Shelley was here! JC saw the familiar candy-apple red Cherokee when the group's limo entered the hotel parking lot. The car had barely stopped when he jumped out, leaving his friends to chuckle at his hurry. He fairly ran to the private entrance they used and into the elevator. He hit the button for the top floor the entourage had taken over for this tour stop. This floor was as secure as any fortress.

One of the security guys grinned when he noticed the young man's rush. "She said she was going to take a nap," he told JC.

Nodding his acknowledgment, JC quietly entered his suite. He went to the bedroom to stand in the doorway, watching Shelley sleep. She was curled up on her side of the bed covered by a sheet. She was wearing one of her sleeveless silk gowns in palest peach, her russet hair tumbling over her shoulders. A wave of tenderness washed over him. She looked like an angel, his angel.

JC moved to the bed, stretching out behind her. he sent a caressing hand down her arm, reacquainting himself with the satiny texture of her skin. When his hand touched hers, her fingers entwined naturally with his. Pressing his open mouth to her shoulder, he was treated with a happy sigh of "JC" from her. It was nice to know even in her sleep, he was the one she wanted touching her. His lips went to the particularly sensitive spot just below her ear and nibbled.

"Mmm..." Still asleep, Shelley moved their locked hands, effectively putting his arm around her. A tiny gasp escaped her as his fingertips brushed her breast.

JC felt the sensitive nipple spring to life beneath the silk. Purposely, he stroked it again. What he wouldn't give to have his mouth there. He'd been devoted to Shelley for seven months and had been celibate long before that. He'd never considered himself over-sexed. With Shelley, it was the intimacy he craved and feared. Once they made love, he was half-afraid this being apart so much would drive him mad. Once he knew the heaven he could find in her arms, could he bear to go without it for weeks or months at a time?

Shelly woke to the feel of JC's lips against her neck and his lower body growing hard against her bottom. "Hi, blue-eyes," she purred sleepily, stretching and deliberately pushing back against him.

JC groaned at the intimate pressure. "Hi, baby."

She turned to face him. "Feel like you might have missed me."

"I more than miss you."

Their first kiss was a gentle one of welcome.

"Sweet Shelley."

She touched his face. "I miss you, too...so much..."

"Something's gotta give."

This kiss held the heat that they had tried to keep under control so long. Quickly, it took flame and threatened to incinerate them. Their tongues mated and danced. Their hands moved over the others' bodies, seeking and learning. Shelly pushed his tee-shirt up to caress his lean ribs. He was deceptively well-muscled for a man who had once claimed he was too skinny. She stroked one flat male nipple and found it responded not unlike her own.

JC pulled his mouth from hers. "You're on dangerous ground, baby," he warned as she tested the other nipple.

It felt a trifle wicked to Shelley, not dangerous.

In retaliation, he molded her breasts in his hands, he nipples stabbing at his palms.

She pushed his shirt up even farther, exposing his chest. "You're wearing too many clothes," she groused.

"So're you." Only her arms and neck were exposed for his touch. As thin as her gown was, body-warmed silk was not the same as caressing her skin.

"Shelley..." he sighed when her hot little mouth found what it sought. He couldn't recall when a partner has sought his nipples for attention. Usually, they had headed straight for his crotch - which had been just fine with him - until now.

Lifting her head, he murmured, "All's fair. I get equal time." He lowered his mouth to the prominent buds beneath her gown, nipping lightly through the thin fabric, laving with his tongue, then suckling strongly.

Shelley decided he was much better at this than she was. She was an amateur next to his easy expertise. Within moments, she was a mass of raging need. They had never gone this far before.

JC tried to wedge a knee between hers, only to get tangled in the sheet and her gown. "This isn't working," he muttered.

"Oh, I think it is," Shelley said breathlessly.

"Like you said, too many clothes." Fairly bouncing off the bed, he grabbed her hand.

"Wha?..." Shelley was hauled to her knees.

JC whipped off his shirt, stripped off his shoes and socks, then shed his jeans. When he was down to his boxer-briefs, he reached for the hem of her gown.

Shelley lifted her arms, allowing the gown to be removed easily. She watched as he sent her only article of clothing sailing. Reaching for his last garment, she tugged the waistband down until his heavy erection was freed. She bent her head to lick him from tip to base.

"Damn, baby!" he groaned.

Shelley smiled up at him. "You don't like that?"

"You know I do." Shoving the shorts off, he kicked them away. "Now, we're gonna do this right," he stated huskily as he knelt on the bed as well.

"What was wrong before?"

"It was happening too fast. Too many clothes." He nipped at her lower lip. "You have a very talented mouth, green-eyes, maybe too talented."

