by Ari Thatcher
He said his hellos around the room, then saw her sitting at the card table. Their eyes met, he seemed to hesitate, then lifted his beer bottle in a salute.
The hard part was done. She’d survived seeing him again. The rest of the night would be easy.
But it wasn’t. She couldn’t focus on her cards. Couldn’t remember what cards made a poker hand.
“Jasmine, it’s your turn.” Bree nudged her with her elbow.
“Oh, sorry. I call.”
“You’re first. Fold or bet.”
“Right.” She shoved a few poker chips into the center of the table.
Bree gave Kenzi a pointed look. Devin’s girlfriend shook her head in either sympathy or disbelief, and put her chips in the pot. The play went around the table, and Kenzi dealt the flop. The other girls looked at their cards before turning to Jasmine.
She studied the three cards on the table and the four in her hand. A pair of twos. A three, four and six on the table. Did that add up to anything?
Kenzi cleared her throat.
“Um, I check.”
Jasmine looked at the clock repeatedly. At 11:40, when the hand ended, she stood. “Bathroom break.”
She hurried away before anyone could stop her. She knew Kenzi’s house like the back of her hand. The dining room was dark, as she expected. She ducked in there.
The blinds were down, so she pulled them up to look out over the bay. The moonlight on the water gave her peace, as always. The lights of the city kept the stars hidden while adding a magic all their own.
Someone rapped on the doorway behind her. Jasmine’s heart jumped. Her stomach sank. She slowly turned.
Kenzi came into the room. “I just want to be sure you’re okay.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“But you’re not now.”
Jasmine shrugged. “We only had a few days together. It’s in the past. Or will be soon enough.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Kenzi hugged her before leaving.
Jasmine knew she should be over Joey by now. They hadn’t been together long enough for it to be called a relationship. Hell, they didn’t even qualify as having been together.
She ached. Clear down into her bones. Why him? What made him so special that she’d been mourning all week?
His smile. His laugh. The way he’d run his fingers down her arm as they sat on the bed the night he’d run to the safety of his blanket and pillow on the floor.
And how she felt when she was with him. Drenched in the pouring rain, no makeup on, her hair hanging in strings, she felt beautiful in his eyes. She wasn’t self-conscious with him, even in her baggy sweats. She’d been as comfortable most of the time as if they’d been together forever.
That last night in their little flat, when he spoke close to her ear, his deep voice rough after another round of love-making, he’d sent shivers down her spine.
“Hey. You doing okay?”
Goosebumps spread over her arms. She was imagining she could hear him now.
“Jasmine?”
He was there in the flesh. She glanced over her shoulder, unable to face him directly. “Hi.”
“It’s beautiful out there.” Joey stopped beside her.
“Yeah.” Her body trembled with his nearness, with fear and anxiety of what he might say.
“Still not as beautiful as you are, though.”
What was his game? She couldn’t hope for the possibility he’d changed his mind about her. She couldn’t stand the pain of being rejected twice if she was wrong.
“Can I say I’m an ass?” he asked.
“You can say anything you want.” She totally agreed he was an ass.
“I’m sorry. I’m an ass.”
“We discussed that one.”
“I just wanted to make sure you knew.”
Jasmine drew in a deep breath and held it. She was so emotionally drained she was afraid she’d burst into tears at any second.
“I didn’t know how to handle what I was feeling.”
“What were you feeling?” she whispered.
He inched closer. “I don’t know. Well, I didn’t know, but I suspect it was love.”
“You suspect? When they hand out the award for most romantic, you’re not going to be very high on the list.”
“Give me a break, this is all new to me.”
She glanced at him. He was watching her. The look on his face showed how uncomfortable he was. She didn’t understand. “You write love songs. Okay, so they’re interspersed with partying songs, and ‘me and my buds’, but still, you’ve written some of the most heartrending lyrics I’ve heard.”
