His lips were on hers before he registered what he was doing; was somehow the next logical step when his fingers closed around her arm. Now he was hot, burning up, and it had nothing to do with the temperature in the room around him. The heat from her mouth set him on fire from the inside out. Her lips were soft and pliant, and his was eager and searching.

Casey's lips tingled and she shivered. Small jolts of pure electricity danced down her back. His tongue touched hers and she abruptly pulled away. Eyes wide, chest heaving, she took a cautious step back and looked up at him. Now what? She had hoped for a straightforward conversation. She had hoped to clear the air about Orlando and Tony, and whatever else was bugging JC. First she was only livid at what he'd said; now she was also reeling from the completely unexpected kiss.

“Sorry,” JC mumbled, looking down. His heart galloped wildly in his chest and he shook his head slightly. “I'm sorry.”

Casey breathed deeply for a moment, willing her pulse to slow down. “Why...why did you do that?” She continued to stare at him and he wouldn't meet her gaze, choosing to study his fingers instead.

Again, JC shook his head and moved further into the room. He still said nothing, and kept his head down as he sat on the arm of the love seat that was in the sitting area. "I'm sorry.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “About everything I said. About...about kissing you." Even as the words passed his lips, it was a lie. He was sorry about everything before, but he had no regrets about the kiss.

Casey stood stock-still, blinking slowly. ”You didn't answer my question.”

He raised his head then and finally met her eyes, not speaking.

“I just wanted to clear the air,” she said when he didn't say anything else.

His eyes were still trained on her, but from where he was sitting, partially shadowed, she couldn't completely make out the expression on his face.

“You mean Orlando?”

“Yes. And everything since.” She looked down at the floor, crossing and uncrossing her arms several times before finally letting them hang at her sides.

Orlando and Tony were the elephant in the room that neither of them could get around. Still, he had crossed a line in what he'd said to her before. “I'm sorry for acting like an asshole.” His voice was quiet as he sat in the semi-dark.

Casey lifted her shoulders in a self-conscious shrug. “It's, um, it's fine, JC.” After a beat she continued, “I'm going to get going. I, uh...see ya.” Before she could take more than a step JC spoke.

“Casey, come here. Please."

She paused and cleared her throat. She moved toward him slowly, stopping directly in front of him. She waited for him to speak and as before, without word or warning, his fingers were on her face and his lips were against her. And for the second time, she was returning the kiss.

JC's fingers crept up the back of Casey's neck to her hair and he tugged gently, tilting her head back. She obliged and parted her lips slightly, allowing him fuller access to her mouth. He licked her bottom lip, sucked lightly, and she opened her lips more, seeking out his tongue. She leaned into him, resting her hands on his chest.

This was good. It made not one iota of sense, but it was good. His lips were against hers and everything that didn't concern the way he was touching her was a murky blur. And the way he was touching her... His hands gently tugging at the hair at the nape of her neck. The way his mouth fit perfectly against hers. And she felt it, again. The electricity from earlier, coursing down the plane of her back and becoming a spark between her legs.

Her lips were unbelievably soft and he was thoroughly enjoying the way her body was pressed to his.  Casey moaned against his mouth, a soft sound that gave him goosebumps and made his dick jump. And as suddenly as she'd made the small sound of approval he was on a single-minded mission to make her moan more.

She ran her hands down his stomach, and just under the band of the bottom of his shirt and he groaned. There were things beginning to creep up on her. Things like the conversation-turned-argument they hadn't finished. Things like the fact that in a very real way, he was her employer and this was maybe not the best idea. But as his fingers crept under her shirt and skidded seductively up her back, all of those things didn't matter.

JC brushed his lips against hers briefly before finding his way down to her neck. He licked, and kissed, and nipped, teeth and tongue against delicate skin. She whimpered and he pulled her between his legs.

