Iris was furious to hear from Amber of Jax’s refusal to hear one ill word against the hazel-eyed brat.
"He’s not interested," Amber reported. "He was very cold to me and very dismissive and he hates you Chad. This isn’t going to work."
"It’ll work," Chad said. "As soon as we show him the proof that he was set up he’ll turn on her like a rabid dog."
Amber was shaking her head. "Chad I don’t think so.
"Well we’ll never know unless we try," Iris said. "Jax is undoubtedly enamored of Brenda. After all she is incredibly lovely and it seems that men take to her vibrant personality quite well. He’s perhaps grown quite fond of her and can’t bear to think of her being so devious. But if we confront him with the proof of her misdeeds then he will have no choice but to face up to it."
"Well how are we going to confront him with anything?" Amber wanted to know. "None of us can get into the house now. Not even me."
"Then we’ll just have to get to him outside of the house," Iris said.
Chad was smiling. "And I know the perfect opportunity. Jax’s friend Devon is having a fancy grand opening for his riverboat restaurant called Crescent City this Friday. Now Amber and I got our invitations quite a while ago before this rift came up and I’m sure we can still use them to get in. We’re each allowed a guest, so I’ll take you and Amber will take Ava."
Iris looked a bit exasperated. "So we’ll have to wait until Friday?"
"Well it doesn’t matter because I heard Jax telling Brenda to pack anyway," Amber reported. "So they’re probably out of town now."
"Yes, but they’ll be back by Friday,’ Chad guaranteed. "Devon is Jax’s best friend on earth, he wouldn’t miss the opening for anything. Besides he’s part owner of the restaurant. So we can count on his presence."
"Perfect!" Iris said clapping her hands. "Then Friday it is." Then she pulled Avaline over to the side. "Come, we must go out and buy you a most fabulous dress, my dear. When Jax sees the truth about Brenda he will need comforting and I’ll be damned if he’ll get it in the arms of that second rate Scarlet O’Hara" she said glancing over at Amber.
Chad was thinking that Brenda was the one who would need comforting after the truth was publicly revealed. And he was ready and willing to comfort her the whole night through . . .
"Wow!!" Brenda breathed as she saw the remarkable Palace shaped hotel they were entering.
"Isn’t it amazing architecture? Its one of a kind. Anytime we come here we get the Presidential suite and basically the run of the place."
"Oh really? How come?"
"Well I know the owner."
"Oh fantastic!" she said rubbing her hands together with glee. "So we’ll be treated like royalty," she said curtseying like a princess.
"That’s right," he said bowing like a prince and kissing her hand. "So anything you want, you can have," he told her as they entered the luxurious lobby of the Mayan Palace Hotel and Jax was immediately greeted by waves from several of the employees. And then he got an especially warm greeting from a handsome man dressed in an immaculate white suit which showed off his fabulous bronze complexion and dark eyes.
"Mr. Jacks, what a pleasure to have you here, sir. Is this an official visit or pleasure?
"Pleasure, Carlojero. Oh, this is my wife Brenda, by the way. Bren, this is Carlojero Cisneros, the hotel manager."
Carlo did a double take at the sight of the young girl who’s nickname of goddess was very appropriate indeed. "So here she is, the young lady who got the boss to ditch all of his ridiculous rules about holy matrimony and tie the knot," Carlojero said giving Brenda a friendly hug.
"The boss?" Brenda said looking at Jax.
"But of course, Mrs. Jacks. Your husband owns this hotel."
Brenda was laughing, remembering Jax telling her that he knew the owner. "I should have known," she said slapping Jax on the behind.
Carlojero gazed in appreciation at the effect of that smile of hers. "Mr. Jacks, your wife is truly a rare find."
Jax nodded in complete agreement.
"Well, I’m delighted to have you both here for a few days, whatever you want is at your disposal as always and of course the presidential suite is all ready and waiting for you. Are you two planning to go out for dinner later or should I send something special upstairs?"
