Sitting in an oversized beige leather chair, JC looked over in the direction of a gravely sound and laughed. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into another bulldog.”

“Oh stop it!” Allyson said from the kitchen where she was finishing making her cocktail. “You know you love him just as much as you loved Bronson.”

“I do,” he accepted, getting up from his seat and moving to the kitchen to grab himself a beer.

“How much time do we have until Chris gets back with the kids?”

Looking at the oven clock, Allyson reported they had the house to themselves for another hour and a half before Chris returned with their three children from the water park.

“Plenty of time,” he said as he moved behind Allyson and wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist, placing a few soft kisses behind her ear.

“Babe,” Allyson laughed at the move.

“What?” he laughed back. “I know you were thinking the same thing.”

“How do you know?”

“Your cheeks are slightly flushed and it’s radiating down to your neck,” as he planted kisses on both locations. “Plus, how often do we have the house to ourselves anymore?

“You think you know me so well, huh?”

“Yes, I believe I do.” He moved his lips back to her left ear.

Allyson let out a sigh as she leaned into his kisses that trailed down the side of her neck. “Are you sure?” she continued to teasingly ask.

Hearing this false doubt, JC who was already close to Allyson took a step closer and began moving his hands along his love’s body, from the top of her thighs up to her rib cage, forcing Allyson to set down the glass she had in her hand.

The touches were delicate, but backed with passion Allyson could feel in more ways than one, sending shivers all through her body.

Unable to tease much more, she turned around to face JC, her face flushed. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t pretend like she didn’t want him.

“Want to keep denying it?”

“Given the direction you were going, kind of, but I’m not sure how long I’ll last with that. … Or you,” she said looking down.

“Check mate,” JC said, attacking her lips as he reached his arms back around Allyson and picking her up as she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. “God you’re beautiful, and I am the luckiest guy in the world. How much time do we have?” he asked, taking a break in kisses as they both breathed heavily.

“An hour, 15,” she said.

At that moment JC’s phone buzzed on the coffee table. “Ugh,” he said as he sat Allyson down in a chair and grabbed the phone. He’d barely gotten into the living room.

Hey C, the kids are hungry. Mind if I take them to get pizza before bringing them back?

Yeah man, less mouths for us to feed. Thanks

JC smiled as he tossed the phone onto the couch. “What is it?” Allyson asked.

“Chris said the kids are hungry and asked if he could take them to get pizza.”

“What did you tell him?”

“What do you think I told him?” he laughed.

“I think we have an extra hour.”

“Bingo!”

“Race you upstairs,” she joked.

“You’re on!” JC said.

Allyson leapt from the chair and ran to their bedroom, while JC pretended to make a similar move. Truthfully, he loved watching her go upstairs and took in the sight. But before she could run down the hallway from the top of the stairs to the bedroom, JC caught up to her and grabbed her waist again, spinning her around, as their lips met and they began exploring each other like they’d been deprived for years.

He guided them to the bed, which Allyson fell onto, followed by JC on top.

Their lips barely left each other as they fell and then only separated long enough for JC to pull his white V-neck over his head and Allyson to remove her tank top.

JC smiled and groaned as he looked down at the love of his life laying so vulnerable before him.

“God I love you,” he said as he pressed his weight into her.

“I love you, all of you,” she said as her hands moved up and down his back and her fingers settled on the waistband of his sweatpants.

“Oh you want these off?” he teased.

“Yes please.”

“Ok, but you have to remove your relics from the 2000s,” he responded, referring to the Soffe shorts Allyson was wearing.

“Don’t knock ’em! They’re comfortable,” she retorted as she lifted her hips up to push the shorts down her legs.

“Much better,” JC said, as he laid back down on top of Allyson.

“I agree. Much more comfortable.”

“You ready?” he asked after about five minutes of more passionate kissing.

“Yes. Oh God yes,” she said. Without another second, JC pushed himself into Allyson, feeling just how ready she really was.

With three kids under the age of 10, it had been a while since they had really been able to make love, and they were not going to take it for granted.

“Oh, Josh,” Allyson moaned as JC found his rhythm, not moving too quickly but not exactly taking his time either.

Allyson let her hands roam JC’s body, from the front to the back as each muscle engaged and flexed.

“Oh, God, baby! Oh God! I need to slow down,” he panted.

Allyson could barely speak, but she nodded, letting him know she was with him. Truthfully she needed a slow down too. She had gone from 0 to 60 before even making it to the bedroom.

JC slowed it down. “Want me to take over?” Allyson breathlessly asked.

He didn’t even answer, but simply flipped them over so she was now on top of him. She kept the slower pace as she took control.

JC moved his hands to her hips and thighs as his eyes closed and he sucked in a breath through gritted teeth.

The pace continued until they locked eyes again. “You ready?” she asked.

“Let’s go,” he smiled.

Without another word, he flipped them over again and went back to a more feverish pace, hitting even deeper than he had before.

