’t even hear the alarm,” Lance said rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“I noticed that. And you should make note of how I chose to delicately wake you up, with romantic flair no less,” she teased.

He laughed. “In other words, payback is a bitch and I’ll get mine eventually?”

“Exactly,” Sam smiled with a nod of her head.

“Well,” Lance said purposefully as he released her from his grasp. “As much as I’d love to stay in bed with you all day, I need to get moving. A full day of rehearsals and press awaits,” he said with a forced excitement as he rose from the bed.

Sam laughed at his obvious pouting as he grabbed some clothes from one of his suitcases. She he knew he loved his life, even if some aspects of it became tedious at times, such as nine o’clock rehearsals.

“I’ll order some breakfast while you’re showering,” she said grabbing for the menu on the nightstand as he disappeared into the bathroom.

Just over ten minutes later Lance emerged from the other room looking more alert and prepared for the day ahead of him. He found Sam sitting at the dinette table, her laptop on as she talked on her cell phone.

“No problem Meredith, I’ll talk to you soon,” she said pleasantly ending the call.

“So what were you and my budding star conversing about?” Lance asked curiously as he stood behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders and kneading gently.

“She just wanted to make sure the plans for her to go to Nashville next week hadn’t changed,” Sam replied. “She’s so excited to start recording the album.”

“I know. I remember that feeling well,” he said wistfully. “So what’s all this?” he asked motioning to the table and it’s contents as he sat in the chair to her left.

“My job,” she answered simply.

“What happened to that stack of papers?” the man asked as she began typing on the computer.

“Oh, this is the only thing that I can’t take care of,” Sam explained, handing him a letter-sized manila envelope.

“Well why CAN’T you handle this?” Lance taunted.

Sam raised her eyebrow at him. “Because it’s from your accountant. I believe it’s your monthly statement. If you really want me to, I’ll be glad to take it off your hands,” she offered as she playfully grabbed for the document.

“No, that’s okay,” he grinned, moving it out of her reach. “I wouldn’t want you to find out that I can’t afford to pay you this month,” he joked.

“Yeah, like that would ever happen,” Sam scoffed as she rose from the chair. “You could not work a day in life ever again and probably still be able to pay me until we were both old and useless.”

“Maybe,” Lance shrugged as he briefly looked over the few sheets of paper inside the package. “If I invested wisely, I suppose it’s possible. You’re not exactly cheap ya know,” he said, shooting her a whimsical glance across the room.

“Nope, I’m not. And we both know you wouldn’t have it any other way,” she pointed out as she rummaged through her suitcase trying to decide on an outfit for the day.

“Very true. What are you doing?” he asked as she dug deeply into the contents of her luggage, eventually retrieving the items she desired.

“Well Dear,” Sam said turning around to face him as she cradled her clothes and toiletry bag in one arm. “As much as I know you love this look on me,” she started, tugging on the bottom of Lance’s plain white undershirt that she had slept in with her free hand as it rested against her bare thighs. “It’s not exactly appropriate attire for interaction with the general public.”

“I don’t know,” the fair-haired man paused shaking his head slightly. “If you wore that hot little number I probably wouldn’t have to tip the hotel staff,” he quipped with a sly grin.

Sam flashed him an amused smile as she walked to the bathroom, leaving the door open so she could continue her conversation as she dressed.

“It’s not like you have to pay out of your pocket. Is it such a task to write in a dollar amount and sign your name Mr. Big Shot?” she chided as she squeezed a stripe of toothpaste onto her toothbrush.

“I never said that,” he responded defensively. “And if you want to get technical, the tips are figured into the contracts we have with hotels, which comes out of our profits, and eventually out of my pocket,” Lance finished with a very business-like tone.

Sam offered an incoherent response, her toothbrush still in her mouth as a light knock sounded on the door of their suite.

“See,” Lance said as he moved to answer it. “Look how fast room service got up here just on the slim chance that they might get a little peek at your… assets,” he decided on finally.

“Ha ha,” she replied sarcastically after rinsing her mouth.

Sam shut the bathroom door to ensure her privacy while she finished getting ready. She pulled her brown hair back into a relaxed ponytail before quickly washing her face and putting on her clothes.

“You better not be touching my food boy, because I’m STARVING!” Sam exclaimed as she emerged into the main area of the room, her brown eyes downcast as she fastened the last two buttons on the tailored, black shirt she had chosen.

“I hope you can wait a little longer. It’s not room service,” Lance explained. His tone sounded a little strange to Sam, as if he were slightly uneasy about something.

