CHAPTER 9
 

She leaned back so she could wipe her eyes and look at him.  "Really?  But how are we going to do it?  You can't stay in one place for long and I can't be gone for long."

"Deb, we'll find a way.  I'll go do the deal in New York.  And then we'll go from there, ok?  I still have a cell phone.  I will call, I promise," he said, losing the last few words because she was kissing the words away as they fell from his lips.  The kisses were desperate and deep and they held each other until the limo pulled up at Johnny's twenty minutes later.

Deb put on her sunglasses.  She didn't want to be teased by Chris for looking like she'd been crying.  Justin was swooped away by Wade and JC as soon as they got inside, leaving Deb standing in Johnny's living room alone.  It wasn't long until Melinda came walking through, seeming to be in a hurry, but she stopped when she noticed Deb standing there, looking forlorn.

"Deb, you're back!  How was it?" she said, looking at Deb with interest.

"Oh, Melinda, the clothes were great...perfect!  I can't thank you enough.  He didn't have to do that, you know.  I have clothes," Deb said with a little smile.

Melinda smiled slyly.  "He wanted to do it.  He wanted to sweep you off your feet.  Did it work?"

Deb nodded, trying to look happy.  "I'll never forget it."

"You don't look very much like someone who just returned from a 'love retreat'.  What's wrong?  Did you two have a fight or something?" Melinda said, stepping closer.

"No fights," Deb said, willing herself not to start crying.  "It's just that it's over already and we have to say goodbye now.  I just spent all this time with him.  Now, he's going to New York and I have to go back to work.  I don't think I've soaked up nearly enough of him to last me until he comes back."

Melinda put her arm around Deb's shoulders.  "It'll be hard, I know.  But just focus on what it'll be like when he comes back.  Do you want me to book you a flight for home?"

Deb nodded.  "I don't want to leave before he does, ok?  I have to get my stuff from JC's house too."

Deb planted herself in the corner of the dance studio and watched Justin, Wade and JC going over the routine in painstaking detail.  She didn't know where Chris, Joey and Lance were but knew they'd be there before too long.  Even though he was in deep concentration, Deb would find Justin looking at her periodically.  He'd give her a little smile and then get back to business.  From what Deb could tell, Justin had the footwork down and she wished JC and Wade would just leave him alone.  They finally excused themselves to go take a shower and get ready for the flight.

As soon as they left, Justin scampered over to Deb and scooped her up into his arms.  He was sweaty and hot all over, but she didn't mind it a bit.  "I think you're ready," she mumbled against his lips as they kissed hers.

"Mmmmhmmm," was all he said as he smothered her with hot, wet kisses.

A few moments later, Justin glanced at his watch and groaned loudly.  "I guess I better go shower and get dressed.  What's your plan, baby?" he said as he stepped away and gathered his towel and water bottle.

"Melinda is booking me a flight, so I should be home tonight," Deb said, trying to sound cheery.

Justin smiled at her and said, "Ok, so I'll call you at home."

He threw her his cell phone and said, "I'll be back in a flash.  Could you program your number into my phone, please?"

She did that and went to the living room where everyone, except Justin, had already congregated.  Melinda motioned for her to come over, so she went and stood by the woman as she held some clothes on hangers.  "Want to see what Justin's wearing to the VMA's?  This white sweater and these leather pants.  Feel how soft they are," Melinda said as she smiled at Deb.  They really were soft and the patchwork pattern looked great.  She thought the colors were just right for him and she would have loved to have a sneak preview of him IN the clothes, especially the leather pants.

Melinda then held up some more leather.  "Here is his outfit for the performance.  Leather vest,...these leather pants.  Look at the crotch artwork..." Melinda said with an evil look on her face.  "Is that not hot?"

Deb laughed at Melinda's use of the word "hot" but she nodded in agreement.  A few minutes later, Justin joined the group and they all started heading for the parking lot.  As the luggage was loaded and everyone was climbing in, Justin pulled Deb aside.  "You can come to the airport with us, but there won't be any time there to really say goodbye, because they'll just wisk us from point A to point B," Justin said as he hugged her tightly.