"I think we’ll probably go out," Jax said.
"All right. Well please let me know personally if there is anything you need to make your stay more enjoyable. Adios, for now. Oh, and Mr. Jacks, be sure to show your beautiful young wife the waterfall pool we just had erected last summer. If you’d like I’ll have it closed off only for the two of you. Just let me know when," Carlojero said as he shook hands with Jax, waved at Brenda and then went about his duties.
"He’s so nice!" Brenda chirped.
"Yes he is. Come on," Jax said taking her hand as they got into the elevator and went up to the presidential suite. Everyone who worked at the hotel seemed to know Jax and love him which made Brenda feel really proud. Jax was the kind of boss people loved working for, and yet he was also a ruthless corporate raider who had made many a grown business man cry. What a marvelous paradox her husband was. She loved him more every second of the day. She loved him madly and was getting up the courage to let him know that one day.
The presidential suite was presidential indeed! It was truly fit for a king from the brass king sized bed to the sparking white marble floors to the expensive Indian throw rugs to the Monet paintings on the walls. Each section of the suite was decorated with Lilies in Ming Dynasty vases. In the center of the bed was a bottle of expensive Cristal in a bucket of ice and two glasses.
"Oooh Champagne!" Brenda said reaching for it eagerly, but Jax got to the bottle before she did.
"Excuse me, but are we 21 all of a sudden?" he teased her, putting the bottle on the bedside table. "Here, you can have the ice," he said with a playful grin as he handed her the bucket.
Brenda laughed. "Oh great. What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Allow me to demonstrate to you the many uses of Ice," Jax said taking the bucket back from her. "Here, sit down." He sat her down on the coffee table and knelt down in front of her with the ice next to him. "Okay, this is what I call the big chill," he said as he took a handful of the cubes and drooped them down Brenda’s shirt.
She screamed and leapt to her feet laughing.
"You dog!"
"Woof, woof. Okay, come on, sit back down," he said sliding his hands on her waist to sit her back down on the coffee table.
"I can’t believe you did that," she said laughing and shaking the ice out of her shirt and tossing a few at him in retaliation.
"Don’t worry, it gets better from here, I promise. All right, now this is what I like to call the cool kiss," he said as he ran an ice cube along her lips and then pointed for her to kiss him on his cheek, which she happily did.
"Was that cold?" she asked.
"I don’t know, it felt good to me," he said, wetting her lips once again with the ice and this time pointing for her to kiss his lips with hers.
"Was that cold?" she asked.
Jax shook his head and kissed her again. "Mmm. I guess you’re just too hot, Brenda," he said giving her a sexy look as he touched her tummy with his hand and then pulled it away and made a sizzling sound.
She shook her head, laughing at him. "You are so out of your mind," she said, crossing her legs as he rested his hands on her knees.
"Yes that is a fact. Okay, now this is what I call the cool down. You’ll really like this tone I think. Ready? Okay, here were go," he said as he took the ice cube and ran it along her arm and up her neck. he grinned at her reaction which was to close her eyes and laugh. "Hey you’re not supposed to be laughing," he said.
"I can’t help it , it tickles," she said apologetically, still laughing.
He trailed the ice down the other side of her throat and the kissed her there and then everywhere he trailed the ice his lips followed. Her laughing stopped almost immediately and her reaction was now what it should be – a growing sense of ecstasy. "That’s better," Jax said as he slid the ice cube down the length of her stomach, his lips soon following.
"Oh boy," she said feeling extremely hot and bothered. "I think I like ice. Yes I definitely have a new respect for ice," she said as her breathing quickened and she held onto his shoulders.
Jax rolled the cube down her bare legs, leaving the burn of his kisses there too and then he stood up and ran the ice cube down the back of her neck, his lips lingering there.
