“I’m so sorry I’m late. I’m entering the hotel right now. What room are we in?”

“No problem, Han.  We’re in 2437.

“OK, give me one minute.”

JC waited anxiously at the hotel room door for Hannah to arrive. They were supposed to meet in the lobby at 2:30, and it was 3:45 and she was just arriving. He assumed her conference was running late, but when he saw her through peep hole, she was carrying three shopping bags. He yanked open door before she could knock and yanked her in the room by her upper arm. He shut the door behind him and pushed her hard against the door in a needy kiss, causing her to drop her shopping bags and her suitcase.

“Were you skipping out on me to shop?” He asked between kisses.

“I had to buy a new dress to wear to your parents’ house,” She panted while pulling his pink polo over his head. “The conference ran a little long last night and I didn’t have time to go then.”

“Likely story,” he murmured as he unbuttoned her frilly blouse.

“I didn’t,” she groaned when his tounge ran over her breast, teasing her left nipple through her bra. “And I may have bought a treat for you for later tonight.”

JC pushed her skirt up and skillfully slid her underwear down her  thighs, toned from many years of skating. White cotton boyshorts like always. Usually he liked sexy, barely there undergarments, but with Hannah, he found her plain and modest choices dead sexy. He wasn’t planning on attacking her the second she walked in the door, but when he saw her walking down the hallway in her black pencil skirt, proper blouse and black heels, he couldn’t control himself. He loved the classy, businesswoman attire she wore to these conferences.

They continued to kiss as she helped him work his way out of his jeans. Soon he was naked and he pushed her up against the door again, bunching her skirt around her waist as he licked at her neck.

She skimmed her fingers down his back before resting them at the dip of his lower back and leaned in and whispered is in his ear, “Is this how you’re going to take me Jace? Right here against this door?” She licked the outer shell of his ear. He groaned.

“I can take you over to bed if you’d like,” he said while lifting her leg to rest on his hip. His hand slipped between them and he ran a finger over her, causing her to shudder.

“Here’s good,” she groaned as he slid a finger into her.  They made eye contact with each other and he slid in another finger.

“I missed you.” He said softly, slowing the pace of his hand.

“I missed you, too.” She leaned in to give him a slow kiss. After a few moments, Hannah increased the pace of the kiss and tried to get JC to speed up the pace of his hand. It wasn’t working.

“Jace,” she groaned as he sucked on her bottom lip. “Fuck me.”

JC wasn’t quite sure how to respond, so he just kept on kissing her and working with his fingers. He had never seen this side of her before. Not that she was ever shy about their lovemaking, but she caught him by surprise.

“Ugh, please, fuck me. Don’t make me beg.”

Who was he to deny her? There he was, just minutes after seeing her for the first time in two weeks, pounding into her with her legs wrapped around his waist and her skirt bunched above her hips. Not the reunion he was expecting, but defintiely good.

She laced her fingers through his hair and tugged his head back so he was looking up at her. “I’ve been thinking about this all day,” she moaned. “I barely made it through my presentation.”

He thrust harder.

“Mmm, you feel so good inside of me.”

He increased his pace.

“Ugh, yeah, right there baby. Right. There.”

JC was overcome with a wave of emotion. How had he been so lucky to find this woman who was smart, sexy, funny, beautiful, open, honest, and giving? He felt incredibly lucky. He felt her walls clench around him and he couldn’t handle it anymore.

“God, Hannah, I love you.” He grunted as he spilled himself inside her.

He froze instantly, horrified by what had just happened. He pulled out of her and carried her over to bed. He leaned forward and buried his head in his hands, and Hannah headed to the bathroom. She came out a few seconds later wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe and carrying one for JC.

“Here, put this on,” she said softly as she sat next to him on the edge of the bed. He obliged.

“Hannah, I am so, so sorrry.”

“For what?” she asked and placed a comforting hand on the back of his neck.

