Road Trip Pt. 02

Probing further, Crystal got me to talk about catching the felon in Arkansas, rescuing the farmer in Pennsylvania and the two kids in South Carolina. The more she probed; the more interesting I seemed to sound to her.

Walter and Emma came and cleared the table. Crystal dismissed them for the night. After they'd left, she explained that the couple had an apartment at the front of the house over the garage.

The evening dusk turned to darkness as we'd sat eating and sharing the wine. I realized for the first time, how much darkness produces a new intimacy between couples; I could tell Crystal felt it too. We had a couple of candles on the table, and that only added some mystique to the scene.

Crystal asked me, "Would you like to swim. I love this pool. There's a spa too – over there."

Ten minutes later I'd retrieved my running shorts that doubled as swim trunks from my bike, and changed into them in a guest bathroom. I knew I'd have to change my dressings later, but a swim might do me good. Crystal met me at the door to the patio wearing a bikini that would be banned in most states. I apparently gawked at her apparently, because she laughed and said, "I'd been hoping to get that reaction from you. Do you think it's sexy?"

I told her quite bluntly but sincerely, "Crystal Lee, I think everything about you is sexy. You are desirable in every way anyone could think of." I paused and added in a teasing manner, "And, that's another reason why I'm glad we're an 'item' and that I love 'everything' about you."

She smiled at me as she came up to me to kiss. I expected a peck on the cheek, but instead she gave me a deep, soul-touching, romantic, mind-blowing kiss. As she pulled away, I said with a touch of humor and sarcasm, "Wow! You really are a heavenly dream – an angel, because no human could possible kiss the way an angel does." As I intended, we both laughed over my schmaltzy compliment. Crystal pulled me to the edge of the pool, and we jumped in together.

Meanwhile, my brain had shifted into high gear trying to figure out why this beautiful Nashville star had kissed me that way.

We swam around for a short time. Crystal said to me, "Jim, would you do me a favor?" I nodded. "Would you be sure to always treat me like a normal girl, and not as some piece of porcelain that you put on shelf and only look at?" She drew close to me. "I like you. I'm attracted to you – a lot, and in many ways. The last thing I want is to be put on a pedestal and left untouched."

She kissed me again, and I took her at her word and kissed back with everything I had. We French kissed, and Crystal exploded into a passionate woman who wanted to be loved. Her words and the way she erupted showed me that she had a huge pile of unfulfilled needs, and I guessed she saw I could help her with some of them. I hoped I could before I moved on down the road.

After many kisses, and as we looked in each other's eyes, I carefully reached for the tie behind her neck that held her bikini bra up. I paused so she knew exactly what I was thinking. I studied her face for permission or rejection.

Crystal nodded her head and smiled invitingly.

I pulled the string, and the fabric fell down her body exposing two perfect breasts – each a hand full with a little left over. I reached around to her back and pulled the other tie; the brassiere floated away from between us. I tossed it up on the patio.

As we kissed, we crushed into each other; her breasts flattened against me. I could feel her erect nipples against my chest, and it raised my temperature past that of the sun. Our hips ground together. This relationship had turned a corner – it had become a runaway train with a single destination.

I toyed with her breasts, until, with her full awareness, I reached to one of Crystal's hips and pulled the tie holding the small and colorful bottom part of the bikini to her body. I did the same on the other side, and then pulled the flimsy piece of material through her legs and away from her. I tossed it to the patio as well.

Crystal pushed my nylon shorts off my hips. So she didn't have to duck under water again, I kicked them off, retrieved them, and tossed them away too. We came together again, this time she moaned in pleasure as my inflating shaft rubbed against her; she caught it between her legs and held me tight against her labia. We both groaned into another passionate kiss.

I made love to Crystal's breasts as we stood there. I used everything I had ever learned about how to love a woman's nipples, areolas, and honey mounds. I stroked her neck, blew warm air into her ears in a passionate way, and kissed my way to each breast with my tongue oscillating wildly to please her. Everything I did escalated the sexual desire in each of us.

In the back of my mind, I could see Kim smiling at me, urging me forward and reminding me of my partner's pleasure.

