It was still dark when Ellie woke up.  She may have vowed to stay awake all night, but by two a.m. she was falling asleep in his arms.  It was a vulnerable position she’d let herself get in, but when he’d opened himself up and invited her to lay her head on his chest—his arm curled around her and his fingers stroking through her hair—she just couldn’t pass it up.

Soon after she’d been out like a light.  It just felt so damn comfortable lying with him. 

Maybe that’s why she’d woke back up.  Her subconscious wanted to consciously enjoy it.

Her head wasn’t on his chest anymore.  Instead she was on her tummy, right beside him, one of her legs tangled in between both of his and her arm pressed into stomach, as he was on his side, facing her direction.  He was sound asleep—and the sound of his subtle breathing was probably the most soothing and comforting thing she’d ever listened to.

Why did he make her feel so safe and so secure?  So comfortable?

The news of James being in the hotel with some bimbo should have really upset her.  She knew instantly when it didn’t that she was totally over her marriage.  The feeling—or lack of feeling—shouldn’t have surprised her, but the fact that it was coming so easy… well, that wasn’t what she’d expected divorce to be like at all. 

But really… who the hell was she kidding?  Her marriage had been in shambles for the greater part of it.  James just wasn’t the marrying type.  It was clear to her now that the only reason he’d got married in the first place is because it was the one thing in his life he hadn’t done.

God, how stupid was she?

Thankfully that was all in the past.  Now she just needed to figure out a way to not let her past screw up her future. 

JC’s hand slipped across her lower back as an appealing “mmmm…” sounded from his vocal chords.

“Are you awake?” she asked him.

“Not really,” he answered groggily, his voice husky and deep—and incredibly sexy.  “Do you want me to be?”

A content grin appeared at her lips.  The chemistry between them was simply amazing.  She couldn’t deny it, not even if part of her felt like she should.  “I think I’m good for now,” she told him, a hum of satisfaction mingled in her tone.

His touch slipped up between her shoulder blades as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple.  “Just checking,” he sort of mumbled.

Ellie found herself curling even closer to him.  Her face may have been buried into the pillow, but she was completely smiling.  She couldn’t remember ever feeling so satisfied—both emotionally and physically.

It would have been great if the next morning would have consisted of sleeping in, breakfast in bed, more sex… but that simply was not the case.  At 8:30 Ellie’s cell phone was ringing like crazy, and just a few minutes after, JC’s followed.  It wasn’t for anything major.  They hadn’t been busted in the tabloids or something crazy like that.  It was just simply a Wednesday morning and people were working.  They’re own, separate, people were working.

Jill had been busting her butt to get things going for Ellie, and JC apparently had his own prospects, although Ellie didn’t have time to ask what.  All she knew was that she had an eleven a.m. meeting with her financial advisor, then she was supposed to meet Jill for lunch to discuss some business opportunity, and then the new assistant was meeting Ellie at her house at 2:00 p.m.

It was going to be one helluva crazy day.

After a half an hour of phone calls, they both just kind of looked at each other without a whole lot to say.  “I need to go,” Ellie spoke first, sitting at the table, in his t-shirt, where she’d been jotting notes down on the complimentary hotel pad with the complimentary matching pen.

“I do too.  We can’t leave together, though.” 

“That’s true.  How much time do you have?” she asked him.  He was on the edge of the bed, in nothing but his black boxer brief underwear with his knee pulled up on the mattress as he was scrolling through an email on his Blackberry.

“Eleven thirty.”

“Well, I only have till eleven and I’m a girl, so I get to leave first.”

His eyes caught hers, an amused grin across his lips.  “Because ladies first?”

Ellie smirked.  “No, because it takes ladies longer.”

“Oh.  Well, no doubt there.  You win.”

She shook her head lightly, having the strongest urge to hop across the room and jump him, but somehow managing to refrain.  His sight had returned to his handheld, but the sexy grin hadn’t faded.  He was so damn appealing.  Did he have any clue?

