Author's Chapter Notes:
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Kyra stepped out of the elevator and into JC's hotel room. He'd given her a key earlier that morning when he'd come by her house to meet with both the electrician from the day before as well as a heating and cooling technician she had called.


Yesterday when the electrician had come over to turn the power back on in the house, he'd warned her that he would be able to turn it back on but if she was ever planning on adding more appliances to the home she should consider updating her electrical. The house still had old wiring and the box was already overloaded as it was, hence the power outage that day.


He'd suggested she not turn on her AC's again until things were updated as to not have this happen again. He'd also mentioned that if she'd ever considered updating the ventilation system to central air and heating, that this would be the time to do everything at once so that it would be done correctly.


At dinner the night before JC had mentioned having worked with many contractors and designers after he'd bought his houses in both Florida and LA. Since Kyra didn't have any experience herself she asked if he wouldn't mind coming over to meet them with her.


He'd been happy she'd asked and she'd been even happier when he'd asked all of the questions she never would have thought of asking regarding things like licences, permits and contingency funds.


The work was set to begin in about a week and she was glad, although her savings would take a hit. She had more than enough funds to cover the costs, but she'd just been hoping it could have waited a little longer.  


Though after tossing and turning all night in a sweaty mess, she'd decided it would be more than worth it. She'd barely slept a wink and she was feeling it today. And although JC had offered her the second room in his suite more than once, she'd declined. She didn't feel comfortable with the idea of being so close to him right now.


Before parting ways after dinner, they'd decided that she would come hang out with him tonight after work before she went back to her house. She'd suggested picking up a pizza and a couple of movies and he'd agreed. So here she was dropping the hot pizza box onto the granite kitchen counter. When she didn't see him anywhere, she walked over to his side of the suite and carefully peeked through the crack in the door.


She didn't see him but heard the shower running in the bathroom. The door was cracked open as well and she called out, "J? I'm here."


He replied that he'd be right out and she practically ran out of the room before the pungent smell of his bodywash and the idea of him being naked in there made her do something stupid.


Back in the kitchen she busied herself by taking two plates from the cupboard and setting them up on the counter before taking a seat on one of the bar stools and opening the pizza.


She groaned and rolled her eyes. She'd made sure to ask for olives only on half but of course they'd messed up and the olives were covering the entire thing.


She pulled a hot slice from the box and placed it onto a plate. She could hear JC moving around in his bedroom and tried really hard not to imagine him getting dressed. Or undressed for that matter.


She dished out another slice onto another plate and then absently started picking the pieces of olives off of his piece, stuffing them into her mouth while she flipped through a Time magazine that had been on the counter.


"Smells awesome. You didn't have to--" He stopped mid sentence as he took a seat on the bar stool in front of her. She heard him chuckle and she looked up to see him looking at her with an amused look on his face.


"Wha? You wike owives now?" She asked rather innocently with her mouth full of the offending fruit, swallowing thickly as he shook his head and chuckled again. "What then?"


He grinned and shrugged his shoulders before he pulled his olive free slice toward him. "That was fast, I wasn't expecting you for another half hour or so." He took a large bite of his pizza and chewed quietly.


She watched him, taking in his freshly washed hair and the simple tshirt and sweats he was wearing. She liked that he knew he could be himself when she was around...and the fact that he didn't even realise how sexy he really was.


She took a bite as well and swallowed."The store wasn't busy and Pam was done with the end of month bookkeeping, so she offered to let me out earlier since I'd mentioned I had plans." She took another bite and closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the cheesy goodness.


"You like working there?" He asked as he wiped his mouth with a napkin and reached for another piece. Apparently he could still inhale a pizza as fast as he could when he was fourteen.


She nodded and smirked a little as piece after piece of olive started hitting her plate as he flicked them off his slice. "Yeah. It's quiet and comfortable. There aren't too many privately owned bookstores in the city left, what with all of the big corporate ones now. I enjoy the family feel to it and they're really supportive of my writing and are really flexible on my scheduling so I couldn't ask for better."


She picked at a few olives and asked, "So what's next for you? Are you going back into the studio soon?"


She watched as he chewed slowly and took his time wiping his mouth and then his fingers before answering. "I'm not sure. We're supposed to...at least that's what we put out officially."


She raised an eyebrow. "But it's not the truth? Did you guys break up or something?"


He shook his head. "No, nothing like that. We will go back into the studio, I just don't know when that'll be. We all need a bit of a break and everyone is doing something different for a little while, you know?"


She nodded and ripped a piece of crust off. "So what are you doing that's different?"


He seemed to hesitate for a moment and then he spoke quietly. "I'm not sure honestly."


She nodded and started chewing on the doughy crust, not wanting to push the issue.


She thought he was done talking but then he continued. "About a year ago some producers and record execs met with me in confidence to offer me a solo deal."


She wasn't sure he'd continue so she prompted him. "And you didn't take it."


He shook his head and absently started folding and unfolding his paper napkin. "Nah man. My head was still really with the group you know? They're my brothers and I didn't want to break that up and make them feel as if I was leaving them behind...and that I thought I was better than them."


He stood up and she watched as he went around the counter toward the fridge where he pulled out two bottles of beer. He set one in front of her then made his way back around the counter as he untwisted the cap.


"I never told the other guys, figured that I didn't want to bring that elephant into the room you know?" He took a sip and set the bottle in front of him. "Anyway, they told me that the offer would still stand when I was ready."


She untwisted her cap off and took a sip. "And are you ready now?"


