The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (43 page)

After she devoured a burger and several salty fries, Jessie felt a little a more like her old self, albeit, a sort of b
uzzed, fuzzy headed self
.

“So, did I tell you I’m seeing a past life therapist?” She said
in
what she hoped was an offhand manner as she gazed out the window at the passing scenery.

“What?” Lex
sounded a little panicked. “
Who is it?” He made the turn and suddenly pulled onto the gravel shoulder and yanked the car into park.

“Oooo
, touchy aren’t we?” Jessie noted, feeling a wee bit satisfied to have unnerved him. “I would think you would want me to explore the past, since you claim to have been a
n important
part of it.”

His face became severe
as he turned her. “Jessie, you can’t play around with this stuff. It can be dangerous
--anyone can claim to be a past life therapist--“

She laughed
and it felt damned good to do so. After all, he probably
was
right
, anyone could turn this into a scam
. Then again, maybe it wasn’t so funny after all.

“Je
ssie . . .” Lex sighed
and hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. “
Who is it?
Maybe I should go with you to your next visit, just to make sure she’s legit.”

Jessie rolled her eyes
and stuffed a French fry in her mouth. “Yeah, like they have a certified board of specialists and a license for that sort of thing.” She m
uttered. “I went to Madame Aria
from that U
nicorn something shop on Rodeo D
rive. She was highly recommended, too.”
She waved
her diet soda cup in the air for emphasis as she replied in a mocking tone. “
By my makeup artist
. Can’t get more legit than that, not in California, can we?
”

“I don’t mock your beliefs.” Lex said, sitting bac
k in the seat with his hands gripping
the steering wheel.

“I don’t have any to mock.”

“
Then why are you seeing a past life
therapist?” He shot back, almost as an accusation.

“Because I keep dreaming
about
you
!” Jessie set the drink in the cup
holder with jerky movements. 

Lex glanced at her, his eyes uneasy. “
Has she helped you? Have you remembered anything significant?” He looked really scared
, as if expecting something horrible might be revealed. 

“Yes, I found out you were cheati
ng on me--
with my best friend, Kyra.”

“
What?
No, that’s not possible.”

“Oh, well, that’s what I remembered.
The tw
o of you chatting it up at the castle
, planning to continue your affair behind my back.
Sorry if it doesn’t fit your roman
tic notions about our past
together.
I remembered
yo
u w
ere a womanizing jerk back then. You wanted me to run away with you
to
Paris and get married. But all
along you were planning
to go
back to Normandy and keep boinking my best friend.
And probably other women
since they all wilted at your feet. Kyra’s
name was Lucy
then. Guess that explains why I was a little hesitant to jump the broom with you in this life, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t remember any of that.”
Lex said, as he stared straight ahead at the road before them. “Honestly, I don’
t remember anyone named Lucy.”

“How convenient.” Jessie quipped. “You were a court musician, a troubadour. You made the rounds to
uring
castles
entertaining the wealthy by singing
beautiful songs for the ladies, making them cry and swoon. I guess having one woman wasn’
t enough
.”

“
Jessie.
We can’
t recall
every detail
from a past life.
” He turned to look at her, his eyes pleading, his hand cutting the air to emphasize his words. “
I
t’s
usually
only
the trauma we remember, the
terrible events from
a past
life
; lost loves, children, death
. You were important to me
and yo
u were taken from me,
most
cruelly--“
He stopped cold
and looked away from her
.

Jessie watched him with interest.
He was behaving a little strange. Or maybe, just maybe, she was a little stoned. That might skewer her perceptions a little bit.

His breathing increased
and his hands clenched the steering wheel as if he wanted to snap it between them.
“Jess, it’s a dangerous path you’re treading. Don’t go back to Madame Aria. You don’t need to know the rest. Trust me, I wish I could forget it.”

Lex put the car into drive and glanced into the rear
view mirror. Seeing the road
was cl
ear, h
e pulled out and drove
toward the gates of the Malibu colony.

The sun was setting as he showed the gatekeeper his I.D. and drove them into the compound. The gates clicked behind their car. The landscape was bathed in a golden glow of sunset. It was a beautiful time of night to be out on the beach, when the sun made the waves glisten with yellow fire and the muted tones of peach and pink painted an idyllic portrait of absolute calm.

Jessie was feeling anything but calm. Even with the medicine coursing through her, she sensed a
change in Lex, a scared sense of doom.

“What do you mean?” She asked. “About it being dangerous to pursue past life regression therapy?”

“Well . . . sometimes people remember being tortured
, executed
or other terri
ble things. It’s not pleasant,
Jess. In the long run, they say it brings healing in this life, a type of soul healing if you face the trauma of a past life that is holding you back in this one. But revisiting o
ld traumas, reliving your death
can be a very disturbing experience.”

“What happened to me? You said I was cruelly taken from you. How? Did I die of the plague or something?”

Lex pulled into his driveway. He turned the key, shutting of the engine an
d just sat there staring at the garage door
.
After several tense moments he said,
“Don’t go back to Madame Aria, sweetheart. If you want to go to a therapist, let me go with you
. Please, for your own safety?”

