UP AGAINST THE WALL

The Return

Tiredly, JC reached for the ringing telephone beside his bed. Damn! He’d just managed to fall asleep. “JC,” he announced groggily.

“Where is Amelia?” Johnny demanded over the connection.

JC had to think a minute. Where was she supposed to be today? “In LA,” he remembered.

“Not where I can find her.”

”What do you mean?”

“She’s AWOL. She’s been missing for days. She never showed to sign the contract.”

“What?” JC bolted upright. “Missing?”

“You sure she isn’t there?”

“If you mean by ‘there’ is she with me, yes, I’m sure. If she were here, she’d be in this bed with me right now.” He hadn’t seen her in two months; they would definitely need a bed for her homecoming!

“The last time I saw her was in Orlando. She was taking a later flight. I thought she wanted to see you before she came out here.”

“No.” She’d been that close and hadn’t wanted to seek him out? JC died a little. He had lost her. He had known all along it would happen. He’d just hoped it would happen later. He had wanted more time with Amelia.

“I’m sorry, JC.” Johnny knew exactly what the younger man was thinking.

“Yeah, well, it was bound to happen.” Hadn’t everyone else thought it inevitable Amelia would leave him behind?

“I’ll have my people put feelers out. It isn’t like Amelia to disappear for three days without someone knowing where she is.”

“Three days?” That long? Now, JC was worried.

“And I’m beginning to worry. I thought she’d be with you.”

“I’ll see what I can find out on this end,” JC promised. Johnny was right. It wasn’t like Amelia to bolt. “Later.”

Ringing off, JC climbed out of bed. He wouldn’t even try to sleep now. He’d been living on coffee and raw nerves, so it was time for another jolt of caffeine.

By the time he hit the stairs, he could smell the delicious aroma of freshly brewed coffee. He didn’t remember setting the timer on the coffeemaker, but lately, he’d done a lot of things by rote, like a zombie.

JC hadn’t made the coffee.

Reaching the kitchen, he was arrested by the sight of Amelia. She stood with her back to him, staring out the kitchen window over the sink. Her hair was down, the way he liked it. It was all he could do not to snatch her up and kiss the life out of her.

“Good morning,” JC said softly.

“Josh!” Amelia spun around like a startled doe, her dark eyes wide.

“Who else would you be expecting in my kitchen?”

“I—I…I mean…I…” she stammered.

“Just come here, baby.” He held his arms out to her.

When she ran to him, he crushed her to him, burying his face in her hair. “Oh, baby, I’ve missed you so damn much! I don’t care why you’re here – just as long as you are,” he whispered huskily.

She nodded, holding to him, her face pressed against his chest. He smelled wonderfully familiar, like him. She never wanted to move.

For some time, they stood there – holding each other, drinking in the feel and comfort of the other. At last, Amelia raised her head to gaze into those beautiful blue eyes of his. JC smiled down at her and she returned a timid one of her own. Then he lowered his head. Both of them closed their eyes for a slow, lingering kiss, reacquainting themselves with the other’s taste, the texture of their tongues. “I love you, baby.”

“You want a cup of coffee or to go upstairs?”

He smoothed a hand down the entire length of her hair. At the ends, he curled his hand over her tight little butt to shove her against his body. She had to feel his raging arousal. “But I’ll settle for coffee right now.”

Amelia poured two mugs of coffee and handed one to him.

“Baby, you make the best coffee,” JC murmured appreciatively after the first sip.

“Because I clean the coffeemaker once in a while,” she quipped. Leaning a hip against the counter, she met his gaze once more. “I guess, you wonder why I’m here.”

“Had crossed my mind.” He mirrored her stance. “I just got a call from Johnny.”

“I heard the phone.”

“He thought you’d be here.”

“I am.”

“But I didn’t know that.”

She sighed softly. “I’ll call him in a bit.”

“What happened, Ami? The company was ready to sign you.”

“I don’t want to. I don’t like it.”

“Like what?”

“Touring.”

“You seemed to like it before.”

“I wasn’t alone before. I don’t like it alone.”

“You’ve got to give your crew time to become your family, baby girl. It does happen.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I’m meant to be solo. I realize I can’t be your opening act forever…I just don’t enjoy singing as much as I thought I would.”

“You’ve got a beautiful voice, Ami.”

“So did my mama – and all she ever wanted to sing was lullabyes.” Now, that hadn’t come out right! It sounded like a hint for a proposal! But he was smiling down at her. “I can still write, no matter what else I choose to do. I’ve been contacted by several people already.”

“That’s great, baby.”

“Some people aren’t meant to be center stage, I suppose.”

“We haven’t filled your spot in the dance troupe. The guys would love to have you back. I know Wade would be thrilled.”

“But they all worked so hard to help me solo.”

“I’m pretty sure they’d understand.”

“Will Johnny?”

“Go call him and find out,” JC urged. He took her mug, then aimed her for the door leading to the living room. “Let him know you’re okay.” He gave her a gentle push towards the door.

JC was coming out of the kitchen when he saw Amelia hang up the telephone in the hall. “Well?”

She turned to him, tears sparkling in her eyes. “He said that he was glad I was all right and that I had made up my mind before the contract was signed or it could have gotten messy. He said he called here first, because he knew this was where I’d come. And that he would handle me as a songwriter."

“Back up. He knew this is where you’d come?”

“Yes. Josh, the whole world knows this is where I want to be.”

“In Orlando?” he teased.

“No. With you, silly.” She grinned but only until his lips met hers.

“This is where I want you, Ami, with me. All the time.”

“We can do that,” she said dreamily. “Well, maybe not all the time. Twenty four/seven could get difficult—“

“Ami?”

“Hmm?”

“Shut up.” His voice was teasing and kind. He knew she was nervous, so she tended to ramble.

“Yessir, Mr. Chasez, sir,” she giggled.

“And, Ami?”

“Hmm?”

“I finished my coffee. I’m ready to go upstairs now.”

“So am I.”

With that, he snatched her up in a fireman’s carry to deliver her to his bedroom. Both of them were laughing like children set free from the burdens of the world.

“Josh?”

“Hmm?” JC was still coming down from some of the sweetest lovemaking he had ever known. He planned to spend the entire day just this way – entwined with Amelia in bed. He skimmed his mouth over one slim shoulder. He wanted to taste every inch of her about a million times – and he doubted that would still be enough.

“I get the feeling you aren’t listening,” she murmured dryly as his lips skated to her collarbone.

He lifted his head and met her dark-eyed gaze. “Okay. I’m listening.”

“It’s nice to get 100 percent of you attention.”

“You had 100 percent of my attention before,” he chuckled.

She giggled, too. “Get serious!”

“I am totally serious.”

She raised her hand to caress the side of his face; he had such a dear face. “Those two months were a harsh learning experience. I thought I knew what I wanted – But I found something else out.”

“What, Ami?”

“That some times, when dreams come true, they’re the wrong dreams -- but you don’t know that until they become reality.”

“So, you’ll have to get yourself another dream.”

She shook her head slightly. “I’m liking my reality far too much at the moment.”

“I’m enjoying being in your reality.”

“You are my reality.”

“And you’re mine, Ami.”

They shared a kiss of understanding.

“Now,” he told her, “I’m getting back to what I was doing before you interrupted me.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

“Uh-uh.” In an unexpected move, she shoved him to his back and came over him, her eyes glinting with mischief. “We’re gonna do it my way,” she commanded teasingly.

“Yes’m, Miss Parker, ma’am!” JC laughed, knowing he’d fully enjoy her way!