by Amy Lignor
"Dark black?" I teased the woman who was most definitely showing all the signs of being completely head-over-heels.
Hitting the back of my hand, Nicole laughed. "You KNOW what I mean. And the lips…Wow!"
"I have a feeling Matt doesn't want a run down on your love life, Nic," Beth said, from around the corner.
"He's in the education field."
Beth poked her head back in the room. "You're in love with a mild-mannered Texas teacher?"
"Well," she replied, with a wink. "He actually owns the school. He owns lots of schools and lots of property. I wouldn't say he was mild-mannered, but he oozes that true charm. All us southerners have that gift, you know."
I laughed. "Only you?"
She immediately reached out and grabbed my hand. "Oh, I'm sure you California boys have some, too."
Suddenly Nicole pivoted in the chair, taking my hand with hers and practically throwing me to the floor. "You need to teach me how to cook!"
Beth's eyes grew wide. "You? Cook?"
Nicole let loose a frustrated sigh. "Yes, ME. He's a Texan—they eat big, you know. Besides, this house always smells terrific."
"Matthew made dinner."
She twirled back around as if her teacup ride was still in full swing. "YOU can teach me."
The vision arose of me in a kitchen, surrounded by sharp knives and this woman's extremely sudden movements. "I don't really know all that much."
"SURE you do!"
I could hear Beth let out a huge laugh.
"Ugh. Men!" The agent sent a blazing look at her top author. "At least teach me how to bake. They always say desert is the best way to a man's heart." Nicole reached over and patted my chest. "Of course, with abs like yours you probably don't fit into that category."
She twirled again. "Come ON, Beth!"
The squealing seemed to be getting way too much for my beautiful dinner companion, as she marched back into the dining room. "Okay. Relax." Beth sighed. "I'm making cookies for Chris tomorrow and you can help."
"YAY!" Nicole jumped up and ran to the bag she'd left sitting by the door. "Oh! And he SMELLS so good, Beth. He wears Polo."
I watched Beth's nose wrinkle a bit and tried not to laugh.
Nicole whirled around to face me. "What do you wear? You smell great! Very clean."
I laughed. "Nothing. Just soap."
Turning to Beth, her voice took on a somewhat teasing tone. "What is it you like, again? The clean type, right?"
Beth sighed. "My favorite happens to be Aramis, but just a dot behind the ear. I don't like the overpowering crap." She sent me a wink from across the room. "Keeping it clean is always way hotter."
Nicole raised an eyebrow at the small exchange, but went straight back to her 'Ode to Ken.' "I also went shopping and have some seriously interesting negligees I want to show you. I even picked one up for YOU."
Without warning, I was suddenly staring at the most beautiful emerald gown I'd ever seen. Slits up both sides, a barely-there back… Nicole held it up to the kitchen light and everything that is 'male' exploded inside me.
Holding it up to Beth's curvaceous figure, Nicole kept right on talking, gifting me with a preview of what the stunning woman would like in the gown. If a fire had been lit behind my chair at that moment I wouldn't have known. The auburn waves would flow over the silk material that would cling to every part of Beth. I licked my lips; the only downside for the lovely garment was that it would have about a two second shelf-life before I tore it to pieces. I swallowed, trying to shake the image from my mind.
Beth's glance caught mine and she immediately tossed the gown back into Nicole's bag. "Take this stuff upstairs. This isn't appropriate."
Nicole whirled around. "Why? Look at him. I'm sure he's seen far more than THIS in L.A. Have you SEEN the swimsuits nowadays? I mean, they practically walk down the road naked."
She sounded just like Jerry. Of course, they were right. If there was one thing you could count on in L.A. it was the fact that the beaches were filled with well-toned 'wannabe' starlets. But I didn't want to see Beth parade around like them. In fact, I only wanted Beth to don certain articles of clothing in our future home, where the 'show' was for my eyes only.
"Nicole," Beth cleared her throat. "Just go."
