Chapter Four: Crossing the Line
JC grabbed the phone. Checking caller ID, he saw it was Dallas. “Yo, dawg!”
“Hey, JC! Whacha up to?”
“Just kickin’ back with C and chillin’.” JC caught Christina’s glance up and mouthed ‘Dallas’. She nodded and closed her eyes once more.
“I still don’t know how you make a fine lady like that a ‘friend’, dude.”
JC frowned down at the unsuspecting woman. Christina rested her head on one hard thigh. She was jet-lagged and just wanted to relax before deciding on dinner. “It was easy.”
“You don’t wonder what she would be like?”
“I already know.”
“I mean between the sheets, dude!”
Trouble was JC had been having those thoughts. Regularly. He didn’t act on them, because he and Christina shared a wonderful friendship. “We’re just not like that.”
“Whatever…I called to invite the two of you to a impromptu party this weekend.”
“This weekend?” Unconsciously, JC began running his fingers through the short silky strands of Christina’s hair. He wasn’t aware of his actions until a low purr came from her. He smiled at her enjoyment. “I’ll have to ask and get back to you.”
“You do that. Later.”
Ringing off, JC continued petting Christina.
“I’m so ready to fall asleep.”
“Go ahead. You could stretch out on my bed for a while.”
“Isn’t that rude? I mean I came here because we haven’t seen each other in weeks.”
“C, I’d rather you rest up. You’re nearly asleep now.”
“I’m a horrible guest. Maybe I should just go—“
“Just catch a few Z’s in my room. Dinner can wait for an hour or so.”
Christina sat up giving him a sleeping smile. “I knew there was a reason I love you.” With a huge yawn, she rose to her feet.
JC decided Christina needed sleep more than she needed dinner. Grabbing a quick sandwich, he read for a while before heading to bed. It wasn’t the first time he would sleep beside her – But it was the first time he would lay next to her and realize how much more he wanted from her. Slowly, day-by-day, month-by-month, his dear friend had become someone he desired.
As he quiet undressed and pulled on his pajamas, he gazed at the small woman tucked beneath the covers. Evidently she had shed her jeans and shoes before she slipped into his bed. Tonight would be his private hell. Christina tended to gravitate towards heat and sprawl. It was almost a sure bet he would find her draped over him at some point. He could only hope he’d wake up before she did.
Christina woke cuddle up against JC. In his sleep, he had not rejected her encroachment; his arm was around her snuggly. She sighed inwardly. He was a mighty fine looking male, her friend. He didn’t know the demons she fought to keep them ‘just friends’. For her, it would be so easy to cross that line – But once crossed, you can’t take it back – and the thing she cherished about JC was his unwavering friendship. It was too important to risk on a horny whim.
She studied his sculpted lips and wondered what it would be like to feel them against her own in a real kiss. Oh, sure, they’d given each other brief busses…
JC woke to find Christina staring at him – or more precisely, his mouth. “Hey, babe.”
“Hi.”
“You were so zonked…I decided to let you sleep.”
“That’s cool.”
She was still looking at him in an odd way. “I…umm…C?…”
“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to kiss me?” she asked abruptly.
Had he ever! “I…umm…yeah. Sure, I guess…”
”That doesn’t sound too sure.”
JC sighed, “I have.”
“Ever been tempted to go for it?”
“All the time,” he told her truthfully. “But I know we’re friends, great friends.”
“The best,” she acknowledged.
“You don’t mack on your friend.” But he’d had to endure his share of other men hitting on her. He’d felt the unreasoning jealousy and agonizing hurt when she accepted other invitations. It didn’t help that the lovely Christina was a born flirt. She had never flirted with him…
“I suppose not.” She sounded disappointed to his ears.
Tipping her face up, he contemplated her luscious pink lips. “Wanna try it?”
“What?”
“Kissing each other. As long as it is mutual…”
“Sure. I’m up for an adventure,” she said breezily, though her stomach was clenching at the very thought.
Slowly he lowered his lips towards hers, giving her every opportunity to duck away. She didn’t. She met him halfway. Their mouths met and clung briefly before he lifted his head.
“Mmm…nice,” Christina murmured.
“C, that was more than nice,” he declared quietly. It had been wonderful. It tasted like more.
