Three's a Crowd

A/N: Alright, so this chapter took a little while to post, but I hope you find it worth the wait. For some reason, I was heavily inspired by the site of John in some blue board shorts on the Marine dvd extras. Hm. Anyway - Enjoy!

The night air was thick, the humidity suffocating as Saryn parked her Honda Accord in front of the house and slammed the door with her hip. Gathering her thick, blond locks with one hand, she hitched her purse over her shoulder and grabbed a small shopping bag from the back seat. Growing up in Indiana, she thought she had dealt with hot summers, but it was nothing compared to the sticky air that surrounded her Florida home. Some days, she wondered if John would reconsider his refusal to move back to California. It was still warm, but not nearly as humid.

Of course, she had heaped his mental plate with more than enough thought food in the last month, and she wasn't about to ask him to make any other life-changing choices. Not until he gave her a straight answer about the situation with Randy. The fact that he was putting that one decision off as long as possible told her that he was tired of thinking about anything other than his career for awhile, and she had to be supportive if he was ever going to rule in her favor.

Opening the garage door, she gasped and dropped her bags. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked, clutching her chest as she glared at the man rifling through a pile in the corner.

"I'm lookin' for that scuba gear your mom bought us for Christmas. Did you put it out here?" John asked, his voice muffled by the large, inflatable raft resting on the back of his neck.

When she was breathing normally, she shook her head and laughed. "I took it back to the store," she reminded him, grabbing her bags from the floor and resting them on the upright tool box next to the wall. "You said, and I quote, 'When the fuck are we ever gonna use that Jacques Cousteau gear? You plannin' on explorin' the Titanic?' So I took it back," she explained. When he only grunted and stood, his face twisted in thought as his hands rested on his hips, Saryn moved to him and threw her arms around his neck.

John accepted his girlfriend's kiss, forgetting for a moment that he had come home for a reason. And that reason was running her fingernails over the back of his neck, causing a chill to shoot down his spine. "Mm," he moaned when she ran her tongue over his bottom lip, savoring her taste a second longer before pulling back and clasping his hands around her waist. Kissing the tip of her nose, he raised and eyebrow. "Missed you," he smiled.

With her eyes closed, Saryn stole another kiss and rested her cheek against his shoulder. "I thought you were on the road until tomorrow."

Lifting her into his arms, John carried his girlfriend back toward the house, kicking the door open and closed again. The rush of cool air breezed over them as John sat Saryn on the counter and stood between her open legs. With his large hands on her thighs, he leaned forward and kissed her again. "We're going on vacation," he announced.

"We're what?" Saryn asked, her arms draped around his neck as she pulled back to rest her head against the cabinets. "Do you even have time for that right now?"

He shrugged slightly. "You watch the show last night?" When she nodded, he smiled proudly. "I got the shit kicked outta me. Put me outta commission for the next week, at least," he explained. "Because the Champ has reservations at the Hyatt on the Gold Coast," he winked.

"The Gold," Saryn started, her jaw dropping. "John, we can't just run off to Australia. Is this a spur of the moment thing? Because I admire your spontaneity," she started, but he cut her off with another kiss.

Shaking his head, he lifted her from the counter and sat her feet on the floor. "I got the time off, and the reservations, six months ago," he informed her, weaving his fingers through hers and leading her up the stairs. "I've got all of our bathroom stuff packed, and everything from your vanity. My clothes are over there," he began to lay out the plan as the entered the bedroom. "All you gotta do is throw your clothes in on top of mine, and we'll be good to go," he clapped his hands together, watching her take in everything he was saying with her hands over her mouth. "Pretty girl?" he asked, stepping behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder. "Our anniversary is Thursday."

Of course, she knew that. And she had planned to give him tickets to a Red Sox game and a weekend in Boston when the baseball season rolled around. And now he was offering to fly her around the world. "This sounds like something I would spring on you," she laughed, twisting in his arms to kiss him again. "Thank you for this."

Nodding, John rubbed his hands over her back and then cast his glance to the clock by the wall. "You're welcome." Releasing her, he spun her toward the dresser and patted her back side. "Now pack. Our flight leaves at six."

---

"I can't believe how amazing this view is," Saryn sighed, resting her weight against the balcony railing outside of their penthouse suite. Two days after arriving in the Land Down Under, the couple had absolutely no need for the scuba gear John had been seeking. They hadn't left the room since checking in, and neither were complaining.

John stood in the doorway, draped only in his boxer briefs, a bottle of Aussie beer dangling between his fingers. "You've seen it before," he reminded, smiling when she turned and shot him a million-watt smile.

Nearly three years earlier, when John had been filming his first movie, the couple had spent four months in the same suite they were inhabiting now. It was no accident that John had demanded the accommodations for this visit, as well. The look on Saryn's face when she had surveyed the view back then would be burned into his brain forever.

Pushing off of the railing, Saryn walked toward her boyfriend, one foot carefully placed in front of the other until she reached him, pressing her robe-wrapped body against his. "But you're not getting paid to be someone else's husband this time," she whispered.

"Nope," John agreed, grabbing Saryn into his arms and taking her back to the bed. She fell to the mattress with a squeal. By the time she struggled to a seated position, he was on his knee in front of her. "Cause I only wanna be one woman's husband," he said honestly, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her palm.

He hadn't intended to ask her until after dinner that night, but the flow of conversation felt right and he couldn't help popping the question in that moment. And seeing the tears flood her dark eyes brought a smile he was sure would split his face in half.

"Are you?" she started, and then snapped her mouth shut. "John."

