Extending the Stay
Brianne was startled by a knock on her hotel room door. Glancing at her watch, she saw it was a quarter till two in the afternoon. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Checking the peephole, she saw Josh.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, as she opened the door. “You said you’d be in the studio all day.”
“My head wasn’t there today.” How could it be when the woman he was in love with was leaving him?
Seeing her suitcase on the bed, he saw she had been packing. “I heard you tell your aunt you had two weeks of vacation,” he told her with a nod towards the bed and suitcase.
She left him at the door to return to her packing. “I do, but I only have until tomorrow in Orlando. I’ll be checking out at ten, the go to Aunt Chloe’s. My flight leaves at 11:30.”
“Baby, stay with me longer.”
“No. One – my ticket says tomorrow and is non-refundable. Two – Jeff only agreed to take Big for a week. Three – we’d only be delaying the inevitable.”
“Which is?” He moved close behind her. Without touching her, he knew she could feel his heat.
“You and I are over the minute I board my flight.”
“We are not.” He took her shoulders in his hands, turning her to face him.
“Yes, we are. Look at your life. Studios. Concerts in stadiums. Tours. Television. Awards.” She shrugged. “I’m a boring, little school teacher from Taylor Ridge.”
“My life is crazy," he admitted. “But that’s why I need you, Bree. You can keep me grounded.”
“Is that what your last girlfriend did?”
No, she had basked in his celebrity. Brianne would not. Being a ‘star’ was not a plus in her book; it was a large minus.
When he didn’t answer, she murmured, “I thought not.”
“Bree, please, tell me what I need to do, what I need to say to convince you to give me more time with you.”
“Even if I did stay, why do you think we’ll last beyond next week?”
“Because we want it to. We made an intimate connection – and I don’t mean in the physical sense – even though that’s fantastic. It’s gone way beyond the healing we were both looking for that first night. We’re in each other’s souls now.”
“I am a practical, sensible girl. Nothing I have done since meeting you remotely falls into that category.”
“You are a warm, generous, loving woman. Everything you’ve done since I met you falls into that category.”
He definitely made her sound good.
“Josh, to be blunt, I don’t have the financial resources to stay any longer – and if I don’t go tomorrow, my ticket will be worthless.”
“Don’t worry about that. If you stay, I’ll take care of everything.”
“And just what do I tell Jeff? What would be my reason for staying after the Websters leave?”
“You met a man?” he hinted.
Brianne laughed. “You’re an older brother. Would you go for that from your sister?”
He shook his head. “Probably not.” He cupped her face tenderly. “Baby, please, stay. Give me more time to convince you we can be forever.”
“I still don’t know how I’d explain it to Jeff.”
“Tell him you’re having a good time and want to stay longer – on your schedule, not Janie’s.”
“If I do, I’ll have to find a laundry. I didn’t bring clothes for two weeks.”
“I’ll take you shopping.”
“Josh—“
“Please, Bree. Let me pick out some clothes for you. Let me take you places. Let me show you the good things about my life.”
“Josh—“
“Let me spoil you a little, angel. I won’t get to very often once you leave.”
Somehow, she doubted that. Josh seemed to be a ‘flowers and gifts’ kind of guy. And she still had very strong doubts they could be a couple after she left. “I’d have to call Jeff.”
Josh handed her his cell phone. “My dime.”
While she punched in Jeff’s cell phone number, Josh moved behind her, nuzzling her neck.
“Yo!” came her brother’s greeting after three rings.
“Jeff! It’s Brianne. How’s Big?”
“Taking up most of the bed at night.” Her brother’s warm chuckle came over the airwaves.
She laughed. “Tell me something I don’t know. Besides that, is everything going okay?”
“Yeah. He’s a happy guy. He’s been coming to the sites with me, scarin’ the shit outa anyone who doesn’t know him. They don’t realize he’s about as fierce as a marshmallow.”
“Would you mind keeping him for a while longer?”
“You wanna stay in Orlando once the family comes home?”
