The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (15 page)

“Can I call you tomorrow?”

“Sure
.
”
Jessie replied after a
long silence.
We’ll see if I pick up
. “I have to go
.
Steve
and I
are going out for dinner. And Lex, what I told you-
-” she turned her back on Steve to whisper in a harsh growl,
“Don’t you dare repeat it. If I see it in the papers, I’ll never forgive you.
And worse, I’ll make up some bullshit story about you and give it to the
press.
No one knows
but me
and now you.
No one knows until he tells the world. Understand?
”

Lex promised to keep her secret. Jessie hung up the phone and turned to Steve.

“Well, get d
ressed,
we’re
going out.
”

Steve cocked a brow at her and waved his hands. “Where?”

“
Sunset Boulevard.
The Comedy Store
.
”

Lex stood at the bar
gripping the cool tile edges.

He felt like the biggest fool in LA, and that was s
aying a
lot
.

He
jumped to conclusions.

It wasn’t hard. Crystal had been carrying on with her lawyer for months before she’d left him. He was taking his anger at Crystal out on Jessie. It wasn’t fair.

Jessie was his soul mate,
and he’d probably just lost
her forever.

Unless . . .

Quickly, he dial
ed Mike’s number. Mike was home and
Kyra was making Chicken Fajitas as they spoke. Mik
e sensed the need in his voice
and offered
Lex
an open i
nvitation
to drive up
to Laurel
Canyon and unburden his heart.

Mike wasn’t the on
e Le
x wanted to talk to. Kyra
was Jessi
e’s  BFF--or--BGF, he corrected;
her
best girl friend. This was starting to feel
like
an episode
of
Will &
Grace
.
 

Hopefully, the driving ra
ins wouldn’t wash out the c
anyon
roads. If Lex applied a little charm, maybe he could get Kyra to
advise him on how to win bac
k his lady
.

Jessie tried to forget Lex the whole evening. She couldn’t.  Despite her efforts, his face haunted her. She missed him. And she was angry with him. Frightened, if truth be told. Steve drove them back to M
alibu after the closing act at T
he Comedy Store.

Three Margaritas di
dn’t dull the ache in her heart
. She slipped into bed
exhausted by the events of the las
t few days. Exhausted by her
jangle
d emotions,
and
yet unable to sleep. She lay awake in the darkness, st
r
oking Duncan’s ear and
reviewing her argument with Lex that afternoon again and again.

He hurt her by running out on her like that. He just left her, with no explanation, no promise of returning. It was scary crazy.

Jessie grew up with crazy. She knew enough to give it wide path. She was stunned
by the harshness of his confrontation when they did finally meet.

No, it wasn’t worth the heartache.
She was wise to walk away.

But you love him.

There was the catch. Jessie sat up and
turned on the bedside lamp
. She
picked up the romance novel she’d started a month ago, before Lex completely swept her away. The pirate i
n the story reminded her of Lex with his black attire
and
his long raven mane. The hero climbed the tree outside
the heroine’s room in the cover of darkn
ess, entered her window
and mad
e love to her until stars faded
a
nd dawn threatened them. A
s silently as he’d come, he glided away, his handsome face hidden in the shadows of the rosy dawn so he’d not be recognized and hung as a criminal as he placed himself in jeopardy night after night to be with his lady love.

Jessie tossed the book across the room
in disgust. It was supposed to make her forg
et Lex, not fantasize about him.
The author
wasn’t to
blame. H
er works were flawless,
each story a treasure Jessie
tucked
away to read again and again.

The problem was with her heart. She should hate him.
Seriously
.

He left. Abandoned her
and it hurt mor
e than she cared to admit. Jessie
wanted someone she could trus
t, someone who would be there--
forever.

No man could live up to
her romantic fantasies.
Kyra pointed that out to her time after time. Overlook
the faults, her friend counseled
, overlook the maverick spiri
t, and enjoy what happiness you
could with a man as long as he found you desirable.

Mayb
e Kyra could live that way;
not Jessie. She
turned out the light
again
,
seeking the numbness of sleep to help her forget the pain in her heart. Even there,
his image haunted her as Lex
crept into her room, and sank onto the bed beside her . . . .

Desperate whining
yanked Jessie from the silken depths of slumber.
Duncan.
Somehow, she’d left him in the hall last night. He was scratching to be let in. She sat forward with a jerk, ready to vault out of bed with an apology on her lips, when the black mass beside her came into focus.

“Lex
?
”  Jessie p
ulled the covers up about her
. “How did you get in here?
” 

He
sat next to her, his black
shirt unbuttoned to
display his chiseled
chest,
his hair long and loose about his shoulders and a sexy
smile on
his lips
.  “Steve let me in.”

