My Sunshine (12 page)

Chloe was one of the last ones off the plane, and she thought the line couldn’t move any slower. Finally, she made it into the airport. As promised, John was waiting for her at the gate. She ran to him.

John
held Chloe as tight as he could. It felt good to have her in his arms again. He breathed in the smell of her shampoo.

He had missed that smell so much, he found himself in the
grocery store smelling shampoos trying to match the scent.

Chloe
buried her nose in John’s chest. She thought this day would never get here, and she had almost convinced herself that he wouldn’t be here when she arrived. She pulled back from him. “It’s so good to see you.”

He hugged her again. “Oh baby, it's been too long!” He
leaned down to kiss her.

She kissed him and looked over his shoulder at a large
muscular man standing alone with his arms folded across his chest. “Is he with you?”

John
frowned. “I’m sorry. I had to bring him.” He turned to the bodyguard. “Chloe, this is Al. Al, this is Chloe.”

The two shook hands. Al took
Chloe’s carry-on bag. “Do you have more luggage?”

Chloe
nodded. “I have a suitcase.”

Al led them to the baggage claim.
Chloe picked her bag off the conveyor belt and Al lugged it out to the car, which was waiting by the curb with the driver, Jake.

“A limo?”

“Why not?” John opened the door for her, then climbed in after her.

“That’s Jake driving,”
John said nodding toward the front of the car. “They’ll be with us on the plane and at the game.

They’re pretty much everywhere.”

“So I should get used to seeing them around, then, right?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you have a personal life with bodyguards watching all the time?”

John
put his arm around her and pulled her closer. “Well, they’re not everywhere.” He kissed her again.

She responded eagerly and didn’t object when
John laid her back in the seat. She didn’t know if the occupants of the front seat could see them, and at that moment, she didn’t care. John worked his hand underneath her T-shirt and slipped his hand inside her bra. She gasped at his touch.

“How far to your house?” Her words came between pants.

“Too far.” He pulled her shirt up and replaced his hand with his mouth. He pressed himself against her body and she could feel his excitement. She reached for him and he helped her unfasten his jeans. She freed him from the fabric that constrained him. He moaned at the feeling of her hand around him.

He moved back to kissing her mouth. After a few minutes,
he pulled back. “I want to wait. I don’t want to do it here. I didn’t mean for it to get this far.” He sat up and stuffed himself back into his pants.

She nodded. “Yeah, good idea.” She sat up and readjusted
her clothes.

“We're getting close,” he said.

Chloe pawed through her pocketbook. “Can I smoke?

It’s been hours since I had one.”

John nodded and flipped open an ashtray. “Go ahead.”

“The smoke doesn’t bother you?”

He shook his head. “Not really. I’m used to it. My parents smoke.”

“Will I be able to smoke in the house?”

“In my room. I don’t know how Tyler and Christine will feel about it. I didn’t even think about it when I told them you were coming.”

“It’s okay. I’m used to having to go outside.”

They chatted for a few more minutes, careful to keep the subject to something that wouldn’t make them rip their clothes off. The limo pulled into John’s driveway.

“We’re here,” he said, opening the car door.

Chloe climbed out after him. She was surprised when she saw his house. She was expecting some sort of high-class mansion, but the house was really no different than something she could find in one of the nicer neighborhoods in Canton.

“Surprised, aren’t you?”
John said, reading her mind.

She nodded. “A little, yeah.”

John took her bags from Al, who had retrieved them from the trunk. He spoke a few words to Al and Jake and the two men drove away in the limo. “This is the house the record company put us in when we first came to Orlando. All five of us lived here. Everyone else has moved out, except me and Tyler. Christine doesn't live here, but she's here about fifty percent of the time.”

Chloe
followed him up the front steps and waited while he unlocked the door. The first room they entered was the formal living room. “We hardly ever use this room,” he said. He led her into the spotless kitchen. “Mrs. Potts comes on Thursdays.”

“The maid?”

John nodded. “Yeah. She does the deep down cleaning, but we still have to pick up the big chunks. She gets real pissy if we don’t.”

Chloe
giggled. “I’ll try not to make a big mess.”

He led her past the den and down the hallway, pointing out
Tyler’s room, the guest room, the bathrooms and his own bedroom.

“It's dark.” He sat her suitcase and overnight bag by the
bed.

She nodded, noting that windows had tinted windows. “I
t
is
pretty dark.”

He gently put his hands on her shoulders. “I really am glad
that you are here.” He pulled her to him and gently kissed her lips.

“Do we have time before we have to be at Mike’s?”

Chloe asked. Jane was cooking a big dinner for the ten of them. It was usual occurrence, but normally John went by himself.

John
looked at his watch. “I think so. It doesn’t matter; I plan on spending a little time making love to you. They can just wait.” He pulled off his shirt.

She started to take off her jeans, but he stopped her. “Let
me do it. I want to undress you.”

