Chapter 12
When JC made way back into the living room a few minutes later, he found Amanda sprawled out lengthwise on the sofa, laying on her side, her head resting against the arm cushion and her eyes focused on the TV.

It had been obvious that she was a little hurt by his decision to stop their intimacy from going any further, but he knew it had been the right choice, at least for now. Maybe if she hadn't been drinking earlier he would have let things progress, but with the alcohol in her system he'd feel way too guilty if it happened under those circumstances. Besides, he'd hate to think she might resent him the next morning.

He wanted her first time to be absolutely perfect. And now that he knew he would be given that honor, he was bound and determined to make it that way.
But he did have an idea to make her feel a little better for the time being.
Kneeling in front of her, he brushed a hand across her cheek and kissed her sweetly. "You're upset?" he asked sincerely.

She looked up at him with her caring green eyes and it was obvious there were so many new things she was feeling. A part of him realized this could be very dangerous territory. That moving forward with her could cause many complications in his life, but he didn't care. He felt too strongly to deny himself.

"No, not upset," she answered softly.

"Disappointed?"

"Maybe, a little," she admitted.

"Don't be. It'll be worth it, I promise," he assured her. "Can I lay with you?" he asked.

"Okay."

Carefully JC slid behind her on the roomy sofa, his body fitting against hers with perfection. After settling in and fluffing a couple of pillows for his head, he stared at the back of her and pulled out the ponytail holder in her hair.

Amanda stretched to look at him from the corner of her eye. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Shhh, watch the movie," he told her. Without question, she turned her head back around.

JC wasn't all that interested in the movie, himself. He was more interested in her.

Tenderly he ran his fingers over her scalp and through her long hair. Soft as silk, her tresses smoothed between his fingers, a light scent of vanilla releasing from the strands and seeping into his nose.

He toyed with her hair, teasing her neck with the tips of his fingers and watching with satisfaction as tiny goose bumps formed after every touch. Finally, lifting her hair away from the back of her neck, he let his hand fall down her arm and slowly inched his lips to her skin.

Softly she moaned as he tasted her with gentleness and ease. His hand slid to her waist and immediately found it's way underneath her thin shirt, aching to touch her bare skin.

Amanda felt the warmth of his touch and immediately froze. "JC, what are you doing?" The only thing she could think about was how he had told her no, and how now he was being a complete hypocrite by teasing her this way.
Although, his lips felt absolutely magnificent against her neck.

"Trust me," he spoke softly, tearing his lips away only long enough to speak.

All the while his hand pressed against her stomach and the length of his body rested comfortably against her back. "I'm going to make you feel better."
With those words, the speed of her heartbeat picked up ten times. He was going to make her feel better? Oh my, she could only imagine what that meant.

As his tongue delicately traced just underneath her ear, his fingers crept even higher beneath her shirt. Her eyes fell closed without thought. Her only ounce of concentration focused on the pleasure he was lavishing upon her. His fingers traced along the edge of her lacey bra and in turn her breath deepened, a soft moan escaping as she exhaled.

With grace and tenderness his strong hand cupped her breast as he brought his lips to her ear. "Trust me," he repeated in a breathy whisper, just before nibbling gently on her lobe.

Amanda's hormones were in such a frenzy that it was in no way possible for her not to trust him at that moment. All she knew was that she did not want him to stop touching her. That was the last thing she wanted. She turned onto her back to look him in the eye. "Just don't stop," she pleaded quietly, right before his lips crashed down upon her own.

Gently he tilted her head backward and worked his mouth down the front of her neck. Her fingers dug into the back of his head. Her hand tangling its way through his hair. But when his mouth lifted from her neck and skipped over to her stomach she nearly lost it. With perfection his tongue dipped across her navel before gliding up the center of her abdomen.

She was lost in a world of ecstasy as he worked his magic upon her, the warmth of his soft mouth making it's way towards her breasts. Her shirt pushed up to her arm pits, she realized how vulnerable she had let herself become.

She also realized how wonderful he made her feel.

JC stopped briefly to look into her eyes, his left hand fidgeting with the front clasp of her bra. He leaned in to her face and brushed his thumb down her cheek. "This isn't going to go as far as you think," he said quietly, "but I promise you'll feel a whole lot better afterwards."

Amanda only stared, peering up at him with glossy eyes.

"You trust me, right?" he asked again.

Completely breathless, she nodded her head yes.

"Do you even know how beautiful you are?" he asked, caressing the side of her face softly with his finger tips. "Of course you don't," he answered for himself, "you're gorgeous." He stared straight into her eyes as he spoke and Amanda knew that with those sweet words, he had gained complete control and there was nothing she was going to do to try and stop it.

