She Sins at Midnight (23 page)

To the Hottest Hunk of Man on the Planet,

You are the best I’ve ever had!

Jasmine

Needless to say, Lila didn’t write that. She wrote:

Get a grip, pig!

Jasmine

Creigh read her inscription and laughed. Then whispered, “I’d really like to tickle the backs of your knees. Want to have dinner tonight? I could use you as my plate.” With a wicked gleam in his eye, he added “And I always lick my plate clean.”

Lila couldn’t help but getting excited my Creigh’s filthy proposition. She wanted to cry that he wasn’t the man she thought he was. She wanted to beat him over the head with one of her high heels. But more than anything else, she wanted to take him up on his offer to get naked. Before she could recover enough to respond, he looked over to Melinda and added, “Just don’t tell my girlfriend. She’s the jealous type.”

That was all it took for Lila to jump to her feet and channeled her mother, “Get the fuck out of here you disgusting rodent!”

The remainder of people in line were shocked by the author’s outburst. But Creigh merely smiled and laid a business card on the table, “Call me if you change your mind.” Then he collected Melinda and left. The only reason Creigh even agreed to drive Melinda into town was because of the author she wanted to meet. When Creigh saw Melinda’s copy of
She Sins at Midnight
, he thought it would be a nice gesture to have a copy signed for Lila. That is until he realized Lila was the author.

He briefly felt bad for giving Lila such a hard time, but he looked forward to seeing how she would treat him now that he had made a lascivious pass at another woman. Not only that, but he told her that Melinda was his girlfriend. There was no way that Lila could fess up to being angry with him unless she divulged her secret identity. And the bottom line was that Creigh had no intention of falling in love with Lila Montgomery unless she was willing to trust him with all of her secrets.

J
essica decided that the only way to decide how she felt about Oscar was to do what her friends suggested and just kiss him, the sooner the better too so she didn’t chicken out. The idea of locking lips with Oscar Solomon made her heart race in wild anticipation, all the while leaving her decidedly nauseous. She felt like she was a teenager all over again, with one exception. She was never this uncertain of herself as an adolescent. The travails of married life had definitely taken their toll on her self-esteem.

Pulling into Creigh’s driveway, Jessica wondered how she was going to get away from Melinda long enough to get Oscar alone. She decided to go out to the guest house to find Cynthia.

Cyn left the bungalow and headed up the path toward the house only to run into Jessica. Upon seeing her cohort, she exclaimed, “Our plan is really going to work. Melinda bought the whole story and she’s already left Amalgamated. Can you believe how easy this was?”

Distracted, Jessica answered, “Wow, that’s great.”

Immediately sensing something wrong, Cyn asked, “Uh, oh. What’s wrong?”

With her emotions boiling over, tears started to stream down Jessica’s cheeks, “Oh Cyn, I just don’t know what to do. I have such a problem.”

Cyn lead Jessica back to her cottage and settled her onto an overstuffed chair, “Spill it. What’s wrong?”

“It’s Oscar.” Cyn waited quietly for Jessica to continue, “I really like him.”

Cyn asked, “You mean you like him, like him? Like Melinda likes him?”

Jessica nodded. “Yup. I like him, like him and I don’t know what to do about it. Lila and Jilly think I should kiss him.”

Cyn yelped, “You told Lila and Jilly?”

“I just told them that there was a man that I cared for. I didn’t say it was Oscar.”

Clearly relieved, Cyn replied, “So what’s the problem? I agree with the girls, you should definitely kiss him.”

“When? Melinda’s never going to leave us alone together long enough for anything to happen.”

Cyn looked at the clock on her wall and saw that it was already five in the afternoon, “Don’t you worry. You leave Melinda to me. In the meantime, go fix yourself up and take Oscar out to dinner, just the two of you. I’ll keep the tramp busy with fairy tales of her rocketing stardom.”

For the first time that afternoon, Jessica smiled, “Really Cyn? That would be great. I’ll take Oscar over to the club, as long as you’re sure you can keep Melinda occupied.”

“Oh, I’m sure. That girl likes nothing more than talking about herself and I’m prepared to listen to her all night long if it’ll help your cause.”

Jessica jumped up, gave Cyn a big hug and thanked her, “I’m going to owe you so big for this!”