"You have to come TOO. We need a girl's night!"
Beth suddenly wore a look of sheer boredom, as if she'd just been told that a night of algebraic equations lay ahead of her.
Nicole grabbed the bag and, in heels that were nine inches high, raced around the house like a ballet dancer. Peeking back around the corner she gave me a quick wink. "It's good to see you again, by the way, Matt. How are things?"
"They were great."
Nicole tilted her head and looked around the house as if noticing where she was for the very first time. "Where's Bobby?"
"He's out on a date with Chris."
Nicole took a step back. "Really? I wouldn't have thought that."
"Why?"
"Well, they've only known each other for three days."
I looked up at Nicole's look of surprise. "Didn't you say you just met Ken yesterday?"
"Yes. But Bobby and Beth are very responsible; I've always been a nut."
"They're not having sex on the beach," Beth interrupted. "They're on a date."
Nicole shrugged. "Oh. Right. Let's go!"
I heard the clicking of the heels as she ran up the stairs and disappeared through Beth's bedroom door.
Beth followed slowly; her eyes seemed to be searching her brain for a way—any way—to get out of the night that now lay ahead.
Stopping at my chair, she smiled down at me. "Really, thanks for dinner."
I smiled. "You're welcome."
"For a small town, this is a very busy house," she added.
"I see that." I reached out and took her hand. "I did want to ask something before Nicole flew in on her broom."
She offered a soft chuckle.
"Do you think you'd ever consider dropping the anonymity?" I stood up. "Your work is far too special for people not to know the real creator."
Her hand squeezed mine gently. "I don't need accolades."
"Are you still afraid someone would try to hurt you?"
"No," she replied. "He was just a boy who got lost in a fantasy."
"You would be easy to do that with."
She took a deep breath. "I'm no fantasy."
I leaned back against the wall and walked my gaze from the top of her head to the feet on the floor and back again, drinking in the sight of sheer beauty. But when I locked on her deep brown eyes, I agreed. "No, you're not a fantasy. You're very real. Fantastic, yes, but real."
"Lily Stone is fine for now." Beth walked past, and as I felt the hand leave mine I grabbed on for what felt like dear life. "You'll always be my Beth."
Turning back, she stared at me as if I'd just said the one thing she never thought she'd hear. "Thank you." She grinned. "I guess maybe we should have been the ones to go out."
I looked at the leftover decor on the table that, to me, certainly resembled the remnants of a date. "How do you think their date's going?"
"Beth, Come ON!" Nicole's shrill voice bellowed from upstairs.
Beth rolled her eyes heavenward. "If they're smart, they are having sex on the beach so they won't make the mistake of coming home to this."
I burst into laughter as she let go, heading up the stairs and, yet again, out of my sight.
I sighed as I watched Beth walk down the hall and disappear into the shadows. This was getting more and more difficult by the second. I thought about California, about running out of here right now, jumping on a plane, and going back to the reality I already knew was filled with harmless illusion and a person who truly did care for me. I wasn't like this. This wasn't me.
I knew my cell was stacked with messages from my agent wondering where the hell I was and why I wasn't answering. Even though I wasn't filming, I knew there were still interviews, appearance
s—a list of stuff I was supposed to do. But I just didn't want to do them with that black-haired beauty that awaited me back home. Without Beth on my arm, I wasn't going anywhere.
Closing my eyes, I rested my head on the wall and forced myself to breathe.
Nineteen
~ Hers ~
I wish I could say morning came swiftly.
When I headed up to that room with my friend, I listened to the full tale of the dreamy man who'd entered her life and tried to talk her down from various trees along the way.
As she raced around my room like a whippoorwill on crack, Nicole had absolute stars in her eyes. She even mentioned married life with children being in the 'near' future plans.
"I thought you never wanted kids."
Nicole stopped abruptly, adjusting the straps of her brand new gown. The face that looked back at me from the mirror resembled a girl of no more than twenty—a girl who had 'Once Upon a Time' still ingrained firmly in her eyes.
