* * *
"Your skin has calmed down so much. Here, I recommend the mineral foundation." Hayley slid the golden bottle containing the foundation across the granite kitchen counter towards Lexie. Her hazel eyes sparkled with excitement. The way they always did when she'd designed a new remedy or beauty product that worked.
Lexie picked it up hardly wanting to wear any with the way that her skin was already glowing. She looked at her reflection in the hand mirror and smiled. Hayley was amazing, truly amazing. There was no skin problem she couldn't fix and work her magic on.
Lexie's face had broken out with the worse stress spots she'd ever had. It was down to all the uncertainty at work and then all the craziness this past week to get everything in order so they'd impress the new boss when he started next week.
Since she wanted to get back on track with the Prometheus trials and concentrate on her goals for it, she didn't want any more obstacles. She wanted to meet the new boss, ensure he found no fault with anything, and then carry on with her work. Simple.
She currently had a thousand patients on the trial at a separate facility near San Jose. They were all patients with severe cardiac disease. Since being on the trials, they'd stopped taking medication because they didn't need it anymore. Their FDA liaison was thoroughly impressed and ready to give them approval based on those results. However, Lexie wanted to extend the trials for a little bit longer, just so they could see how the patients would respond to higher dosage levels. While Tim had been ready to accept FDA approval now, Lexie had bigger things in mind for the project. She didn't just want to use it as a treatment for failed organs to maintain them, she was going in for full regeneration. Or at least some. And not just for the heart. She was thinking of the brain and curing neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's. The sky was the limit, and Lexie was feeling pretty excited about it all.
She'd worked hard this week, and this fundraiser would be her reward. And, now she could look forward to going with a zit free face, thanks to her amazing sister's miracle cure. It was the first real event the company had hosted for months, and Lexie loved a reason to dress up in her finest. She was always in her work clothes. Which, although looked classy, never had the same flair or excitement as a cocktail dress.
She'd taken the day off and spent it with her sisters, shopping, and pampering at Hayley's beauty salon.
"Have your hair down it'll carry off that dress even more.' Hayley advised. Tamar nodded moving over to them with a tray of sandwiches she settled in front of them on the counter.
Lexie wore a cute little Calvin Klein original. A simple sleeveless silky black dress with an empire line decorated with diamantes. Without further encouragement, she loosened the bone colored butterfly clip that held her hair together and gave it a shake.
"Perfect." Tamar giggled tossing her own dark locks over her shoulder. "Now eat up. I did the best I could with what you have. Woman, why don't you have cheese?"
Lexie laughed. She didn't have time to do any food shopping this week. Her cupboards were on the verge of emptiness. Tamar always made sandwiches when she was at Lexie's. As with everything Tamar did, they were always the best, and even though Lexie was on her way to a grand dinner at the fundraiser, there was no way she'd pass on one of Tamar's sandwiches. Tonight she'd made chicken and avocado with chili mayo. Hayley was the first to dive in.
"Are you sure I can't convince either of you to come?" Lexie asked. She would definitely enjoy their company. She reached for a sandwich and started munching away.
"I would, but I have dinner with art guy."
"Really?" Lexie narrowed her eyes. Hayley had outrightly called that guy a weirdo who needed to get a life.
"Tamar made me feel bad. She said if I continue criticizing every guy that's interested I'm going to end up like the cat lady."
"It's true," Tamar laughed. Lexie giggled too, thinking about the cat lady who lived on the next block with her fifty cats. She didn't know how one person could tend to fifty cats.
"And you'll have this one to join you." Tamar pointed one perfectly manicured finger at Lexie.
While Hayley laughed, Lexie placed her hand on her heart and stared at Tamar with rounded eyes. "Me, oh no I'm far too pretty to be a cat lady. Hayley on the other hand..." Lexie teased. Hayley didn't give her the chance to finish.
"Hey, Miss Lexie. I'm the beautician here. If I were you, I wouldn't insult me while I'm doing your make up." Hayley growled bearing her teeth like they were fangs.
"Oh for heaven's sake," Tamar laughed.
"And you Miss Perfect," Hayley pointed the makeup brush at Tamar. "I could put laxatives in your tea. See how impressed Jay would be then." Hayley wiggled the brush.
Jay was Tamar's husband, and he was perfect. Literally perfect. He was super gorgeous, took care of all of them, and all you had to do was look at him to see how much he loved Tamar. There was always this twinkle in his eye, like a spark when he looked at her. In all the time they'd been together, now ten years, there wasn't a day when Lexie hadn't seen that spark.
Tamar deserved that. She was the best. Lexie knew she was busy, but she'd put whatever she was doing on hold to hang out with them today.
"You better not. Anyway, I can't go Lexie, Jay and I are going over the club accounts. We've been doing extremely well for the last few months, and I want to introduce some new things," Tamar explained. She owned a club, with a restaurant on the same complex which their parents ran.
Both were amazing, but their parents had turned that restaurant into a piece of heaven with their blend of South American recipes they'd gathered from their Brazilian and Colombian roots. They all made it so the food and music could keep a person there forever.
