After a delicious meal and two full glasses of wine, Ellie was completely relaxed.  She realized, as JC was paying the check and they were getting ready to leave, that they’d actually had a real date.  And, at the moment, she was totally and utterly smitten by him.

He was wonderful.

“Thank you for dinner,” she smiled and said, as the waiter disappeared with JC’s credit card.

He was grinning just as wide as he replied, “You’re welcome.  Anytime.”

She couldn’t help it, her hand fell to his thigh as she moved in for a kiss.  His mouth tasted totally yummy—thanks to the chocolate dessert they’d shared—and she found it hard to control herself, especially as his fingers smoothed up the back of her neck and delicately touched into her hair line.  She just wanted to gobble him right up!

When she started to break herself free from him, he was immediately urging her back and pressing quick, delicate kisses against her lips.  Next thing she knew they were involved in a serious public display of affection.

Sliding her fingers softly against his stubbled jaw, she finally pulled away with a grin and mumbled, “Damn, I love kissing you.”

Luckily she was too caught up to realize that she’d used the L word, even if it was only in reference to his kisses.

JC sort of hummed his response, an agreement of “me too.”

“Should we go?”

“As soon as they bring back my card,” he said, his body still twisted her way, his lips still deliciously close.

Of course, Ellie had the better view.  She could see that the waiter must have stopped by while they were busy.  “He already did,” she remarked.

JC turned and quietly remarked an, “oh shit.”  Then an “oh well.”  He opened the leather sleeve, signed the slip, took his card and pulled out his wallet to return it.

A minute later they were up and heading toward the door.  When they got to the street, she instantly noticed the three paparazzi filming another celeb about five steps away.

Dammit.

They were going to have to wait for their car.  That could leave them standing outside in open territory for a good five minutes!  She watched as JC quickly gave the ticket to the attendant, positive that she saw him slip the guy some cash, too.  Hopefully that would speed up the process.

Hopefully in a big way because one of the paps had already noticed them.  “Let’s go stand back inside,” JC whispered.

So they did.

“They’re going to film us when we go back out to get in the car,” Ellie said, as they stood tucked in a corner of the lobby.  There were other patrons of the restaurant scattered about, but they paid no attention to Ellie or JC.

The look he gave her was tender, as he gently brushed her hair away from her face with his right hand.  “Just ignore them.  Don’t say anything and don’t let any of their stupid questions get a reaction out of you.”

She nodded, trying to psyche herself out for it.

Not even a minute later the valet poked his head inside the door to let them know their car was ready.

Ellie followed JC out, not touching, not taking his hand like she would have liked, just standing close behind him and moving quickly.

There were only two paps on them, but they immediately started in, trying to get some sort of comment.

“Who’s the new girl, JC?”  one said.  “Can we get a name?”

“Is that Eloise Sanderson?” The other piped in.  She was trying to keep her face down.  Apparently the attempt didn’t work very well.

Shit.

“Ellie… Sorry to hear about the divorce.  Guess you’re bouncing back okay…”

Luckily, at that moment, she was sliding into the car, shutting the door and thankfully unable to hear their verbal berates any longer.  Neither one of them said a word as JC maneuvered the car away from the small crowd and down the street.  A good five minutes had passed when Ellie finally spoke up.  “I hate it when they have video cameras.  What happened to the old days when they just took pictures?”

“It’s called the Internet.”

“Uh, don’t remind me.  I wish they wouldn’t have realized who I was.”

JC sort of smirked.  “It’s not like they hadn’t already been tipped off about us by Gabby.”

“I know, but now there’s confirmation… They’re probably going to make me look like a whore, or something.”

“Sweetheart,” he called her, “that’s not possible.  You could never look whorish.”

She found herself smiling at his words.  “Thanks.”

“It’s the truth.  You’re about as un-whorish as they come.  You’re beautiful and smart and confident—which is about the most attractive combination of qualities, I must say.”

She chortled breathily.  “Is that it?”

“Oh no… There’s more.  Do you want me to continue?”  He shot her a sideways glance and a sexy grin as he masterfully handled the vehicle through the nighttime traffic  on Sunset Boulevard.

“Sure.  Go ahead.”

“Okay… let’s see.  You laugh at my corny jokes, which I think is pretty cool.  You’re laid back.  You don’t get all stressed out about the little things.  You are comfortable in your skin, which is SO important.”

He paused as he was paying more attention to the road, turning off the main strip and heading into the hills, toward their homes.

“Physically, you’re everything a guy could ever want in a woman.  Like I don’t even want to go there because I’ll just get too distracted while I’m driving and I don’t want to get in an accident.”

