When JC said that he wouldn’t be late, he meant it.  In fact, he was a minute early.  It was seven twenty nine when he knocked on the front door.  Ellie was ready—all except for the part that required her slipping her perfectly pedicured feet into her open-toe, nude-colored Mary Jane Manolo’s.

She figured she better enjoy the high-priced luxuries she already owned because at the rate she was forking out the cash, and not bringing any in, it would be awhile before she could bring herself to make any frivolous purchases.  She’d got quite the taste of the finer things in life while married to James, but her innately frugal side had always hung around—which is probably the reason why she was having such a difficult time watching her finances shrink.

Luckily she did have a lot of prospects in the works.  Surely one of them would pan out soon.  There was no need to stress out.  Besides, it wasn’t like she was broke—far from it!  She just wasn’t quite as comfortable as she would like to be.

When she opened the door she found him wearing a humongous grin, which immediately made her wonder if he’d heard her cursing on the way to the door—because she’d been rushing of course.

He stepped inside, still eyeing her curiously.  “You look great,” he told her.

She was rather done up, probably the most he’d ever seen her, except for maybe that night when they’d first kissed at the club.  It wasn’t that she was dressed all that fancy, although she was wearing the rather short v-neck peasant dress by T-Bags that she’d picked up at Kitson just a few days earlier.  But her hair and make-up were fully made-up, something she hadn’t bothered with much lately.  Her skin was nicely colored after a home airbrushing visit from her favorite tanning salon the day before.

From all the prep work she’d done, you’d think she was going to the Oscar’s or something, but in reality it was just a sponsored gig for some new dance show on MTV.  JC had given her all the details, but they’d been in bed at the time and she’d been distracted by the after glow of sex.

“Let me just put on my shoes,” she told him.

He didn’t stop moving forward until he was barely inches away.  “Am I allowed to kiss you or will I mess up your make up?”  Of course he was leaning in so close that his lips were already begging to be kissed.

“You are totally allowed to kiss me—” and she smiled as he did just that.  Then she quickly trotted off to get her shoes, coming back seconds later about 4 inches taller.  She grabbed her leather clutch and followed him out the door.

Her smile was wide as she slid into the passenger seat of his Mercedes—after he’d so chivalrously held the door open while she got in.  Her sight didn’t leave him for a second as he walked around the front of the car, making way to the driver’s side.  He was looking quite dapper himself in pressed, dark jeans and a dark grayish-green buttoned down shirt, the sleeves cuffed just at his elbows.  His hair was styled more like a faux-hawk, sort of spiked up in the middle, and the thought didn’t go unnoticed how completely different he was from James.  So completely more her age, because he was her age… unlike her 15 year elder of an ex.

Noticing her stare, he turned toward her with a wide smile before starting the engine.  “Did I tell you how hot you look?”

Her smile quadrupled.  He was really good for her self-esteem.  “You mentioned something.”

Leaning in toward her, his hand smoothed to her bare leg.  “This is going to be tough,” he said, his words kind of breathy.  “I have to be good?”

With a smirk, she closed what little distance had been left between them, giving him a slow and sensual kiss, her hand smoothing around to the back of his neck.

When the passionate exchange ended, he was situating himself in his seat.  “Okay.  Time to start the car…”  It came out more like he was telling himself than her.

“So I have to do the red carpet thing, but if you want to bypass it, I totally understand,” JC explained as they were just a couple of minutes from the party.

Ellie just stared at him like she should have had an answer but she didn’t.  Red carpet?  How could she have NOT thought about that minor detail.

“I’m part of the show, so I have to do the publicity.”

Ellie looked at him even funnier.  He was on the show?  How did she miss that?  “Did you tell me that?” she asked him.

He chuckled lightly as he pressed the brake peddle to stop at the red light.  “Yes.”

“You must think I don’t listen to anything you tell me…”  She felt extremely silly.  How could something so important not have sunk in?

“No…” he replied, easing a sideways glance her direction.  “I think you were just too distracted by my sex at the time…”

For sure, she was ALWAYS distracted by his sex.  She was going to have to figure out a way to get over that—sort of.

The light turned green and she realized they were almost there.  She needed to make a decision about the whole red carpet thing.  The answer was pretty clear, as much as she’d love to be able to walk it with him supportively, she knew it was too soon for that.  Besides, she didn’t want this relationship to turn as public as her last relationship.

Or whatever it was they were calling what was going on between the two of them.

Finally pulling up to the valet, Ellie noticed Jill and her date stepping out of the car in front of them.  “I think I’ll bypass the red carpet if you don’t mind,” she finally told JC.

“I don’t mind at all.  I’ll meet you inside by the bar?”

