The Stars Trilogy (15 page)

“Oh you should! I have all the DVDs and I watch them all the time.”

He nodded again. Women. Always suckers for silly fairy tales.

“Are you married, young man?”

It took him a few beats to answer. “No, Ma’am.”

“Well, you must choose well. A handsome, charming young man like you must have a nice young woman in his life, make him a good wife and give him beautiful babies.”

That made him smile. He was tempted to say to the lady that he’d sure had a lot of women and they weren’t really nice in the traditional sense of the word. Nevertheless, he was amused by the old woman’s idealism. She sounded really sincere. “Can I ask you something, Ma’am?”

“Sure.”

He cleared his throat. He bent to whisper to her. “How do you know when the person is right for you?” He didn’t want the security camera to capture his voice asking such stupid question.

The old lady smiled. Then her face became melancholic. “My husband has been dead for five years now.”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”

“No, don’t be. I had a happy, fulfilled life with him. We were together for 45 years and have two children. I have five grandchildren now,” she said proudly.

“Wow. Unbelievable.”

“Believe it, son. Love like that happens. When you see her, the woman destiny has been saving for you, you will know. Your heart, not your eyes, will recognize her. Time will freeze every time you are with her. You will want it to last forever, each moment that you spend with her. You will feel for her everything you have never felt for any other woman in your lifetime. You will want to experience everything with her, love, sorrow, passion, freedom, anger, everything. When you meet her, you will cease to be afraid of life, of becoming the kind of man that you didn’t even think you could ever be, of truly living your life to the fullest. She will make you feel invincible. Immortal.”

He just nodded repeatedly. A lump formed in his throat and he had difficulty breathing.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. “Well, this is me. By the way, I’m Ursula.”

“I’m...John. It’s been a pleasure, Ma’am.” He slightly bowed his head respectfully.

The old lady touched his cheek gently. “Never settle for anybody less than your soulmate,” she said and walked out of the lift.

“Thank you,” he whispered to her back.

The doors closed again and he was left dazed, reeling in some emotional turmoil from the weirdest conversation he’d had with a total stranger in an elevator. But surprisingly, his built-in bullshit detector did not go off in red alert.

That old woman was something else.

Soulmate? He shook his head. What an alien concept. It was a myth. A notion popularized by Shakespeare and abused by Hollywood to make money on those stupid rom-coms, preying on the hopeless fools. He had never felt such connection with anybody. No woman had truly inspired him to be invincible, to be better than he thought he could ever be. Nobody ever will.

The doors opened again.

She was standing there.

Time seemed to freeze.

He was not a superstitious man but did she have to be standing there right NOW?!

Celine was riveted on the spot. Dare stepped out of the elevator, fresh and gorgeous from head to toe in a navy blue, button-down shirt folded at the sleeves and charcoal black denim pants.

Oh dear! Here we go again!

She looked like she just came out of a general cleaning job, which she actually did. She just finished dusting, scrubbing and vacuuming Ben’s unit in preparation for the old man’s arrival later this afternoon. Her parents would be proud of her handiwork as she had never lifted a finger with house chores except when cooking her special recipes in their mansion’s state of the art kitchen with three of their eight maids to assist her. She was sweaty, her hair greasy and she stunk. She could smell herself. She wanted to run to her unit and bathe in her fave Burberry Body cologne.

Dammit! How was she going to attract him smelling like a cat drenched in vinegar? He smelled so good she wanted to nibble and bite him!

“Hello, Celine.”

“He...llo. What...are you doing here?!” she said in voice louder than necessary.

“I went to the hospital earlier. Ben said you went home to do some errands.”

“Yes...I did. So...why are you here?”

“I figured maybe...you need some help.”

“Help?”

“Uh-huh. Anything I can do to help?”

She stared at him. It felt surreal seeing him here at Sommerset in his designer clothes, offering to help her with her errands. Wasn’t he supposed to be somewhere attending a Hollywood event or something?

“Were you doing something?”

“Ahm...I just finished cleaning Ben’s place.”

“Are you going somewhere?”

“Huh?”

“I thought you were waiting for the lift?”