“You can finish that part when we’re in bed,” she told him with a suggestive grin.

“That’s a good idea.  Then I can show you instead of telling you.”

Her stomach took an immediate dip when he said that.  “I like the sound of that,” she replied.

“That’s the other thing,” he remarked.  “Your sex drive is amazing.”

“Maybe I just really like having sex with you,” she suggested.

“Well, that’s just fine with me because I’m the only one that matters, as far as that goes.”  He was turning the wheel, pulling onto their street.  “I mean, I really like having sex with you too.”

“Well, that’s good.”

A minute later they were in his driveway, waiting for the garage to open.

He pulled the car in, turned it off and shut the garage door.  He just sat there, like he wanted to say something else, but the words weren’t coming out.

Without hesitating, Ellie unbuckled her seatbelt, climbed over the center console and straddled his lap.  His hands automatically smoothed around to her rear as he stared up at her face.  Of course, her dress was practically hiked up to her hip joints.

He stared at her with wide eyes as she took the opportunity to begin a very passionate kissing session.

“This is what I’m talking about,” he finally mumbled, his hands still groping her behind.  She realized the material of her dress really wasn’t covering it anymore, especially as the tip of his finger seemed to slip just barely in between her bare flesh and her Victoria Secret’s panties.

“It’s all you,” she told him.  “You do this to me.”

He pressed another long and lingering kiss to her mouth.  “I guess I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should,” she told him.

“We should go in,” he said, while simultaneously popping open the door.  “Let’s see if I can do this.”  Carefully he maneuvered one leg out the door and then the other, then he managed to lift them both out of the seat, carrying Ellie toward the house.

She was giggling from the whole thing when he somehow managed to twist the door handle, still keeping hold of her body, her legs wrapped around him with his arms braced under her butt.

But something was different when they walked inside—almost instantly.  JC dropped her and she quickly smoothed down her dress, just in time to see a guy jogging down the hallway.

“Ty?”  JC said, looking at the young man kind of funny.  “What are you doing here?”

“I told you I was getting in tonight,” the dark blond responded.  “Don’t you remember?”

“I guess not.”

Meanwhile, JC’s somewhat unexpected house guest was looking at Ellie awfully suspicious like.

“Oh,” JC piped up.  “Ty, this is Ellie.  Ellie, this is my brother Tyler.”

Well that made a little more sense.  Instantly she stuck out a hand.  “Nice to meet you,” she said.

“You too.”  He was still looking at her kind of funny. 

“Ellie lives across the street,” JC explained.

Ty just sort of nodded, long and slow.  The looks he was giving made her a little uncomfortable.

She brushed a hand against JC’s forearm to get his attention and asked, “Should I go?”

The answer was obvious as he instantly shook his head no.  “Just give us a minute,” JC said.

Ellie nodded.  “I’ll just go in the living room.”

“I knew you couldn’t do it,” Tyler spouted off as soon as Ellie was gone.

“Do what?  And keep your voice down.  Will ya?”

His brother rolled his eyes.  “I mean, I don’t care one way or another, I just knew you wouldn’t be able to not have sex for more than a week.”

JC shook his head, regretting that night of dumb-ass drunkenness with the guys, when he made that profound—and ridiculous—statement about abstaining from sex until he met a girl worthy enough to actually have a relationship with.

Of course, he’d had no idea a couple of weeks later he’d meet Ellie.  Besides, she was definitely worthy enough for a relationship—although they had yet to breach the subject.  He was afraid to bring it up, because last time he’d started in with the serious talk she’d straight up told him he was being too forward.

Things were moving along so well.  There really hadn’t been a need to discuss it.  But Ty was going to insist on knowing the details.

“It’s not like that,” JC told his brother quietly.  “We’ve been seeing each other for a little while.  I really like her.”

“What’s a little while?” Ty asked.  “I’ve only been gone for like a month.”

JC shook his head.  Why was he letting his little brother interrogate him?  “Almost two months,” JC corrected.  “And never mind.  Just be nice, okay?”

“I’m always nice,” Ty shrugged and headed off toward the direction of the living room, where Ellie was, no doubt.

Ellie plopped down on the sofa, realizing that her phone was ringing inside her small purse.  She pulled it out, still mind-boggled over the scene that had just played out with JC’s brother in the hallway.

“Hey,” she spoke into her hand-held phone, knowing it was Jill.

“Where the hell did you go?  I’ve been looking all over for you and then finally I just heard that JC had left like almost two hours ago.  I’m assuming you left with him.”

“Sorry,” Ellie replied, looking up as Tyler took seat right beside her—like RIGHT beside her, almost touching.

He was weird.  What was with him?

