"I almost feel like I know this place already," said Sarah, "the way you've talked about it. Hard to believe I've never been here before."
The truth was, she wouldn't have been there now, except he'd stayed late and almost missed their date and before he could really protest, she was on her way to meet him. This place used to be so separate from the rest of his life. Now it was first Justin, then Sarah ... what next? A fuckin' MTV crew?
"There's not much to see, really," he said, reaching for her hand and pulling her close, keeping her from wandering away. "The lot, the garage, the office ... there isn't even a glamorous showroom. Probably pretty boring, for someone who doesn't like cars."
"Maybe," she admitted, smiling suggestively at him, "but you're here. And that's what matters most to *me*." She leaned in closer, on her tip-toes, and planted a soft kiss on his lips. "Is Jerry around, or do we have the place to ourselves?"
"He's gone home for the night," admitted AJ, suspecting he knew where she was going with that. He gave her a wicked little smile. "Why? Got something in mind?"
"Oh, really?" she said, the disappointment in her voice a surprise. "I was gonna say hi, talk about a few things with him. Well, maybe another time."
"Right, another time," echoed AJ flatly, letting his smile fade but not letting it disappear completely. "You were planning to come by again?" He hoped his voice reflected only his surprise and none of the less welcoming things he was feeling.
"Well, sure," she said with a guileless smile. "I really like him, honey, and he's a wonderful influence on you. It's hard to even believe sometimes I'm talking to the same person I met nine months ago."
Sometimes AJ felt the same way, and wondered what had happened to the wild party girl he'd met back then, who he'd made a clean break with when he went into rehab. The woman he'd gotten back together with three months later -- who'd decided to sober up alongside him -- was a different person entirely.
"He's a good friend," agreed AJ, well aware of his careful wording. "I haven't had enough of those in my life."
"But that's all changing," she said, so confidently that AJ almost wanted to disagree with her, just to be contrary. But at least he recognized it would have just been contrariness and not his actual feelings on the subject. "I think it's been really a key for you to find your friends outside the industry. To not get caught up in that scene again."
AJ immediately though of Justin and was shaking his head before he knew it, when once he would have just agreed. "I think," he said slowly, "it's more finding the right people, within the industry. The ones that aren't part of the whole scene. They are out there."
"You wouldn't have said that a couple months ago," she noted with a firm, if pretty, frown. "What made you change your mind about that?"
"Well, there's me, to start," he said, trailing his fingers casually up her bare arm as he spoke. "So there are bound to be others. Some who've been through the same things I have and some who just never got into it in the first place."
"AJ," she said with a soft sigh, "we've talked about this. You and I have talked about this and you talked about this in rehab and I'm sure you've talked about this with Jerry, too. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"I didn't say I was *doing* anything," he retorted, still stroking her arm. "But in theory, it doesn't have to be a bad thing."
"You wouldn't have said anything if it was a theory."
He would have, actually; despite the amount of time the two of them had spent talking about things, there was still a lot she just didn't understand about him. In this case, though, she was right.
"Justin Timberlake."
"What about him?"
"I've been spending some time with him," he clarified, lifting his hand to run it through her hair from the nape of her neck. "He's a good guy."
"Oh honey," she said, and to him she sounded disappointed in spite of her gentle tone. "I'm not saying you're wrong, but ... wasn't he the one who made the news for something or other just a little while ago? Sleeping around? Partying?"
"It wasn't like that," said AJ, less mildly than he would have liked. "You know those stories are only ever half-true. At best."
"It's that half I worry about," she admitted, touching his face. "You know I don't want to see you ... hurt. By trusting the wrong people. You're still so ... "
"You're going to have to trust me," he interrupted her. And that was the end of it -- he knew what he was doing, and he was happy with how things were, and there was nothing Sarah could, or should, say to him to change that. To make sure she didn't pursue it, he leaned in and kissed her firmly.
That, finally, changed her reactions to him. She licked her lips when he pulled away and gave him an entirely different sort of smile. "So you said Jerry's already gone for the night, right?"
"Right," he confirmed, matching her smile. This, at least, made the visit worthwhile, made the fact that his sanctuary had been breached a little easier to take. His hand sank through her hair again then trailed down the back of her dress. "Of course, there's no saying he won't stop by to check on things ... "
"Well, then," she replied with devious practicality, "we'll just have to make it quick." Her hands were already trailing down the front of his shirt, reaching for his fly, and AJ was ready for them to be. Just holding her for that long, even talking about Justin, of all things, had left him hard.
As she worked quickly to undo the buttons of his jeans, he brought one hand up to cup her breast, squeezing gently. She didn't seen to need any more prompting than that to slide AJ's jeans down -- easily -- to mid-thigh, and guide his other hand down from her waist to the hem of her short dress. She left her hand atop his to not-so-subtly encourage him to start moving back upwards again, lifting her dress as he went.
"You planned this?" he asked in surprise when he found no elastic where he expected to find one, no fabric covering her at all.
"I thought it might be a nice surprise."
He let his fingers brush over her, then slipped between her thighs, spreading her growing wetness. It was unlikely he'd been able to get her this turned on in so short a time, another clue she'd come here with certain ... expectations. And as she'd already begun stroking him with clear purpose, he certainly didn't object. They moved together until her back was pressed flat up against the car door, and she looked very happy to be there, spreading her legs even wider for him. It wasn't long before he needed to take his hand off her breast and use it to hike the other side of her dress up. She was reacting to his signals swiftly, letting go of him and wrapping one leg around him so all he had let to do was slide into her body.
She threw her head back as he pushed inside and dug her fingers into his forearms. He knew how she wanted this -- how she always wanted it when she started things the way she had -- and let go of her dress to grasp her wrists and hold them firmly over her head. She moaned loudly enough to attract the attention of anyone nearby, but thankfully there was no one's attention to be gotten.
Balanced securely against the car, he began to thrust inside her, baring his teeth and gripping her tightly. She ground her body against his in return, dropping her head forward again to rest against his shoulder. He could feel the tension in her body as her one leg pulled him tighter to her.
AJ was pretty sure she came first, sinking her teeth into his shoulder and struggling to free her wrists so she could claw at his back, but he was right behind her -- at least in part thanks to that same biting and clawing.
He rested his own head against her shoulder in return and stood panting for a moment as he slipped back out of her body again and she dropped her leg. "Thanks," she murmured, just barely audible, and reached down to unsnag her skirt from between them so it fell covering her again. "Lemme help you ... "
She reached into AJ's pocket and dug out a slightly tattered tissue to clean him up with, then tugged his pants back up again and buttoned them for him. He wondered in the back of his mind if he should have offered her the same treatment, but his head hadn't quite stopped swimming yet. And really, she didn't seem to need it nor expect it.
"Do you need a ride to the restaurant?"
He finally recovered enough to answer her. "No, I have my car here, how about I meet you there?" He looked down at his jeans and his grease-stained shirt. "And I'll want to change first anyway."
She nodded and smiled and leaned forward to give him a lingering kiss. "Don't be long," was all she said before fixing her dress and heading back to her own car.
AJ rubbed his trembling hands against his thighs until he'd wiped the sweat from them, then headed into the office where he kept a clean set of clothes for just such an occasion. He really was looking forward to going out with her, despite his initial reaction to her arrival. Then maybe afterward he would give Justin a call.