“Yeah, but they’re just words. I could write about being a dog but that doesn’t mean I’ve been one.”
Jasmine smiled. “That’s debatable.”
Joey pushed a lock of her hair behind her shoulder. “Okay, you’ve got me on that one.” He faced the window again. “I got scared. You messed with my plans.”
Biting her cheek, she asked, “Don’t you do anything you haven’t planned?” He’d said almost the same thing to her that night in their flat.
He chuckled, nodding his head. “Good one. We’re a lot alike. So rigid in our schedules, in making sure everything goes off like we want.”
“We survived Ireland.”
“Yeah, we did. And we found something special. At least, I did.”
The temptation was there to make him feel as bad as she had this past week. She couldn’t do it, though. Not only did she lack the mean gene, she was so full of hope she didn’t want to wait any longer to know the truth. “I did, too. Or thought I did. I was afraid the feelings were all one-sided.”
“No.” He grasped her hand and squeezed. “I found something better than a pot of gold. The best Christmas gift ever. That is, if you’ll have me.”
“Are you sure you can handle this? Not for a weekend, or a month. If I go into this, I’m fighting for as long as we can make it last.” Her chest was tight as she spoke.
“That’s the only way I do things.” He ducked his head. “Well, I only did that one time I told you about, because I knew the other women weren’t long time attractions. You were so different, and like I said, it scared the shit out of me. But when I walked into my house the other day and the only greeting I got was from the dogs, it hit me how much I wished you were there.”
“I know. My apartment never felt so empty. And not just because of all that space to I had to move around compared to the flat.”
“My whole life was empty. I had everything I’d ever dreamed of, and I had nothing since I pushed you away.”
Her throat tightened so much she couldn’t breathe.
Joey tugged her hand, pulling her into his arms. She found her comfortable spot against his hard body.
“I’m not pushing you away now.”
“So I noticed.” Her lips twitched, needing him to kiss her.
“I love you, Jasmine. I took a year to figure it out, but I love you.”
“I love you, too. Until that trip, I never would have believed it.”
“Thanks loads. I’m not that bad.”
“No. As I remember, you’re pretty good.” She smirked. “At some things.”
“Like what?” He lifted her chin and kissed her before she could answer.
His lips pressed hard against her, almost desperate in the way he captured her mouth. His tongue slipped into her mouth, thrusting and stroking, inflaming her body.
When he pulled back, he asked, “Do you think they’ll miss us?”
“They haven’t even noticed we’re not there.”
“Come home with me.”
Her heart fluttering, she stretched up to kiss him. “You live in Austin. That’s a bit longer than I want to wait for you to make love to me.”
“We’ll go to your place.”
“We’ll go to my place. I’ll get my purse and tell Kenzi.”
“Just grab your purse. Kenzi will figu
re it out.”
He took her hand and pulled her into the hallway. She picked up her purse from the chair in the living room.
“One more thing.” Joey jerked her hard against him. “Happy New Year.” He kissed her again.
Eventually, she was able to take another breath. “Best year ever, at least the first half hour or so.”
“Let’s go, and we can make it the entire first night.”
They walked to her car with their arms around each other’s backs, her head resting on his shoulder, as though they couldn’t be apart. She pulled out her keys and hesitated only a moment. Handing them to Joey, she said, “You can drive. See, I don’t always have to be the one in control.”
They drove in silence, the radio playing softly. Jasmine stared out the side window, lost in thoughts of the future. Mostly the future hours once they reached her place.
She remembered how often he’d scratched his arm on their trip. “Did that bite finally go away?”
“Huh?”
“On your arm. I haven’t noticed you scratching tonight.”
He glanced at the sleeve of his jacket. “Oh, I guess I must have been allergic to something in Ireland. It doesn’t itch anymore.”
For the life of her, she couldn’t think of anything to day to get conversation flowing.
“Do you trust me enough to tell me your dream now?”
