AMERICA, 1964

I was just walking down the street, heading home, on a totally normal afternoon. All of a sudden, this boy sprints into me, nearly knocking me over. He stopped me from toppling over by wrapping his arms around me.

"Hey! What do you thi-" He silenced me by covering my mouth with his hand. He seemed very nervous looking around, then his eyes grew wide and he drew me back into the alley behind us. I was squirming and my screams were muffled by his hand.

"Shh... love." He harshly whispered into my ear. I drew my knee up and stomped on his foot as hard as I could. He groaned silently in pain without releasing his hold. I was thinking of the next thing to try to get away from him when I heard screams and shouts coming from down the street. I stopped squirming to see ten or so girls charge past us, safely hidden in the alley. The mystery boy finally released me when the girl's shouts disappeared.

"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed leaning down to hold his foot, "Did ye really have to stomp on me foot, like that?" I was still a little bewildered, staring down the street where the girls had run.

I turned back to face him, "Were they chasing you?"

He looked up at me and breathed a sigh of weariness, "Yeah," and then went back to his foot.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I knelt down next to him to have a look at his foot. "I didn't break it did I?"

"No, I don't think ye did, love. I'm pretty sure ye left me some nasty bruises though." We both stood up and he put a hand against the wall to lean on and support his foot.

I looked at my feet, a bit sheepish, "...I thought you were kidnapping me...or something..." There was a pause and I looked back up at him, "I truly am sorry about your foot."

"It's an honest assumption. I should've tried to explain me predicament to ye." He started to limp out of the alley, favoring the footinjured by me. I felt terrible. Without thinking I went up and took his arm and draped it over my shoulder and wrapped my arm around his waist to help him walk. I looked up to see him gazing down at me with twinkling hazel eyes. He gave me a teasing smirk and I blushed and looked away. How had I not noticed how gorgeous this guy was...

I cleared my throat out of nervousness, "So, you must not be from around here then." There was a slight pause of awkwardness. I looked up at him and he looked a bit confused. I continued, ""I mean... because of the- uh... your accent..."

"Oh, yeah. I-um..." He paused, his brows furrowed. "I'm visiting... Yeah! I'm visiting some relatives."

I chuckled a bit. He was just so cute... "So, what's your name?"

He looked back at me, dumbfounded, "You really don't know who I am?"
This time I outright laughed, "No... Should I?"
He smiled at me, "No. No, ye shouldn't..."

"Well, what's your name then?" I asked again.

"It's-" He paused again, looking adorable with his face in concentration, "James! ...My name's James."

"Nice to meet you, James," I said with a smile that I couldn't help around him and shared with him my own name. "So, how long are you staying in America?"

"I'm just here for a few more weeks, and then I'm heading back to England."

I stopped walking, having reached the entrance to my apartment building, and stepped away from him. "Well, this is where I leave you." He looked sort of disappointed, like a sad puppy dog. How can one man be so irresistibly attractive and childishly cute at the same time?

"If you don't have anywhere to be, you could come up and join me for a sandwich?" I asked tentatively.

He immediately put on a huge grin, his eyes twinkling with joy once again, "I would love that!"

I chuckled to myself, "Alright, then…" I led him up to my apartment and let him in.

I pointed across the room, "You can have a seat on the sofa while I make our lunch." He went and made himself comfortable and I started to make the sandwiches. I focused myself on what I was doing and dared not to look at him. I could feel him staring at me; I was making lunch for a hot, foreign stranger who seemed to enjoy looking at me as well. How did I get in this situation?

Oh right…for mutilating his poor foot.

I brought the sandwiches in and sat down next to him, "I hope you like turkey and cheese."

He answered, his voice low, nearly making me melt, "It's perfect, love."

We continued in easy conversation until our sandwiches were long gone.

"I suppose I should get going…" He finally said.

"Oh, yeah… of course," I replied, disappointed that our afternoon had come to an end. We walked to the door and I held it open for him. He came inches from me and gazed down into my eyes.

He spoke again with his rich voice barely above a whisper, "I guess I should let ye get on with your plans then." Yet, he didn't leave. We stood there standing for what seemed to be forever breathing in each other's air.

I finally spoke, "I don't have any plans…" He wouldn't have heard me at all if he wasn't already inches from my face. He finally covered that distance and gently touched his lips to mine in a tentative kiss. He pulled away, with his forehead still against mine, and looked for permission in my eyes to continue. My goodness, he was such a gentleman.

With my heart fluttering in my chest, I drew my hands up to his neck and into his hair and kissed him properly, without abandon. He hummed against my lips and shut the door behind us and walked me back to lean against it.

There we were, making out against my door, and things were getting quite heated. This man, who I had just met on the street, had his body pressed up against mine, his tongue in my mouth, and his hands on my hips.

I pulled away to speak what my logical mind was screaming- but my betraying heart won, "...bedroom?"

He turned us away from the door, with my back to him, and whispered huskily in my ear, ""Lead the way..."