Just the words made
Chloe shiver. She had never had a partner that cared about whether or not she was even enjoying herself, much less spending time trying to please her. She stood still while John pulled her shirt over her head. He kissed her shoulder blades and pulled her bra straps down with his teeth.

He ran his tongue down her throat to the space between her
breasts. He reached around her and unclasped her bra, letting it fall to the floor. He cupped each mound in his hands and lifted them to his mouth.

His hands and mouth traveled down her stomach to her
hips, where the denim of her jeans stopped him. He slowly unfastened her pants, making her grown impatient. Finally, he loosened them and pulled them down. She helped him remove them and he tossed them aside along with her socks and shoes.

He put one hand on each hip and leaned in to tug at her panties
with his teeth. He pulled them down some and used his tongue to tease the skin underneath.

She couldn’t hold still any longer. “Please,
John,” she begged. He continued teasing her with his tongue for another moment before picking her up and laying her on the bed. He stripped off his clothes and picking up where he left off. She bucked her hips against him, and tightened her muscles, trying not to cli. “Let it go, baby,” he whispered.

She relaxed and the orgasm came quickly. He moved up
eye level with her and kissed her on the mouth. “You taste so good,” he murmured. He deepened the kiss almost as if he was trying to devour her. Finally, he positioned himself between her legs and entered her.

They both gasped at the feeling. “Oh, baby girl, I’m not
going to last very long,” he said, slowly moving his hips.

She met each movement with one of her own. It wasn’t long
before she felt his warmness inside her. He collapsed on top of her.

“I hope that was good for you,” he said, rolling off her.

She nodded. “Very good.”

He sat up. “I guess we should get moving,” he said.

Chloe sat up, too. “Do I have time to take a shower? I don’t want to go smelling like sex.”

“I like the smell of sex,” he said.

“Do I have time?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I want to take one, too. I’ll go to
Tyler's bathroom and get one while you’re in here.”

“You don’t think we can take one together?”

“You’ll never get the smell off of you then. Cause every time I see you naked, I’m going to want to do what we just did.”

“Every time?”

He moved so that she could see that he was getting excited again. “Every time.” He stood up and pulled on his underwear.

He got a clean pair out of his drawer. “I’m going upstairs.”

Chloe quickly showered. John returned while she was blow-drying her hair. They dressed and left for Mike and Jane’s. Chloe had been studying up on Parrison, so she was confident she would have no trouble remembering who was who, even when it came to Jane, Shannon, Christine, and

Dana.

During dinner, John’s friends went out of their way to make Chloe feel comfortable. By the time Jane served dessert, Chloe was relaxed enough to participate in the conversation without feeling like an outsider.

As
Jane was serving the dessert, the telephone rang. She practically dropped Dana’s chocolate cake on her lap. “Sorry,”

S
he muttered as she ran to the phone.

“
Mary went into labor today,” Mike explained.

“I didn’t think she was due for another couple of weeks,”
Dana said.

Mike shook his head. “She’s not. She’s ready though. Did
you see her at my party? She’s huge!”

John
thought back to the party and his conversation with Mary. She had promised that the baby wasn’t his. He did the math again. October 20
th
minus January 22
nd
equaled almost nine months exactly. His stomach turned upside down.

“You’re joking!” They all heard
Jane exclaim from across the room. So what were they? Aww… No, I guess we’re still coming up in a couple of weeks. Do you think that will be okay? They have to get this album together by December first. Okay, Mom. Talk to you later.” She returned to the table.

“Guess what?
Mary had twins! They didn’t even know there were going to be twins until the doctor pulled the second one out. Isn’t that amazing? The second one was hiding all this time.” “What are they?” Dana asked. “Boys? Girls?”

“One of each,”
Jane said. “That brings her total up to six boys and four girls.”

Chloe
almost choked on the ice in her drink. “Ten kids?”

Jane
nodded excitedly. “Yeah, ten.”

Shannon shook her head. “I still say that is way to many
children for one woman.”

“You mean once you and
Dennis are married, you’re not going to start popping out kids left and right?” Josh asked playfully.

Shannon shook her head. “I don’t think so. Besides, I don’t
see you and Dana popping out kids.”

“We’ve only been married four months,”
Josh argued.

“That’s enough time to get a bun in the oven,”
Dennis said.

Josh
shook his head and frowned. “Well, there’s not.”

“Well, I for one, can’t wait to have another,”
Bright said.

He nodded toward
Jane. “I just have to talk that one into it.”

She shook her head. “Will is only three months old.”

“Yeah, and by the time another baby got here, he’d be a year.”

“Yeah, and your point?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “You’re not getting any

younger.”
Jane was twenty-seven and older than Mike by almost three years.

She picked up a roll and threw it at him.
Chloe listened to the friendly argument that soon involved everyone at the table except her. The opponents were neatly divided among gender lines, and Chloe guessed that was purposeful and common.