Chapter 2

Anne's emotions were in overload as Keith gently kissed her lips. She just could not hold back on a series of shivers that ran through her frame. 'God this was heaven' was all she could think.

Another series of shivers caused Keith to increase the pressure on her lips in order to maintain contact. When they continued, he finally pulled back to ask, "Hey, are you cold? I can put up the top."

Anne's eyes opened slowly as if reluctant to end her dream. "Um….sure. That sounds good."

She watched Keith turn away and begin the process of bringing the ragtop of the car into a closed position. He reached over her to secure the clip on her side of the windshield and she took the opportunity to breathe in his scent deeply. Keith began to close the windows of the car hoping to keep out the breeze. "Do you want me to turn on the heat?"

Anne watched his lips as he was talking to her. Oh crap, she'd missed what he said. "What?"

"Do you need me to turn on the heat?" When she still paused to answer, Keith continued, "Are you alright?"

That seemed to jar her out of her reverie, "Who me? I'm fine. And, no, I don't need you to turn on the heat. I just need you to come back here."

She followed her words by threading the fingers of her left hand through Keith's hair and pulling him towards her as she leaned back in herself. They met over the gear shift. The relatively chaste kisses of earlier melded into slow, deep, wet kisses that Anne was sure were the best things she had ever experienced in her life. Wow, Keith sure knew how to kiss. Not that she was any expert in the field, but what he was able to make her feel with just his mouth she was pretty sure was illegal in all 50 states.

Keith was dealing with some of the same feelings. What in the world was this sexy woman doing spending most of her nights at home. She had him crazy in less than 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes that had included his being close to castration but in the next minute racing toward something completely more satisfying.

"Slow down." Keith said as he tore his mouth away from her.

"Why?" Anne asked as she followed him back to his seat and dove in for another soul shattering kiss. She brought her knee onto the seat for better leverage.

Seconds later her knee slipped and her hip came in hard contact with the gear shift. Her yelp of pain was followed by her leaning back and honking the horn with her shoulder.

Keith quickly pulled her off of the horn knowing that her slip had just made them the center of attention from all of the cars in the near vicinity. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Oh god, I am the biggest klutz." Anne said with her face buried in his chest.

"Oh, come on. It's not that bad. I just realized that this car is not the best car for make-out sessions." Keith pointed out. This was Keith's first date using his new car. Had his mother thought of that when she bought it? He sure hoped not. But, he had to admit the station wagon had been much better equipped for this type of activity. A big bench seat with no gear shift to get in the way and a back seat that folded down if he was really lucky.

"What do you mean?" Anne asked still unable to look at him. She was currently hoping for a major earthquake to swallow her whole.

"Well, the bucket seats and gear shift do not make it easy for two people to get to know each other better." He said with a smile in his voice and on his face.

"What about the back seat?" She asked, finally looking up.

Keith raised an eyebrow at her in surprise. Maybe brainy girls had a distinct advantage. As Keith's face dissolved into a completely sinful grin, Anne's face soon followed suit. The next thing Keith knew, Anne was leaving his arms and all he saw was a flash of hip and thigh as she launched herself between the two seats. As Keith paused to thank his lucky stars, her head reappeared between the two seats and she breathed in his ear, "Come on back. It's much roomier than you'd think."

Keith banged his left knee on the steering wheel in his haste to join her.

xoxo

"How do you suppose Keith's date is going?" Shirley asked Laurie who was surprisingly spending a Friday night at home. Rick had a college lecture that was to end too late to pick Laurie up, so she'd told him that it was no big deal and they could go out the next night. Though she'd been disappointed that he hadn't asked her to the lecture, she hadn't wanted to ask to go along. He hadn't picked up on her more subtle hints so she'd finally given up.

"Knowing Keith and knowing Anne, I'd say different from the norm." Laurie said thoughtfully.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shirley asked not following her daughter's train of thought.

"Well, Anne's an intellectual. They're probably spending the night debating world affairs or maybe debating music. Either way, I don't suspect that Keith is up to his usual activities." Laurie said.

"Laurie, I thought you were setting Keith up with someone who he would want to spend time with. If Anne only wants to debate issues on a date, we know this will be their one and only date." Shirley pointed out.

"Well, Anne doesn't date very much. So, I'm pretty sure she's not used to spending a date at Muldoon's Point; if you know what I mean." Laurie raised an eyebrow in her Mother's direction.

"I do, but I'm not sure I like the fact that you do." Shirley looked sternly at her daughter.