He brought both hands to the clasp of her lacey, white bra and in mere seconds had it un-fastened. Instead of pushing it aside, he let it remain covering her as he continued to kiss up the center of her chest. Slowly, he pushed one hand underneath the sheer material and cupped her gently.

But what really got her, what really made her even hotter than she'd already been, was when his tongue trickled across her flesh, stopping at her nipple and taking it into his mouth, lightly sucking while his teeth brushed across its peak.

And while his lips continued with their concentration on her breasts, one hand gradually slid down her stomach heading straight for the very root of her desire. His fingers barely pushed underneath her waistband as he brought his face to hers, his lips hovering just above her mouth. He dipped his head down to kiss her deeply, his tongue sweeping inside of her mouth with a passionate force. Down below, his hand crept even closer towards the place where she ached for him the most.

The throbbing desire was nearly unbearable. He was driving her insane withhis slow, take-your-time pace. But somewhere in the back of her frazzled mind, she did manage to realize that he was moving slow because he knew what he was doing to her was so new.

And he was right.

Finally, his fingers slid underneath the lace of her panties to find her moist and ready. Amanda moaned loudly against his mouth as the sensation of his fingers in her most private place was almost too much for her to handle. With skill he rubbed her just the right way, all the while his lips taking control of her mouth and his tongue doing delicious things inside.

The tension building, her hips bucked to meet his hand and he carefully slid one finger inside of her. An even louder moan escaped her as JC touched and rubbed and seemed to press the very button that kept all that emotion trapped inside. She gasped for air, incredibly close to slipping over the edge.

"I want you to come," his sexy voice whispered into her ear, "I want you to feel the release. Let yourself go, Amanda. Let me tide you over until I can give you the real thing."

And as his mouth covered her lips, his hand massaging against her center, it hit. A thousand tiny explosions went off in her body, her muscles tightening and convulsing in a way she had never felt before. A way that felt absolutely amazing.

"That's it," he breathed, pulling away from their kiss while pressing harder against her, riding it all the way to the finish. "Just let it go."

Amanda gasped loudly, moaning with release and thrusting into his hold against her. Tremors of pleasure rolled through her body as she was taken to a place she had only imagined could exist.

Her breath heavy, she finally relaxed. JC kissed her tenderly, laying beside her and pulling her shirt back down over her chest. After a minute she turned to him, still breathless, and simply said, "oh my."

He cuddled even closer to her, his arm strewn over her side. Nuzzling her ear, he spoke softly, "Huh, that was just the beginning."
Stretching to kiss his sweet lips, she maneuvered a leg in between his, wrapping an arm around him and feeling the warmth of his chest pressing against her own.

"JC," she said softly.

"Hmm?" he sounded in reply.

"This isn't fair to you."

He looked at her with a wealth of knowledge lingering in his deep blue eyes before placing a kiss affectionately on her forehead. "This wasn't about me, it was about you."

"But I want to please you, too," she told him softly.

A broad grin spread across his lips. "Don't worry, you will," he assured her.

"Now," she added with confidence.

JC giggled quietly at her eagerness. "Do you know how many men would kill to hear words like that?" he asked.

"Most. Probably," Amanda guessed.

"I'd say a good ninety-nine percent."

"Are you part of that ninety-nine percent?" she asked with a curious smile.

"Maybe," he answered mischievously, "bet you'd like to know, wouldn't you?"

"Very much."

"We still have so much to learn about each other, Amanda. There's no need to rush." Brushing a hand across her brow, he caringly wiped the stray hairs away from her face.

Settling against him and relaxing her head close to his chest, Amanda realized that she had grown closer to him in just a few short hours than she had ever become to any man in her entire life. At that moment, being with him felt too right to be wrong.

JC WASN'T SURE how long he had been sleeping when his eyes opened to a dark living room. He did know that his legs were cramped and even though the sofa was pretty roomy, it wasn't roomy enough. Of course, the fact that he wasn't alone on the sofa could've had a lot to do with it.

Letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, he gazed at Amanda sleeping peacefully against him. Her delicate hand rested on his stomach, her head very close to his shoulder, and one knee just barely resting on his thigh. All of which seemed very comfortable to him - very comfortable and very right.

Why did this woman seem so right? He barely knew her. He had barely met her a week before. She could have some deep, dark secret hiding in her past. But then again, he imagined that she'd already confessed that deep secret to him earlier that evening.

He had wanted her before she had explained her innocence and he wanted her just as much now, if not more.

