I had to leave. Had to.

It was for the best. I knew it was. It was never supposed to go this far.

I was never supposed to...feel things. At all. We had agreed it was easier that way.

It was for the best.

I had almost made it out the bedroom door before a voice called out to me. "Justin?" Her voice was only a whisper in the dim lighting of the room. The sun was just barely rising, causing an orange-y glow to come through the sheer curtains over the windows.

I took a step further through the door, my goal to pretend like I just hadn't heard her and keep on moving. But she called out again.

 Dammit. I was hoping to have escaped before she woke up. I wanted to avoid the conversation I knew was coming.

"I know you heard me. Why don't you stop running for five seconds to explain yourself?" The tone in her voice now was angry. I scratched at the back of my neck nervously and spun around to face her.

"You know as well as I do why I'm leaving, Rhys." I said with a sigh, leaning against the door frame.

"I thought we were past all this." She said as she rolled out of bed and padded towards me slowly, looking more beautiful than any woman should after just having woken up. Gripping my hands in hers she brought them up to settle on her cheeks but when she released them, they moved of their own accord to tangle in her long curls.

Her head drooped back exposing her neck and I bent forward towards it, my lips moving along the column of her throat and up and down her sternum easily. My name escaped her lips once and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

There was something I was supposed to have been doing but her fingers were already working on my belt buckle and I couldn't make my brain concentrate on anything but taking her back to bed.

Her fingers popped the button on my jeans and the sound of my zipper being tugged downwards somehow brought me out of my trance.

I was supposed to be leaving. I grabbed her wrists gently to halt her movements and she groaned.

"I almost had you." She said with a seductive smirk.

That smirk was one of the reasons we were in this position in the first place.

She struggled against my restraints and finally gave up with a pout and crossed her arms over her chest.

"We can't keep doing this and you know it." I supplied, re-buckling my belt and adjusting my shirt.

"That's your explanation for sneaking out before the sun's come up? Without even a goodbye?" she asked, her voice rising in pitch quickly. Out of the two of us, she always did have the shorter temper.

I shrugged. "I don't do goodbyes."

Her eyes widened at me. "After all this time, you don't think I deserve that much?" She was yelling now. If I didn't leave quickly this was going to turn into a screaming match and that wasn't what I wanted.

"You do deserve that. But I knew that you'd just try and talk me out of leaving. And I couldn't have that. This time is for good, Rhys." I explained, pleading with her with my eyes to get what I was saying.

"So that's it then? You're just gonna leave?" she screamed, grabbing a pillow from the bed and throwing it at me. I ducked out of the way quickly and held my hands up in defense.

 "It was never supposed to be like this." I told her in the calmest voice I could muster. I knew she understood where I was coming from; she just didn't want to admit it. When this thing between she and I started, it was never supposed to go this far. We had both agreed on it.

But I'd let my guard down. And so had she.

Now here we were. In a situation that, in the past, I had always been able to avoid.

"Look Rhys, we both know this won't turn out well. One, or both of us, is going to get hurt. I'm just ending things before it gets to that point."

She plopped down in the middle of the bed, dark curls bouncing on her shoulders when she did so and she looked at me with tears in her eyes. "Well one of us already is getting hurt, Justin."

"I'm sorry. I really am. But I know you'll understand my reasoning when you've had time to cool off." With that I turned on my heel and left, ignoring her pleas not to go. If I went back now I may never have the strength to leave again. I knew how quickly I was falling for her. Each time we'd get together I felt myself slip a little bit more over the edge.

And judging from the way she was reacting to my leaving, I knew she was on the same page as me, was feeling the same way.

I'd lied when I said that I was trying to avoid getting hurt. Leaving her was hurting me. More than I wanted it to and more than I wanted to admit to myself.

But we'd never work out.

And it was for the best.

I just had to keep telling myself that.

 *almost a year earlier

"So are the break-up rumors true, Justin?"

"Justin! How's your day going?"

"Justin-where's Danielle? We haven't seen you two out lately..."

Probably because she's off in freaking New York filming a movie, you dimwhit. That's what I wanted to say. Stupid paps needed to do their homework before asking dumb questions. I turned and smiled, giving them the shot they wanted and kept walking, digging my phone out of my back pocket when I got further away from them.

Ignore TMZ tonight. I texted to my girlfriend, Danielle. If I knew them, they'd spin the story to make it sound like my non comment about where she was, was me not wanting to admit that we were on the outs.

Paps again? She responded quickly.

Yeah, assholes don't know when to-

"Ouch!" My text was interrupted as I collided with a body that had been coming in the opposite direction, my phone tumbling out of my hands. It landed on the ground next to the body that I had apparently knocked off balance. I instantly felt like a schmuck.

"Oh God, I am so sorry. I wasn't even looking where I was going." I apologized, quickly offering her my hand to help her up. She got to her feet and handed me my phone and then brushed her hands off on her jeans.

"No, no. Totally my fault. I saw that you weren't looking and I went to bob left to avoid you but you weaved right and...yeah. I ended up ass-planting." She said, rambling nervously, her eyes looking everywhere but at me. "Texting and walking is never a good idea, just fyi. I've been on the giving end of the knocking people over deal. I think I prefer being on that end. This end just makes your ass hurt." She laughed uneasily before finally looking up at me through her long lashes. I was instantly struck with how gorgeous her eyes were.

"Been there too. My apologies again. I hope your ass is ok." I joked, flashing a wide grin.

"Why don't you check it out and make sure." She said bluntly, adding a smirk for effect. Before I had a chance to respond she had her hands over her mouth in shock. "I didn't just say that, did I?" She asked, her question muffled behind her hands, her cheeks tingeing the faintest color of pink.

I started to chuckle at the situation and before I knew it she had lowered her hands and was laughing along with me.

"That wasn't weird at all." She giggled.

"Hey, I've heard worse lines."

"But I wasn't trying to-do you think I was trying to pick you up?" she questioned. I shook my head at her. "No, I was only teasing you. Are you sure you're alright though?"

"Absolutely. Though I think I'll remember what it feels like to be knocked down the next time I want to text and walk and think better of it. Have a good one!" She started to move around me and I watched the sway of her hips as she walked away, doing more than checking out her ass to make sure it was ok.

Being honest, it was way more than ok. The skinny jeans she had on were hugging her curves in all the right places, in ways that Danielle's never did. Danielle was fairly straight up and down compared to this girl.  This girl's frame was sexy. Actually, everything about this girl was sexy.

She was about twenty feet away from me when I found myself calling out to her. "You didn't tell me your name." I said stupidly when she turned around at the sound of my voice.

"What do you need it for?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, so I know what to call you later when I ask how your ass is." What was I thinking? Why was I flirting with this girl? I had a girlfriend. Danielle and I were happy. For the most part. But there was something about this girl that had me wanting to know her better. The behind closed doors kind of getting-to-know-her better.

"How are you going to call me without a number?" she flirted, a seductive smirk playing across her lips and a confidence in her that hadn't been there a few minutes ago when I'd first run into her. I could tell that that smirk was going to get me into trouble.

She was probably just caught off guard at who had run her down. I couldn't blame her--I'd be caught off guard too. Yeah I know, cocky statement to make, but it was the truth.