"Mom, really. I'm not talking from experience. It's just what I've heard." Laurie attempted to look her most angelic.

"Ha!" came from the kitchen.

"Daniel Partridge, are you listening in on our conversation?" Shirley looked over toward the darkened room.

"More like I snuck down for a snack before bedtime and just happened to hear the last several comments." Danny's smiling face appeared around the corner while he licked chocolate icing off of his fingers.

"Hmmm….what did you find for a snack?" Shirley asked.

"The last cupcake." Danny said as he walked further into the room. At least he was dressed for bed, was all Shirley could think.

"Well, get to bed. You should have been there a half an hour ago." Shirley reminded him.

"Not until I hear the rest of what you're going to talk about." Danny smirked and planted himself on the end of the couch. "I want to hear Laurie explain away her knowledge of what goes on at Muldoon's Point, cause I do not believe that weak excuse she just gave you."

"Danny, Mom just told you to go to bed." Laurie reminded him. She had no intention of continuing their conversation while he was in the room.

Danny looked at his mom to see if she'd been serious and noticed her stern look. "I'm going. I'm going. Why do you take all the joy out of my life?"

"Because that's what mothers do." Shirley said to his retreating back. "And brush your teeth again!"

Laurie took the opportunity to end their conversation by saying, "I think I'll head up to bed too. We have a full day tomorrow what with the photo shoot and all. Good night, Mom."

Shirley could only smile as her daughter beat a hasty retreat.

xoxo

Keith had tried twice already to slow Anne down but she continued to put the spurs to the situation and Keith was no fool. If she wanted this, who was he to try to talk her out of it, right?

They'd been in the back seat for fifteen minutes and the windows were fully steamed up. Anne had been watching for just the right moment and that was it. She wanted to make sure no one could see in. She pulled her hands from Keith's long locks and ran them down his back. She continued until she reached the pockets of his jeans, then as she pulled him in tight, she tilted her hips up giving a very strong message. And, if he didn't catch that one, she slid her hands up under his sweater and pulled it up. She broke off their kiss long enough to pull it over his head.

Keith quickly lost his surprise at her actions and his hands moved below her sweater and gave it the same treatment. Now, the only thing between their bare torsos was her very feminine new bra. Keith made short work of that and pulled back to get his first look at her firm breasts. He watched them rise and fall frantically under her attempts to draw in breath. He first touched them lightly with his fingers and soon followed with his mouth.

Keith's actions caused Anne to gasp and push her hips up again. This is what she'd wanted, right? As Keith sucked her firmly into his mouth her head screamed a resounding, 'yes'. She was soon moaning the same word, encouraging Keith's actions.

She wasn't aware of Keith's hand advancing up her thigh until his hand made contact with the juncture of her thighs through her panties. She jumped again and shivered with reaction.

"You alright?" Keith asked again and momentarily stilled his hand.

"I could not be better." She breathed and thrust herself against his hand.

Keith took that as his cue to continue on. He worked his fingers under the material of her panties and finally made contact with her very warm, very moist center.

Anne's head fell back and a barely whispered, 'oh god, that is so….' which turned into a moan as Keith's fingers pressed in. Anne could feel a scream mounting so she pulled Keith's mouth back to hers and immediately licked her way into his mouth.

When Keith pulled his fingers back hoping for better access, Anne pulled back long enough to demand, 'No.'

Keith ignored her and instead moved his hand to the top of her panties and ventured back down to her center. Anne sighed her pleasure and pulled his mouth back to hers.

Keith smiled into her kiss as she began to move involuntarily against his questing fingers. She was so responsive was all he could think before he felt her convulsing around his fingers and had to keep his lips sealed with hers as he swallowed her scream.

Anne was a puddle of Jell-O. Her arms fell down beside her as her head fell back. She was gasping hard trying to catch her breath. She felt Keith pull his hands out of her panties and pull slightly away. "No", was all she could manage.

"It's alright, I'm not going anywhere." Keith said as he slid down next to her on the seat and pulled her in close. He knew she'd get cold in short order.

As Anne finally came back to her senses, she buried her face in his neck. She was slightly embarrassed at what she'd allowed Keith to do. Well, that wasn't true. She hadn't allowed Keith to do anything, she'd encouraged if not demanded.

Keith moved slightly trying to relieve some pressure from his still very much unreleased passion. He was also trying to make sure that he didn't push himself against Anne. That would be more torture than he could stand.

Anne was finally starting to recover more and more with each passing second. She began to squirm against him, driving him a little crazy. "Hold still, alright?" Keith suggested.