There was something about Amanda Ballard that was special and unique. Something that wouldn't let him ignore his feelings no matter how hard he tried. And, frankly, he didn't want to try and ignore them. All he wanted was to be close to her, a lot closer.

Tenderly he touched her warm cheek and whispered her name.
After a few seconds, and her not making a peep, he kissed her lightly on the temple. "Amanda," he whispered a bit louder this time.

The hand on his stomach tightened against him and her legs stretched towards the end of the couch. "Hmmm?" she groaned.

"Wake up, baby."

"It's too early," she moaned and curled up even closer to him than she had been before. The hand that had rested lightly on his abdomen before, spanned against his side as her arm laid comfortably over the top of him.

"Come on, sweetie." JC nudged her gently. "I'm all cramped up here. I can't sleep like this."

With heavy eyes, she looked up at him before understandably sitting up. "What time is it?" she asked, leaning forward and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"I'm not sure," he answered, sitting-up beside her.

"Man," she whined, "my head hurts."

"Headache?"

"Yeah."

"You want me to call down and get you some aspirin?" he asked.

"No, I think I've got some."

Amanda stood and stretched, her hands reaching up towards the ceiling. All the while, JC's eyes locked on to her subtle but shapely curves. Curves that had been practically untouched except for by him. Huh, curves that had a lot of lost time to make up for. He had no problem with helping her in that department.
After a second, Amanda trotted off to her bedroom. JC gave her a little bit of a lead and then followed, grabbing a bottle of water on the way.

He caught her digging in her purse again, this time without her head in the closet. She pulled out a small bottle of aspirin, looking up to realize he was waiting in the doorway.

"Water?" he asked, handing the bottle in her direction.

"Oh yeah, thanks."

He stepped towards the desk she was standing beside and gave her the cool drink, watching as she chucked two small white pills in her mouth and took several big gulps of water.

"You better get some rest," he told her, "we've got a big day tomorrow."

"Do we?" she asked with a twinge of excitement.

He grinned at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, we do." Stepping up to her, he pulled her into his arms and embraced her affectionately.

Amanda let out a soft moan; the kind that made him want to squeeze her even tighter, the kind that made him want to scoop her up into his arms and carry her to the bed and have his way with her, the kind that made his heart flutter quietly in his chest.

"Let's just stay like this," she spoke quietly.

He really wanted to agree, but he couldn't. Caressingly he ran his hand over the top of her head, "sleep will make your headache go away."

Amanda didn't reply, she only wrapped her arms around him even tighter, holding on to him as if he was about to vanish and she would never see him again. That wouldn't happen. He would make sure of it.

After a brief moment, Amanda glanced up at him with her tired green eyes.
JC leaned down just enough to kiss her forehead. "Goodnight," he said softly.

"Goodnight."

Slowly letting her out of his hold, he smiled and walked towards the door.

"Oh," Amanda sounded suddenly.

"Huh?" he turned around with question.

"What time should I set the alarm for?"

"Whenever. We're not on a time schedule. Unless you plan on sleeping the whole day away."

"No, I usually wake up pretty early."

"Well, I'll see you in the morning then," he grinned, stepping outside of the door and holding on to the door handle.

"See you in the morning," she called back. Softly he shut her door and went to his room.

Damn, that had been hard. He shut his door and plopped down on the edge of the bed. That had been so incredibly hard. He really just wanted to lay with her in his arms for the entire night. Of course, that would have been difficult as well. Because what he really wanted to do was much more than just sleep. But he knew that not sleeping in the same bed then would make it that much better when they did, after they'd made love.

Yes, that will be a night that Amanda Ballard will never forget. And he had a strong feeling that neither would he.

AMANDA FELT A soft tickle across her face and shooed it away insistently, her eyes still heavy and closed and her brain only half registering that it was time to wake up. Another light tickle brushed across her nose and she twitched, brushing a hand to her face and rubbing away the pesky itch.

Wearily her eyes opened. There he was, sitting on the edge of the bed guiltily holding a piece of fuzzy foliage from the flowers on her nightstand and keeping the most devilish grin across his lips. "Good morning," he said with a smile.

Amanda only groaned and stretched underneath the bedding. It was then she realized she wasn't wearing a whole lot and was thankful, for some reason, that she was covered by blankets. The thin two-piece pajama set she was wearing didn't leave much to the imagination. Funny, she didn't even remember slipping into that the night before. Obviously she had.

"Ah, what's a matter sleepy head?" he said teasingly, "did you drink too much last night?"

"No," Amanda answered stubbornly, "what time is it?"

"It's after ten. Are you hungry? I thought we could go have breakfast."

"Can I shower first?" she asked.