"I figured I could talk you into giving it to me." I flirted back, taking a few steps closer to her to make the conversation a bit more private. You never knew who was hiding around here.

She extended a hand out to me, "Rhys."

"Just..." I began, placing my hand in hers with a shake. "Yeah, I know who you are." She replied, cutting me off. I grinned at her. "Fan?"

"Not really."

"You're wounding my ego here." I said jokingly, clutching at my chest. She smirked at me again and tugged on a strand of dark hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. "I was kidding." She said with a giggle.

"So, about that number then? You know, just to check up." I prodded, pushing at buttons on my phone to get to the contact entry list.

"Your girlfriend won't care?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged. "She'd understand that I was trying to be nice." I told her, flashing her my biggest smile. You know the one; the one that makes all the girls panties drop. If I was lucky it'd make this girls' panties drop too.

"I don't answer numbers I don't know so, text me back with yours." She grabbed my phone out of my hand and entered her number into it quickly. Once she was done I started to text her instantly.

"Crap. I've gotta run. I'm going to be late." She said with a glance at the time on her phone. "It was really nice to meet you Justin. Even though the circumstances were awkward. Talk to you later!" With that she was hurrying off before I could get another word out.

Your ass looks fine by the way ;) I finished texting her as I watched her jog off. If any of our flirting actually became more I was in trouble. If she made an advance on me, I'm not sure I was going to be strong enough to turn her down.

*

My phone was ringing. The incessant, shrill noise of my ringtone making it impossible to ignore. It was late. Who on earth was calling me at this hour? I shot a hand out from under the covers in an attempt to answer it but didn't reach it in time. Before I had a chance to wonder who it was it began ringing again.

I couldn't help the smile that I felt spread across my face when I looked at the caller ID. The words ‘Rhys calling' was flashing at me. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she was calling about. Especially at this hour.

"Hello?" I rasped out, my voice still thick from sleep.

"Oh God, you are asleep. Of course you're asleep! It's almost 2am. What was I thinking? You're not going to get in trouble with your girlfriend, right? Oh man, I wasn't even thinking. I am so sorry. I shouldn't have even called..." I chuckled at her outburst. "It's fine." I said interrupting her. "Danielle is out of town filming. Is your ass ok?" I joked.

There was a flurry of activity in the phones receiver before she came back with a huff. "You're not going to ever let me forget that, are you?" she asked with a quiet laugh.

"Nope. It was too good of a line to ignore. But seriously, what can I do you for?"

There was a pause before she began. "Tell me if I'm being really out of line for this, but...do you want to come over?"

I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling as I processed her question. There were so many different ways I could take what she asking. "When?"

"Now?" she asked quietly. I glanced at the clock. It was almost 2am, but there was no chance of anyone seeing me leave my house this late at night. Paps had to sleep sometime, right?

I couldn't believe I was even entertaining this idea. When had I become the guy that cheated on his girlfriend? True, Danielle's and my relationship was always back and forth and I could guarantee that we weren't going to make it much longer but, did I really want to have this kind of guilt on my conscience?

Then again, this was just sex. Clearly. You didn't call up someone you just met at 2am and expect it to be anything but. Once upon a time all I did was have girls around to be at my beck and call for sex when I wanted it. And this was Rhys' idea so she knew that it was just sex, too.

"I'm sorry if that was inappropriate to ask. I just thought that...you know, with our conversation earlier you sounded like maybe you'd want to..."

"Where do you live?" I asked, not giving myself any more time to mull the idea over in my head.

"Toluca Lake. I'll text you the address. I'll leave the gate open so you can slip inside easily."

Rolling out of bed, I searched in the darkness for the jeans I'd been wearing earlier and stepped into them. "Alright, I'm leaving here now. See you in a bit." I replied, shrugging into a t-shirt, grabbing my wallet off my dresser and shoving it into my back pocket.

I swiped my car keys off the kitchen counter and left without a second thought as to what I was about to get myself into.

My GPS navigated me easily over to her place and I was pulling through the gates of her house, (more like a mansion by the looks of it), in no time at all. With a shaky hand, I ran it through my hair and blew out an unsteady breath. I texted her that I was here and shut the car off.

Standing in the quiet darkness on her front stoop my brain had time to process what was going on.

I couldn't really be doing this. I'm an asshole if I go through with it; I know that I am. I should just turn around and leave, text her and apologize for letting her think that I was ok with being unfaithful to Danielle, and never look back.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

Doors unlocked. Come up the stairs, last room at the end of the hallway. I suggest you be naked by the time you reach my door. ;)

My heart dropped into my stomach and I felt the familiar rush of heat go straight to my groin when I thought of seeing her in bed, seeing the curves that lay beneath those clothes she was wearing earlier.

I watched as my hand reached out towards the doorknob, not an ounce of hesitation behind the movement. It twisted it and pushed it open.

I really was doing this. No turning back now. I sucked in a huge breath and held it, trying to steady my heart rate.

I glanced at my phone again and pressed my thumbs to the keypad. Isn't it more fun to undress me yourself? I typed and pressed send, venturing further into the darkened house. I stumbled once on a pair of shoes on the floor and quickly stepped out of my sneakers and toed out of my socks.

As my bare feet hit the first step I got another text. My hands are a bit busy at the moment for that.

Sweat broke out on my brow and I took the steps two at a time, tugging my shirt over my head with one hand and fumbling with my belt with the other. The images that flashed through my head with that text was enough to make all the blood in my body pool in my groin, making it swell and making my jeans stretch across it. With each step forward the friction of the cloth of my boxers and jeans rubbing against my erection caused me to shudder with the pleasure of it. But I knew that what I was feeling now wasn't even close to what it was going to feel like when I slid inside her.

With one hand, I felt my way along the wall. This hallway seemed to be never-ending but finally I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, literally. Soft light was peeking out from under the door I assumed that she was behind.

Not bothering to announce myself, I pushed the partially cracked door open and was stopped dead in my tracks when I saw her. She hadn't noticed that I'd entered yet, and she was in the middle of the huge king sized bed on her knees, head thrown back with her dark tendrils caressing her back, legs spread wide. And her hand...oh god her hand. It was stroking her center slowly, each swipe of it causing her to shudder slightly and making her pull on her lip harder with her teeth. She let out a breathy moan when her finger disappeared, no doubt stroking the fire that had been caused by the dirty text messages that we had been sending back and forth on my drive over.

Following her instructions, I let my jeans drop to the floor, the metal of my belt hitting the hardwood and making her once closed eyes snap open and focus on me. Eyes so heavy lidded and hooded with arousal that they were almost black. One corner of her mouth turned up to give me that seductive smirk of hers. Jesus, she was hot. And I was so ready to lay her out and have my way with her. Especially if she kept touching herself like that and looking at me with that look.

"You only halfway obeyed what I told you to do." She rasped out, stopping the movement of her hand between her legs and trailing it up over the mound of her womanhood and over her stomach, spreading a trail of her moisture all the way up to her breasts. I licked my lips, anticipating putting my mouth all over her fiery hot skin and tasting her. She quirked her finger and beckoned me to her.

