The next few days went fast as Elaine and Lance finalized more wedding plans and prepared for the interview at the compound. There was some flak about them not doing the interview at Lance's home and they made it clear that "their home life was private."
Lance took Elaine shopping for clothes for the interview and for their honeymoon. They added new meaning to the term 'shop 'til you drop.' He enjoyed making Elaine happy. She was so practical, he had to get her to loosen up some. "It's not every day that you get married. I, for one, plan on this being my first and last time and I hope you do too, Sugar Bear. I want you to have all the special things that a very special bride should have.
Lance picked out some outfits he thought would be appropriate for the honeymoon. "You still have not told me where we're going Lance. How am I supposed to know what to get?"
"Trust me baby, all you will need is something to wear to dinner a couple of times and 'nothing' for the rest of the time," he grinned with a devilish smile. "I plan on lovin' you for a solid two weeks. After all, we gotta get started on those babies we talked about."
Elaine blushed as he held her close and kissed her cheek and neck. They were getting so close to having what they wanted, a life together, not having to go to separate rooms every night. Being able to fall asleep in each other's arms and awaken to each other in the morning. This would be their little heaven on earth.
She had held true to her vow and she was proud that she could bring herself, clean and chaste, to the man she loved and have him know that she loved him enough to do that for him. She felt that this said a lot for her that sex was not a frivolous thing to her. It was something very serious and meant to be a beautiful thing within the bonds of marriage. She wanted to experience one lover and only the one God placed at her side. The marriage bed was sacred to her and her body would be her gift to Lance on their wedding night.
It was not easy saying no to him by any means. There were times that the look in his eyes would make her go weak in the knees or when he kissed her, a shockwave just ran through her body and all she wanted was to have him hold her and love her.
She tried on a couple of dresses and some other outfits that Lance had picked and modeled them for him. He gave a thumbs up on everything and told the sales girl to wrap everything up to take home. Then they concentrated on an outfit for the interview. "I want something simple. I don't want to seem like I'm puttin' on airs," said Elaine.
They looked and found a simple pair of black slacks and a sweater set top in a beautiful shade of lavender purple. While she went to put the outfit on, Lance sat and thought back over his life. Now that he thought about it, Elaine had been a very large part of it over the last five or six years. Now when he looked at her, it was hard to imagine her as 'Sissy' the group's 'little sister.' She was definitely far from that to him now, she was his woman. The woman the good Lord had kept just for him.
He had to admit that he was a bit nervous about being with her the first time. Chris and he had talked and Dani had even talked to him to help try and calm him down. "Lance sweetie, you love her more than yourself, don't you?" Lance nodded yes. "Okay. The good Lord gave us some pretty good built in instincts. Just go with your feelings guy and be gentle with her. Remember, she is a delicate flower that you have the privilege of picking. She is giving herself to you willingly, you don't have to take her. Love her like she is a priceless piece of porcelain, delicate and breakable."
Lance had been reading all the books that Dr. Cobb had given them. But, nothing he read or was told could get rid of the nervousness of having someone pure and clean who had saved herself for him alone.
He was moved to tears that someone loved him enough to make that sacrifice for him. That was the ultimate expression of love to save yourself for the night of your marriage. And he was equally thankful that she understood his situation. He had been praying and asking God to wipe away all the unpleasant memories of what had happened. He wanted to be as whole as he could be for his Elaine.
As he waited on her, he thought about how his love for her had grown. How she had helped him to grow. Some times back he had made the comment that if he had a girlfriend, he wanted to be the best boy friend he could be. Well, Elaine made him want to be even better. Her love was so sweet and innocent, but yet she had an understanding of everything to where she was not a total prude. It was easy to love her and it was wonderful to be loved by her.
Elaine came out to model the outfit. It was simple but on her it was very smart because she carried herself well. They both agreed on it and Elaine went to change to head to Johnny's office to go over the questions presented for the interview.
On the ride to Johnny's, Elaine let the seat back and closed her eyes for a while. Lance would glance over at her every once in a while and he could not believe how lucky he was. Her face was beautiful. Her eyes sparkled like jewels. Her mouth was like a rose bud and such a kissable rosebud it was. He would reach over every now and then and rub the back of his hand on her face. She would move into his touch and smile each time.
Sometimes, he would touch her hair and at other times, he would just caress her face near those succulent lips. On one pass, Elaine reached up and took his hand in hers and began slowly and sensuously kissing the back of his hand. Then she turned his hand over to where his palm was turned upward. She began kissing each finger tip and sliding her lips down to his palm where she placed a soft kiss, all the while cutting her eyes over at him. He grinned his crooked smile at her and held her hand in his lap. It was wonderful to be loved by him, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.
