"Five! Six! Seven! Eight!" Dozens of sweaty dancers moved in sync as they ran through their counts. At the front of the room, leaning against the mirrors, Josh and Maya stood watching each dancer move intently. Maya leaned in towards her husband. "They look good and their hitting the moves but I don't know. I feel like something is missing." She began to nervously bite her nail.
Josh looked over at her and smiled softly. He could see that her nerves were off the charts. He nudged her softly with his arm. "Hey. It's perfect. Your choreography is amazing. Anyone can see that. Why can't you?"
Maya looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Now's not the time for you to be sweet Josh. This is serious! Millions of people are going to see this choreography. It has to be nothing short of spectacular."
Putting a pin in the conversation, Maya moved towards the other side of the mirrors as she continued to count and watch everyone dance. Josh just shook his head and continued to watch as he took in everything starting to come to life. He couldn't believe that this was actually happening. An idea that came to him as Maya sang to him was really coming into fruition. Everything was coming together so quickly. The dancers, the set, the whole production. He was able to find a network to support them and they were slated to film in just a few weeks. Before he'd know it, it would be airing on TV.
The number ended and Josh clapped in approval. "Everything looks great you guys! Go head home and get some rest, we're going to hit the ground running tomorrow."
As the room slowly emptied out, Josh walked over to Maya quietly and wrapped his arms around her waist. Kissing the side of her head, he could feel her melt into his arms. "I'm sorry for earlier I just-"
"I know. You want it to be perfect." He turned her around in his arms. "And I meant it when I said it was. I believe in you one thousand percent. I need you to believe in yourself too."
Maya sighed knowing he was right. "Come on," she urged. "We should get home too."
.:.
The warmth of the water eased the tension in Maya's muscles as she relaxed against Josh in the tub. "This was an excellent idea," she mused as felt Josh's rigid core behind her.
Josh took a sip of his wine and chuckled. "See? I can give ideas that don't stress you out as well."
Maya too laughed. "I'm not even that stressed. I just want it to be great. This whole project means a lot to you which in turn means it means a lot to me as well. And you're trusting me with the choreography for this entire thing so I just want to do right by you. It'll be one of the few things I've done right this year."
Josh frowned. "Hey," he whispered. "Don't be like that. Has it been a tough time for us? Yes. But you're not all to blame. It was the both of us." Maya turned to face him and Josh lifted her chin with his fingers. "I love you Maya and I could not ask for a better life partner than you." He kissed her gently and felt her smile against his lips.
"Baby," Maya murmured against his lips. "I love you so much."
Between lazy kisses, Josh ran his wet hands up Maya's back and placed them right behind her neck. "I love you so much," he whispered.
Maya tilted her head up as Josh ran kisses along her jaw and down to her neck. Locking his lips in place on her neck, he smiled as he felt her body start to warm up. Moaning softly, Maya pulled him closer to her, as if they weren't already chest to chest in the tub. "I want you."
Pulling his lips away from her neck, Josh cradled her face with his hand and stared in her eyes. Completely lost in his love for her, he stopped for a moment and took in her beauty. Her blonde hair held up by only a clip, he reached up and took it down, tossing it over the tub's edge, allowing her long blonde hair to fall down her back, the ends getting wet in the tub. Before kissing her passionately, Josh cupped her face and smiled. "Sit on me."
So that's what she did. With their eyes trained on each other, Maya lowered herself on to him slowly, embracing the feeling. Nodding slowly, Maya gave her signal for him to continue. Kissing each other slowly, they began to rock back and forth. Exploring each other and taking in the moment with the other. Slowly they built and built until finally- they reached release. Shuddering and panting in satisfaction, they kissed each other softly. Breathlessly, Maya laughed and leaned her forehead against Josh's. "Yeah, the tub was a great idea."
.:.
Lounging around the house, the sunlight peeked in as Maya stood in the living room with her headphones on. In nothing but loose sweats and tank she marked her moves, running through the counts in her head. From across the room, Josh typed away on his laptop, working out the schedule for the next few chaotic weeks. "I'm just not sure how I'm going to be able to work that one thing out. Hey babe!" No response. "Baby!" Again, nothing. "Maya!"
Josh looked up and saw her lost in her own world and smiled. What he had to say could wait. He just wanted to take this in. He loved how hard she was working for this. She listened to his crazy idea and ran with it. Maya turned her head over her shoulder to see Josh staring and immediately blushed. She took the headphones off and laughed nervously. "What? Did I do something weird?"
"Nope," Josh said, shaking his head. "Just admiring you. That's all." Maya raised her brow. Josh laughed. "What? I'm being serious!" He moved his laptop off his lap and walked over to his wife. "I could actually use your help with something."