Deb smelled the shampoo/soap combination and ran her fingers over his wet curls.  "I'll just say goodbye here, then," she said as she noticed all eyes were looking at them.  "Maybe not."

Justin frowned at his nosy friends and pulled Deb around the side of the house, wrapping her up in a big bear hug the minute they were out of the public eye.  "I'm not going to cry, you know," she said as she buried her face in his neck.  But a tear did escape and Justin kissed it away before meeting her lips with his.

"It's ok if you cry, babe.  It's only going to be a few days.  Watch us on TV, ok?  I'll miss you," he said hurredly as someone honked the horn.  They kissed a few more times and then he backed away, waving as he turned to run to the van.  Deb watched until the van was out of sight.  Feeling a little helpless, she went inside to find her flight information and Lonnie so he could take her to JC's.

* * * * * *

It was around 10 PM when she walked into her house and dropped the suitcases in the middle of her kitchen floor.  She was exhausted and sank into her sofa with a loud sigh.  The day had been a long, emotional rollercoaster and the comfort of her own home was a welcome thing.  She wandered into her bedroom...the bed was still in disarray because she hadn't made it before she left.  As Deb kicked off her shoes, she missed Justin right then.  She remembered thinking that she never wanted to be in her bed alone again, after spending those first hours there with him.  She shucked off her clothes and crawled in, burying herself in the covers.  Justin's pillow smelled like him, Deb noticed, as she fell into a deep sleep.

She heard the telephone by the bed ring which brought her out of her delicious dream.  She didn't realize it, but she totally purred into the receiver, "MMMmmmm, hello?"

Justin moaned softly, when he heard her low, breathy voice. "What are you doing?" he said, chuckling.

"Oh, I was having a wonderful dream," Deb said with a smile.  "How was your flight?"

"Boring...I wish you had been there to talk to," was all he said.

"Justin?  It's 3 AM?  Why are you still up?  Don't tell me you guys went out clubbing!"

Silence.  Dead silence.  "Uh, well, we met up with some friends and decided to hit a few clubs."

"Which friends?" she asked.

Again silence was the only response.

"Justin?  What's wrong?" she said, a little scared.

"I totally forgot that Jive got us our seats a long while ago.  They've got me and Britney sitting together," he said softly.

"And?" Deb wondered what that had to do with going out to clubs.

"And....she was with us tonight when we went out...we had some drinks, danced a bit.  That's it.  I didn't want her to come with us and I totally don't want to sit next to her tomorrow night."

"Can't you have her switch with one of the other guys?  Maybe she can sit on the other end...just move everyone one seat down."

"No can do, baby.  She WANTS to sit there.  Don't ask me why.  Let's talk about something else," he said softly.  "What are you wearing?"

Deb laughed out loud.  "Why do you want to know?"

"Mental picture, that's all.  So?"

"Actually, I'm wearing nothing.  I got home and tossed my clothes on the floor and fell asleep on your pillow."

"Mmmmm, yeah," Justin said sleepily.

"Justin, we are so NOT having phone sex.  You should go to bed."

They talked for a few more minutes and Deb finally got him to hang up.  As she fell back asleep, she smiled, thinking of Justin sitting there in his hotel room, wanting to have phone sex.  My, how things had changed in a few weeks.

* * * * * * *

As the days passed, Deb's funk consumed her.  The VMA's came and went.  *NSYNC won 3 awards.  Justin looked hot in both of his leather ensembles, just like Melinda said.  Justin had called her each day but the conversations were short due to the schedule they had to keep.  The nightly phone calls helped a little but seemed to make her miss him more.  Deb went back to work but decided to keep her love life quiet for now, even though all her friends thought she was being very mysterious.  She didn't want to talk about it anyway because it just depressed her.  She missed him terribly and she hated being that needy.  Janet wasn't around.  She'd tried to call her to no avail.