"Oh boy, oh boy," Brenda murmured as despite the chill of the ice, she was now officially on fire. She tilted her head back and his lips descended on hers softly in a kiss of delightful passion. His kisses teased her into a frenzy of desire and then he pulled away, his blue eyes regarding her as if she were the most beautiful thing on earth.
"Do you know what I wish?" Brenda said when she could breathe normally again. " I wish that you could feel what I feel every time you kiss me. It would blow your mind."
"What makes you think I don’t feel it?" he responded.
"Because you’re not kissing you, you’re kissing me. You have no idea what it feels like to be kissed by you, Jax, " she said dreamily, feeling her lips still on fire and fanning them which made Jax laugh.
"You, Venus, are definitely good for my ego," he said as he pulled her to her feet and headed towards the door.
"Where are we going?" she asked him, looking reluctant to leave.
"You wanted me to teach you a few water sports, remember?"
"Yeah but now? I thought we could . . ." she kissed him and slid her hands beneath his shirt. "You know . . ."
"Well I thought we would get the other stuff out of the way first while it’s still light outside so that we can do that for the rest of the night," he said.
She rose her eyebrows and smiled. "Oh! Okay, then let’s go!" she said dragging him out of the room, her pretty laughter echoing along the hallway.
After a fun-filled day spent jet skiing all over the clear blue-green waters of Cancun, Jax and Brenda were seated at the Cabo San Lucas restaurant, one of the four restaurants in the lobby of the Mayan Palace. He wore a casual blue shirt and dark blue jeans and she wore a sparkling white 2 piece dress that looked as if it were painted on her.
As she drank her ginger ale Brenda extended her arm for Jax to see as she removed her watch. "Will you look at this amazing tan I got?" she said. "The sun is incredible out here. Look at you," she said running her hand along the side of his golden tanned face.
Her touch was like a teasing fire.
The waiter handed them their menus and they ordered although Jax was puzzled by what Brenda had ordered.
"Brenda, do you even know what that is?"
"Sure it’s . . . umm . . . well okay so I can’t pronounce it but it doesn’t matter. It sounds good."
"I’m surprised that you still have your appetite after you ran across that nude beach," he said laughing. "I thought you would be scarred for life by the look on your face."
"Oh God!" Brenda said, laughing hysterically as she recalled it. "I just wasn’t expecting that! And hey, it was your fault for hitting the volley ball way over there in the first place, Jax. I can’t believe that people just lay around like that! On their backs no less!"
Jax laughed. "My 19 year old wife, the prude?"
"Hey, I’m just not used to anything like that. I’ve never seen anything like that before."
Jax shrugged. "Well it’s very common in the Mediterranean, you know. If we would have gone to the French Riviera you would have gotten an eyeful."
"Are we ever going to go there?" she asked.
"Next year," he promised and he shocked himself by how easily that promise fell from his lips. He was all but telling her that next year they would still be together like this.
They were served their appetizers and Jax’s lips were touched with a smile as he watched Brenda take a bite of hers, looks as if she would faint dead away, gulp down her water like a madwoman and then sit there stirring her appetizer around and staring at it as if it were the enemy but not daring eat anymore of it.
"Something the matter?" he asked casually, waiting for her to confess that it was awful and she had made a mistake.
"No. no," she said. "It’s great," she smiled a smile that was the most unconvincing thing he had ever seen.
One of the many waiters who knew Jax stopped by the table to talk to him and while he was occupied Brenda stared at the thing she had ordered in horror. What was this thing?! It was all rubbery and chewy and took all her strength to swallow. It was like eating eels! What Jax had ordered looked so much better, she thought wistfully, her stomach growling. She finished her ginger ale and snuck a taste of his wine to kill the taste. But when Jax turned back to her she put a smile on her face and pretended to be chewing away happily.
"Mmmm. You know this is really good." she insisted.
Jax could not believe her. "Oh give me a break, Venus. I know you’re only pretending you like it."
"I’m not pretending," she said. "Hey, look at that!" she said pointing to the door.
As Jax turned to look, she switched her appetizer with his.
