A Summer to Remember(26)
Well, for one reason, no one knew about us. I hadn’t even told Talia what was going on because she’d had work problems and hated working with Scarlet Fever. Their new album was finished but Kasper and Jaden had insisted they start writing songs for the sixth album they planned to record in 2014. It was a pain the ass for her and all she did was complain so I didn’t want to make her feel bad with my good news.
Plus, she’d recently discovered the only man she’d ever loved was going out with Fresca Kerrigan. She was an up and coming actress who’d recently celebrated her twenty-first birthday in Vegas by getting drunk and thrown out of Chateau, an exclusive club at Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. That didn’t exactly sit well with Talia when Seth Delvecchio breezed into the studio to cut a track with Scarlet Fever and his new extension-wearing, bleached blonde, size-two Miss Thang was in tow.
Talia was hurt beyond belief but she wouldn’t share her pain with me and to talk about how in love I was with Paul just didn’t seem right or fair. It wasn’t what best friends did. I doubt she would see it that way once she found out but right at that moment, my lips were sealed.
“It sounds great. I am really excited,” I finally exclaimed and smiled in return.
She stood and smiled back. “Cool. So, I’ll see you at the loft tonight and we can talk about it in more detail then.”
I nodded my head affirmatively. “Sounds like a plan.”
Talia opened my door and almost walked directly into Paul. “Jeez, where did you come from and shouldn’t you be at work or something?”
“Yes, but I stopped by to see Jerrica real quick.”
“Mmm, you dump Ashley and all the sudden you and Jerri are spending a lot of time with one another. One wouldn’t have anything to do with the other, would it?”
I winced. Talia had never been slow on the uptake and she could read us both like open books. However, Paul laughed it off and grabbed her by the waist.
“Did it ever occur to you that Jerri and I are just good friends? Besides, I didn’t ‘dump’ Ashley. Our parting was mutual if you must know. She is looking for a husband and marriage…I’m not ready for that with any one woman just yet and certainly not one I have known less than six months. I’m a player, you know that, Talia.”
“Humph, in your dreams, maybe,” she murmured before she kissed his cheek and walked out of the door, closing it behind her.
“That was a close call,” I whispered.
If it had been anyone else, I would have spoken in a normal, conversational voice but Talia had great hearing and God knows I didn’t want her to be able to listen to any part of my conversation with Paul.
“Not really. Why can’t I come by to see you and make sure you’re doing okay?”
I stared at Paul as he walked towards me with his tousled blond-streaked hair and those liquid crystal blue eyes. His toned body was hidden underneath an Armani suit which fit him perfectly and my eyes glazed over with lust. The moment he was close enough for me to reach, I grabbed him and held on to his waist as I looked up at him.
“You need to stop teasing me and just make love to me already. I don’t know how much more of this insane torture I can take. I dream about your body and your face and you…if we were just getting to know each other, I would easily call this a case of insta-love but Paul, we have been around one another most of our lives. What are we waiting for exactly?”
He leaned down and kissed my lips ever so gently and I melted in his arms like warm milk chocolate. “I want to know that when we take that step, you’re emotionally ready to handle it, Jerrica. If we get in a fight, you can’t just throw me outta bed and tell me to get lost with a Post-It note.”
“I would never do that to you and yes, I am aware everything isn’t going to be cotton candy and roses but do you honestly believe I can be in your presence for four and a half days while we are at Martha’s Vineyard and not want to jump your bones? I don’t have that kind of will power, baby,” I explained in a truthful manner.
“I know,” he began before he smiled. “Which is why at Martha’s Vineyard, we’ll tell everyone about us and come out as an official couple. I have been best friends with Jude for so very long, I don’t know what he will do when he finds out that I am boning his sister. I mean…I think he could handle the one night stands because he would never have to face those men again but…it would hurt my soul if he cut me out.”