Sweetest Obsessions - Anthology

by Anthony, Jane

  Kayla could hardly believe her ears. He was literally stipulating they had to work with each other whether they liked it or not. Just the thought of having to sing beside Jaxon Brady and join him on tour was enough to make her barf. After having a great concert the night before, she was coming to this. Had she known, she would not have stopped by the office today. Perhaps if she told Mr. Goldstein some of what Brady had done, he would understand exactly why she didn’t want to work with such a man. Besides, she was a pop singer, and he was an R&B singer. What type of duet would they make together? Mel Stinger was perhaps a better choice than she was. He and Mel would probably make a wonderful song, considering the fact that they’d been screwing each other for the past year.

  Slamming his hand on the desk in frustration, their CEO informed her that his decision was final. This duet between them was going to happen. “People aren’t dying to hear the next great song you make, Kayla. They like drama, gossip. Reality TV. Celebrity hook-ups and break-ups.”

  “Yes, absolutely, but this is . . .” Kayla tried to find the most decent word to express how upset she felt without being rude.

  “Kayla, the two of you doing a song together will get people talking. We’ll get the kind of gossip that we want. We need that buzz.”

  “She doesn’t like me, Aaron,” Brady chimed in. “And I don’t even think I like her all that much either,” he added, a lopsided grin touching his lips.

  “I’m sure you two professionals can work something out. You’re performers, aren’t you? So perform. Pretend to like each other.”

  He did have a point. The music business was currently dominated by one set of artists managed by one record label. Everyone else was basically struggling to get more than a few dozen sales. After much more coaxing by the older, wiser man, Kayla and Brady finally agreed to do the song.

  The three of them continued chatting until the phone rang, interrupting their conversation. Deciding to give their CEO some privacy while on his call, Kayla said goodbye and exited the room. A few seconds later, Jaxon rose to his feet and followed closely behind. As she made it into the lobby, she heard her name echo through the quietness of the space. Turning around, her gaze fell on his beautiful blue-green eyes, and a little tingle sparked through her being. He was definitely one of the most handsome men she’d ever laid eyes upon. It was annoying how he could make her feel so head over heels even when she was mad at him. Or maybe that was why she was mad at him. Because he made her feel things she could not put words to. It was not love. Hell no. Her heart had nothing to do with the way he made her feel. It was more physical, more raw than just the tinkling bell sound she had come to associate with the warm, tender feeling that was love. No, this feeling was accompanied by the sound of pounding drums and violent waterfalls. It was a feeling that was wildly out of control, and Kayla responded the way a cat with her back to the wall would — by unsheathing her claws.

  “Hey, McFarty-Face . . .”

  2

  “Another fight, Jaxon, really?” The middle-aged, blonde-haired woman marched into his office unannounced. “Just take a look at this.” She dropped a magazine onto his desk, and the noise it made caught his attention.

  The way she always barged into his home was somewhat absurd. She never knocked, never called or waited for him to get the door. In more ways than one, she reminded him of his mother, Selene. They both had no clue what the words privacy and politeness meant. Jaxon had given her a spare key to be used in case there was an emergency, but as it turned out, they had two different opinions on what exactly could be ruled as an emergency.

  His office was an empty room in his two-bedroom condo with the front wall made entirely of glass. He didn’t have much in it — a desk, two chairs, his laptop, and a few mini fridges. Branching out from JUMP, the band he’d formed with his cousins during their late teenage years, had been more challenging than he’d expected. Although having a solo career was a dream come true, the hard work he had to put into it was making this seem like a nightmare in disguise. He was really getting to understand the phrase “be careful what you wish for”. Perhaps he should have transitioned into another area of the entertainment business. Now that he was working alone, Jaxon felt like a new artist all over again. He was basically starting his career over. Adding to his stress was the constant attempt by the paparazzi to discredit him as a professional. Thank God for his supportive fans. They motivated him to strive harder every day.