When they arrived at the compound, Lance pulled around back and parked. He turned in the seat to Elaine and just watched her sleep. A tress of her hair had fallen over her face and he reached to move it as if it intruded on her beauty. His hand caressed her face and her skin was as soft as a baby's behind. As soon as he touched her, she moaned as if she knew it was him touching her.
He slipped closer and closer to her and her fragrance intruded in his head. Desire raised it's ugly head and he felt himself losing control. The love in his heart was overwhelming. Her eyes moved quickly beneath her closed lids. He wondered if she were having that dream again. Trembling fingers touched her forehead, her cheek, her chin. They softly caressed her neck and trailed along the neckline of her low cut sweater.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he shouldn't be doing this, but, his love was overflowing. He could see goose bumps form where his fingers trailed. Soon his lips followed where his fingers had been and he kissed up her neck to her ear and then to those inviting lips that parted to receive his arduous kisses. She moaned into his mouth and her back arched and she pushed right into him. He was completely swept away as he gathered her into his embrace and ravaged her mouth and neck.
She was passionately returning his kiss until his hand started down her side and under her sweater. As his hand touched the soft skin of her stomach, he felt her tense up. When he pulled from the kiss, he looked into her eyes and there was an apprehension and a disbelief there. "What are you doing, Lance?"
Realization suddenly hit Lance like a stone wall. His hand froze in place on her stomach and then he suddenly withdrew it. "Oh my God!...Oh Elaine...please...please forgive me...I don't know what came over me. You were looking so beautiful and my heart felt like it would burst with love for you. Oh God, please forgive me, Elaine, please?"
Elaine looked at him strangely, partly due to the fact of just waking up and the other part of waking up to being pawed by Lance. "Lance, what were you thinking?"
"That's it, I guess, I wasn't thinkin'...I'm so sorry Elaine...I am so sorry." Lance withdrew to his side of the car. Then, he got out and went around to open the door for her. It was as though she couldn't quite figure out what had happened.
They went in with Johnny and went over the list of questions. Elaine made it clear that there would be no dodging issues or covering up things. Open honesty was all or nothing as far as she was concerned. Johnny took them to the room the interview would be held in. They had set up a comfortable area with a love seat for Lance and Elaine to sit on and two oversized chairs for the reporters to sit in. Everything was set to go.
Finally, Elaine and Lance headed home. The drive seemed like it took forever. Elaine sat in her corner and Lance would glance over at her from time to time. He tried some small talk and it was very strained. When they got to the house, Elaine went inside while Lance got the packages out of the 4Runner.
When Lance got inside, Elaine was in the family room checking the answering machine for messages. He put the packages on the couch and went to his study to check his messages there. After returning a couple of emergency calls, he came back to the family room. Elaine was not in the room and the packages were gone, so he assumed she had gone to hang up their purchases from earlier.
Up in her room, Elaine was hanging up the dresses and slacks and tops Lance had bought her that morning. Her mind was not really on the task at hand, instead, it was on that damnable dream she had been having and then waking up to Lance kissing and touching her. What had come over him to do something like that? Lord only knew what would have happened if she had not woke up. But she TRUSTED Lance. Where were these doubts coming from? 'We need to talk,' she thought.
The last of the clothes were put away and she headed downstairs. She found Lance in the family room next to the sound system. He was going through his CD collection that he had made. Songs that he wanted for special occasions or whatever.
As she stood in the doorway, she watched him as he loaded the CD player. She knew he was upset because he would pound himself with music when he was upset about something. The first strains of the song that came up made Elaine smile in spite of herself.
It brought back memories of January 2000 when the guys did MTV's SNOWED IN and the DREAM DATE with NSYNC show. One of the questions asked Lance was what kind of music he played to set a romantic mood for a date. His answer was Marvin Gaye and the guys helped him do the intro and he sang "Let's Get It ON." It was so incredibly sexy. The only thing that ruined it was that Danielle had been there trying to push her way back in.
LET'S GET IT ON played and Lance walked to the window to look out at the garden. Elaine suddenly needed to be in his arms, she felt as though he were slipping away from her, for some reason. She walked quietly up behind him and slipped her arms through his at his side and wrapped them around him and hugged him close. There was a tremble that went through his body and she could feel it. He turned and took her in his arms and danced with her.
(If you have LET'S GET IT ON, you can play it now)
I've been really tryin , baby
Tryin to hold back these feelings for so long
And if you feel, like I feel baby
Come on, oh come on,
Let's get it on
Let's get it on
We're all sensitive people
With so much love to give, understand me sugar
Since we got to be
Let's say, I love you
Lance looked deep into Elaine's eyes and he began to sing along with the song and he pulled her close to him to where she could feel his body's heat. She was pulled in by the sensuality in those pale green eyes. There was more passion in those eyes than she had ever seen before. And it was all for her.