And where the hell was JC?

“Is everything alright?” Jill asked.

“Yes, everything’s fine.  I’ll tell you more tomorrow.”  That was the last conversation Ellie wanted to get into at the moment.

She crossed her legs, eyeing the stocky dark blond as he reached for the TV remote on the table.

“Okay,” Jill said.  “As long as you promise you’re okay.”

“I promise I’m fine,” Ellie assured, although with the recent events, she wasn’t so sure.

“Okay, talk to you tomorrow then.”

“Okay.  Bye.”

“Was that Jill?” She heard JC’s voice from behind before she’d hit the button to end the call.

She twisted her torso to look for him, the direction away from Tyler Chasez.  “Yes.  I forgot to let her know that we left and she was looking for me.”

He was grinning something kind of funny, reaching up into the cupboard, in the open area kitchen behind them.  “You want something to drink?”

She shook her head no.

“Ty?” he asked.

“I’m good,” the man responded.

Ellie returned to facing forward, feeling completely awkward.  She felt like she needed to go home.  This was just weird.

Finally, after another minute, JC appeared in front of them both, perching himself on the coffee table just in front of them.  “Ty, scoot over,” he sighed, sort of aggravatingly at his brother.  “Stop trying to freak her out.”

With that the man moved all the way to the other end of the couch—thank God.  “I can go,” Ellie offered up again.

JC was shaking his head.  “No.”

“Can I just ask her a few questions?” Tyler asked his brother.

“NO,” JC answered stoutly, looking annoyed.

Ellie was utterly confused.  What the hell was going on?

JC was completely irritated.  He loved his brother to death.  At times they were inseparable, but at the moment he was being a complete asshole—and he was doing it completely on purpose.

JC probably deserved it, but that was beside the point.

Trying not to show his aggravation, he concentrated his attention on Ellie.  “Maybe we should go to your house,” he suggested.

“That’s fine.”  She was already standing up.

JC had a good feeling their somewhat perfect date night had been ruined.  Tomorrow he would give his brother an earful.  They had some things to talk about anyway—the whole reason Ty was acting so weird to begin with—but now was not that time.

Rising to his feet, JC gave his brother a decent shove in the shoulder.  “We’ll talk tomorrow,” he said.  “Don’t disappear.”

“I’ll be here,” Tyler remarked.

The two were quiet as they stepped out the front door.  Ellie had a good dozen questions floating through her head, but she’d wait until they were safely inside her house. 

They’d just barely made it to the sidewalk when JC let out a quiet, “Fuck.”

Ellie looked up just in time to see Gabby picking up a piece of trash that had drifted onto her lawn.  “It’s fine,” Ellie said.  “I told her we were sleeping together a few days ago.”  Then she looked over at the woman and waved, “Hi Gabby!”

JC had to stifle a laugh, bringing a hand to cover his mouth.  “You’re fucking kidding,” he spoke softly.

“Nope,” Ellie remarked, now looking forward after Gabby had chosen not to respond.

He slung his arm around her shoulders as they were already to her side of the street.  “That’s hilarious.”

“She deserved to know the truth,” Ellie justified.

“You are too much,” JC chuckled, just as Ellie pulled her keys out of her tiny handbag.  She found them just in time to unlock the door as they stepped up to it.

“Talk about too much… what is up with your brother?  That was just weird.”

“I’m sorry.  He’s not really like that.  He was being a dick on purpose.”

“Okay…” she drew it out, sort of afraid to ask why, but knowing she had to.

“It’s kind of a long story that doesn’t make me look too great,” he admitted, before she even asked.

With both of them now inside the house, she shut and locked the door.  Then she immediately stepped out of her $650 shoes that were totally killing her feet.  Then, after that, she stepped up to JC and pressed her palm against the side of his face and kissed the corner of his mouth, then his bottom lip, and then the other side of his mouth and the top lip—by that point he’d put both hands on her, one braced at the back of her neck and the other around her back, and turned her playful kisses into a deep, passionate one.

Breathing a little heavy, she finally broke away and asked, “What’d you do?  Steal his girlfriend or something?”

JC shook his head.  “Not exactly.”

Why did he have this huge desire to just be completely honest with her about all of his not-so-commendable escapades?  It was the strangest thing ever, but he wasn’t afraid to tell her anything.

Scary. 

“You don’t have to tell me,” she said, “but it sounds like the two of you need to have a good heart to heart.”

JC chuckled quietly.  THIS is why she was so amazing.  “I’ll tell you.  I have no secrets.”

Loosely she pointed a finger at him.  “See… I have a feeling that you do have a lot of secrets, JC Chasez.”  Why did it make him smile that she’d just called him by his full name?  “I think you just don’t mind telling them.”