  “Your behavior outside of the studio is just so unacceptable.” The expression on her face was one of disappointment and anger. “You’re an R&B singer. You sing love songs, for Christ’s sake. Why the hell are you always fighting someone?” Her tone got louder, like a mother scolding her son.

  Jaxon stopped what he was doing on his laptop and picked up the magazine, flipping through the pages mechanically. “I don’t see anything in here, Addy.” He brought his gaze back up to meet hers.

  His publicist, Adaline Rogers, was one of the best in the business. One could toss her into a raging sea of negative press, and she would easily calm the storm, putting a positive spin on things. Jaxon knew that what he was going through with the tabloids was mere child’s play to her. With one or two calls, he was certain she could put an end to this rubbish.

  In fact, she was so good, he’d practically stolen her from Kayla, and thus started the feud between the two of them. Addy had been with Kayla from the beginning of her career, but a few unique incentives and a huge increase in pay made her jump ship without hesitation. He still remembered how upset Kayla was when she found out about Addy working for him. She’d called him almost every single horrible name in the world. However, hurling insults at him didn’t satisfy her. She just had to take things a step further. When he saw the scratches on his brand-new Porsche, he knew she was somehow involved, although she never confessed to it. Until then, he’d actually felt sorry for her and had even contemplated letting Addy go so she could work with Kayla again. But her behavior had been downright childish and a huge turn off.

  Now that he had the great Adaline Rogers all to himself, working with her was no bed of roses. And although he was grateful for having her on his team, it always amazed him how she overanalyzed everything. She was an extreme nitpicker – always poking at nothing. Even now was a perfect example. To his recollection, his weekend had gone by smoothly; the only thing close to a fight he’d had was a little word exchange with a hotel valet, but that was it.

  “You don’t see anything, Jaxon? That’s funny, because you’re on the cover. Again! Since you like being on these covers so much, I will just go ahead and get you a modeling gig.” Her sarcasm made him almost crack a smile

  Though amused by the situation, he tried his best to keep a straight face. The last thing he wanted to hear was one of her speeches about public perception and how it would affect his success in the music industry.

  He stared at the cover with curious eyes before going through the pages slowly until he found the story about him. As expected, the entire thing was exaggerated, with various so-called “inside sources” giving different accounts of what they believed transpired. A few minutes of reading and he’d had enough.

  “You can’t honestly believe this garbage.” He tossed the magazine aside, shifting his gaze back to his computer screen and dismissing her claims.

  “I’m not the one you should be worried about here. It’s your fans. When they see this, what will they think? No one likes an artist who’s always getting into fights.” She leaned in, pushing the monitor downwards and closing the laptop. Her actions immediately got his attention, and as she began lecturing him, he drowned what she was saying in the back of his mind. By the time she’d finished speaking about the issue, Jaxon glanced at the small clock on his table, and surely enough, over an hour had passed.

  He finally chimed in, suggesting that he may have been dealing with some unresolved issues from his past, and perhaps he needed to seek professional help. The older woman nodded her head slowly,
taking in what he was saying. Shifting his gaze back to the time, he realized he was running late for a meeting with Kayla. They’d agreed to meet at the studio to begin working on the song today.

  The unsettling feeling that raged on within him almost made him cancel on her, but he knew he wouldn’t hear the end of it if he did that. And so, he reached into his top drawer and retrieved his work cell, immediately scrolling through his contacts. When her name popped up, he excused himself, waiting to hear her voice at the other end of the line.

  Kayla’s British accent was beautiful, but the words she uttered were harsh. She spoke with such animosity he wished he’d never called in the first place. After ranting for what seemed like an hour, she finally asked if he was on his way.

  “Are you bloody serious? You’re still at your office? This is ri-di-culous,” she overemphasized the word, letting him know just how irate she was before ending their call abruptly.

  “Did she just . . .?” Jaxon brought the phone to his line of sight in disbelief. “She hung up on me,” he spoke to himself, surprised by her reaction. For a few moments, he thought about nixing the whole project. Just setting fire to it and watching it burn. After all, it was not part of his contract, and he was sure Addy could find a way to spin this one his way. Then he remembered how she had looked just outside Aaron’s office, the few seconds after he called her name. Right before she called him McFar . . . Yeah, that name was horrible as hell, and he hated it because it was one of his nicknames in grade school, and high school, and apparently now in Kayla’s school of whatever.

