”How did you get sick?”

She bit her lip, than shrugged her arms as she looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t know.”

“How old were you?”

“19.”

“What happened?”

She shrugged her arms again, “It all happened so fast, like one minute I was on top of the world. I was Roxie Hart for Chicago, it was my second show and I was so excited because I had just signed my contract for a third show. I was dating a Yates, something my mother had wanted me to do since I was born, I had this beautiful apartment in New York, and I was spending more money than I should have.”

She let out an empty chuckle as she moved her hands under her thighs, he guessed since she was picking at her nails.

“I woke up and my jeans didn’t fit, and I was like what the hell? So I stopped eating the way I was and went on an intense diet and started running, but I kept gaining. When I finally got to the doctor, I was already topping over 200 pounds, had already lost my job, was packing up to come home, and Justin was livid. But he still stayed with me, which made no damn sense then. Now it does, but still. Anyway, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and I have been on medicine ever since.”

“When you got on the medicine did you start losing the weight?”

“Yeah, but it was slow, it took three years for me to get where I am, and I still have problems. I still get really tired and weak sometimes if I don’t take my meds. I gain weight so stinkin' fast if I don’t watch it, and depression sticks its ugly head into my life every once in a while.”

“Okay, but you’re okay now, right?”

“Yeah, if I take my meds and stay away from my mom,” she said with a smile. He smiled back, kissing her temple.

“Will you get better? Or will you have to take the pills forever?”

“No, I have to take them for the rest of my life.”

“Does it scare you?”

Because it scared the living shit out of him.

“No, not too bad. I’m used to it now, I guess. I guess when I get pregnant I’ll probably be worried, since if I don’t take my pills and take care of myself, it could hurt the baby.”

Shea nodded as he looked her over. She was so beautiful, he hated that something like this could happen to her, but in a way he was happy it did. He knew it was selfish, but her going through what she did brought her to him, and now that he had her, he could never imagine her not being there.

“Do you miss it?”

She shook her head, he was surprised she knew what he was talking about; he guessed they were that connected.

“No, when I was singing I thought I would never be happy doing anything else, but I love what I do. I love taking pictures of people for them to keep that moment forever. I make good money, I can pay my employees, and pay all my bills and still have money for my shopping addictions. I have a beautiful house that I love, a dog that loves me when you are not around, and for the first time in a very long time, I’m happy.”

He smiled as she turned on her side, putting one hand on his cheek and the other on his neck.

“It’s because of you, you know.”

He gave her a sheepish grin, because if she knew how much she changed his life, she would probably run. He wanted to scream at her that he loved her but instead said, “Really?”

“Yes Shea, I have never loved my life, but you came along and flipped it upside down and I couldn’t be happier. You make me so happy.”

His hand slid down her back from her hip, and he pressed her closer to him, meeting her mouth with his, kissing her hard. She melted against him, kissing him just as hard as she wrapped her arms around him, basically molding her body with his. He moved his hand up her body, pulling her shirt up as he went, and she let him, causing him to smirk against her lips. She smiled back as he moved himself over her, pulling her shirt off and throwing it on the floor. Her arms folded over her stomach and she looked up at him with worry in her eyes.

“Shut the lights off,” she said.

He shook his head as he kissed one side of her mouth, then placed a kiss on her lips, bringing his lips to the other side of her mouth, kissing it.

“No, I want to see you,” he whispered as he sat back on his hunches, her thighs touching his as her legs wrapped around his waist.

“Shea, I don’t want you to see me naked in the light.”

“Oh, but baby,” he said as he tried moving her dead locked arms away.

He smiled down at her, “I want to see you.”

He finally got her arms moved and looked over her naked chest, her perfectly voluptuous br**sts, with her rosy hard ni**les, her smoother than silk skin.

“Don’t look at my stomach.” she complained, trying to cover it again, but he wouldn’t let her. He looked down her ribs to her soft looking belly. Her little belly button was surrounded by little white jagged lines; they ran along her hips too.

“Shea quit, you’re making me self conscious.”

He looked back up at her beautiful face.

“Show me what you think is a problem.”

“I know you can see them, stop looking and kiss me.”

“No, show me.”

She let out a frustrated breath, and pointed to the marks around her belly button.

“They are disgusting.”

He smiled, leaning his head down, placing feathery light kisses against each one of the marks. She let out a breathy sigh as he followed up her hips, to the side of her breast before taking her nipple in his mouth. He gave the same attention to her other breast before reclaiming her mouth with his. He pulled back to look down at her beautifully pink flushed face.