Sundreams

Christmas Paradise

“Josh!” Not caring who watched, she ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. He lifted her off of her feet as their mouths sank into each other’s.

“Kitten, I’ve missed the taste of you,” he murmured against her lips.

“Then have another taste,” she suggested huskily.

“God, yes!” This time he didn’t lift his head until they were both panting. “Annie, I thought I’d lost you.”

“Me, too.”

“How long have you been looking for me?”

“I hadn’t bee looking. I thought it would be futile. Then I turn around and you were there – everywhere.”

“What?”

“You can let me go,” she told him, her feet still dangling from the ground.

“Not a chance.”

She smiled. “Let me put it to you this way. Put me down and buy me a hot chocolate and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Setting her to her feet, he kept his arm clamped securely around her waist.

“I won’t away.”

“I’m not taking any chances,” he told her as he led her to the coffee shop.

Once they had been seated and their order taken, JC pulled off his gloves, then hers. He wanted to feel her. Lightly, he ran his fingertips up her sleeves to caress the delicate flesh of her inner wrists. “Annie…I still can’t believe it. I thought I’d spend the rest of my life looking for you.”

“I was half-afraid you wouldn’t want me to find you.”

“I tried to trace you, but I didn’t know what flight you’d taken from Orlando and the folks at Paradise refused to help.”

She touched his cheek. His hand came up to hold hers to his face as he turned to press a kiss in her palm. “Josh…”

“Tell me how you found me. You said I was everywhere.”

“You have several gifts under my tree,” she announced out of the blue. “Megan had said we’d be together by New Year’s. I was actually buying Christmas presents for you.”

“I know what you mean. Several hopeful Annie gifts are under the Chasez tree, too. It had to happen”

“I guess it did.”

“So…Tell me how it happened.”

“I had just bought you a sw—gift and was feeling really low. So, I decided I needed to get a Christmas CD or two to put me in the spirit.” She shrugged. “I’m not much into contemporary – then I see this group of five guys on the cover of one of the CD’s. One of them looked kid of familiar.” She tugged on his longish locks. “You grew more hair since then.”

“A lot has changed since then.”

“Anyway, I asked the clerk if this group NSYNC had done anymore. She rolled her eyes and looked at me like I was from another planet. She led me to the popular music section. Then I learned you are JC Chasez.”

“I have bee since I was 14.”

“Then why have me call you ‘Josh’?”

“Because that’s who I wanted to be to you.”

The waitress came with coffee for JC and hot chocolate for Anne. At her first sip, the whipped cream touched the tip of her nose. Before she could get a napkin, he leaned forward to lick it off.

“Mmm…you and whipped cream. The idea has merit.”

“Josh…” God he was turning her on by the timbre of his voice!

“Back to the story. You found out I was JC…”

“Two teenage girls were very enlightening. They showed me posters, magazines, and all sorts of stuff with your face on it. I took the CD’s and videos and some magazines home. Then I read something about the Justin Timberlake Foundation.”

"Justin? How would that lead you to me?”

“I run the Collins-Merrill Foundation for Youth. The name rang a bell.”

“You what?” She ran a corporation?

“I am CEO of the Collins Merrill Foundation.”

“You aren’t that old and you’re a corporate leader?” JC studied the small hand in his. “You don’t seem much like a bull.”

“No, but you called me a bitch once.”

“That’s before I knew how vulnerable an sweet you were.”

“By the way, Justin says merry Christmas.”

“So, you found me through Justin? I owe him big for that one, that’s for sure.”

“I guess, I should ask when we can spend time together…”

“Right now.”

“But Christmas is two days away—“

“And you’ll want to be with your family—“

“I don’t have family. That’s why I went to Paradise over Thanksgiving.”

“No family? Baby, that’s too bad.”

“I plan on spending Christmas getting to know this group NSYNC.” She gave a small smile. “I’m told the ‘rock’.”

“No.”

“No, they don’t?”

“No to you spending Christmas alone. You’ll be with me, Annie. I’m not gonna spend Christmas without you, not if I don’t have to.”

“How will you explain me?”