He took his hands from around her waist and lifted her tank top. Suddenly emboldened, she took a step back and helped him by pulling the shirt over her head, letting it fall to her feet. She looked at him, held his gaze, letting him know that the proverbial ball was now in his court.

His lips curved into a slow smile. He glided his hands up her arms to her shoulders, and back down again. With his blue eyes still focused on her brown ones, his fingers found their way to the clasp of her bra, then back up her shoulders. With a mere brush of his fingers the material fell away from her body, and she shrugged it off her arms. The bra joined her shirt on the floor.

JC took Casey's hand and pulled her closer, his mouth landing on her collarbone. She tilted her head and arched her back. His mouth moved down her body leaving a warm trail in its wake. She shivered again.

He cupped her breasts with his hands and squeezed gently. Her skin was soft and smooth and felt beautiful beneath his searching fingers. He wanted her. On top of him. In front of him. Underneath him. In every which way. And the possibilities, in the form of images, were running across his mind in shocking clarity and detail, the more he touched her.

She closed her eyes and her breathing quickened. Her nipples responded to his fingers, stiffening to hard peaks. Although her mind had almost forgotten what it felt like to be kissed sensuously and touched gently, it seemed that her body had not. Her skin was flushed and her brain was sending rapid-fire alerts to every nerve-ending in her body.

It had been just under two months since Tony left, and just under two months since the last time she'd had sex. But even when Tony was there, foreplay was the exception rather than the rule; when he was ready, he was ready. If she wasn't...well, she went through a lot of lube with Tony. But what was happening with JC was different. He had hardly touched her and she was already very, very ready.

But this was JC. The same JC to whom she'd said little more than a handful words in several months. The same JC who politely, if not obviously, steered clear of her. This was insanity.

“JC.” She angled her head up to look at him, breathing heavily.

"Hmm?" His lips vibrated against her and he paused to look her in the eye. “Do you want me to stop?”  

The absurdity of the situation should have been laughable. That she was in an increasingly compromising position with a man who, as of less than an hour ago, couldn't seem to stomach being in the same room with her. But the simple fact was, she wanted to keep going.

She smiled shyly.  “No, I just…I absolutely do not want you to stop.”

He lifted his head with a grin, his hands still on her breasts. He straightened up and, without a word, he brought his lips back to hers. After several minutes of greedy, fervent kisses, JC took Casey’s hand and led her away from the couch, and across the room to the bed. He gently nudged her back onto the bed and she gazed up at him.

Somewhere in the reaches of her consciousness a small voice tried to get her attention, tried to caution her against what she knew they were about to do, to at least convince her to think about it more. But after spending the better part of the last several months doing almost nothing but, she was spectacularly tired of thinking.

JC watched her as he lifted his white tee over his head, the slightest hint of  amusement playing at the corner of his lips as he saw the smile that came to her mouth. Her eyes panned the length of his body in a way that clearly communicated to him that she enjoyed everything she saw.  

He was the picture of calm and collected, externally. She was beautiful and sexy, but the scenario itself wasn't new. He was used to sexy, beautiful women, not that he was arrogant about it. But Casey was also unexpected. And internally, he was reeling. Further back was the distant thought that, sooner or later, they would have to revisit the earlier conversation. And sooner or later, there was maybe the issue of him sleeping with their opening act. And the fact that maybe that wasn’t quite kosher.

She whispered his name again, and thoughts of sooner or later dissolved into what was happening presently.

Casey grinned wickedly; his body looked even better than it felt—and it had felt pretty good beneath her fingertips. More than that, it looked even better than she had imagined. JC was slim, but his whole upper body was taut with hard muscle. They rippled down his arms and defined his abdomen. His eyes met hers as his hands pushed at his pants. In the blink of an eye, he was standing before her in nothing but his underwear, the outline of his arousal apparent beneath the thin cotton boxer-briefs he wore.

He watched her even as she watched him, following her eyes up his body. He leaned down over her. “Your turn,” he whispered, reaching for the top of her nylon pants.