She’d forgotten she’d mentioned her dream in the darkness that night. “It wasn’t a matter of trust, I don’t think. But my dream is silly in this millennium.”
“No dream is ever silly. Unless you wanted to be a unicorn. Or a mushroom.”
“What are you talking about?” As grateful as she was to possibly avoid revealing her secret, she often wondered where those tangents of his came from.
“I’m trying to tell you I can respect your dreams without laughing at them.”
She took a deep breath. They’d just gotten around to admitting their love for each other and now she was going to talk kids? This would be the shortest relationship on record. Yet not telling him would definitely get them off on the wrong foot. She forced herself to speak. “Jasmine-ette—and for a long time, grownup Jasmine—wanted nothing more than to be a mom. Now, don’t forget you’re driving my car so you can’t escape until I drive you back to Chaz and Kenzi’s, unless you call a cab.”
“Funny thing. That doesn’t scare me. On the other hand, the idea that it doesn’t scare me scares the shit out of me. But it’s not a deal breaker. Unless we’re talking the next year or so.”
Jasmine laughed, relief overflowing. “No. No way. Let’s take baby-steps. First I can be a good girlfriend. We’ll see what happens from there.”
“That sounds perfect. I don’t think either of us will survive long with no schedule to follow, but this will be a good test for us.”
“Let’s hope it’s the only way we’re tested. We’ve got enough potential landmines ahead of us. We don’t need to manufacture others.”
“I promise to focus on reality, and how much I love you.” Just saying the words I love you sent a current of warm, wonderful emotions through her.
“And I’ll be focused on loving you, which is my reality.”
She sighed. “See? I told you, you come up with some of the most romantic words I’ve ever heard.”
“Glad you like them, because you’ll be hearing a lot of them in the future. Maybe I’ll even write a song about you.”
A memory hit her, and she laughed loudly. “Oh my God, I’d forgotten about that. Way back when, after you guys had released your first CD, I used to listen at night and dream you’d written the words for me.”
“Me? Not Chaz? I only sing background, remember?”
“I know, but one of the songs you wrote left me nearly in tears the first time I heard it. ‘Longfield Road.’”
“Yeah, that one was mine. And all this time I thought you had a crush on Travis.”
“I did, after meeting you guys.” She quickly added, “Before I got to know you better. When all I had to judge you on was your lyrics, you were my dream guy.”
They stopped for a red light, and he turned toward her. “And now?”
“Now, I guess I’m living my dream. No, there’s no guessing about it. Best dream ever.”
Joey smiled, and she’d swear his eyes smoldered, even though she couldn’t see them in the darkness. She felt the heat deep within her heart. This was one dream she never wanted to wake up from.
~*~*~*~
I hope you enjoyed Jasmine and Joey’s story. If you’d like to know more about Chaz’s wedding that wasn’t, and how he and Kenzi got together, look for The Rock Star’s Wedding. I’ve included an excerpt here.
The Rock Star’s Wedding
Chapter One
Her first cup of coffee had never tasted so good. With the warmth of the tropical early morning sun beating down on her, Kenzi Packard inhaled the rich hazelnut aroma while watching the rolling waves in the distance. After several years of vacationing locally, she and the girls had splurged and dusted off their passports.
Sitting at a hotel on St. Thomas with a view of the ocean, she had her best friends there to share this week in heaven, and no work phone calls to deal with. What more could a girl want?
“Chaz Marino is here,” Jasmine Wright said with a gasp. “On the island.”
Kenzi rolled her eyes. “Where did you get that info?”
Jasmine held up her smartphone. “It’s all over Gossip Ho’s website. He and Vanessa Edwards are getting married Saturday.”
Bree Simmons stretched her arms in the air and yawned. “How can you read that crap? Do you honestly believe if Chaz was getting married he’d have told anyone?” She tipped her face up to the sun, closing her eyes with a sigh.
