The Price of Fame - KJ1 (29 page)

“Wow. I can’t believe this.” Jay looked at her lover, her emerald eyes shining with delight and anticipation. “A whole five days alone with you on a tropical island. Well, this will be tough to take. My God, I’ve got to pack!” She jumped off the bed, realization dawning, running to her closet to retrieve her suitcase. Before she’d gotten five steps away, she turned around, ran back, and kissed Kate soundly on the mouth. “You’re the best, you know that? God, I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart,” and the truth of that shone in the cerulean blue eyes that gazed at her unblinkingly. “Now come here.

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We’ve still got time and I am nowhere near done with you yet,” Kate growled, pulling her lover back down onto the bed and pinning her in one smooth motion, beginning a very thorough exploration of that tantalizing body.

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wo silhouetted figures strolled hand in hand on the deserted Tbeach, their bare feet splashing softly in the surf, their bodies barely illuminated by the sliver of moonlight and the profusion of stars.

“Kate, this is the most breathtaking place I’ve ever seen. The sand is so soft and the water is so warm.” Jay smiled up at her lover, her emerald eyes sparkling. “This feels like such a dream, being here with you. It’s like magic.”

“I’m glad you like it, sweetheart.”

Their flight had gone without a hitch, and the resort was everything it had been promised to be. They had a secluded villa with a bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, and a balcony overlooking the water.

Most importantly, they had each other and time to spend exclusively together without interruption in this island paradise.

“Can we go snorkeling tomorrow? And I want to try sailing, too.”

Kate laughed at her companion’s enthusiasm. “Honey, we can do anything you want tomorrow, anytime you want to do it. As long as I’m with you, nothing else matters.” She stopped for a moment, brushing her fingers along a rounded jawline and leaning down to kiss the waiting lips.

Jay felt the truth of her lover’s statement and it made her heart soar.

Could it have been just the previous night that she lay crying herself to sleep, unsure whether Kate wanted to spend time with her? She sighed, knowing that her past demons had once again led her to expect the worst.

So far, all she had gotten from the woman at her side was the very best, and she’d repaid her with doubts and insecurities. She scowled.

“Hey, beautiful, what’s with the frown? Did I say something wrong?”

Jay’s head jerked up. “No, no, of course not. Just beating myself up a little, that’s all.”

“Any particular reason?”

“It’s nothing, really.” She was dejected and it showed.

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“Not good enough, Scoop. Come on, let’s talk about it so we can get past whatever it is.” When her lover didn’t look up or respond, Kate added, “Please?”

“Okay, but I feel so stupid.”

“Love, you are many things: gorgeous, talented, exceedingly bright, criminally good in bed, funny, compassionate, and caring, but one thing you most certainly are not is stupid.” She squeezed the hand she still held.

“Well, sometimes I sure feel dumb.” She took a deep breath. “When you didn’t seem interested that I had the rest of the week off, I thought maybe you didn’t want to spend the time with me, even though I desperately wanted to spend it with you. I guess I went down that road pretty far and managed to get myself into a state where I cried myself to sleep last night for three hours.”

“Oh, sweetheart, believe me, I was plenty interested, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case I couldn’t get the time off or couldn’t make the plan work. I’m sorry if I led you to think anything different. Nothing could have been further from the truth.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me, love, it wasn’t you; it’s just that disappointment has always been a fact of life for me. Reacting to you based on my past experiences isn’t fair. I’m the one who owes you an apology: you deserve so much more credit than I’ve been giving you.”

“Jay, look at me.” She waited until the green eyes locked on hers. “I will never fault you for reactions that are second nature to you. All I ask is for the chance to re-train your mind until there are no doubts left to erase and no insecurities to overcome, until you can trust in me, trust in us. Can I have that? Can we have that?”

“You are so much more than I deserve. How can it be that of all the women in the world you could have, you want to be with me?”

“Because of all the women in the world, you are the one who owns me, body and soul and the only one I’ll ever want or need. I love you, Jay, with all my heart.”