She nodded, wanting to lean over and kiss him, but deciding against it.  Then they both got out of the car.  She went one way and he went the other.

“Jill!  Wait up!”  Her friend was about six steps ahead of her.

Jill grabbed the wrist of man she was with—Ellie didn’t know who the heck he was—to stop him as she turned at the sound of Ellie’s voice.  Smiling, she waved for her to hurry up.  Ellie picked up  her pace just a notch, not even daring to try and jog in her expensive high heels.

“Where’s your man?” Jill asked as soon as Ellie had joined up with them.

Ellie sort of rolled her eyes, wanting to make the correction of how he wasn’t exactly “her man” but refraining from making such a big deal out of it.  “My date had to go in the long way,” Ellie remarked instead.

“Oh… Had to do the press thing.  Gotcha.”  Then Jill turned to the silent man standing beside her.  “This is Jason Rosanbaum.  Jason, this is my very best friend, Ellie Sanderson.”

Jason was blond, tall, lean and YOUNG.  The more Ellie looked him over, the younger he appeared to be.  Of course, he was drop-dead gorgeous, which was right in line with Jill’s taste.  “Nice to meet you,” he grinned cordially.

“You too.  Should we go in?”

Jill nodded in agreement, and Ellie followed the two inside.

As soon as they were inside the venue, which was one of the more trendy clubs in town, Ellie felt a little nervous.  She hadn’t been in such an atmosphere since she’d split from James.  Yes, she’d been out that night with Jill, but this was totally different.  There were celebrities all over the place and her split had been made very public.  Everyone knew she was getting divorced.

No one really knew she was dating JC, but that would soon change.

But since she knew that James wasn’t going to hold that against her, she couldn’t let the thought of such news getting out scare her.  Worrying took up incredibly too much energy. 

“Let’s go to the bar,” Ellie suggested—and not just because JC had said he’d meet her there, but because she really needed a drink!

They ordered drinks and Ellie was instantly trying to start a conversation as they waited.  “So how did you two meet?”

Jason looked to Jill to answer.  Ellie had a feeling that he didn’t talk much. 

Jill grinned sort of slyly.  “We met at the gym.”

“Oh, that’s interesting.  What do you do, Jason?”

Jason immediately started spouting off his resume.  He was an Elite model trying to break into acting and was only in L.A. for the next month.  He normally shared his time between Miami and New York, but he’d been cast in a reality show that he really couldn’t talk about the details of.

It had been way more information than necessary. 

They’d just been handed their drinks when Ellie felt someone’s touch at the back of her waist.  She hoped it was JC and not some random person who felt they knew her well enough to touch her.  It wouldn’t have been the first time that had happened.

Luckily, as she twisted to look, she realized it was JC.  He was grinning widely.  “Where’s mine?” he asked, looking down at her stiff martini.

“Sorry.  Wasn’t sure what you wanted.”

He only grinned more.  “I’m just teasing anyway,” he told her softly and quickly pressed his mouth to her temple.  “Hi Jill and…” he looked at the couple waiting for an introduction.

“JC, this is Jason Rosenbaum.”

“Nice to meet you,” JC smiled and shook the model’s hand.  Then he turned back to Ellie.  “Are you ready to mingle?” he asked.

She nodded, smiling sort of tight lipped.

“Let me just get a drink really quick and then we’ll walk around.”  He moved away from where they stood and went to the bar. 

Jill took the opportunity to step in close and whisper, “You okay?”

Ellie nodded.  “Just a little nervous.”

“You’ll be fine,” Jill pepped.  “I’m here if you need a break.”

With a grin Ellie told her friend, “Thanks.”  Minutes later she was off to make the rounds with JC.

A half an hour into mingling and Ellie was on her A game, for sure.  The half of martini helped, no doubt—she’d dumped the rest for fear of it hitting her system too fast—but in all actuality it wasn’t the alcohol that made her feel comfortable at all.  It was, first of all, JC, because he was probably the easiest and nicest guy to be around, plus he made her ridiculously comfortable.  And secondly it had a lot to do with the fact that this was a completely different crowd then she was used to socializing with.  This was the more young, hip Hollywood crowd.  The events she’d always attended with James had been the more older, reserved, big-money Hollywood.  Before she’d been hanging out with the “movers and shakers”—the people who made things happen.  Now she was with the people who were trying to make things happen—by getting the movers and shakers attention, of course.

It was a nice change of pace.  Honestly, she got the feeling that a lot of the people she was meeting either didn’t recognize her or didn’t know who she was at all.  Of course, JC was only introducing her as Ellie.  That could have helped.  But either way, it was nice.  More and more she was realizing that there really wasn’t anything he could do to her or for her that would ever turn out bad.

