Book Two: A Second Chance
Newlyweds
Melissa giggled as JC picked her up and carried her over the threshold of their hotel room.
“You made a beautiful bride, Missus Chasez,” he murmured as he set her down and let the door close behind them.
Dressed in her favorite summer dress, white cotton with a delicate rosebud pattern, she looked like seventeen again. Her beautiful emerald eyes were glowing with love. Her lush hair tumbled around her shoulders. He could imagine being back at her aunt’s house, getting ready to go to her room to make love. Except now they had a king-sized bed – and condoms weren’t an issue.
“Melly…” he whispered, moving his lips against her neck. He put his arms around her from behind, holding her close. “You’re finally mine.”
“I was always yours, Josh.”
“Really and truly all mine.”
“All yours,” she assured him.
“Now, I’m the one who’s heart is gonna flutter out of my chest, I’m so happy.” He pressed his face into her hair. “I just want to hold you and never let you go again.”
“We’re okay now, blue-eyes. We’ve got each other – only heaven can tear us apart.”
“Nothing can tear us apart,” he told her firmly.
Melissa leaned her head back on his shoulder, bringing her lips mere inches from his.
JC didn’t hesitate. His mouth claimed hers in a sweet, lingering kiss. Sliding his hands upwards, he found the small buttons at the front of her dress. Unbuttoning it to the waist, he smoothed his hands over her shoulders, sending the dress to the floor. He caressed her body lightly.
“Suddenly, you’re wearing too much,” she murmured.
He smiled and stepped back. “What do you plan on doing about it?” he challenged.
“Oh…something like this.” She slowly unbuttoned his shirt, then tugged it from the waistband of his pants. She pushed it off his shoulders, then went for his belt.
He grinned as his pants hit the floor.
“More even now,” she announced.
JC toed off his shoes and pulled off his socks. When he straightened, he wore only his sport-shorts while she had her panties, bra and sandals on. “Now you’re wearing too much.”
“What do you plan to do about it?” She echoed his taunt.
He bent to slide her footwear from her dainty feet, then moved behind her to unfasten her bra. It landed on the floor with her dress. “We’re even now,” he murmured as he cupped her breasts tenderly in his hands.
Melissa reached back to stroke the bulge at the front of his shorts, eliciting a groan of pleasure from her new husband. “I think we need to get naked and horizontal.”
Scooping her up, he deposited her on the big bed. He knelt beside her to remove her underwear, then lost his own. He didn’t hesitate when she reached for him. “This is the first time I make love to Melissa Chasez,” he reminded her huskily as her hands moved over the hard planes of his body.
“And this is the first time I make love with my husband.”
“Mel…” His voice was hushed in awe. “Baby, I am totally, absolutely blissed-out.”
Melissa smiled up into his dazed face. “We knew it would happen, blue-eyes. We just had to be patient.”
“I guess, I lost faith somewhere along the way. When you left I felt so empty inside...”
“We’re okay, baby,” she assured him, brushing her lips to his.
“I still half-feel like I’ll wake up and it’ll all be a fantastic dream.”
She nibbled at his throat. “I could give you a hickey. Would that make it feel real?”
He caught her head as it dipped lower. “You don’t know how to give a hickey, Mel,” he reminded her. They hadn’t learned that together.
“I told you I’m well-read.” Her eyes glinted mischievously. “Did you learn how?”
“Yeah. Want me to show you?” He put his mouth to her neck.
“Don’t you dare, Joshua!”
“Okay, I won’t,” he laughed.
Melissa reached down to stroke his hard shaft, making his groan. “This real enough for you?”
“Feels like heaven, sweetness,” he said hoarsely.
She laughed. “Some men are never satisfied!”
“Wrong. You know exactly how to satisfy me – you learned at seventeen.”
“I’ve loved you that long,” she told him softly.
“And nothing is more satisfying than your loving me, Mel.”
“Then let me satisfy you,” she whispered, urging him to his back. Melissa caught his upper lips gently between her teeth, sucking on it. She repeated the maneuver with his bottom lip before capturing both for a long, drugging kiss that left him panting.
