A Stranger In A Strange Land

Part 13: A Vatican's son

Jean's POV:

I don't know how much time had passed as I woke up to a very annoying sound. It took me a while before I realized what it was, and I shook Jared's arm that was draped tightly around my waist:"Hey Jared. Wake up. Your phone is ringing!" His eyes shot open, he shook his head, reached for the phone on his bedside table and answered it with a scratchy voice:"Hello?" Pause, and then:"hi bro! No I was asleep, but no worries. Time to get up anyways" Pause again... "I was up before, but Jean's still here, so..." He chuckles, then:"Oh, so you've got Amy there?" He looked at me an mouthed "Lunch?" I nodded eagerly. Jared to Shannon:"Hey, listen. Why don't you bring Amy with you here and we'll have lunch together at noon?" He waits, looks at me and whispers:"he's checking with Amy" I nod again, then he gives me a thumb up and says to Shannon:"Ok. Great! See you guys then!" And ends the phone call. "So you'll join us for lunch then?" I sit close to him and wraps my arm around his waist:"if you still want me here?" He looks at me puzzled while he puts stray hair behind my ear. Then he kisses me on the cheek before he looks lovingly in my eyes and replies:"of course I want you here! You can stay as long as you want! Well, at least until I leave for New York on Wednesday" I sighed in relief, smiled at him and asked:"what happends in New York?" He started to play with my hair and said:"business. We're almost done recording our new album, but there's still a few things that needs to be done. And on Friday we're playing through our set for our record company and look for people to help us promote it when it's done. Oh by the way, any chance you could come with us?" My eyes widened and if it weren't for my ears, my grin would have gone around my whole head! "Really, you want me with you? I'd love too! But I have to see if I've got any new assigments for the next week first. My publisher usually sends me an email for it during the weekends, so I'll let you know once I've checked it" Jared nods his head:"Ok, then why don't you check it here. You can use my computer to log on to your webmail!" "Then thank you Jared! Let's get dressed and go do that right now" I got up from bed, Jared slapped my ass before he got up too, which made me giggle. I went to the bathroom to wash up, put on some clean underwear, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I put my hair in a loos bun and applied some light makeup. I went back to the bedroom to take my clothes from yesterday, my heels and jewelery and put it in my overnight bag. Jared had gone to the other bathroom to clean up himself, letting me take my time to get ready. He entered his bedroom straight after me. "You don't have to clean up after yourself yet. C'mon let's make some coffee and bring it to my office so you can check your e-mail, ok?" I went over and grabbed his extended hand and we descended the stair together. "I just wanted to gather my things together. I like it tidy!" He lead me to his kitchen and motioned for me to sit down by his table. " I get that. But don't do it because you feel you have to leave soon. I kind of hope you'll stay. As I said: I enjoy your company, and I'd like to spend more time with you!" I blushed and grinned before I answered:"I feel the same Jared. And I'm glad you do too. This has been an intense couple of days, yet it feels like time has just passed by so quickly. But I have to get back home tomorrow anyways. I have a few errands in town." I watched Jared put on his coffee maker, then he went into the living room. He returned quickly with the box of chocolates we left in there last night and put it on the table in front of me and said:"Here's an idea. Why don't you take your trip home after lunch, do whatever you need then return back to me tonight? I'll stay home all day anyways. And I was hoping we could play some more. I have a few ideas for us!" He stood in front of me, leaned down and whispered in my ear:"I have lot more toys and tools I'd like to show you, if you feel up for it!" That made me shiver (and blush again) and I felt the familiar flutter in my stomache. I whispered back to him:"wow, you are insatiable Mr Leto. And I like the idea" He kissed me deeply and replied, looking straight into my eyes:"you make me feel that, Ms Hensley. But I can't promise I'll go easy on you!" He bit his bottom lip, stood up and turned off the coffee machine, poured two big mugs, told me to bring the chocolate and to follow him to his office.

He put the mugs down at his desk and turned on his computer. It was a Macbook, same as mine. I took a piece of chocolate and the first sip of coffee as we waited for the Mac to start up. "Mmm you make great coffee!" I smiled up at him. "I know I do! And this chocolate is perfect with it, isn't it?" he grinned at me. "Absolutely!" J:"here' it's ready for you now. Sit here and just log on" He stepped away from his chair, and smacked my ass just before I sat down. I giggled and winked at him, opened Safari and searched for Hotmail. Jared sat down in the oposite chair, took a big gulp of his coffee, grabbed the guitar and started to strum the strings. "Do you mind?" he asks me. "No, not at all. I always have music on in the background while I work" I smiled at him. I had 6 new emails: one from my publisher, one from my mother, one from my sister and 3 ads. I opened the one from my publisher, but there was no new assigments from them. I shrieked at Jared and he put down his guitar and asked:"what got you so excited?" I grinned and waved him over to see for himself. We both read that my pics from Minnesota was to be published in the next issue of Vagabong traveller's magazine in February and that they would pay me $5000 for them this coming week! They had picked 5 pictures and Jared studied them. "This is great Jean. These pics are amazing! Congratulations on getting published in one of the world's greatest magazines! I'm so happy for you! You visiting your mum because of the break up with your ex really payed off. Well done!" We high fived, then he helped me up and pulled me in for a tight hug. "That break up sure payed off in more ways than I could imagine. I think it was meant to be that way Jared. I believe it lead me to meet you!" He put his arms on my shoulders and looked in my eyes:"I think so too. I don't know where this leads yet, but I'm excited about us. You excite me in a way no other woman has before. In fact, I've never wanted to or needed to spend this much time with a girl this early in a relationship until I met you!" I swallowed hard and took a deep breath:"so you see this as a relationship? Hmmm I don't know where this may lead either. But I sure as hell am ready to follow this path with you. You are so different from other men I've dated or been with. And you are the first to be so supportive of what I do. That says a lot. So thank you Jared, for being there for me!" I placed my hands on his cheeks and pulled him in for a kiss, which he responded with with grace and passion. When we broke the kiss, he grabbed my hands, smiled lovingly at me:"sure, anytime, babygirl!" and kissed my fingers. He kissed my forehead and went to sit down with his guitar again. I finished my coffee while I red through the email from my mum. She wrote the latest new from town, about her neighbours, and how they planned a festival in February. I wrote her back, telling I missed her and invited her over for Easter, so she could spend a week with me here in sunny Cali. I had thought about that for a while now. I could even buy her plain ticket. My sister wrote about her husband and their two sons. They live up north in San Fransisco. She is a stay at home mom, her husband teaches at Berkeley. Their boys are 6 and 8 years old, both in elementary school. I wrote her back, asking if they were at home during Easter and if it were ok that mum and I came over for a visit over a couple of days. It was so fun communicating to my family. I missed my sister Ellen the most: I hadn't seen her since last August. I told Jared who I wrote too, as I had told him all about them before. He thought it was a great idea to spend Easter with them. What I didn't mention, was that of we're still together then, he can meet my mother. Omg! Even Peter never met her. He always slipped away whenever I made plans with her. I wonder how Jared would react if I asked him? Hmmm to early for that anyways. He was fumbling on his guitar, playing some notes, humming, writing. I had never heard that song before. Then I heard him play "Echelon". I started humming along while I skimmed through the ads and spam before I deleted them. I them logged off, went through a couple of newspapers online to pass time while I enjoyed listening to Jared's clear and soothing voice.