Brenna left the WEG complex the next morning close to noon. Her meeting with Johnny had been pushed back and then it had gone late. The schedule for the next week was full, mostly of things that Justin hated. He had to do a whole bunch of radio interviews and a couple of TV conferences for Diesel. As soon as she had seen those, she knew it was going to be a long week. When Justin didn’t want to do something he was in a bad mood and she had a hard time getting him to be on time. He could be really unprofessional at times in that aspect.

She stopped for a coffee and a bagel on her way home, eating in her car. It was already her third cup of coffee that day and she was still tired. She had been up with Justin, talking for half the night and hadn’t gotten much sleep. She had never been happier to have the rest of the day off so that she could sleep.

At twelve thirty, she arrived at the house. After gathering her things, she got out of her car and let herself into the house. She went to the kitchen and threw out her coffee cup and washed her hands. She had been standing in front of the sink when two arms went around her stomach, causing her to jump and let out a small gasp. She heard Justin’s laughter close to her ear.

“Sorry, I thought you heard me come in.”

She shook her head and shut off the water. As she grabbed a towel, she managed to shy away from him and stand a foot away. He gave her a curious look.

“Is something wrong?”

She shook her head again. “No.”

He took a step towards her and she felt her heartbeat speed up a bit.

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” he asked. “You’re acting weird.”

“This is just,” she looked to the side. “This is just strange.”

“What’s strange?”

She connected her eyes to his. “This.” She gestured to him and then to herself. “Us.”

“What’s so strange about us?”

“It just doesn’t feel normal.”

He shrugged. “So? It’ll feel normal after awhile.”

“But we’ve been friends for so long and…” she trailed off and shrugged.

He smiled. “We’re still friends. That’s not going to change. But now we’re just more than friends.” He closed the distance between them and she didn’t move away when he slipped his arms around her waist. “You know, the more we practice, the more normal it’ll all seem.”

She couldn’t hold back her smile. “Figures you would say that.”

He smiled as well. “Can’t help it that I’m right.”

“I guess not.”

He pulled her forward and stepped backwards so he was leaning back against the counter. She found herself being pulled right against him.

“It’s all about the practice, Bren.”

She smiled as he lowered his head down to hers and kissed her. Willing herself to relax, she kissed him back. She knew it would get normal, but right then, it just felt weird to be kissing him. She was so used to just being his friend and PA and nothing else.

She jumped a bit when she felt his hands rest on her hips and he chuckled a bit against her lips.

“Relax,” he mumbled.

She did relax, realizing this was no different from the day before and it wasn’t like she wasn’t enjoying it. She moved her hands from her sides to around his waist and leaned more into him as he deepened the kiss.

“Well, isn’t this sweet.”

Brenna pulled away from Justin in surprise and turned her head around. She felt her cheeks go hot as she saw Kate leaning in the doorway. She hadn’t heard her come in and had no idea how long she had been there. She didn’t even know how long she had been kissing Justin. It was all kind of a blur.

“Thanks for the warning that you’re coming over, Kate,” Justin said.

“Well I’m so sorry. I wasn’t aware I’d be interrupting something.”

He smirked. “Well you are.”

“As I saw. Since I’m not leaving, wanna tell me when this happened?”

Brenna stepped away from Justin as his hands slid from her hips. She looked at him and he shrugged.

“I took your advice,” he shrugged.

“When?”

“Yesterday.”

“And neither of you called to tell me? Trace better not know either.”

“He doesn’t,” Justin said. “Don’t worry, you’re the first to know.”

She smiled. “Good.”

“And by the way, good job on being discrete this past week,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“I was!”

“You asked her if we’ve ever kissed. Real discrete, Kate.”

She rolled her eyes as well. “Oh, who really cares. Does it even matter at this point?” She straightened. “Bren, let’s go up to your room.”

“Why?” Justin asked suspiciously.

“Because I want to borrow some clothes.”

Brenna moved towards Kate and followed her out of the kitchen.

“Don’t talk about me!” Justin’s voice came from the kitchen.