Running a large hand up her thigh, he squeezed her flesh and smiled softly. "Pretty Girl, I love you. You make me crazy, you drive me nuts sometimes, but there is nobody else in the world that I can imagine spending the rest of my life with. Will you marry me?"

Tears spilled over her cheeks as Saryn fought to regain some sort of control. Since he had announced that they were going on vacation, she had been swept up in a world that she was sure they would never experience again. A world where his career didn't exist. Where nobody was calling at odd hours of the night to let him know there was a last-minute interview that he had to do. Where they were the only ones on the planet.

With a nod, she launched herself forward, tackling him to the floor. Saryn rolled onto her back, dragging John's body over hers. With her head thrown back, she laughed loudly and then crushed his mouth to her own, sucking hungrily on his lower lip. She slid her foot up the back of his leg, her arousal pooling when she felt him shiver. Tearing her lips from his, she took his earlobe between her teeth and circled it with her tongue before whispering, "Yes."

John's laughter joined hers as he rolled back onto his back and situated her over his thighs. "I love you, Pretty Girl," he gasped when she raked her fingernails over his chest.

Smiling, Saryn laid down, resting against his chest. "I love you, too, baby."

---

Saryn groaned and stretched her back, casting a glance at her fiancee before slipping out of the bed and heading toward the bathroom. He was like the Energizer Bunny, and while she couldn't complain at the pleasure he brought her, the aching feeling in her thighs protested loudly against the amount of time they'd spent in the bed.

Grabbing her cell phone, she shut the bathroom door and listened to the voicemails she had ignored for three days. She didn't have much of an extended circle, not outside of John and his friends, but she had still managed to rack up eight missed calls.

The sixth call was the one that stopped her heart in her chest.

"Hey, Cutie," Randy's voice permeated the line and caressed her eardrum. "So I know you're celebrating your anniversary. I hope you're having a great time." There was an awkward pause and she knew that he was trying to think of something to say that didn't sound too sappy. "It's weird not havin' you guys here," he chuckled. "Don't really know what to do with myself. Course, throwin' that rager at your house helped." Another laugh. She could only hope it meant he was kidding. "Uh, okay, so I'll let you go. You'll be home soon, so I'll just talk to you then. Love you."

The last two words were rushed, said so quickly she was sure he hadn't even thought about them before sending the message. As she flipped her phone shut and sat it on the counter, the glimmer of her new diamond caught the light, and her attention.

In the moment that John had proposed, she hadn't been thinking about Randy, or about the menage a trois. She hadn't considered what their impending wedding would do to that idea. And suddenly, her mind began to churn. What if John was just asking her to marry him so that she would drop the idea? What if this was his way of telling her that it was just them, that Randy wasn't welcome into whatever they had? What if she had accepted the end of the idea without even realizing it?

Stepping out of the bathroom, she smiled at the man in the bed. His blue eyes fluttered open, catching her gaze before his lips twitched into a broad grin. "Morning, baby," she whispered, tiptoeing back to him and slipping between the sheets.

John wrapped an arm around his soon-to-be wife and ran a finger down her back. She swung a leg over his and then groaned and moved it back. "You okay there, Pretty Girl?" he asked, his voice concerned.

Saryn tucked her head into the crook of his neck and sighed. "Just sore," she answered, feeling his chuckle against her cheek. "Can I ask you a question?" John mumbled his affirmation. "Don't take this the wrong way," she started, staring at his tanned flesh. "But did your proposal have anything to do with the whole situation with Randy?"

John's breath hitched in his chest just briefly before returning to normal. He carressed her shoulders gently, staring at the ceiling. "No," he answered honestly. "Tell ya the truth, I didn't even think before I did it. I've had that ring for more than a year," he admitted.

Twisting under his arm, Saryn stared at John with wide eyes. "A year? Why the hell'd ya wait so long?" she asked.

He couldn't help laughing at the expression on her face. Pushing her hair behind her ear with one hand, he hugged her back against his body and kissed the top of her head. "I've been waiting for the moment when everything fell into place. I just wanted to feel it, and to know you were feeling it. And we've been so busy lately," he added.

"So it had nothing to do with getting me to drop the whole menage a trois thing?" she asked before she could stop herself.

The long, awkward silence almost told Saryn that she had been right, until John let out a chuckle. "Jesus," he sighed. "I can honestly say that I wasn't thinking the first thing about Orton," he told her. "Do you still want me to think about it? I mean, we're gonna get married - do you still wanna?" he stopped and scrunched his nose. He had been reading. A lot. And he knew that there were married couples who brought another person into their relationship. It wasn't unheard of. But it certainly wasn't ideal.

Saryn let out a long sigh. "I don't know," she answered honestly. "I just," stopping, she looked up into John's blue eyes. "I just can't help thinking that he needs us." She couldn't tell him, in the afterglow of everything that had happened during their vacation, that she wished Randy was there. She wished that he could celebrate their engagement with them. She wanted him around.

John cast his gaze out the window and then back at his fiancee. He loved her. More than he loved anything int he world. If Saryn asked him to surrender his title and retire his career, he would consider it. Hell, if he was honest, he knew he would do it. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her. Some people didn't get her. She was crazy beyond comprehension sometimes. But he loved her. He couldn't help it.

"How 'bout this," John proposed, his hand drifting over her backside until she purred against his skin. "When we get home, I have a couple of days to catch up on the jetlag before I have to get back. We'll bring Randy over, and all three of us will talk about this thing. Okay?"

She sighed and nodded, wrapping her lips around his bare nipple. When John arched his hips toward her, she straddled his thighs and nodded in agreement of his proposal. They would worry about real life when they got back to Tampa. For now, she just wanted to enjoy her fiancee, and the beautiful vacation he had given her.