"Why?" she said as she pushed herself slightly away so that she could finally look at his face. She looked up to find his eyes tightly closed and a look of complete frustration on his face. Realization dawned and her hand began a slow decent to confirm her suspicions.

"Don't" Was said just before Anne reached her goal. It didn't stop her from softly laying her hand on Keith's ever growing problem. After all, a beautiful woman was still wrapped tightly in his arms and she was still only half dressed.

"I can help you with that, you know." Anne smiled gently as Keith finally opened his eyes to look at her.

"You don't have to. Just give me a minute." At her laugh he continued, "Ok, several minutes," followed by a rye smile and his eyes falling closed again. He just could not look at her and calm down.

Keith started doing multiplication tables in his head. Anything to take his mind off of the completely fascinating female studying his face.

"Keith, you don't have to suffer." Anne said quietly as she kissed his slightly moving lips. What in the world was he mumbling to himself? "Are you doing multiplication tables?" She asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but it's not working. Stop talking for a while, alright?" Keith suggested without opening his eyes. If his eyes had been open he would have seen the look of pure devilment come over her face. He would have also seen her shift so that she was kneeling on the floor and he would have seen her hands move before he felt them on his belt.

As soon as he felt that, his eyes flew open. "What are you doing?" He asked in complete surprise.

"Stopping you from having to walk stooped over for the rest of your life." Anne joked.

All Keith could do was moan as she gently pulled his zipper past the bulge. He felt some relief instantly but then was back to tensing as he felt her hands push his pants down far enough to give her access.

Oh god, why did he put the top up on the car; he was on fire. But then again if the top wasn't up they'd be giving quite the show wouldn't they? Keith's mind was flying every which way before only one thought remained as he felt Anne's tongue make contact. He knew he was not going to last long after her second lick.

xoxo

"Danny, go get your brother out of bed." Shirley said before really thinking about her request. At Danny's evil grin, Shirley changed her mind and put her hand firmly on his shoulder to keep him in his chair. "On second thought, Laurie, would you please get Keith moving?"

"Sure Mom." Laurie said as she set down her fork. Her four youngest had been up for at least an hour already and were chomping at the bit to get to their photo shoot. They were shooting stills for their upcoming summer concert tour. After all, they needed photos to autograph at the frequent 'meet and greets' that Reuben set up for them. As usual, Keith was the last one out of bed. She'd heard him come home just before his curfew so she knew he'd probably had a good 7 hours of sleep already. She hoped he hadn't stayed up after he'd gotten home to work on a song. Sometimes that boy worked too hard. He needed to spend more time playing.

Of course, if Shirley had known the real reason why her son was sleeping peacefully late into the morning, she would not have thought that he needed to play more. In fact, she'd have likely locked him in his room.

Upstairs, Laurie knocked on Keith's door and let herself in. "Wake up sleepy head. We need to leave for the photo shoot soon."

Laurie glanced over at the bed as she walked past to open the shades on the window. She noticed Keith's bare shoulders sticking out from the covers. Where was his pajama top, she idly wondered? She also noticed that Keith had yet to stir. "Keith," she said louder than last time.

That only garnered her a mumbled 'ten more minutes' and a hand pulling his pillow over his head. Laurie yanked the pillow from Keith's hand and ruffled his hair while saying, "Not even ten more minutes. It's time to get up now."

Laurie was one of the few people who could get away with messing up his hair, well other than his girlfriends who were given cart blanche to run their fingers through it.

She still got no response so continued with, "Do I need to pull the covers off and dump you on the floor?"

That got a response, but not for the reason she thought. Keith had been so tired when he'd gotten home last night he'd stripped naked and fell into bed before he lost consciousness. His sister had no idea that he was buck naked under the covers. With a firm hold on the bedding, Keith finally turned over and glared at her. "Alright, I'm up."

"It's about time. If you want some breakfast before we have to leave, I suggest you get your butt downstairs in 20 minutes or so." Laurie suggested expecting him to throw back to covers and get a move on. "Well, come on. Let's go."

"As soon as you leave." Keith looked pointedly at the door.

"Fine, but it's not like I haven't seen you in your pajamas before." Laurie said as she waltzed out.

Keith plopped back down and almost fell back asleep, but Laurie suspecting this had walked out the door and turned right back around. She stuck her head back in the room and said, "And no falling back to sleep as soon as I leave."

"I'm up. I'm up." Keith assured her as she finally went back downstairs.

xoxo

"Keith" Shirley shouted up the stairs, "We have to leave." And as he finally came down the stairs looking chipper as could be, "You missed breakfast, but we can't wait."