She was still watching him as he looked back up, his hand running over the top of his unkempt head.  “Are you going to shower?”

Ellie nodded. 

He flashed her a thin, contemplative grin.  She could almost see all the possibilities running through his mind.  It was just after nine.  Her appointment was at eleven.  That really didn’t leave much time.  Of course, if she went straight to her appointment from the hotel…

Without a second thought she popped out of her chair and strutted right past him, to the bathroom.  She didn’t even look back to see if he was following.  Instead she turned on the water, yanked the shirt off her head, tossed it, and got in.

JC knew an invitation when he saw one.  He was immediately chasing after her, stepping out of his underwear in a hurry, rushing to join her.  The thought of not having her one more time was just unacceptable. 

Stepping into the large open shower he positioned himself directly behind her and smoothed one arm around to the front of her waist, the other went to her wet head, as he pulled her hair out of the way and pressed his mouth to the back of her neck.  Her body seemed to tremble at his touch, just as his lips were trailing away from the sensitive flesh below her ear.

Twisting in his arms, she didn’t stop until she faced him, both of her hands pressing into his cheeks as she raised up on her toes to meet him face to face.  His eyes closed automatically as she met him with a hungry kiss.  He squeezed her body as tight as he could, her wet breasts pressed into his chest as her fingertips were now dancing down the length of his back.

Damn.  He really didn’t want their time to end already. 

Bracing his touch at her jaw, he broke away and said, “This really fucking sucks.”  He hated the fact that for once all he wanted was a normal relationship and it was so completely out of reach.  He didn’t want to sneak around.  He wanted to take her places and treat her the way she deserved to be treated—instead of sneaking off to a hotel just so they could be together for one night.

How the hell did this happen so fast?

She agreed with an “I know” and was kissing him again, already, and just like that he was hard as a fucking rock.  Next thing he knew, he’d hoisted her up and was easing his way inside of her, her legs locking around his hips.  Realizing instantly that the tiled floor was just a little too slick for his footing—as she was already riding him like it would be the last time they’d feel each other ever again—he told her to “hold on,” not that she wasn’t already, and eased them down to the built-in tiled seat.

Ellie seemed to accommodate him no matter how their position changed, JC inhaling a sharp breath as he could feel that this time was going to be short and sweet.  They’d moved mostly out of the water, the droplets hitting him only from the knee down as he stretched his legs out, trying to make things more comfortable for her.  The whole time he studied her face.  Her eyes were closed most of the time, her head tilted slightly back as her teeth dug lightly into her bottom lip.  She was bracing her weight with her hands pressed into the tops of his legs.  She was truly amazing—especially when she was so obviously enjoying him.

Closing his eyes, he breathed in another heavy breath, trying to ward off his approaching orgasm.  Then he wrapped both arms around her—throwing off the amazing rhythm she’d had, but that was okay for the moment—and squeezed her again tight.  His face pressing into her hair, he whispered against her, “I am about to come so fucking hard.”

She flashed him a sexy smile and said, “Good.”  Then she took his hand and smoothed it down her stomach, not stopping until his thumb pressed into her moist flesh, just above where their bodies joined together.  He swore he watched her eyes roll back into her head as he gently kneaded the pad of his thumb against that million dollar spot.

It barely took the combination of his touches and Ellie was immediately slipping over the edge.  Leaning in she kissed him as best as she could, down below her walls were tightening around him, intensity shooting through her body like a fourth of July fireworks finale.

“Oh my fucking god,” he was cussing against her lips and it only made her pleasure soar that much more.  Why did he do such crazy things to her?  Could anyone ever do for her what he did?  This was ridiculous.

She wanted to scream when it hit—a rush of extreme satisfaction flooding her from head to toe.  The pulse was amazingly strong—and so were his arms as he kept her body so close against him.  He just felt so incredibly good—every single part of him.

She didn’t want to move.  She just wanted to stay in that moment forever.

But finally, tenderly, he kind of nudged her cheek with his nose and then told her softly, “My leg is cramping up.”