“You think my parents don’t already know I’m in love with someone?”

Her dark eyes went wide. “You are?”

He brought her hand to his lips. “You are, too – or you wouldn’t have found me.”

“I don’t know. You lead a crazy life. Can I be a part of it?”

“Can you not?” he asked as gently as he could with his heart in his throat. Would she turn him away because of who he was? “You had an idea who I was before you called Justin.”

“Is it all right to have doubts, Josh? I am a very private person…”

He could well understand her wariness. Most of the women he had dated didn’t mind the spotlight – they had enjoyed it. “Kitten, I won’t say it will be easy. There’ll be big adjustments and I can’t say that most of them won’t have to be yours. Can you stop loving me, because it’ll be hard?”

Her hot chocolate had gotten cold and a little of the romance had faded from her day. She had been so excited about being with him; she hadn’t taken into considerations what repercussions he would have on her life. “I’d better be going.”

“Going?” he demanded incredulously as she rose. He stood up and threw a generous handful of bills on the table. “Annie!” he called as he followed her out into the brisk December air.

She handed him her business card. “My cell and home numbers are on back.”

He took the card, adding, “No way, baby, you aren’t ditching me.”

“If I were ‘ditching’ you. I wouldn’t have given you my card.”

“There’s no home address on here. You don’t live at the office.”

“Actually I do. My private quarters are in the penthouse.”

“Then take me there.”

“What?”

“I came here by taxi. Take me home with you, Annie,” he demanded softly.

“Josh—“

He pulled her to him, pressing coaxing kisses on her mouth until she melted. He continued until she was breathless. “Take me home.”

“Your family…”

“I’ll call them and tell them not to expect me tonight.”

“But—“

“But nothing. We need to be together.”

“Josh—“

He kissed her breathless once again. “I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

“I never took you for a bully.”

JC smiled. “No, but you took all of me in Paradise.”

She hoped to put him off. “I was going to do some shopping before I went home.”

“So? Shop.” Releasing her, he took her hand. “Where to first?”

Anne sighed. It was apparent she was not to going to be rid of him easily. And she really didn’t have any shopping to do. It had been a ruse that didn’t work.

He grinned at her, seeing through her motive. He tugged her towards a jewelry store. “Let’s look at this place.”

“Josh!”

He looked over the assortment of rings on display. He had an idea in mind for her, but he didn’t see anything that resembled what he wanted.

“What kind of jewelry do you like, baby?”

“I don’t wear much jewelry. Earrings. Crucifix. Watch.”

“Good Catholic girl.” He nuzzled her neck. “I noticed that in Paradise.” He also had been entranced by her sexy scent.” What is that perfume?”

Anne was ready to melt into a puddle with his face buried against the sensitive flesh beneath her ear. “Tresor”

“It is the secret you. Sexy as hell.”

There was a little catch in her breath. “Josh?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I – um – think I need to go home now.” Her knees were wobbly, melting like butter beneath his expert touch.

“Goin’ alone?”

She shook her head. “Uh – no. You can come too, if you want.”

“I want. That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear, kitten.” Instead of gloating, he took her hand and held it out to the woman behind the counter. “But I need to know your ring size.” Before she could protest he spoke to the clerk. “Mind?”

“Josh—“

His mouth came down on hers, blocking her words of protest until the clerk announced, “Six.”

He nodded. “Thanks. I’ll be back.”

The panoramic view of Chicago from Anne’s penthouse was breathtaking, but JC didn’t even notice. Once the door was closed between them and the rest of the world, they came together in a clash of hungry mouths and seeking hands. Their coats flew to a near-by chair. Eventually, Anne took his hand and led him to her pink and mauve bedroom.

“The décor—“

“Don’t worry about it. My baby is a girlie girl – that suits me fine.”

“My bedding—“

JC laughed. “As if I cared as long as you are I bed with me.” He went to the large bed, stripping back the covers to reveal rose bud patterned sheets. “Baby, I missed the hell out of you. I don’t care if it’s black satin, pink percale or whatever. I just want to lay you down.” He grinned wickedly. “Doesn’t even have to be a bed. Hell, standing up’ll work for me, too.”

