I woke up to quite a surprise this morning.

Justin sent Mackenzie in to wake me up and she thought it would be cute to jump up and down on the bed beside me, yelling ‘get up, get up’… All things I could have done without at 7:30 in the morning.

“Daddy said to stop at nothing until you’re awake, so wake up sleepy head.” She says, shaking me violently.

“I didn’t mean shake her to death.” Justin says from the doorway.

Mackenzie stops, hopping down off the bed, quickly skipping out of the room. Justin walks over to me, sitting down on the side of the bed, brushing the hair off my face.

“Good Morning.” he says, smiling down at me.

“It was until I was jumped on and violently shaken.” I say, laughing.

“I’m sorry, I thought she’d just come in and tap you nicely. I was very, very wrong.”

I laugh, sitting up to stretch. He leans in to kiss me and I realize just how much I missed this. It has been way too long since I’ve woken up with him. I missed every little detail of him. The way his lips feel against mine; the way he gently cups my face when he kisses me; the way he looks at me right before he’ll kiss me; the way he makes my heart flutter with just a smile. He just incredible and I know he has his faults. You know the whole speaking before he thinks thing, but if that’s his only fault. I’ll take it.

Yeah, I’ll definitely take it.

He pulls away smiling, his gorgeous smile, “You need to get ready, I have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise?” I ask, grinning.

He nods, leaning forward to kiss me again, “Get up and take a shower. Meet me downstairs when your done.”

“Alright, but I need some clothes… Do you mind grabbing the bag out of my car.”

He grins, “I knew you couldn’t go shopping without buying yourself something.”

I laugh, “I bought a couple pairs of jeans and a couple tanks, nothing crazy.”

“And I’m going to assume not one of them were William Rast.”

I laugh, “Sorry baby.” I say, sliding out of the bed, walking into the bathroom to shower.

I showered, dried my hair and walked back into the bedroom to find my bag, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt laying out. I laugh, shaking my head when I grab the note.

I shake my head, tossing the note on the side table. I grab his jeans and slide them on. I have a real problem with wearing dirty underwear after I shower, it defeats the whole purpose so I guess I’m going sans underwear today. This should be interesting with jeans, certainly not the most comfortable choice, but what am I going to do?

These jeans are amazing though. He and Trace didn’t do too bad. I may have to buy a few more pairs of these. They are amazing for my ass and aside from the no underwear situation, they are one of the most comfortable pair of jeans I’ve ever worn. The t-shirt is not happening though. It’s hotter than hell and I already have jeans on.

Tank it is.

I drop the towel and grab the tank as the door opens. I look up to see Justin freeze, wide eyed in the doorway.

I laugh, “You may want to shut the door.”

He steps forward, kicking the door shut, never looking away from me.

I slide the tank over my head, straightening it down my torso. When I look back up he’s standing right in front of me.

“Whoa…” I say, laughing.

“They look good on you.”

“I thought so too… Thank you.” I say, leaning up to kiss him. I wrap my arms around his neck as he grabs a handful of my hair pulling me closer to him.

He groans, pulling away, “This slow deal is going to suck.”

I nod, “I know, but we at least have to give it 24 hours before we start going at the speed of light again.”

“It’s been way too long already though.” He all but moans against my mouth, before devouring my mouth.

“Justin this didn’t work out so well the first time around.” I say, pulling away, but he pulls me right back in.

“We had problems because of my big mouth… Sex was never the problem, I promise I wont be doing a whole lot of talking.”

“Daddy we’re ready.” Mackenzie says, barging into the room.

Justin groans, “Do you ever knock little one?” he says, dropping his hands from my face.

“Sorry Daddy. Do you want me to leave and knock?”

I turn my head to laugh.

“You already passed that step honey, just remember to knock next time ok?” He says, shaking his head at her.

“Ok… But everything is ready.”

“Thank you, we’ll be down in a minute.”

“K.” she says, walking back down the hallway.

He turns back towards me and smiles, “I love you… Just remember that when you walk downstairs ok?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Is this not a good surprise?”

“No it’s a good surprise, it just may… I don’t know just know that I did this because I love you ok?”

“Ok…” I say, getting a little nervous.

We walk downstairs together, so far so good. Justin walks into the kitchen and I follow behind him. He moves around the island and I’m pretty sure my heart stopped.

Ryan?

“Oh my god…” I whisper, my hand jumping up to cover my mouth.

Justin and Mackenzie grab the bags of food and walk into the dining room leaving the two of us alone.

I can’t tell if he’s afraid to say anything or pissed off that I’m here.

“What are you doing here Ryan?”

“I came to see you.” he answers, quietly.

“Why? You haven’t wanted to see me for over a week… Why now?”

“Someone made me realize how stupid and selfish I was being… I’m sorry Lauren. I shouldn’t have walked away from you. I just thought you were angry with me, I thought you were disgusted with the way I acted. I don‘t know what happened, but that was not me. You of all people should know that.”

“I do, that’s why I wasn’t mad at you… I needed you Ryan more than I have in a really long time and you just left me. I had no one.” I choke out, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“I know… God I’m sorry Laur…” He says, walking around the island, grabbing me into a tight hug.

“I promise, I’ll never leave you again. I’m so sorry Grace…”

I break down against him. Grace is my middle name and my father used to always call me Grace. No one but my father would call me that and that’s how it always has been. Ryan does it every now and again when I get mad at him. He knows it works every time, this time not being any different.