I picked up Crystal, and she put her arms around my neck. I walked up the stairs out of the pool and placed her gently on a poolside chaise. I tossed a pillow down, knelt on it, adjusted her position, and allowed my mouth – my tongue – to dive into her pussy. I reveled in her taste. She responded, and soon we were awash in her lubricating fluids that I lapped up as fast as she could generate them.

Crystal came, grinding her cunt into my face as she held me tightly to her groin. She said, "Let's go inside. I want you to make love to me ... all night long."

I answered firmly: "No! Here. Now."

Crystal nodded assent. I rose over her on my arms and buried my cock in her pussy. As I slid in, I felt that wonderful rush of happiness and joy, and knew she did too. This act of joining carried us each to a new level. Purrs and moans confirmed our happiness with what we were doing. Crystal became my single point of focus in the universe; I wanted to bring her happiness.

I didn't prolong our union the way I could have. We came. I timed my climax to hers. Our orgasms ripped through our bodies like lightning bolts from a towering thunderhead. We were as one; each of us felt every sensation the other felt in addition to our own. We crested in an explosion of light that started deep within each of us, and raced out through every pore of our bodies. As the climaxes subsided, I lay down next to Crystal. She rolled to me so we could kiss and be face to face. She had tears on her cheeks. We kissed tenderly. She was speechless, but I could tell she was trying to form words and sentences.

Eventually, she spoke as I cradled her in my arms: "Jim, these moments ... I don't know how to say it ... Thank you ... I'll never forget this. You are amazing. You made 'us' amazing."

I kissed the tip of her nose. Crystal said in a serious tone, "I hate to admit it, and I've had sex with more than a few men – I don't think I'm promiscuous or a slut or anything like that, but I have enjoyed the act often." She sighed and took a deep breath, before going on; "And, I have never ... never even come close to anything like what we just did – what you did to me." She choked up a little as her last words came out.

I said softly, "We did it to each other. We were both open to not only the lust, but also to the spiritual act of joining two people together in love. We just allowed our energies to merge in an open and exceptional way." As she apparently did, I too found my feelings for her had moved beyond a quick fuck.

"Oh, God, I think I really want to be with you forever," Crystal crooned as she hugged me with all her might. "Come inside and let's do this again."

We did.

The ringing telephone awoke Crystal and me about nine o'clock in the morning. She answered it, sitting in her nudity next to me, a crumpled sheet around her legs. She mostly listened with a smile on her face. She kept saying "OK" or "Wow!" until she hung up. She turned to me and said with an excited tone to her voice, "That was my publicist. We're on the entertainment news, and we're an 'item' – just as you said." She flipped on the television, and then nestled into me. I allowed the hand of the enfolding arm to land squarely on her breast. As we watched, I kneaded and coaxed her nipple to erectness and beyond until Crystal moaned and held my hand still against her. To tease her, I brought my other hand into play on her other breast.

Sure enough, when NEN – the Nashville Entertainment Network – segued out of the weather and into the entertainment news, Crystal and I were at the top of news."Crystal Lee, Nashville's new darling, finally has a boyfriend. He's Jim Mellon from Dillon, Massachusetts. Mellon, who's in his mid-thirties, is also a country singer and has teamed up with Crystal on her next album that should be available in fewer than three months – 'Texas Dawn.' Jim and Crystal can be seen around Nashville riding his hopped up Harley – a bike he rebuilt as a hobby. Jim confessed he's madly in love with Crystal, and she confirmed that she feels the same way thanks to the nod and coy smile to your NEN reporter while Jim told us how he felt about her. Does this mean that one of Nashville's most beautiful divas is off the eligible market? Is there a new and hunky male singer that all you young ladies should all be pining after? Stay tuned."

On the screen as the announcer talked the station ran a grainy picture of the two of us arriving at the recording studio yesterday, probably taken on a cell phone; Crystal's brief kiss as we were leaving; a still photo of the two of us; and then video of our riding away down the studio's long driveway. Several cropped close-up shots of me also added to the broadcast; I had to admit, with the PhotoShop work that had been done, I did look pretty 'hunky.'

Crystal rolled out from under my enfolding arm and flipped around to face me. I found her as sexually stimulating and attractive in the morning as in the past evening. She pleaded, "Are you really madly in love with me?"

