by Lily Silver
“How do you know?” Jessie shot back with alarm.
Kyra sighed, looked about the room, and then directly at Jessie. “Lex drove out to the canyon last night to talk to Mike . . . and to me. He was really upset, Jess.”
Jessie gasped as understanding began to dawn. Lex appeared in her bedroom this morning wearing the same clothing from last night. “What did you tell him?”
“Not much.” Kyra’s delicate complexion colored. “I just--I--I told him you’re an old fashioned kind of girl.” Kyra wound her hand about as she spoke, as if she were trying to gain momentum in her confession. “You like the idea of courtship, you like romance novels . . . men in kilts, with swords . . .” Her hands flew up and out at the last word. “And--and testosterone--you know? I told him about your thing for the Highlander dude.” She pointed at Duncan, Jessie’s dog, who sat next to Jessie panting with agitation. Kyra shrugged and then looked away, guilt written on her face.
“Why?” Jessie asked, through clenched teeth. Sure, make her sound like Polly Purebred. As if she didn’t have enough reason to be embarrassed around Lex after her confession out on the beach--and now this!
“Well . . .” Kyra rolled her shoulders, “He wanted to know how to win your heart.”
“Aw, come on. What is this?” Jack demanded. “Chick talk, you dragged me here for girl talk. I thought you needed to talk to all of us.”
“I do need all of you.” Jessie ground out, wanting to ring Kyra’s skinny neck and rip out her golden blonde curls. “What if I do say yes? I didn’t yet, but I sort of want to. What if I say yes and Marcie causes trouble? I don’t want to tell him about her. He might get scared off. He might think its genetic or something.”
“You aren’t serious?” Darrell sat forward, his face a mask of disbelief. “That’s crap. No one would think that about you, Jess.”
“Yeah, I am. I’m serious and it’s scary.” Jessie confessed. “He’s all about this big wedding, our parents--his parents. The whole traditional thing tied up in a big white bow. Jack, guys, what am I going to do?”
Jack crushed his cigarette into the shell ashtray between his splayed legs. He pushed the sleeves up on his leather blazer and reached out to take her hands. “You marry the guy and you don’t invite the family. Simple. Don’t send trouble an invitation to your wedding.”
“I can’t lie to him, Jack . . . it’s not that simple.”
“Oh, I think it is.” He affirmed. “Next order of business?” He looked from Jessie to Steve, gesturing for him to take the floor. Steve remained silent, frozen as all eyes rested on him. “You said Steve had something important to share, too.”
Steve lifted a hand in protest. “Nope, I’m good.”
“Are we finished?” Darrell intruded. “’Cause, if we are, I have this sweet Babe waiting for me.”
“I’m scared, guys.” Jessie confessed, her voice shaking with emotion. “If I say yes, then I have to invite our parents to the wedding. It’s like letting the gorilla out of the closet.”
Everyone looked at Jack, as their leader, as the proverbial head of the clan.
Jack stood and reached into his jacket for another cigarette, the sure sign of agitation in his otherwise stalwart persona. He flipped his lighter and bent his head to suck the flame into the edge of his cigarette. That done, he flicked the metal cap on the lighter and shoved it into his pocket, exhaling in a stream of grey, “Leave the family out of it, Jess.”
Jessie crossed her arms, bringing them up tight against her ribs.
“So, we’ve settled it?” Jack’s copper brows rose. “You are marrying the guy?”
“Well?” Jessie shrugged and remembered the tenderness Lex displayed earlier. “I’m considering it. That’s why I asked you all here, to help me figure this out.”
“Do it.” Jack insisted with a wave of his hand. “No guy would ask a girl to marry him if he wasn’t dead serious. I wouldn’t--even if I were serious.” He chuckled and gazed about the room at the other men. Darrell nodded his approval.
“He does love you.” Kyra echoed. “Last night, he was really worked up. He said he couldn’t stand the thought of losing you.”
“Just go with it.” Darrell chimed in. “If it doesn’t work, sue the bastard for everything he’s got. It’s the Hollywood way. Money soothes all hurts.”
