Almost Lost, Never Forgotten

by T. L. Sieving

  “Glad you find this so amusing Miss. Stevens,” Jax whispers in my ear as he wraps his arms around me, “God I’ve missed you today.”

  I turn around to face him and he’s naked, “I missed you too.” I tell him while rubbing my hands up and down his hard chest. “This is so beautiful Jax,” I say as I lean up and kiss him. I start slow but it quickly turns heated.

  “Seriously Lucy you can’t dress for work this fucking sexy. You're driving me mad,” he says as he takes off my skirt and sees my garter and panties.

  “Jax I wore this one just for you!” I tell him and he picks me up and takes me over to his bed. “What about the bath?” I laughingly ask him.

  That thought is forgotten as he throws me down and starts licking my core through my panties. “Oh my god, Jax!” I scream. He’s licking and nibbling my nub and nothing has ever felt more perfect.

  He gives me a sexy growl and rips off my panties. That act alone makes me dripping wet. He slips one finger in and slowly opens me up and then adds another and I’m panting heavily with need. “Jax please I want you in me now!”

  He flips me over and hovers over me finding my clit with his fingers again. “What do you want Lucy?” he asks in a deep voice laced with desire.

  “I want you inside me now Jax!”

  He slowly enters me from behind and keeps his finger positioned on my clit rubbing me softly, “Do you want this slow or fast Lucy?”

  All I can do is moan, it feels so perfect.

  “Slow or fast Lucy?” he asks again.

  “Faster!” I barely get out. “Oh my God Jax, I’m going to come,” I shout at him.

  “So responsive sexy little Lucy.”

  We come together and it’s incredible. I’m in shock of how in sync our bodies are and my God, Jax is a good lover.

  Great lover and the best planner I’ve ever met. He made the bath so hot that it’s still warm enough for us to get in. We climb into his huge tub and relax with our bottle of champagne.

  He tells me about his day at work and how close he is to signing on for his first director role. Jax is so animated and I can really tell he loves what he does. I’m not surprised to hear that he thinks Sam will take on this role with him. I’m hoping to get this out of Sam tomorrow.

  I tell him about my day and he asks a lot of questions about how I’m going to handle all the different personalities of these athletes. He gives me really good advice for dealing with divas and difficult personalities. I’m interviewing the players that we anticipate making a huge name for themselves in their career. I never thought about how similar this was to his interviews so it’s nice to get his input. It’s even nicer that he’s so supportive of me and takes an interest in what I do.

  We get out of the bath when the water finally turns colder and we run out of champagne. I really didn’t eat today so I’m a slightly buzzed and really hungry. We change into sweats and go downstairs.

  Again Jax sweeps me off my feet and has the patio set up for a romantic meal. We sit down and servers come out to serve us our meal.

  “Maybe I should've dressed for dinner a little more?” I say to him a little embarrassed that I suggested comfy clothes. He’s also in sweats and a t-shirt, but he looks damn hot.

  “Lucy, you are gorgeous when you are dressed down like this and aren't wearing any makeup.”

  “Thank you Jax,” is all I reply and lean over as I give him a kiss.

  We talk all through dinner which was delicious and so romantic and decide to watch a movie. We go to his theater room and put on “The Italian Job,” not so romantic but Jax picked it.

  We cuddle up in his love seat and start the movie. My thoughts are everywhere but on the movie as I replay this mini vacation with Jax over and over again in my head.

  I’m dating a mega superstar and he’s so normal. He’s rich, but he doesn’t overly give me stuff. Oh wait, he did send me a private plane.

  I'm so comfortable with Jax and the sex is amazing. I should say that again since it genuinely is amazing! We've had some fabulous days together minus one seriously crazy actress.

  I really like Jax and for the first time in a long time I’m happy with a man.

  Chapter 15

  Wednesday morning is crazy at Jax’s house. It’s a revolving door of agents, PR people, and assistants barging through needing him for one thing or another. I pack up my things and relax by the pool enjoying a few more minutes of the tranquil setting.