“Then who is it?” she inquired, adjusting the sleeves of her shirt that rested just below her elbows. “Oh,” the young woman said slipping her hands into the pockets of her dark denim jeans as her eyes rested on an obviously uncomfortable Justin standing before her. “Hi,” she greeted him.

“Are you talking to me?” he asked, taken aback by her simple gesture.

“Well I already exchanged pleasantries with Lance this morning,” Sam teased with a small grin.

“Oh, well hello then,” the blue-eyed man returned. “I thought you weren’t getting in until later tonight,” he commented, still a little disoriented by the seemingly re-opened lines of communication with his estranged friend.

“I took an earlier flight,” she replied.

“That’s good… good for Lance I mean, not good for me… not that it’s bad for me… but it’s good for you too… both of you actually… to spend extra time together and stuff… not that I’m trying to imply you don’t spend enough time together because that’s obviously not the case… and that’s not to say I think you spend too much time together… I mean who I am to judge what’s right for you guys… it’s totally your choice,” Justin fumbled miserably before finally stopping and turning to his bandmate. “Anyway, I just came to see if you wanted to grab some breakfast with me and Britney downstairs, but I can see you have other plans so I’ll just go before I make an even bigger ass of myself. Although I don’t think that would even be possible at this point.”

Sam covered her mouth with her hand in an effort to mask her involuntary chuckle as Lance spoke.

“Actually, I have a better idea,” he said to the younger man. Lance sensed that Sam was ready to resolve the situation with her and Justin. He knew Justin wanted the same as well and he also figured that they would both need a little push to help get the dialogue started. “I’m going to leave so you two can talk. If that’s okay with you,” he directed at Sam.

“I think that is a great idea, but what about your breakfast?” she pondered.

“Justin can have it. We seem to have a lot of the same tastes,” Lance cracked before continuing. “I’ll get something to eat downstairs with Britney and explain to her what’s going on.”

“Thanks man,” Justin said sincerely as Lance grabbed his cell phone and room key off the table.

“Yeah, thanks man,” Sam mocked playfully as Lance approached her, placing a light kiss on her rosy lips. “You’re the bomb,” she laughed.

“You’re both welcome, but remember, just talking, none of that hanky-panky business,” he warned with a teasing tone and a wide grin before leaving.

“Geesh, can you believe the nerve of that guy?” Sam with an exaggerated tone as she sat on the back of the nearby sofa, dangling her feet above the carpeted floor as she continued delaying the issue she really wanted to discuss. “Could you even imagine the two of us ever doing something like that?” she quipped, feigning disgust as Justin dragged one of the dinette chairs over and sat down in front of her.

“I know, just the thought of it,” Justin shuddered over dramatically before shooting her a half-grin, he also stalling the long awaited conversation he was about to have with Sam. He had thought about what he would say to her a dozen times over the past month but now that it was time to explain his actions, he was struggling on a starting point, and he sensed that Sam was experiencing the same problem. Justin took a deep breath before finally beginning, just as Sam found her nerve as well.

“I need to… You go ahead… No, you…” they both spoke in perfect unison before looking at each other and sharing a hearty laugh.

“Ladies first,” Justin insisted, gesturing at the woman to continue.

“I need to apologize to you Justin,” Sam began.

“For what?” he interrupted, sitting back slightly in the chair.

“What is it with you and Lance always stopping me when I’m about to apologize to ask me what I’m apologizing for!?” Sam questioned exasperated. “If you’d be patient for just one more second there’s usually an explanation after the apology.”

“Sorry,” Justin laughed. “Please continue.”

“Thank you. Now as I was saying,” she sighed. “I’m not sure which I’m more sorry for, letting this whole thing go on this long or for my part in how it all started in the first place.”

Sam could tell Justin was about to respond.

“I’m not finished yet,” she said firmly. He smiled, folding his arms across his chest as she started again. “I should have been more adult and attempted to fix things between us a long time ago. I guess my only excuse is that I was so embarrassed by the way I acted when you confronted me with the facts.”

Justin was visibly confused as Sam tried to better explain herself.

“I knew that I was probably sending you some misleading signals and that some of my actions could have easily been misinterpreted, but when you told me that you were in love with me, instead of admitting my guilt in the situation, I acted completely innocent and obliviously to everything. Not to mention behaving like a total bitch,” Sam finished with a chuckle as she waited for his reaction.