Kyra whacked Darrell over the head with a chintz pillow while Jessie groaned and Jack laughed at their friend’s callous outlook on life.
Jack brushed his lips to hide his smirk as the girls sent him a reproving look. “Remind me not to make that fatal mistake.”
Steve remained in a tight retreat, missing the banter as he struggled with his own sagging courage at trying to tell his friends his secret.
“This is so sad.” Kyra said. “Look at us. We’re all moving in different directions. It’s like, we’re breaking up.”
“Well, sorry.” Jack swept his hands out expansively. “It’s not like we planned to live together until we go into a nursing home. We’ll always be friends, Kyra, with or without the communal living.”
“What about the house? The lease is up in September.” Darrell offered as he twisted the upside down cross dangling from his ear. “If the girls aren’t here, maybe we should find something in the Hills or Bel-Air. It’d sure be more convenient. I, for one, don’t care for the long drive home from LA late at night.”
“Let’s go out.” Kyra clasped her hands together. “Just the five of us, hey, like old times?” She surveyed the group, hope rising in her eyes.
Excuses were made all around. Each one of them had plans for the evening, separate plans with someone special. Sadness filled Jessie, mirroring the disappointment in Kyra’s eyes. Success was changing them. Their tightly knit surrogate family unit was dissolving. They were drifting apart. Everything was changing so quickly.
Jessie’s cell phone rang. Kyra snatched it up from the coffee table and turned to Jessie as she answered it. “It’s Lex. He wants to know how much longer you’re going to be here, something about dinner reservations at Chianti’s.”
“Ooooh.” The guys crooned in unison, eyeing Jessie with amused smiles.
Jessie took the phone from Kyra. “Hey.” She said shyly.
“Hey, back.” Lex intoned. “Ready to go?”
“I’ll be ready in fifteen.” She told him and pressed the end button.
“Expensive.” Darrell whistled low. “Must be love. I wouldn’t waste that kind of money on dinner if I weren’t serious.”
“You’re never serious.” Jack smirked.
“What can I say?” Darrell shrugged and held up his hands. “I love women. All of ‘em. I could never limit myself to one. Wouldn’t be fair to the rest.”
“Well, guys.” Kyra sighed, placing a hand on Jessie’s shoulder as she waxed philosophical. “I guess we’ll always have Malibu.”
Chapter Eleven
Chianti’s was truly amazing. Jessie was a little uncertain as she wasn’t dressed formally, but the upbeat waiter seemed not to care that she was wearing jeans and a black lace shirt. Lex was also dressed casual in jeans and a black shirt, Italian loafers and his signature black leather blazer.
The waiter led them to a secluded spot near the windows. Chianti’s was on a bluff overlooking the ocean. The sun was setting, and soft Italian music played over the speakers above their heads. The wine was expensive, Jessie noted, as she sized up the drink menu. Lex ordered a bottle of light Pinot Grigio.
“I have something for you.” He said in that sexy, low rumble as he reached into his jacket.
Oh, crap. Jessie thought. Here it comes. She cringed inside, expecting the typical little black box and then the descent into awkwardness again when they started arguing about the same old thing--getting married. What’s wrong with me? I should be euphoric, silly with bliss. Priscilla Presley had to have been squealing her lungs out when Elvis proposed to her. Time warp; that was over forty years ago.
She gazed out the window at the sea, hands
clasped together, a little tightly, as she tried to appear non-chalant about the whole deal even as her heart was racing and her insides twisted about.
“There we are.” Lex drew her reluctant attentions back to the glass table top between them as he plunked down his offering. It wasn’t a little black box, as she expected. It was a long, rectangular velvet box. He pushed it across the expanse between them.
Yep, definitely jewelry. Jessie gulped, almost afraid to open it.
With shaking fingers, she slowly opened the long, hinged box. “Oh, my God.”
It was a string of pearls. Not just pearls, but rare and expensive black pearls.
“Well, yes, they were given to a man by a god, so the legend goes.” Lex replied.
Jessie was speechless. This was no ordinary gift, this was worth a fortune. “Lex, I--I can’t accept this. I’d be afraid to wear them.”