Surely that wouldn’t be the case forever, but for now she’d just continue with that impression.

They’d been at the party for a good couple of hours before they separated for a bit.  Mainly because JC had to do work and do some promotions with his co-judges.  She kind of wanted to watch, but at the same time she didn’t want to hover too closely to the press, who were all situated in one area for the time being.  So instead she made way to the table where Jill and model Jason were accompanied by one other gentleman—some TV producer, Jeremy.

The unfortunate thing, as soon as Ellie got situated and ordered a drink, Jill got up suddenly, not saying much except for that she’d be back in a minute.  Ellie was left alone with Jason the model and Jeremy the TV producer, and she felt almost instantly uncomfortable. 

It only became worse a minute later as Jeremy not only realized that she was the ex of James Sanderson, but started hitting on her—hardcore.

This was the exact situation she didn’t want. Sleaze ball Jeremy just kept going on and on about how beautiful Ellie was and how he’d love to show her a  “good time.”  Really he was just undoubtedly mesmerized by the little bit of cleavage her v-neck dress was showing.  She’d had JC in mind when she’d got dressed, not every douchebag in L.A.

Jesus.  Did this guy think he even stood a chance being so un-coolly forward?  Not a chance.

She looked over at Jason with a pleading expression, but the eye-candy didn’t pick up on it.  He just smiled, trying to be cordial, no doubt.

Closing her eyes briefly, she silently prayed that either Jill or JC would come back.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because when she opened her eyes, neither of them were there.

So as politely as possible, she grinned at sleazy Jeremy and excused herself from the table.  Then she looked at Jason and said, “tell Jill I’ll be right back.”

As soon as her feet hit the ground, she was high-tailing it towards the woman’s restroom.  It was only a thirty second trek from where she’d been seated.  She pushed through the door quickly, walking into the middle of what looked like two celebutants snorting something—she was guessing cocaine.

She wanted to turn around and walk back out of the small restroom, but she figured it was better to act as if she hadn’t noticed.  Disappearing into the stall, she quickly put down the seat cover and sat, holding her dress and somehow managing to bury her face into her hands.

Witnessing drug use was not something Ellie handled well.  She had a history—not her own, but someone extremely close to her.  The visual made her instantly sick to her stomach.

Quickly she did her business, thankful that the two young women had left by the time she made it to the sink.  Pulling herself together, she washed her hands, checked her hair and make-up and left the bathroom, trying not to think of the events that had occurred during the previous 5 minutes.

A huge part of her wanted to find JC and tell him that she was ready to leave, but she knew that wouldn’t be right.  This was his event, he needed to stay.

With a quick scan of her surroundings, she noticed Jill was back at the table with Jason.  Unfortunately Jeremy was still there, and some other guy too.    

Dammit.  What was she going to do?

The only thing she could think to do.  She went on a search for JC.  It took her ten minutes to find him, standing between a gorgeous brunette and an equally attractive blonde, posing for a picture.  She felt a tinge of jealousy—an emotion that she instantly shunned.  Unfortunately, when added to things she’d already enjoyed the displeasure of, it only made her all the more ready to go home.

Shit.

Slowly she maneuvered her way into his line of view.  The look of his expression when he did finally catch sight of her, made her feel momentarily better.  It was obvious that she was the only woman he was interested in.  She watched as he excused himself from the group of ladies and headed her direction.

Discreetly he took her hand, leaning in to whisper against her ear a simple “hi.”

Instantly she was smiling.  When his eyes caught hers, she felt the need to vent immediately.  “The past ten minutes have been rather traumatic.”

His features turned into a look of both curiousness and concern.  “Why?  What happened?”

“Some sleaze ball kept hitting on me and then I witnessed something in the bathroom that made me a little uncomfortable.”

He looked at her even more curiously after that. 

She knew he wanted more information, but it wasn’t the right time to give it.  “I’ll tell you later,” she said.

He nodded, still holding on to her hand.  “We can leave if you want,” he told her.

She shook her head no.  “You need to be here.”

JC was shaking his head as well.  “No. I’m good.  We can leave whenever you want.”

She was smiling again.  “Really?”

He nodded and leaned into her ear again.  “Besides, I can’t wait to get you home and tear that dress off you.”

Ellie wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss the hell out of him.  It was hard to hold back, but she managed.  Instead, JC hooked an arm over her shoulders and began guiding her through the crowds.  It took her a minute to realize they were heading toward the exit.

JC realized Ellie was a bit overwhelmed by their outing as she settled into the passenger seat of his car, quiet as a mouse.  He waited until they were safely away from the swarm of paparazzi and party-goers before inquiring about what had happened.  “So do you want to talk about it?” he simply said.