"The place is already happening. What more could you need?" Hayley asked. She opened up her makeup box and unfolded the compartments. Lexie got excited at the sight of all the colors on the eyeshadow palette. She'd requested a smoky eye look with a hint of silver just in the inner corners. Hayley would know exactly what to do to make her look stunning.
"I want to mix up weekends. Sure it's a South American club, but I want to draw in more people. I was thinking of getting a band in on a Friday night and making it more main stream music. I wanted to try it for one night a week and see what happens."
That was an absolutely brilliant idea. One that Lexie was sure would bring in even more people. Tamar had opened the club three years ago. At first things were slow but eventually, it picked up and really took off.
"I love it," Lexie commented.
"Yeah?"
Both Hayley and Lexie nodded.
"It would be great to see you both there with decent guys. Well, Hayley can be excused because at least she tries. You, on the other hand, Lexie are another story entirely." Tamar rolled her eyes.
"I'm not." Lexie defended. This was her least favorite subject. Her sisters would always go on at her for not dating, and when she did date, they would find all sorts of faults.
"Yes you are, I don't understand why you target dorks."
"I'm a dork."
"No you aren't a dork, you're super intelligent. And for a super intelligent woman, I don't get why you pick the worst of the bunch."
Tamar had never met Adam. He was the worst of the bunch. Lexie shuddered inwardly at the horrible memory of him. From time to time he surfaced in her thoughts, and she'd have to push him right out of her mind. She was never able to tell her family what happened with Adam. They knew she left him and found her way home, but that was it. She could tell they suspected more but had waited for her to tell them. To this day she was still unable to find the strength to truly explain it all.
"She means Ed." Hayley filled in, wrinkling her nose.
"What's wrong with Ed?" Lexie asked, although honestly she knew before either of them commented what they were going to say. As far as dorks went Ed was definitely of the dorkish variety. But, he was an extremely nice guy. Nice guys didn't cause trouble, steal your money, shove you around like a ra
g doll, push you down the stairs, or tell you they'll kill you the next time they saw you. Nice guys were... nice. Safe options. They may not always look good, but then she guessed she couldn't have it all. The only person with the full package came into her life for one day.
"Ed thinks he's your boyfriend," Hayley stated matter-of-factly.
"He isn't," Lexie said quickly.
They were close a while back and had been on a few dates over the past year. Okay no, that wasn't quite correct. It was better to say they'd dated. Or were dating. Lexie didn't know how best to put it. Realistically Ed probably had every right in truth to think he was her boyfriend.
He'd been traveling a lot on business with his accountancy firm, but when he was in town they'd meet up for dinner and a movie, or any other event that interested them.
"Maybe so, but he doesn't know that." Hayley assessed.
"He's just a nice guy that I like hanging out with," Lexie replied looking back at them both.
"And he's so into you that he would let you string him along forever," Tamar scolded. "Trust me. If he thinks he's your boyfriend, and he isn't you need to let him go, and please for heaven's sake, please start dating real men."
"Fine, I'll tell him. But I'm too busy to date anyone." She thought she'd tell them straight to stop them from being on her back twenty-four seven.
Hayley rolled her eyes. "Don't worry Tamar. I'll just mail order a date for her." She smiled with an air of mischief, rubbing her hands together.
Tamar started to laugh.
"No, you won't." Lexie protested. She knew what Hayley was like and she was by no means joking. It was what she did last year for their friend's grandmother who'd just lost her husband of sixty years. It was so inappropriate.
"Yes, I will. In fact, I am. I think I'll choose between a hot latin lover to spice things up or a hunky athlete. Don't worry little sister I'll hook you up."
"Hayley please can you just do my make up." Lexie seriously hoped Hayley would put that idea to rest.
The problem was her sisters weren't exactly wrong. Lexie actually went out of her way to never go out with a guy she was even remotely attracted to, which is why she ended up with the dorks.
She'd been doing very well for herself over the past few years with her work and didn't want to ruin things. Like before. Back then she was doing well too, and that one mistake with Adam messed things up so very badly. More than anything it messed with her mind and her heart.
While she may have been young and foolish, she knew that she'd loved him. For most people when they thought back to their first love they had good memories. All she had was pain and terrible regrets that assailed her.
Lexie knew Adam was in the past and more than a decade had passed with all its chances for her to move on, but she was still quite affected by it all.
Maybe... one day her feelings would change, and she could open her mind to the possibility of dating someone she actually liked. To feel excited to see that person and think about them all the time and know that they were thinking about you too. And to kiss... well it wasn't hard to imagine what that kiss would feel like. She didn't have to try hard to recall the magical kiss she'd shared with Mr. Pretty Boy. To this day she'd still thought it was unreal.
What were the chances of meeting someone like him again?
* * *
Lexie arrived at the Parisian Hotel fashionably late. She'd lost track of time while Hayley finished her make up.
She'd planned to be here at least an hour ago so she could have dinner with Tim and Gina. Now it looked like she'd be just in time for the speeches. This year the company had chosen to raise funds for Help the Homeless so a shelter could be built and a program put in place to train people to get jobs. With the financial state the company had been in things didn't go as planned to fundraise, but she heard their new boss had put up a million dollars to support their cause and made it possible for them to continue with tonight's festivities. That definitely put him in her best books.