  Anyway, he remembered that look, and he knew what it meant. Hell, he was the master of putting that look in people’s eyes. It was the same look the girl he had picked up in a bar last week had on her face, right before she smiled at him as they walked to his car. Only on her, it looked practiced and used, looked like she knew what was coming after and was ready for it. On Kayla, it looked like she was fighting it. It was a novelty to Jaxon, meeting a woman who had no interest in him. He wanted to see how much fun it would be to convince her otherwise.

  3

  Kayla impatiently paced back and forth in the studio, waiting for Brady to get there. This was the fourth day this week he was running late, and quite frankly, she’d had enough of him. She had stuff to do too. Hell, she had more going on than he did. Yet she made it her business to be there, every day and on time. His blatant disrespect made her blood boil, and she feared she’d launch into a fit of rage and attack like a lioness does its prey. Looking down to her phone, she pondered whether she should give him a quick call, but a voice in the back of her mind protested. Calling wouldn’t make a difference. He would simply lie and say he was on his way and arrive there a whole hour later. Ten more minutes – that’s all the time she was giving him. If he wasn’t here by then, she was leaving, and her next stop would be Aaron Goldstein’s office.

  Their producers, Jerry and Steven, looked equally as irritated as she was. They had been here arranging and putting the music together even before she arrived. And now it seemed like their day was still not over. She wanted to begin recording her part of the song, but both men suggested she wait for Brady. The sound of her mobile phone ringing caught her ears, and when she answered, she realized it was just her personal assistant, Sally. Kayla had sent her off to pick up her dry cleaning and would meet up with her at the hotel later. They spoke for a few minutes and ended the call with Kayla asking her to come over to the studio when she was done.

  Pulling out the lyrics sheet from her brown leather tote bag hanging on her arm, she tried to memorize the words of the song. “The First Night,” she read the title out loud and laughed to herself. Maybe she was cold-hearted, a bit cynical, if she wanted to admit it to herself. But Kayla really didn’t want to sing a song about having sex with someone she hated. Focusing her attention back on the song in her hand, Kayla continued reading through the lyrics. Just then, the door to the small studio came open, and the man they had all been waiting for finally strode in. He greeted them and walked over to the isolation booth as if he wasn’t aware he was hours late. Or worse, didn’t care that he was.

  He had an unapologetic attitude, yet he was so darn sexy. She hated who he was but loved looking at him. He was like a beautiful cactus. She knew he’d hurt her if she were to ever get too close. But his risky green-blue eyes were somewhat seductive, and his full head of silky, jet-black hair made her want to run her fingers through it. A handsome heartthrob indeed, she’d heard all about his relationships with the ladies. He gave new meaning to the word man-whore, running through a jungle of women like a cheetah.

  “Hi, everyone. Sorry I’m late,” he apologized, though he looked anything but, at least to Kayla. Devil-may-care grin on his face, he made Kayla wish she had paid more attention in her self-defense class, learned how to karate chop something. Then she would have walked over and put a scar right on that pretty-boy mouth of his. With his luck, he may end up looking more like a handsome rogue than an ugly villain.

  Trying hard to not stare at him, she shifted her gaze to his side. He had his guitar case in one hand and car keys dangling in the other. The dark shades that covered his eyes complemented his bad-boy appearance perfectly.

  A familiar yet unwelcome feeling swept through Kayla, and she nearly cursed at herself for being attracted to such an arrogant man. “Tardy again, aren’t we?” She rose to her feet and walked all the way to the back of the control room where the producers had been playing around with their mixing equipment. The small kitchenette tucked away in the corner was her destination. “This was not the time we agreed to meet here,” she spat at him when it seemed the producers were going to ignore his tardiness.

  “No, it is not,” he said to her then went looking for a chair.