He shrugged, picking at the label on his bottle. "I don't know. Everyone is doing something different...Justin is going solo. So maybe....I sort of feel as if it wouldn't be that bad of a betrayal if he's doing it too."


She took another slice from the box but just picked at it on her plate. "I think you'd do really great."


He finally looked up and he almost smiled. "You think so?"


She nodded. "Yeah, I do. You were born to do this. You belong on a stage, Josh. You're so...alive when you're performing. Music just runs through you and I just can't imagine a world where your beautiful voice isn't being used to its full potential."


This time he did smile and she couldn't  help but smile back at him. She could tell that he was still feeling conflicted but knowing him he'd be doing a lot more ruminating about it for the next little while.


Trying to cut the tension she said, "Plus if you're going to be drinking probably 15$ bottles of beer from five star hotel mini fridges, you should probably do something that'll keep the money rolling in."


***


JC's eyes opened quickly as he is startled from sleep. He wondered what woke him when all of a sudden, a bright streak of lightning flashed in the sky causing the room to light up for a few seconds before returning to the darkness. He could hear rain loudly pelting the windows as his eyes roamed around the room to see that the TV was still on but the screen was blank.


A crash of thunder resounded and he looked down to Kyra who had fallen asleep against him, the side of her head cradled in his lap.


They'd been watching a movie when suddenly she'd gotten quiet and eventually fallen asleep, her eyes fluttering closed after she had seemed to be fighting it.


It hadn't taken long for her to seemingly by instinct move closer to him until she'd eventually ended up in that position. He didn't mind in the least, even if his left leg was sort of starting to fall asleep. He didn't want to move in case it would wake her.


He looked down at the side of her face he could see and smiled. She was sleeping peacefully and that actually surprised him. When they'd been growing up she'd always had an irrational fear of thunderstorms and would always get really freaked out by them. Of course he'd always teased her about it but he'd secretly always enjoyed the way she would hang onto him as if he would be able to protect her from the noise of the thunder and the flashes of lightning.


It warmed his heart right now that she still, at least subconsciously, felt safe enough to let herself become this vulnerable near him.


He'd been so terrified that he had lost her for good when they'd stopped speaking a few years ago. Losing her had sort of jarred him back to reality somewhat and though he had always prided himself on saying he'd stayed pretty down to earth, he'd veered off course at some point.


He hadn't been able to get her out of his head ever since he'd seen her that night arguing with his bodyguards. Even when he'd been with Bobbie again, which had been inevitable, he'd been unable to turn off the comparisons to Kyra.


Hell, he'd even gotten angry at Bobbie one evening when she ordered the wrong food for him. Like seriously pissed.He'd snapped at her that she should have been able to know by now what he liked and didn't like. And it had sort of hit him suddenly that she didn't seem to really know him at all.


Sure she knew how to make him say yes to almost anything. And she knew how to...well, take care of him in the bedroom but suddenly he'd needed more.


Someone who knew that he liked brown sugar on his french toast but not on his oatmeal. That his coffee had to be extra hot at all times or he lost interest in it. That he couldn't watch a movie without popcorn--extra salt, hold the butter and that his favorite place in the world was still his bed at his parent's house in Bowie.


When he'd watched Kyra innocently remove the olives from his pizza tonight, all of that had sort of hit home again. Then when she'd pulled out two movies, a bag of plain popcorn and a salt shaker later on, all he could do was grin.


It was strange. He'd been with some truly beautiful women; singers, dancers, models and he'd been happy. But stand Kyra in sweat pants, a ponytail and no makeup next to those women and they didn't have a chance.


There was just something. Something he couldn't figure out about how he always went back to her. How he could never resist her even when he knew it would end in heartache either on his part ot hers.


He'd had girlfriends and she'd had boyfriends, but there always was this sort of 'what if' feeling between them. It always seemed like each one of them had wanted to explore that, but always at different times: either he was leaving or she was leaving, he was single but she wasn't single. They just never really got to give it a serious try.


But now that he was here with her and possibly he had the chance to win her back, he didn't want to mess that up. It was obvious that he was still very attracted to her but he realised that if the only thing he ever got from her was a semblance of their past relationship, he'd be able to live with that. Possibly.


Probably not.


But he would try. Even though he wasn't sure if she'd be willing to try. He could tell that she was still attracted to him, but that wasn't the same thing as being in love with him. Or at least open to falling in love with him. Maybe she wouldn't be able to do that again since he'd royally messed it up the last time.


Maybe he needed to let her know what he was thinking. Make it clear to her that he was still attracted to her and wanted to see if they could be more than friends. Or was it too soon? It was only a matter of time before--


Suddenly another loud crash of thunder broke the silence and he startled causing her to wake up with a gasp. She looked around apparently confused until he patted her hip gently. "It's okay Honey, just some thunder. You're here with me."


She sat up, turned toward him and for some reason she watched him quietly. Her eyes searched his and like two magnets unable to keep from pulling closer he leaned forward. He parted his lips slightly and took a breath.


Maybe this was going to work. Maybe she knew what he was feeling. Maybe they could--


Another crash of thunder and the moment was broken. She was pulling away and blinked a few times as if she was waking from a trance. Then she was shaking her head and apologizing while getting up and grabbing her things hurriedly. And then he was apologizing too and trying to keep her from leaving in the storm but she was saying something about a leaking roof and open windows...


And then she was gone.


***





Chapter End Notes:
Do you like olives? ;)


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