If she weren't so rushed off her feet, she would have done some research on St. John's & Co. to see who the new guy would be. She just didn't get the chance and honestly didn't think it was that important when compared to all she had to do. While it was good to have a face to a name, especially since she'd most likely have a lot of dealings with him in her role, she figured she'd meet him soon now that she was here. Better to meet in person. She imagined up someone that looked like Simon, maybe in that age group too or a little older, but probably a bit fatter and with a long white beard. Like Santa. Someone nice enough to donate a million dollars for an exceptionally good cause. She was sure she'd get on really well with him and like everyone else he'd love her research.
Lexie sped up once she stepped out of the elevator. Maybe she could catch the last of dessert. She could hear the soothing Jazz music filtering out of the function room, filling the corridor once she approached. She stopped briefly, just before she neared the corner to give herself a quick spray from her mini Chanel number five. She loved that just sprayed smell, and this was her absolute favorite.
She started walking again and tried to stuff the perfume back into her bag. It was as she was trying to fit it into the little side pocket next to the two lipsticks that were already bulging out that she walked right into a man. Collided was more the word because she bounced off him and dropped her bag, spilling all its contents on to the marble floor. She would have fallen over too if she hadn't braced herself against the side of the wall.
"I'm so sorry." She gasped, apologizing first, because she knew that was completely her fault. She wasn't looking where she was going at all.
She bent down quickly to retrieve her stuff from the floor.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
She was too consumed with gathering her things to look up, and just managed to grab her pink lipstick before it rolled underneath the door to the fire escape. That one was also by Chanel, and it was her favorite. She would have hated to lose that.
It was only when she turned back to the other things before her that her eyes took in the smooth, wooden end of a cane as he kneeled to help her. And she felt so much worse. She just bumped into a man with a cane.
"I'm..." she began as she looked up, but her voice literally dissipated, leaving her as shock paralyzed her entire body, freezing her in place.
She must have hit her head, or possibly fallen asleep, or something because inches away from her knelt her handsome stranger who had rescued her twelve years ago.
Chapter 5
Lexie's heart hammered in her chest, and she couldn't breathe.
She couldn't believe it.
Lexie knew that it couldn't possibly be him, but yet... it was. The shocking truth slammed into her full force.
He barely looked older than he was the day she met him. If anything, he was even more handsome older. His maturity emitted from the well-tailored suit he was dressed in and the sharp, shorter hair cut he had as opposed to the boyish blonde locks she knew him with.
She would have been more inclined to believe she'd fallen asleep if he hadn't been staring back at her with the same shock she felt.
Lexie gazed into his eyes, at the unusual mixture of emerald and specks of amber. She remembered that the color also varied too depending on what light you were in.
It was him, but how could he be here? A wave of emotion rushed over her at once, and she had to struggle hard to keep herself together.
"Good Lord. There she is. I thought you weren't coming." Simon's hearty voice broke into the moment, but Lexie dared not to look away. She was too afraid that if she as much as blinked Mr. Pretty Boy would disappear. And this would be a dream.
"Nice one Sam, that's definitely the prettiest person you've run into today. You might want to talk at some point, though. Staring is just as weird here as it is in Chicago," said a good-looking, dark-haired man who stood next to Simon. Lexie only looked away because of the name he said.
He said Sam.
When she loo
ked back to him again, she noticed he'd settled the cane next to him on the floor.
"This is the young lady I've been telling you both about all night." Simon beamed proudly. "Dr. Alexandra Ramone."
Something sparkled in his beautiful eyes. It looked like pride and excitement. The side of his mouth lifted into a smile, and he reached across for the cane, standing up without its assistance. Lexie rose too barely managing to stand against the trembling in her knees, and the scatter of nerves that raced throughout her body.
He put out his hand to shake hers. "Hi ...Dr. Ramone." His voice was filled with wonder and awe. "I'm Sam, Sam St. John."
She didn't think she could physically take any more surprises for the rest of the night, but here was another thrown at her. Sam St. John. As in St. John's and Co.
He was Sam St. John.
Lexie had to push past her light-headedness and force her hand to move to shake his. That warmth she felt years ago came rushing back on her the moment she touched him, and it stole her breath away.
"Hi." She was surprised she could still speak against the myriad of thoughts that raced throughout her mind.
Her eyes landed on the cane at his side and then back to him as she wondered what had happened. Her hand trembled at the thought, and he tightened his grip on her as if he could sense her thoughts.
"Bad leg, but it's getting better," he explained. "I just have this in case I need it." He lifted the cane.
"I'm sorry." She didn't think she could form more complex words or sentences. Anything more than a word or two would have been a useless babble.
"Simon's told me so much about you. Really great things." Sam released her hand and looked over his shoulder. "This here is my assistant Zane Bardot."
Lexie looked across to Zane who was already looming over with his out-stretched hand.
Complete Me Page 7