“Oh, God, baby!” he moaned when she teased the pulse beat above his lion medallion.
Her fingers traced the flat disc of his nipples, then her tongue took over. She trailed damp kisses over his torso, her hair adding its own caress as it flowed down his body.
JC knew her destination but couldn’t hold back the gasp of pleasure when her fingers found him. He arched up, begging for more.
Melissa’s mouth ignored his offering, moving down one hard thigh instead. Her hair swept over his hard member like silken fingers. When she reached his foot, she teased his toes with her tongue. On the other side, she reversed the order, starting with his toes. Eventually, she came back to his throbbing member. She pumped his firmly as she flitted her tongue over his sacs. When droplets of his essence emerged from the head, she licked him up and down.
“Oh, yeah, Mel..” he purred. “Please, baby, take me—“ Before he could finish, her hot little mouth closed over him. “You do that so good…”
She licked, sucked and nibbled at him until his body arched up tightly. When he pumped explosively into her mouth, she swallowed, then released him. She placed baby kisses on his heated flesh as she made her way back to his mouth.
“That was fantastic!” JC told her dazedly. “More than fantastic! Mind-blowing fantastic!”
“Real enough for you?”
“Actually, it was unbelievable.”
“Like I said, some men are never satisfied!” Melissa levered herself up, moving astride his hips. Using her hands on his chest for balance, she rubbed herself intimately against him until her was rock hard once more.
He skimmed his hands up her body to capture and caress her breasts, his thumbs strumming her nipples into hard buds.
“If this doesn’t satisfy you, big guy, you can do it yourself,” she muttered as she impaled herself on his heavy shaft. She moved on him, rotating her hips as she drove herself up and down.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t satisfied, baby. I said it was unbelievable. Love with you always has been.” JC put his hands on her hips as he bucked up on her downward motion.
“Josh!”
“You like that, sweetness?”
“Mmm-hmm…”
He reversed positions, putting her on her back. “I think it’s time I gave you some satisfaction.” Slowly, her thrust into her, taking his time to make sure she felt every inch. Leaning forward, he nipped at her lips and throat until his mouth found her breasts too much to resist. He sucked on first one tight nipple, then the other.
Melissa brought his mouth back to hers as she neared completion. Their tongues fenced and mated, imitating the dance of their bodies.
He felt her body grow taut in his arms. “That’s my baby. Come for me, Melly,” JC urged.
“Josh…” she whimpered helplessly as she spiraled up towards that glorious peak she had only reached with him.
Quickening his pace, he rocked into her, “Feel me, baby! C’mon!”
“Josh!...Ahh!” Melissa exploded into a starburst of rapture as he sent her over the edge. “Josh!”
“Mel!” he cried as he followed her into perfect bliss.
For a long moment, they simply panted and held on to one another.
Finally, JC lifted off of her. “Damn!”
“Satisfied?” she asked breathlessly.
He chuckled. “For now.” He leered, making her roll her eyes.
“I created a monster all those years ago.”
“Yep. If you hadn’t been the hottest girl in Orlando, I wouldn’t be this way today.
“You could have said ‘no’.”
He shook his head. “Baby, you were almost a force of nature.” He touched her hair reverently. “How could I say ‘no’ when I loved you so much and wanted you so bad?”
“It’s a short enough word.”
“Yes is, too.” He kissed her softly. “And it’s the word I wanted to hear you say.”
“I already said ‘yes’ to you, blue-eyes,” she reminded him quietly.
“And made me a happy man.”
“And made me a happy woman.”
JC sighed. He couldn’t stop looking at her, touching her. All his seventeen year old insecurities revisited him. Melissa was beautiful, intelligent, and talented. All the other guys wanted her. What was she doing with him?
As if reading his thoughts, she said, “It’s called being totally in love with you. Truly, madly, deeply.”
“How do you do that, Mel? Get inside my head like that?”
“I can read your eyes, Josh.”
“My baby’s a good witch. Guess that explains the spell you cast on me when I was seventeen.”