Blinking a couple times, she hoped it might clear the fog she’d seemed to step in—or maybe that was just steam from the shower?  Hopefully?  Either way, she maneuvered her body off of him, realizing instantly that her legs were kind of wobbly.  Quickly she sat down beside him, eyeing her own naked flesh and then his. 

That’s when she noticed.  “Shit, JC.”

His head turned to her kind of slow, like he was still recovering.  “Huh?”

“Look at yourself,” she told him.

He did, repeating her reaction.

Standing up, Ellie let out a deep breath and said, “I don’t have time to worry about it right now.”

By lunch Ellie’s meeting with her financial advisor was already a blur.  Mainly because she’d hardly tuned in once during the forty minute sit-down with Fred Wallace.  The only point she really got out of the whole thing was that she needed to find a way to make some money.  Attorney’s fees alone could drain her.  That was a rather depressing thought.

So she shoved it to the back of her head and thought about the other troubling thing on her mind.  The ever-so-present memory of she and JC having amazing sex, without a condom, in the shower that morning.  She’d already called and made an appointment with her ob-gyn between meeting with Fred and driving to the restaurant.  It was probably a good time to get back on birth control.  She didn’t plan to stop having sex with JC anytime soon and they did not need to take any chances.  Luckily she felt pretty safe with the little oops that had happened that morning.  She was so close to the end of her cycle that she’d actually been worried that she would start during their night together.  That hadn’t happened, but she knew her body so well that she knew “aunt flow” would arrive before the day was over.

They’d got lucky this time, but they couldn’t afford for a slip to happen a second time.

When Jill finally slid into the booth across from Ellie—at their somewhat private table in the back of one of the less trendy restaurants in Los Angeles—Ellie was letting out a much needed sigh, just before taking a sip of her Diet Pepsi.    

“What?”  Jill was already asking, situating her bag and briefcase into the booth beside her.

“It’s been sort of crazy this morning.”

Jill smirked, sweeping her long crimson hair back behind her shoulders.  “Why?  Because you had to leave that hot stud you’ve been sleeping with?”

That was certainly part of it.  “We had sex without a condom this morning,” Ellie immediately confessed.

Of course, Jill’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.  “What?  Are you fucking crazy?”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Ellie clarified.

“Still.  What if you’re pregnant?”  She asked as quietly as she possibly could while still managing to get her tone across.

“I’m not.  I’m getting ready to start any minute.”

“Okay.  Next question.  What if he’s not exactly clean?  Know what I mean?”

“Jill…”

“What?  The guy’s obviously been around.  I’m not trying to take anything away from whatever it is that’s going on between you two.  He seems nice and I like him and everything,” Jill lowered her voice even more, “but you can’t go around having unprotected sex with the guy.  For all you know he could have fucked thousands of groupies and club sluts.”

Covering her eyes, Ellie found herself pressing her thumb and her middle finger into her temples.  “Come on, Jill.  Seriously…”  She said, peeking out from under her palm.

“Just ask him to get tested.  It’s not that big of a deal.”

Now Ellie was pinching the bridge of her nose while trying her best to take in deep breaths. 

“It’s really not that big of a deal…” Jill repeated.

Ellie finally looked up.  “For you.”

“Or you.  If he gets upset about it then he’s not someone you should be sleeping with anyway.”

Why did she feel like letting her head collapse onto the table all the sudden?  “Okay, so how would I word something like that?”

Flipping open the menu, Jill sat up straight and looked across the table at Ellie.  “As nicely as possible.”

The look Ellie shot her friend then was incredulous to say the least.  “No shit.  But how exactly?”

Jill gave her a funny look and waved her hand through the air.  “Suggest that you both go get tested.”

“I’ve never been tested for anything like that.”

For the second time in the past five minutes Jill’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.  “El, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“No.  I’m not.”

“You know James was sleeping around, right?  I mean, that’s common knowledge.”

Of course, at that moment Ellie was reminded of how JC had saw James with the bimbo at the hotel, but she figured that tidbit of information could wait.  “Yes, of course.  I’m not stupid.”