I moved towards her immediately, a slow smile spreading across my face as I watched her eyes rake over me, unsure of where to look first. I knew the gasp she made was because she had finally set her eyes on the bulge that lay behind my black boxer-briefs, the cotton stretched tight across my arousal. She scooted on her knees closer to the edge of the bed as my knees came into contact with the mattress. I lifted my hands to her face then tangled my fingers in her hair, gripping the back of her neck and tilting her head back.

"Had to leave something to the imagination." I said quietly, the husky sound of my voice giving away how turned on I was. I dragged my lips along her jaw and over her chin before I let my tongue poke out as I licked a fiery hot trail down over her sternum, tasting the sweet skin of the valley of her breasts, and then hopping over the red lace to lick at the moisture she had spread on her stomach just seconds before. I smacked my lips when I pulled away, releasing the hold I had on her hair as I did so. "I want another taste." I told her with a wink.

"You can have all you want." She replied, backing up on the bed to make room for me. "But first," she began, reaching out a hand to grasp at the elastic waist of my boxers, "we've got to get rid of these." In one swift tug they were pooled at my feet and I stepped out of them, kicking them off to the side.

I put one knee onto her bed and smirked-smiled at her as I saw her eyes drop to my hardened length, her eyes glazing over as she took me in. She reached for me, her nails raking over my shoulders and down my chest. They skirted around my middle and over the tops of my thighs. I groaned loudly when she didn't touch me where she knew I wanted her to.

"You're already hard for me." She rasped out, rising up on her knees to be more level with me. Her hands snaked around my waist and she leaned in towards me, her fire hot tongue licking a burning trail along my sternum and up and over my adams apple. My head fell backwards to grant her lips more access. She nipped at my collarbone, scraping her teeth along it and I shivered.

I lifted my hands to toy with the straps of the red, lacy bra she was wearing, my fingers trailing the edge of the cups where her breasts were practically begging to be released and dipping down into the valley of soft skin between. She let out a soft gasp with my light touches, arching her back into my hands when I grabbed both mounds and kneaded them.

"Take it off." She ordered. She leaned in and bit my nipple as I reached around and fumbled to get her bra unhooked. I stifled a groan when the bra fell between us, her creamy breasts bouncing free.

"God, you're gorgeous." I breathed out, my eyes unrelenting as they took in all of her exposed skin. Her body flushed with the compliment but she bit her lip teasingly, that same smirk behind it.

"So are you. I was imaging all day what you'd look like naked. But this...is even better than what I was expecting."  I grinned at her, leaning in to have my first taste of those full pouty lips of hers but was met with the skin of her cheek when she turned her head at the last second.

What? Oh. Playing hard to get. I see. But how hard to get are you playing when I've already got you naked?

Without missing a beat, I dragged my lips along her jaw and over to her ear, breathing hotly into it. She shivered, pressing her perky little breasts against the burning hot skin of my chest. I kissed and licked up and down her neck and grazed my teeth along the skin there before I found my lips hovering close to hers again.

Again she turned away.

I trailed a hand lightly up her side and grabbed her breast in my hand and rolled her nipple between my fingers. Her eyes met mine and her mouth fell open when I tugged on it.

"Why won't you let me kiss you?" I asked, dragging my tongue up and over the swell of her breast. She gasped and shoved forward, causing me to nip at her skin. "Too personal." She replied.

I guess she was kind of right. But I'd never not kissed someone. Then again, I'd never really done this before either. This being having an extremely gorgeous woman to have sex with whenever either of us wanted while I was still in a committed relationship with someone that I loved (most of the time). Ok, so she was right. Kissing could complicate things. Because who knew if we'd feel some kind of spark if we did kiss? And sparks and fireworks equaled bad.

"Ok. No kissing." I said, agreeing with her out loud. I took to her skin again, bathing it with my mouth, sucking the tender skin in between my lips. Another gasp fell from her lips before she removed my hand and mouth from her by distancing herself from me.

She looked at me with heavy lidded eyes, one hand reaching out to scratch at my stomach and circle around my member before she grasped it in her hand. At the contact I pressed forward, urging her to move it along my length.

But she didn't. She dropped to her butt and scooted back on the bed against the headboard. "C'mere." She said quietly, lying down on her side. I followed and came to rest next to her, propping myself up on one elbow. She grinned at me and extended her arm out to trace a teasing line down the hard planes of my stomach.

"Are you just going to tease me all night?" I asked, arching my hips when her hot little hand came in contact with my erect cock again.  She bit her lip and watched as her hand stroked along my length; I watched the rise and fall of her chest, completely mesmerized with the way her breasts heaved with each breath she took.

"You don't want me to?" she replied, swiping the pad of her thumb over my leaking head, eliciting a groan from somewhere deep in my chest when she stopped her movements and brought her thumb to her lips to taste me.

When I finally got over not having her warm hand around me, I responded with a quick no. "I've been thinking about what you're going to feel like inside and wrapped around me since you called me to come over here." I admitted, reaching for her wrist to drag her body closer to me, she was much too far away for my liking. Ok, well that statement was partially true. I had alternated between calling myself a bastard for cheating on Dani and imagining what Rhys was going to look like spread out under me. Clearly, the very sex-driven male inside me won out.

 I hitched her up over my waist and dug my fingers into her hip. "I'm already so wet for you." She purred, rolling her hips towards mine. Her mound pressed against the over-sensitive skin of my hip and I groaned; so ready to just take her now. My cock jumped in response too. But I wouldn't. I let my fingertips dance from her hip to the soft skin of her inner thighs and bit my lip when I felt the heat coming from in between them. I slid one finger over her moistened lips and she stiffened in response.

"Yeahhhhh you are." I growled out, pushing a finger inside her grasping little hole. She gripped my arm and pressed her face to my chest, breathing out hot puffs against it with each twist of my fingers inside her. "I'm gonna slide in there sooooo nice. You got it all slippery for me. Fuck I can't wait to feel you." She moaned as I swiped my thumb across her clit. "Ugh...do that again." She pleaded, rocking her hips against my hand.

"You know what, I have a better idea." I told her, retracting my fingers.  I pulled on her wrist so that she'd move to straddle my stomach. "Slide that ass on up here baby." I told her, gripping her hips and moving her forward.

I piled a few pillows under my head to elevate it as she moved that sexy body of hers closer to my face. I slapped at her ass as she straddled me, aligning her dripping sex with my mouth. "Lemme have a taste, Rhys." I breathed out against her center, rubbing my nose along her clit.

"Fuckkkkkkkk..." she hissed out, her head dropping forward, near black eyes meeting mine. Her legs quivered. "You're so wet, baby." I mumbled out, gripping her ass in my hands and pushing her to sit on my face. I let my tongue trail from one end of her opening to the other before slipping inside and licking at her walls. The scent of her was overwhelming and the sweet taste of her had me dizzy. She clenched around me as my tongue darted expertly in and out, more than willing to lap up all of the juices that she was producing. She began moving above me, soaking my face as I licked her, my tongue rubbing her clit with each movement of her hips back and forth. I slid my tongue up to her clit and circled the tip of my tongue around it before taking it between my lips and sucking on it.

