“I’ll be telling this one. It’s not exactly one of Josh’s favorite anecdotes.” I informed Dr. Cavanaugh.

I’d had a particularly stressful day dealing with Michael’s eccentric behavior and JC’s solution had been to break out alcohol. We weren’t drunk, but we definitely weren’t sober. It had also been his bright idea to play a game of truth. If you refused to answer the question, than you had to take a shot of tequila. So far, neither one of us had taken a shot and I was getting annoyed. I was seriously contemplating refusing to answer the question just so I could take a shot.

“This is ridiculous. We’re never going to crack open the tequila because you and I have no shame.” I complain.

“Sounds like you’re refusing to answer the question, Davenport.” He taunted as he waved my shot glass in front of my face.

I slapped his hand away, “Back of the band bus during my senior year. It was a two hour bus ride home and everyone else was asleep.”

The look of shock on his face caused me to start giggling, “Why little Miss Nicolette, I never would have guessed that you were such a freak!”

“Shut up!” I exclaimed as I stuck my tongue out at him. I began trying to think of a question that he wouldn’t answer. I really wanted to start drinking again, but I wanted him to be the first to refuse to answer a question. I leaned back in my chair and stared at him. It was almost twelve in the morning and we were sitting in his backyard. I stared at him, taking in the black t-shirt and red basketball shorts he was wearing.

“Stop ogling me and ask a question,” he teased.

“Like I said earlier, you and I have no shame. It’s hard to think of something that you wouldn’t answer.” I explain.

He let a few seconds pass before he started humming the Jeopardy countdown song. I grabbed an ice cube from the glass that I had been drinking my rum and coke out of and threw it at him.

“Brat!” I shouted before I started laughing, “Okay, Alex Trebek, I’ve finally got a question.”

“Finally.”

I make sure he’s looking me dead in the eye before I ask, “Have you ever thought about sleeping with me?”

“All the time.” He answers without missing a beat.

I blink in surprise, “Huh?”

“You heard me. I think about it all the time.” He replies and I feel my mouth get dry.

“You...you weren’t supposed to answer that.” I stutter.

He shrugs and leans back in his chair, “You shouldn’t ask a question if you don’t want to know the answer.”

“You’re unbelievable.” I muttered as I opened the bottle of tequila and poured myself a shot.

He watched me down it, but grabbed the bottle from my hand before I could pour another one, “I don’t know what you’re freaking out about. I’m attracted to you. You’re attracted to me. It’s not like this is a new discovery. Calm down.”

“No, I will not calm down, Joshua! We don’t talk about us being…well…yeah. We don’t talk about it because we’re friends. Just friends.” I ranted.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have asked the damn question, Nicolette. You’re the one that brought it up.” JC glared at me, “And for the record, we don’t talk about it because you want it that way.”

 “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what I said. You’re the one that wants to walk around pretending that you and I are just really good friends. You’re the one that wants to ignore the sexual tension that’s always looming between us and I go along with it because I’m not going to force you into anything that you don’t want.”

I know that I should just nod my head and change the subject. I know that what I’m about to say is going to change everything. I know all this, but I’ve had enough alcohol to think that maybe just maybe owning up to my feelings might be a good idea, “What if I said I wanted you? Right here. Right now.”

I watch the anger in his blue eyes slowly fade to lust. He licks his lips before growling, “I’d tell you that if you want it, you can have it. I’d also warn you that once I start, I intend to finish so you better make damn sure it’s what you want.”

I nod my head as I slowly push my chair back and start walking towards his house. As I reach the door, I turn back around to face him, “Are you coming?”

He quickly abandons his seat and before I know it, he’s pulled me back against him. His lips find my ear and his breath is warm on my skin as he whispers, “Oh, honey, I’m definitely coming.”

My eyes slam shut and I resist the urge to moan as he reaches around me and slides open the door. I’m quickly ushered inside and he shuts the door behind him. He grabs my hand and we head up the stairs to his bedroom.

He opens the door and as I’m about to enter, he grabs my hand, “Nikki, we don’t have to do this. We can go back downstairs. We can go back to playing the game and forget this ever happened.”

I can’t help the smile that appears on my face. We’ve only been friends for six months, but I already know that this is classic JC. He’s all about putting the people he cares about and their wants and needs before his. I’m not really sure that I’m not going to regret this in the morning, but I know that, right now, this is exactly what I want.

Instead of answering, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him towards me. Our lips met and my knees went weak when he slipped his tongue past my lips. I feel his arms engulf me and we begin backing up into the room. He shuts the door with his foot.

He moved to plant kisses on my neck as his hands found their way to my hips. He pulled me closer and I could feel how aroused he was. A low moan escaped from my throat. I stepped away from him and removed my t-shirt. When I started to remove my sweats, he placed his hands over mine to still my movements.

