As Tristian shut the door, I laughed. It was funny to see her and Alex interact like that. They were acting like brother and sister, throwing sarcastic remarks back and forth.

"What are you laughing at?" Alex asked, standing up.

"Nothing," I said.

"Yes, you are." He wrapped his arms around me and pinned my back up against the door. "Now that we have the contract done and signed..."

He leaned down to kiss me and I slipped under his arms out of his reach. "Are you hungry?" I asked. I had suddenly gotten nervous about the whole ordeal. What if the press found out? What if Tristian knew? What if she told?

"Only for you," he said in a throaty growl as he started inching towards me as a predator would towards his prey.

"Well, I'm hungry," I said, as I walked into the kitchen and started digging around in cupboards for something to eat.

Alex walked up behind me and placed his hands on my waist. "Are you nervous?" He whispered. "There's no need to be. I don't bite." His breath tickled the back of my neck causing my hair to stand up in both fear and excitement.

"No, of course not," I said trying to hide my fear and keep my composure.

"Liar," he said, kissing my neck and feeling my rapidly beating pulse.

"Well, what do you expect," I said. "It's not everyday I sign a contract for sex." He continued to kiss on my neck while his hands started to move up my back, across my shoulders and down my arms to my hands. He placed his hands on top of mine, stopping me from making peanut butter and crackers.

"It's okay. We'll go slow. I don't do this everyday either."

"But...I've never...I mean, this would be..." I couldn't seem to finish the sentence.

"You mean, you're a virgin?" Alex asked a little surprised. I looked down at the counter. "Why didn't you tell me?" Alex turned me around his arms and lifted my chin to look at him. "No wonder you're nervous. We don't have to, if you don't want to," he said.

"A deal's a deal," I said.

"You want to?"

I looked Alex in the eye and said, flatly, "Yes." I stood on my toes and kissed him. When we broke for air, he looked at me.

"You sure about this?" he asked.

"You ask again and I'll say no," I told him.

Alex laughed and took my hand. He led me down to my bedroom. "You wouldn't happen to have 'Lay Down Beside Me,' would you?"

"Actually, I do," I said. I reached for a tape sitting on my nightstand. "It's on this tape." I said, handing him the tape.

"Do you have any candles?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wanna set a mood. You set the tape and I'll light the candles, okay?"

"Okay." I sat down in front of my tape player and put the tape in. I rewound and fast-forwarded until I had the song set at the beginning. I hit play just as Alex turned off the bedroom light. The shades were completely drawn so it was pretty dark in the room. Soft glow of candlelight danced on the walls. Alex pulled me to my feet and started dancing with me. He leaned down and kissed me. The kiss seemed to last for an incredibly long time. He slid the white shirt I was wearing off my shoulders. He proceeded to undress me ever so slowly. I was still nervous, but every time Alex touched my skin, it sent shock waves through me. The song was long since over by the time Alex had me completely undressed. He took his time, trying not to make me more nervous. After about an hour of dancing and exploring, he laid me down on my day bed and crawled up beside me.

"I know you're nervous," he whispered to me. "It's okay. I'll take care of you." Alex talked to me while he positioned himself over me. He told me there would more than likely be pain, and he was right. I had never felt pain like that before and Alex was very careful to watch and listen to me. He went very slowly, allowing my body to adjust and letting me scream and cry in agony. He could tell that he was hurting me; he didn't need to ask. I thought for a moment of telling him to stop, but I knew that we had a deal. After a while though, I began to understand the beauty of what we were doing. It was a dance, one with complicated rhythms and subtle moves. Once I found Alex's rhythm, things seemed to go a lot smoother. There was still an immense amount of pain; it felt like something was tearing. I started blocking the pain, and focusing just on Alex's huge chocolate eyes. They gave me a point to lose myself. By looking in his eyes, I was able to forget the pain and just concentrate on him.

Alex was very patient with me. He wanted me to experience the joy that went along with all that we were doing and he worked very hard to bring me that joy. After I got over the initial crying, Alex started talking to me. He wanted to know all about me. I think he was just trying to take my mind off of what we were doing. I told him about my life, answered all of his questions.

At one point, I managed to glance at my clock on the nightstand. It was only eight in the evening. I told Alex this and he told me that the night was probably going to be long. A little while later when he very slowly climbed off of me, he whispered, "How was it?"

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just smiled.

"I wish I had my silk PJs," Alex said.

"Why?" I whispered. Every muscle in my body ached. It was a workout like I had never experienced.

"Oh, just because."

I sat up and put my feet on the floor. "I'm gonna go take a bath," I said and stood up. I started to walk towards the door and realized it hurt. "Does it always hurt like this?" I asked.

Alex grinned and took my hand. "I wouldn't know." I giggled. "But I do know it'll get better." I nodded and pulled Alex with me to the bathroom. I started the water and pulled out some soap for bubbles. "A bubble bath, huh?" Alex whispered, nibbling on my ear.

"Yeah, you gotta problem with that?"

"Not at all." When the tub was a little more than half full, I climbed in and turned off the water. The heat soothed my aching muscles. Alex knelt on the floor next to the tub and ran his hand along my thigh. "So I wanna know. What did you think for your first time?"

I looked at him. I could feel my heart beating, but not like before. I wasn't nervous. "It wasn't what a expected."

"What? It wasn't special enough for you?"

"No, that's not it. I dunno. I guess I'd just thought that my first time would be with someone I was madly in love with."

"I've seen your walls, girl. You are madly in love with me."

"I know, but it's different. Yeah, I'd always dreamed about getting together with you, but I never thought it would actually happen."

Alex leaned over and kissed me. Very quickly, the kiss became more passionate and he picked me up out of the tub. We couldn't make it to the bedroom, so he took me right there on the floor of the bathroom. He was right; it didn't hurt quite as much. About twenty minutes later, he pulled me to a sitting position and picked me up. I was seriously exhausted. He was wearing me out. He carried me to my bed and gently placed me between the sheets. He then curled up beside me, stroking my body. Every time he touched me, I felt a new wave of joy. Things had never been this good, this right in my life before. It felt wonderful to have someone pay attention to me. My mom never did. But then again, she was a single parent and didn't really have much time. She had to work two jobs just to keep me in private school. She felt it would teach me the morals and values that she didn't have time to teach. I hated private school. When it came to choose colleges, I chose the one that had the biggest reputation for partying in California. I had grown up on the West Coast and wasn't about to leave it. Except now that I would be touring with Alex, I would get to see the country as well as the world, something I had always wanted to do. I drifted off to sleep that night, imagining what the coming weeks would bring.

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