Is the American Idol champ a woman-stealing chump?
That's the question after Hicks' romantic getaway with a woman who has a longtime boyfriend!

 

Sllver-haired crooner Taylor Hicks stole the hearts of millions on his way to becoming American Idol's Season 5 champ in 2006. But he has now apparently stolen a beautiful blonde away from her longtime beau!

Hicks has been making beautiful music with Caroline Lyders, the morning anchor for Milwaukee's WISN-TV. On May 24, the pair, both 30, were photographed romping in the surf and smooching passionately on a beach in Maui, with Caroline sporting a teeny black string bikini— much to grinning Taylor's obvious delight!

Raised in Iowa and a graduate of Columbia University School of Journalism, Caroline owns a $273,000 home in the Milwaukee suburbs and shares a musical link with Taylor: She's an award-winning pianist! Things reportedly began to heat up between the duo after she interviewed him in March 2007, but they kept the affair under wraps until their Maui vacation. "Taylor and I are friends," Lyders recently admitted. "Beyond that, 1 'd rather not comment on my personal life."

THREE'S A CROWD

But the new romance is hitting a sour note with someone else—namely, her longtime boyfriend, insurance businessman Aaron Ruffcorn, 30. In fact, after the photos of Taylor and Caroline s beach romp surfaced. Star contacted Aaron's Iowa-based dad, Mitchell Ruffcorn, who insisted, "My son is dating her"— note the present tense!

Aaron's dad says the couple fell in love while in high school in Bettendorf, Iowa. An aspiring graphic artist, Aaron later moved to Hollywood but then located in 2002 to Columbus, Ohio— where Caroline was an up-and-coming TV newswoman. "My commitment to my girlfriend Caroline was both the catalyst and the anesthetic for this move," Ruffcorn wrote on an Internet portfolio. "The long-distance relationship was simply too much to handle."

Aaron's father, who says his son later followed Lyders to Milwaukee, tells Star, "The last time I saw her was at Christmas 2006. She was with our family for the holiday, and we all had a lot of fun. I know [Aaron and Caroline] have been talking about marriage for some time"

ARE THEY OR AREN'T THEY?

So did something go wrong between Aaron and Caroline in the months since Christmas? Or has Lyders simply traded in an old beau for a newer, more high-profile lover? The answer isn't clear, but when contacted by Star, Aaron Ruffcorn stated: "There is nothing but love and respect between Caroline and myself. There is a lot of history between us: all decisions we make are together. Whether there's a future for Caroline and Taylor, I don't know. But as to whether there's still a future [for us] at this point, stranger things have happened."

In other words, his relationship with Caroline is over. In the meantime, if Lyders is expecting to someday walk down the aisle with Hicks — who is no doubt reappraising his career after the disappointing sales of his self-titled, 2006 post-Idol CD —she may have a long, long wait. "Girlfriends require attention and time. That's absolutely what Taylor does not have!" his grandmother, Joni Hicks, told Star in 2006. "He's never been close to getting married, and he's in no hurry."