  Sam comes outside and asks me if I’m ready to hit the road. “Ready when you are Sam,” I tell her. We’re flying on her dad’s private plane back to New York this afternoon. Mr. Renault wasn’t happy that I planned on taking a public flight and insists that I use all their private modes of transportation. That’s not going to happen but I’ll gladly fly with her today since she’s already using it.

  “Have room for one more?” Jax comes out and asks us.

  “Absolutely Jax, glad you can make it,” Sam tells him. I smile and he winks back at me

  Last night Jax told me of his plans to come with us to New York. He has business to take care of for a few days but I’m happy our time together isn’t ending just yet.

  I’m feeling a little off this morning. I was having a really good dream but the man in the dream wasn’t Jax and that had me concerned. I don't want anyone else but Jax in my thoughts right now.

  I need some real consideration of how these baseball interviews are going to affect me. The anticipation of not only seeing Chase, but talking to him, obviously is making me anxious. I’m months away from my interview with him but I almost saw him twice this week. I’m not emotionally prepared for our meeting just yet.

  I excuse the dream with Chase as my minds way of working through feelings of seeing him soon. I don’t reflect about him as much as I used to and I don’t love him anymore. He hurt me badly. I can’t forgive what he did to me… ever.

  The paparazzi are nuts when we leave Jax’s house to head for LAX. They must live at the airport because they prance on us immediately when we arrive. We’re walking hand-in-hand and I’m doing my best to ignore the constant lights flashing in my face. Sam’s in front of us but isn’t taking any of the attention away from asking Jax and I about our relationship.

  Once we make it through security they are gone but gawking isn’t much better. Jax has fans that are asking him for autographs but they are very polite. I see people take their phones and snap pictures of us but I don’t blame them. Jax is pretty damn hot. I lean into him as he wraps his arms around me and I take a deep breath to relax.

  On second thought, Mr. Renault has a point. I might as well use his fleet of private transportation if he has it. Holy shit, it’s nice traveling in a private plane! I can get up whenever I want; I can lay down, sit, eat, or do anything I want. It's easy to see why people pay the extra money for this luxury if they have it.

  We land without any problems; except for the paparazzi waiting for us at the airport. Although, they’re nowhere close to as bad in New York as they are in Los Angeles. Apparently Catherine sent out a release that she was as surprised to hear of Jasper’s new relationship, but to please give us privacy to see where our relationship could lead. In reality that just means I’m hot gossip now.

  For most of our five hour flight Jax and Sam discussed the project and how it’d impact her family and Renault Financial while I listened on and slept.

  I was sent the final editing from my interview with Michael Hernandez and I couldn’t believe it. I’d pick this segment up based on this interview and I was the one who wasn’t sure Michael should even be on the list. Not that I'd ever tell anyone that now.

  I’m so proud of what we’ve been able to achieve and I’m giddy with excitement to get to the office. Jax spent the night but I was at work before he got up.

  7:05am

  Jax: Hey babe, I missed you this morning. Can you do lunch or dinner tonight?

  Me: Hey there. You looked so peaceful sleeping that I didn’t want to ‘wake you
wake you’. Dinner for sure, I’ll bring home Chinese, say 8pm?

  7:08am

  Jax: ‘Wake me Wake me’ next time gorgeous. See you at 8. Have a great day! xx

  Me: Have a great day, xoxo

  My morning was normal, since I was working during my Los Angeles trip; that is until my 8am meeting.

  At 8am I’m called into meeting that ends up lasting the rest of the day. We worked through lunch and dinner until everyone finally left at 7:30pm. I was so exhausted I didn’t know if I could make it home so I text Sam and asked if James could come get me. I’ve never asked her to pick me up from work before, I was seriously exhausted.

  Sam texted me right back that she was sending James right over to NBC. She keeps calling me but I hit ignore because I’m trying to wrap up my day before heading to meet James. I text her that I’m ok just physically and mentally drained from an all-day meeting and that I’d call her when I was in the car.