I lead him to my room, and he shut the door behind us. He promptly drew me back in his arms to pick up where we left off. His lips soon left mine to travel down my neck.

My mind was still nagging at me, instilling guilt and shame in my heart. I brought my hands to his shoulders to push him away.

"James..."

He continued his pursuit, probably mistaking my plea for a response of pleasure.

I repeated myself and used more force to separate us, "James." He removed himself from my neck and looked at me with confusion and concern.

"I- " My words faltered. He took my hands in his, patiently listening. I withdrew my hands and nervously wrung them, looking down at them.

I took a deep breath, "I just want you to know that... that I'm not usually this...kind of...girl..." I glanced up to see care and understanding in his eyes and I quickly looked back down at my hands.

"I'm not one to...go... this far with...a man," I emphasized, "a stranger! I mean- you're not from here, and ... you're not staying here long... I don't know why that should make you any different or how I act any different but-" He brought his hand to my face lifting my chin up for my eyes to meet his, halting my words.

"Love. is. love... and that's all there is."

For some reason, those words set my heart and mind on the same page, and I threw myself into him, kissing him as if he were my very source of life. He responded with as much fervor as well.

We eventually released each other in order to properly breath, and he started to unbutton his shirt. I stepped a few paces back from him and reached back to unzip my dress. His hands slowed as he watched my dress drift down to my ankles, stopping all together as he admired my nearly bare body with wide eyes and mouth open. I sashayed up to him, gave him a slow kiss on the cheek, and ran my hand down his half-exposed chest and across his stilled hands, encouraging him to continue. I walked away while reaching behind me to undo my bra, letting it fall to the floor. He hurriedly shed his shirt, and began on his pants clumsily as he watched me slide my last article of clothing down my body.

All the while I'm thinking to myself, Who is this girl? Here was this shy, soft-spoken girl, that I had come to know myself as, confidently and sexily stripping for this unbelievably, attractive man that I had just picked up off the street earlier today! I didn't care though...as he said, Love is love... and I wasn't stopping now.

I crawled onto my bed, posing rather seductively, and beckoned him with a finger. I then laid back, stretched out on the bedspread. I heard him hastily pull the rest of his clothing off to come and join me. A shadow came over me as he held himself above me. His eyes caressed my form all the way down to my toes and back up to my face.

He brushed a strand of hair back around my ear and then trailed his finger along my jawline to rest on my lips. His eyes roamed my face as if memorizing every detail with an expression of wonder and awe. Eventually his eyes came to a stop, gazing intensely into my own.

"You're something else, love..." With that he lowered his lips to mine.

We came together, two strangers in the night, in a timeless dance. Nothing was heard but the sultry song of pleasure and lust.

Heart against heart.

Flesh against flesh.

I awoke in the morning with the glorious sun shining into my room. I stretched out and ran my hands along the twisted sheets, recalling the night before with a smile. James...

I got up and grabbed my robe to clothe me as I walked into the kitchen to make some coffee. He was gone. I wasn't disappointed really. I knew what we had wouldn't go beyond last night. He was leaving for his own country soon, and he probably had things to do.

I got my coffee and went to the sofa. I sat down and noticed a note on the coffee table... It was from James! I read it over and over again, following his handwritten words with my finger.

My savior from chase, my bruiser of feet, my lover of dreams...

I'm sorry that I could not be with you when you awoke this

blessed morning, love. I want you to know that I enjoyed

every moment we shared together, from my mistaken abduction

of an angel to the angel's purposeful abduction of my heart.

I know we won't see each other in person for, most likely, the

rest of our lives. I hope for you the utmost happiness and success...

~James

P.S. Watch the Ed Sullivan Show for me today.

I went throughout my day normally, with thoughts of James and his odd request running through my mind. Watch the Ed Sullivan Show... What does that have to do with anything. Did he really like the show or something? He wouldn't know if I watched it anyway.

When the time of the show rolled around I ended up in front of the T.V. watching Mr. Ed Sullivan announce the show's events, some band from Liverpool called The Beatles. I went in the kitchen to get myself a snack as the members entered the stage; I heard the show audience erupt in screams.

They must be something else...

I heard Ed Sullivan introduce each of them and talk to them briefly. John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison. Then he spoke to the one named Paul McCartney and he answered in that low, rich voice that had been playing in my head all day.

"no...it can't be..." I raced back to the television to see the gorgeous man who would forever haunt my dreams.

"James!?"

Ed Sullivan left the stage for them to start performing; the music started and I couldn't tear my eyes away from James.

Was this really the same man who held me in his arms last night...

Just before he began to sing he looked into the camera, and with a teasing wink said, "For my something else..." He then serenaded me with his heavenly voice, "Close your eyes and I'll kiss you. Tomorrow I'll miss you..."

He was singing to me! I was his something else! The stranger I had ran into yesterday...made love with... was this famous musician; he had girls screaming his name, crying and fainting-

But he would forever be mine, my James- ...no.

My Paul...