“For what?” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“That was not how that was supposed to happen. That was about the least romantic way I could have said that for the first time, fucking you against a hotel room door? Jesus!” He paused to gather his thoughts. “I didn’t even know that I felt that way. I mean, I knew I kind of did, but…I can’t think of anything less romantic than what just happened. God, you didn’t even finish!”

“Hey,” she said softly. “Hey, look at me.” She didn’t continue until he did. “First of all, hearing you say that to me felt better than any orgasm. Secondly, it was romanic in its own way. It was impulsive, unexpected. It wasn’t this big planned out ordeal. It was real. You said it when you felt it. It was completely honest.That’s all I could ask for.”

“So you really aren’t mad?”’ He couldn’t fathom that idea. Previous girlfriends of his would have given him the cold shoulder for weeks had he pulled a stunt like that.

“Not at all. Its always great to hear someone say those words to you, regardless of how it happens.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

She leaned in and gave him a hug. “Say it again,” she whispered.

“I love you.”

“Louder.”

“I love you”

“So only I can hear.”

“I love you,” he whispered into her ear. He couldn’t believe he was saying this multiple times and not running away. It had been a month and a half and he was already using the L word? This was getting out of hand. Yet somehow, he wasn’t scared.

“I love hearing you say that to me,” Hannah pulled him into a sweet kiss. “I’m sorry I was late today. I just really wanted to find something nice to wear to meet your parents tomorrow.”

“You know, we’re probably only going to have steaks on the patio. You can wear jeans. Its nothing fancy.”

“I just want them to like me.”

“They will love you. Regardless of what you wear.”

“Well I’m wearing the dress. Its too pretty not to wear,” she giggled for a moment before her face fell. “Oh, um, I need to, um, go clean up.”

His eyes widened in realization. “Oh shit, Hannah! I didn’t use a condom!”

“We, JC. We didn’t use a condom. Its both of our faults. I’m on the pill, so we don’t need to
worry about that. But um, you’ve been tested recently, right?”

“Two months ago. I was clean. Only a week or so before I met you actually. I’m always safe, I swear.”

“I trust you JC. I’m clean too. But um, we probably should have had this conversation before this happened. We both were being irresponsible.”

“Yes, we were.” He paused, and tried to lighten the mood. “So, can I help you clean up?” he
asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

------------------

The pair dined over a romantic seafood dinner at NoMi, the hotel’s restaurant overlooking the Magnificent Mile. Afterward, JC suggested they go to a concert at a small club north of downtown.

“My friend Tony is playing at this club tonight. I, um…I haven’t seen him in awhile.”

“I’m sure he will be really excited to see you,” Hannah said as she laced her fingers with JC’s on their walk down Michigan Avenue.

“We haven’t talked in over six months. I don’t think he’ll be excited to see me. I was a real asshole to him. I want to apologize but I haven’t tried too hard.”

“Its probably best to do it in person anyway. That’s hard when he’s in Chicago.”

“He lives in LA. He just happens to be playing here this weekend.”

“Oh. Can I ask what you did?”

“Things had been strained for awhile. He was getting married and we didn’t see each other much because of it. We were supposed to work on a project together and he bailed on me. Which wasn’t a huge deal, but it was kind of building up you know. Then we were out together one night...I got really wasted and was hitting on this girl – being kind of obnoxious – and Tony was trying to be helpful and intervene because I was being a jackass.  I made some dumb ass comment remark about him being jealous that he couldn’t get a girl that hot…completely insulting his fiance…and then I just went off – about how he was jealous of my fame, which he isn’t – just crap like that. It was so awful. He hasn’t talked to me since.”

Hannah stopped walking and faced JC, taking both of his hands in hers. “Do you want to know that truth JC?” He nodded. “That was really shitty. Really shitty. I wouldn’t talk to you either.”

“I know. And I didn’t mean it. Not any of it. I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Well you must have meant some of it, or you wouldn’t have said it. I think there were some issues there that needed to be addressed, and you picked the dumbest way to do it.”