I grinned and said, "Yes, but you should know two things about me: I'm a horn dog, according some women that love me – like my sister and sister-in-law, and I may fall in love too easily." After a pause I reminded her, "Oh, and I do want to finish my road trip through the lower forty-eight states." We'd talked about my trip over dinner.

"Well then, Mr. Horn Dog, you'd better get busy and make love to me again. I've got a lot to store up before you go." She jumped over me so she could straddle my midsection and my rising interest in her nudity. I got a whiff of the delightful and residual sexual odors we'd created the night before. The sensory combination turned me on more than ever.

As an afterthought she added, "And we're supposed to be back at the recording studio at one o'clock; that leaves time for two lovemaking sessions, with breakfast between." I thought I'd be embarrassed when we came downstairs for breakfast; Emma waited on us, but the whole situation seemed natural and expected. Walter was not to be seen.

This time when we arrived at the recording studio, cars lined the driveway. About twenty-five reporters, including two I recognized from the nationally syndicated entertainment shows, had been assembled in a cluster behind three saw horses to one side of the front walk to the building. To one side, Brad, Crystal's bodyguard, was riding herd on them. I could hear the whirr of video cameras and the staccato of a thousand camera shutter snaps and synchronized flashes after I shut down the Harley's engine. Crystal gave me a special hug I doubted anyone could discern.

I helped Crystal off the bike, and we both waved at the cameras as we walked to the entrance. Several reporters said almost in unison, "Is it true that you're both in love?"

This time, as I smiled coyly at the reporters, Crystal gave a huge smile and said rhetorically, "More today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow!" She gave them another Crystal smile, and we went in the door to peace and quiet. Just inside the door, she threw herself into my arms and we kissed. I was sure some of the paparazzi caught the impulsive kiss on film.

We spent the following five days recording duets. We redid 'Texas Dawn' a few times, and I think we sounded better than the first day we tried it. Terry next had us do a cover of the Whitney Houston hit, 'I Will Always Love You' from the movie 'The Bodyguard.' We did a few others too, including: 'To Get Me to You,' 'How Do I Live Without You,' 'Whiskey Lullaby,' 'This Kiss,' 'One Boy, One Girl,' and some others I'd never heard before but knew by the end of each evening.

The rest of the week we worked from ten in the morning until eight at night. Our diet consisted of pizza, Chinese takeout, and deli sandwiches, eaten any time of day. When we were through, Crystal and I had laid down twenty tracks that Terry and the others judged hit quality. She was ecstatic at our progress, and thanked me repeatedly for being her muse, even in the songs I didn't participate in.

In the midst of our recording, Terry talked to me about a contract, and I signed with him after reading all the fine print. He was fair, and I really liked him. I could work as much or as little as I wanted, and he'd represent me. He asked for ten percent of the 'action,' as he called it; I told him I wanted him to take fifteen percent and be willing to tolerate my inaction for long periods of time, particularly while I finished my cross-country ride. He agreed. In many ways, he reminded me of Jerry Maguire from the movie with the same name. I even played the line on him, 'Show me the money,' and got a good laugh out of him. So far, we hadn't made a cent.

Crystal explained how it used to take six months to a year or more to bring a record to market. CDs had cut that time in half. Now, because of online music services such as iTunes, a recording could be brought to market in only a few weeks and probably days. Terry explained how the digital age had hammered the music industry, first with Napster, and then iTunes. He said, "The industry is still in flux, and we don't have a new business model that works well yet. Some big labels have gone out of business, and at the retail end too – like Tower Records – they're gone, and they used to employ 3,000 people."

The realities of the industry didn't seem to faze Crystal. She loved to sing, and right now the industry gave her the opportunity to do what she liked to do best. And, like her, I found the singing to be a lot of fun, as well as a creative outlet.

As we talked Terry also mentioned something about concerts and public appearances. Crystal was standing behind him making a lewd gesture that indicated she wanted to fuck again. My attention wandered in the direction any horn dog would go. So I didn't take in that Terry was expecting me to perform at upcoming concerts. If I had, I would have been scared down to my boots.

