Kevin walked out of the bathroom that was attached to my bedroom wearing only a towel.  I caught sight of him as I was just finishing up getting dressed and had to stop in my tracks.  I sighed and shook my head, “My god you look good wet…”

A slow grin slid across his face and he crossed the short distance to stand before me.  I looked up at his beautiful face.  His freshly shampooed hair left small drops of water dripping down his face to his neck then his chest and down his fabulous tummy.  He leaned his face toward mine and kissed me. 

My head swam as it usually did when Kevin kissed me, was near me, looked at me, or just breathed my air.  I stepped back from him, “No one should look that good in just a towel…”

“I could take it off…” he said with a smirk and moved a hand toward the spot where the towel was twisted together and tucked in keeping it hanging low around his waist.

“Don’t you dare…” I said and covered my face. 

He laughed a laugh that only a guy can laugh.  That one that with just a throaty sound says Yeah you want me and I know it…  He pulled my hands from my face with a grin, “Why not?”

“Because we have guests in the house and I already put breakfast in the oven…”

“You’d choose breakfast over me?” he teased.

“You’ve never had my stuffed French toast before…” I said with a smile then watched a drop of water making the trip down his chest toward his treasure trail.  I wanted to lick that drop of water and the skin beneath it.  I closed my eyes, “Fresh French bread, stuffed with cream cheese and raspberries then dipped in a mixture of eggs and cinnamon and topped with…”  Kevin’s mouth found my neck and made me stutter momentarily.  “… a mixture of sugar and oatmeal and…” I sighed and somehow found the strength to push him away again.  “You’re evil… get dressed.” 

He laughed that laugh again and it made my insides swoon.  He turned to dig through his bag for clothes and I plopped myself on my bed.  I closed my eyes and threw my arm over my face.  I would not look at him while he got dressed.  At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

“I have a question for you…” I finally said, still hiding my face from any Kevin Watching that would lead to us getting naked.

“Alright…”

“What are you going to do while I’m in New York next week?”

“Probably go blind and get really hairy palms…” he said and laughed at his own joke. 

I laughed too and dropped my arm back to my side but kept my eyes closed.  “You’re gross…”

“Hey, you asked…” he said still laughing.

I shook my head, “If my eyes weren’t closed, I’d be rolling them at you right now…” I giggled.

“You can open them again, I’m fully clothed, and I have to show you something.”

I kept my eyes closed, “I don’t trust you… you’re probably standing there naked.”

“It’s tempting, but really… I’m dressed.”

I opened one eye and lifted my head to look at him.  What I saw cracked me up and I opened my other eye.  Kevin was wearing a black tee shirt with the Superman logo on the chest.  “Oh my god…”

“I got it in Kentucky.  I was going to put it on last night as my pajamas but then we sort of skipped the pajamas so…” he grinned and struck a superhero pose for me. “How is it?”

“It’s fantastic…” I said with a huge grin on my face.   “I love it, now we’ve just gotta get the fuzzy slippers.”

He crawled on the bed and lay next to me on his stomach smiling, “So… back to your question.”

I nodded while looking at him, “Yeah…”  He watched at me and I rolled my eyes, “You’re going to make me ask aren’t you?”

“Yup…”

If his eyes didn’t twinkle when he smiled I may have been able to whine and pout but instead I swooned and took a deep breath.  “Wanna be my groupie in New York?”

He laughed and the sound made my heart smile, “Your groupie?  That’s not one I’ve ever been before… I’ve had groupies, but I’ve never been one.”

“Well I’ve never had one so we’re even…”

“Can I stand outside of your hotel and scream when you come out then beg you for an autograph and flirt with you until you agree to take me back to your room and have your way with me?”

I chuckled, “Yeah all of that except the hotel… I’m not staying in a hotel, Josef’s got a place in the city.”

“Cool…” he said with a nod.  “You know… true groupies generally get sex.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Will I be your true groupie?” The smirk that was on his face just about killed me.  I almost ripped his clothes off right then and there.  Almost.

“Only if you tell me that my stuffed French Toast is the best you’ve ever had…” I said with my own smirk.

He got up off of the bed and pulled me to my feet by my hand so fast that I had to grab his waist to avoid falling over, “Breakfast time!”

I cracked up and he chuckled at me as he wrapped his arms around my waist.  I looked up at him, “You’ve gotta kiss me again before we go out there… Make it good… Consider it your groupie audition.”