Melissa grinned. “Darn! Now you know my secret!”
He laughed. “But I’m not going to look for a cure. I like being under your spell.”
“You’ve cast one of your own, blue-eyes.”
JC kissed her deeply, letting their passion re-ignite. Their tongues tangled and mated. They sought the sensitive, vulnerable places the other liked touched. It was wonderful to be so in-tuned to each other. One heart beating in a lovers’ tattoo.
Melissa woke to find JC propped up on one elbow, just looking down at her. “Hi,” she murmured.
“Good morning, Missus Chasez.” He drew his thumb along her bottom lips, still slightly kiss-swollen from making love only hours earlier. “Melissa Chasez. I love the sound of it.”
“I told you I would say ‘yes’ if you waited.”
“Yes, you did, didn’t you? I guess I should have believed more.”
“I understood, Josh. We were so young and I hurt you badly.”
“You did what needed to be done. You were the strong, brave one.”
“I didn’t want to be. I wanted to crawl inside you and never leave.”
Again, he was struck by what her selfless act had wrought. All his struggle and eventual success had come at a cost to her. She had gone to achieve her own successes – but she had waited for him to renew her personal life. “Mel, you are amazing.”
“What brought that on? His words surprised her.
“You.” He leaned in for a soft, brief kiss. “Everything you are.”
“I’m nothing special, blue-eyes.”
“Yes, you are. You’re the love of my life.”
“Then you must be amazing, too. You’re the love of my life.”
JC put an arm around her and lay back, letting her head rest on his shoulder. It felt so fantastic just to hold her and not keep one eye on the clock. The sands of the hourglass no longer trickled away too quickly. “I remember promising that we’d get married and I wouldn’t have to leave you after making love.”
“Yes, you did. You also promised a bigger bed,” she mused.
“We shared a lot of love in that little bed.”
“Yes, we did.”
“Whatever happened to Liz?”
“She married her boyfriend – and moved to Alaska – of all places.”
“From Orlando? Bet that was an adjustment.”
“She’s happy.”
“Baby, is there someone you need to call? I mean about us?”
“I’ll write Aunt Liz.”
“Your mother?”
“No, my mother isn’t part of my life. She made it clear that’s the way she wants it. She kicked me out when I was sixteen, because I distracted her new husband.”
“That’s crap.”
“Yes, it is, but I can’t make her want me. I wrote to her when I was graduating college. I got it back stamped ‘return to sender’. It was a pretty clear message.”
“My mom thought you were great.”
“She’s pretty cool.”
Melissa traced imaginary designs on his chest. “So, Mister Chasez, what are the plans for today?”
“Beyond making love to you and getting you some hot Krispie Kremes that I promised, I haven’t made any.”
“We have to catch up to the tour tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah.” He lifted her hand from his chest and kissed her fingertips. “Thanks for being so flexible with your schedule.”
“There is no place on earth I’d rather be that right here with you, Josh.”
JC smiled. It was glorious to hear her say that. “Baby…” He turned to his side, so they were nose to nose. “I don’t want you pinching me, but part of me still can’t believe you’re here with me.”
Rubbing his nose with hers, she flowed against him, draping one leg over his hip. “Feel real?”
His body’s reaction to her nearness was immediate. “So real,” he murmured huskily. “So damned, wonderfully real.”
“Because it is, blue-eyes,” she assured him softly. “I’m here. I’m with you – and I don’t plan on going anywhere but where you are. We’ve waited long enough to be together.” She kissed him long and slow. “I’m ready to make you my world, baby.”
“And I’m ready to make you mine,” he told her.
“Then we want the same thing.”
“Yeah.” JC put his arms around her, just to hold her to his heart. It had taken years, but she was finally truly and completely his.
In spite of Melissa’s suggestion that she and JC not wear their wedding rings, her brand new husband was having none of it. “You’re my wife and I’m proud of the fact,” he insisted. “I’m not going to hide you like I am ashamed of you.”
JC was so adamant when the guys went on a talk show, he made an announcement, saying he wanted their fans to know and be happy for him.
