Lovers In Chicago
Kristin snatched up her cell phone. She had been waiting for her weekly check-in call from her daughter. Seeing the number on caller-id, she knew it was her. “Hey, brat!”
“Mom!” Chelsea protested then giggled.
“How are you, baby?”
“I miss you. When are you going home?”
At home Chelsea could get on-line and IM her mother of an evening.
“In another few days.” she looked at the man sleeping beside her. “I am allowed a little time for me, you know.”
“I know. And you deserve it, but I’m a brat, remember?” The girl’s voice was full of humor.
They had literally grown up together. Having Chelsea when she was eighteen and suddenly widowed, Kristin struggled with school and her child. She was determined that she – not nannies or even the wealthy de Carlos, would raise her daughter. They had tried to ‘buy’ her daughter away from her. Kristin’s aunt helped with time and love – more precious than the money her in-laws tossed her way. Chelsea was a happy, boisterous child – sure of her place in the world. Pretty, bright and talented – she was her mother’s proudest achievement.
“So, how is Grans enjoying her stay?”
“I believe she is enjoying it quite a bit.”
“I about freaked when I found out my grand aunt knew JC Chasez’s mother. Six degrees of separation and all that.”
“Explain.”
“Me to you. You to Grans. Grans to Karen Chasez. Karen to JC. JC to Wade Robson.”
“Huh?” Kristin was in bed with the fifth degree it seemed.
“I want to meet him and show him my moves.”
“I hope you mean dance moves.”
“Moth-er!” Chelsea sounded exasperated.
“I suppose I could ask...”
“You mean you met JC?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Kristin de Carlo, you have been holding out on me.” Chelsea scolded. “Spill.”
“I met him my second day here. We have gone a couple of places...”
“Oh-my-God!” the teenager squealed. “My mother is dating JC Chasez!” she whooped.
“Chels, calm down.”
“I love you! You are so priceless!”
“Gee, thanks,” the mother muttered. “I thought giving birth to you was enough.”
“Will you be seeing him when you go home?”
Kristin reached down to smooth JC’s riot of curls as he slept. He smiled in his sleep; she smiled too. “We’re going to see.”
“Mom, are you in love?” This question was offered in the gentle voice of a friend.
“I—I’m not sure. I think I had forgotten how to be in love.”
“You know, this little guy wearing diapers and carries a bow and arrow hangs around. You get this big goofy grin that needs to be removed by a plastic surgeon. Wobbly knees. The sudden urge to sing and say hello to strangers...”
“Sounds very much like an old, sappy movie,” Kristin quipped.
“Knowing you, I’d say you would feel all gooshy inside. When you see him after a long day of meetings you just hafta smile.”
“I think you know me too well, if you ask me.”
“No one did!” Chelsea giggled, then grew serious. “My father was a great guy, but don’t let him stop you from loving again.”
“It’s because of your father I’d even consider it," Kristin replied softly.
“I’m not there to look out for you, so you’ll have to do it on your own,” Chelsea reminded her.
“I thought that was my line.”
“Whatever.”
Kristin could almost see her daughter roll her eyes. “I love you, baby. Talk to you soon.”
“Love you, too! Bye!”
“Who do you love?” JC grumbled when he came out of slumber to hear her utter the words he wanted to hear.
Kristin scooted down under the covers once more. Crossing her arms on his chest, she leaned into him. “My smart-mouthed daughter. I swear she veers from ten to thirty every time we talk.”
“You get this soft, motherly smile when you talk about her.” JC toyed with a strand of black silk hair. “I can hardly wait to meet her.”
“I told her about us, is that okay?”
He grinned. “Yeah. What about us? That we met. We went out. That we’re in love?...”
“I don’t recall admitting to that last one.”
“If you were truthful you would.”
She shifted to lay her head on his shoulder, snuggling closer when his arm came around her. “I know, but the words...I don’t know...I’m scared to say them.” She sighed helplessly. “I’m sorry if that hurts you…”
She felt them; he convinced himself, that was the real important part. “We’re okay, Kris. So what did you tell Chelsea?”
“She asked if we’d see each other when I got back home.”
“Yes.”
“I said we were working on that.”
Good, she admitted the relationship to the person closest to her. Very good signs.
“Who is Wade Robson?”
JC chuckled. “Our choreographer. One of them. Why?”
“She wanted to meet him and show him ‘her moves.’”
“Tell her she’s welcome to try-out after college.”
“Thank you. We argue about that. She wants to head for Broadway...”
“Hey, I still think I’d love to go to college one of these days. I think it’s important – especially for performers like a dancer where an injury could end a career.”
“Next time we get into it, I’ll drag you into the fray,” Kristin mused.
“I’ll gladly back you, sweetheart.”
She nuzzled his shoulder, content to be where she was.
“I guess for once I should take you to dinner.” When he could be with her, he rushed her to bed. Then they would order something in or call room service
“Mmm...that means we’d have to shower, get dressed and all that. Sounds like too much trouble when I’m happy right here.”