They walked over to his laptop and were hunched over figuring out the issue when the buzz of their intercom interrupted them. "Mr. and Mrs. Matthews," the sound of their lead guard's voice got their attention, causing them to look up.
Josh walked over to the intercom and pressed the button to respond. "Yeah Joe, what's up?"
"I have someone here at the gate claiming they're your family. A young woman by the name of Riley Matthews. I don't have anyone on my clearance sheet yet so I wanted to run it by you sir."
"Josh will you tell this bozo to just let me in! This is insane!"
Josh and Maya exchanged a laugh as they could imagine Riley's annoyance. Josh pressed the button again. "Yeah she's good Joe. I'll get you that clearance list asap so you don't have anymore issues."
Not too long after, Riley bust through their front door. "Really? I don't have clearance yet! I'm your niece and best friend for crying out loud!" Riley huffed and placed her hands on her hips and blew a stray hair out of her face. "And do you know hard it was to get into this place? It's like Fort Knox." Her brunette ponytail swung back and forth as she looked between the couple. "Well? I'm waiting for my hugs."
Maya laughed and ran into Riley's arms. "Riles! What are you doing here?"
Maya pulled away as Josh went in for his hug. "Hey Riley. I've missed you."
"I've missed you guys too." She pulled away and smiled at them. "I wanted to see you guys now that you were settled in. Its hard with you guys being so far away. I mean, back in New York, you guys were just a few blocks away and now you're-"
"All the way across the country." Maya finished. "Yeah," she sighed. "It's been hard for us too. No family, no friends, it's just us."
"Well we're ecstatic that you're here. We can even tell you what we're working on now! Come on!" Josh took Riley's hand and dragged her into the next room as he began to excitedly tell her everything. Looking on, Maya just laughed as she watched her husband talk his poor niece to death.
.:.
Later that evening, Josh left Riley and Maya downstairs as he took a shower. With a few glasses of wine between the two of them, the pair were giggling and talking like teenagers. Maya downed the last of the wine in her glass and ran her fingers through her hair. "Ugh. I've missed you so much Riley. It's not the same without having you so close."
Riley sighed and pulled her feet onto the sofa. "I know. I miss you too but at least you're safe here. You can feel normal inside your own home without worrying if someone is going to shove a camera into your face. It must give you some piece of mind."
Maya nodded slowly. "Yeah, it does. It's been nice. I may not necessarily love it out here but we get to start over. No cameras, no drama, no-"
"Andrew?"
Maya paused. "Yeah. No Andrew." She looked down at her empty glass and stood. "You know what? I need some more wine. Do you need some more wine? I'm getting more wine."
As Maya filled both of their glasses Riley took a big sip. "So what else is new besides this show you guys are putting on?"
"Well, there is one new thing that I think you are going to be quite fond of." Maya sat back and smiled softly. "After all of this, we're going to try and have another baby."
Riley nearly choked on her wine. "Oh my god Maya are you serious?" Maya nodded. Riley jumped up and scooped her up in a hug. "That's amazing!" Riley brushed a hair out her face. "Maya I am really happy for you two. I love that you guys are finally getting your happy ending. It's been a long time coming."
Maya laughed and smiled softly. "Yeah, it really has."
Josh entered the room and looked at the empty wine glasses and two friends. "Woah, looks like you two have been having fun." He walked over to Maya and kissed her forehead. "You okay beautiful?"
Maya reached up and grasped his hand. "Yeah."
Seeing the tender moment that was about to occur between the couple, Riley laughed and stood up. "I'm going to take that as my cue to leave. Goodnight you two, I'll see you in the morning." Riley dismissed herself and left the couple to themselves.
Josh sat down across from Maya and sank into the sofa as she picked up her empty glass. "I'd offer you some wine, but I think Riley and I finished it all."
Josh laughed and shook his head as he stared at the empty glasses and bottles around the room. "That's okay." He noticed Maya's eyes shift slightly. "Hey, are you sure everything is alright?"
Maya looked up at Josh and frowned. "No."
Josh leaned forward and grasped her hand. "What's going on?"
"Riley and I were talking a minute ago and she mentioned Andrew and I had this crazy thought."
At the sound of his ex-best friend's name Josh did his best to remain calm and collected. "What were you thinking?"
"It's just that we had been living in our place in New York for a while right? And we had no problems but don't you think it's weird that right after we got back from Atlanta all of a sudden people knew what our address was."
"Where are you going with this Maya?" Maya sighed and thought long and hard before she decided to make the accusation that she was about to make. Would Josh agree with her? Would he think she's doing too much? "Maya?"
Maya took a deep breath. "I think Andrew leaked our address."
A/N: I'm back! Happy to be back and writing this story again! Let me know what you think!
