“So
what have you been up to since I left this morning?” JC asked as he continued
to move his lips along Laurie’s neck.
“Well,
I went back to sleep for a bit and I had actually just returned from being
downstairs when you came in.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,
I was picking up a few things that I needed in the Gift Shop.”
JC
moved his hands from Laurie’s waist to her shoulders and turned her around to
face him. He kept his hands where they
were and made her look him in the eye.
“You
saw Alexandria and I together, didn’t you?”
Laurie
lowered her head in confirmation.
Hearing him almost admit that he kissed Alexandria hurt, but she knew
she had no right to be angry with him because he was married to her and it was
to be expected. JC made her look at him
again.
“Laurie,
it’s not what you’re probably thinking,” he began. “I had absolutely no interest in kissing Alexandria, she was the
one who kissed me.”
“It
doesn’t matter,” Laurie said quietly.
“You’re married to her, you have to show her some affection.”
“But
I don’t want to,” he whined playfully.
Laurie actually cracked a bit of a smile. “Although I think the whole ‘affection’ issue is one that we need
to address.”
JC
sighed and guided Laurie over to the bed and sat down beside her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and moved
his fingers slowly up and down her side while he contemplated what he was going
to say.
“I
don’t see what needs to be addressed Josh, we…”
“Hush,”
JC said and placed one finger over her lips.
“I’m sure you really don’t want to hear this, but I feel like I need to
tell you.”
“Oh God,” Laurie thought to
herself. “He’s going to tell me that he had sex with her last night…”
“Last night when
Alexandria finally stopped screaming at me for having lunch with you, we went
to bed and she suddenly decided that she wanted to be intimate.” He felt the tension enter Laurie’s body and
she shifted herself a little. “I told
her no… that I was too tired.”
Laurie
felt some of the tension seep out of her body.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“It
doesn’t matter if I had to do that or not.
I have absolutely no desire to be with that woman any longer and I
didn’t want to have sex with her last night.
It’s just… now that you’re back in my life; I only want to be with
you. When I’m with Alexandria - in any
sense of the word - I feel like I’m being unfaithful to you and I hate that
feeling.”
“Josh,
it’s something that we’re going to have to deal with. I mean, Craig is picking me up at the airport tomorrow and I know
that I’m going to want to put him off.
Thankfully, I’ll probably be too tired and he’ll accept that… but we
can’t avoid sleeping with our spouses forever.”
“We
can’t?” JC pouted and rested his head on Laurie’s shoulder. “But it could be so much fun…”
Laurie
couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess we
should consider ourselves fortunate enough that we don’t see them very
often. It makes things much easier -
but we can’t keep saying no, it’s going to happen sooner or later.”
“Can’t
we just pretend that you and I are the only two people in the world? And that we don’t have to worry about these
problems?” JC asked huskily and leaned in to kiss her neck.
“We
could,” she replied and tilted her head to give JC easier access. “In fact,” she said turning so that she was
facing him. “I think that’s a very good idea.”
JC
cupped the side of her face and slowly brought his lips to hers. His fingers slid under her shirt and danced
along her spine, making her shiver. His
mouth moved from her lips and trailed along her jawline until it made contact
with the soft flesh of her earlobe. He
closed his teeth over it and began to nibble gently, while one hand cupped her
neck and the other went to work on undoing her bra.
Laurie
eyes fluttered closed and she bit back a moan as JC’s hand made a path from her
neck, over her shoulder, to the swell of her breast and gave a light squeeze as
his thumb grazed over her nipple, which immediately responded to the
stimulation. Both hands soon began to
descend to the hem of her t-shirt and JC swiftly lifted it over her head before
discarding it on the floor in front of them, along with her bra.
JC
gently pushed Laurie’s shoulders so that she was lying on the bed. He moved his body up with hers until both
their heads were resting on the pillows and he pulled her back into his arms
and kissed her.
“I
love being with you,” he murmured against her mouth and pulled her more tightly
against his body.