I knew Nicole's story. She'd grown up in a place that wasn't conducive to breathing, let alone breeding. Her mother had been far more in love with the white powder in her purse than she'd ever been with Nicole and her three sisters. In fact, most days Nicole was the one who everyone looked upon to somehow get groceries in the house, get her sisters to school and keep the cable T.V. on because Dad would get beyond angry if he couldn't watch his sports, and end up taking that aggression out on the first female he saw…whether wife or child.
At sixteen she'd escaped. On her own, with no help from anyone, Nicole had survived with skill, talent and a determination that was stronger than steel. If she was wearing torn jeans and a dirty t-shirt after living in the street for a few weeks, she could still walk into any building and nab a job. People felt the intense power that seemed to flow from her at all times. Nicole moved up from corporation to corporation, learning as she went. Business savvy was built, success was found, and she made it a point to show all the horrific characters from her past that she made it, and they could go straight to Hell.
When she opened her own agency, she struggled with every aspect of it, but her authors believed in her and the publishers jumped on board. Her tone and faith were what got manuscripts through the doors of houses that usually wouldn't look twice at anything unless your last name was King and you were the 'master of horror.'
Nicole's clients became the wealthiest in the world. Fans loved them and film companies came in search of her authors, wanting nothing more than to put their work up on the big screen. Books turned into movies, movies turned into awards, and it was all because a little girl from the South refused to lie down and give up simply because of the hand she got dealt.
I seriously admired her. Not because of the books, but because she represented that core of what I love—the 'never say die' mentality.
Perhaps that's what I saw in Matt.
I kept staring at Nic's face in the mirror, waiting for her response. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Children?"
She nodded and turned around slowly, patting her hands against the silky material that she hoped would help woo a man named Ken to hold onto her forever.
"I never wanted…this. But Beth," she sighed, taking my hands. "It's so hokey, but when I saw him I was hooked. Which I KNOW is completely impossible and just something these romance novels spew out that never actually happens in real life."
I smiled wide; she and I had always sounded alike.
"I suddenly wanted to be a mom. But, you know, a GOOD one I wanted to prove to myself that there could be at least one female out of my family who could do it well. Beth, I would spend a lifetime giving them what I never had."
Sitting down, she put her head on my shoulder. So small in stature, Nic felt like a child just waiting for someone to tell her that her feelings were real—that Ken could be the one. But…a day? You can't know someone for a day, let alone three, and say, 'this is it.'
My heart skipped a beat as I heard the door across the hall open and close. Can you?
All I did was write about it; all I did was tell others that there was something out there that could never be explained. I made a career out of showing the world that there was such a thing as faith and dreams that came true when you relied on one another.
I sighed. I wanted my friend to have the dream…not a speech. And all I could do was pray to whoever may be listening that Ken was a good man. "Lady, you would be the best Mom in the world."
She raised her head. "Serious?
I laughed. "Serious. Your kids would have a super cool Mom who'd defend them like a samurai. You would use that huge voice buried in that small body to teach them things and to cheer them on when they needed it. And, most importantly, you would love them. A lot. In fact, I think you should breed your own football team."
She chuckled.
"Can you imagine? The way you talk about this man he has the body style, add to that your 'take no prisoners' attitude and, damn! Forget three-peat, you'd have a Super Bowl Championship team that would 'seventh-peat.'
Her brows furrowed together and I began to laugh, forgetting that Nicole really had no concept of anything when it came to clay, grass, Astroturf, etcetera.
I nodded. "Just take it from me, that's a good thing."
She sat up straight. "What about Ken?"
"Well…I haven't met Ken," I replied, looking into eyes that actually seemed to crave a stamp of approval. "And being your friend, he would have to pass a few general questions in order for me to allow him to stay with you."
She laughed.
"But, considering what great taste you have—and I should know since you took me on and made me a millionaire." I patted her on top of her head. "I would say that Ken would have to be pretty freaking special for you to even have sat down and talked to him for more than two minutes."