She was out the door when Cyn agreed, “You sure are.”

O
scar was at a loss with what to do with himself, as he had no intention of spending any time with Jessica and Melinda together in the same room. He decided to search for a good book. His plan was to lock himself away for the rest of the night and escape all women and plague of thoughts that were taking over his brain.

Oscar remembered that Melinda had a couple of novels on her nightstand and decided to sneak into her room to see if there was anything interesting. But when he peeked into her room, he heard the bath water running. In an attempt not to run into his almost fiancée, he grabbed the first book he saw and made a run for it back to his own suite.

Oscar had the door locked and was sprawled out on the bed by the time he realized the nature of book he’d pilfered. It was one of Melinda’s god-forsaken romances and it was titled
She Sins at Midnight,
of all the ludicrous things. Oscar almost went back in search of a manlier novel when he decided that reading a historical romance would be less torture than conversing with his intended.

Opening the cover, Oscar briefly read the inscription from the author. He was appalled by the blatant suggestion that Melinda owed her success to something other than her talent. Why would someone say such a horrible thing to a fan? Unless of course, Melinda’s reputation had become so bad that even strangers were insulting her. For the first time he let himself wonder if Melinda really was that big of a slut. The thought that immediately popped into his head was, yes.

J
essica dressed very carefully for her dinner with Oscar. She still wasn’t convinced the two of them would be able to sneak out of the house without Melinda noticing, but on the off chance that they did, she wanted to look her best. After all, the whole point of whisking him away, was to kiss him and see if there really was chemistry between the two them.

Jessica slipped on a very tasteful white silk dress that hugged her slender frame in all the right places. With the addition of a delicate gold chain linked belt and matching flats, she was ready to collect her dinner date and steel him away for a night of romance.

Jessica tip-toed down the hall past Melinda’s room and quietly knocked on Oscar’s door. When he didn’t answer, she tried the door and discovered that it was locked. She knocked again and whispered, “Oscar, are you there? It’s me, Jessica.”

Recognizing her voice, Oscar immediately opened the door. “Jessica, come in.”

The movie mogul stood before her in a burgundy silk smoking jacket and looked every inch her ideal man. Jessica smiled, “Hello there. I’m in charge of feeding you tonight and I thought we might go out. How does that sound?”

Oscar asked, “What about Melinda and Cynthia. Will they be joining us?”

“No, it seems they have some mutual Hollywood interests and have made plans to eat together in Cyn’s bungalow.”

A slow grin crept over Oscar’s face, “Give me five minutes and I’ll meet you out front.”

With her heart pounding in excitement, Jessica announced, “I’ll pull the car around.”

Oscar was so looking forward to the evening ahead that he was ready in three minutes instead of five. He knew he shouldn’t pursue a flirtation with Jessica, as it could only make his life more complicated, but there was something about her that reminded him so much of his college girlfriend that he couldn’t resist. Jessica was regal, refined and every inch a lady. She also made him feel like he was twenty years old again. He justified the dinner by telling himself it was just a meal and he did have to eat.

Jessica pulled her little white Mercedes around the circular drive, holding her breath the whole time that Oscar would come out of the house alone, without Melinda in tow. She didn’t relax until he was in the car next to her and they were safely through the driveway gates.

Oscar asked, “Where are we going?”

Jessica answered, “It’s such a beautiful night that I thought we’d go to The Grill at the club. That way we can eat outside on the veranda.” Jessica drove the rest of the way in silence. She was very nervous and realized the only way to get through the night was to pretend she was sixteen again. An age before disappointment ruined her confidence.

Jessica and Oscar enjoyed a lovely meal outdoors. They talked for hours about anything and everything. Jessica couldn’t believe she could enjoy a man’s company as much as she did Oscar’s. If she had been even the least bit hesitant about kissing him before, she certainly wasn’t after this evening. She wanted him more than ever and she was sure that one kiss would never be enough.

Oscar was so easy to talk to that Jessica found herself telling him all about her marriage to Charles. Oscar declared, “If I ever meet that bastard, I’ll kill him!”

Jessica smiled in response, “That would certainly save me the trouble of divorcing him.” Teasingly, she added, “How about coming over for dinner next week?”

Oscar took Jessica’s hand from across the table and seriously asked, “Jessica, are you really planning on divorcing Charles?”