She let him work, lifting her hips so he could pull them off.

He made a little grunt of surprise when he realized she had on nothing beneath her pants. "You're full of surprises tonight, Casey," he whispered.

“I, uh...I pulled these on straight out of the shower," she stammered. "I was just planning on turning in after getting my ice so..."

She had already kicked her shoes off so he dragged the pants past her feet unimpeded. "I'm not complaining. Less work for me." He winked.

JC took her by the hands and pulled her up to a kneeling position on the bed in front of him, his mouth immediately returning to hers. With him standing right in front of her, Casey was now at his eye level and she took advantage of it by touching every bit of skin she could reach. With slow fingers, she explored his arms and shoulders ran her hands up and down his arms and across his shoulders,. His body was hard, almost perfectly chiseled, but his skin was soft.

She could feel his heartbeat against her chest, and could also feel his erection between them, pressing into her stomach. She ran her fingertips back up, across his cheeks and around his neck, where she played with the soft curls of his hair at the nape of his neck.

JC's hands traveled down her waist, to the curve of her hips, settled on her backside. He squeezed gently, and pulled away slightly. He looked at her, his expression serious. "What I said earlier--"

She placed a hand against his chest and shook her head firmly. "Shhh. That's not what I want to talk about right now."

He smiled, his thumb brushing lightly at her lips. "Ok...what do you want to talk about right now?"

"I was actually kind of hoping we were done talking for now." She raised one eyebrow and trailed her fingers down his chest, belly, and to the top of his underwear. Fiddling with the elastic waistband, she smiled up at him. "So, are you gonna take these off sometime soon, or...?"

With a chuckle, JC stood back and pushed the cotton of his underwear down, leaving them in a pile on the floor. He looked up to see her looking down at his erection, her bottom lip between her teeth.

He was, Casey thought, beautiful; every single glorious inch of him was absolutely lovely. She nodded, a smile slowly forming on her lips. 

JC crawled up on the bed on his knees, and tilted her chin back, running his thumb across her lips. He locked eyes with her. "I've never hated you, Casey," he said softly. "Far from it. It's just that...with Tony--"

She shook her head again. "No more talking, remember? Especially not about that."

He smiled, pulling her closer to him. As they kissed her hand found its way to his dick; she wrapped her fingers around him and began a slow, almost lazy rhythm of stroking.

When Casey's fingers touched him, JC's eyes slipped closed and he grunted his approval against her mouth, pressing his hips in closer to her.

"Mmm," he moaned softly. "That...yeah, that feels good."

She tightened her grip on him and sped up her movements and for several minutes his hips involuntarily moved in concert with her fingers.

"Whoa, mama." He groaned, gently taking her hand. "If you keep that up I'm gonna be done right here and that would be disappointing for both of us."

"That would suck." Casey giggled.

"For twenty minutes or so, it absolutely would.” He leaned in to her ear. "Lay down, Casey."

They settled on the bed, her on her back, and she reached up to bring him down to her. He rained kisses on her lips, across her jaw and down her neck. She wound her fingers through his hair and he continued to move his mouth down her body.

Casey closed her eyes and sighed contentedly, thoroughly enjoying the feel of his mouth on her body. When warm lips closed over one nipple more electricity coursed through her.

She moaned; his mouth was magic and everything good and maybe that was enough to send into her space. At that thought, his fingers began moving very slowly, almost imperceptibly, down her midsection. Her stomach fluttered and she brought both of her hands to rest on his head. She was holding her breath, waiting for him to touch her.

His fingers found their way down her body, between her legs, and he was touching her right where she wanted him most. His touch was firm but gentle, slow yet insistent. Casey shut her eyes and moved her hips against his fingers. Unlike JC, she was not at all worried about coming too soon. He slid one finger into her and she gasped softly.

JC raised his head and looked at her with sly smile. "That feels good, right?"

She managed to glance at him before her eyes snapped shut. "Mmm… Yes.”