“Oh, I can speak now?” Justin taunted, prompting a gentle kick in the shins from Sam. “First of all, your behavior was completely warranted after the repulsive things I said to you. I absolutely deserved the one or two hurtful things you said to me, especially when I think about everything I said to you. I am so sorry,” he stressed sincerely. “I swear to you that I didn’t mean any of it, especially the things I said about…”

Sam cut him off this time. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not relive that conversation. You’re sorry, and you didn’t mean it, let’s just leave it at that,” she asserted.

“That is absolutely fine with me,” Justin smiled warmly at her, pausing briefly to collect his thoughts. “I don’t think you have anything to be embarrassed about either. While we both were probably just a bit too flirty, I was so confused and messed up and just plain delusional at that point that I would’ve seen anything I wanted to see ya know?”

“Are you trying to tell me that I’m not as big of a tramp as I thought I was?” Sam quipped.

“Basically,” he chuckled lightly before a thoughtful expression and tone emerged as he further explained. “I realized that I was confusing my desire to have what you and Lance have, with the desire to actually have you. I guess you could say I was jealous in a way too. Watching you and Lance and seeing how happy you two were and all the wonderful things you were sharing and experiencing, it just made me realize how much I wanted that for myself. With Britney,” he confessed. “And somehow all of that got all jumbled and twisted in my head because I didn’t think it would ever be possible for her and I to have a relationship like you and Lance’s so I just deflected my feelings for her onto to you and poof! There’s how the tangled mess was created.”

“So you’re not in love with me?”

“No, I mean I love you and you’re still my girl and all that, but I’m not in love with you. I never was. I guess I was just in love with the thought of being in love. Does that make sense?” he asked scrunching his nose.

“Perfect. And whew! That is such a relief!” Sam exclaimed. “Not that it wouldn’t be nice to be loved by you, but the timing is just way off considering I’m so goofy in love with Lance and don’t see any chance of that going away.”

“I know you are and I would bet my life that he feels the same way about you.”

Sam smiled widely at his words. “Okay, now I have a question for you. Have you told Britney any of the stuff you just told me? About how you really feel and what you want?”

“Yes. She and I had an extensive conversation about all of it a couple of weeks ago,” he answered elusively.

“And?” Sam prodded impatiently.

“I explained to her everything that had been going on lately and we both decided that while we may never have a quote-unquote normal relationship, we could still have something pretty amazing, something that was just ours. We understand it’s not going to be easy but nothing worth having ever is.”

“So does that mean you’re together?”

“Yes, we are an official, exclusive couple,” Justin beamed.

“YAY!” Sam hollered gleefully clapping her hands together. “Sorry, I know I’m a dork, but I’m just so damn happy for you!”

“It’s okay, I’m pretty damn happy myself. I’ve honestly never felt more at peace, content and just…” he trailed off searching for the words to describe his feelings. “I know you know what I mean.”

“I know exactly what you’re feeling,” she agreed. “I really wish I would’ve known about you guys sooner though.”

“I wanted to tell you at JC and Jen’s party because I had already figured out by then what was really going on in this whacked mind of mine. I hadn’t talked to Brit at that point but I knew I was going to, but you weren’t ready to talk to me,” he reminded.

“I still felt like I had betrayed Lance at that time and the only way I could think of to repair that was to but some distance between you and I,” Sam explained. “I was really angry with myself, and the longer I waited to deal with that meant the longer I had to admit that I was in the wrong. I have a hard time doing that. I’m stubborn.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Justin teased, his blue eyes sparkling with his obvious happiness.

“Wait a minute,” Sam said, a look of panic gracing her features. “You said you told Brit everything. Does that mean you told her what really happened between us?”

“Yes. I wanted to start with a clean slate.”

“She probably hates me doesn’t she?”

“No, she doesn’t hate you. If she doesn’t hate me for it then why would she hate you?” Justin offered.

“Because girls are just weird like that sometimes,” Sam replied.

“She doesn’t hate you, I swear,” he stated adamantly.

“Good, because I am so happy for you two!” she squealed. “Have I mentioned that yet?”

“Yes you did,” Justin laughed as he stood in front of her. “I would just like to mention how happy I am that you and I are okay now. I’m ready for things to go back to the way they were. Without all the misread signals and tension of course," he added with a smirk.

“I second that emotion,” Sam concurred as she leaned slightly towards him. “Oh, hold up,” she said stopping suddenly. “If I were to hug you right now, you wouldn’t do anything crazy, like say, I dunno, fall in love with me or something would ya?” she taunted.

“I’m never gonna hear the end of that am I?” he asked shaking his head with a whimsical grin.

“Probably not,” Sam confirmed with a giggle as he embraced her.

“I missed you Sami,” he breathed as she squeezed him tightly.

“I missed you too Kid.”

Chapter 54