“I love you, too, Kate.” Jay waited a beat, then bumped her companion with a hip. “Criminally good in bed, eh?”

“Oh yeah.”

Together they turned back toward the villa, content just to be in each other’s company.

Wednesday dawned bright and clear, sunlight splashing across the bed where a sole occupant lay sprawled. Jay reached out, expecting to find her lover, but instead connecting with the soft cotton sheet.

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she listened for sounds coming from the bathroom. Hearing none, she turned her attention to the kitchen, where she was rewarded with the smell of freshly brewing coffee. She followed her nose and discovered the caffeine, but still no sign of her missing partner.

A quick check of the entire villa confirmed that Kate was AWOL.

Still naked, Jay walked to the sliding glass doors that opened onto the balcony and looked out at the beach. Straining her eyes, she spied a single figure running gracefully along the surf, long strides eating up the vast expanse of sand, head up, hair flying in the breeze. She smiled reflexively; the sight of her lover caught unaware as she was, outlined against the rising sun, took her breath away.

Several minutes later, dressed in a pair of very short running shorts and a cut-off short-sleeved shirt, Jay stood with her toes in the sand at the water’s edge, a cup of coffee in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. As she watched, the solitary runner came into view, her features resolving themselves as she got closer.

The second Kate spied the stationary beachcomber, her smile widened into a full-fledged grin. “Good morning, love,” she greeted her lover, sweeping her into her arms, kissing her lightly on the lips before setting her back on her feet.

“Hi.”

“What are you doing out of bed?”

“I missed my snuggle partner.”

“Sorry about that. I didn’t want to wake you; you were sleeping so peacefully. I get restless sometimes in the morning and it was so beautiful out, I thought I’d come out and take a quick run. I didn’t think you’d miss me.”

“Honey,” Jay chuckled, “I miss you when you go to the bathroom.

And I always have a cure for morning restlessness.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh you do, do you? Well, I’ll have to remember that, although I also seem to recall that you’re not a morning person.”

“For that, I’d make myself into a morning person.” She slipped her arm through Kate’s as they made their way up the beach to the villa. “I thought you might need this,” she said, handing her partner the water bottle.

“Thanks, as a matter of fact, I could use some. Now all I need is a shower and I’ll be good as new.”

“Well you’d better be quick about it, because I have plans for you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Jay proceeded to describe in great detail exactly what she had in mind. After all, they were on vacation.

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They lay side by side on a beach blanket, soaking up the sun as it dried their salty skin. Snorkeling gear and fins sat dripping nearby, a testament to their first foray into the lush underwater world of the warm Caribbean waters. It had been a lot of fun, swimming together along a nearby reef, pointing out to each other all of the colorful tropical fish as they motored along their way. They had spotted clownfish and angelfish, lobsters and kissing fish and some species whose names neither one of them knew.

Now they rested quietly, each lost in her thoughts on the peaceful stretch of beach they had claimed for their own. Kate was remembering the earlier part of the morning. Given the proper motivation she had managed to get showered in record time, returning to the bedroom to find her lover waiting for her impatiently. Jay had made good on everything she had promised and more, and it was a wonder that Kate was able to move at all afterward. She smiled; having Jay as a lover would never be boring, that was for certain.

“What are you smiling about, Stretch?”

“Mmm, just thinking about making love with a very beautiful woman this morning. You’re going to spoil me, you know. I’ll be ruined for life.”

“I’m counting on it,” Jay responded. “Wait until you see what I have planned for dessert tonight.”

Kate groaned, but her grin gave her away. “Still interested in going for a sail?”

“Yeah,” her lover replied enthusiastically.

“Okay. How about we dry out a little more, then I’ll go make the arrangements while you go find the ingredients for a picnic lunch at sea.”

“Ooh, that sounds great. You’ve got a deal.”

The fifteen-foot Javelin skimmed along the water, the anchorwoman at the helm and Jay hanging backward over the side as the boat heeled almost halfway out of the water. “Prepare to come about,” Kate yelled to be heard over the rush of the wind. She waited until her mate nodded before yelling, “Coming about!”