Wordlessly, she decided she agreed. When he returned to her, she whispered, “I missed you, too, sweetness.” Her lips grazed his jaw.

The soft pink sweater she wore was lifted over her head and dropped to the floor. A front closure bra of pale pink lace soon followed.

She shoved his black tee-shirt off.

He groaned as she kissed his chest. “Oh, God, Annie, I didn’t dream it. You have the softest lips…”

He cupped and caressed her breasts, brushing the taut peaks with his thumbs until the buds hardened. “These sweet things…” He bent to take one nipple into his mouth.

“Josh!” Her knees went weak, but he caught her up and laid her on the bed.

He removed her boots and socks, then stripped away her jeans and panties. For a moment, he just looked at her. Her little bit of a tan had faded leaving her pale and perfect.

“You’re wearing to many clothes,” she remarked softly.

JC finished undressing and went to her arms, dropping a handful of foil packets on the bedside table.

“Do we have to?” she asked as she brought his mouth to hers.

“It’s your call, Annie.”

“Not tonight, please? I want to feel all of you tonight.” It was reckless and irresponsible and possibly insane – still she wanted him.

“Then we won’t.” He took her mouth tenderly at first until she caught fire. Teasing, nipping and sucking at each other’s tongues, the feasted until he lifted his head for air.

“Please, Josh, now! I’m desperate for you!”

“But, Annie, I’ve barely—“

“I’m ready.” Wrapping her fingers around his hard arousal, she guided him to the wet center of her. “Come to me, Josh.”

She was wet and ready! Slowly, he eased into her tight heat.

“Oh, yes, sweetness!” she whispered as she licked at the pulse throbbing above his medallion.

It was so perfect, he almost didn’t want to move – then it was impossible not to with her wriggling restlessly beneath him. The slow pace he set wasn’t enough for her. His little baby wanted it hard and fast.

“Oh, yes, Josh!” Anne’s hips arched up to meet his. “Oh, baby, this feels so good!”

Bending his head, he suckled one breast, then the other as he pounded into her. This was not how he had planned their reunion. He had been going to go slow and easy – Anne had other plans.

“Josh, I’m – Oh, God, I – Josh!—“ Anne went stiff beneath him, the broke into shards of bliss.

JC was right behind her. ”Annie!” he cried as he exploded into her.

Anne stroked his hair, his neck, his back, soothing his limp body.

“I’m okay, baby.” He nuzzled his face in her neck. “I guess I’d forgotten how potent you are.”

“Mmm…it wasn’t this good in my imagination,” she murmured teasingly.

“So, you missed me, eh? What happened to the woman who didn’t want to be in love in her real life?” JC shifted to bring the covers over them, then propped himself up on one elbow beside her.

“Unexpected things happened.” Anne traced a lazy finger over his bottom lip.

“Such as?”

“I’d been alone for so long…I never knew I was lonely until you came along. Suddenly, there would be something I’d want to share – a sunset, a moment, a feeling – and you weren’t there.”

“Yeah. I’d have a melody chasing around in my head and want to play it for you. A coupla times, I could almost feel you reaching out to me.”

“Late at night.”

“Yeah.”

“The apartment would be so quiet. All of Chicago was bustling below and all I could feel was empty.”

“I was even in Chicago a few weeks ago for some preliminary shopping.”

“I was doing corporate shopping. Oakbrook.”

“Damn! We could’ve bumped into each other.”

Anne sighed, dropping her hand to his chest. “I don’t know if I would have been willing to admit I loved you yet.”

“So, you do love me, kitten?” JC tired to keep his voice as even as possible. An admission of love, freely given would be the best gift ever!

“I think I must.” She smiled a little. “I know I fell in lust with you on the plane.”

“You did? I first saw you at the airport.”

“You were asleep when I boarded. I was envying your ability to relax.”

“Relax nothing. I was drained.”

She leaned up to kiss him soothingly. “If your life is half as hectic as it said in those magazines, you’re made of pretty stern stuff.”

“They don’t know the half of it.”