“Well, I’d like to—“
“Can’t say I blame you. They’re great, don’t get me wrong, but I know I’d enjoy some of the sights more once I wasn’t chaperoned.”
“Then you don’t mind if I stay?” Brianne had expected to be grilled on the ‘whys’!
“Stay. Have a great time, sis. You deserve it. Need me to send some money?”
Brianne felt Josh’s lips on her neck. “Uh-no. Money isn’t a problem.”
“Then what? I’ll see you in another week?”
“Another week would be wonderful. Sure you don’t mind?”
“Not a bit, half-pint.”
“Well…Give my love to Daddy.”
“Will do. Take care. Later.”
“Bye!” Then she hit end. Brianne stared at the phone in shock. No questions. No argument. That wasn’t like her big brother at all!
“I am so glad you’re staying, baby girl,” Josh murmured as he lightly sucked on her sweet spot.
“I—I still have to tell Aunt Marian I’m staying.”
He reached around to unzip her shorts. “Later. I got a promise to keep.”
“You do? What promise?” she asked breathlessly as he invaded her panties.
“I’ve been neglecting to taste you.”
“Now? It’s two in the afternoon.”
“It’ll be even later when I’m through with you.” He shoved her shorts and panties down her thighs to let them drop to the floor. His other hand slid beneath her shirt. “I love your skin all silky and soft to the touch and sweet to the taste.”
Reaching around, he closed the lid to her suitcase and knocked it off the bed. Lifting her free of the clothing at her feet, he set her at the foot of the bed. Reaching for the hem of her tank top, he pulled it off over her head, leaving just her little pull-on bra to remove. He smiled when she stripped it off herself and her pert little breasts presented themselves to his hungry eyes.
Josh had always fancied himself a “boob man.” That had been his pattern with the women he’d dated. Brianne had broken him of that. In his eyes, her little body was just perfect.
“Josh?” she called his name uncertainly.
“Just admiring the view, baby girl.”
Kneeling at her feet, he parted her legs to make room for him between her thighs.
“Are – aren’t you going to undress?”
“This is about you, angel, not me.” When she still looked nervous, he whipped his shirt off. “Better?”
“I guess so.”
Reaching up, he cupped her face to bring her mouth to his. “Remember our first night? I asked if you’d let me taste you. You didn’t want me to. We said next time. But you make me so weak; I forget everything but being in you. So, before you can tempt me beyond control, I’m gonna do it now.”
“As I recall, I was going to do the same for you,” she whispered as he sucked at her neck. “And discover all your hot spots.”
“You’ve found most of them already, but, yeah, you can later if you want to.”
“I’ve got dinner with Janie and her parents at seven.”
“Five hours.” His hands were warm and teasing at her breast. “We got tonight and a week. We’ll get it all done, baby girl.”
His mouth went to the peaks he had fondled into hard buds, licking and suckling them.
“You know what I’d like?” she asked breathlessly.
“Tell me, baby. I want to know.”
“To be somewhere where I wouldn’t have to worry how much I scream when we make love.”
Her words surprised him. “You don’t scream.”
“I want to. I just don’t want hotel security pounding on the door.”
“Tomorrow,” he promised. “I’ll take you some place where you can scream your head off.”
”Okay.”
Her confession made him a little crazy. He could just imagine her calling his name, maybe swearing a little. The thought of it fired his blood.
Brianne brought his head up for a hot kiss. “And maybe I can make you scream.”
Josh had no doubt that she could. “Brianne Collins, you don’t sound like a little school teacher now,” he scolded teasingly.
“Brianne Collins the school teacher wouldn’t be sitting naked on a bed with a man between her legs.”
”Then who are you?”
“Bree, your lover,” she told him softly.
“Yeah.” Josh trailed his mouth and tongue down her body. When he reached the soft thatch of dark curls below her belly, he stopped to lift her legs so one draped over each of his shoulders.
Brianne toppled back in surprise. “Josh?”
“Relax, sweetheart. Let me pleasure you.”