“You don’t take pity on a guy do you?”

“No, not when they are idiots.”

“Yeah well, it was kind of that moment that made me realize I was acting like a real asshole lately. I started re-evaluating friendships and what was important to me. I’ve been kind of lost ever since.”

She gave him a reassuring sqeeze of his hands. “Do you think it is a good idea to go tonight?”

“I do. Even if I don’t talk to him. I just feel I should be there. I just want to see him perform. He’s incredible.”

“OK then, lets do it.”

JC and Hannah snuggled in a booth during Tony’s show and went relatively unnoticed. Some people were only fans of Tony because of JC and he knew that, so he dressed down and slipped his Minnesota Twins cap over his head. Nobody would expect to see him wearing that. He received a few questioning glances, but that was all.

Tony did notice him however, and for the most part tried to avoid eye contact, but three-quarters of the way through the show, when Hannah went to the bathroom, Tony shot JC a questioning look, and cocked his head to the side. JC knew he was trying to ask who the girl was. He just smiled at Tony in return.

They left right after the show. JC thought there might be a possibility Tony would talk to him after the show, but he wanted to take it one step at a time. The eye contact was good enough for tonight.

JC had the cab drop them off a few blocks away from the hotel so they could enjoy the walk the remainder of the way. The walked in silence for a bit before JC spoke up.

“Tell me something I don’t know about you.”

“Um. OK. Let’s see. I guess I need to tell you this eventually anyway, and I don’t want it to come up at your parents and catch you off-guard.”

“I don’t like the way you’re starting this.”

“Its nothing bad. Its just – I was engaged.”

“You were? To who?”

“His name was Jake. We were together about five years. We broke up right after my dad died. Our wedding was supposed to be three weeks after he died. I couldn’t go through with it. I was so upset and Jake was trying to comfort me. I just wanted him to go away. I realized something wasn’t right with that. Anyway, I called it off a week before the wedding.”

“Wow.  That was only a year ago wasn’t it?”

“A little over a year, yeah.”

“And you’ve moved on already?”

“Once you realize someone isn’t right for you, I don’t see any need to dwell in it.”

“I wish I knew how to do that. My last serious relationship fucked me up good. You’re the first person I’ve been serious with since her, and that was two years ago.”

“Eva?”

JC groaned.

“I’m sorry, I know you asked me not to google you.”

“No, I know. I would probably google me too if I were you. But yeah, Eva.”

“What happened?”

“She was cheating on me for about half of our relationship. We dated a year.”

“I’m really sorry. If that were the case with me, I would be messed up for awhile too. With Jake I just realized he wasn’t the one. There weren’t necessarily hard feelings. We just grew apart.”

“I became a real asshole after that. I just went clubbing most nights, drank too much and got high too often. I wasn’t surrounding myself with good people. I’m working on that. I’m slowly rebuilding myself into the person I know I am.”

Hannah slipped the key into the lock and they entered the hotel room. She turned to JC and took his face in her hands. “I love the person you are.”

JC beamed and leaned into kiss her. “Why didn’t you say so earlier.”

“I didn’t want you to settle for a ‘me too.’ I love you JC.” He pulled her into a tight embrace. “Thank you for tonight. I had an amazing time.”

“I did too. You’re a good date, Han. Thanks for meeting me in Chicago.”

“Anytime.” She paused. “Hey JC?”

“Yeah?”

“I think we should break in that amazing bathtub we have in there.”

“Mmm, I think you’re right.”

“I need to relax before tomorrow.”

“Stop worrying about meeting my parents.”

“I can’t help it.”

“Well come on. Get in the tub and let me give you a massage to relieve some tension.” JC offered as he pulled her into the bathroom.

------

Links:

Hannah in her 'business outfit' that turns JC on so much: http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20070830/293.garner.jennifer.083007.jpg

Park Hyatt hotel room: http://parkchicago.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/gallery/index.jsp?roomId=969&tabType=photo&start=1