“Do you know what it means when a man gives a woman black pearls?”
“No.” She mumbled, feeling hot, exhilarated and tense all at once.
“According to legend, Oro, the Polynesian god of peace and fertility, came to earth on a rainbow to give the black pearl oyster to man. Once here, he offered the black pearl from this oyster to the beautiful princess of Bora Bora, as a sign of his love. Even now, it’s said that if you give someone a gift of black pearls, it is considered to be a symbol of eternal love.”
Jessie stared at Lex in the low candlelight, unable to speak. He held her shocked gaze, offering her a steady, patient look in return as he waited for his gesture to sink in.
“Oh, my God.” Jessie’s hands flew to her lips. She cringed even as she said it, feeling stupid for repeating the same expletive over and over like a broken record. Yet, truthfully, what else could she say? Hot Damn? Son-of-a-bitch?
What does one say when the man who asked you to marry him gives you a very expensive gift that signifies eternal love? And if he asked her again to marry him, what could she say in light of this?
Yes, I love you, but I can’t marry you, sorry . . . it’s not you, it’s me?
She waited, without breath, without hope, without a prayer, knowing that if Lex asked her the same question again she couldn’t say no.
“Let me help you.” He stood, and lifted the necklace from the box. Coming to stand behind her, he waited as Jessie lifted her hair from her neck. It was a moment out of time, a storybook moment, one Jessie knew she would never forget for as long as she lived. Lex gently slid the rope of pearls about her neck and fastened the clasp. His hands circled her shoulders as he stood behind her, waiting for her to comment.
“Thank you.” She gasped, and reached up to touch the smooth, lovely pearls about her neck. The rope was long enough to dangle just above her neckline. She glanced quickly at her reflection in the glass window and then turned about to gaze up at Lex. “I don’t know what to say.” She confessed, blushing slightly. “They are perfect.”
“A fitting gift.” He murmured, so low she could barely hear the rough timbre to his voice. “Eternity. You and I. Soul mates, from one lifetime to the next.”
Oh, My God. Jessie repeated the now oh so lame phrase in her head. Swoon alert. This man was indeed serious if he would go so far to buy her such a rare and expensive gift to show her how he felt.
Lex leaned down. Just as she hoped, he captured her lips in a sweet, satisfying kiss. A discreet coughing noise broke the spell as Lex drew away and took his seat.
The waiter stood before their table, a silly smile on his face as he asked. “Are we ready to order? I recommend the scampi del porto. ”
* * *
At his age, he really should be jaded when it came to women.
He was thirty-two. Lex liked to believe he’d seen it all, done it all, within reason and the law. He’d been touring since he was twenty, commanding the big gigs and playing sold out shows for over a decade. Groupies became boring quickly. Women strutting their stuff in front of him and tossing themselves at him backstage, begging him to take them back to his hotel for a one-nighter so they could say they banged the infamous Lex lost its appeal by the time he was twenty five.
Jessica Kelly was not like any other woman he remembered meeting in this glamour capitol of the world. She was curiously humble and apologetic in her acceptance of his gift. She behaved as if she didn’t deserve to be adored. Although he found it refreshing, on one level, he couldn’t understand her uncertainty. Perhaps that was the appeal she had with the masses of men drooling over her magazine images. She was famous and yet she was still just the nice girl next door, like Sandra Bullock in her early movies.
Throughout dinner, they exchanged small talk. Jessie’s natural shyness intrigued him and yet it annoyed him all the same. A gorgeous young woman like Jessie should be confident in her beauty and her talents. From what she had told him, she and her band mates worked hard to get where they were, she deserved to be proud of her accomplishments. Instead, she seemed to be almost embarrassed by the attention she was garnering. He wanted to know what caused her to be so careful, so hesitant about life.
Lex wanted to know what happened to this delightful beauty in the past to make her feel uncomfortable with praise. It was more than shyness, he was sure of it.
Jessie’s head was light from the wine. Lex pulled his convertible into the parking lot for the Santa Monica pier. He removed his leather jacket and tossed it into the trunk before coming around to her side of the car to open her door for her.