“Oh...yes. I was going to buy some Chinese takeout.”

“Okay. Let’s go. I’m hungry, too. It’s almost lunch anyway.”

She blinked at him. “Huh?”

“Let’s go get some Chinese takeout.”

Double Huh?! “Wait...You will go with me...to the fast food store?”

“On second thought, maybe we can just ask Cruz to buy it for us. People will recognize me and...you get the picture. We want to eat, not sign autographs and take pictures, right? ”

“But...why would you want to eat Chinese takeout?”

“What kind of question is that? I love Chinese food.”

“I’m getting it from a fast food.”

“You think I don’t eat fast food?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe you prefer those fancy restaurants.”

“Ask Cruz how many times I order In-N-Out burger in a month.”

Her eyes widened in delight. “I love In-N-Out burger!”

“Would you like to have that instead?”

“Uhm...okay.”
Man, I wanna take a bath NOW!
Grrrr, this guy had perfect timing! He would show up whenever she was smelling like a skunk and looking like a street urchin!

“I’ll call Cruz.” He took out his phone from his jeans’ pocket and called his bodyguard.

He was being extra nice today. What cosmic intervention happened between now and the other day?
Oh, I’m not complaining God, just wondering. But thank you, thank you!

“What would you have?” he asked her.

“You’d better have a fat wallet ‘coz I don’t eat light, especially now. I can demolish an entire delivery van.”

He grinned. “Don’t worry, I am loaded.”

“Okay, hmm, extra-large cheeseburger, large fries, large vanilla shake, large coke classic.”

He whistled. ”You’re definitely not one of those South Beach ladies.”

“Nope.”

He talked to Cruz again.

She marveled at his handsomeness. Who could help it? He was too yummeh. Gosh, he had such pearly whites!

“So, where do we wait for our food?” he asked after talking to Cruz.

“Uhm...My unit is over there.” She pointed to her right. “Or we can use Ben’s.” She pointed to her left.

“Let’s go to your place.”

Major OH-EM-GEE!!! Why the heck did she make him choose?

“Shall we?”

“O-okay...”

They walked toward her unit. Her heart was racing so bad she might have a heart attack, too! He would enter her apartment, set foot in her private sanctuary.

Oh God, why do I have to smell like this right NOW?! He could have arrived like an hour later when I’m already smelling like peaches and vanilla!

They reached her door. She opened it with her card key with shaking fingers. She went inside first and discreetly looked for her scrapbook. Where the heck did she put it? If he saw it, he would be out the door in a flash. That scrap book would proclaim one thing. Here lived an obsessed, scary shit fan who collected clippings of her idol from various rags and magazines. Yep, that was definitely her.

He stepped inside her domain.

“Have a seat.” She gestured to her living room.

He paused and surveyed her flat. Then he walked to her living room and stood in the middle of it, gazing at the vista of West Hollywood from her panoramic glass doors that led to the terrace.

He glanced at her. “Nice place. Very peaceful and elegant.”

“Thanks,” she said shyly. Was this included in her fantasies? She couldn’t recall. Her daydreams were variations of how she would enter Dare’s mansion for the first time, not the other way around. But Lordy, this was even better!

He looked larger than life in her little apartment that she had painted in shades of caramel and cream, accented with chartreuse green. Her furniture was a mix of brown, rust and orange upholstery and veneer. She had quite a grand time furnishing and decorating her place and she was glad Dare liked it.

“Ahm, will you excuse me for a bit? I’ll just take a quick shower.”

His eyes slowly traveled down her body. She wanted to cover her chest with her arms. Was her bra discernible on her sweat damp shirt? And her face must be dripping lard! Eeek!

“You look fine.”

She didn’t believe him. “Thanks but I wanna feel fresh for my burger. Do you mind?”

He smiled and went to sit on her sofa. “I’ll wait here.”

She turned around, passing by the dining area. There was the scrap book! She grabbed it and jogged toward the bedroom.

The girl had taste.