He
had begun to kiss her again, so she could only moan her assent. Laurie allowed her hands to roam his body
and before either of them realized it, JC’s shirt had joined hers on the
floor. She shivered a little at the
extraordinary shape that his body was in, and JC stopped kissing her.
“Are
you cold?” He asked. “Because if you
are, we could get under the covers…”
“I’m
not cold,” Laurie told him with a fire in her voice that matched the passion in
her eyes. “I was just appreciating your
body and enjoying the feel of your skin against mine… knowing that only you can
make me feel this way.”
Having
heard Laurie admit that to him was almost his undoing. He groaned and quickly brought his mouth to
hers with new purpose. He uttered
something that was unrecognizable and Laurie couldn’t help but smile at his
fervor.
JC’s
hands began to move more smoothly against Laurie’s skin and it wasn’t long
before she was completely exposed to him.
They breathed tender words as they continued to caress each other and
soon the remainder of JC’s clothing had joined Laurie’s. Just as he gathered her into his arms, there
was a knock at the door that connected their rooms. Laurie’s eyes flew open and she looked at JC.
“Did
you remember to lock the door?” She
whispered frantically.
“Yes,”
he replied. “Who the hell is in my
room?”
“I
don’t know,” Laurie cursed. “Go into the
bathroom while I see why this person suddenly has no desire to live.”
JC
chuckled deep in his throat and immediately headed for the bathroom. It wasn’t often that Laurie got violent, but
when she did, it usually meant trouble.
Laurie
waited until JC had closed the door and quickly threw her robe on before
walking to the door and opening it.
“Hey
Laurie,” Lance grinned. “How are you?”
“Tired,
I was just about to take a nap.”
“Oh
sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.” Lance tried to look behind her. “Have you seen JC anywhere?”
“Not
lately.” She was surprised that the lie rolled easily off of her tongue. “How did you get into his room?”
“One
of the guards let me in since he wasn’t answering his phone,” Lance tried to
look into her room again and noticed that the bathroom door was closed. “But that’s ok, I’ll just catch up to him
later. Have a nice nap.”
“Thanks,”
Laurie replied and closed the door, double-checking that it was locked. She walked to the bathroom door and knocked
lightly on it. “He’s gone, you can come
out.”
The
door swung open and JC grinned at her.
He began moving toward her and when he could reach, his hands untied her
robe and pushed the offending garment to the floor. He bent over and placed one arm behind her back, the other behind
her knees and picked her up, carrying her over to the bed.
“Now,”
he murmured against her ear. “Where
were we?”
**********
“What
are you doing?” Chris asked as he flopped down on the couch beside
Michelle. She had been working on her
laptop all morning and he was finally curious enough to ask.
“I’m
sending the projected sales figures from Friday to Dave so he can look at
them. We won’t have the actual total
until Nordstrom sends them to us. We
also need to start picking through orders for the fall line so we can ship it
in time.”
“I’m
glad you’re handling that and not me,” Chris laughed. “I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.”
“It’s
not a big deal, you have other things to worry about. What time are we checking out tomorrow?”
“I
don’t know, I’ll have to check. Are you
in a hurry to leave?”
“No…
I’m just getting a little apprehensive about seeing my mom.” She looked at him. “I’ve been thinking that maybe it isn’t such a good idea.”
“Come
on Shelle, she’s your family,” he reassured her and placed his hand on the
small of her back. “I’m sure she can’t
wait to see you.”
“I
know, it’s just… probably going to be a little awkward.”
“Would
you feel better if I went with you?
Tuesday is out of the question, because we have soundcheck and the show,
but Wednesday morning before we go to MuchMusic…”
“It’s
ok Chris, I’ll just go on Tuesday and see her.
But thank you for offering.”
“The
offer still stands if you change your mind.” He moved closer to her. “You know, I was thinking that after the
concert, we could go to the club where we first met.”
“You
mean where I turned you down?” She laughed.
“Yeah,”
he pouted. “You thought I was just a
freak hitting on you. I think the
braids threw you off.”