“You went to Paradise for rest. And what we did was not exactly restful,” she mused.

“I went not to be ‘on’ and to recharge. Being with you accomplished exactly that. You wanted me for me.” He smoothed her hair in a tender gesture. “You loved Josh, not JC. You wanted to be with Josh, share sunsets with him. You didn’t do any of it because you wanted to be seen with JC Chasez. What we have is so real…And I knew from moment one, none of it happened because of NSYNC, because I was in a famous group.” He grinned. “And if my ego had depended on women wanting me for my fame, I woulda been shit out of luck with you.”

“Until my binge yesterday, I think Richard Marx was the last CD I bought.

“I love Marx.”

“Actually, he and I do foundation work for arts in school.”

“Between him and Justin, we would have eventually met again,” he said with certainty.

“That makes me feel better somehow.” The hand on his chest slid up to curve around the back of his neck. “Josh?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Make love to me again. This time slow and easy like you wanted to do the first time.”

“Gladly, Annie.” He laid her back and came over her.

“And Josh?”

“Hmm?”

“Skip the condom.”

That made him smile. A cautious, confident woman like Anne wouldn’t say that unless she saw a future with him. “I love you, too, baby.”

Anne woke to the sound of JC talking on his cellphone as he held her close.

“She’s right here in, Chicago, Mom. I can barely believe it…Yeah, you can plan on meeting her real soon…Not tonight. I need to be with Annie tonight…Asleep in my arms…”

“Not anymore,” Anne mumbled.

“I’ll talk to you soon. Night, Mom.” JC rang off and tossed the phone to the bedside table. He put both arms around Anne. “Did I wake you up, kitten?”

“No, not really.” She ran a hand along his chest. “This feels familiar. Us in bed.”

“Feels like heaven.”

She grinned. “Like Paradise?”

He chuckled. “Oh, yeah. Except there’s snow on the ground and you won’t be running along the lake shore in your bikini in this weather.”

“I wouldn’t be running along the lake front, period.”

The hand on his chest moved up to rest on his neck, urging his mouth to hers. “I can’t believe you’re real,” she whispered before their lips met. “I think I’ll wake up and finding you will have been all a beautiful dream.”

“I’m here. You’re here. Feel me, Annie. Touch me. Taste me. He closed his eyes and savored to caress of her mouth and hands on his flesh. Taking him at his word, he lips traveled down his neck, traversed his chest. Her tongue circled the flat disc of one flat male nipple, making him groan. “You do that so good.”

“So, do you,” she mused.

“Want me to—“

“Nope.” Her mouth came back to his for a hungry mating.

JC tore his mouth from hers. “Do I taste real enough for you, baby?” Taking her hand, he wrapped her fingers around his hard shaft. “Do I feel real enough?”

“You do realize we’ll never get dinner,” she reminded him as she began stroking him firmly.

He groaned. “I think I’ll risk starvation at this point.”

“We can snack on each other,” Anne suggested impishly.

“I’m all for that.”

“Me first!” she declared.

He laughed as she dove beneath the covers to let her mouth take over from her hand. God, she was a playful delight! “Damn!” he hissed when her tongue swirled around the tip of his manhood. On the island, she had been sweet, sassy and sexy. It hadn’t been an aberration of a vacation fling. His Annie truly was those things and so much more. “Baby, I’m gonna lose it real fast,” he warned when she deep-throated him, doing everything just right. His hips jerked up as he began to feel it. “Annie…oh, God, baby! Just a little – Annie!” He pumped down her throat until he was completely drained.

She flowed back up, tucking her head beneath his chin. Nuzzling her nose against his neck, she seemed content.

“It’s my turn you know,” he reminded her quietly.

“Mmm…I’m happy where I am.”

“Kitten?”

“Hmm?”

“You going to sleep on me?”

“Think so. You’ll be here when I wake up?” she asked drowsily.

“Damn straight.”

“Okay.”

JC was bemused. She’d gone from playful vixen to an adorable sleepy kitten in about five minutes. Anne was his Christmas surprise package.