I saw the look in her eyes turn back to that teenage girl in love. "And…" I smiled wide. "It's fun to see you like this. Obviously Ken has that 'manly' thing that brings out the romantic in you."
Slapping me on the arm, her face positively glowed. It was as if she was stuck in a fantasy—and, most likely was—but she was having fun there. God knows if anyone deserved a bit of a dream, it was Nicole.
She sighed. "I feel like I'm in one of your books, you know? I never got some of that romance stuff, even though your words are beautiful. But now…I understand the things you were trying to say."
"Well, you know what they say," I mumbled softly. "Those who don't know are great teachers."
"HEY!" Nicole's mammoth voice reappeared. "What's wrong with you?"
I tossed the silly thoughts out of my head. "Too much garlic, I think."
"You like him."
Getting up, I walked over to the shopping bags and began to dig through, staring at all the lovely creations Nicole had picked up on the way here.
"You do."
I sighed "I told you. You've seen his talent; Matt creates and delivers the performance with such sheer beauty that Amber is sure to—"
"I'm not taking about Amber." Nicole jumped up and came at me. "This is bothering you."
I snorted. "Don't be ridiculous."
"This guy…he's getting to you."
"When will you see Ken again?"
Nicole released a deep-throated chuckle. "Don't bother. I've known you too long, so changing the subject won't work with me."
I looked at the door.
"Nor will it work to head for an exit. I own a set of keys to all the doors in this house, remember? You gave them to me for emergencies. Anywhere you go I can get to you." Nic reached for the carafe she'd stolen off the table downstairs and pointed at the chair in the corner. "Sit your ass down."
This was the Nicole 'mode' that reminded me there was no way I was getting out of this unscathed. Sitting down, I took the glass of wine she handed and put my legs underneath me, knowing this could prove to be an even longer night than I'd originally thought.
She waved the carafe in the air. "A very private rom
antic dinner together, it looked like?"
"He was practicing the play and offered to make dinner." I was short and sweet, already feeling like the star witness for the defense that was told not to give too much away, or else the prosecutor would tear me to pieces.
"I like him."
I rolled my eyes. "Give me a break. You don't like anybody."
Her nose rose in the air. "Not true. At least, not now."
I snorted. "Okay, I'll rephrase. Besides big, bad Texans you don't like anybody."
My agent looked as if she was about to fight for a publishing contract. "I'll have you know at that first lunch I found something Matt McKenna did truly amazing, and I haven't been able to forget it."
"What?" I was suddenly curious.
"When he found out what'd happened to you, a shadow went across his face."
I laughed. "That was thrown by the overzealous waitress drooling behind him."
Her eyes flashed. "NO! He was pissed off. I could see this flash of anger, and I knew he wanted to find whoever it was that'd caused you even a second of pain and break the guy's legs."
I shook my head. "Ever since he's been here—even at the bar when morons would hit on me—Matt never showed an, 'I will kick your ass' attitude."
"I'm sure. In a bar, in public, something tells me if anyone hit on you Matt would simply put his arm around your waist, whisk you across the dance floor…or, into a corner," she continued, with a wink, "and send the guy a big 'FU' smile over his shoulder to let him know that HE was the one who had you for life."
I was waiting for some kind of teasing to come through her lips, but Nicole just rolled her eyes. "Man, you're a moron. I've said before, whoever you give that big heart away to will be able to preen like a peacock while he's on his knees thanking his lucky stars. The guy would score big! He wouldn't have to play jealous with anybody else; you're so loyal that if he had you, he would know that you were his body, mind and soul…for life."
"You give me way more credit than I deserve."
Nicole shook her head hard. "It would take a nod from you to have a guy running out the next day to buy the ring and slip it on your finger because you're the one. You're the 'forever' material. And no big-boobed, liposucked actress or model is going to take the place of that." Nicole calmed her voice a bit and sat down. "When Matt heard about the stalker—"