"What? I don’t see anything," he said turning back to her.
"Oh, you missed it. It was ahhhh. . . .Burt. Burt Reynolds."
He rose a skeptical blonde eyebrow. "Burt Reynolds?"
"Yep. But you missed him," she said with a shrug as she put the appetizer in her mouth and ate it, enjoying every bite. When he saw her eating quite contentedly he was puzzled and immediately gazed down at his own plate and saw her appetizer there.
She quickly looked away from him, laughing.
"Oh give me a break," he said laughing when he realized what she had done, "Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?"
She was laughing too hard to respond to him.
When she finally stopped laughing, Brenda said; "But just think about all the ways you can get me back later," she encouraged him as she finished up his appetizer while her fried squid remained untouched at the table and the butt of many of their jokes that night, right up there with the inflatable Octopus.
After dinner they took a walk along the moonlit beach and sat down near the shore watching the gentle waves lap at the sea. From the beach they could hear the music from inside the hotel lounge. It was magical and enchanting.
Jax lay back on the sand gazing up at the star-scattered heavens and Brenda laid her head on his chest and gazed up too.
"This is the best ever," she murmured shutting her eyes. "I had such a good time today, Jax. I always have a good time with you."
"I always have a good time with you too," he told her.
"You’re the most fun person I know."
"Ditto," he said.
"And I’ve only known you for a month, but I can’t imagine being without you now," she told him, suddenly not afraid to tell him these things when they were alone like this on this gorgeous beach at 11 p.m. with nothing but stars above them and sand below then and water for miles.
"I know what you mean," he said, which she interpreted as ‘I feel the same way.’
"Jax, have you ever been in love before?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"So then you don’t know what it feels like then, huh?"
"Well . . ."
"I think it feels like your life just turns upside down and nothing is ever the same. And you’re all confused but you feel so good and you feel so happy and you feel like everything is perfect even though everything probably really is crazy."
Very accurate, he thought. It certainly desscribed his predicament to a tee.
"How do you think you would know when you’re in love?" she asked him as she reached back with her arms so that her fingers were able to play around with his hair.
"Me personally? Or people in general?"
"You personally."
"I guess umm. . .well I know it would be something I would fight a lot. So if I started to really try to resist it I guess I would realize that it was happening to me."
"That would drive you crazy, huh?"
"Mmm Hmm."
"Would you let it happen?"
"I wouldn’t want to, no."
"Why not?" she asked turning around so that her chin was propped up on his chest and she could look at him.
"It’s not in my plan, Brenda."
"Falling in love you mean?"
"Yes."
"But what if you really, really loved this person and you met her years before you expected to. Would you just let her go because it wasn’t in your time table or would you just change around your time table because she was here now?"
He gazed at her in silence for a few moments. "I wouldn’t let her go," he said.
"Even if you didn’t want a wife?"
"Well I obviously would want her."
"Would you be mad at her for making you fall in love with her? I mean would you blame her?"
"Absolutely. I would love her passionately and with all my heart and then I would probably toss her into a volcano," he said and when he saw her eyes widen, he winked at her slowly and she laughed.
"You’re crazy," she said laying her head sideways against his chest and putting her hand over his heart.
"Oh don’t worry, I would never really throw you into a volcano," he promised.
Brenda felt her heart leap inside of her. So she was the one he was referring to all along? She was the one who he would not give up even though her entrance into his life had screwed up his time table? She was too scared to ask him, although his volcano comment pretty much let her know that he meant her.
Maybe he does love me! she thought giddy with delight and it propelled her next action.
She sat up so that she was straddling him. "Can I tell you a secret" she said smiling mischievously.
He nodded, taking her hands in his and playing absently with them.
"When I was five I had this bracelet. It was this little fake, plastic thing made out to look like an amethyst tennis bracelet -- one of those free things you get in a cereal box or something. Anyway, I loved that dumb bracelet," she laughed. "I wore it everywhere. I wore it in the bathtub, I wore it when I went to bed. I never took it off. So then one day I was walking someplace with my dad and we’re crossing the street the bracelet comes loose, falls off of my wrist and falls through the sewer grate."