“Not everything’s about you!” Kate called over her shoulder as they went upstairs. The moment they were in her room and the door was shut, Kate turned to her. “So I want details from yesterday.”

“I thought not everything was about Justin,” Brenna smiled, sitting on her bed.

“It isn’t. This just happens to be.” Kate sat down in the middle of the bed. “So details. What happened?”

“Um…well he got upset yesterday because I told him I was planning on getting an apartment.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But he got really upset over it.”

“Well yeah. He’s always going on about how great it is living with you.”

“He is?”

“Yep. So what happened next.”

“I went to his room and we talked about it and then we were just kissing all of a sudden.”

“How far did it go?”

“Just kissing. And then we just spent the rest of the day talking.”

“So this is boyfriend/girlfriend, right?”

Brenna smiled. “Yeah.”

“Aww, look how happy you are. That’s so cute. You guys are so cute together.”

Brenna blushed a bit. “I’m happy.”

Kate leaned forward. “So was I right? Good kisser?”

Her cheeks darkened a little more. “Really good,” she said softly.

“Hun, you’ve got it bad. You like him a lot, huh?”

She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. “Yeah. It’s just weird to get used to going from friend to boyfriend.”

“Give it a bit of time.” Kate got a sparkle in her eye. “Let’s go shopping.”

“For what?”

“With a hot new boyfriend, you need some hot new lingerie.”

Brenna’s eyes widened. “Kate! I do not need lingerie.”

“Okay, well what about a little silk nightie or something?”

“Kate…”

Kate raised her eyebrow. “A sexy, little teddy?”

“Kate!”

“Oh, you’re no fun. I’m just kidding. But let’s still go shopping. Then we can talk and not have to worry about Justin eavesdropping.”

Brenna’s eyes shot to the door. “Yeah, I guess. No lingerie though.”

Kate giggled. “No lingerie.”

“Okay, here’s the list,” Brenna said. “Each station knows they only have fifteen minutes and they all have the list of questions they can’t ask you.”

Justin sighed as he looked at the paper. “These really are back to back.”

“I told you they were.”

“I was hoping you were just playing a mean joke.”

“Nope. Are you going to be able to do all these? You don’t look happy.”

“I hate radio interviews. But I know how to make it better.”

She smiled as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to where he was sitting on the couch and down, sitting sideways on his lap.

“There. Stay here while I do them and I’ll be a happy man.”

“If I stay here you’ll be distracted and the radio stations won’t be happy.”

He put his arms around her waist. “So?”

“So that’s not good.”

He rested his chin on her shoulder and sighed. “I just hate radio interviews. Half the time I can’t even understand what they’re saying.”

“I know. But if you get these all done today, you won’t have to do anymore for a while.”

“I guess.”

She checked her watch. “We have to call the first station.”

He reluctantly let go of her as she got up. “You’re sure you can’t stay here?”

She leaned down and kissed him quickly. “You’ll be distracted.”

He frowned as she walked away and he picked up the phone. With a moan, he picked up the paper with the numbers on it. “Brenna! Are you gonna call? Do I have to?”

She came back into the room with a glass of water. “I’m coming. Just getting you some water.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

She took the phone from him and he leaned back in the couch as she dialed the number and got connected to the station. She handed it to him.

“It’ll just be a minute.”

“Thanks.” He held the phone to his ear and propped his feet up on the coffee table as he waited. Brenna left the room again, with a promise to be back in fifteen minutes.

The interview started and Justin relaxed into the couch as he answered the questions. A few minutes into it, Brenna came back into the room and he looked towards her. A smile came over his lips as he saw that she had changed out of her pants and into a silky looking pair of pajama bottoms that he had never seen on her before. His eyes followed her movement as she grabbed a couple books off the bookshelf and then left the room again. He silently groaned as she left. Of course she would wear something like that which would completely distract him. His mind now wasn’t anywhere near the interview.

He stayed distracted throughout the next eight interviews, his mind going further and further each time she came into the room. By time he was finished, he never wanted to do another interview again.

“That’s it then, huh?” Brenna asked as she walked into the room.