"Shit...ugh...Jusssssssssssstinnnnnn." She moaned out. The sound of her groaning my name made goose flesh pop out all over my body and suddenly all I wanted was to hear her screaming my name at the top of her lungs as I pounded into her. I let my teeth graze her sensitive little nub as I eased her off my face and she whimpered in protest.

"I've had my fill. Time to fill you up baby. To the hilt, I'm sayin'." I told her, watching as her lithe body rolled off of me and onto her back on the mattress next to me. I stroked my sex with a tight fist, sure that I had never been this hard before in my life. She reached for the drawer in the nightstand, fishing in it for a condom, and threw the little foil package my way when she found it. Her eyes watched as I rolled it down over my dick and I swiped my tongue over my lips when it felt just a little bit too snug around me.  I'd be sure to use my condom the next time this happened, I thought to myself smugly.

Next time. Christ. We hadn't even gotten through this time and I was already thinking about getting her into bed again. So much for me being the good boyfriend and calling it quits after this roll in the hay.

"I want you on your stomach." I said huskily, gripping her waist to roll her onto her stomach. She adjusted to the position quickly, turning up her tight little ass to me, resting her weight on her elbows. I palmed her ass, opening her to me, feeling my cock swell with the sight of her wet little opening.

I teased her opening with my tip, sliding it along her lips, and she pushed back against me. "Come on, Justin. Fuck me already." She growled out, rubbing her ass on me. I smirked but she couldn't see it. "You want to be fucked, baby?" I asked, holding the base of my dick as I pushed inside her slowly. Her whole body shuddered when I was finally all the way inside and I held still as I adjusted to how she felt around me.

It was like heaven, if heaven were a place where you had sex with people that weren't your girlfriends. That's what she felt like wrapped around me. "Yessssssssssss. Please." She begged, arching her neck back and letting her dark hair spill over her back. I stared at where I was buried inside her and felt my groin twitch as she squeezed her walls around me in an effort to get me moving. My cock fit perfectly inside her, and when she pushed that hot little ass of hers back against me I gave her what she wanted.

Using her hips as an anchor, I grasped onto them and pounded into her tight little box, each time I pushed in to the hilt making her scream out in pleasure. "God Rhys, your pussy feels incredible. My dick was made for you." I groaned, twisting my hips, losing myself in the rhythm that I was creating. She threw me off guard when she began pushing back to meet my thrusts, and I lost my rhythm for a second before I picked it back up again, watching as my cock disappeared inside her.

Her arms started to give way and I reached forward and grabbed a handful of her hair, arching her back to me, making me hit a different spot up inside her.

"Ugh...fuck. Harder, J." she moaned, one of her hands traveling to her middle to stroke a finger across her clit. Her muscles squeezed around me, almost sucking the life out of me with how tight she had become. Her name tore from my lips and she mirrored it by saying mine again. I tugged on her hair harder. "This hard enough for you? Do you like how I fuck you, Rhys?" She nodded and ground herself back against me again. I was mesmerized by a teardrop of sweat as it trickled its way down her back and disappeared between her tight little butt cheeks. I wiped the sweat from my forehead too, realizing the pace that I had set was one that was becoming hard to keep up.

Dani and I never had sex like this. This hard or fast. She always wanted it sweet and slow, face to face so we could rock each other into orgasm, lost in each other's eyes. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for that too. But sometimes you just have to fuck. And Rhys rocking back into me like she was, and me cursing every five seconds about how perfectly my cock fit inside her...this was anything but sweet and slow.

The tingling in my toes started to creep its way up my legs and into my groin when she began whimpering below me, soft moans of my name falling from her lips each time I'd thrust inside her a little harder. The white hot pleasure of her clenching around my cock was going to be my undoing and I started to recite the LA Dodgers lineup in my head to try and head off my eruption. I let my hand travel between us, replacing her finger with mine, rubbing her engorged little nub back and forth, and sending her into a shuddering mess under me. "Shit, J. So good....soo soo good. Ugh. Fuck. I'm gonna...oooh. Ooooh. Oh God...Justinnnnn..." she groaned out, muscles spasming and tight little opening gripping me even tighter as she came around my cock.

Fuck. What a fantastic little orgasm I had just given her.

Her walls continued to clench and unclench around me as she came down from her high and I could feel my release coming. Mustering all the strength I had, I pulled out and flipped her onto her back, quickly entering her heat again. She wrapped her long legs high up around my torso, angling herself to take me as deep as she could. "Cum for me, J. I know you want to baby." She murmured, rolling her hips to meet mine. I dropped my chin to my chest, hitting a spot inside her that made the slow burn in my groin turn into an out of control flame, ripping its way through my insides and bursting out with this white hot orgasm that oozed out of me and into her.

I collapsed onto the sweaty skin of her chest after I felt the last tremors of my orgasm ripple through me, sighing in contentment.

Jesus. That was hot. My skin still felt like it was on fire.

We laid there afterwards in silence, the smell of sex lingering in the air. She made no move to cuddle with me and I didn't bring up the subject of ‘what now', even though I was unsure. She sighed next to me and I turned my head to look at her, returning the soft smile that she gave me.

"That was...damn." she giggled, giving me that sexy as all hell smirk.

"You can say that again. We uhh...work well together, I'd say."

"Mhmm." She agreed.

"I think I'm gonna get going." I said quietly, my hands resting on top of my stomach, the muscles still quivering underneath with the wicked hot orgasm that her body had just coaxed out of me.

"Yeah, that's probably best. Don't need the paps seeing you leaving some random house at 6am." She replied, rolling onto her side to look at me, her head propped in her hand. Hell, is that what time it was? I wondered, searching her room to find a clock. My eyes landed on the LED clock on the bedside table and sure enough, it was nearing 6am. It sure didn't feel like I'd been there that long, even though my body was telling me otherwise.

"Are you sure that it's ok that I leave? I don't want you to feel...used or...I don't know. Cheap or whatever." I stuttered out, completely unsure of how we were supposed to handle this.

"Absolutely. It was my idea that you come over here, remember? I called you at 2am asking you for sex. I never expected you to stay." She said, a light giggle slipping past her lips.

"Well I know. I just...well...I want to make sure that you're alright with everything."

She smirked at me and moved herself on top of me and straddled my midsection. "Would you stop! I knew what I was doing when I called you. It was just sex. You have a girlfriend. I get that and I'm not trying to change that. We just...had good chemistry together earlier and I went with what my gut was telling me. I'm glad as fuck that I did."

I raised my hands from my stomach and reached up to grip her hips as she had been unconsciously rocking herself back and forth on top of me. The sun was almost up and I really did need to leave, and if she kept doing that I wouldn't be going anywhere.

I smiled up at her. "I'm serious, Rhys. I want you to know that I don't normally do this. I don't cheat on girlfriends. I'm always the one getting cheated on. But you...there was something about you and I don't think I could have avoided this happening if I had tried. I'm glad as fuck too that you went with your gut. Tonight was like...mind blowing."

"Mind blowing enough to want to do it again? Sometime?" she asked, stroking her nails down my chest. I sucked in a breath and told my brain to tell my groin to ignore the arousal I felt growing at our talk.

I didn't even have to think about my response to her question. I knew without a doubt that I wanted to.