  When James arrives he gets out of the car and opens the door for me, “Thanks, James.”

  “My pleasure, Miss Stevens. Miss Renault has asked that you call her right away. She is worried about you,” James says and I’m instantly ashamed I didn’t call earlier. I know I concerned her when I asked her to pick me up.

  I quickly call her and she answers on the first ring. “Are you sure you’re ok Lucy, what happened?”

  I had an 8am meeting that lasted 11.5 hours. Everything’s good but I’m exhausted. I have to be at work early tomorrow and my project timelines are being pushed up.”

  Sensing I’m leaving something out she tells me to spill it and I end up telling her the whole story.

  Rebekka was so impressed with the first interview and the details from the teams Public Relations office that they’re pushing my filming up. I have the green light to work solely on this for the next month and they plan to air the special in 40 days.

  All of the interviews have been pushed up. Coordinating new dates and times for all of it was crazy. It was pure madness setting up the original schedule and this proved to be twice as hard. We had so many assistants on the phones in the conference rooms today re-planning all the dates and updating project charts. It was a madhouse!

  The amount of support that NBC is giving means they see it as a golden project. This is a whole new level of stress for me; but I’m ready for it.

  What I’m not so ready for is Chase’s interview has been moved up. It’s in two days. He’s our ‘super star’ and they want to get his interview done immediately so they can use it for promotional use for the show and network.

  Chase will be in town this weekend and a few days next week for a series with New York, so I have two dates scheduled with him Friday and next Tuesday. Oh my God.

  After I finally get all of that out to Sam she tells me to hold before I feel the car turnaround. Sam comes back on the phone and tells me she just called James to come pick her up. I feel bad that Sam is scooting out of work earlier than planned, but love my best friend for knowing I need her right now.

  We finally walk in the door at 9pm and Jax is sitting on the couch with Chinese. I immediately stop and put my head down, “Jax oh my God, I’m so sorry.” I’m fighting back tears. I missed our planned dinner date and I didn’t even call him or text him that I was going to be late. I was so wrapped up in myself that I wasn’t thinking of him. Shit!

  “Babe, it’s no big deal. Sam called and said she needed you to come get her and you'd be late. She told me you had a hard day so I brought the good stuff,” he says as he holds up a giant Mr. Goodbar.

  I smile at him, “You’re too good to me. Both of you are.”

  Jax wraps me up in his arms and I instantly relax. Being wrapped in his arms feels so comforting.

  We sit down and eat as I explain how my timeline has been moved up and as exciting as this is for me it’ll be a lot more work. I discuss the day in great detail and they are both speechless.

  “Wow that was a rough day,” Jax says and Sam agrees.

  “Bath or bed?” Sam asks.

  I can’t help but laugh, “Definitely bed.”

  Sam and I start to clean up dinner while Jax takes a call.

  “I’m going to think about this tonight,” Sam tells me, “Should you have someone else do this interview?”

  “Absolutely not Sam, this is my project and my opportunity. Chase is not going to take this away from me.”

  “Ok, then I’ll come with you,” she offers.

  “That might be a great idea… maybe… ok?” I say as I give her a big hug.

  That was really thoughtful of Sam to offer to come with me. It may be nice having an ally with me; I know Chase will have an entourage with him. We say goodnight and Jax follows me into my room.

  “I planned to meet some friends for a drink, is there any way I can convince you to come?” he asks.

  “I wish, but I’m exhausted. Go and have fun. Will I see you tomorrow?”

  “No, I’m flying back to Los Angeles, but I’ll be back Friday night. Can we do dinner and dancing Saturday?” Jax asks.

  “Oh that sucks,” I say, disappointed that he’s leaving, “Saturday sounds great.”

  We make out for a while but it doesn't go too far. It feels so good to just hug, kiss, and touch someone after such a hard day, but emotionally I can’t have sex tonight. I’m drained and Jax senses that.