Looking him straight in the eye she answered, “I’m filing next week.”

“May I ask what made you finally decide to leave him?”

Still holding his hand, she gave it a gently squeeze and answered, “I recently realized that I deserved better. I don’t want to be with someone who isn’t the love of my life.” Passionately, she added, “I’d rather be alone than be second best ever again.”

They spent the next several minutes in relative silence, each caught up in their own thoughts. After a desert of strawberries and cream, Jessica invited, “Oscar, would you like to go for a walk?”

Pulling out her chair, he replied, “I’d like that more than anything.”

While strolling across the vast grounds, Oscar slipped his hand into Jessica’s. They walked for several minutes before she led the way to small gazebo bench on the outskirts of the lawn. Oscar sat down next to her, so close their shoulders touched. Moments later, Jessica finally admitted, “Oscar, I asked you out here for a reason.”

Staring deeply into her eyes, he asked, “Really? What reason is that?”

Shyly, she confessed, “I wanted to kiss you.”

Oscar groaned as if in pain, “Jessica, I want that more than I want anything else in life, but I don’t want to cheapen you in any way. You deserve better than that. You deserve better than me.”

Jessica answered, “You’re the best there is, Oscar Solomon. Any woman would be thrilled to have you for her own.” Screwing up her courage, she continued, “Are you planning on staying with Melinda?”

Oscar looked away and exhaled loudly, “I can’t tell you that right now. The thing with Melinda and me is that we are so alike. We both know the way our world works and we both know how to play the game. There’s a strange comfort in all of that.”

Jessica suggested, “Life doesn’t have to be a game Oscar.”

He interrupted, “I told you how my first two wives left me. It’s vindicating for me to be with someone like Melinda.”

Jessica asked, “But will she be faithful to you? Will she love you as much as you deserve to be loved?”

Oscar looked at the woman by his side and answered sadly, “I don’t know. But I wish I did. I truly do.”

Jessica didn’t break eye contact with Oscar. Instead she leaned toward him slowly, giving him the chance to pull away if he wanted to. Lightly she touched her mouth to his and bestowed upon him an achingly tender kiss. It was no more than lips meeting for a whisper of a second, but it was enough for Jessica to know that this was the man that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She never thought she would want a relationship so soon after deciding to leave her husband. But she knew she wanted Oscar Solomon and she was going to fight Melinda for him every step of the way. In Oscar she saw her chance at real happiness and she was going to go for it. After so many years of sadness, it was finally going to be her turn and nothing, especially not a bleach blonde, bimbo movie star, was going to keep her from her destiny.

L
ila thanked Yolanda Fernbacher for all her help during the book signing and then took a cab back to the club. It was harder changing back to her own persona as the dining room was packed with people. So she simply made a beeline straight for the bathroom, quickly becoming Lila Montgomery once again. She casually walked out of the bathroom and was met by three excited looking women she had just seen at her book signing.

Lila apologized, “I’m sorry. I hope I wasn’t in there too long.”

Gwendolyn Filbert looked behind Lila and said, “No, dear. We were just looking for the stunning redhead who walked in there. She’s one of our favorite authors. Did you happen to see her?”

Lila started to wonder if there was anyone in the town of Bentley who hadn’t read
She Sins at Midnight
. No wonder it had hit the New York Time bestseller’s list! She answered, “I did see her, Mrs. Filbert. Actually I went in right after her.”

Teensy Wigams declared, “I didn’t see her leave.” Then to her friends she asked, “Did either of you?”

Miriam Sedgwick mumbled, “No, I didn’t. Maybe we should check out front.” The threesome abruptly turned and left Lila without another word. She heard Teensy add, “She pulled up in a cab. Maybe it’s still waiting for her.”

Lila followed the women out the front door and walked over to her rental car; the same one that Josh was paying for, even though she no longer worked for him. She put her bag in the back and then hopped into the driver’s seat. Lila laid her head on the steering wheel and briefly gave into the temptation to burst into tears. How could Creighton Ashwood be so opposite from the man she thought he was? She decided that he was just like every other man in Hollywood. After drying her eyes, she decided that she wasn’t going to let him upset her. She would simply chalk their one night together as fun and games. And all those wonderful phone calls would simply become fodder for her next novel, the one where Creigh was the villain, not the hero.