"Hell yes." I replied, making her laugh at my enthusiasm and fall onto the bed next to me.

"Good, I'm glad we're on the same page." She said, pressing a light kiss to my cheek. "Now get the hell out of here." She went on, shoving at my side, attempting to push me out of bed.

"Alright, I'm going. We'll be in touch?" I questioned, walking across the room to scoop my jeans up from the floor.

"In your words? ‘Hell yes'! You've got my number, and I've got yours. Don't hesitate to use it when you need." She said with a wink as I tugged on my jeans. I looked around the room for my shirt and then remembered that I had lost it somewhere on the steps.

"You got it. Good night Rhys, or...good morning I suppose." I grinned at her and she returned it before rolling onto her back and tugging the covers up over herself.

I found my shirt on the stairs and shrugged into it before descending the rest of the steps. I slipped right into my tennis shoes, grabbing my socks and pushing them into my jeans pocket. I was out the door and into my car in seconds. The silence was deafening and it let my head wander and think about everything that had taken place tonight, the images of what Rhys and I'd done playing like a movie behind my eyelids.

God, she was hotter than sin. All long legs and dark hair and sexy curves that moved flawlessly while we were having sex. She knew exactly what she was doing. And that smirk. That seductive smirk that she had that made her perfect pink lips pout out-it was going to be the death of me. She looked at me like that and I would do anything for her. After last night I was sure of it.

I shook myself out of my trance, this line of thinking was only going to cause me to go back inside and take her again. With one last look at her house, I backed out of the driveway to head home, the only thought in my head was wondering when I'd see her again.

I should've felt guilty, but I didn't. At all. Which was weird given the thoughts I'd had last night before I'd gotten to Rhys' place about not going through with it at all. Now the only thing I felt was want. For Rhys. And her mouth. And her body and all the things it was capable of doing to me and for me.

Fuck. I was so screwed.

*Back inside Rhys' place

The house phone was ringing on the bedside table and Rhys' arm shot out to answer it.

"Hello." She answered groggily.

"Hey sweetie. My plane just landed. I should be home in about an hour."

She yawned tiredly, wondering how long she'd been asleep since Justin had left. At the thought of him, her body flushed. She hadn't expected him to actually accept her proposal about doing this more often. Hell, she hadn't expected him to come over to her place at all. But he had. And he'd blown her mind.

Feigning excitement she replied "that's great Jake! I missed you tons! I'll be here when you get home. Love you."

He laughed on the other end of the line. "Still asleep baby? Don't worry; I'll wake you up nice and good when I get there."

With that, she bolted up out of bed and began hurrying around the room, stripping the bed sheets and tossing them into the laundry bin.

"Can't wait, sweets."

"Me either. It's been too long. I love you." He said, clicking the phone off.

When he hung up, she dropped the phone back onto the receiver and dashed into the bathroom to shower. She needed to wash off the remains of she and Justin's sexing before Jake got home.

Like Justin, she wasn't one to cheat. But when they had run into each other that day, there was just something about him that called out to her and made her want to throw everything aside and see what happened when they got together.

She stepped underneath the showers hot spray and closed her eyes, letting the water cascade over her tired body. Her muscles were stiff, her legs sore. Last night, when her eyes had fallen on the swell of Justin's hardened shaft, she knew that she would be aching in the morning.

Thinking about how he felt inside her, pounding her mercilessly with his thick cock, her body reacted to the sense memories. She decidedly turned the water to cold to cool herself down.

When was Jake supposed to go out of town again? A week? She couldn't remember. But she hoped to god it was soon or she would be suggesting an alternate meeting place for she and Justin; she wasn't sure how long she could wait to be with him again.

Oh God, she was a goner. He hadn't even been gone an hour and she was already thinking about next time. But even from just the small taste she'd had last night, she knew that sex with him was going to be an addiction.

So what. It was just sex, right? There wasn't anything wrong with just sex.  

*three weeks later

My bed was empty for the forth night in a row. Which had been about the second or third week that it had happened. Danielle was off shooting another movie and had been coming and going nonstop. Two days here, five in Canada; three days here, six there. I was getting tired of it. Sure, it was pretty standard to be away from each other in the business that we were in, but lately it just felt like she was gone more than I ever had been; even when I was off touring with an album. And I was starting to feel like I wasn't even in a relationship with someone.

Part of me wondered if that was just the guilt talking, trying to make up any excuse that would make what Rhys and I were doing ok. It all came down to the fact that I was lonely. I stared at the vacant spot next to me for what seemed like hours, fighting with myself about whether or not to call Rhys and see if she was available to come over. I was craving having a warm body next to me. And I was horny. Which is why I wanted Rhys around. We'd hooked up more in the last three weeks than Danielle and I had in the past six months, but being with her was becoming a habit that I didn't want to shake.

I couldn't help it. Sex with her was-dare I say out of this world? And she was sexy as all hell. And she only wanted me for sex too. How many times in a man's life did that really happen? Women who used a man for sex were a dime a dozen. With Rhys, I'm fairly sure I struck gold the day that I'd run into her...er...when she ran into me.

I thought back to the last time that we'd been together about a week ago. I'd gone over to her place in the middle of the night again; we had both decided to keep our rendezvous to the late night hours as to avoid me being caught and to avoid things between us getting too friendly. The ground rules we set were clear: no kissing, no hanging out during the daytime, no pillow talk, no staying over, no feelings-only sex. And...if either of us felt like we might be starting to have feelings for the other person, we'd call it quits, because feelings were out of the question.

So far so good, I thought. We had yet to break any of those rules. It was still only sex. Amazing, mind blowing, energy draining sex.

I grinned at that and suddenly wished that she was there for me to drain the life out of with my body again. Like I had done last week. I'd gotten to her place and she had been waiting on the steps for me. And we'd done it on the steps, (after which I had a wicked carpet burn). Then we moved into her bathroom and did it on the countertop in the bathroom. And then in the shower. We had only gotten into the shower to rinse off the remains of our time together. But as soon as she'd gotten her body all soaped up, my hands had a mind of their own and had stroked her center until she was begging me to take her again. So I bent her over in the shower while she held onto the towel rack, grasping onto it tightly while I made her slowly lose her mind for the third time that night.

My dick tightened in my boxers and I stroked my palm down over the material in an effort to quiet it.

I most definitely needed to call her now. I reached for my cell on my nightstand and quickly dialed her number. It rang three times and then went to voicemail.

*at Rhys' place

Rhys didn't even have to look at her phone to know who was calling her this late. It was a good thing that she'd put it on vibrate before she'd gotten in bed with Jake though or else he'd wonder who was calling her at such a late hour.

She snuck a cautious glance at her bedmate, noting that the vibrations hadn't even made him stir, and she scooped up her phone and tip-toed out of the room. She made her way down the steps and into the basement quietly, attempting to put as much space between her and Jake as she could.

Once she was settled into the leather couch in the basement, she pressed ‘send' twice on her phone, waiting for Justin to pick up on the other end.

"Hello?" He picked up on the second ring, sounding incredibly wide awake.

"Hey sexy." She purred.

"Hey! Did I wake you?" he asked.