  “It’s so hard to leave you, I’ll miss you.”

  “Right back at you,” I reply.

  4:30am comes way too fast after another restless night of sleep. I kept having nightmares of being chased by faceless people.

  My run helps clear my mind and I’m ready to have a productive day.

  Sam and I ride to work together and she has a plan. She’s way too chirpy and structured in the mornings sometimes but I love her for it.

  She’s having her stylists come over today and they will leave outfits for us to choose from and we’re expected at the spa at 8pm tonight. I could kiss Sam and her super-structured ways. I can’t wait for Mary Poppins! Looks like I’m going to be waxed, rubbed, and refreshed for the interview I'm about to have with Chase Perri.

  I work through lunch with some NBC Public Relations people to prep for the interview. This is what they want to use to sell the entire series on. So, this is the interview they’re going to be the most crazy over.

  I’m not happy that I’ll have two PR suits with me tomorrow. I didn’t think I would have an audience for the first time I’d talk to Chase in over four years. This was going to be awkward.

  The rest of the day goes by in a blur. Rebekka and Sam have been so supportive. I couldn’t have asked for a better boss or best friend.

  Sam and I have a great night at the spa which includes a bottle of champagne. I love my Mary Poppins because she always knows what I need. I’m waxed, polished, and prepped for a fabulous reunion, and the champagne has calmed me down completely.

  Chapter 16

  I’m a pile of nerves. I can't believe today is the day I’ll see Chase again. This also happens to be the day that I give the most important interview of my career.

  Sam is in my room with a cup of three shots of espresso; that’s my girl! I’m so thankful she had a stylist come the day before to leave outfit options for us. Ana is still in California or we would’ve had her help us.

  I start to drink the espresso and hit the treadmill for five miles. After the run I shower and drink the rest of the caffeine which has already started to work its magic. I get dressed in my favorite style of panties and garter belt with the Chanel blazer and pencil skirt that have been laid out. I'm every bit as prepared as I can be for today.

  Sam has an emergency at Renault Financial so will not be able to meet me for the interview. We plan on unwinding with a bottle of vodka at an outdoor restaurant down the street from us tonight.

  I head to the office where I’m meeting with Rebekka for last-minute updates before heading over to the stadium at noon. I plan to be there early so I have a few minutes to
breathe before our 1pm scheduled interview. I know they have a game tonight at 7:05pm so we’ve got plenty of time for the interview.

  Instead of mentally prepping for the interview I’m playing back all the summers that Chase and I spent together. He stood up for me and made sure no one was ever mean to me. He held me when I got hurt and cheered me on when I was in doubt of what I was doing. We had some amazing years together. He was more than my boyfriend; he was my best friend.

  I want these memories in my head and not the one of him and Lexie at the party that night. That night changed my life in so many ways. That night changed me. I want to be able to look at Chase fondly today and not with the disgust I’ve felt for him since that day. This is not about him hurting me. This is about my future as a sports analyst.

  I walk into the area where we’re doing the interview at 12:30pm and it’s a packed house. Chase has his team’s PR people there, which is normal, but some New York PR people are here too and we need them to leave. We are at their stadium so it’s a sticky situation but Rebekka works it out with them.

  Once everything is smoothed over and we’re finally ready it’s already 1:15pm and we’re running late. Chase is not here yet though and his PR people assure us that he’s coming but was lost as this isn’t their home stadium. I’m sensing some resentment from them about the stadium but that’s odd because that won’t be displayed in the interview.

  I suggest to Rebekka that we schedule the second interview in Detroit, at their stadium. Hopefully that appeases them and we can bump it up to Monday since the series will be in Detroit then.

  At 1:30pm I excuse myself to the restroom to freshen up. I walk down the hall to the ladies room and wash my hands in the cold water trying to cool down and settle my nerves a little. The wait is adding to my anticipation and the butterflies in my stomach are trying to get out. I take a few deep breaths and walk out of the bathroom.