“Yes, it was.” She lifted dewy eyes to his.
He thought he read invitation in her dark eyes. “Christina?…”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Their mouths met again and again – one delicious kiss after another. She wasn’t shy. She sucked his upper lip into her mouth and bathed it with her tongue. JC moaned softly as the blatant move. This was way beyond test kissing! This kind of kissing lead to…Oh, God! Their tongues tangled. Her hands were in his hair as he moved on top of her, one hard thigh between hers. She had to feel how much he wanted her – there was so no denying the hard, hot erection growing between them. Christina tore her mouth from his and nibbled kisses along his carved cheekbone to his ear. Her tongue traced the shell before she bit down gently on his lobe and tugged.
“Christina…” he groaned helplessly, grinding his arousal against her stomach. He moaned when one small hand wedged between them to squeeze him seductively. “You’d better stop that…unless you’re ready for it,” he warned gruffly.
“I am so ready.” She scraped her teeth down his throat. “Give it to me, Jace.”
Lifting off of her, JC sat back on his heels and pulled her to her knees. She kissed him lingeringly as her hands soothed down his chest and still lower. She grasped the bottom tails of his pajama top and yanked hard in opposite directions. Buttons popped off and went flying.
“Hey!” JC complained laughingly. “These are my favorite pajamas!”
“So sue me.” Christina grinned as she ran her hands over his muscled torso. “Mmm…mighty fine, Mr. Chasez.”
“How about you? Gonna let me touch you?”
She held up her arms so he could easily remove her tee shirt. He did so and dropped it to the floor.
“More than ‘mighty fine’,” he murmured as he gazed at her breasts before taking each one in his palms as if weighing them. “Not too little. Not to big. Perfect.” He brushed the pad of his thumbs over her nipples, eliciting a gasp of pleasure from her. “I bet they taste good too.” He tugged her against him as he lowered them back to the mattress. He kissed her repeatedly and he caressed her delicate flesh. Raising his head, he whispered, “Christina…baby…”
“What, Jace?” She’d heard uncertainty in his voice.
He smiled down at her using his pet name. He suddenly felt better. “I want you, but do I deserve to have you?”
“I think so.” She stroked his hair back. “I want you.”
Turning his head, JC ran his lips down the silky skin of her inner wrist to her elbow. “You taste so sweet…” He dropped tiny kisses over her breasts before taking one swollen nipple into his mouth. He lingered to nibble, lick and suck until she was arching against him, begging for more. He gave more. Moving to the other breast, he redoubled his efforts.
“JC, please…”
“I’m trying to, babe.”
Impatiently, she pulled his hair, trying to bring his head back up. “Now,” she commanded.
“Don’t be in a rush, C.”
“Now,” she repeated. “And don’t tell me you aren’t ready. You feel plenty ready to me.”
Chuckling, he removed his pants and peeled away her panties. He reached over to open his bedside drawer.
“I’m on the pill.”
He paused, looking back at her. “You mean?…”
“I mean forego the condom. I want to feel you.”
That was a big leap of faith – on both of their parts. “Oh…kay…” He came back to her arms. He kissed her lingeringly as he slowly entered her slick tightness. Damn, she was small! “Am I hurting you?” He felt as if he was splitting her in two!
She smiled up at him, eyes twinkling. “I like a snug it. But, damn, boy, you never told me you were hung!”
He laughed – she was still his C even in the middle of sex! “Umm…that wasn’t on my résumé?”
“You musta left that part blank.”
“Forgive me?”
“Show me how you use it and we’ll see,” she teased.
“Damn!” he laughed. “The pressure’s on now!”
She pulled him down for an incinerating kiss. “Move that fine ass of yours.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He twined his fingers with hers, keeping their bodies close as he rocked into her.
“Mmm…” she purred contentedly.
“Am I making you feel good, Christina?”
“Wonderful, baby.” She looked into his clear blue eyes and saw vulnerability. Who in the world couldn’t appreciate him as a lover? “I bet you know how to take a girl to the stars and back.”
“That’s where I want to take you.”
“We’ll go together.” His grateful smile made her wonder at the caliber of women he’d known in the past. She nudged at him. “I want to be on top.”