He offered her his hand. Jessie took it and sprang up from the seat. She was excited by his magnetic presence and ready to walk to the ends of the earth with him, hand in hand. The moon was low in the eastern sky and the sun was slowly drifting into the western horizon. It was that golden time of the evening when everything had that last glow of warmth from the sun before it gave way to the shadows of night.
They walked out to the edge of the beach, where the thick pylons rose from the sand and water to hold up the pier. Lex looked about them carefully and then tugged at her hand, urging her to hurry with him as they slipped down under the security railing to the underside of the pier. It was deserted.
His hand was firm and comforting covering her own as they walked the edge of the shore. Waves were curling forward, rushing in to cascade over the forest of round timbers supporting the pier above their heads. They walked in the wet sand, and with every step Jessie’s heels sank deep. Jesse let go of his hand. She bent to remove her black heels and rushed up to the higher ground to set them on a dry rock. She didn’t want to ruin the fancy Manolo Blaniks made famous by the Sex in the City series. They were a rare indulgence. Even if she could afford them she couldn’t bear to deliberately ruin them. It was her working class upbringing coming to the fore.
Lex remained where he was, smiling at her in that sexy way he had. Feeling puckish and a little naughty--maybe it was the wine--Jessie unbuttoned her black lace shirt and removed it, setting it beside her shoes. She marched down to him with a smile and an exaggerated swagger of her hips, wearing only her jeans, her black bra, and those exotic black pearls he’d given her at dinner. The wind blew through her hair making it fan out about her in fluid waves. She felt free, sensual and full of adventure.
Maybe it was the wine. Maybe it was Lex.
In response to her overblown model walk with swaying hips as she advanced upon him, Lex moved toward a nearby rock, hastily removed his shirt and kicked off his Italian leather shoes. He met her halfway, lifting her about the waist and twirling her as he spun about in a circle. The golden glow of the sun made his skin look burnished.
Jessie laughed. That smile he had was wicked enough to seduce a nun. And those eyes, hooded with unspoken desire, twin blue flames burning into her soul.
Lex set her on her feet again and took her hand. They raced hand in hand along the shore, and then he lead her deeper into the rows of pylons, toward the sea, so the waves curled about their feet and seeped up their pant legs to their calves. The water was cool, refreshing, invigorating. Th
e steady roar of the rolling white waves, and the stiff breeze coming off the sea made talking futile. They meandered a few feet, hand in hand.
Feeling a little dizzy from that wonderful pinot grigio, Jessie leaned against a pylon for support, taking a moment to re-orient her overworked senses. Lex leaned into her. His arms wrapped about her as he hovered close. Their eyes met for a brief, questioning moment before the inevitable happened; their lips met and their limbs entwined. She felt all liquid and smooth as she wrapped her legs about his hips and her arms about his neck. His hair was loose and free, silky raven locks beneath her fingers.
The taste of him, the hot, sensual texture of his kiss as it deepened made her desperate for more of his decadent touch. Jessie lost herself in his kiss. She slipped her tongue into his mouth, daring him, urging him to take more than a few stolen kisses beneath the pier.
Pressed together, flesh to flesh, bone to bone, with nothing but denim between them, Jessie moved her hips, pressing against his rigid mound with wanton abandon. It was exhilarating, so decidedly freeing to behave with pure instinct instead of her usual cool headed detachment. Well, hadn’t Jack been telling her ‘live’ and ‘embrace life’ for years?
For the first time in her life, Jessie felt free. It was natural being with Lex, not awkward. It was natural, this wanting him, kissing him, cupping his tight ass beneath her palm and giving him all the tongue he wanted.
Lex held Jessie up, propping her against the pillar as she morphed into the wild seductress of every man’s deepest fantasy. He drew back from their soul scalding kiss, momentarily stunned by the emerging tigress in his arms. The lowering sunlight made her wind-blown hair glow like a burnished halo of copper about her angelic face. And what a face, pale ivory with deep green eyes, the face of Venus, eyes flashing desire, lips swollen, red, parted with desire. Her arms were about his neck, twining through his hair.