As he had done before, he teased her feminine folds with his fingers until the petals opened. But unlike the other times, he lowered his head to lick and nibble at the intimate flesh.
“Josh!” she cried out softly, her hips bucking up.
“Easy, baby girl.”
His hot breath made her shiver. “Maybe I’m not ready for this,” she whispered.
“You’re fine. Just let me show you how good it’ll be.”
Josh continued to tease and taste, his tongue and lips feasting on her delicate flesh. Then his mouth closed over her sweet pleasure bud and sucked tenderly.
“Josh!” Her cry was urgent. “Oh, God!”
Using his lips and tongue, he drove her to the peak of madness and pleasure, and pushed her over the precipice.
“Ohh! Josh!”
Her dew flooded against his mouth. In lapping it up, he drove her up once more.
Brianne clutched her hands in his hair as she shook with uncontrollable rapture. “Oh, God, Josh!”
Releasing her, he rose and shoved his pants and shorts off. Rearranging her on the bed, he came to her, thrusting into her waiting heat.
He was going to make her crazy – that was the only thought that made it through the sexual frenzy he had created in her. Once again, he was pushing her towards ecstasy. “Damn you, Josh!” she sobbed as he took her over the edge once more.
If he hadn’t been so close to losing himself in her, he might have laughed. “Oh, Bree, baby, come with me.”
Both of them exploded into the white-hot bliss together.
“You okay, baby?” Josh panted after a long moment.
“No. No, I’m not. I think I died,” she murmured breathlessly.
He put his ear to her heart. It beat strongly. “Nope. You’re still alive.”
Brianne stroked his hair back and grinned. “Wow.”
Josh grinned, too. “Really wow.”
“I think that should have waited for some place sound proof.” She would have been screaming her head off!
“I can do it to you tomorrow, too,” he offered.
“I don’t know that I can take that again.”
“You’d be surprised what you can withstand when your lover is giving you pleasure.”
“You are you know,” she stated quietly.
“I am what?”
“My lover. My first lover. Nick just took my virginity and used my body.”
In a way, he was sorry the guy had used her like that, but in his abuse, the moron gave Josh the power to heal Brianne. It was a double-edged blessing. “Like I said, there isn’t a frigid bone in your entire body. You’re as responsive as hell.”
They lie together for a long moment.
“Josh?”
“Hmm?”
“Where is this place where I can scream my head off?”
“My house. I’ve got a soundproof recording studio. Ty’s gone right now, so we’ll have the place to ourselves.”
Brianne closed her eyes. He thought she might have drifted off to sleep until she started giggling. “What’s so funny?”
“My big, brawny brother would be down here to break you in half if he knew I was staying over just to have sex with you.”
“It’s not just about sex,” Josh defended.
She raised a questioning eyebrow.
“It isn’t, Bree.”
“Prove it.”
“Okay. Tell me how.”
“Get up and get dressed and don’t come back until tomorrow at ten, when I’ll be checking out.”
Josh did just that. It would nearly kill him to be apart from her that long. He’d miss her all night, but then he figured it would be a trial run for the weeks he’d be without her when she went home. Once he was dressed, he leaned over to brush a kiss on her lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Brianne.” Then he left the hotel.
The ringing of the telephone at eleven o’clock brought Josh out of his trance of staring at the ceiling. “JC,” he answered.
“Hey, baby.”
“Brianne?”
“Yeah. I did something stupid.”
He sat up at attention, ready to rescue her from whatever problem she had. “What’s wrong, Bree?”
“I miss you in bed beside me.”
Josh eased back against his pillows. “I miss you, too, angel.”
“Want to come over?” she suggested.
“No. You were right. We need this night apart. There’ll be a lot of them.”
“I’m not really liking being right,” she muttered.
He chuckled. “We’ll have to spend a lot of nights apart, unless you plan on quitting your job and coming on tour.”
“As what? You’re personal groupie?”
“That’s not fair, Bree. You know I care for you.”