A couple of mornings, Crystal showed me around Nashville. On a long lunch hour, after we promised to work late, the two of us even found time to take the tour that went by some of the homes of the 'stars,' including 'the magnificent home of Crystal Lee' who sat on the bus with me wearing her large sunglasses and snapping photos of her own house with a small camera. Like many homes, lush foliage shielded the main buildings from the public's prying eyes.

Each day, the tabloid television shows speculated about our relationship and its permanence. I heard things I never knew about myself – things that were outright lies. I heard that I'd had love affairs or illicit relationships with Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, Faith Hill, and Sara Evans. In my ignorance, I had to ask Crystal who Sara Evans was, and whether she was worth having an illicit relationship with. She was.

Other speculations were that Crystal and I had eloped to Mexico, Guatemala, Las Vegas, or the Seychelles Islands. Another set of rumors had us on the verge of a break up because of (a) my philandering, or (b) her philandering – take your pick, depending on the tabloid. There were often lists of the substances and fluids that we abused: drugs and alcohol, when, in fact, neither of us indulged in more than a glass of wine or two around dinner, or maybe a can of beer at lunch.

Thursday, much to our great surprise, Crystal and I appeared on the cover of People magazine with headline 'Newest Country Wonders. Romance in the Wind.' Terry and Dave had intentionally 'leaked' an advance audio of the song 'Texas Dawn' to a friend he had atPeople. Terry sent some of his candid shots from the recording sessions too. I was touted as the 'hottest' country commodity since Crystal, and it was only natural that the two of us paired up to do the 'Texas Dawn' album, and further that we fell in love.

I called Anna and explained about my sudden fame. I told her that it would be rather fleeting, since I intended to move on with more of my trip pretty soon, and then I'd be forgotten. Meanwhile, she should be ready for an onslaught of paparazzi at her doorstep once they figured out our relationship. Anna seemed ecstatic about my fame, and urged me to stick with the music for a while. I think she liked the fact that I'd found something to divert my thinking from Karen's death.

I also telephoned Lauren to set her expectations. Of course, during the telephone conversation I had to talk her through two orgasms as she jilled off. I shared many of the antics that Crystal and I were into. Lauren liked that kind of stuff, and so did I. I think she thought I was telling her a made up story, because later I got an email from her in which she confessed initial disbelief at what I'd told her until she had seen thePeople magazine issue.

At Crystal's house at night, we were insatiable sex maniacs. I labeled her a nymphomaniac and she called me a sexual pervert of the best kind. I described the phone call with Lauren, and talked about how she could also share the nymphomaniac label. Crystal and I fucked everywhere – in every room, on my motorcycle, in the yard, beside the pool, and mostly in bed. We were cautious enough not to embarrass either ourselves or Walter and Emma with our antics.

Over dinner one night, Crystal went back to her conclusion that my coming along the road to her broken down bus as I did and our getting together had not been an accident. Someone could say it was a coincidence, but another interpretation was that our spiritual beings set the physical beings on tracks to intersect. Our falling in love was a result, as well as the recordings that might bring joy to so many people. I liked her thinking.

Since I'd had strong feelings for a list of women I'd met on the trip, I tested my feelings about Crystal on an hourly basis. I did feel in love with her. She had an incredible energy and love of life, and I felt genuine warmth for me. She blended so well with me in each little thing we did together. She was obviously affectionate, and I had a feeling pretty liberal in her thinking. We shared many of the same values and priorities. I found it hard to think of her in an abusive marriage or scraping by to earn a living. She obviously was now in her happy and soul-fulfilling grove. She was a delight to be around and made me laugh as I hadn't laughed since Karen's death. How could I not love this wonderful woman?

Over dinner one night, I bravely told Crystal about my trip so far, telling her about my intimate relations with each of the women I'd met from my sister-in-law to Pat Peyton in Arkansas, a couple of days before I met Crystal. I wasn't certain how she would react, but these adventures were part of me so I wanted to share them with her.

Much to my surprise, instead of displaying signs of jealousy or anger, Crystal displayed joy and happiness that I'd had such great experiences and met such wonderful women, particularly after the tragic situation of the winter with Karen. Crystal wanted to also be on my 'explicit email' list along with Lauren. I still wasn't sure about sending anything really sexual to my sister.