At the command, Jay ducked under the boom and came up on the other side of the boat, where she assumed the same position she had on the starboard side. It went on like this for nearly an hour until they came in sight of a tiny island off the port side. Kate maneuvered them into the wind, dropping the sails as her lover threw the anchor overboard. They were about twenty-five feet from shore and blocked from the bulk of the wind by the trees.

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“Hungry?”

“Am I ever not hungry?” Jay asked, slapping Kate lightly in the stomach.

“I guess that was a stupid question. Let me rephrase it: are you ready to eat lunch? This seems like a nice spot.”

“It’s perfect, and I’m more than ready for food, as always.” Jay dragged the mini-cooler she had purchased with their supplies from under the hull and opened it. She brought out a tablecloth, a hunk of cheese, some French bread, a couple of mangoes, and a half-split of champagne with plastic glasses, along with some water, and closed the cooler, which would double as their table. “Will this do?”

“Looks great to me. Want me to do the honors?” Kate asked as she pointed to the champagne.

“Please.”

She popped the cork smoothly and poured two glasses, handing one to her partner. “To a fantastic vacation with the most extraordinary woman in the world.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Jay agreed, interlocking arms with her lover as they drank from their glasses.

They settled side by side on a bench, sharing cheese on bread, licking each other’s fingers to ensure that they hadn’t left any crumbs behind. In between the bites of food, they traded kisses and nibbles.

“I didn’t know you knew how to sail, Stretch. Yet another one of your many secret skills, I suppose.”

Kate chuckled. “I told you, love, I have no secrets from you, only things we have yet to discover about each other. I grew up on the Atlantic Ocean, it was natural to learn to sail. I learned when I was about ten to skipper boats just like this one. It feels like coming home.”

“Yes, I suppose it would. Who taught you to sail?”

“Friends of the family. They would take me out in all kinds of conditions just to make sure I knew how to handle myself out there in the elements. It was great training and good for my confidence; it taught me how to think quickly, be decisive, and react under pressure. All things that have served me well.”

“Mmm.” Jay wanted to ask more, wanted to know all about Kate’s family, but as her lover had never seemed inclined to talk about them, she was reluctant. She hadn’t needed to know for the cover story since the focus had been on the journalist’s career, and though she knew she could have asked in that context, she hadn’t wanted to satisfy her curiosity while hiding behind a professional pretext.

Wondering when another opportunity might present itself and fearing that it wouldn’t, Jay decided to broach the subject delicately. “Your parents didn’t sail?”

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Kate’s posture stiffened imperceptibly—imperceptibly, that is, to anyone who didn’t know her body as her lover did. “No. They never went out with me.”

“We’ve never really talked about your family. I’m sorry, if it’s a sore subject, we can drop it.”

“No, no, that’s okay, love. Nothing is off limits to you; ask away. I don’t want there to be anything but honesty and full disclosure between us.” The blue eyes darkened in memory. “My mother was a strong woman; she was an artist and an advocate for those less fortunate than we were. She volunteered in the court system for abused spouses and fought single-mindedly for the things she believed in; a great athlete, too. She’s the one who taught me how to play tennis.” Kate smiled at the recollection. “She was tough, but very smart and passionate about social causes and the difference between right and wrong; there wasn’t much gray with her, everything was black or it was white.”

“It sounds like you loved and admired her very much.” Jay reached out and touched the back of her lover’s hand. “But you talk about her in the past tense.”

“Yes.” Tears sprang unexpectedly to Kate’s eyes. “Both my parents were killed by a drunk driver when I was 18.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so, so sorry; I didn’t know.” Jay moved the few inches and wrapped her arms around her partner, offering comfort for a pain that would never end.

“My father had always wanted a Corvette. He finally found a mint condition 1968, maroon with tan leather interior and a stick shift. He was in Heaven; I called it his mid-life crisis car. He and my mother were driving home from a party late one night on the Hutchinson River Parkway when a drunk slammed into them from behind, knocking them headfirst into a tree at 85 miles per hour. They didn’t stand a chance.”