“Are you sure?”  Jill asked dubiously.

“Stop making me feel worse,” Ellie told her, dropping her sight to her menu.  “The server is coming.  Behave yourself.”

They’d been in the middle of ordering when Ellie’s phone buzzed against the table where it was sitting.  She waited until the waitress was gone to check it. 

“JC?”  Jill was asking.

Ellie figured it was the grin that gave her away.  She nodded.

“What does it say?”

Looking up, she decided not to tell Jill exactly.  “I think he’s kind of freaking out about this morning.”

“That’s a good sign.  He’s human.”

“Of course he’s human,” Ellie remarked.  “You told me you thought he was a good guy for me.  Why are you being like this?”

“El, sweetie, I’m just trying to be the voice of reason here.  You’re looking pretty lovesick and that’s a little scary.”

Ellie’s face immediately went blank.  “We just have good chemistry, that’s all…” she defended.  Unfortunately it was a pretty weak defense.

“Look…” Jill said, “I just know the pattern.  That’s all.  You fall for a guy and then you let him walk all over you.  I don’t want that to happen to you again.”

“I don’t want that either.”

“So just be aware of it and it won’t.”

Ellie just looked at her kind of funny.  “Be aware of what?”

“Be aware that you have a tendency to do that.”

This was turning out to be the worst lunch ever.  “Weren’t we supposed to talk about a business deal?”

When Ellie got home she didn’t have much time before Daphne was due to show up, but regardless she sat down in front of her computer, pulled up Google and typed in JC Chasez.  Of course, a slew of different web sites popped up.  The first few looked pretty legitimate—record label, official page, yada yada yada.  She found one that said something about for the fans by the fans, closed her eyes, and clicked.

It was slightly weird seeing his face pop up across her computer monitor in true glossy pixilation.  She tried her best to not look at the image and skimmed over the links.  She didn’t see anything about girlfriends, but there was something about rumors.  She went for that one.

As soon as she saw the first, very old, picture of him with some girl who looked to definitely be a girlfriend, she realized it wasn’t what she wanted to see and immediately closed the window.  Then she let out an exhausted breath and carefully laid her forehead against the desk.

God… she was falling for this man—way too ridiculously fast.

How in the hell could she ask him to get an HIV test?  She was a fairly open person, but that was just—well, too much. 

Somehow she would have to think of a way to lightly bring it up in a beat around the bush kind of way.  That was the only scenario she could sort of deal with.

She’d just barely managed to lift her head up when the doorbell rang.  The time on her computer said 1:46.  Of course Daphne was early.

Trying to pull her emotions together, she hopped up and trotted towards the door.  She was still wearing the dress that she’d had on the night before.  Of course, it really hadn’t got much wear so it was technically still clean, but even so, she’d meant to change when she got home.  She just hadn’t got around to it yet.

Unlocking the front door, she yanked it open trying her best to look somewhat professional, when she was immediately knocked of kilter, finding not Daphne at all, but JC.  And not only was he on her doorstep, but his car was in her driveway.

Quickly she pulled him inside.  “What are you doing here?  Are you crazy?”

“Maybe a little bit,” he grinned sort of guilty like as she pushed the door shut behind him.

“Your car’s in my driveway.  You must really be crazy.”

He shook his head no.  “Actually, that’s a very popular vehicle for this area.  I could be anyone driving that car.”

Ellie just shook her head.  Then she smoothed both hands up the front of his chest and kissed him.  Instantly his arms curled around her waist, then they were up her back and her neck—his fingertips slipping into her hair.

When he spoke a few minutes later, his lips were moving against her with each word.  “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Ellie was smiling when she kissed him again.  “Me neither,” she mumbled.

“I’m a little worried about this morning,” he said, “but it’s fine.  We’ll figure it out.  Whatever.”

She was still smiling.  “It’s fine,” she told him.  “You don’t have to worry.”

She’d backed away enough that he could shoot her a funny look. 

“I started.”

His questioning look didn’t fade.  “Today?”