It wasn’t as if he needed any motivation to be a good kisser, Kevin ran circles around anyone who’d ever kissed me before, but he laid one on me right then that literally made my knees weak.  When he pulled his mouth away I kept my eyes closed and put my head against his chest.  I could hear his heart and it was beating as rapidly as mine was.  He kissed the top of my head then lay his cheek against my head, “How’d I do?”

“Oh you definitely got the job…”  I looked up at him with a grin and unwrapped myself from his arms then led him by the hand to the kitchen.

AJ, Christian, and my mom were all up and in kitchen when Kevin and I joined them.  “Good morning, again…” I said as I passed AJ and ran my hand across his shoulder.  He was sitting at my kitchen table using my laptop.

“Hey… morning… Christian said it would be okay if I used your laptop, is it cool?”

“Of course…” I said over my shoulder as I poured myself a fresh mug of coffee.  I kissed my mom on the cheek as she checked the oven to make sure my French toast was baking okay.  “Morning, Mama…”

“Morning, Monkey…” She looked at Kevin with a big grin, “Morning, sweetheart…”

He gave her a hug and kissed her cheek, it made my heart happy to watch.  I sat down in the chair next to Christian.  I made a kissy face at him and he leaned in and kissed me.  “Morning, Boo…”

 “Morning…” he said and took a sip out of my coffee. 

“Dude… get your own…” I said and took my mug from him.

“I had my own but it’s gone and I’m too tired to get up and get more,” he told me with a chuckle.

“You’re such a nerd…” I said and I caught AJ chuckling from behind my laptop.  I shot him a look and he smiled.  “So did you ask?”

“I did…” he said with a smile.  “Did you?”

I grinned, “Yeah…”

“Good…” he told me with a nod. 

I looked at Christian, “So did you piddle on the floor when you found out that I’d asked AJ to stay with us?”

“Just a little bit…” Christian said with a smile.

I laughed and looked at AJ, “Did he let out one of those hopelessly teenage girl squees?”

AJ nodded, “Pretty much…”

“Oh shut up…” Christian laughed.  “I’m channel my inner queen when I‘m excited, okay?”

Even Kevin laughed at that one and he finally sat down at the table with us holding his own coffee.  AJ laughed too and then looked at me again, “Oh hey, I checked my e-mail to double check the date of that dinner and it is on Thursday…”

“Oh cool… then it’s perfect.  I suppose I have to wear something fancy, huh?”

“Yeah it’s a black tie kind of thing, I’ve gotta wear a tux,” he said and rolled his eyes.

“Sweet, I get to pretend to be a real girl!”

Kevin looked between AJ and me then looked at Christian, “What the hell are they talking about?”

“They have a date…”

Kevin looked at me, “What?”  He then looked at AJ, “What?”

I cracked up, “AJ’s going to be in New York next week too… He’s taking me to a fancy ASPCA fundraiser and he’s staying with us at Josef’s.”

Kevin shook his head as if to clear it, “When did all of this happen?”

I patted Kevin’s confused cheek with my hand, “AJ and I watched the sun rise this morning and he asked me to go with him to the fundraiser.”

“You got up for the sunrise today?”

“Of course…” I smiled into my mug and then took a drink.

“I totally slept through it…”

“Yup…” I chuckled.  “But AJ got up and we had a very lovely morning together.”

AJ nodded, “We did…”

Christian yawned, “Don’t worry, Kev.  I slept through it too and so did Mama and the Vin.”

As if on cue Vinnie came into the house through his dog door and trotted into the kitchen.  He came to me and nuzzled his head into my hands for my morning itch behind his ears.  I said hello to him and he grunted a doggie hello back at me.  “So because I slept through the sunrise you made a date with my little brother?”

“You snooze you lose, Kev…” AJ said with a chuckle as he typed something on the laptop.

I chuckled at Kevin rolling his eyes at AJ with a smile.  “Wait a minute… the ASPCA Fur Ball?”

AJ shrugged with his eyes still on the computer screen, “It’s something like that… stupid name.”

“I think I have tickets to that…” Kevin said and laughed.

AJ looked at me and laughed, “He really can take Christian…”

“Ooh double date!” Christian said and giggled before getting up to finally refill his coffee mug.  “Can I get a fancy dress with Kel?”

I looked at Kevin and shook my head, “Don’t even say yes as a joke, he’ll do it…”

Kevin smiled then looked at Christian, “No…”

Christian giggled as he turned back toward us from the coffee pot, “Will you at least hold my hand?”