“I do,” she said, “but not yet.  I’m starving.  Do you want to stop and get something to eat?”

He was pretty hungry.  He hadn’t had much of a chance to eat at the party.  It had been all appetizers anyway.  Not very filling  “Sure.  Did you want to pick something up to take home or do you want to go in somewhere?”

“I don’t know if I can wait till we get home.  Just somewhere sort of quiet and private—if that’s possible.”

With a grin he said, “For you, anything’s possible.”

One quick phone call was all it took.

Ten minutes later they were pulling into the valet of one of the hardest to get into spots in L.A.  Luckily he knew the owner.  They were ushered in immediately and taken to the most private booth in the place.  He waited for Ellie to sit down and then he scooted in beside her.  They were given their menus and JC ordered a bottle of merlot.  Then they were left alone.

Instantly he was leaning into her, smoothing his hand to her knee—her skin was amazingly soft, as always.  Without thinking, his eyes drifted down to her lap, when she’d sat down her skirt had hiked up pretty high on her thighs.  She hadn’t noticed and he wasn’t going to mention it unless it became necessary.  At this point, he was the only one that could see.

“So who was the sleaze ball?” he asked first.

She shrugged, her silky auburn waves bouncing in response.  “Jeremy something or other.”

“Piven?” JC immediately asked.

She shook her head no.  “Not him,” she said.  “I didn’t catch a last name.”

Which meant JC had absolutely no clue who it was, and he’d be lying if he said that he didn’t want to go smack the guy—although he’d never actually do something like that. 

“So are you going to tell me what the other thing was that happened?  I’m guessing that the guy hitting on you wasn’t the worst of the two.”

Ellie smirked, leaning her head on his shoulder.  He was instantly curling an arm around her as if he couldn’t be close enough to her at that moment.  “It wouldn’t have been so bad if he wouldn’t have known who I was,” she explained.

“Oh… well, sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault,” she said, still pressed into his side.   

“So the other thing?” he asked again.  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he added.   Of course he was hoping that wouldn’t be the case.  It was driving him sort of crazy wondering what she’d seen going on in the bathroom.  He’d witnessed just about everything possible while living in Holly-weird.  Nothing shocked him anymore. 

Ellie was nervous to admit that the drugs had bothered her so much.  Mainly because it meant she’d have to explain things in her past that weren’t the easiest to talk about.  But at the same time she felt so amazingly comfortable talking to him.  She couldn’t imagine him ever passing judgment on her.

She separated her side from his enough so that she could look him in the face.  “There were two girls snorting coke in the bathroom.  I just don’t do well in that type of environment.”  She could tell instantly by the look in his face that he was preparing for her to say that she'd had a problem with addiction.  That so was not the case.  “I know what you’re thinking,” she immediately added.  “I’ve never even smoked a cigarette, let alone done any drugs.”  She was speaking as softly as she could.  The booth was private, but there were always ears listening.

JC’s expression seemed to soften then, as he pressed his palm to her cheek, moved in and kissed her tenderly.  “I’m sorry that made you uncomfortable,” he spoke after a minute.  “I don’t really care for that scene myself, but sometimes it’s unavoidable in this business.”

Ellie nodded.  She understood.  “There’s more.”  She felt the need to tell him everything.

Of course it was at that moment their waiter appeared.  “Can you give us a few more minutes?” JC politely asked.

The gentleman nodded cordially and disappeared.

“Go ahead,” JC told her.

“My sister,” Ellie continued, almost whispering.  “She’s been through rehab three times.  She's been struggling with addiction since I was 15.”

JC grabbed her hand and squeezed.  “I’m sorry.”

Ellie shook her head.  “There’s nothing to be sorry about.  She’s a grown woman.  She’s made her own choices.”

“Where is she now?”

Ellie shrugged.  “I haven’t talked to her in months.  I don’t have a clue where she is.”

His hand was at the side of her head, his thumb trailing the underside of her eye.  Softly he kissed the corner of her lips.  “I’m sorry, baby…”  he spoke against her skin. 

The tenderness he emitted made her melt inside.  She was feeling such emotion in her chest—like full water balloons ready to explode—all because of the feelings he caused her to feel.  Every minute they spent together she knew more and more that what she was feeling was more than just a common love for sex.

“I’m okay,” she told him after a quiet moment.  “Let’s not talk about it anymore.  I don’t want to ruin the mood of our date.”

She watched the smile ease across his handsome face.  “Okay,” he agreed, “but if you ever want to talk more about it, I’m more than willing to listen.”

It was obvious that he genuinely meant those words, she felt it in his touch, heard it in his voice and saw it in the gorgeous depths of his deep blue eyes.

God, she was falling for him—falling in love.

© BrandyRae 2008