“I’ll be there with the car, sir.”
Lex frowned.“Are you okay?You sound, uh, different.”
“Just the sniffles.Nothing serious.”
“If you need to rest, I can hitch a ride home with Mathews.”
“That’s not necessary, sir.”Douglas sounded insulted by Lex’s suggestions.“I’ll be at the airport before ten.”
Lex debated whether to call Jillian after he disconnected the call.Asking her personal questions this early in their relationship could ease his mind.Or it could be disastrous.She was prickly and unpredictable.He threw the phone on the bed, and hit the showers.
The stateroom had a queen-sized bed and a private bathroom large enough for two.Jillian flashed in his head.He’d also spared no expense equipping the jet with every comfort imaginable.From the couches and wide leather seats to entertainment units—high-speed internet and unparalleled TV reception feeding a big screen and smaller, personal ones for those with discerning viewing tastes.The galley had a microwave, conventional oven, and a fully stocked fridge and bar.The Boeing 737 was his home away from home.
He’d missed a call, he noticed when he came out of the bathroom, but it wasn’t from Jillian.He recognized Sloan Noelle’s private number and hit redial.
“Will you be in town by Friday?”his former college buddy asked.
“I’m flying back right now.What’s going on?”
“Great.I’m throwing a party on Saturday afternoon, and I want you here.”
Lex hadn’t been to one of Sloan’s parties in months.Sloan threw two-day private parties every month on his private island off the coast of Santa Barbara.The guests were usually the same.At least the men were, all of them former members of his fraternity.The women changed.
“I can’t promise anything, my friend,” Lex said.
“Come on, man.We haven’t seen you since Jocelyn left, and from the looks of things, you have a new lady friend.The boys want to meet her.”
“The boys” were men with names on the letterheads of multimillion-dollar corporations they either owned or ran.They’d all made their fortunes during the dot-com bubble and had since diversified.Almost all were single and changed girlfriends often.The few married ones left their children behind for these weekends of decadence.Jocelyn, his ex-girlfriend, had loved Sloan’s parties.Lex wasn’t sure he was ready to take Jillian to one of them yet.
“Are you hiding her from us?”Sloan asked.“I hope not, because my yacht’s reputation is on the line and I’d hate to have Cade stink it up with his call girls.”
Lex chuckled.Cade Padwick was a computer genius with a popular social network company.He’d gone public six months ago and made a killing.For whatever reason, he preferred women with questionable reputations.Sloan, on the other hand, was a picky dater.
“I’ll call you tomorrow with an answer, Sloan.And stop using your yacht every time Cade comes up with some half-baked bet.”He hung up and finished changing, then pinged the flight attendant for a drink.Once she’d served him and left, Lex settled on the bed and turned on the TV to ESPN.
After a while, he switched to news, but restlessness had settled on him.Maybe it was the plan to stop at Jillian’s that had him wired, or the fact that she hadn’t returned his call.He’d never had to worry about a woman returning his calls.He called and they came.He’d had his share of girlfriends, none long-lasting like Jocelyn, a Brit whose beauty was only matched by her sharp mind and ambitions.They both had family business to take care of and a list of relatives depending on them, so work always came first.So when Jocelyn had packed up and left for London to be the head of her father’s conglomerate, he’d understood.That was a year ago.Twice now, she’d flown to the US for meetings and they’d gotten together, but nothing would have come out of their sporadic sexual encounters.
The jet was close to landing when his phone went off.Once again, he thought it was Jillian, until he saw the number on the screen.He brought the phone to his ear.“Mom?”
“You will not believe who I had lunch with today,” she said.
Lex smiled and waited.
“Jillian.”
Lex tensed.“Why?”
His mother laughed.“What kind of question is that?I went to talk to Barbs, and one thing led to another.I had a fun time with Jillian before that odious actress, Margo, interrupted us.The girl has no manners whatsoever and is impossible to work with.If only Barbs could replace her.”
“What did you and Jillian talk about?”
“This and that,” Estelle said evasively.
“You went fishing for information about her?Mom, I will not have you harass Jillian with senseless questions.”
“Now why would you think I’d do something so tasteless?Is it because you refused to tell me anything about her?”She sighed.“If you must know, we discussed things we have in common.”
“You talked about me?”