“The part that I don’t get is why he’d marry her after she and Harry Cabrera were so hot and heavy on the set of Drifting 3. Talk about foolish. I mean, he should have dumped her ass when those naked pictures first appeared.” Jasmine tapped and scrolled her way to who knew where on her phone.
Kenzi rose to refill her coffee from the little hot-drink maker the hotel provided, pausing with one hand on her hip. “I have two things to say about that. A, there’s no proof they slept together, and B, maybe he’s the forgiving type who believes in second chances. Isn’t that sort of romantic?”
“Romantic, or door mat?” Bree questioned back.
Kenzi walked away before she could hear what else they said about Chaz. She wasn’t about to admit she still had feelings for him-she hadn’t even admitted to knowing him, much less dating. When he’d dropped out of college at the end of their sophomore year to pursue his music career, she’d been sad, but not heartbroken. They’d talked and accepted the fact they wanted different things from their careers. She loved programming, anything to do with computers, and he lived music. Ate, slept and dreamt it. Now she had a job she loved, working for a gaming company, and he…well, he was Chaz Marino.
Her friends would freak if they ever found out she and Chaz had been a couple long before he and Joey Hughes formed their band, Marino. It wasn’t something she could just throw out there in the middle of a conversation, like, “Oh, you know, I used to do him.” And when they talked ex-boyfriends, there’s no way she could bring him up. He wasn’t some creepy-ass, cheating schmuck she wanted to forget. On the contrary, he’d been so good, he still showed up in a lot of fantasies. And damn, he was superhuman there!
Yeah, she definitely was not mentioning her relationship with him.
After her second cup of coffee, she was ready to run. Moving through her stretches in their room, she called out to the balcony, “Who’s running with me?”
Her question was met with groans and gripes, but they both came inside to stretch with her. They took the elevator to the lobby and stretched again when they reached the street. The air smelled so good, clean and salty. The air in Oakland was probably just as clean, with it being so close to the Pacific Ocean, so maybe it was just the id
ea that she was in the Caribbean that made her think it smelled better here.
The three were silent as they gained their stride. Then they broke into the usual complaints.
“You’d think on vacation we could give up the routine,” Bree said.
“Sure,” Kenzi replied. “As long as we give up eating.”
“And drinking,” Jasmine added.
“Not likely.” Kenzi sidestepped some broken glass on the road without breaking stride. “Just think, running in the morning, snorkeling in the afternoon and dancing at night. We’ll actually lose weight!”
“And sleep for the entire week when we get home.” Bree jogged ahead so they could move single file as a car passed.
They followed the narrow road all the way out to the point before turning back. In the distance, Kenzi noticed a single runner coming toward them. A tall, slender guy, to be more precise. Creamy dark skin. Closely shaved hair. He had on large sunglasses, so who knew what he really looked like, but the rest of him was drool-worthy. Broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist, chiseled upper arms. She could easily picture that body poised above her on the sheets.
He swiped the butt of his palm on the side of his face in a move worthy of an exotic men’s cologne commercial. His teeth flashed in a smile before disappearing behind full lips. Kenzi’s heart rate sped up. No way, it couldn’t be him. She only had Chaz on the brain because Jasmine mentioned him. This guy was leaner. Not scrawny, but wiry. Definitely buff.
And he was wearing Spandex running shorts. The Chaz she knew would never be caught dead in those.
The closer he got, the tighter her stomach muscles knotted. It was Chaz. Did he even remember her? Should she acknowledge him as a friend or play it cool? He was probably trying to avoid attention. Avoid cameras and shrieking fan-girls. She voted for cool. “Hey.” And kept jogging past.
“Lady K?”
Oh, shit. She turned and jogged in place. “Omigod, Chaz!” She sounded like a nerd. She felt like one. She had no makeup on. Her hair had last night’s mousse in it, yanked back in a ponytail to keep it from flapping in her face. And, her running shorts showed every ounce of the five pounds she’d gained since college.