Five months later...

"Honey! Come see this!"

 I abandoned the box I was unpacking and hopped down the stairs to the living room where JC was packing a box. Moving me into his house wasn't going as easily as we had planned. In order to make room for me, Barksdale and our things, he had to box up a few of his. He claimed to not care what stayed and what went to storage, but he was closely guarding his gold records and MTV awards.   

JC leaned an arm against the window pane, beckoning me to join him in staring at whatever had captured his attention. Outside, my big, beautiful Mastiff-who'd grown two feet and gained 75 pounds, had commandeered a huge floating cushion and was in the middle of the pool. On his back, legs in the air, head tossed to the side and his tongue sticking out. To say that Barksdale had become acclimated to living at JC's house was obviously an understatement.

"He is beauty, style and grace," I said, watching him float while fast asleep.

"He's a big dork, is what he is," said JC, shaking his head, then moving back to the shelves he was working on clearing. "How many shelves do you think you need?"

"Well, mine were floor to ceiling. And full. So..." I shrugged a shoulder, then watched JC stretch his arms up above his head. His t-shirt rolled up, revealing a flat belly and the happy trail that led to the waistband of his shorts.

"So you need a lot more shelves, is what you're saying." He rolled his t-shirt back down, much to my disappointment. "How're you making it upstairs?"

"Some things in your closet have to go. Like everything in the back that you don't wear anymore."

"What, like my celebrity clothes?"

I nodded, stifling a laugh. JC had a whole section of his closet that he reserved for clothing he only wore when he was "in the role". Otherwise it was jeans and t-shirts and converse sneakers and a very un-celebrity like existence.   

He walked past me toward the stairs, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me with him "A lot of those can move to another room. Let's go take a look."

I recognized his ruse to get me to the bedroom, but I followed his lead anyway. In the months since that day at the Ivy, he and I had grown so close we were practically finishing each other's sentences. Barksdale was getting big and gaining weight, completely growing out of my tiny condo.  We were together all the time anyway, so we'd made the decision to move us to his house. Despite how small my condo was, the process had been painfully slow, but we had finally moved the last box, the last piece of furniture and the last rawhide bone. Now all that was left was the unpacking.

"You're making good progress," he said, noting the empty boxes I had flattened and set out into the hallway. Along the walls, amid fancy, expensive paintings were a few pieces of my art. Most of my clothes and shoes had made it to the closet and the bathroom was pretty much a shrine to Sexy Hair. He nodded, looking around at how I'd managed to infiltrate... well, take over his bedroom.

"Do you like the bedspread? You needed a new one." I'd replaced his plain, navy blue bedspread with a black and charcoal grey designed comforter. The sheets were a steel blue and, despite his complaining about a ridiculous amount of pillows, the pillowcases matched as well.

"You're here. That's all I care about. C'mere."

He pulled me toward him, flush up against him. I felt his hardness through the cotton shorts he wore. A chain reaction rolled through my body, stiffening my nipples and sending goosebumps rippling across my skin.

"This isn't going to get me unpacked, JC."

"That's not on my list of ideas."

He lowered his lips to mine and kissed me, then moved to whisper his lips across my shoulder and under my ear. I shuddered and rose up onto my toes, wrapping my arms around his neck. His hands moved from the small of my back to the curve of my ass and pulled me tighter against him.

"Let's try out that IED thing you got."

I giggled, backing up toward the bed. "It's an IUD. An IED is an explosive device."

"Oh." He didn't bother to blush or be embarrassed about his mistake. "So I'm the IED."

"Exactly." I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him toward me. He landed on top of me, our lips meshing together, our tongues twirling around one another until I couldn't take it anymore.

I sat up halfway and pulled the strapless top I wore over my head. JC followed suit, each of us pulling off an item of clothing in between feverish kisses and sultry moans. His hands kneaded my breasts, alternating between the rasps of his thumbs and his tongue across the tips of my nipples. My hips convulsed in reaction, which made JC groan, sending a vibration through my body to the tips of my toes.

"Hey," I whispered, making him pause mid-crawl down my body. "I want to have sex with a celebrity."

He chuckled, then continued his crawl, dropping kisses and nibbles from my belly to a thin strip of hair. "Sorry, honey. There are no celebrities here. Just this guy that's in love with you."

"I guess I can handle-" My back arched and my hips jerked up off of the bed as soon as his tongue made the first swipe down my clit. "Oh.... fuck, yes!"

"Yes?" He kissed the inside of one thigh and then the other.  "You sure? I can go get a celebrity if you really-"

I grabbed a tuft of hair at the top of his head and gently tugged until his face was buried in my pussy and he was licking, sucking and nibbling like his life depended on it. My hips rolled in rhythm to his movements, driving me higher and pulling grunts and moans that were louder than I'd ever been at my condo. Now that we were in a house, we were enjoying the ability to be vocal.

"Fuck! Okay, stop... please." On a dime, he stopped, lifting his head to catch my eye. I hooked my hands under his arms and pulled, bringing him up to me, making sure he was aligned with my body. Without another word, I maneuvered a hand between us and guided him to me.

I was slick and warm, so ready for him that I almost came as soon as I felt him push into me. JC groaned, loudly, like the feeling was mutual. "Goddamn," he muttered, dipping his head to my shoulder.

A low hiss rolled from my clenched teeth. He made long, excruciatingly slow thrusts, savoring the way we moved together, the way he felt inside me. He plunged deep, and then pulled all the way out, then plunged deep again. Over. And Over. And Over. Every few strokes he would thrust harder and faster, sending the headboard slamming against the wall. And then he would slow down again.

I was nearly climbing the walls. My legs tightened around him. I kissed him, then whispered across his lips, "I love you so much."

"Mmmm," he moaned into my mouth, never missing a beat. "I love you too. I'm gonna come. You comin' with me?"

"Yes," I whimpered, grinding my hips against him. His body jerked. His bottom lip crept between his teeth as he moved like a piston, faster, harder until my back arched and my toes curled and I screamed his name until my throat was raw. Right behind me, JC came, thrusting until he was empty and exhausted.

He collapsed on top of me, his skin a ruddy red and covered with a sheen of sweat. My legs were beginning to regain strength; I lifted them and locked them around his torso and drew my arms around his shoulders.

"Way to christen the bedding, huh?"

"I thought it was a good idea," he answered with a grin, settling himself between my legs. "Something to pass the time." I ran a hand through his hair, wiping sweat from his hairline. "Watch the hair, now. I have a photoshoot tomorrow for Sexy LA."

"Oh, it'll be fine."

"Hey, uh... did you hear about Rex?"

I shook my head. "No. I actually haven't thought about him since that day at the Ivy. What happened?"

"Rehab. It was announced this morning, after he was bailed out of jail for punching some guy at a club and breaking some windows. I guess his management is making him go."

I rolled my eyes and JC laughed. "If he would have just listened to me-"

"We would have never met."

I leaned up to kiss him, cupping his face in my hands. "You're right. I wouldn't have gone through all that shit, but I wouldn't have found out how strong I really am. I wouldn't have found a career in an industry that I really love. And I wouldn't have met the man of my dreams."

JC's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "The man of your dreams?"

I smiled at him, remembering Jen's prediction that JC would be the One for me. "The man of my dreams. You are not a celebrity. And I love that about you."