Instead, she had buried herself in work, trying to take her mind off Justin but it only worked sporadically.  Now, she had a whole day off with nothing to occupy her mind.  She had all her *NSYNC CD's on repeat in her CD player as she did housework and laundry.  Her loneliness even caused her to forego washing her bed sheets.  All that would accomplish would be that his scent would be gone from her bed and that wouldn't be wise in her mental state.  Anything she could find that smelled like him or made her think of him, she kept close at hand.  'My God!  You are so pathetic,' she would scream at herself.  'What is happening to me?'

She went for her walk, but refused to go in the direction of Trace's beach house.  She didn't want to see someone else staying there or worse yet, no one sitting on the front deck where Justin liked to sit.  If she had known how solitary the week was going to be, Deb would have ditched work and insisted on accompanying Justin to New York.  God knows she wanted to be there seeing to it that Britney kept her hands off her man!

Finally, after managing to fill most of the day, she decided to watch the saddest movie she could find.  She snuggled up on the sofa in a blanket, intent on crying her eyes out for the rest of the day.  She wasn't far into the first scene when she heard a knock at her door.  Keeping her blanket wound around her shoulders, Deb scooted to the door and opened it wide.

There in his jeans, white t-shirt, jean jacket and brown bandana stood a very tired looking Justin.  He was smiling, though, and that smile was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.  She let out a little squeal as she jumped into his arms and began kissing his eyes, nose, chin, cheeks, forehead, ears, neck... she would have continued but he took control of the situation and just concentrated on her mouth.  As she welcomed his tongue into her mouth, she moaned and held him tighter, wrapping her legs around him as her blanket fell to the floor.

When he began gasping for time out, she loosened her hold on him and unwrapped her legs from his waist.  As she stepped back, she blushed a deep red because he was looking at her like she'd lost her mind.  He kicked his bags farther into the kitchen and started to take his jacket off.  "Hello to you too!" he said, smirking at her exuberant greeting.

He walked toward her with a sexy grin on his face.  "So what do you want to do?"

He took off his sneakers and his bandana, letting the curls spring to life.  Deb smiled at him and let him pick her up.  He was warm and smelled like Woods cologne.  His lips were soft and wet, yet persistent as he kissed her.  The want in his eyes and the fullness of his lips only made the warmth spread through her body and explode in her stomach as he roughly fell on top of her in bed.

"God, I missed you," he said as his eyes roamed over her face.

"Me too," she said, just reveling in the feeling of him there with her.

It wasn't long until Justin's lazy kisses covered her face and neck.  She could feel how much he wanted her.  This is where she'd dreamed of being all week....home with Justin making love to her.  She stroked her hands up and down his back slowly tracing the muscles there.  Clutching his ass, feeling his hips grinding into her, making her ache for him.  Their kisses grew more urgent and Justin was pressing her into the mattress, exploring her body with his hands.  He'd already unbuttoned her pants and was concentrating on stroking and pinching her nipples while covering her mouth with his deep, wet, kisses.

Her head was spinning as she gasped for air.  He was now nuzzling her nipples through her shirt, panting on them with his hot breath.  Deb arched her back and as she did, she felt him ease her out of her jeans and underwear.  He pushed her shirt up to kiss and lick her nipples, causing a moan to linger from her mouth.  As she pulled her own shirt off and arched her back to do it, she felt him sucking on her with abandon.

She hooked her legs around his and rolled him over, sliding his shirt off in a fluid motion that surprised even herself.  She kissed and licked at his nipples and then down his stomach.  The gorgeous muscles of his stomach rippled as she kissed and nuzzled them and she hung on tightly as she made her way lower.  His hands were in her hair, pulling it a little now and then.  His erection was hardening with each of her caresses and he held his breath as she unbuttoned his jeans.  The urgency in his actions and his voice, when he'd murmur something more articulate than a grunt, turned her on even more.

She pushed his pants and boxers down his legs and licked his cock as it sprung out toward her.  He groaned and stroked it with his own hands while she watched.  He let go as she took over, licking it all along the bottom and sucking it long and hard.  The louder she sucked it, the more wild it drove him, until he had his hand on the back of her head, and thrust himself deep into her mouth.  Deb moaned as he became more aggressive, thrusting over and over, panting heavily.