Dare lounged on the luxurious sofa, resting his head on the cushioned back rest. He gazed at the several Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec prints hanging on the wall. He smiled. She liked art. Interesting. Not many women he’d been with liked art. They’d buy a designer bag over a piece of art work anytime. What would Celine say if she saw an original Lautrec? He had several hanging on the walls of his mansion. He saw some Matisse prints, too and some framed photographs of her done in black, white and red.

He stood up and went to scrutinize the photographs at close range. Celine looked like an ethereal being in these photos, her skin luminous, her eyes smoky and sultry, evoking an inner fire and depth. He envied the photographer for capturing her aura and essence.

She was really beautiful.

He went back to the sofa and sat down again. He closed his eyes. Damn, her place smelled good. What was that scent in the air?

She was in the shower right now.

Naked...

He opened his eyes and sighed. Picturing her naked while he was in her apartment was not good. It produced immediate result, something he had to accept grudgingly for he cannot control his body any more than he can control his thoughts around her.

Okay, so why was he here?

To help her with Ben, of course. The old man was going to ride his limo later and he would bring him back here at Sommerset. Celine had really done so much for Ben and she needed assistance.

He’d had some deep thinking last night and acknowledged his fault. He hadn’t been nice to her the first time they met and truth be told, no matter what her relationship with Ben was, which was none of his business in the first place, she had done nothing wrong to him. In fact, he should thank her for saving Ben’s life. Ben was one of the keys to realizing his dream. Because of Celine, Ben was still alive. He must thank her.

That was it.

Okay, then, come back later when it’s time for Ben to go home. What the fuck are you doing in her flat, sitting like you live here and enjoying the relaxing aroma of her place?

He sighed. The truth was, he didn’t know. He just found himself directing Cruz to drop by here after he visited Ben this morning. It was what he wanted to do and fuck with the reasons.

Cruz ringed him. The bodyguard was in the building now and aboard the elevator.

He stood up and went out to the hallway and waited for Cruz.

Looking her best was paramount so Dare would forget her drenched cat look.

Celine chose a floral Grecian-inspired dress that flowed softly to her feet. It was one of her favorite dresses because it enhanced her natural curves. It showed a bit of her cleavage, shoulders and arms but covered the rest of her body.

She applied powder and some blush and lip gloss. She blow-dried her hair and left it hanging down her shoulders and back.

Quietly leaving the bedroom, she peeked at him from the hallway. He was in the dining area now. Their food had arrived and he had laid everything on the dining table neatly. He was sitting on a chair, waiting for her to come out.

She timed her bath. Fifteen minutes in the shower and fifteen minutes dressing up. It was a test of his sincerity in patching up their misunderstanding.

He didn’t leave. He was there waiting for her.

She couldn’t believe Dare was really in her flat. If this was a dream, she didn’t want to wake up.

She was so nervous. But she should not be intimidated by him. She would be his wife. She must get used to his presence and treat him like a regular guy. But it was so hard. She’d get star struck every time.

She took a deep breath and joined him. “I’m famished!”

He glanced at her and a big smile broke on his lips. “Me, too.”

The look he gave her was a frank masculine appraisal. She reminded herself not to be self-conscious, especially when he was looking at her. According to one of her how-to books, men liked confidence and women who were comfortable in their own skin.

She was beautiful and had a great body as she took care of herself well. But Dare was surrounded by ravishing women wherever he went. Physical beauty must be commonplace to him. If she’d think of that, she’d be insecure and demoralized.

He had been married to Alana Christensen and Naiomi Renoir, two of the most beautiful women Vogue had ever put in their covers. She had nothing on those women when it came to physical beauty. But all the books she’d read said that in order to make a lasting good impression on a man, she should work on her personality more than her physical appearance. Very successful men liked smart women who could hold their own. God, she hoped that theory applied to Dare.

She had been crushing on him for a decade, loving him for half. She wanted him to see her past her physical appearance. She would show him the real her, no pretensions. She won’t change who she was to cater to his personality either. Dare would be her husband, the man she’d grow old with. She would cultivate a friendship with him first. Entering the most private part of him was the only way. She wanted to be his soulmate, aspire to complement him in every level. She would be his equal, his partner and nothing less.