“I haven’t exactly shown you the town since we really first kissed.”
“I’ve been to Chicago dozens of times.” She smiled into deep blue eyes. “You take me places I’ve never been.”
JC kissed her tenderly. “No one has ever said that to me. I hope I take you to good places.”
“Wonderful places.”
“What would you like for dinner, Kristin?”
“Chinese? I know this great little place...” she trailed off at his grin. “What?”
“Did you ever read my bio?”
“Heavens no! Why would I?”
“Chinese is my favorite.”
“Oh...I was going to say we could feed each other with chopsticks.”
“I like that idea.”
“I thought you might.”
“You’re gonna make food an aphrodisiac, too, huh?”
“Hey, if you can’t handle it...” she taunted.
Rolling, he brought her under him. “I can handle you just fine, boss lady.”
“Prove it,” she challenged saucily.
“Where do you want to go this time?
“Paradise, Josh.”
As he lowered his head to kiss her, he murmured, “One way ticket for two.”
“All aboard!” she announced breathlessly.
Kristin was the first to awaken. She was glad to have the time to study him. She still couldn’t fathom the fact this beautiful man professed to love her. He liked to pronounce ‘perfect’ when he truly was the perfect! He was the epitome of masculine perfection with his dazzling blue eyes and sharp cheekbones along with his lean, hard muscled body. Michelangelo’s David must have looked much like her lover – but JC was not made of cold stone – he was fully human–with great youthful stamina. This made her smile.
“You’re even more beautiful when you smile, Kris,” JC’s slumberous voice announced. He took one hand and pressed kisses in her palm.
“You’re beautiful – period,” she sighed.
“Ya know, guys are supposed to be handsome,” he teased.
“But you go beyond that. Breath-taking scenery isn’t handsome – it’s beautiful. So why should a breath-taking male be merely handsome?”
“Sweetheart, you’re gonna give me an ego about my looks. That’s something God-given.”
“Maybe you could use some ego – maybe you’d get rid of those damn hats.”
JC burst out laughing. “What is the deal with that? Why do you hate those hats?”
“They detract from your eyes...and...”
“And?” He prompted.
“You’ll laugh at me.”
He crossed his heart. “Promise I won’t.”
She looked at him shyly. “They make you look like a kid – which makes me feel...old.”
“No, baby...” He laced his fingers with hers on the hand he held. “You don’t seem ‘old’ to me. I guess because I got into the business so young, I’ve always felt old. Somebody said I had an old soul once. All I know is women my own age never really hold my interest.” He shrugged.
“There’s something infinitely more exciting about a woman who already knows who she is in the world —and as selfish as this sounds,
older women know how to be a 'mate'. I am not looking for fun and sex anymore.
I want someone in my life – that someone is Kristin de Carlo.”
Kristin had listened to him. Once again his loneliness struck her. People had surrounded him since he was fourteen for the most part – and still he seemed a solitary figure.
“Kris...” He rolled her beneath him and immediately she adjusted her legs to accommodate him, her arms around his neck. “Yeah, like this. No games. You just take me to you.” He shook his head. “No one has given me what you do.”
“I want to give you everything,” she murmured against his lips.
“I know you do – and I want to do the same for you.”
“Josh...”
“What, baby?”
“Make love to me.” She reached down and guided him into her, wrapping her legs around his to seat him.
“Kris...” No condom, he was about to remind her. With her eyes steady on his, he could read her soul. She was surrendering fully to him – no secrets, no holding back. Him spilling within her was acceptance. Of everything he was – and the giving of her entire being. Lowering his mouth to hers, he possessively growled, “Yes...” before claiming her
“Kris, do I give you what you need?” JC asked.
Where in the world did that coming from? Kristin wondered as she came to the bed from the bathroom one night. “What I need?”
“Sexually.”
She had to laugh.
“Kris!” he protested.
“Josh, that’s a ridiculous question. I have never faked an orgasm in my life.”
“You don’t have a lot of experience,” he pointed out.
“No, I don’t. I had a very gentle husband who I gather now was nearly as innocent as I was when I was young.” She grinned at him. “Then I grow up and meet this guy who decides that I should have a screaming orgasm every time.”
JC frowned. “But you don’t.”
She nudged him playfully. I don’t want or need a screamer every time. I didn’t know there were different ways to climax. I adore the soft wave after wave of pleasure kind – and there’s reaching that sweet, slow peak and floating back down in your arms kind...Wow! I don’t think my heart could take a screamer every time – especially as much as we make love!” She laughed.
“Then I give you what you want? What you need?”
She snuggled against him. He was a fantastic lover. Where was this uncertainty coming from? “Mmm…every single time, Josh. You seem to sense what it is I need, even when I don’t have a clue what it is myself.”
JC’s arms came around her to hold her close. “I know from you, Kris.”
“Then you are very good at reading me, darling. No one has ever had a more ‘in tuned’ lover -- even someone like me with no experience can realize a priceless treasure.”
She humbled him with her forthright candor.