The r
omance novel lay
across the room where she’d tossed
it
last night. The cover displayed
a bold
hero bare
to the waist, a pirate with
an eye-patch,
long flowi
ng hair and a seductive glower
. Her eyes moved from the cover to the image larger than life sitting beside her on the bed.
Close,
too
damned
close. Lex w
as the modern equivalent of that
pirate
. W
hat the hell was he doing sitting beside her bed so early in the morning?

“Marry me
, Jessica.
”

Jessie blinked.
She had to be
dreaming. She pus
hed the covers aside and evaded
the aberration before her, moving to the bathroom with speed born of sheer panic.

She looked
at her appearance in the mirror
and cringed. Hung over, she looked like t
he walking dead. Her mascara was
smeared beneath her eyes, and her hair was a tangled mess.
You just woke
up from a
weird dream
.
He’s not
really
there
.

She tiptoed
to the door, opened it a crack
and then closed it quickly with a groan.

Lex was there, all right, in the flesh, not just a figment of her imagination.

Panic rose
, bringing her to full alert status.
Jessie brushed her teeth, combed her
hair, carefully applied a fresh coat of
foundation, blush, and eye
make-up, a
nd gazed at herself in the mirror.
Desperate
came to mind, as in pathetic groupie.

After several moments of pacing the small bathroom, Jessie pulled up her courage and opened the door.
She couldn’t
stay in the bathroom all morning.

“Why are you
in my room?” She asked, cloaki
ng her nervousness in authority as she stood in the doorway to the bathroom, her hands on her hips.
“You scared me.”

“I’m asking you to marry me, Jess.” He patted the bed, inviting her to sit beside him.

Once more, Jessie peered at the offending novel, and then reached out to touch his shoulder. It was firm benea
th her fingertips.

Lex pulled her unto his lap, wrapping her securely in his arms, and kissed away any notions
she might have that he was
a figment of her imagination. H
e was an expert at
kissing,
she thought, relishing the taste of him as his tongue twined with her own. She wound her finger
s through his silken black hair
and inhaled his pure masculine scent, completely lost in his passionate embrace.

“I consider that to be a yes.” He whispered in husky timbre.

“
No. You can’t be serious.
” She replied, “We hardly know each other
.” It was absurd, beyond absurd--it was like he was
mocking her with her own fantasies. She extracted herself from his lap and stood glowering down at him with her arms crossed in what she hoped was a reproachful air. 

“Jess.” He stood, his dark clad figure filling the entire room. “I’m serious. I
meant
what I said to Ruby Star a month ago. It wasn’t a mistake.”

“You . . . you knew back then
you wanted to marry me?”

He nodd
ed
. “I believe every
soul has a mate. When I saw you, Jess, I recognized you as the missing half of my own soul.”

She was dreaming.
Lex, the object of millions of women’s fantasies, was standing in her bedroom, insisting that she should marry him. And not because of a driving
physical passion--
that
she could shrug off
, but because of some deeply spiritual mumbo jumbo she couldn’t begin to fathom. 

Hung over from too many
m
argaritas, Jessie wore only a pair of baggy men’s exercise shorts and a
faded Green
Bay Packer
s
’
T-shirt
; hardly
the stuff of romantic fantasies.
  It was almost funny. A
good
practical
joke, that’s what she’d think, if some strange man she barely knew claimed they were soul
mates, destined to be together.
She’d laugh and figure Jack and
Darrell were playing a trick on her--if it were any other man standing here, looking dead serious and drop dead gorgeous.

Only, it
was
n’t an
actor hired to tease her for her romantic notions of how true love should be. It was the man
of her dreams. “I’m a little shocked.” Jessie admitted
as her fingers twin
ed about her hair
. “Isn’t this kind of sudden?” 

Inwardly, she was ecstatic
and terrified by his gallant offer.
As she silently studied her impassioned Romeo, Lex bent on one knee in the traditional pose, took her hand in both of his, exposing  the palm to his open lips. As his lips brushed her palm, she felt her entire being melt from his sensual assault.

All her rationalizations and doubts faded.

“I love you.”  The sensual lips turned up into a smile a
s his eyes impaled her. “I love
you, Jessica K
elly and I want you to be my bride.
”

Chapter Ten

Jack.
Where was her twin when she needed him? Out, as usual.

Stoned, more than likely.

He’d been at Lilly’s for days. He’d left the number, in case of an emergency.

Well, this was an emergency in her mind. She rifled through the papers on her desk to find it. It was probably downstairs. Lex was downstairs, waiting for her, so she’d have to wait to consult with Jack about this.