CHAPTER 5
 

Janet grabbed the tablet, finding Deb's writing all over it.  The name that kept jumping off the page at her was 'Justin.'

"What's this?" she said, turning the tablet for Deb to look at the hundreds of times she had written his name on the page.

Deb threw the pen against the table savagely, saying, "I just don't know what to do."

Just then she heard footsteps on the stairs leading up from the beach and Justin appeared, hair blowing everywhere, wearing torn jeans and an even more shredded teal muscle shirt.  Deb's eyes couldn't help but roam over him as he quickly sat next to her, and said, "G'morning."

"It's past morning, and who are you?" she heard Janet say with surprise.

As Justin grinned and nuzzled her ear, Deb, half-heartedly pushed him away, and said, "Janet, let me introduce you to Justin."  As she said it, she picked up the tablet and waved it in front of Janet's face.

Deb knew Janet recognized who Justin was but she didn't seem to be impressed.  She was also smart enough to put two and two together.  THIS is why she hadn't heard from her best friend in four days.  This GUY!  This popstar who looked like some sex god with clothes on....shredded, holey clothes and gorgeous arms.  And he was nuzzling her friend's neck, whispering something in her ear.

"Wait a minute!  HE is why you disappeared from my life for four days?" Janet said with surprise.

"I didn't disappear, Janet, I was just busy," Deb said, defending herself.  "I was going to call you today."

Janet snorted and said, "Justin?  What the hell are you doing?  Did you just materialize out of the blue?  What are your intentions?"

Deb's mouth dropped open as she glared at her friend across the table.  "Janet!  That was rude.  At least say hello before you start grilling him over the coals!"

Deb watched in shock as her friend buried her face in her hands and laughed.  Janet got her composure and then looked at Justin, who was staring at her with a little grin.  Janet shook her head, saying, "God!  That was rude.  I'm sorry Justin.  I just feel it's my job to protect Deb from sexed up boyband members."

Justin laughed and Deb could tell his smile melted her friend into a puddle.  The glance Deb and Janet exchanged was missed by Justin as the girls smiled at each other in silent agreement.

"My intentions, as you call them, are entirely honorable," Justin said, blushing a little as he felt Deb's hand move up the inside of his thigh under the table.

Janet, looking at the grin on Deb's face, said, "Well, I'm not so sure about Deb."

All three of them laughed again that and Deb threw Janet a shy look that spoke volumes.  Janet knew at that moment that things had gotten serious between them suddenly and she put Justin under scrutiny.  He had his arm draped around Deb and was stroking her shoulder with his fingers.  Each time he looked at her, he smiled.

Deb smiled like she had a secret and looked at Justin and then at Janet.  "My intentions are to ask for a leave of absence from work and go with Justin to Orlando for awhile," she said and waited for their reactions.

Justin hugged her close, saying, "Wise choice.  I didn't want to have to kidnap you."

Deb watched Janet's face as she hugged Justin back.  Janet seemed to be in shock.  Deb wondered if she could even talk.  "Janet, say something," she said, smiling as Janet sat back in her chair.

"You have got to be joking," came from Janet's mouth.  "You are going to follow Justin around like a puppy dog?"

Justin, for the first time, responded defensively, holding Deb's hand as he did.  "She isn't following, she's accompanying.  She deserves a vacation and has a week off anyway.  I have to go back tonight and I asked her to join me.  If she didn't agree, I don't know when I'd see her again," he said.  "I promise I'll take good care of her."

Janet glared at the two of them and then said, "I bet you will."

Deb, uneasy with the direction the conversation was heading, turned to Justin, saying, "Can I call you later?  I think I need to talk to Janet alone."

Justin nodded and kissed Deb's nose.  Turning to Janet, he smiled politely and said, "Nice to meet you, Janet.  I promise I'll be good to Deb."

He offered Janet his hand which she accepted with a smile.  "Forgive me for being rude, but my friend has apparently lost her mind.  It's nice to meet you too, Justin."