“Not so fast, honey. We’ve got time.” He murmured gruffly.

I couldn’t find my voice so I simply nodded my head. He lifted his hands off of mine and got rid of the shirt he was wearing. He framed my face with his hands and tilted my head upwards before bring his mouth down to cover mine. As I began to participate in the kiss, his hands left my face. A few seconds later I felt my bra give way and he slid it down my arms.

I gasped as he lifted me into his arms and carried me over to the bed. Once he’d laid me down, he came to rest beside me. He began to caress one of my breasts before leaning down and taking a nipple into his mouth. I slid my fingers into his hair and arched my back.

He switched breasts and after a few minutes, I lightly tugged on his hair. He sat up and I pushed him back on the bed. I ran my hands down his chest and stomach, stopping when I reached his shorts. He lifted his hips so I could pull them off.

I’d been dreaming of this since the moment I ran into him in Starbucks all those months ago and I was quickly realizing that reality was going to be far better than anything I’d dreamed up.

I took him in my hand and began to stroke up and down. I looked up to see him intently watching me as he chewed on his bottom lip. A few drops appeared on the head and I gave him a grin before I bent forward to take him in my mouth. Before I accomplished that task, however, I felt his hands intertwined in my hair and he lightly tugged until I sat up. I glared at him as I asked, “Is there a reason you stopped me?”

JC laughed as he yanked me upwards so I was straddling him, “Yes, there is a reason.”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes as I respond, “Care to share with the rest of the class?”

“Because when you make me cum for the first time, I want to be deep inside of you instead of in your mouth.” He whispered in my ear before attacking my neck with his lips.

“Yeah…that…uh…that sounds like a good reason.” I manage to croak out as I lift up so he can pull off my sweat pants and underwear.

He removes his face from my neck and gives me a grin, “I’m glad you agree.”

He flips us over and reaches over to open the drawer in his bedside table. The next words out of my mouth still his movements.

“I’m on the pill.”

He looks down at me and the gaze that greets me is so intense that I have to look away, “Are you sure?” I nod my head yes, but that’s not good enough for him, “Sweetheart, look at me.”

When I can’t bring myself to meet his eyes, he retracts his arm and guides my face to look up at him with his hand, “I’m okay with not using a condom, but if you want me to wear one, than I’m okay with that too. Just don’t tell me that it’s okay if it’s not. It’s completely up to you, but either way, I need to hear you actually say it.”

I don’t know how he always seems to know exactly what I need to hear, but that rids me of any doubt I’d had, “I want to feel you. All of you.”

He leans down and kisses me tenderly, “Thank you.”

I dug my fingers into his shoulders as he reached between us to position himself at my entrance. With one smooth stroke, he was inside of me. He pulled out slowly before driving deeper into me. He was hot and hard and I could feel the delightful pressure of him all the way through my body. My legs automatically wrapped around him and I moved my hips to meet his thrusts.

I arched against him and he gave a low groan before cupping my bottom and thrusting even deeper. Pleasure clawed at me, creating sensations I’d never imagined existed. JC locked his fingers with mine as he kissed me. He used his tongue to mimic what he was doing to me with his lower body and that filled me with even more delight. He ended the kiss to bury his face in the crook of my neck and the sounds of his groans were all I could hear. I could feel the muscles in his shoulders rippling under my fingertips and with each plunge, I could feel my orgasm building.

“Mmmm...Jaaaaaace.” I moaned. This prompted him to turn his head and suck on my earlobe. That was all it took to send me over the edge.

Wave after wave of the most intense climax I’ve ever had washed over me and after a few more strokes, he went rigid and followed me into completion.

“JC, when I asked about this story, you seemed to be very reluctant for it to be told. You’re not the first couple I’ve seen that’s ended up in bed together after a few drinks. You two had known each other for six months and had become good friends. It’s certainly nothing to be ashamed of even if it isn’t the most conventional way of getting together.” Dr. Cavanaugh reasoned.

My husband cleared his throat before responding, “It’s not that part of the story that I have a problem with. It’s what happened the next morning.”

She pushed her glasses up on her face and nodded, “Nikki, why don’t you continue?”

I took a deep breath, knowing that the next part of this story didn’t paint me in the best light.

I’m incredibly thankful that he’s a deep sleeper as I remove his arm from around me and he doesn’t stir. I slide from underneath the covers and look around the room for my discarded clothing. I grab my sweats and quickly pull them on. I spot my shirt on the other side of the room and cross over to get it. I decide to go braless because the quicker I make my exit, the better. I put on my shirt and pick up my bra. I tiptoed towards the door and as soon as my hand grasps the door knob, his voice stops me.