"No. I just somehow had the phone set to vibrate and didn't hear it. How are you?"

"Hard." He replied honestly. And she could tell he wasn't lying. The huskiness in his voice was the telltale sign that he was turned on.

"Oh really? And you thought that I could fix that for you?" she flirted, the tips of her fingers tickling along her thighs. Just the sound of his voice was making her wet.

"Mhmm...it's gotten used to being buried inside that tight pussy of yours." Her whole body flushed at his words. Fuck. If he kept talking like that she was going to forget that Jake was upstairs and sneak out of the house to go over to Justin's and help him out. And get her own release as well.

*

"Why don't you come over?" I murmured into the phone as I pulled my dick out of the small hole in the front of my boxers. I fisted it tightly, imaging it was Rhys' sweet little mouth wrapped around it instead of my hand.

"I could..." she trailed off and I heard her breath catch in her throat and smiled smugly to myself. "Are you touching yourself, Rhys?" I questioned, stroking up and down my member slowly.

"Mhmmmm..."she whispered out. "It's so wet, J. And I've missed having you here to fill me up."

Warmth pooled in my groin at her words. All I wanted was for her to come over so that we could both satisfy our cravings. That's what she was to me. A craving. An addiction. A need that I had to get my fill of. Sure it was a dangerous addiction because if I continued doing this, Danielle would definitely catch on and I'd be in trouble. But I couldn't stop; didn't want to.

My thumb ran over the leaking head of my dick and I rubbed the moisture down on it and sucked in a breath when I heard her groan out my name. Christ, her moans and whimpers as she pleasured herself were going to make me come undone. I reached down and grasped at my balls, tugging on them as my hand fisted tighter. I closed my eyes, letting her breathy whimpers and the sounds of my own grunts of pleasure mix and let me envision the two of us being together in the same room instead of all the way across town.

"I wish I could taste that sweet pussy, baby." I rasped out, receiving a growl from her end.

"Don't tease..." she said huskily, "I may have to forget that I...need to get up early and come take you up on the offer."

I grinned, coming up with ways to get her to do just that. "Why don't you just stop fighting it? Come over. We'll make it quick."

She giggled. "If I'm coming over, it's not for a quickie. I want it to be worth my while. But oooohh, I don't know if I'll make it that long." She whimpered.

Giving up on my own release and taking more interest in hers, I stopped what I was doing. "Are you close, Rhys?"

"Yessss..."

"Mmm, I can tell. Your breaths are shaky. If I were there right now I'd remove those fingers of yours from that tight, wet pussy and replace it with my tongue. Get your legs up over my shoulders and just bury my face in you. Your scent drives me crazy, you know that? I'd lick you so good you wouldn't remember your name when I got through. I'd tease that clit of yours; I know what sucking that little bud of desire into my mouth does to you. You go crazy. Run my teeth over it; tease the hell out of you. Let you get sososo close to that throbbing release and then stop."

"Justinnn...you're a damned tease. I fucking hate you." She moaned out.

I looked down at my dick, still curled up towards my belly. I guess my dirty talk had gotten to me as much as it was getting to her.

"Can't handle my dirty talk, girl?" I asked, fisting my cock again.

"N-nooo. I can. Keep at it superstar."

"Ugh...I'm so hard for you, Rhys. You know what I'd love right now?" I grunted, working my dick up and down, a quicker pace than I had before. I wanted to be as close to my white hot release as I had made her be.

"My lips around your cock, Timberlake?" she whispered huskily. I clenched my eyes shut tight at the image, wanting to preserve it for as long as I could. In my head, she was there with me. She had come in and tied me to my bed and kissed me senseless before licking and nibbling down my body, leaving purplish bruises everywhere her mouth touched. And then, after undressing herself painfully slowly and pushing her dripping center just out of my mouths reach, she slithered down my body and wrapped her full, gorgeous, pouty lips around my cock.

"I'm taking your non-answer for a yes." She teased. "Uhhhh...I'm so close superstar."

I shuddered as her moan flitted through my ears. "Me too, baby. Me too."

She growled out my name and panted into the phone as her release coursed through her and the sound of it caused the warmth in my groin to spread. With one last tug on my dick, I erupted, coating my stomach with the sticky mess. "Fuckkkk Rhys. I wish that had been in that tight pussy of yours."

"Mmmm...me too." She purred out, slowly coming down from her high.

We were both silent for a few moments, each listening to the others ragged breathing. When my heart felt like it was finally beating at a normal rate, I spoke. "So, can I make up another rule?" I asked, getting off the bed carefully to go into the bathroom to wash up.

"What's that?"

"No more of this phone sex. It'll do in a pinch but, if we're in the same city, there's no reason that we can't be in the same room."

She sucked in a breath. "Uhh...yeah. I agree. Your tongue and your cock are a million times better than my own fingers."

I finished cleaning my stomach off with a used shower towel and leaned into the mirror, examining myself and the nice red flush my cheeks had. Even though she hadn't been there physically, she'd still managed to give me the release I had been searching for when I'd phoned her.

I grinned. "Of course they are." I said cockily, and she, in turn, laughed.

"So full of yourself, superstar." She joked.

"Hey, you keep coming back for more. I have something to be full of myself about." I replied, switching off the light and going to hop back in bed, staring at the cold, empty spot beside me.

"You could say no."

I ran my hand over the pillow then grabbed it, bringing it against my chest. Even though Danielle hadn't been there in days, it still reeked of her perfume. And try as hard as I could to feel guilty about what I was doing with Rhys, I couldn't. I felt like with as much as Danielle was away, I needed that companionship with someone. Did it make it right? Not in the least. But the wrongness of the situation didn't make me want to stop.

The sound of her saying my name repeatedly brought me out of my thoughts. "Then who would be there to stroke my ego?" I asked teasingly.

"You stroke it enough yourself." She retorted.

"Ouch."

"I only speak the truth."

"You're mean. I'm hanging up now." I told her, leaving the perfume soaked pillow behind me to roll onto my side to stare out the window at the streetlight outside my house.

She sighed. "I'm only joking. I like when you stroke it." She flirted and I chuckled at her joke. "Listen, I'd love to keep up with this witty banter but, I have to get up early. So, I'm saying goodnight."

I pulled the sheet up over me and snuggled down under the covers. "Yeah, I've gotta head into the studio pretty early, too. I'll talk to you soon?"

"Actually..." she began hesitantly, "how about we do lunch tomorrow?"

My eyebrows shot up to my hairline in surprise. "I thought there was no hanging out during the day."

"It's just lunch." She told me.

I was quiet a moment while I thought it over. "Sure. What time?"

"Umm...is one alright?"

"It's fine. You pick the place and I'll be there."

"Ok. Goodnight, Justin." She said softly, clicking the phone off before I could get out a reply.

"-night." I finished, ending the call and setting the phone on my bedside table. I rolled back over and stared up at the ceiling, allowing the fans circulations to quiet my thoughts.

We'd said no hanging out during the day so why'd she decide to change things up? I guess in the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter. It's not like we'd be out in the daylight hooking up where people could see us. If paps caught us together and printed it, I could just tell Dani that she's an old friend that I'm catching up with.