She nodded.

JC let out the longest winded breath she’d yet to hear escape from him.  For some reason, it made her chuckle. 

“Jill said I should ask you to get tested.”  She wasn’t sure how she’d managed to say it, but it just sort of came right out.  Of course, putting in the context that it was Jill’s idea made it a little bit easier. 

His brow sort of furrowed in between his dark blue eyes.  “You think I infected you with some disease or something?”

“Not me… Jill.”

He gave her one slow contemplative nod.  Then he said, “that’s fine.”

“Really?  You’re not mad?”

He shook his head.  “No.  I’d probably ask me too… and don’t take this the wrong way, but you should too… you know, get tested.”

Ellie nodded.  “I already have an appointment with my doctor so I’ll just do it all in one shot.”

His hands came up to her jaw as he tipped her chin and kissed her lips. 

When the knock came through the door seconds later, they’d been standing up against it—JC specifically.  They nearly jumped in response.

“Now that’s my new assistant.  Get behind the door so she doesn’t see you right away.”

She watched as he kind of shook his head, but did it anyway.

Once again Ellie tried her best to look professional.  She pulled open the door and instantly wanted to drop.  Luckily she was still hanging on to the handle, or else she may have done just that.  There was another black Mercedes parked outside—on the street this time—and on her front step was her ex-husband.

She was completely flabbergasted.  “James?  What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk,” he said sternly and practically pushed his way inside. 

He was tall, stocky and overbearing—always had been.  She just hadn’t noticed it as much until then.  He was also a bit intimidating—on purpose.

Ellie took a step back and eyed JC nervously.  The look on his face was uncomfortable to say the least.  James had yet to notice her company.  She figured she better say something before he figured it out on his own.  He didn’t really have a temper, but he could be a bit of an asshole.

“James.  I think you probably know JC Chasez formerly of the group *NSYNC?”  This was seriously about the most awkward situation she could have ever come up with.

Ellie noticed instantly that the awareness of JC threw James off a bit.  The expression on his face turned sort of confused.  “Yes—uh—good to see you.   JC, I hope you don’t mind, but I really need to talk to my wi—um, Ellie, for a minute... alone.  Can you excuse us?”

Before attempting a response, JC’s eyes met hers.  She nodded as unnoticeably as possible.  “I’ll just be in the kitchen,” he finally said.  Then he gave her another long look as he strode past and out of the room.

James looked at her kind of funny and pointed towards the direction JC had left.  “Are you?”

Ellie shrugged.  “It’s not really any of your business, is it?”

The older man’s dark eyes rolled with annoyance.  “Look,” he said.  “I’ll make this short and to the point.  I don’t want to go to court so tell me what you want and it’s done.”

For not the first time that day Ellie was slightly flabbergasted.  “Why?”

“I think you know why.  Do we really need to get into it?”

“Fine.  I want double.”

His expression was blank.  “Double the twenty five?” he asked.

She nodded, still standing firm, close to the front door.  James was a  good ten steps away and she wanted to keep him that way.

“Fine.  I’ll have my lawyer draw up the paperwork tomorrow.  There’s just one condition…”

“What’s that?”

“You have to agree to not discuss with anyone—the press or otherwise—any details you may have been privy to regarding my business, or our personal life, while we were married.”

“That’s fine.”

“I think we’re done then.”  He moved towards her, heading for the door.  She instantly stepped out of the way.

“Were you having me followed?” she asked.

He just looked at her funny.  “Do you think I would waste the energy on something like that?”

Funny, of all things, those words stung more than anything.  She just shook her head.  “Not really.”

“Enjoy the rest of your life,” he finished, opening the door and leaving just as quickly as he’d entered.

Ellie counted to five and then loudly blurt out the word “asshole.”

JC must have taken that as his cue to come out because he popped back into the room seconds later.  He looked incredibly confused.  Of course, she didn’t have a chance to explain anything to him because there was a knock on the door again.  Only this time it really was the new assistant.

© BrandyRae 2008