CHAPTER TWO
Tobias
I swallowed hard and struggled to keep cool with Jacine. It was hard to resist the urge to put my arm around her waist, to draw her close and breathe in the scent of her musky perfume.
Forty-eight years old, I am old enough to be her father, but damn if she didn’t light a fire in me that another woman couldn't.
I always had a thing for Alexander women. Jacine’s mother was a beauty that took my breath away. Franklin had damn good taste. But Jacy was exceptional. With her mother’s beauty, blonde hair, startling blue eyes, her tall hourglass figure and her father’s smarts, she was the full package.
It wasn’t until that first Christmas back from college that I noticed how much she’d grown. She left for Harvard a gangly teenager, a kid that I regarded with paternal affection and returned a bare four months later with a polish that belied her years.
Jacy knocked me off my feet.
But Franklin was my best friend, and I would never make a move on his daughter. That would cut across boundaries I didn’t want to cross. In fact, my attraction to Jacine freaked me out.
In one way, it was good. No other woman would register on my Richter scale and I could concentrate just on work. The yearning in my heart funneled into making cash, and a lot of it. Franklin and I were on par in the asset area, and I built a solid reputation as an entertainment lawyer. This is why I also worked closely with Franklin and in fact was on retainer with his firm.
So I tell myself this dinner with Jacy is a business expense, though I know in the most secret part of my heart what it is.
Time alone with the one woman I could never have.
Why would such a beautiful young woman want an old man like me? Sure, I kept in shape at the gym, but as each year passed, I felt the workout more in the muscles than the year before.
Even if this was LA and such pairing was as common as fronds on a palm tree, she was still my best friend’s daughter.
Off limits.
Do not touch.
A big neon sign flashing “forbidden.”
So, idiot me, that made her even more enticing than she should be. Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest.
I am not listening to what Jacy is saying because I think her plump lips look especially juicy, and I fantasize about biting her lower lip with my teeth and my hands cupping her creamy breasts. She dropped the tanning in favor of New York pale, but I like the look on her. Her blue eyes seem to shine brighter above the rose blush of her cheeks and her blonde hair done up in a tight bun is the stuff of librarian porn. My breathing grows shallow, and she looks at me with alarm.
“Are you feeling okay, Uncle Tobias?”
Uncle Tobias. The kiss of death. Relegated to the old man zone.
I deserved that. I am a horn dog, a dirty old man standing next to a sweet young thing, and my thoughts aren’t just inappropriate. They are downright sinful.
I wish I were a religious man because I think there is a prayer that says “lead me not into temptation.” I could use that kind of help right now.
“I’m fine, Jacy. It’s been a long day.”
“We don’t need to do dinner now. It feels like lunch to me, and you know New Yorkers don’t do lunch.”
“You don’t?”
“Not unless it is a job interview. You don’t intend to interview me for a job, do you.?”
Oh no, but I could put those sweet lips to work.
I really, really must stop thinking like this, but when I am with Jacy, I can’t seem to help myself.
Wrapped in illicit thoughts, I didn’t realize that Anson brought us to an out-of-the-way bistro that seemed quiet. One of Anson’s talents was finding the right place to eat for the occasion, and today he deemed we needed a place outside the prying eyes of LA media.
“This okay?” Jacy asked.
“Looks fine.” I didn’t care. Sharing air with Jacy made me happy.
We took our seats and ordered, me a steak fajita platter, and Jacy a chicken salad. I got the feeling she wasn’t hungry, and to tell you the truth, I wasn’t either. But I ordered wine for both of us. Maybe that would get me through this meal with my dignity intact.
Speaking of, that particular aspect of myself was not doing well. Our knees bumped accidentally under the postage stamp sized table, and my small head got the idea there was more bumping to come. The wine couldn’t arrive quickly enough, and I took a big gulp almost as soon as the glass hit the table.
Jacy watched me wide-eyed.
“Are you sure you are okay?”
I swear if she calls me Uncle Tobias I will lose it.
But she didn’t. Jacy gave me a compassionate gaze that melted my heart. My jaw loosened, and if I didn’t keep it firmly in place, I’d pant at her like the horn dog I was.
“I’m sorry,” she said gently.
“Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about?”
“My father. Acting like he did at the hospital.”
“He had a scare. It’s natural he’d act a little off.”
The waiter brought me a green salad with raspberries and walnuts. Was that part of the menu? Apparently, it was. Jacy scored a cup of soup. I took the opportunity to jam a forkful of arugula in my mouth before I said anything regrettably stupid. I swallowed hard because Jacy’s breasts stared at me like headlights, and they were lighting my world.
Could I act any more like a teenager?
Where was suave, sophisticated Tobias Marshall? Out to dinner.
With the woman of his dreams.
“So, what’s the damage?”
Again I blanked out on Jacy’s running commentary.
“Excuse me?”
“From Cole Kane, Jersey Dys and Rory Holmes?”
Ah, the troublemakers. Former friend and band mates turned bitter rivals. Jersey had a beef with Cole over supposedly “stolen” material back in the day from when they co-wrote songs. Rory got pissed at both of them for acting like idiots. They split off and formed their own bands, but like brothers, kept the rivalry going. Unfortunately, it turned nasty at Angelo’s last night.
“The damages at Angelo’s was minimal. They won’t file suit as long as the boys pay their share for the damage and agree to be banned for life.”
She grimaced but really, it wasn’t that bad.
“It’s the rivalry that these three have,” Jacy said. “It sparks fan interest, but we can’t have them hurting themselves or others.”
“I’m more worried about their insurance companies dropping them for liability damages.”
Jacy pinched the bridge of her nose. “We’re their PR guys, not management, but for the interest of keeping everything from blowing to smithereens, I’ll get them into a meeting and inspire them to slow their roll.”
“You think you can do that? With three high energy guys who haven’t heard the word ‘no’ in the past ten years?”
“I can do it,” said Jacy with steel in her voice. Her sapphire blue eyes glittered prettily at me and my big head got lost in little head thoughts.