JC Lay stretched out on the carpet. The only light in the room came from the twinkling Christmas tree and the banked fire in the fireplace. The stereo system played Christmas music in a low murmur. The past days had been perfection. He had hosted a small gathering of friends and co-workers with Anne. He had met the irrepressible Megan. She would be a good match for quiet Lance, he mused. Megan could draw out the blonde’s wilder side while Lance could calm the hyper woman. Briefly, he had gotten Anne over to meet his parents – and tomorrow, Christmas Day, they would be spending the day with them. All his Christmas wishes had come true – except one. He needed to propose to Anne for that one – and she had to say ‘yes’.

Anne looked at the man sprawled on her living room floor. He looked so content. How could he possibly be with the prospect of splitting his time between yet one more city? Orlando and Los Angeles – and now Chicago. When she ‘s voiced that concern, he had grinned. “My parents think it’s great. Now, they know I’ll be around more!”

“Hey, sweetness?” she called softly.

JC looked up to find her gazing down at him; her cocktail dress had been replaced by a silk nightgown. “Hey, kitten.” He held out a hand to her. “Join me and I’ll make you purr.”

As she moved to her knees, he sat up. Looping a hand around the back of her neck, he urged her into a leisurely, drugging kiss. Before she realized it, she was on her back beneath him. When he nuzzled her neck, she made a sweet sound that closely resembled a contented purr of a cat.”

“See?” He grinned down at her. He realized now that she really couldn’t see him this close without her glasses. He was a blur of blue eyes, tanned face and white teeth.

“I never said you couldn’t.” Anne knew why she had been brought to the floor and began unbuttoning his shirt. She nipped at the pulse above his medallion, then teased it with her tongue. His moan of pleasure sounded more like the rumbling purr of a big cat. “I make you purr, too.”

“More than purr.”

“So, Mister Chasez. Am I here for a reason?”

“Where are your glasses?” he asked abruptly.

She frowned at the question, not understanding why he asked. “By the bed.”

JC was on his feet and heading towards the bedroom. A moment later, he returned and placed the glasses on her nose, before resuming his previous position. “I want you to see the love in my eyes for once, close up.”

“You are such a romantic.”

“Yeah, I am. I told you that the first night.” He stroked back her hair. “I think I fell in love the first time you smiled at me. Everything else just confirmed what I already knew.”

“Which was?”

“I was yours – and I didn’t want to be anyone else’s.”

Anne drew a line down his nose with a fingertip, then traced the outline of his lips. He was just as handsome at close range. His eyes were so blue! “I think I should consider contacts. I like being able to see you this close.”

”I like you being able to see me when I say, I love you, Annie.”

“I love you, too, Josh.”

“Will you marry me?”

Her startled eyes jerked back to his. “Wha?…”

“I want you to be my wife. Yeah, our lives are complicated, but you said your career could be pretty mobile.”

“But, Josh…Wow! I don’t know what to say…”

“‘Yes’ would be good,” he suggested.

Anne smiled bravely. “Okay. I say ‘yes’ and we’ll work out the particulars later.”

“Thank you, baby.” Once again he left her to reach under the tree for a gift he had placed there earlier. It was obviously a ring box. Propping up on one elbow, he stretched out beside her. “Size six,” he announced, handing the box to her.

Reluctantly, she took it and snapped it open. “Oh, my God!” The ring was a brilliant, emerald-cut diamond set in a simple band, beautiful in its simplicity.

“The others were too gaudy.” Josh took the ring. “Give me your left hand.” When she obeyed, he slid the ring where it belonged. “Now, the world will know you’re mine.”

“All yours.”

One soft kiss led to another until they were both panting and wanting more. Carefully he removed her glasses. “Before they steam up,” he commented. “Definitely contacts, the kind you can leave in.”

“I’ve always thought making love by the light of the Christmas tree would be romantic,” she announced softly as he purposefully lifted the hem of her gown.

“Glad I can assist with a fantasy, kitten.”

“Oh, I plan on you being more than mere assistance, sweetness. I’m gonna let you do most of the work.”

“Gladly.”

His wonderful face was a blur again, but she knew the way to his lips by heart.