He slid on his sunglasses and quickly disappeared down the stairs.  Deb turned to Janet with her mouth hanging open.  "Janet, why are you so hostile?  You know who that is, don't you?  You know how I've gone on and on and on about him even before I met him!"

Janet, looking sheepish, replied, "I know, I'm sorry!  I don't hear from you forever and I walk in to find you practically moving to Orlando with him!  You barely know him!"

Deb nodded.  "Yes, that's true.  But I know that I cannot pass up this kind of opportunity.  This is the chance to get to know the man of my dreams and so far, I'll tell you, he's perfect.  I don't have a lot of illusions about anything but I'm doing this.  I have to try.  My God!  Janet, he's unbelievably sweet and so wonderful.  He will take good care of me."

Janet looked at Deb sadly and nodded, saying, "I guess I won't try to stop you because it'd be pointless.  You are so stubborn.  And with Justin Timberlake in your line of vision, I'm not going to be heard."

Janet walked over to Deb and hugged her tightly.  "You just take care of yourself and if you need anything, call me, ok?  I'll kick his popstar ass if he hurts you."

Deb laughed with Janet that day until they both had tears in their eyes.  After she said goodbye to Janet, Deb went into the restaurant to talk to her boss about getting an extension on her time off.  He agreed to let her have an extra week and they made plans for her to contact him at the end of the month.  While she was there, Deb also made sure things she'd been working on were caught up and assigned some duties to one of the other girls.  They all were very interested in Deb's mysterious trip, but she didn't think telling them would serve any purpose at this time. She was looking forward to the adventure and wondering what was in the future for her and Justin.

When she returned home, there was a message from Justin with the flight information.  She had a few hours to kill, so she made plans for her cat and plants and called her mom and a few friends to let them know she was going to be out of town.  She took a shower, packed a small bag and emailed her online buddies.

She heard a knock on the door and opened it to find Justin, sticking his tongue out at her.  They both laughed as he scooped her up and hugged her.

"Finally, it's time to go.  Are you all packed?" he said, setting her down on her feet.

Deb glanced around her kitchen and said, "Yeah, I'm all set."

Justin picked up her bag and Deb grabbed her purse, following him out to the car waiting. A large black man Deb recognized as Lonnie, one of the *NSYNC security guards, opened the door for them and said, "Nice to meet you, Deb," as she climbed in next to Justin.

"Hello Lonnie," she said, watching his surprised look when she knew his name.

They had first class tickets, of course, and it was a quick flight down to Orlando.  Another *NSYNC bodyguard named Dre was there to greet them as they walked off the plane, hand in hand.  Justin's holey jeans and loose fitting t-shirt served as some disguise, along with his ever present sunglasses.  With Lonnie following close behind, they made their way out of the airport without any notice, and climbed into the backseat of a black Mercedes for the ride to Justin's house.

Deb kept discreetly pinching herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming all of this.  She'd met *NSYNC bodyguards!  She'd been escorted by them like Justin was every day of his life!  They were being driven to Justin's house!  She was going to get to see where Justin lived and worked!  Silently freaking out, Deb glanced at Justin who was watching her silently.  He leaned toward her and kissed her lips softly.  "I love to watch your reactions to everything!" he whispered against her cheek.

"Am I that obvious?" she said, giggling as he nodded his head vigorously.

Deb reached her hand up and smoothed a wayward curl back from his forehead.  "I'm glad I am so entertaining," she said.

He again leaned over and touched her lips with his own.  He kissed her a few times and then licked her lips open to deepen their contact.  His fingers, threaded in the hair at the base of Deb's neck, tickled her as he applied pressure.  Deb, aware of the large men in the front seat, broke the kiss while it was heating up.  "Justin, I..." she began.

"It's just Dre and Lonnie, babe," Justin said, attempting to kiss her some more.

Deb giggled, trying to fend him off as if he was an octopus, arms everywhere.  Justin smiled at her obvious shyness and slid his arm around her.  "Relax, I'll behave," he said, laughing as Deb leaned against him with her head on his shoulder.