He was chuckling again.  “Well, I think that wine went straight to your head.”

She pointed that same finger straight up into the air.  “Yes.  It definitely did.”

Grinning, he opened his elbow up so she could hook her arm through and then guided her off towards the bedroom.  They were almost there when she mentioned how much her feet hurt.

“That’s what you get for wearing such high heels,” he told her playfully.

“Beauty knows no boundaries,” she remarked lightly.

Of course, that only made him chuckle again.  “You know, they have these little inserts you can get for those high heels so your feet don’t slip and they don’t hurt so much.”

“JC…” Her arm was still hooked in his as they made way into her extremely feminine and floral bedroom.  “The fact that you know that is kind of scary to me.”

He laughed again, lightly.  “I was at this event awhile back and they did this little demonstration…” he explained.  Either way, he realized it still sounded pretty weird that he’d remembered.

She unhooked herself from him.  “Let me guess… you were on a date with the girl that you stole from your brother?”  She was totally egging him on with her eyes when she spoke.

If he hadn’t known for a fact that she was teasing, he might have been a little upset by that remark.  Thankfully that wasn’t the case.  “You guessed it,” he told her.  “That’s why he’s still mad.  He really wanted to learn about the shoes and the little toe-sock thingies.”

Now she was giggling.  Damn, he loved it when she giggled.  Collapsing onto the bed, she stared up towards the ceiling.  “Have I told you lately how much I like you too much?”

He sat down beside her, sort of looking her over as she laid flat on her back and he was sitting up straight.  “No.  Not exactly,” he responded, turning to face forward.

Neither of them were looking at the other.  “Too much,” she simply said.

“Well, in that case I like you too much too.”

She popped up, sitting close beside him.  “We’re exclusive, right?”  She was looking right at him now.

“I’m not seeing anyone else.”  Was she crazy?

“I just wanna make sure.”

Bringing a hand up to her cheek, he touched her skin tenderly.  “I don’t talk about it because I know it kind of scares you, but I have no desire to see anyone else but you.”

She was smiling so he must have said something right.  “I know it’s silly to ask, but I just needed to know for sure.”

JC shook his head.  “The only silly question is the question you don’t ask.”

With a groan she fell back on the bed again.  This time JC followed, his eyes floating up toward the ceiling as he laid flat on his back.  He had so much going on inside his head.  They’d only been dating for barely a few weeks and he already felt so much for her.  When he let the more rational part of his brain think about it, it made him want to turn things down a bit, but the rest of his being was definitely against that idea.

Of course, he realized that was how it always happened—fast and hard.  It just didn’t happen very often.

“The thing with my brother,” he said after more than a minute of silence.  “It was stupid and it never should have happened.  I drank too much one night and he was pissing me off and I purposely—”

“JC,” she cut him off.  “You don’t have to tell me.  I understand that you have a past and that’s okay.”

“I want to tell you,” he explained.  “When I was a single guy, I acted like a true single guy.  It’s not something I’m proud of.  After that thing happened with Ty, I made this stupid vow that I wouldn’t have sex again until I met a girl worthy enough to actually have a relationship with.  That’s why he’s pissed.  He thought you were just some random girl I was hooking up with.”

She smirked lightly and shifted towards him, on her side, smoothing a hand to his stomach.  “I’m not sure if I should be pleased that I’m worthy enough or bothered by the fact that you’re brother thought I was a random hook up.”

“I haven’t talked to him.  Otherwise that wouldn’t have happened.”

That hand of hers slipped underneath his shirt, smoothing up toward the center of his chest.  When his shirt blocked her path, she started popping open the buttons.  It was making it rather difficult for him to concentrate.

“It’s fine,” she finally said.  “I told you.  You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

He situated himself on to his side, facing her, his shirt falling open since she’d unbuttoned it completely.  Her hand smoothed toward his rib cage, underneath his arm.  It was amazing how good it felt when she touched him.  “If you keep that up I won’t be able to explain anything at all because I’ll be too distracted by how good it feels when you touch me.”

Her smile was wide upon hearing his words.  “Ahh…” she sounded it out.  “So you mean I’m distracting you with my sex this time?”

Bringing a hand to her cheek, he brushed her hair back away from her face.  “Definitely,” he answered.  Then he leaned in closer, until his forehead was resting against hers.  “But this time I don’t want to just have sex with you.  I want to make slow, passionate love..."  Then he laid the steamiest kiss on her—deep, sensual and seductive—before she had a chance to protest his words of truth.  Because that’s what they’d been—the complete and utter truth.

© BrandyRae 2008