When the hostess asked if it had been a whirlwind romance, Justin piped in with, “Naugh, she’s an old girlfriend. JC was too lazy to find a new one.” That made everyone laugh and relax.
It was Melissa who clinched it when JC pulled her out on stage. Her personality won them over. She was her bright, bubbly self, telling tales of young JC, Justin and Joey. She sparkled and the audience was almost as in love with her as JC was!
For the newlyweds, the days fell into a blissful pattern of togetherness. JC decided he’d never get bored with Melissa’s company. He found every nuance of her endlessly fascinating. He learned of her family, so different from his own. Her father had been her soul parent when she was young. He had divorced her mother when Melissa was four when he had discovered she was leaving the preschooler alone at night to party. Melissa had been thirteen when her father had been killed in an automobile accident. The powers that be had decided to send her back to her mother and she had not been welcome. That was when Melissa decided to push herself through school as quickly as possible so she could go away to college.
Melissa was sixteen and just finishing high school when her mother remarried for the third time. By then, she had become the beauty JC had fallen in love with. Her mother’s new husband made no attempt to cover his attraction to the teenager. That was when Melissa had been fortunate enough to be shipped off to Orlando and her father’s youngest sister, Liz.
It amazed JC that even with her less than happy home life had created the woman Melissa was: smart, confident, caring and loving. By all rights, she should have been a quivering mass of insecurities. Instead, she had learned toughness, self-reliance and her own self-worth.
Much to the amazement of many, the fans reacted warmly to Melissa’s presence. JC was convinced it was her fantastically warm personality and confidence. She was a role model to some, a sister-confessor to others. They wanted her in their pictures with the guys.
The word was out – Mel Chasez was a welcome addition to the tour!
Melissa was four weeks late. Ever since she had begun her cycles, she had always been regular as clockwork. She was giddy at the prospect of having JC’s baby, becoming a real family. Her child would not suffer maternal neglect as she had. She had purchased an early pregnancy test and her husband was pacing impatiently outside the master bath, awaiting the results.
“When?” JC demanded when she stepped out of the bathroom.
“Soon, blue-eyes.”
“Mel…” He took her hands, gazing down at her beautiful, serene face. “You want this, don’t you?”
“With all my heart.”
He had wanted to make her pregnant years earlier – just to make her stay. Now, he wanted it even more. She was already his – but making a family would be a dream come true.
“Are you ready to be a daddy?”
“As long as you’re the mommy.”
The timer went off in the bathroom.
The both took a deep breath.
“Ready, baby?” he asked.
“I’m almost afraid to look,” she whispered.
“I’ll go look.” JC went into the bathroom and looked at the slender stick-like tester. “Does a plus mean ‘yes’?” he called.
“Yes…”
He came out of the bathroom grinning from ear to ear. “Looks like we’re gonna be parents, sweetness.”
He laughed at her squeal of delight, catching her up in his arms when she launched herself at him. Her enthusiastic kisses landed all over his face until her claimed her mouth in a sweet kiss. “Happy, baby?”
“Happy doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
“Looks like we got that book to print just in time.” It had only been two weeks since the final draft had gone to the publisher.
“At least, we’ll be home by the time I’m very far along.”
JC smoothed her hair. “I’ll make sure I’m home when you’re due and some time after.”
“Gonna be a hands-on daddy?” she asked teasingly.
“Dirty diapers and all,” he promised. “And by the time he starts school, my career should be more settled.”
“We’ll be assured to have a lot of good pictures of him.” Melissa’s career as a footloose photographer was officially over now that she was pregnant.
“Johnny said he’s welcome you as *NSYNC’s official photographer. He loved the book.”
“Believe me, Josh, I’m more than happy to be your wife…” She took his hand and placed it on her still flat stomach. “…and this little guy’s mom.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, but if you guys ever need a photographer, I’m willing to help out.”
“This is it, Melly. This is what we wanted when we were seventeen,” he reminded her quietly.
Melissa reached up to kiss him lingeringly. “Let’s go call Mom and Dad.”