A pang of guilt ripped through my stomach-I didn't want to have to tell Dani anything. I never wanted anything about what Rhys and I were doing together to come out. If Dani ever found out that I was cheating, I wanted her to have the truth.

My phone vibrated with a text message and I reached for it to look at it.

Tomorrow night, I'll really get you off with my mouth. Meet me @ that hole in the wall tex-mex place on Sunset. ;)

Putting the phone down again, I let out a deep sigh, fighting an inner battle with myself about our plans for tomorrow.

It was just lunch, right? What could getting lunch possibly change between Rhys and I?

It turns out, a lot.

"I'm not alone,
her head is heavy on me,
she's sleepin' like a child..."
Song and Lyrics: John Mayer-"Assassin"

"I'm so sorry I'm late." Rhys huffed out, plopping into the seat across from me at the Mexican place she'd chosen for lunch. I looked up from my menu and smiled at her. "No worries. I just got here too."

"Well...good." She said distractedly, looking down at her phone before throwing it into her purse. "Everything ok?" I asked.

She shrugged and smoothed her hair back. "Yeah. Fine, fine. Just trying to ignore some things that are going on at work."

When she said that, I was struck with the realization that while she knew a lot about me due to my celebrity, I barely knew a thing about her-including what she did for a living.

"What do you do, anyway? I feel like I should know this but...I'm drawing a blank." I admitted, taking a moment to thank the waitress who had just put down glasses of water in front of us.

"Are we crossing lines here?" Rhys asked playfully, squeezing the lemon into her drink. "We already crossed the line by meeting for lunch. I figure if we're going to go into the friends' territory, I need to know more about you."

She smirked-that damn look-and said "I suppose you're right."

"So...?"

"I'm a freelance writer for a few different magazines."

"Should I be worried?" To that, she giggled. "No. I don't write for those kind of magazines so you're in the clear."

"Oh. Good. For a minute there I was scared that I was being set up and all this time you were just sleeping with me so that you could expose me as a cheater."

She laughed a little bit harder but leaned in closer to me to say whatever she was about to. "Trust me, the reasons that I'm sleeping with you have nothing to do with my job."

I felt my face flush just the slightest bit and she winked. "Speaking of...I do believe that I owe you something." She flirted, and I felt the toe of her stiletto inching its way up my leg and suddenly I was thankful that we were at a table in the back and that the place was relatively deserted so that no one could observe what was going on. She licked her lips. "I've been thinking about you since we hung up last night."

I leaned over the table with a wicked grin on my lips-she was playing dirty-and two could play her game.  "Well, I've been craving the taste of you and I'm about to just forego lunch and have you instead."

A streak of red colored her cheeks and she squealed quietly. "Tease."

"No teasing, baby." I mumbled out, "I'm completely serious." Rhys' eyes darkened as she eyed me, a contemplative look crossing her features.

A shadow darkened the table top and we both turned attentive eyes towards the figure standing at the head of the table, clearing our throats nervously. "Have you decided what you're going to order?" The waitress asked, eyeing both of us. I shot a look at Rhys, seeing what she was going to do and she kicked at me under the table, startling me. "Uhh...we're actually going to pass. Something has come up at work for me and I've gotta get out of here. Sorry about that!"

She smiled at me. "No problem! Come back and see us."

"Something came up?" Rhys giggled, grabbing her purse as she scooted out of the booth. "Do I need to do damage control before we leave here? There's a bathroom just back that way." She said with a point to the corner of the restaurant. I glanced down and then back up at her and winked. "You can fix it in the car." I told her getting up from the table.

Her eyes widened at me. "You disgust me." She murmured, starting to wander away from me. I grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her back flush against me, whispering into her ear. "You love it." I felt her shiver before pulling out of my grasp.

"I still hate you." She grinned, heading out of the restaurant. She pulled her aviators down over her eyes and cocked her head to the side as she watched me come out the door. "So I take it that we're leaving a car here?"

I shrugged. "I was only kidding. I just wanted to see what you'd say." I told her, putting on my own sunglasses.

"You know I would." She began, heading down the street towards her car. "I'll meet you at your place then?" She called out over her shoulder. I watched the sway of her hips as she walked away from me, the stirrings in my groin only growing louder with the thoughts that were swirling in my head.

I walked across the street when traffic was light enough for me to cross safely and got in my car, leaning my head back against the headrest as I tried to clear my brain. "That woman is going to be the death of me."

*

A groan tore from my lips as I rolled over in my bed, my muscles crying out from the exertion that I had put on them this afternoon.

"I can't feel my legs." Rhys mumbled out, one of said legs hitching up over my waist to try and turn me towards her again.

"Didn't we just run a marathon?" I asked, bringing a hand up to massage her calf. At the movement she moaned. "Oh my god. Don't stop."

I chuckled. "I've heard that ten or fifty times today." She slapped my chest playfully and I released her muscle. "Cocky, aren't you?" She said, placing a soft kiss in the middle of my back. "With good reason." I replied, returning to my task of massaging her legs, digging my fingers into the tissue deep.

Another sigh escaped her. "That feels so good. You don't even know."

"Why do your legs hurt, exactly?" I questioned, my fingers moving up to her thighs. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to be bent over like that for that amount of time?" My shoulders shook with laughter, trying to ignore the mental images that were conjured up from her reliving our activities from earlier.

"Can't say that I do so I'll take your word for it. I'm sorry I hurt you."

"Worth it." She breathed, her own hands working into my left shoulder. I groaned at the touch. "You're right, that does feel good."

We lay there like that, each massaging the other's various limbs, and just relaxing with each other, something that we'd never really done before. "So...did you not have to go back into the studio today?" she asked, releasing the hand she'd been working on and rolling onto her back.

"I can make my own hours. I'm freelance, in a way. Just like you."

"But I'm not holding you back from anything else?"

I flipped onto my side to face her and rest my head in my hand. "Nope." Then my stomach grumbled. "Though I could use some food. We did skip lunch." I told her with a wink.

"Ahh yes. You need food." Her stomach then grumbled loudly, signaling that she too was hungry. "Guess you do too." I teased, reaching over to poke at her stomach. She giggled and grabbed onto the finger that was pressing into her skin. "I'm ticklish...please don't."

Her telling me that was of course a bad idea, because you don't tell someone you're ticklish when they're in a position to tickle. At realizing what she'd just admitted, her eyes grew wide and she tried to slink further away from me. "Don't even think about it, J."

"Don't think about what?" I asked innocently, moving closer to her with hands extended, fingers ready to poke and prod.

"I know that look. I've seen it one too many times."

"And what are you going to do, little girl? I am so much stronger than you and you're almost at the edge of the bed. Where you gonna go?"

She grinned. "I could crush you, Timberlake."

Reaching out, she yelped when my fingers gripped her sides and I began tickling her. "Unfair." She yelled, doing everything she could to get away from my probing fingers, all the while giggling uncontrollably. Her laughter was making me laugh and soon enough I gave up my game and just laughed with her.

It felt good. To laugh with someone again. To really enjoy being in another woman's company. It felt like forever since I'd felt this with Danielle.