“Are they ok daddy?” Mackenzie whispers to Justin.

“Yeah.” He whispers back.

We both stood there crying for a few minutes before I broke away, wiping my face with my hands. Justin slides a box of tissues across the counter towards us, turning quickly, walking into the dining room like it wasn’t him that just did it. We both laughed at him, wiping our faces.

“I love you Lauren Grace.” Ryan says, wiping my face with a tissue.

“I love you Ryan Jeffrey.” I say, hugging him again.

“Let’s go eat, I’m starving.” He says, grabbing my hand, leading me into the dining room.

************************************************************************

“Now I’m speechless, over the edge and just breathless, I never thought that I’d catch this love bug again. Hopeless head over heels in the moment. I never thought that I’d get hit with this love bug again…” Mackenzie sings at the top of her lungs.

“So I take it she didn’t get your music jeans?” I ask Justin as I walk into his bedroom.

“Why do you think that?” he asks, looking up at me curiously.

“Well, at the moment she is singing Love Bug by the Jonas Brothers… I’m not quite sure I’d call it singing though. It’s more like yelling, very badly.” I say, laughing.

“The Jonas Brother huh? So she’s not a fan of mine?”

“Those Jonas Brothers are quite cute… well at least that’s what the teenage population seems to think…”

“Yeah that used to be me you know.” He says looking at me hurt.

“Aww baby, you don’t want to be cute… You’re all grown up now… you’ve moved on to incredibly sexy and very handsome, gorgeous even… We can let the Jonas Brother keep the cute title ok?”

“You think I’m sexy huh?” He asks, pulling me down onto his lap.

I giggle, “Well you did bring sexy back.”

He groans, “I hate that fucking song… Everyone seems to think I actually meant sexy was gone and I brought it back… it’s a fucking song.” He grumbles out.

“Geez I hit a sore spot huh?” I say, poking him in his side.

“I’m sorry, it just drives me nuts that people actually think I brought sexy back… Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, but if sexy ever did leave, you’d be my first choice to help bring it back.”

“Is that right?” He asks, cracking a smile. I nod.

“See I can think of some better people that could bring sexy back. I don’t think I’d be the front runner for that.”

“Who would be then?”

“Women tend to go with George Clooney… He seems to be sexy for every women. Me? I’m only sexy to some women.”

“And the rest of those women are either completely blind or they’re lesbians and don’t swing your way.” I say, making him laugh.

“You good for my ego.” He says, laughing.

“Ooooh good because we all know how deflated your ego is.” I joke.

“Hey, I am the one that brought sexy back.” He says laughing.

“Oh sure you don’t get mad when you use it, but when I do I get cursed at.” I joke, playing hurt.

“Aww baby I’m sorry, did I hurt your feelings?” he asks, pushing me back against the bed, rolling over so he’s on top of me. He leans down to kiss me.

“Daddy can I have a snack before I go to bed?” Mackenzie asks, walking into the bedroom.

Justin quickly rolls off me, groaning.

“Knocking Mackenzie… How many times do I have to ask you to knock?”

“Oh whoops.” She says, walking out of the room shutting the door. A second later she knocks on the door.

I know I shouldn’t be laughing, but that’s funny. Justin smacks my arm and shakes his head at me. He slowly sits up, leaning back against the headboard.

“What do you want Mackenzie?” He asks.

She walks into the room, giggling, “Can I have a snack?”

“It’s 11 Mackenzie, you need to go to bed… And where did you get a Jonas Brothers CD?”

“Uncle Trace. He thought I’d like it. I do! It’s awesome! I think Nick is super cute.” She gushes.

Justin Groans again.

“Do you have any of your dad’s cds?” I ask.

“I don’t really like the same kind of music daddy likes.”

I laugh, “No, I meant do you have any of the cd’s your dad sings on?”

“Daddy has cds?”

Ok again, I know I shouldn’t laugh, but that’s just too funny. Justin smacks my arm again but that just makes me laugh harder.

“You know what I do for work.” He says, shaking his head.

“I didn’t know you had cds.” She says, wide eyed.

“He has a lot of cds actually.” I say, finally settling down.

“Really? Can I listen to them?” She asks, grinning from ear to ear.

“Tomorrow Kenz… It’s time for bed.”

She pouts, sighing, “Ok.” She says, walking over to give me a hug, then jumping on Justin to give him a hug.

“Good Night sweetie.” I say, watching her climb off the bed.

“Night, Love you.” She says strolling out of the room.

“Love you, Good Night.” Justin yells out to her.

“Night!” She yells back, slamming the door behind her.

I immediately start laughing again.

“What’s so funny?” He asks, climbing back on top of me.

“Your daughter is hilarious.” I say, still laughing.

“Oh yeah, she’s a riot. You need to stop egging her on with your laugh.” He says, leaning down to kiss my neck.

“I’m sorry, maybe you should teach me a lesson.”

His head snaps up and he looks down at me with a cocked eyebrow. I can’t help but laugh.

“I thought we were taking this slow…” He says, his grin growing wider by the second.

“We are. We’re taking it real slow.” I say, pulling his head down claiming his lips with mine.

“I like how you think, baby girl.” He says, sneaking his hand under my shirt, gliding it north until it hit just below my breast.

It’s close enough to 24 hours right?