“Please tell me you have some photo shoot that you have to get to and you just didn’t want to wake me, but you had every intention of calling me later.” I slowly turn back around to face him and the sight of him sitting with his back to the headboard and the sheet riding dangerously low on his hips leaves me momentarily speechless. “Come back to bed, Nikki.”

That command pulls me out of my reverie, “Look, Jace, last night wa-“

He cut me off before I could label it a mistake, “Wonderful? Incredible? Definitely something that should happen again?”

“No.” I close my eyes as a heavy sigh escapes my lips, “It shouldn’t have happened at all.”

He laughs, but there’s no warmth to the tone, “Is this the part where you blame what happened on the alcohol? Because you and I both know that last night was more than some drunken mistake.”

“No, it wasn’t.” I argued. “It was sex. It was two horny adults with lowered inhibitions using one another to get off. Don’t make it more than it was, JC.”

“How about you stop trying to make it less than it was, Nicolette?” He spat back and I cringed at the use of my whole name. He only used it when he was trying to annoy me and when he was angry with me.

“Josh, I don’t want to do this. Can we just pretend this never happened and go back to the way things were?” I plead and, instantly, I know that was the wrong thing to say.

 “You expect me to pretend this never happened?” I watch as his blue eyes turn to ice and he gets up from the bed. I don’t even have the temptation to run my eyes over his naked form because I can’t bring myself to look away from his intense gaze. He stalks over to where I’m standing and he plants a hand on each side of me, trapping me against the door, “You expect me to just hang out with you, go to lunch or dinner, watch movies, and just go back to normal.”

“Uh...yes.” I squeak and, for the second time that morning, a bitter laugh escapes him.

“I can’t do that.” He says as he shakes his head, “It’s not that I don’t want to. Believe me, if I could give you that, I would. But I can’t. Before, I just thought about us being together. Now, I know how you taste. I know what it’s like to make you shiver from my touch. I know what it’s like to have you moan my name. There are some lines that you just can’t pull back from once you’ve crossed them, Nikki, and as much as I adore your friendship, I can’t pretend like nothing happened.”

“Just like that we’re done?” I inquire as tears begin to form in my eyes.

“Shit, Nikki, what do you want me to say?” JC questioned as he pushed off the door and walked back towards the bed, “I told you last night that we didn’t have to do anything. Don’t you dare try to play the victim in all of this.”

“I was drunk!” I reasoned.

“Are you trying to say I took advantage of you?” He asks incredulously, his voice dangerously low.

“No!” I yell and then answer again at a regular tone, “No. I know you would never take advantage of me, Jace. You gave me plenty of opportunity to stop it, but I didn’t because I wanted it. I wanted you.” I leaned against the door as I questioned, “What do you want from me?”

“I want you to admit that there’s something here. I want you to give me a shot at being more than your friend.” His eyes met mine and, when I stayed silent, he scratched the back of his neck as he sat down on the bed and pulled the sheet over his lower body, “If you can’t give me that, than I just want you to go, Nikki.”

 I’d love nothing more right now than to be able to turn back the clock and prevent last night from happening because as incredible as it was, it wasn’t worth losing our friendship over and that’s exactly what was happening. I knew that as soon as I walked out of the door and out of his house, it would be the last time I saw him. My eyes met his and I know he’s hoping that I’ll give in. That I’ll give him what he wants, but I can’t.

“Goodbye, Jace.” I choke out before turning the door knob and walking out of his life.

“It was hard.” JC interjected, “I can’t tell you how many times I almost called her.”

“Why didn’t you?” Dr. Cavanaugh asked.

“As petty as it sounds, I didn’t want to be the first one to break,” he answered, “I wasn’t wrong and I thought that if I was the first to call, I’d be admitting that she was right.”

She wrote on her notepad before asking me the same question she’d asked JC. I thought for a few moments before answering, “I didn’t call for the same reasons he didn’t. I wasn’t going to be the first one to offer up an apology.”

The blonde woman nodded and then asked us both, “Is that a common theme in your relationship? When there’s a disagreement, do you two argue to be heard or to be right?”

JC spoke, “It’s definitely to be right.”

“And we’ll both go to great lengths to get the last word.” I added.

“If both of you are trying to get the last word than that means you’re not really listening to one another. If you’re not listening to one another than you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing and nothing will ever get resolved. You both need to decide what is more important to you. Being right or having a good marriage because trying to be right in every argument is extremely detrimental to your relationship with one another.” Dr. Cavanaugh explained, “Before you leave today, I’m going to give you two a few exercises you can do to help you learn to really listen to one another.” She made another note on her notepad before speaking “JC, why don’t you tell me what happened after two months that got you two to start speaking again.”