*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.