“I don’t know about that...”
“I do.”
“Kris...”
“Close those pretty blue eyes of yours and go to sleep, Chasez – or I’m going to have to hurt you.”
A chuckle rumbled deep in his chest. “Yes, boss lady.”
“You never seemed to care for me very much, Mrs. Carpenter, then why did you want me to meet Kristin?”
“I certainly didn’t expect that you would sweep her into an affair.”
JC bristled. “I happen to love Kristin.”
Martha Carpenter sighed, “And she loves you. It’s in her eyes when you come into a room. She lights up like a Christmas tree.” She waved him into a chair. “What has she told you about Peter?”
“Everything.”
“I very much doubt it. There are things she never knew.”
“Such as?”
“I asked him to stay away. He called the next day, wanting to see her. She never knew. I told him to give himself a month to see if he could even recall her face. He argued, at first. He agreed only on the condition that I wouldn’t stand in their way. We both kept our part of the bargain.”
“You let her believe he’d forgotten about her?”
“For her own good. He was good-looking, wealthy and older. For all I knew, he’d kissed a pretty girl and left town for good.”
“But he came back.”
“Peter was not her lover for the first year. He was her mentor and teacher, her confidant. He was older and worldly. He sheltered her like a precious doll. She was the sweetness and innocence in his world.”
“He loved her.” JC was sure of that.
“Of course, but his role was more of a protector and guardian. I won’t say fatherly but very nearly brotherly.”
“What are you getting at?”
“He adored her, put her on a pedestal – but she wasn’t his passion. I never once saw Peter de Carlo barely be able to control himself, so wanting that next kiss he could taste it. You can be certain that he never pulled Kristin in the next room just to whisper naughty things to her!”
JC felt himself color.
“She needs someone to lose his head over her. She needs the passion. Peter de Carlo, God Bless his soul, never gave her that.”
“She is definitely that for me.”
“Yes, she is. What do you plan on doing about it?”
“Loving her until the day I die, if I can get her to marry me.”
From the sitting room they heard the doorbell and Karen call, “Kristin! Come in, dear.”
JC turned to see her come in the room, her eyes warm on his. “Hello, beautiful.”
She was flushed from rushing and a little mussed up – he planned on making her totally disheveled as soon as they hit her hotel room.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said a little breathlessly.
“I’m not,” Aunt Martha announced. “It gave me time to talk to your young man.”
Rising, JC said, “I’m glad we got the chance, Mrs. Carpenter.”
JC slipped into the conference room where Kristin had asked him to meet her for lunch. She was still talking so he leaned against the wall just inside the door so as not to draw attention to himself. He’d been surprised at her request that morning as they showered together. She had said she had to work late and deserved a leisurely lunch – and since he was missing an evening with her, she thought lunch only fair. Only his boss lady would bring ‘fair’ into the equation.
His mouth tipped up into a smile. Shortly after that, he’d made love to her up against the shower wall. She kept letting him forget condoms. That had to have a meaning to it. The very idea of Kristin carrying his child...it boggled the mind...it smacked of forever...
He noticed people standing and moving around. A cluster of women approached Kristin, seemingly wanting to speak with her.
She’d known the moment he arrived, even though her back had been to the door. Kristin had felt his eyes, warm, caressing, appreciative. He was in what she had come to think of as his ‘uniform’, tight tee shirt, worn jeans and a damned trucker hat. He looked the antithesis of her in her power suit. He looked comfortable, sexy and oh-so male! She would like to find a broom closet and have her wicked way with him – no man had ever made her feel that way.
As the group around her thinned out, Kristin made eye contact with JC and waved him forward.
“That’s one trucker I’d let check under my hood,” one of the women stated appreciatively.
“Amen, sister,” another agreed.
“Who needs clothes for a body like that?” yet another asked.
Kristin smothered a possessive smile and merely reached out her hand when JC drew near.
“Hey, baby,” he murmured, rather shy when faced with the other women’s gazes. He grasped her hand like a lifeline. He was like a man swimming among circling barracuda.
“Hi, handsome, ready for lunch?”
The other women gasped. Kristin de Carlo and a hunk?
“Anywhere you wanna go.”
“Paris?” This had become a teasing taunt between them.
“If that’s where you want to go,” was his pat answer – and then they’d smile at each other. “The hotel has a nice bistro...”
Kristin moved closer and lifted to her toes to brush her mouth over his. “I wish our hotel wasn’t so far...”
“I’ll get us a room here, Krissie, just say the word,” he told her huskily.
“What word?” she asked breathlessly.
“Any damn word, baby,” he growled, aroused by the fact she wanted him.
“I wish we could, Josh...” The regret was plain in her eyes.
“Me, too, baby. I’ll settle for the bistro and make love to you tonight.”
“I knew there was a reason I love you,” she stated brightly.
“I’m wild about you myself.” JC put an arm around her as he guided her towards the exit.
“Josh?”
“Yeah, Kris?”
“I hate that hat.”
He merely laughed.