"But you liked it," she accused softly.

"I did. I loved it, but you can't make me that crazy right off," he told her as he lay her back on the mattress and came over her. "If you do, we'll miss all the sweetness in between." The blue fire in his eyes was tempered with tenderness. "This is our first time together, Shell baby. That's something to cherish and savor, not rush."

Shelley put her arms around his neck to draw his head down for a lingering kiss. "How'd you ever get so wonderful?"

"I think it's called being in love."

JC kissed her hungrily, his tongue seeking and mating with hers. One hand slid down over her shoulder to caress her breasts, scraping his thumb over the taut peaks. Satisfied that she had been thoroughly kissed, he sent his mouth along her jaw, down to that sweet spot below her ear that made her shiver, down her throat, between her breasts. He captured one rosy bud in the heat of his mouth, nibbling and suckling until she was squirming beneath him, arching against him, begging for more. Then he treated its twin to the same.

"JC..." she pleaded - for what she didn't know - for more or relief?

Lifting his head, he covered her mouth with his again.

Shelley's hands sought to learn his body, gliding from his arms, down his back. His skin was smooth, covering firm solid muscle. He was amazingly solid for one so slight, a tribute to nearly half a life spent doing athletic dancing. She moved her palms over his muscle-padded chest sprinkled with dark hair. She grazed his flat nipples lightly with her fingernails, eliciting a tremor from him. Escaping his plundering mouth, she sent her tongue along his chin, the tasted the skin of his neck, slightly salty and a flavor unique to JC. She smiled as his body shook. "Hey, I'm good at this!" she declared brightly.

"Oh, yeah, maybe too good for your own good."

He sent a hand along her inner thigh, touching her intimately, drawing a gasp from her. "Open up for me, baby," he crooned. When her legs parted, he stroked her nether lips tenderly. "That's it, Shelley."

Starting with her mouth, he left a glissade of kisses from her cheek, her chin, her throat, her breasts, her mid-drift. Teasingly he explored her navel with his tongue. Her response was a nervous giggle. "You're skin is soft and sweet. Just like you, baby."

Shelley tensed when she realized where he was heading next. "No, JC!" she squeaked.

"But, Shelley...Where in your 'good girl' manual does it say I can't taste you?" he demanded good-naturedly. Despite her protest, he lifted one of her silky legs over his shoulder, effectively opening her to his mouth.

Nothing that had gone before could have prepared her for the hot shock of his tongue licking and probing into her. She had never experienced anything as exciting as— "Oh!" she cried out when he found her pleasure nub with his tongue.

"Baby, you are so sweet...even here!"

"JC!"

He continued to feast on her offering, lapping and sucking on her treasure until she was writhing and sobbing. "That's it, baby...Come for me," he urged her hotly.

"Oohh, JC!" Shelley felt every cell in her body strain with pleasure. It has never been like this before. "Jace!" Her body clenched then exploded with ecstasy. "AAHHH!"

JC moved between her thighs and plunged into her, the last pulses of her orgasm grasping him as he waited for her body to adjust to his invasion. "God, you are so hot and tight, Shell!" He pulled nearly all the way out, then slid slowly back into her. "Ready for another wild ride, baby?"

Instead of words, Shelley pulled his head down for a fierce kiss.

Setting a slow tempo, he surged into her. "Like hot, wet velvet," he whispered, lowing his lips to that spot below her ear. He sucked the flesh hungrily as he rode her harder.

Shelley wrapped her legs around his plunging hips, forcing him even deeper. "Ooohh..."

"You feeling it, baby? Come with me, Shell..."

With her body once again racing towards the panic that became bliss, Shelley clung to JC. "Yes!"

"JC!...Ohh...I'm...AAHHH!" Shelley tumbled headlong into delirious rapture as she felt JC explode into her.

With one final thrust, JC threw his head back and called out to her, "Shelley!" He tensed, then went limp.

They lay there, boneless and panting for breath. After a time, JC shifted so he could pull the covers over their cooling bodies, then he brought Shelley back into his arms. "Shelley angel?"

"Hmm?..." She was still recovering from her double trip to paradise she hadn't even known existed.

"You were worth the wait."

"So were you, JC."

"Shelley?"

"Hmm?..."

"You are planning to marry me, aren't you? I mean, I need you with me. There's no way I'm gonna go six weeks without you. It'll kill me."

Shelled propped her head up on his chest to gaze into his beautiful eyes. "Is that a proposal?"

He supposed it had sounded pretty lame, he mused. "Yeah. Give me a couple hours sleep and I'll do it better."

Tears glittered in her soft green eyes. "Does that mean I have to wait a couple of hours to say yes?"

He grinned. "No."