We finally settled our laughter down and laid in comfortable silence, both trying to figure out what the next move was. Today had put us in an unusual position. We'd spent the afternoon talking and laughing, among other things, and now found ourselves in a place that we never really intended to end up when we started this thing weeks before. We were becoming friends.

"Well, should we call in for food? There are a lot of good delivery places around here."

Curled up against my side, she nodded her head. "Sushi, maybe?"

"Sounds good." I replied, placing a kiss to the top of her head before I rolled out of bed. "I'm gonna go grab the menu. Be back."

I pulled on a pair of shorts before I headed downstairs to the kitchen.

While I was fishing around in a drawer for the menu, I heard Rhys enter the kitchen and slip onto a stool at the breakfast bar.

"What's up?" I asked, not turning around, still in search of the paper. "I figured it was time to get out of bed." She said with a yawn.

"I like you in my bed, though." I replied, fingers finally coming in contact with what I wanted.

"I like being in your bed." She flirted back, grabbing the menu from my hands. "Want anything? Water? Coke? Wine? I'm pretty sure I've got it all."

"If you've got a beer, I'm good with that."

"Killians ok?"

She nodded, flipping through the menu, eyes flickering over the list of items. I didn't need it. I'd ordered from this sushi place more times than I could count. It was one of Danielle and my favorites.

I felt a shred of guilt tug somewhere in the pit of my stomach but tried to push it away. We were on the outs at the moment anyway-we'd had a fight that morning actually while I was at the studio and it hadn't ended well. She wasn't going to be back for another two weeks and I was mad about it and she'd gotten mad at me for not being more understanding about her job even when she was always understanding about mine.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Rhys' voice interrupted my thoughts. "Today. It's been nice. I didn't think that I needed someone to do all this with but...after today I think I do. I like having someone to talk to, especially since Danielle isn't around to do it with."

"So what we're doing is ok with you?" she questioned, pushing the menu away from her. "What do you mean? Like getting to know each other better and being friends?" She nodded yes. "Of course it's ok."

Taking the menu from her, I grabbed the house phone and began to dial. "What are you ordering?"

"Order me whatever you get. There's too much there."

"You got it. One octopus roll coming up!" Her green eyes went wide and I laughed. "Only kidding."

Our food arrived thirty minutes later and we took it into the living room and sat on the floor, making a spread of our sushi on the coffee table. With chopsticks in hand, we finally got around to our lunch date while watching Tivoed episodes of The Office, which I learned was one of her favorite shows.

I caught myself staring at her more times than I really wanted to admit to myself, and tried to play it off as just being attracted to the fact that I was enjoying her company as a friend.

But when her head tilted backwards and she let loose her infectious laugh, pieces of hair falling into her face that I wanted to push away so that I could see the smile on her face, I knew that it was more than that. And I wondered just how long I'd been thinking thoughts like this and if she was thinking that way too.

Mid laugh, she snorted, which caused me to laugh even harder at whatever it was that Steve Carell had just said. "He is seriously my favorite person ever." She giggled, setting her chopsticks down on the plate.

"I don't know what comedy was before him." I said in agreement, stacking our plates up and getting them out of the way.

"What now?" she asked, watching me as I got up from the floor to take our dishes to the kitchen. "What do you mean?"

"What do we do now?" she repeated.

"We can hang, if you want. I've got at least four more episodes on here and all the seasons on DVD are in the movie room." I called out to her from the kitchen. I set the dishes in the sink, vowing to take care of them later, and went back into the living room.

Her eyes were lit up in excitement. "Office marathon???"

I had to laugh at her enthusiasm. "I'm up for it. I've got no plans for tomorrow. Or the next two weeks really."

"Danielle out of town?" she asked quietly, moving from the floor to situate herself on the couch. I nodded, plopping down next to her.

"Yeah. Another two weeks filming, at least. And she was originally coming home this weekend but decided to just stay." I answered with a groan-Danielle wasn't what I wanted to be talking about right now. Talking about her to another girl-not to mention a girl that I was sleeping with-felt weird. At least Rhys knew about Danielle, though. It wasn't like I was keeping her a secret.

Even so, I felt like something had changed between Rhys' and my relationship over the past day. Maybe we never should have crossed the line into being friends. From what I could tell right now, it was going to put us on a dangerous path.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." I replied, stretching myself out so that she could make herself comfortable against me. "I know. But I know how hard long distance...well, I can imagine how hard it is to do a long distance relationship. It's a lot of work." She sympathized.

"I've made it work before..." I began. "Come here. You're too far away." I told her, helping her stretch out in front of me on the big couch and wrapping an arm around her middle. "Comfy?" I asked, reaching for the remote on the coffee table. "Uh-huh." She mumbled, resting her head on the arm that was under her.

*

I woke with a start, my left arm feeling like a dead weight, and my left side completely asleep. I pushed up slightly, confused at first, and then realization dawned when I saw Rhys stretched out in front of me, still fast asleep. With a look around, I saw how dark it was outside and squinted at the numbers on the Tivo box, reading that it was almost 4am. How had we been asleep for so long, I wondered.

She shifted in front of me, squeezing my right arm that was still wrapped around her midsection, and I nudged at her, trying to get her to wake. We needed to move. I was uncomfortable being on the couch and my bed was calling my name.

"Rhys..." I called out softly, nuzzling the back of her neck.

"Hmmm..." she whined back.

"Babe, its 4am. I don't know about you but, I'd be more comfortable in my big, comfy bed."

"Hmphhhh."

"I'll take that as a yes. You ok staying over?"

She rolled just the slightest bit, eyelashes fluttering open and I felt my heart stop in my chest when her tired green eyes settled on me and she smiled just slightly. "Mhmmm."

"'Kay. Let's go then." We both shifted so that we could get up off the couch and I clicked the TV off.

"You can borrow a t-shirt if you want." I told her once we'd gotten to my room, fishing in the top drawer of my dresser for an oversized shirt for her.

"Thanks. I don't suppose you've got an extra toothbrush laying around, do you?" She asked, turning away from me to discard the shirt she had on, and to put on the one I'd just given her. I had to smile at her shyness-it wasn't a side of her that I'd seen before-but it was cute.

"I think so. I'll lay it out by the sink for you." I said with a grin, padding into the bathroom.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, wondering who this person was that I was looking at. Because the person I thought I knew would never be doing this if he was with someone. What had this girl done to my head? Not wanting to think on it any longer, I pushed the thoughts out of my head, again, and looked for an extra toothbrush, setting it out for her like I'd said I would.

Brushing my own teeth as quickly as I could so she could get in the bathroom, I made sure I left the toothpaste out before heading back to bed and couldn't stop the smile from forming when I saw her already asleep in bed. Dark hair fanned out around her, she was curled on her side towards the middle of the bed, my t-shirt pulled down to her knees, and she was adorable.

Hitting the light, I climbed into bed beside her, and buried myself under the covers. She searched me out when she felt the bed dip and situated herself against me, one arm draping across my middle, and digging her feet between my calves. "Night, Rhys." I said quietly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She tucked her head under my chin and sighed before replying tiredly, "night, J."

I mimicked her sigh, the feeling of contentment wrapping itself around me, and I didn't have a care in the world.

Not for the first time today, I wondered how this situation between us had evolved into...this.