He chuckled and captured her other nipple in his mouth, adding another finger to what he was doing between her legs.

Good was something of a massive understatement. It didn't even matter that it was just his fingers right now. She was vaguely aware of the rather loud sounds coming from her mouth, and the fact that she was clutching, not too roughly she hoped, his hair. His breath still wet and warm on her nipple added to the intensity of everything and she tried to tell him how close she was.

“I...JC..." Casey’s stomach clenched and her climax exploded outward and upward through her.

He kept up the movements of his fingers, his mouth on her breast, and didn't stop until her hips stopped rocking and she stopped pulsing around him.

She let out the breath she had been holding in a rush. “Wow.”

JC chuckled and kissed his way back up to her mouth. "Wow? I hope that’s high praise." He moved so he was fully on top of her and she opened her legs so he could settle between them.

"You have no idea." Her breath came in heavy pants.”I haven't come like that in...a long time.” She pulled his head back down and kissed him deeply.

He pulled back, balanced on his forearms over her. He stared down at her, eyes dark and intense. “Well, then I guess we need to make up for lost time because you’re sexy as hell when you come like that.”

JC’s eyes focused intently on Casey’s, his voice deep and sexy, and she shivered again.

She pushed her hips upward but he only watched her, his expression mild. He teased the tip of his erection against her without pushing forward.

“Um, are you waiting for a written invitation?”

“You’re kind of impatient, huh?” He laughed.

She slid her knees up along his sides and arched her back. "Very. Now. Please.”

“Since you asked so nicely…” He groaned as he entered her. “Fuck, you feel good.” He filled her with his first slow stroke, going in deeply.

Her breath caught in her throat and she closed her eyes. “So...do you,” she managed.

JC was hot and hard and Casey was very ready for him. Sex with Tony had been lackluster, and if she finished it was usually by herself after he had rolled over and gone to sleep. She missed sex--good sex--and her body responded quickly.

He pulled almost completely out with each thrust and she lifted her hips to meet him. "Mmmm." She grabbed his butt, bringing him closer and deeper. "You feel...wow..."

He let out a throaty chuckle that sent shockwaves down to her toes. "You, uh...like wow, huh?" He began to roll his hips against her.

She whimpered; he was moving determinedly right up against all of her hottest spots and the tension was building again. "Wow is...wow is good."

He growled something unintelligible in her ear and she groaned in acknowledgement and agreement. There was no more conversation; as their bodies moved together with more urgency, their voices also rose in unison. The room was full of the sounds of skin against skin, and soft sighs, heavy groans and throaty moans.

“Oh, fuck! Do I need to pull out?” JC asked frantically.

“What?” Casey was disoriented for a second before his meaning suddenly dawned on her. “Oh...birth control.” In addition to hoping that he understood her, she also hoped, in a hazy sort of far-in-the-back-of-her-mind sort of way, that she wouldn't regret not having used a condom with him. It was, she reasoned, a little too late to think about it now.

He sped up his movements, rocking against her, sliding in and out of her and she was there again, rising and rising, gasping and pulsing. Her fingers dug into his back and she wrapped her legs around him. Her limbs were quivering and her body felt like jello. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her hearing became distorted. Her orgasm came in wave after powerful wave that left her feeling lethargic and slightly disconnected from reality. She was vaguely aware of JC telling her that he was going to come, but he sounded far away and possibly under water. In a moment she felt him, pushing into her, erupting, releasing, sounds coming from his mouth that she couldn’t decipher. All she could do was lay there and enjoy feeling the full weight of him as he relaxed against her.

With a shaky breath JC rolled off of Casey, sliding underneath the top sheet. He felt her shiver; her upper body, which had been pressed flush against his, was damp with sweat and the room’s cool air hit her unexpectedly. He pulled her until she rolled slightly over and into the crook of his arm, her chest against his side, head nestled in the space between his neck and shoulder one arm splayed over his midsection. He pulled the sheet up over her back with the arm she wasn’t laying on.