As she saw him drawing near to an explosion, she crawled up his body to straddle and tease him.  She moving over him, sliding her center up and down, letting him find her opening and slide in a little before pulling away as she felt him begin to thrust into her.  She heard him whimper as he bit his lip and looked at her, the lust in his eyes making them darker.

"Baby...oh, God, I need to be inside you...." he whispered, breathless, against the lazy, wet kisses she placed on his lips.

He threw his head back against the pillows and grabbed her hips, attempting to get inside again.  Deb nuzzled his neck and smiled, and slowly began to move her lips down his chest again, eluding his attempts to enter her.  "Patience," she murmured against his soft skin as she began to caress his nipples with her fingers and then her tongue.

Each contact brought a low moan from him.  She could feel his cock pressing against her; his whole demeanor was practically begging her to take him inside.  She smiled against his smooth skin as she watched his reaction to her sweet torture.

His breathing had become shallow in anticipation; his eyes blinked slowly and he pressed his lips together trying to gain control.  She couldn't help it, she wanted to tease him and see how he reacted.  She continued to enjoy exploring his body with her tongue as he fought for control.

Justin finally groaned loudly, begging, "God!  Baby, come on, ...."

With both hands, he brought Deb's lips to his, kissing her hungrily.  As he held her eyes with his dark ones, he put his hands on her hips and pulled her down roughly onto his swollen cock.  A loud moan escaped Deb's own lips at his aggressive move.  Justin's face changed from wild need to pleasure right before her eyes.  He sighed and closed his eyes, relaxing against the pillows, and then began to thrust his hips lazily into her tightness.

Deb's breath was coming in short gasps and she could feel pleasure building within her own body.  She was now the one moaning as Justin continued the lazy rocking motion of his hips into hers.  Now he tortured her a little, giving her a sexy, evil, grin as he slid his hand up to cup the fullness of her breast and taunt her nipple to aching attention as she leaned into his touch.

Deb's mind was a jumble as she moaned, resting her forehead on his chest as they rocked together with him deep inside her.  Justin reached up and drew her mouth toward his, devouring her in the hottest, bone-melting kiss she thought she'd ever experienced.  He rolled over on top of her, still kissing her, pushing her closer to a mind-blowing orgasm.  He could feel her beginning to squeeze him tightly up inside, and long, low moans were escaping from her parted lips.  Her cries of pleasure only made his thrusts deeper and harder and even at the height of passion flowing through her body, Deb concentrated on devouring his swollen lips again.

She sank her fingers into his curls as waves of pleasure shook her body and she arched sharply under him.  Through the heavy mist of her endless reaction to his thrusts, Deb could see that Justin was on the verge of his own release, evident by the way his cock was throbbing deep inside of her.  Her body continued to rock with orgasms.  She was trembling against him and the headboard of the bed banged against the wall as he released deep inside her with one last thrust and groan.  He continued to moan softly against her neck as he finally was able to control his breathing and cease trembling.

Deb just laid there, barely able to move.  All she could think about was how she had never been fucked like, but even more astounding to her, was that Justin Timberlake was the one who'd done it.  She just held him in her arms, softly playing with the curls at the nape of his neck. They were both out like lights within a few minutes.

* * * * * * *

As she awoke the next morning, Deb thanked the Lord that her shift didn't start until later in the day.  She snuggled closer to Justin's warm body that was puttin off heat like a furnace.  She smiled, remembering the passion from the night before.  She drifted back to sleep and didn't hear anything when Justin slipped out of bed a few minutes later and pulled on his jeans.  He smiled as he watched her sleeping form and then closed the door softly behind him.

As he sat on the deck, Justin absentmindedly played with the curls on the nape of his neck.  It was a habit he'd had since he was a little boy that usually meant he was in deep thought and totally distracted.

He'd missed her more than he thought humanly possible while he was in New York.  He kicked himself about a hundred times each day for not bringing her with him.  But that was over now.  He was back where he belonged...with the woman he loved.  Seeing Britney in New York had solidified the feelings he had for Deb, something he never thought possible.  Now he just had to find a way to tell her.....