“I know. I’m sorry…It’s just…I don’t think this’ll work, Josh. I should go back tomorrow, so we can cut our losses.”
“No.” His voice was firm and certain. “We’ve got a future, baby. We’ll just have to work at it.”
“But, Josh—“
“Are you saying these things to lure me back over there – or are you really that unsure of me?”
“No, I’m not trying to sabotage you.”
“Brianne Collins, I love you,” he said softly.
“What?”
“I love you. Want me to put a ring on your finger before you go home?”
“Engagement?—“
“Wedding.”
“No!”
Her exclamation left him chagrinned. “Gee thanks. You’re great for a guy’s ego, baby.”
“Josh, we don’t know each other well enough to get married. Married is forever. At least for me, it is.”
“Me, too, angel.”
Brianne absorbed all he was saying. Did she love him? She thought so, but marriage – that meant giving up her way of life to live his – and that she wasn’t ready for. “I have a house and a dog and a job I love and a family. I can’t just walk away from everything.”
“The dog is welcome here. You wouldn’t have to give up your house, if you didn’t want to. Your job…I don’t know. Your family – families don’t lose each other. Mine moved to Chicago and they’re still a big part of my life.” Josh sighed. “Can I get you a ring before you go home, baby? I’d really like to.”
“I don’t know, Josh. Let’s see.”
“Then you’re still staying?”
“I’m still staying – on one condition.”
”And that would be?”
“Come over here. Right now.”
“Bree—“
“I mean it. I want you here now.”
“Baby, it’s nearly eleven-thirty,” he pointed out.
“You got somewhere to be tomorrow morning?” she challenged.
“Actually, I do. I got to take your family to the airport, then transfer you to another hotel.”
“You can do that from here, can’t you?”
“I could. Bree, is it what you really want or is it just your hormones talking?”
Brianne laughed. “Look who’s talking!”
“I mean it, Bree. I’m not doing anything that will jeopardize a future with you.”
“Think about it, Chasez. We haven’t used protection once. What would ensure our continued relationship more than me getting pregnant with a little Chasez?”
With that, Josh was up and throwing on clothes!
When Josh arrived at the hotel, Brianne flung the door open. Before he could say a word, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, her mouth crashing down on his. Kicking the door closed, he walked over to the bed. Easing her down on the bed, he came above her.
Tearing his mouth from hers, he murmured, “Hiya, baby! Miss me?”
She teasingly punched his shoulder. “Look what you’ve done to me. You’ve turned me into a sex fiend!”
He laughed at that. “Poor Brianne, should I have left you thinking you were frigid and unlovable?”
“It might have been easier on both of us,” she murmured sadly.
“No! Don’t say that, angel. We’re better for knowing each other.”
“I think we made our lives more difficult.”
“No one said it was going to be easy.” He smoothed her hair, kissing her forehead tenderly. “I leave you alone for a couple of hours and you get all insecure. What’s that all about?”
“It was close to nine hours. I’ve got plenty to be insecure about. You want me to embark on a relationship with a man I’ll never see.” Brianne removed herself from his grip and put her back to him. Dammit, she was going to cry. She never cried. She didn’t like crying. It made her eyes red, her face blotchy and gave her a headache.
“Bree baby,” he crooned, moving against her back.
“I don’t want love to be this hard,” she whispered.
That was as close as she had come to actually admitting she loved him!
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how to make it any easier or I would. If you’d marry me and stay, it would be some easier, but it’d still mean some rough times.”
“If I up and married you after a week, people would think I’m certifiable.”
He slid his arms around her to hold her close. “Do you really care about what other people think?”
“My dad and brother I do. I also need to see if this is real or a vacation romance.”
“It’s so real, baby.”
“Once I’m back home, I’ll know how real it is.”
Releasing her, he rose to strip out of his clothes. Leaving on his sport-shorts, he slid in behind her once more and pulled the light covers up. Switching off the bedside lamp, he whispered, “Good-night, baby girl.”
“Josh?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“I love you, Bree. It comes with the territory.”