He moaned and slouched back in the couch, closing his eyes. “I wanna kill myself.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“You try answering the same damn questions over and over and then tell me how you feel,” he mumbled. He cracked open an eye to watch her walk towards him and sat up long enough to pull her onto his lap again. “And you kept distracting me.”

She raised her eyebrows and adjusted herself. “I was hardly even in the room.”

“But you’re wearing these pants,” he said, running his hands over her legs. “And I have a thing for silk.”

She began to smile. “They’re not actual silk.”

“Well I have a thing for whatever they are. You should have just stayed in here the whole time.”

“This can only work if we keep it separate from work, Justin,” she said, her voice soft.

He sighed. “I know. But we’re done working for the day, right?”

She laughed. “Yeah.”

“Good.” He pulled her head close and kissed her. He loved how she’d just melt when he kissed her and became like putty. She had gotten used to going from a friendship to a relationship and now she seemed just as comfortable as he was.

Moving his hands from her legs to her waist, he pulled her tightly against him and kissed her again. He loved how good she fit against him and how good she felt. Everything was so perfect. He had gone way too long pretending he felt nothing towards her and he wasn’t about to miss a chance to do it now.

Brenna pulled away. “What do you want for supper?”

“Is THAT what you’ve been thinking about?”

She smiled. “No, it just popped into my mind.”

“Uh huh.” He leaned his head against the back of the couch. “Um, I don’t know. What about spaghetti?”

She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder. “We don’t have any tomato sauce.”

“Oh. I don’t even feel like going out to buy any.”

“Me neither.”

“We could order in.”

She made a face. “I don’t feel like take out. What about some pasta with chicken in it or something? I know we have both of those. I’ll find a recipe for a sauce.”

“Okay. That sounds good.” He closed his eyes and rested his head against hers. He had just started to drift off when the phone rang and broke into the silence. “Don’t answer it,” he said with a groan as he felt Brenna lift her head and lean forward to pick up the phone form where he had left it on the coffee table.

“It’s your mom,” she said, returning to her previous position.

He groaned and opened his eyes. She handed him the phone and he answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Justin.”

“Hey, Mom.”

“How are you?”

“Okay. Just got done doing a whole bunch of radio interviews.”

“How did they go?”

“Usual.”

“Why did you have to do so many?”

“Johnny scheduled them so I did a whole bunch now and then I wouldn’t have to do anymore for a while.”

“Well that’s good, I guess. Do you have more to do today?”

“Nope. The interviews were it.”

“What are your plans?”

“Nothing really. Just stay at home with Bren probably.”

“Oh, she’s there?”

“Yeah, she’s right here with me. Did you wanna talk to her?”

“I’ll talk to her in a minute. How are things going between you two?”

“Good.” He looked over at Brenna and smiled when he found her watching him. “Really good.”

“I can’t wait to come out again and see you two. You must be so perfect together. You know, ever since you and she became friends again in May, I’ve just been picturing how good you guys would work as a couple. And sometimes you or she would say certain thing and it would almost seem like you were already dating.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t pick a better match for you.”

He smiled. “Me neither.”

After talking for a couple more minutes, Lynn wanted to talk to Brenna and he handed the phone to her. As he listened to her side of the conversation, he let his hands move down to her calves and he rubbed them through her pants. She gave him a look after a minute and smiled when he realized he was distracting her.

Deciding to bother her, he continued running his hands up and down her legs. She pushed his hands away after a minute and he stopped briefly before moving his hands to the back of her knees and tickling her there. She hit him with her hand and tried to squirm away while continuing her conversation on the phone. After a moment, she slapped his hands away and pulled the phone from her mouth.

“Your mom says to leave me alone while I’m on the phone,” she said, smiling smugly at him.

He laughed and let his hands drop. Easily moving her from his lap to the couch cushion, he got up.

“I’m gonna go get some chicken from the freezer to defrost.”

She smiled. “You do that.”

“I’ve stopped bothering her, Mom!” he said, loud enough for his mother to hear over the phone. Still smiling, he left the room so Brenna could talk in private.