  Fuming with rage this time, Kayla walked to him and stood in front of him until he was forced to look at her. Then she immediately regretted her decision. At over six feet, he towered over her. But not in a threatening way. Rather, his height was just perfect for her, and . . . No, no, no. She was not going to go there. She wasn’t going to let him affect her like this. Steeling her chin, she lifted up her head to stare into his eyes and found him silently laughing at her, almost as if he knew what being this close to him was doing to her. Then, as if to dare her, he slightly flexed his chest, the tips of his pecs very close to her breasts. Breasts with nipples that were slowly beginning to harden. But Kayla knew that taking a single step back was akin to defeat, so instead she planted her feet firmly on the floor and fixed her gaze on him. Thank God for thickly padded bras, Kayla thought. Her nipples would have been drilling a hole in his chest by now.

  “I said,” she intoned as she lifted her shoulders in a bid to add a few inches to her height, “why did you come late?”

  “Oh, sorry.” He looked sincerely apologetic, and Kayla faltered in her attack. “Saw a couple of stray kittens on the way over, and I stopped to rescue them. Had to drive them over to an animal shelter a couple miles out of the way. Then Trixie, that’s the smallest kitten of the bunch, by the way. Yeah, I named them. I mean, they were just so cute,” he gushed with a wink before continuing. “Anyway, Trixie wouldn’t drink her milk unless I fed it to her. So I had to wait to do that. Anyway, they’re fine now, and I know they will find good homes.”

  Swamped with emotion and almost berating herself for assuming the worst of him, Kayla immediately apologized. “Oh, I’m so sorry for accusing you like that. The kittens are fine now, right?” she asked, forgetting for an instant that she hated his guts and placing her hand on his arm. His finely sculpted, muscular arm. But at that moment, all she was seeing were fluffy white kittens in a cardboard box being bottle-fed by a gorgeous hunk. This gorgeous hunk. “I have always thought of getting a cat. But wasn’t sure I could really take care of her. Where is this animal shelter? Maybe I could go and adopt one?”

  “Oh that,” he said, still looking solemn. “That particular shelter is in my head. As is the talking parrot I used to p
ick this pretty woman up from a club just a few days ago.”

  Kayla stared at him, dumbfounded and cursing herself for getting played so easily. “You’ve got to be the vilest, most repulsive and repugnant man I have ever known.”

  “You forgot to add sexiest to that list,” he said with another wink, and she could feel red-hot air blow from her nostrils. “Come on, don’t deny it. There is a part of you that—”

  “You can hold it right there,” she interrupted him. Then, with a flip of her hair, stalked off to the sink.

  “Fix me something to drink as well while you’re over there,” Jaxon ordered, placing the case on the floor next to him and retrieving his guitar. He made himself comfortable on the chair as he positioned his instrument across his lap. “Don’t forget my drink,” he reminded her.

  How dare he walk in late and try to boss her around! The little devil on her shoulder encouraged her to curse him out, but the more sensible side urged her not to. Deciding to be the bigger person, Kayla ignored his request, knowing if she responded, she wouldn’t be able to control her tongue. He was just trying to get a reaction out of her — a negative one at that. The built-up anger and frustration she was harboring within were enough to make her explode. She already had a reputation in the music industry for being hot tempered. The last thing she wanted was to add fuel to that fire. The sound of water boiling in the electric kettle got her attention, and she quickly grabbed a mug from the cupboard, washing it out under the faucet. Some hot tea was all she needed to help her calm down.

  She added a teaspoon of honey to the cup of green tea she made for herself before bringing it up to her lips and taking a sip. The warm liquid was soothing as it trickled slowly down her throat, and as she indulged, Kayla could feel her body becoming more relaxed. In the background, she heard the sound of Brady’s guitar as he stroked the strings with his fingers while singing their song. Turning to him, her eyes fell to his, and a half-hearted smile graced her lips. He knew the words without having to use the lyrics sheet. Perhaps she was being too hard on him, judging based on his personal life and not his talent.