As they pulled into Justin's driveway, Deb smiled.  His house was very similar to what she had already imagined a million times.  They said goodbye to Dre and Lonnie, and Justin led her up the stairs to his back door.

Justin pushed the door open and followed Deb inside.  She set her bag and purse by the door and slowly walked in, taking in the feel of Justin's home.  She could feel him standing close quietly observing her reaction.  He toured her around, showing her every room.  He was still in the process of decorating many of the lesser used rooms.  But the living room, kitchen, game room, music den, two of the bedrooms and a bathroom were fully furnished.  It had a decidedly masculine look, especially the game room that was full of basketball paraphanalia, which didn't surprise Deb in the least.  She knew what a basketball nut Justin was.  She loved the music room the most, where the platinum records and all the awards he'd won in his career were tastefully displayed.  She loved seeing the awards she had watched him win, especially *NSYNC's first American Music Award.  When they walked out of the room, he closed the door and stopped when Deb turned around.

"Why did you close the door?" Deb asked, trying to figure out why anyone would hide those wonderful symbols of success behind a door.

He shrugged and scrunched up his face, saying, "I don't spend a lot of time in there.  I just use it to impress girls."

Deb laughed and playfully punched him in the stomach while he wrapped his arms around her.  "You are quite a comedian," she said, hugging him.  "Where's the pool?  You must have a pool!"

Justin led her out to the pool.  It was dark but as they walked out, outdoor lights came on slowly.  The whole pool area and backyard were bathed in light and Deb could see the beautiful trees and flowers that surrounded them.  "Like it?" Justin asked, watching Deb as she took it all in.

They heard the sound of Justin's phone ringing inside and Justin sprinted in to answer it, followed by Deb a few moments later.  When she found him, leaning against the back of the sofa, she heard him say, "Mom, I just walked in.  I've been here maybe 10 minutes.  You know I was going to call you."

He rolled his eyes and pulled Deb closer by the belt loop on her jeans.  She watched his face as he talked to his mom and unconsciously stroked his back as she did.  Before she knew it, she was standing in between his legs.  She leaned in, nuzzling her lips against his neck and then felt him tense up.  "You're coming over now?"

She automatically stepped back one step and rolled her eyes, laughing at the inflection in Justin's voice.  He was making faces at her and then said to his mom, "Ok, mom, but hurry cuz I'm tired and was thinking of going to bed early."

Justin said goodbye and threw the phone behind him onto the sofa.  He again grabbed Deb and pulled her between his legs, kissing her lips softly and then chuckling into her ear.  He mumbled against her neck, "If you wanna make out, we better do it now cuz Mom will be here in about three and a half minutes.  If you hear her knock, it's too late."

Deb laughed loudly as he tickled her ears with his breath.  "Make out?  Is that what you have in mind with your mom on her way?" she said as she gave in to his insistent lips.

Justin mumbled, "I had other things in mind too but that'll have to wait."  He drew her in again and kissed her long and slow, pulling her up against him, leaning back until her feet were off the floor.  She lay against him, meeting his hot kisses, wishing Justin's mom would come another time.  She just wanted to play with Justin...right now.

"Don't you think we should stop?  I don't want my first impression with your mom to be me sexing up her baby boy," Deb said, trying to untangle herself from Justin's roaming hands.

Just then, he stood up and deposited her back on her feet.  Deb thought he must have heard his mother arriving because shortly thereafter, there was a quick knock at the door.  A tiny blonde woman that Deb recognized as Lynn Harless walked in, hugging her much taller son tightly.  She screamed a little as he picked her up off the floor and whirled her around.

"I missed ya, Mama," he said, laughing.

He put her back down, and she turned to see Deb standing by the back of the sofa.  Deb hoped she didn't look as uncomfortable as she felt as she returned Lynn's smile.  Justin winked at her as Lynn walked over with her hand held out.  "Hello!  Nice to meet you.  I'm Justin's mom, Lynn.  And you are?"