“No.”

“Put out at the end of the night?”

“Not with you…” Kevin said and chuckled.  When my mom laughed heartily at that Kevin blushed three shades of red and covered his face.  I laughed and kissed his temple as I got up to take our breakfast out of the oven.

I ordered my mom to sit down as I began to prepare plates for everyone.  She sat down next to AJ and Vinnie settled at her feet.  He was a Mama’s Boy by all means but when my mom was in town she was the Mama that he obsessed over and I was chopped liver.  I served Kevin and Christian first as they were on the side of the table closest to me.  When I went back to dish up food for the rest of us AJ spoke up talking over the screen of my laptop.

“Dude… Every single time the paparazzi take my picture lately I look like a fucking dweeb…”

Everyone laughed and my mom leaned over to look at the screen, “Oh you do not…”

“Look at this one…” he said and clicked around to another picture.

“Okay yeah… that one is dweebish,” she admitted with a grin.  I giggled as I returned to the table with the remaining three plates.  “How are you finding those pictures?”

“I Googled myself…”

“AJ… not at the breakfast table!” I teased and we all laughed.

He shot me a smile and then looked back to the screen.  My mom was still looking at the screen as well, “So Google is for celebrities?” 

“Oh hell no… you can Google anyone…” AJ said looking at my mom.  I watched them interact and had to admit they’d be a damn cute couple if they ever decided to go there.  AJ looked back to the computer, “Let’s do you… do you typically go by Mel or Melody?”

“Mel, I guess…” She looked at me, “What do you think, Monkey?”

“Probably Mel…” I nodded, fully amused at my mom finally learning how to Google.

AJ typed in my mom’s name and did a search.  He smiled, “There you are…”

“Oh my goodness…” she said, her excitement quite clear in her voice.  “That’s when Kel was on Oprah…”

“Very cool…” AJ said with a smile. 

“Do Kellie…” she said and motioned to the screen with her hand.

I rolled my eyes, “Your breakfast is getting cold, Ma…”

“Oh hush…” she said and watched over AJ’s shoulder.  After a second she grinned, “Look at how beautiful my baby is…”

“Very…” AJ said and then winked at me. 

I blushed and tried to ignore him instead focusing on my breakfast.  Kevin leaned over and kissed my cheek then whispered in my ear, “Truly the best French toast I’ve ever had…”

I couldn’t help but smile, “Like you’d say anything else…”

He shrugged and smiled, “Yeah well…”

My mom’s voice pulled me away from looking at Kevin, “Ooh look it’s Kevin and Kel together…”

That got Kevin’s attention too, “What?”

“Oh geesh…” AJ groaned and read from the screen, “Former Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson is shown here canoodling with Author Kellie Johnson of Lake Pleasanton fame in Daytona Beach, Florida.  What we want to know is if Mrs. Richardson is aware of what her husband is up to…”

Kevin sighed and shook his head, “Where’s it from?”

“Pop Daily…”

My mom was clearly reading the comments under the picture because he face went from amused to ticked off in record time, “Oh my god… how in the world are these people allowed to say those things?”

“People register as users of the site and then they can comment on pictures and articles all they want.”

“Pop Daily is trash…” I said shaking my head.  I wanted to get up and see what the PD Kids were saying about me and Kevin but I knew better than to look.  Looking only made me mad. 

“Amen to that…” Kevin said and put his hand on my knee squeezing gently.

“But it’s all lies… I mean some girl here is saying that Kellie likes to fool around with married men…” My mom looked at me, “You’ve never dated a married man before…”

“I know, Mama… Like I said, PD is trash.  They don’t care if what people say on their site is true or not.  Don’t worry about.”

“Seriously…” Kevin said and looked across the table to AJ.  “Leave it be…”

Something in Kevin’s voice commanded attention and AJ responded immediately.  Years of AJ being the little brother to Kevin showed right then.  “No problem…” AJ quickly shut down the site and then logged off of the computer shutting it down.  Watching AJ respond to Kevin so quickly was impressive, there was so much respect there.  I smiled at AJ as he replaced the laptop with his breakfast plate.   He looked at me and smiled back, “It was a good picture…” he said quietly.  “I saved it to your desktop…”

I chuckled and Kevin did too, “Thanks…”

AJ nodded, “It’s cool…”  He then looked at Christian with a grin, “I will personally donate an extra grand if you show up in a ball gown.”