"Um, I guess so," he remarked, tapping her nose with that soft piece of greenery for a third time. But instead of leaving her alone, he just sat there and in return Amanda stayed hidden underneath the covers. As if she had a reason to be shy after the night before. The night before? Oh, she had almost forgotten all about the night before. And here he was sitting on the edge of her bed. Looking as fine as ever, too, she might add. How was it that a pair of faded, worn-looking jeans and a plain t-shirt could look so good on a man?

"Can I get up?" Amanda finally asked.

"Please, don't let me stop you," he grinned devilishly.

The sparkle in his eyes made Amanda tingle from head to toe. She loved the way he looked at her. He made her feel so special every time his dark blue eyes graced their presence upon her.

"I'm kinda not, uh" she paused, re-thinking her words, "in my pajamas."

"You're kinda not in your pajamas?" he asked. "So what are you in then?"

Damn, that hadn't come out right. "No, I am in my pajamas," she corrected.

"Oh, well I've never seen pajamas before so I better leave and let you get in the shower," he remarked with sarcasm just before rising to his feet. "Don't make me wait too long," he told her, shoving the green stem back into the vase of flowers before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

Lord, what a way to wake up.

Amanda quickly rolled out of bed and fled to her bathroom. Her mind was in a whirlwind and her body was in a hurry because, like he said, she didn't want to keep him waiting too long. That was for sure.

JC SWITCHED ON the television and pulled a small container of orange juice out of the refrigerator, leaning against the bar as he drank the entire bottle in one shot.

His morning hadn't started off too great, but he was bound and determined to not let his unexpected wake-up call from Jessie get him down. He hated being woken up in the first place. The fact that it was her hadn't made it any better. Of course, he had taken the first giant step. He had told her that when he got home they were going to have to sit down and talk.

But if it was such a big step, how come he didn't feel any better about the whole thing?

Maybe it was because he was lying to her when he had said he'd be in the studio all day working with some up and coming girl group. Yeah, that had been a big lie. Without a doubt, Amanda was not a group and the two of them definitely weren't going to be in the studio all day.

A big part of it was the fact that he didn't want the whole Jessie ordeal hanging over his relationship with Amanda? Why couldn't things have started out with him having a clean slate? Oh, maybe that was because he had been living unhappily for the past six months just because he hated to stir things up or be the bad guy. Huh, now he was really going to be the bad guy.

Oh well. None of that was going to change the way he felt about Amanda. He just had to remind himself that everything would work out in the end. For some strange reason, he had faith that it would.

It must have been a good twenty minutes after JC had woke her up that he heard music pouring out from under Amanda's room door. For some reason, that brought a smile to his face. He imagined her in there, getting dressed and doing her hair, or doing whatever it is girls do when they get ready, and dancing away to - it sounded like, oh duh, it was the new Michael Jackson song. Ha, that brought an even bigger smile to his face.

Why did he have this incredible desire to teach her everything she seemed to have been so sheltered from all of her life? Not just that. More than that. He wanted her to experience all the things that she had never experienced, and not just sexually either, with him. He wanted to show her how much the world had to offer outside of her father's hotel. Amanda deserved so much more than being cooped up in the same building every day of her life. Even if that building did span an entire city block, it didn't matter. It just wasn't good enough for her.

Finally after another twenty minutes of waiting, Amanda appeared from her bedroom looking refreshed and ready to go. "I'm starving," were the first words to leave her mouth.

"Good, me too." JC agreed, almost unconsciously staring her down from head to toe. She seemed even more comfortable in her casual attire than she had the day before. Today she wore a pair of beige colored pants and a form-fitting sleeveless lavender top. A matching sweater hung neatly through her arm, resting against a straw colored purse and on her feet were a pair of thick-soled scandals that seemed to match her shoulder bag identically.
If he didn't know better, he'd have to question if it was even the same woman he had met just barely a week earlier.

"You look very nice," he said with a grin.

"Thanks," Amanda replied as she stepped towards him, "sorry if I took too long."

"I was just teasing you before," he assured her, "I know how women are. It's okay if you took 45 minutes."

Amanda watched as he picked up his room key, wallet and cell phone and slid them into his pockets.

"I did not take 45 minutes," she argued.

"You did, but that's okay."

They stepped into the hallway and Amanda suddenly realized one very important factor. "Um, JC. Where's Mike?"

JC looked at her with a look of enjoyment. "What?" he asked as the door shut softly behind them. "Are you nervous? Afraid I might get mobbed or something?"

"I don't know. Will you?"

He smirked softly and slid his hand into hers. "Don't worry," he said with a wink, "it'll be fine. I promise."

(c) 2001 BrandyRae