“Shorty! You home?” Jess called, pulling her key out of the door.

“Hold on Jess I’ll be right out.” She answered from the bathroom.

“Aaron isn’t here! He decided to BOND with my dad!” Jess laughed.

“I wish I could see that.” Elise walked into the room.

“We still can’t get a hold of Caden. Mom thinks we might not even get a hold of him before the press finds out.”

“It’ll be fine.” Elise sat down next to Jess. “Denise has Mac for the day.”

“When will the guys be home again?”

“This weekend and they’re actually staying this time. I think I have some news for Alex.”

“Like what?”

“Well I’m waiting for the results,” she motioned towards the bathroom, “but I’m fairly positive.”

Jess immediately hugged Shorty. “That’s so great!” When she sat back down again she had a funny look on her face.

“Is something wrong Jess?”

“I don’t know. I mean not really. I wanted to ask you about something.”

“Go for it.”

“Do you ever regret… having sex before you were married?”

“Why do you ask that?” Elise looked at her surprised.

“I don’t know. I guess mostly because we decided to wait and, well, it’s torture… especially with Aaron just doing little things. Like he helps me brush my hair in the morning like he used to but now when he gets the back up he’s got to kiss the back of my neck where the hair starts…” Jess shrugged.

“Well I guess there are times I wish I had waited, but every time I see Mac smile.” Shorty smiled at Jess. “You know I always said I would wait. Alex and I didn’t do anything besides kiss for the longest time. I had never lived with anyone before he saved me. When he took me in I had nothing, everything I owned was lost in the fire. He bought me clothes and helped me learn to walk right again. He even came with me to their funeral. When he kissed me for the first time, I felt a connection, as if our souls were linked. I was always aware in the back of my mind that he was famous but to me he was just Alex.”

“That’s how it was with Aaron.”

“Well, one night he told me we were going to a fancy dinner so I got all dressed up and went downstairs to find the place lit by candles and him standing in the middle of the room staring at me. He was wearing a tuxedo and everything. He made the entire dinner, trust him when he says he can cook. When we finished eating, he blew out the candles on the table and turned on some music.”

Jess sighed, smiling at Elise as she continued, “He took my hands and led me to an open spot on the floor. I hadn’t danced a slow dance since my senior prom. I just hugged him and rested my head on his shoulder. I had never felt so safe as I did in his arms. We must have danced for more than three hours when the other candles started to burn out. When he kissed my forehead, I knew he was in love with me too. We walked hand in hand back upstairs and when he went to drop me off at my room I just didn’t let go of his hand. I whispered ‘one more dance’ and… well you could figure it out. I’d have to say I was never more scared than when I realized I might be pregnant. It suddenly hit me that he wasn’t just an ordinary man. He was a star and something like that could ruin his career. I was scared to death so I tried to run away.”

“You tried to run away?”

“Yeah, the morning that Nick had gotten completely smashed.” Elise winked.

“Yeah I heard about that part,” Jess smiled then sighed and turned away from Elise.

“What’s really bothering you Jessie?”

When Jess turned back, she was obviously fighting tears. “I’m scared Shorty. Every time he… I mean I’m not scared of him. He is one of the few men I’m not scared of. I guess… I guess I’m afraid of it,” tears began to stream down her cheeks.

“Jess…” Shorty put her arms around her.

“I love him to death and I’m going to marry him no matter what but if I… what would he think?”

“Why don’t you talk to him about it?”

“Do you think he would understand?”

“It never hurts to try sweetheart, and you know you can talk to him about anything.”

“I can talk to you too. Thank you.” Jess wiped off her face.

“It’s always good to have a girl to talk to. So, do you want to stay for dinner?”

“I would love to.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Elise stood up and practically ran to the bathroom.