There's nothin wrong with me
Lovin you---
And givin yourself to me can never be wrong
If the love is true
Don't you know how sweet and wonderful, life can be
I'm askin you baby, to get it on with me
I aint gonna worry, I aint gonna push, won't push you baby
So come on, come on, come on, come on baby
Stop beatin round the bush...
Let's get it on
Let's get it on
Let's get it on
Let's get it on
As the song continued to wind down, Lance's hand remained in the small of her back holding her ever so close to him. They were almost in a grind dance and
Elaine was feeling such strong emotions that she could not believe she was capable of such feelings.
As the music faded out, the first chords of an old George Strait song came on, ONE NIGHT AT A TIME.
I'm not yours and baby you're not mine
We've got somethin' that sure is fine
Let's take our love one night at a time
There's one thing that we both agree
I like you and baby you like me
Let's take our love one night at a time
All night, love all night
Practice makes perfect gonna get it right
Gonna get it right
One night at a time
All night, love all night
Practice makes perfect gonna get it right
Gonna get it right
One night at a time
Oh I think about you all day long
It feels so good it can't be wrong
I got my fingers crossed
That this goes on and on
Tomorrow well that's another day
Come on baby now whatta ya say
Let's take our love one night at a time
All night, love all night
Practice makes perfect gonna get it right
Gonna get it right
One night at a time
Lance held Elaine close to him and it felt so good to have her there. They were into the dancing and their bodies moved together like poetry in motion. He leaned and kissed her lips full and hard.
Oh I think about you all day long
It feels so good it can't be wrong
I got my fingers crossed
That this goes on and on
All night, love all night
Practice makes perfect gonna get it right
Gonna get it right
One night at a time
(repeat)
The sound system continued to play and Lance and Elaine continued to dance closer and more passionately. His hands caressed up and down her back and sometimes rested on her hips pulling her closer to him.
Elaine's arms were wrapped around his neck and she caressed his neck and played with his ears. She leaned into his neck and placed soft kisses there and inhaled his masculine aroma. Her breathing was heavy and deep.
Each song deepened the love and the want she felt. In less than a month, they would be married. They would be husband and wife. They would be Mr. and Mrs. James Lance Bass. Lance and Elaine Bass. Oh God, that sounded so good and he was feeling so good in her arms right now. They were so close to being together. So close to being one. Oh how she wanted to feel that closeness.
She reached up to cup his face in her hands and she looked deep into the Peridot green eyes that looked at her with such passion and want. That look of want and need he had for her, she NEVER wanted to lose that. Whatever it takes to keep it, she would do. Her lips parted slightly and she pulled him to her and engulfed his mouth with hers. Their bodies moved to the music in a sensuous rhythm and their tongues did the same.
Marvin Gaye's SEXUAL HEALING had been playing and then, a song that Elaine had not heard in a while came on. Shania Twain's FROM THIS MOMENT ON started playing. She had not heard that song in a long time and she remembered the first time she had heard it was when Lance played it at one of her birthday parties when he was in his 'I have a crush on Shania Twain' modes.
For the first time, the words really sunk in. When the song came to the lyrics,
'I give my hand to you with all my heart
Can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start
You and I will never be apart
My dreams came true because of you'
She suddenly realized that they were so close to having it all. NOW was NOT the time to mess it all up.
She stood and looked at him and tried to calm her breathing down. "Lance, do you have any idea how much I love you and how much I want you right now, this
very minute?"
Lance was as breathless as she was and he nodded his head yes and looked deep into her eyes.
"Oh Lance, if you keep looking at me that way, I'm not gonna be able to...Oh God, help us, please. Baby, we've come so far and we're so close. I just don't want to screw things up. I know you love me and I certainly love you, and this is incredibly hard to do." She touched his face and tears fell from her eyes in abundance.
"God, I've done it again. Lance, I'm so sorry." She turned to run upstairs. This time Lance took hold of her and held her close to him.
"Don't ever apologize for lovin' or wantin' me again. And please don't ever run from me again. Baby, I started this by kissing you the way I did in the car. I should never have taken advantage of you that way. We will make it to Christmas Day. We will keep our vow and save our physical love for the honeymoon. I promise."
He looked at her and kissed her a deep loving and passionate kiss. Not sexual, but intensely romantic. They held each other for the longest time until JC and Justin and the girls returned home. They spent the evening with their friends and they mentally prepared their minds for the interview the next day. After that was out of the way, it would be smooth sailing until the wedding.