Deb glanced at Justin and then took Lynn's hand.  "Deb.  I'm pleased to meet you!"

Lynn looked back at her son as he noticed the glare directed at him from Deb's angry eyes.  "Mom, Deb lives in Myrtle Beach just down from Trace's house.  We've been hanging out for a few days," Justin said, trying to placate his mom, returning Deb's look with a pleading one of his own.

Lynn turned to Deb again.  "Is this your first trip to Orlando?" she asked, genuinely seeming to be interested in Deb's answer.

Deb nodded and said, "I've been wanting to make a trip to Orlando for awhile.  Justin offered to show me around."

Lynn smiled at Deb again and turned back to Justin.  "Did you get some thinking done at the beach, sweetie?" Lynn said as she held Justin's hand and led him to the sofa.

Deb would have thought it sweet, watching Justin's mom fawn over him, but at the moment, she was a little too pissed off to care.  As he answered Lynn's questions, Deb sat in the chair facing them.  Deb could tell he knew she was mad so she got comfortable in the chair and watched Justin squirm.

Lynn stayed for a few more minutes and then made plans to have lunch with them the next day.  As Justin closed the door, he took a deep breath and turned around to face the music.  Deb was silent as he walked over and sat on the stool in front of the chair she was lounging in.

"Ok, I didn't tell her about you," he said, trying to catch her line of vision, something she wasn't making easy.

"Obviously!  I've never been so embarrassed.  Are you my boyfriend?  If you are, I just met your mom who knew nothing about me!  If you're not my boyfriend, what are we?" Deb said, finally looking at him.  "You're 20 years old, Justin.  Your mom can handle a lot more than you think."

"I know.  It's just that she wouldn't approve and would make it very uncomfortable for both of us if she even suspected things were more than PG rated.  She couldn't even handle Brit and I sleeping in the same house and we've known each other for 9 years!" Justin said, running a hand through his tousled curls.  "I'm sorry."

Being a fan first, Deb knew about Justin's religious upbringing and that any kind of sexuality he had explored, was done entirely unbeknownst to his mother.  Having been on the receiving end, she knew he'd done a lot of exploring.  She couldn't stay mad at him.  He was looking at her, chewing on his bottom lip again, resolute in his opinion that keeping things on the down low where his mother was concerned, was the right thing to do.  Deb couldn't take her eyes off those soft, pink lips of his.

She leaned forward so that their knees were touching and held his larger hands between her smaller ones.  "Are you ever going to tell her anything about us?"

"Yeah, but I don't know exactly what or when.  I just have to play it by ear," he said, leaning tentatively forward to kiss her.

He barely kissed her and paused, waiting for her to make the next move.  The sweetness of the kiss, and his nearness, made her heart flutter.  Before she knew it, her hands were on both sides of his face and she was kissing him back with everything in her.

His kisses were always devastating, Deb thought as she felt his tongue licking her own lips sensuously.  Her lips parted to allow him control, which she had never minded giving up to him.  She mumbled, "If your mama only knew what a naughty boy you are..."

Her head spun and she felt as though her breath was being sucked from her at that moment.  "Deb, my mama doesn't need to be in this conversation," he whispered and crawled into the chair with her.  One of his legs was between hers and he cradled her head with one arm wrapped around her neck.  His hot breath was warming her where his wet kisses were planted and she found herself clutching him around the waist, pulling at his shirt.  It blew her mind how hot Justin could make her using only his lips.

She ran her hands up his chest to his face again and immediately buried her hands in his wild hair, kissing his lips hungrily.  Justin's own hands roamed over her body and under her t-shirt, eliciting a breathy moan from her as he lighty stroked Deb's nipples through her bra.  Deb felt them instantly harden to his touch and a low moan escaped from Justin as they did.  Deb devoured his moans with her own mouth and returned his wet kisses.  Her anger was gone and she just wanted to succumb to the pleasure of loving him.