“So, not the plague?”

“
No, n
ot the plague.”

Chapter Twenty
One

“Tell me, please. What happened?” Jessie touched his hand. “I died, didn’t I?”

Lex’s fingers wound about hers, and he pulled her hand onto his thigh. His big hand was
hugging her own, squeezing it in a comforting way. “We all died.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,
and you know it.”

“Don’t push, let it come.” Lex admonished. “Stay here tonight, please?”

Jessie had been staring at his profile, but as he said the last, he turned his head to face her. The longing in his eyes was unmistakable.

Are you nuts?
Jessie’s mind accused, this man wants you--he wants to marry you.
Why are you stalling? Why not just give in and go with it, like Jack always says?

“Okay.” She wavered, giving in to her heart and to her body’s weariness. It was just one night. Take it one night at time. She might regret it later, but with the morphine coursing through her brain, weariness claiming her--and Lex gazing at her with
such yearning and devotion, she didn’t have the strength to say no. She might regret it later, but later wasn’t here, not yet.

Lex pressed the button
on
his keychain, and the garage door opened. He turned the key, and pulled the car into the garage. Once he turned off the engine, he exited the car and moved around to the passenger side. Jessie was already opening the door when he reached her. She stood up, wavering a bit with unsteadiness under the wilting effects of the painkiller. His arms wrapped about
her quickly as he realized she was dizzy. Lex helped
he
r into the house, up the stairs
and into the master suite.
Neither of them spoke as he led her to
the bed.

Jessie reached up to caress his tanned, handsome ch
eek. His response was immediate.
Lex leaned down and kissed her. He claimed her lips in a passionate, soul melting caress that
said everything within his heart and soothed the questions in her own.

Yes, this was home. This was where she belonged, in his arms and in his bed.

Jessie’s arm
wound about his neck, drawing him down, urging him to recline with her on the massive Hollywood style bed.
Lex was most obliging. The coral hued twilight
of sunset filtering in from the wall of glass overlooking the sea created a tableau of warm tones as their limbs were gilded by the
dusky rays.

Jessi
e allowed him to remove her top
and then her bra with expert fingers. He shrugged out of his T-shirt and tossed it aside, revealing a rugged, muscular torso cast in the vibrant hues of an old master’s oil painting. He was perfect, lovely, the raw essence of masculine beauty that any painter would die to capture on canvas. He was her hero, her demon. The master of seduction, a man who had charmed the hearts of women throughout
the ages with his golden voice
and his beguiling looks.

What’s wrong with you?
Her conscience screamed as his lips moved down her neck to capture her breasts, suckling them, teasing them with tongue and teeth.

Half the women in America under the age of thirty would sell their souls to be in your place--to be in his arms right now,
to be the object of his desire.

Why can’t you just let go and say yes?

“Yes.” She murmured, feeling a little stoned and a lot of pleasure as his lips moved down her belly, kissing, licking, caressing her tender skin as his hands worked quickly to free her of her jeans. The zipper opened, and his hands slipped beneath the rough material and beneath her silk panties to outline her hips as he pulled the restraining fabric from her hips. “Yes . . .” Jessie purred.

Lex sat up momentarily as he shrugged her jeans down her legs, and pulled them over her ankles. She was naked in his bed. Jessie grinned and
held out her arms to him as he knelt on the bed above her. She was naked, and the silk sheets felt cool and welcoming. She was giddy, a little stoned, and she was with Lex--in his bed.

Heaven. This was her bliss
. This was her refuge from the cares of the world. In his arms, only in his arms. Lex. He was her soul mate. She felt it now, keenly. Believed it.

Perhaps it’s just morphine
, her intellect screamed.
You are stoned, after all.

Oh, yeah. No doubt about that. She was really high, the room was spinning,

But hot damn it felt so good!

Lex leaned forward at the waist, bowing before her on the bed, as if in worship
.
The silhouette of his
dark
head and those broad muscular shoulders before the
vibrant sunlit sea left her breathless for an instant.

And only for an instant, as his head dipped and he started kissing her knee and moved slowly, leisurely up along the inside of her thigh with the tip of his tongue.

Oh, God!
Jessie knew where this was headed, where he was headed. She gave a little moan of pleasure, bracing herself for the next step. In truth, she’d never had a guy pleasure her with his mouth before. She was a little nervous and jumpy.

That tongue . . .
she was squirming beneath
his teasing tongue gliding
up
her inner thigh and then darting in
to taste her aching, anxious sex. His hands cupped her hips, holding
her still as he kissed her intimate flesh
and suckled her swollen pink folds. It was glorious beyond imagining. Lex was a bold and generous lover. He didn’t hold back as he licked, suckled and push
ed her closer and closer toward the edge of sanity.

“Yes . . . yes . . .” Jessie murmured, surrendering to the buoyant waves of sensual pleasure crashing over her with each expert stroke of his serpent’s tongue. “Yes . . .”