“Better?” he whispered.

“Much.” She closed her eyes and nuzzled her nose into his neck.

The room was chilly, but her skin was hot against his. He was flushed and they were both still working on regulating their breathing. He could feel her heart beating against him. His limbs felt insubstantial and wavery, and he was thankful to be lying down. He watched her for a moment, liking the contrast of her brown skin against his slightly ruddy pale skin; her eyes were closed as she inhaled and exhaled, the rising and falling of her chest slowing down.

He let his fingers travel from the top of her head to her shoulders, where he stroked her skin gently. “You're so quiet,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

Casey snickered. “Now.

"Yeah. Now.” He laughed. "Everything all right?”

She sighed. “Mmmhmm. Just thinking.” She opened her eyes and breathed in deeply.

He shifted so that he could look at her face. “Anything in particular?”

At that moment, there were several thoughts running around in her head, most of them conflicting.  She hefted herself up on one arm to look at him. “This has been...an unexpected night."

He smiled and brushed some stray hair out of her face. “Unexpected good, I hope.”

“Great. Unexpected but definitely...great.” She patted his chest and settled back down against him.

He was warm and his skin, now faintly clammy, smelled good. Casey put her nose right up against his side and inhaled. He chuckled and ran his finger along her back in circles as she did the same along his hip. They were both silent, but comfortably so.

"I'm glad you confronted me tonight," JC said quietly. “I mean, not for the obvious reason, but...I wanted to clear the air, too, you know? To talk about...everything.”

      She raised her head off of his chest and eyed him quizzically. “Really?”

              “Yes, really. Everything since Orlando has just been...not good. I’ve hated it.”

She snorted. “Way to clear the air, then.”

              He ran his hands over her hair, smoothing it away from her face. It was mostly out of the bun she had put it in, and in a partially curly, partially frizzy halo around her head.

"This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

              "Hmm."  

              "But this was good, right?" His voice was a whisper in the semi-dark.

              "Very.” She trailed one finger across his cheek to his lips, eyes locked on his. “I should go.” She scooted up and kissed him lightly.

An image of her asleep in his bed materialized in his mind without warning, and the question almost spilled out as suddenly. The image that followed, the one of her flat out refusal, stilled his lips. “Ok,” he said evenly. “But you don’t have to.”

             She smiled, appreciating the implication. “I think I do.”

             He nodded. “Fair enough." JC watched her as she left the bed and bent over to pick up her pants and slide them on.

"I know you're watching me, Chasez.”

He smirked. "I like the view."

Casey faced him with a grin and a slight shake of her head.

"So.” His face turned serious. “Are we going to talk about everything?"

               Tucking her bra into the pocket of her pants, she turned to look at him. "Yes, but whatever needs to be said—“ she pulled her shirt over her head. “—can be said later.”

He sat up and she leaned down and kissed him again. With a smile and wave, she turned and he watched as she walked out the door.

***

JC rubbed the towel through his wet-from-the-shower hair once more before leaving the bathroom. He walked into the bedroom and lay back on the bed, studying the phone on the bedside table. Something needed to be said all right. He knew that. But hell if he knew what that something should be.

What a night, he thought with a shake of his head.

Casey left so abruptly, and he tried to not let it get under his skin. In the midst of everything, he hadn’t thought about what would happen when it was over. But he hadn’t wanted her to leave; that much he knew. Beyond that he was flying blind, but he wanted to say something to her.

***

Casey stepped out of the shower for the second time that night and slipped back into the oversized terry cloth robe. Hugging her arms around her body, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her life, she mused, had suddenly turned into a clusterfuck. She was immensely glad that Jasmine wasn't in the room; she supposed she should probably wonder where her friend was considering the hour, but she couldn’t get out of her own head enough to make the effort. On top of everything else, she was apparently turning into a selfish, shitty friend.