JC rolled to his back, carrying her with him. She didn’t pull up to ride him. She kept a hold of his hands, her body rubbing against him as she moved up and down. He groaned his delight. “C…baby, this is great…” He thrust his hips up to meet hers.
It started as a slow rolling tingle sweeping over them. It grew and grew until it was a wild tidal wave of pleasure taking them over, rushing them into the Milky Way.
He was still trembling, JC noted as he reached down to pull the covers over them. It had been five minutes since they had cried out and his senses were still jumping! Christina lay beside him, her eyes closed, a slight smile on her kiss-swollen lips. It had been good for her, too, he decided. He wondered what was going on behind her shuttered eyes.
Feeling his gaze, Christina held her arms out to him. “C’mere.” When he obeyed, resting his face against her neck, her arms went about his shoulders. She turned her head so she could nuzzle his damp curls and buss his forehead tenderly.
“Christina…”
“Hush…Just sleep.”
“But—“
She turned towards him. “I feel so good, I could sleep for a week.” Reinforcing the idea, she gave a yawn. “Night, JC.”
JC shifted so he could hold her. “Night, C.”
She snuggled closer and gave a contented sigh and then she was out.
“Baby, what have we done?”
JC sat in the chair, watching Christina sleep. Had they made a terrible mistake? She was his friend. He needed her as a friend much more than he needed a lover. There had been so many times he had wondered what it would be like to kiss her, really kiss her. How was he to know one kiss would taste so wonderful they’d do it again and again until they were losing clothes? Christina had held nothing back, unlike countless others had.
Suddenly, he realized meeting Christina had stopped his downward spiral of meaningless sex; those girls that got to bed The JC Chasez and then left the next morning without a word. He’d always feel empty when he woke alone. He’d die if Christina decided he was no longer worth her time.
Christina climbed up from the softness of sleep. Immediately, she knew she wasn’t in her bed. JC…last night they had crossed the line from friends to lovers. He had seemed so vulnerable and in need of her. And his vulnerability had extended into his lovemaking. She couldn’t recall the last time a man had asked if he was making her feel good. Good? He had gone way beyond ‘good’. ‘Good’ didn’t even begin to cover it!
He watched her wake. First a little frown. Then her lips turned up into a satisfied smile. “Did I do that?” he ventured to ask.
She opened her eyes and gave him a sleepy smile. “Do what?”
“Put that smile on your face?”
“I think you must’ve had something to do with it, Chasez.” She stretched a little. “Do I snore?”
“I…umm…not that I know of.”
“Then why aren’t you in bed?”
Shedding his robe, JC climbed back under the covers, totally naked. “I was watching you sleep.”
“Romantic sap,” she taunted sweetly.
He leaned up on one elbow. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“That’s okay. I find that nice in a guy.”
“Christina…about last night…”
“What about it?”
“We made love…”
She chuckled. “Hmm…I seem to remember something about that.”
“My…I mean…I—I don’t want it to change us.”
“Some things already have, JC,” she told him quietly.
“I know. I know,” he whispered.
“But you are my friend, Jace, first and foremost.”
“That’s what I want, too.”
Christina glanced at her watch. “A little early for you, isn’t it?”
He gave her a sheepish smile. “The morning after isn’t my forte.”
“You can work on it later. Kiss me.”
“What?”
“Kiss me like you did last night.”
“We ended up in bed.”
She rubbed the pad of her thumb over his bottom lip. “And I’m still here,” she reminded him huskily.
“You mean?…”
“Uh-huh. Unless you don’t want—“
“Oh, I want. I want very badly.” JC leaned in. Their lips clung briefly. Each kiss was longer and hotter than the previous one, until there was no ending. Her hands were in his hair and his hands were on her body. Their tongues mated. She moaned her pleasure as he fondled her breasts. Her hands traced the musculature of his neck, shoulders, and chest. Tearing his lips from hers, he drug them across her cheek to her ear. “Christina…baby…” he whispered before tugging her earlobe. “You make me so crazy for you…”
“You’re doing a mighty fine job of it with me, too, Chasez.”
He chuckled. He hoped it could stay this way: teasing, loving, hot. Making love to a friend could have some wonderful perks!