"Oh no," Jax said imagining a five year old Brenda watching her beloved plastic bracelet fall below the ground.
"Yeah I was screaming my head off. I was crying, I was begging my dad to get it for me and, he tried you know? He tried so hard because he knew how much it meant to me. But it was gone -- forever. I was devastated. He finally had to just pick me up and carry me away or I would have stood there crying over that dumb sewer for weeks. But you know, as much as I loved that bracelet, as much as it devastated me to lose it and broke my heart to walk away and leave it there -- that would all seem easy in comparison to leaving you now."
Jax felt Cupid’s accursed arrow pierce a whole foot deeper into this heart after she told him that. Had she struck a fatal blow, he wondered? Was there anything left inside of him that couldn’t love her now?
He was thrown by what she had said and didn’t know quite what to say in return and she seemed to know that.
"Did I embarrass you?" she asked grinning.
"No, ummm . . .that was probably the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me," he said. "Umm . . .did you mean it?
"Absolutely. So don’t be surprised at the lengths I would go to to keep you, okay?" she told him, trying to pave a way for what she would soon tell him about how she had gotten him to marry her.
He smiled, tickling her stomach lightly. "Nothing you do surprises me anymore, Brenda."
"Oh yeah? Well what about this?" still straddling him, she began to undo the buttons of his shirt. She kissed his chest and raked her fingernail sensually along his fit body loving the look he was giving her as she did so. Then she reached up and removed the hair clip from her hair and Jax watched as her dark, shimmering locks fell about her shoulders. It was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. Then with a bewitching smile, she unbuttoned her silk blouse. When it was unbuttoned she took it and wrapped it around his wrists and then slid her body in between his arms, his bound wrists at her back.
"Surprised?" she asked, blowing flirtatiously in his ear.
"Is this some kind of kinky abduction?" he asked her.
"Yeah, that’s exactly what it is" she said with a sexy, soft laugh. "Now I can totally have my way with you."
"Looks like you’ve really got a hold on me, all right" he said with an exaggerated nod since the truth was that he could break the hold of her blouse in about three seconds.
"I know," she laughed easing herself atop him and kissing his lips with a brief playfulness and then a sensual slowness that lit the fires within him.
The sea breeze blew pleasantly along the deserted beach and the silvery illumination of the moon was their only companion as the kisses heated up. Passion began to spill over to the point where Jax broke free of the blouse and rolled over halfway so that he was on top of her, his deep, provocative kisses driving her to the edge of heaven. Her body arched to his, her hands entwined in the back of his hair as her lips moved sensually along his, his hands roaming the hills and valleys of her body, his kisses hotter than July.
From the lounge music of the performing band drifted out onto the beach.
I have never touched lips
That felt as soft as rain
Until tonight
I never knew a kiss
Could make me feel like this
Until tonight
But here we are now, feeling things we’ve never felt before
Brenda’s soft, repeated moaning of Jax’s name coincided with her losing the rest of her clothing and then losing herself to the blissful seduction of her passionate love for him. As they made tender, erotic love on the beach, beneath the stars with the ocean gently rushing to the shore in the background, they were silhouetted in the moonlight. It was nothing short of heavenly and Jax had never been more sure that he was in love with her than in that very moment of stunning clarity. He had never imagined losing his heart so soon or so unexpectedly to one so young and innocent. But he knew it had happened. She had gotten him. He had lost this war with Cupid, and yet losing something had never felt so good.
I never knew that I could feel such wonder
I never dreamed that love could be like this
Yet in this rapture I’m swept away
Lost in your eyes
For tonight
Love has come of age . . .
Song Credit: "Love Has Come Of Age" Music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. From the CD "Highlights from Jekyll & Hyde."