“Oh! Oh!” Allyson let out as he slammed into her.

JC changed his position for a second to place his mouth next to her ear. “Come with me,” he whispered, going back to his original position, looking down at this woman he’d loved for the better part of the last two decades.

That was all it took as everything in her tensed and she clawed at JC’s arms, as JC let out a loud moan as he let himself go too.

Completely spent, he collapsed alongside Allyson on the bed, both of their chests rising and falling as they tried to catch their breath.

“You caught me,” she smiled on his lips, referencing their race up the stairs.

“So I’ve won four times.”

“Four? I counted two – the kitchen and the stairs. I demand a recount.”

“Hush! Who are you? Florida?” he breathlessly laughed. “Once in the kitchen, once on the stairs, once when I socked you in the jaw and got you to agree to let me take you to dinner and then when you said yes to spend your life with me.”

“I concede,” she said, smiling at him as she reached over and caressed his face, continuing to kiss him softly.

After taking a few minutes to compose themselves, the couple cleaned themselves up and got dressed again. They lounged lazily on the couch as Allyson laid her head on JC’s shoulder and put her legs up on the couch.

“So what do you want to watch?”

“We can go with the classic,” JC said.

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean what do I mean? What did we watch the first time we spent the night together?”

“Oh, HGTV,” she laughed. “And run the tape back, you’ll find that you were on the couch that night.”

“But you were checking me out,” he laughed, repositioning himself so Allyson could lay her head on his lap.

“Of course I was. Who wouldn’t?” she laughed as she accepted the invitation, JC’s hand resting on her natural waist.

About 10 minutes into the home renovation show, Chris rang the gate buzzer.

“Mommy! Daddy! We got chocolate pizza!” Lily, their youngest, 4, said as she leapt into JC’s arms as the group walked into the house.

He laughed, “Oh did you now?” shooting Chris a look that said “I hate you” knowing the sugar rush that awaited their evening.

Chris just shrugged and smiled. “What? It’s their favorite. Can you say no to her?”

JC let out a breath and laughed. “No.”

“Did all of you get chocolate pizza?” Allyson asked the other two children.

“Yup,” Randall, now 9, said as he walked past his parents and plopped down on the loveseat like a sack of potatoes.

JC kissed Lily on the cheek and set her back down.

“Where’s Nash?” Allyson asked. 

“Oh Briahna and Kloey took the rest of the kids home, since they’re all in that direction,” he said. Briahna and Kloey were the oldest of the *NSYNC kids, which now also consisted of Chris and Karly’s children Nash and Ryleigh, Justin and Jessica’s sons Silas and Phin, Lance and Michael’s twins Vy and Alex, and JC and Allyson’s three, Randall, Ellie and Lily.

The nice thing about being the summer was Briahna and Kloey could help chaperone their outings.

JC walked over to where Randall had sat on the loveseat. “Hey, bud. What’s with the attitude?”

“McKenzie was there,” he said with a breath.

“At the water park or the restaurant?”

“Restaurant.”

“Say no more. I get it. But check the attitude.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.”

McKenzie was Randall’s first crush and they had “dated” for a month at the start of summer break but went their separate ways by mid-July, leaving Randall feeling heartbroken. It was as real a heartbreak as he had felt in his 9 years.

“What was your favorite thing, baby girl?” Allyson asked their middle child, Ellie, 6.

“Going down the big slide!” she replied excitedly.

“Oh really?” she asked, glaring at Chris.

“It was the smallest ‘big kid’ slide,” he whispered, leading Allyson to smile and nod.

“Oh! Well that was nice of Uncle Chris. I want all of you to say thank you to Uncle Chris for inviting you to the waterpark today and taking you to dinner. Then, I want y’all to go upstairs and get changed. Hang your bathing suits on the side of the tub.”

“Yes ma’am,” they yelled in unison as they rushed to their bedrooms. Ellie and Lily still shared a room, and Randall was in the third bedroom.

Hearing both doors close, Chris looked squarely at JC and Allyson. “Y’all fucked your brains out didn’t you?”

They both tried to hide their smiles.

“I knew it!” Chris laughed. “Karly said I shouldn’t take the kids to get pizza, and I told her y’all would have no problem with a little extra alone time.”

“Do you blame me,” JC said, wrapping his arms around his wife, planting a kiss on her cheek before dipping his head to kiss her neck.
“Yeah, I’m gonna go before y’all get freaky deaky in this living room again. See ya tomorrow, C.”

The next day began rehearsals for their latest Las Vegas residency. It was their third in partnership with The Venetian, and it was poised to be the best one yet after their latest music dropped earlier in the year.

“I’m so proud of you, Josh,” she turned around to face her husband as Chris left.

“For what?” he kissed her lips quickly.

“For facing your fears, getting back out there again and letting all this happen for you and just being the best you you can be for yourself, for your brothers, for your fans, and especially for us.”

“Always,” he said simply as they exchanged a soft kiss.