Michelle
raised her hand and touched his hair.
“I kind of miss them sometimes.”
“Yeah? Want me to grow them back?”
“Hell
no,” she grinned. “They were just fun
to play with.”
“I
can’t say that I really miss them.” He
looked at her carefully. “Have you had
anything to eat yet today?”
“Umm…”
“I
didn’t think so. Do you want to go
downstairs and grab something or stay here and get room service?”
“I
think I’ve been cooped up here long enough.”
She closed her laptop and stood up to stretch. “Let’s go.”
As
Michelle stretched, Chris placed his hands on her waist and drew her closer to
him. He wrapped his arms around her and
hugged her tightly.
“Mmm…
what was that for?”
“It
was just because I love you,” he smiled and kissed her. He looked at his watch and said, “It’s
almost four o’clock… did you just want to eat dinner and maybe grab a snack
later?”
“Works
for me,” she said and slung her purse over her shoulder as Chris opened the
door for her. “Thank you.”
The
door closed behind them and they stepped out into the hallway holding each
other’s hand. They stopped briefly to
tell Lonnie where they were going before taking the elevator downstairs.
“Hey,”
Chris said suddenly. “You never did get
me a coffee.”
“Would
you like me to buy you one now?” Michelle laughed.
“Nah,
I’ll just send you to get me one later.”
“I
might be busy later.”
“Doing
what?”
Michelle
just looked at him and arched one of her eyebrows while a sly smile crossed her
face. Realization dawned on Chris’ face
and he grinned.
“Is
that a promise?”
“Only
if you behave yourself during dinner.” She touched her finger to the tip of his
nose.
“I’ll
be good,” he said quickly and they turned into the door of the restaurant.
The
waitress seated them immediately and took their drink orders while they perused
the menu. It wasn’t long after they had
made their decision and were waiting for their food that Lance came into the
restaurant.
“Hey
guys, mind if I join you?”
“Be
our guest,” Chris said and pushed a chair out with his foot so Lance could sit
down. “How come we always seem to run
into you down here? Don’t you have a
room?”
“I
do,” Lance laughed. “But my work is
finished for the time being and I’m getting restless. I was also getting hungry.
Is that ok with you?”
“I
guess,” Chris rolled his eyes. “Hey,
what time are we checking out tomorrow?”
“Eleven
o’clock, so be ready. Michelle, make
sure he doesn’t leave anything behind.”
Chris
pouted and Michelle began to laugh. “I
just need to make sure that he doesn’t leave me behind.”
Chris
slouched deep in his chair and folded his arms across his chest and pouted even
more, causing Lance and Michelle to laugh harder. Lance was still laughing when Michelle rested her hand on Chris’
neck and gave it a light squeeze. She
leaned in and kissed his cheek.
“You know I love you,” she told
him. “And I’m sure if Lance ever stops
laughing, he would tell you the same thing.”
Lance
took a few minutes to settle down, but his eyes still held amusement. He looked toward the door of the restaurant
and waved as Joey walked by and the sparkle in his eyes increased as JC and
Laurie walked into the restaurant together.
He had to suppress a knowing chuckle as he noticed that JC had his arm
around her waist.
“Josh,”
Laurie whispered as she spotted the small group across the room. “Your arm is still around my waist.”
“Shit,”
he said and withdrew his arm casually enough that he hoped it didn’t draw
attention.
In
addition to Lance however, Michelle had also seen JC and Laurie and watched
with increasing interest as JC withdrew his arm and raised her eyebrows.
“Well,
well,” she commented under her breath but it was loud enough for Lance to hear
her and he looked at her.
“You
saw too?” He asked. Chris was
completely oblivious to their conversation.
Michelle nodded and watched as JC and Laurie walked toward the three of
them.
“It
suddenly explains a lot,” she said quietly.
“You
don’t know the half of it,” Lance muttered out of the side of his mouth.
Michelle
quickly looked at Lance and made a mental note to get him to elaborate as soon
as they had a chance.