"That's alright, I'll just grab an apple and be right out." Keith was starving, but he hadn't left himself enough time to eat. He could deal with it. He'd have to.

He pulled the door closed behind him and walked toward the bus. "Can you drive? I want to read over these contracts that Reuben dropped off last night."

"Sure." He'd guessed she'd wanted him to drive when he stepped on the bus to find her in the seat behind the driver's seat. If she'd wanted to drive she'd have been sitting with the bus already started. He stuck the apple in his mouth, turned the key and put the bus into gear. Once he didn't have to shift he bit through the apple and holding it in his right hand drove down the street headed toward the highway.

"I wish you wouldn't eat and drive at the same time." Shirley admonished from behind him.

"No choice. I'm starving." Keith told her around his next bite.

"Just be careful." She told him.

"Yes, Ma'am." Keith said dutifully while grinning at her in the mirror.

"You're sure in a good mood." She noted.

"Guess so. Why shouldn't I be?"

"Does that mean your date went well last night?" Laurie piped in while sitting next to her mother.

Keith just shot her a look in the mirror that said, 'none of your business' and looked back at the road.

"Oh come on. Not even a hint?" Laurie prodded.

"Yeah, you made me spill about my date with Gloria last year. Give us details." Danny piped up one row back.

"Fat chance." Keith answered quickly, hiding his smile behind another bite of apple. Too bad Laurie had seen it before he could hide it.

She leaned over the bar and whispered in his ear, "Must have been pretty darn good if you won't say anything at all…."

Keith looked at her quickly in the mirror but remained mum.

"Party pooper." She said before leaning back.

xoxo

The shoot went surprisingly well considering it was always difficult to wrangle three rambunctious kids. Not to mention getting them to all look at the camera and smile at the same time. Even still, the shoot lasted for a good 6 hours when you included the solo shots that were done. Laurie and Shirley had at least three dozen different shots done, many times they required a change of clothes in between so it looked like they had sat for several different shoots. Keith was the unluckiest of all of them; he would have more than twice as many shots taken of him. They helped to break the boredom of posing by having him go first, then the three youngest, then another set of Keith, then Laurie's and so on.

Keith's stomach was growling through most of the shoot so loudly at times that most everyone heard it. The photographer finally took pity on him and sent one of his assistants out for some sandwiches. When they got back, Keith practically ate his first one without breathing in between bites. "I guess that's what they call inhaling your food." Danny commented in awe.

"It's more like desperation. I'm up next." Keith grinned around the last bite.

Man, he was in a good mood, Danny noted. He'd have to try and find out why. It was certainly a change of pace for him. Ever since the fake marriage, Keith had been pretty low. Today he was all smiles. Something had definitely changed. And, if Danny had noticed, it was sure to have been noticed by his Mom and Laurie. This meant some undercover eavesdropping was in order. Danny smiled smugly as Keith turned away to start his next shoot. He loved these types of capers. It was a great way to break up the boredom of life when they weren't traveling. And, his favorite person to torment was Keith; life just got better and better.

xoxo

They got home from the photo shoot around 3:00 and spent the next two hours practicing for the upcoming summer tour.

"So, when do we get to hear the new song?" Laurie asked during a break where Laurie switched from piano to organ and Keith needed to switch guitars.

"Maybe tomorrow. I'm still not satisfied with the lyrics." Keith said as he put the strap of his electric guitar over his head. "I'll work on 'em tonight."

"Oh? No date?" Laurie smiled sweetly.

Keith looked at her saccharine sweet smile and knew she was fishing. "No date." He said without elaborating. Anne had told him she was babysitting for her younger brother so she couldn't go out even though he'd have loved to spend more time with her. Not just because of what had happened in the car at the drive-in, but because he'd really enjoyed spending time with her before and after. She was smart, funny and easy on the eyes.

"Oh, come on, she shoot you down when you asked for a second date?" Laurie continued to tease.

Keith shot her a look hoping to stop any more comments but then was blind-sided by Danny joining in. "You said she was smart, didn't you?" At Laurie's nod he continued, "Keith probably bored her to tears in under 10 minutes."

Keith's response was a secretive smile that was more effective in silencing Danny and Laurie than anything. If he'd protested or tried to defend himself they'd have kept after him. His refusal to rise to their bait took the wind out of their sails.

"Are we ready to start the next song?" Shirley covered the silence and got her brood refocused.

"Let's do it." Keith said and started the count.