Authors: Jessa Hawke
Michael was consoling Cricket sweeping her hair out of her eyes. Jon rolled his eyes. He had seen Michael work his twisted show for women in the past and it made him sick to his stomach. He preyed on young aspiring artists willing to do a lot of things to pave their way. It wasn’t right, but he was so angry that he didn’t care.
“Don’t worry about it babe! We’ll just do a reshoot until you get pics that you like,” Michael said.
Jon shook his head. More work for him, he thought, and maybe he’d refuse to do it. Over his shoulder he heard a thud; he tilted his ear up to listen closer. Michael pushed Cricket against the wall with his hands over her shoulders. He spoke more aggressively about her coming over to his place with him for a night cap. It was clear by the look on her face as she turned away from him that she didn’t want to. He suddenly yanked her arm, pulling her into his vehicle. Jon saw this and heard what was going on, so he hurried over.
“Hey, hey… Michael. I overheard what you told her and I have some time right now to do a reshoot”.
“No we’ll just put something on the books for next week. Don’t worry about it,” Michael added.
“Yeah, but I’m booked for the entire next month. You’ll have to get someone else to shoot it,” Jon thought that would get his attention.
Michael was a jerk but he was no idiot. He mumbled something inarticulate under his breath and turned off the car. They decided to reshoot right there on the spot.
He asked Michael to ‘oversee’ the shoot, which made him feel important and took his mind off of taking Cricket home with him. John clearly had a smooth easy charm but he said that he rarely dated. It was a head scratcher to Cricket, who was starting to find him more and more attractive. He was mysterious. His secret was that most people assumed he chose his job to be around pretty ladies all day long. But in truth he was incredibly smart and insightfully artistic. He just had no one to share it with that got him.
Cricket became more playful as the shoot took off. She pretended to ride her horse, swishing her lovely hair in the wind or the fan. She was playful as she tried on clothes and posed in different ones. She was shooting for a modern day Dukes of Hazard chic, and she was pulling it off magnificently.
Each outfit and pose became a bit more seductive, and Jon was beginning to get increasingly turned on by her. Apparently she did have some untapped sex appeal somewhere inside that she was starting to draw from.
Since he had several cocktails with dinner, Michael had fallen asleep when they had only just begun. Maybe that was why Cricket was able to let loose and really get into the shoot. Regardless, Jon captured some great photos of the rising star.
Cricket changed back into her street clothes and soon thereafter returned from the dressing room. Jon was already looking through the pictures.
“Hey, no fair!” Cricket said playfully when she realized Jon was checking out the new photos without her.
Jon tapped the seat beside him and asked her to sit with him for a bit. Together they browsed through the photos one by one. She helped with insight into what she honestly liked and didn’t like. Her concerns were many, but they were valid nonetheless for a new artist.
They chose three adorable, but adult selections to present to Michael. Jon was happy with them which made her feel like she actually could trust in him. He rubbed her shoulders caringly. He knew she had a long day and was working from her last frayed nerve at best.
“Thank you, by the way…” she offered.
“Thank me for what hun?” he inquired.
“You know.” She was being shy.
“What did I do?” Again he asked.
“You kind of rescued me a little bit,” she added.
“From the big bad Michael man?” he joked.
“Yes from the big man…” she said.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s what I do. Saving cute girls in my free time,” he kidded her
.
Jon gently leaned down and kissed her sensual neck softly. She squirmed when he touched her. It was just a surprise, but she really enjoyed it. He continued on rubbing her tense shoulders and started nibbling her ear.
He sat back down on a rolling chair in front of her and rubbed her shoulders from the front. He then leaned in and pressed his thick full lips against hers. Her hands reached up to touch his sweet cheeks, and then wrapped her arms around him, embracing him.
Jon used the arms of her chair to pull her in closer to him. There was a passion between them that neither had felt for some time and it felt amazing. His soft artistic hands were pleasant against her supple skin. She exhaled a sigh of relief, as he seemed to be a gentleman.
She crawled onto his masculine lap, straddling him comfortably. She just wanted to be treated like a lady. His touch made her tingle inside. She could feel his bulge through his pants, and it was evident that he was happy to have her on his lap. That didn’t escape her attention.
It was nice to just simply make out for a change, Cricket though. Sweet and simple; it was wonderful. Jon wasn’t any more interested in rushing things than she was. The last thing she wanted was to sleep with the first guy she met in a new city. But damn, he was cut. Her hands grazed over his rippling muscles and they were definitely on point.
Her mind was going to unexpected places quickly, and she felt like she desperately needed to pull away. She sensed that she was in danger of falling for him already. The way he smelled, the touch of his hand, and how he said all the right things felt like a magnetic pull to her. He seemed almost perfect.
She took a step back and asked if they could slow down and just talk for a bit. They both, almost at the same time, scooted back and kicked their feet up on the desk. They chatted remained there chatting for others, getting to know each other’s pasts and future dreams. There was never even a dull silence between them. They joked and laughed and enjoyed each other’s company.
*****
The next day Cricket went to work with her voice coach, as she did every day. There had been a world of improvement since she first started, which was evident both in control and self- confidence. Even though she was nothing short of terrified at first, now vocal lessons were something she looked forward to.