Several minutes later, Justin broke the kiss, trying to focus on Deb's eyes as they fluttered open to meet his.  Their breath mixed together as they both panted with excitement as the electricity snapped between them in the air.  He felt so good against her; the heat of the contact alone made her head spin.  She ached to make love to him again.  She didn't know what she had ever done without him.

Justin's lips, swollen and wet from their heated kisses, curled into a slow grin and he softly sang the chorus of an old pop rock anthem, "Do you wanna make love?  Or do you just want to fool around?"

He unwound his legs from hers as he stood up.  "Where are you going?" Deb whispered as he walked away, leaving her chilly.

"C'mon, let's go to bed."

"No, come back here," she begged, holding her arms out.

He shook his head, his bedroom eyes smiling as he said in a low voice, "I'm going to get in bed.  You're welcome to join me, if you want..."

With that he started backing away with what Deb thought was the hottest look she'd ever seen.  It was the natural way he looked, she knew that, but through her passion, sex was oozing from him.  Justin slowly peeled his shirt off and threw it at her as she began to follow him.  She caught it after having to whip her head to the side.  He'd thrown it daringly right at her head.

He unbuttoned the top snap on his jeans and lazily ran his hand down inside, all the while keeping his gaze locked on Deb's face.  He knew it was working as she watched him with her mouth agape.  Every few seconds, her tongue would flick along her lips to wet them, but he had her full attention.  Deb got closer, following him into the bedroom, as if in a trance.  Justin had just enough time to turn the lamp on that was next to the bed, before Deb was pushing him down onto the bed, draping her body over him, bruising his lips with passionate kisses.

Deb didn't think she'd ever been so turned on in her whole life, watching Justin Timberlake doing a little striptease for her.  She covered his lips, cheeks, neck, and forehead with kisses and then nibbled and growled into his ear, "I just want to fuck."

Deb sat up and pulled her shirt over her head, before reaching around and deftly unclasping her bra.  She threw them both on the floor in one fluid motion...all Justin could do was watch her and then return the kisses she was covering him with.  Through her haze of lust, Deb felt Justin unbuttoning her jeans and sliding them and her panties down her legs.  She kicked them off and helped Justin out of his just as quickly.

They lay on the bed together, naked, and rolled around a few times as she wrapped her legs around Justin.  He put a stop to all of that when he snaked his arms under her arms and pulled himself into her in one motion, holding her close as he began to thrust into her hard over and over.  He moaned, a breathy sound into Deb's ear, then trailed fiery kisses from her ear to her nipples.  Deb arched toward him and concentrated on his lips against her skin, licking, sucking, teasing.  She curled her toes, giving into his persistent lips and the feeling of his frenzied thrusts.  He was taking her hard, grunting her name and "fuck" over and over again.

They both came in loud, panting orgasms that seemed to shake the entire house, leaving Justin draped against her, mumbling, "Oh God" into her ear.  The feeling of having Justin fill her with liquid heat left Deb lying underneath him, trying to get the energy to say something.  But all she could do was stroke his body.  When she looked over at him, his eyes were closed and he was lightly kissing her shoulder.  He looked like an angel, with some of the curls closer to his forehead, sweaty and forming little ringlets.

Deb, suddenly sleepy, stroked his hair back and whispered, "I'm so tired all of a sudden.  I love you, baby."

Justin opened his eyes.  Deb knew that look.  Justin's eyes truly were the windows to his soul but he was frowning and just looking at her intensely.  "I'm tired too," he said softly.  "I'm so glad you are here with me."

He kissed her lips tenderly and drew her into a warm hug, before rolling onto his back with a long sigh.  Deb cuddled up next to him and pulled the covers over them.  She drifted off to sleep, happy with the decision she'd made to come with him.  She wouldn't have given up on him for all the money in the world.  He may have never said the words, but she had a feeling that they were coming soon.  His eyes told her that.

* * * * * * *