* * * * * * *

An hour or so later, Deb wrapped a sheet around herself and walked around the house looking for Justin.  When she came to the door leading to the deck, she caught a glimpse of him sitting in a lawn chair with his sneakered feet resting on the railing of the deck.  She felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw him.  He was wearing holey, faded jeans and a crisp white dress shirt with the top three buttons open.  He was swaying his knees to and fro while concentrating on whatever he was writing in a small green notebook.  The sea breeze was blowing his sun frosted curls around but he seemed oblivious to anything other than what he was writing.  She smiled when she heard him singing under his breath.  His sunglasses had slid clear down his nose so he could see over the top, but they seemed to be bothering him and he perched them on top of his head and went back to writing.

She walked out quietly and stood beside him for a few moments before she let her hand brush his thigh, which felt hot from the sun.  He jumped a little and squinted up at her.  "Oh, hi, baby!" he said softly with a smile and put his feet down on the deck.  Seeing that smile, she bent down to kiss his lips softly.

Justin noticed the loosely fitted sheet that Deb held around her body and stroked her back, saying, "Nice sheet," before returning her kiss.

"Thank you baby," she cooed, trying to read what he had been writing as he turned the notebook over.  "What's that?"

"Oh, nothing, just ideas for a song.  Hey!  I told Trace that I'd check on his house, so why don't you get some clothes on and walk with me?" he said as he looked up at her.

'There's something different about him since he came back from New York,' Deb thought as she pinched his cheek softly and left to get dressed.

When she returned, dressed casual in blue jeans and red tank top and her hair finger styled quickly, Justin was playing his guitar and softly humming to himself.  He put the guitar down when he noticed her standing there.  "What are you up to, Justin?" Deb inquired, frowning at the innocent look he was wearing.

"Just writing, that's all," he replied, holding out his hand for her to take as they walked down the steps to the beach.

She continued to look at him with suspicion as he tried to ignore it and wrapped his arm around her as they walked.  She sat in the sand, watching the ocean while she waited for him to check on Trace's house. She just concentrated on watching the waves, trying to figure out what Justin had up his sleeve.  He definitely had something going on but, at the same time, he seemed quiet and more peaceful than when he left.

Deb felt arms come around her and hold her from behind as Justin rested his head against hers.  "So you really missed me, huh?" he said with a laugh.

Deb turned to look at him and was about to answer when she saw Justin's long legs on either side of her.  Justin was looking back at her with a goofy grin plastered on his face.  "What??" she said, becoming exasperated.

He leaned forward and teased her lips before saying, "I did bring something back from New York for you."

Deb said, "I know, and I saw it last night."

He laughed at that and brushed a strand of Deb's hair out of her eyes. "No, I'm not talking about that.  I actually have a few things for you.  I went shopping!"

Justin pulled a maroon velvet covered box out of his pocket.  From the look on Deb's face, he knew what she had thought it was.  "And you thought I was just happy to see you, right?"

Deb laughed and hugged him.  When she leaned back, he handed her the box.  "You didn't have to buy me a gift, Justin."

"I know that, but I wanted to," he said, stroking her face and looking seriously into her eyes.  "It reminded me of you!"

Deb felt herself blushing so she opened the lid to reveal a tennis bracelet with alternating blue and clear gems, sparkling in the sun.  Deb's eyes almost bugged out of her head making Justin almost collapse in the sand in laughter.  Part of the fun was shocking her all the time to watch her reactions.

"Oh My God, Justin!  This is too extravagant!" she said as she continued to stare at it with one of her hands running through her hair.

"Oh, stop.  Just let me put it on you," he said, grabbing the box and Deb's arm.

If Deb hadn't been so taken back, she would have found it comical at him fumbling with the clasp with his bigger fingers.  "Here, let me help," she offered with a smile.

"NO, no, I can do it.  Just hang on," he said as he kept at the clasp as he chewed on his bottom lip.  "There, see?"

Deb withdrew her arm from his grip and brought her wrist closer, mesmerized by the light blueness of the sapphires and the twinkle of the diamonds.  She had no doubt it was real and very expensive.

"Do you like it?" Justin said, watching her closely.

Deb sighed.  "I love it, but why?"