Jimmy, he instructor, was a bit harsh and rigid. However, he was that way for good reason. He had worked with some of the biggest stars in the world and made them even better. He knew he would do the same for Cricket.
Jimmy put her through the paces. Warmup, hard core practice, and then cool down. Following every lesson they sat down to chat about the session momentarily.
“Cricket, I just really like where things are going for you! You clearly are doing the exercises that I ask you to outside of class and it shows.” Jimmy said, praising Cricket’s efforts.
It warmed to her to receive positive praise, especially from an old timer that gave it sparingly. He was a tough cookie to crack, but when he showed his gooey center it was priceless. Cricket loved getting to spend time with Jimmy; he was truly a great guy.
At the end of a long day of practice, her voice was strained and tired and all she wanted to do was to go back to her apartment. She could visualize the stream rolling off a hot cup of tea. Her mouth was watering for it. Her thoughts started to drift back to the fun she and Jimmy had the night before
Just after she got back home, she heard a knock at the door. To her surprise, she saw a delivery man, holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hand. He asked if she was Cricket, and she consented and signed for them.
She loved getting flowers. They were fabulous, with their fresh look and natural smell. A second knock on the door moments later caused her some confusion. She didn’t know who it could possibly be.
These second knocks turned out to be an even more special delivery. She opened the door and it was Jon with a big toothy grin from ear to ear. He had picked up Chinese food in those cute white and red take out boxes with the wire handle across the top. She really appreciated his thoughtfulness.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I thought you might be hungry,” Jon answered.
“Well, I am, but you are spoiling me,” she admitted.
“Then I must be doing my job hun,” he said with a sheepish grin
His smile was trouble and she knew it from the start. He was superbly sexy when he smiled - and when he didn’t, and when he was mad, and when he wasn’t. He was just simply irresistible to Cricket.
She was beginning to want it all - every smile, every giggle, every hug, and every kiss. She didn’t want to miss a thing. They made a carpet picnic and watched a football game. Jon loved sports, and he was an active athlete as well.
During the commercials they playfully wrestled with each other. In truth, Jon let her pin him half of the time. He more so enjoyed getting pinned than holding her down. She was a feisty one, and never did seem to pick up on the fact that he was losing on purpose.
To Cricket, this felt like young love - that delicate butterfly wing fluttering in your tummy kind of puppy love. She was hooked on him. They liked spending time together, no matter what they were doing.
Deep down she didn’t want it to end. It felt good and it felt right. She wasn’t even sure she had ever felt quite that way for another human being. She had boyfriends over the years, but not as intense as it felt with Jon.
*****
Jon invited Cricket to join him in trying a trendy cooking class downtown. She obviously said yes. Apparently, people were saying that it was a must-do. They offered new recipes for making sushi and sushi rolls, which to her surprise, were ridiculously hard to make.
Well, the entire concept of raw food was nothing short of being very foreign to Cricket. What she loved to eat most was a medium-well-cooked sirloin steak. There was no way in heck that she was willing to eat raw fish. It just didn’t seem right.
She just wasn’t completely sure how she would break it to Jon yet. She’d have to be gentle, so she didn’t hurt his feelings, but she was not about to put that in her mouth. Yuck!
As they sipped their nice bottle of wine they took in the landscape. The eatery was a floating restaurant over Lake Tanycomo. Cricket was feeling a little more at ease with Jon and the wine was going down smoothly.
“Ok, so a funny story,” Cricket said as she leaned closer to Jon. “When I was in high school, there was a ginormous cattle ranch at the edge of town big enough to cover three counties and an entire lake. It was massive by comparison. So, a few of us girls got invited one Friday night for an impromptu rode of sorts. It was the craziest thing to watch. It was a bunch of drunk cowboys trying to ride young bulls bareback. Who knew what possessed them to do that. Damn, it was funny! One would come out of the shoot, cow hair in hand, holding on for dear life. The look on their faces was more like constipation than determination. It only took seconds before they were flat on their backs, cursing the moon. They probably wouldn’t have done any better sober, beer was their liquid courage. It was too funny though!”
Cricket laughed and laughed. The story was so amusing that Jon laughed with as well. After dinner they decided to take a long walk down to see the river walk. The breeze coming off the lake was cooler than she expected and the night air grew chilly. They moved into the inner circle to warm by the raging fires amidst a spectacular water feature.
A playful awkward kiss ensued as she taught Jon to Texas two-step. She was a bit overwhelmed by the city lights, the live music, the drinks, and being so far away from home and was unsure of her judgement. She thought it was only fair to make him rock back on his heels as well. He looked like a duck out of water trying to count steps.
It was getting late, so they decided to go back to her tiny apartment. Cricket popped the top on a couple of ice cold beers. She was a great hostess when people came over. AS she sat down on the couch beside him, Jon reached out his arm and pulled her in close. Their lips fused and Cricket felt herself melt into his arms. Their kiss began to heat up with passion as their tongues entwined and explored each other’s mouths. Jon’s hands caressed Cricket’s body getting to know her every curve. Cricket loved the feel of Jon’s hands, so strong yet gentle.