Casey's breath came in deep sighs and her emotions were a jumbled mix, equal parts annoyance, elation, trepidation and plain old fear. Standing on the other side of her tryst with JC, she was not yet regretting anything but she was definitely wondering what came next. She hadn’t given any thought to the possible fallout, and now she wondered how, or if, having sex with him was going to affect everything--including her position on tour. Before she could delve any further into her thoughts, the room phone rang.

“Hello?” she answered gingerly.

“Hey.  It's JC.”

"Hey, what's up?” The stupidity of the question had her cringing to herself.

“Casey, I know it's late and you said we could talk later but I just wanted to say-- “

“It shouldn't have happened.” The words rushed out of her mouth almost involuntarily. It was true, but she couldn't help but feel a pang of regret at saying it aloud. There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. “JC?” she said tentatively.

“I'm here,” he said softly.

She closed her eyes and lay back on the bed, blowing out a frustrated breath. “I don't regret anything, OK? I really enjoyed being with you tonight, but...you know, considering…well, everything… It's just probably best that we, um, pretend like tonight never happened. Don't you think?”

JC was silent on the other end of the phone, wishing he had waited to call her. He closed his eyes and rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

“I mean, I'm just saying...we don’t need this kind of complication, right?” She didn't like his silence and a colony of butterflies hatched in her stomach.

“Yeah, you're right,” he said finally, a note of terseness in his voice.

Casey heard it but didn't know how to remedy it. Her life had already consisted of more than enough drama in the short time she had been on tour and she didn’t want to be the cause of any more.

“I just don't want you under the impression that I…” She faltered, trying to think of the appropriate way to finish her sentence. “With the tour and all...maybe it'd be a good idea to just…”  She sighed heavily, suddenly feeling much older than twenty and emotionally spent.  “Is this something we can just forget about?”

He released his breath in a rush. “Forget about it?" He was unnervingly quiet.

“I guess I just figure that's best, you know? For you. For me. For the tour. Just to keep things…just so they don’t get any messier than they’ve already been.”

“Yeah, sure,” he replied flatly. “It never happened.”

She closed her eyes, massaging her temple with her free hand. “Get some sleep, JC. We’ve got an early morning; remember?” She forced a laugh, but it sounded hollow and humorless in her own ears.

“Casey.” He said her name softly.

She opened her eyes and sat up, almost hoping that he’d try to change her mind. “Yes?”

After a moment of silence he said, “Have a good night.”

The line went dead and she stared at the phone until the dial tone rang shrilly. She hung it up and cradled her head in her hands.

"So much for clearing the air,” she muttered under her breath.

Casey sat there for a moment before sliding out of her robe and tossing it to the floor next to the bed. She pulled the comforter up almost over her head, and closed her eyes.

Every word she said to him was true; she knew they never should have slept together. It didn’t make sense, and it shouldn’t have happened. But, a voice in her reminded gently, it had happened. As weird as things had been between them before, she couldn’t even imagine how things were going to be now. She was frustrated, and increasingly angry with herself. And underneath it all, she couldn't stop thinking about how good it had been with him. Every kiss, every touch, every...everything. Her fantasies of him--and she'd had plenty-- had absolutely nothing on reality.

She replayed it all over and over in her mind until, sometime around 4:00AM, she finally passed out.

***

Maybe if he had just waited to call her, JC reasoned, Casey wouldn't have been so quick to dismiss what had happened between them. And dismissed is how he felt, which also made him feel weird, because it wasn't like he had never had a one-night stand. Then again, most of the women he had spent one night with he didn’t have to see just about daily for weeks on end.

And there was the issue of how things had been between them before they had sex; how was anything supposed to be less awkward now, he wondered. If he didn't know how to be around her before, he certainly didn't know how to be around her now.

He looked at the clock on the bedside; it was nearly 4:00AM. He turned off the light, dreading his 7:00AM wake up call. He needed rest but all he could do was replay what had happened with Casey.