CHAPTER THREE

Kane’s assistant had arranged for Charlene to be picked up from her apartment by a chauffeur-driven car and taken to the airport.

She was casually dressed in a peach cashmere sweater, black jeans and heeled boots.  All her luggage was in the trunk except for her purse, briefcase and laptop.  As they arrived at LAX, she was surprised to find herself being ushered by a hired bodyguard through the airport into a private VIP lounge to await her flight. 

The bodyguard exited the lounge and thankful for a moment without him on her heels, Charlene eased down into one of the oversized lounge chairs and accepted a glass of champagne from a proffered tray. 

She waited for the liquid courage to soothe her frazzled nerves.  She hadn’t been able to eat breakfast before leaving because of the choking fear that welled up inside her.  Of course, flying wasn’t something that terrified her to the point of not flying at all, but taking off and landing is what she dreaded the most.

It has been sixteen years since she had lived in Japan.  She spent her childhood living in Yokosuka, Japan because of her father being a military medical doctor.  She was born in Hawaii, raised in Japan and after graduating from Nile C. Kinnick High School in Yokosuka, her family transferred back to the States in Los Angeles, California where her father retired from the military and became a surgeon for a local hospital.

During Charlene’s first year of college, her mother finished law school and opened her own practice.  But her career was short lived because in Charlene’s junior year of college, her aging mother was surprised to find she could still get pregnant and gave up the stress of her practice due to a difficult pregnancy.  Going into her senior year of college, her baby sister and brother were born; twins, Kayla and Jaycee. 

Charlene tried not to think about being old enough to be the mother to her own brother and sister.  It was embarrassing enough that she couldn’t visit home and hang out with her friends without the twins tagging along.  Often she had to explain to people who didn’t know her that they weren’t her children.  It didn’t help that the twins made life harder on her.  Every time they were out and a guy would flirt with her, they would wrap their arms around her hips and call her mommy. 

She smiled at the memory.  It was humorous now that they both were grown and in their prospective colleges.  She could look back on those times with fondness. Yet, it wasn’t an easy transition when there’s a twenty-year age difference between siblings.

***

Kane entered the lounge and came to an abrupt halt in the doorway as his gaze fell on Charlene Alfred sitting quietly in a corner.  There was a reflective smile on her full lips.  It brought a smile to his mouth.   He had seen pictures of her on her many fan based websites and there was a black and white headshot on the back of her books.  But none did justice to the real woman in the flesh.

Her deep brown skin appeared flawless from this distance.  Classic cheekbones, perfect proportioned features and those sultry dark eyes.  She was enough to tempt a man into doing something foolish, like taking her by the hand pulling her from the seat and testing to see if her lips were as soft as they looked. 

Kane shook his head as the fantasy in his mind turned explicit. He has spent his life around women that wanted him for numerous reasons; none were because they found him an interesting person as much as they found what he did for a living interesting.  The few encounters he had, had been discreet and terminated by his management team’s interference as quickly as they began.  It was impossible for any woman to have a relationship with him and keep it entirely to herself.

He learned early on, part of the attraction for being with him was being able to tell others they were seeing one of Japan’s leading entertainers.  He almost lost his career just because he was caught walking into a hotel with one of his band member’s girlfriend.  It didn’t matter that the band member had walked in first.  All they needed was the illusion of impropriety and it nearly ruined him in the public’s eye.

 For him, relationships have always been a joke.  He would actually take bets on how long it would take the female he was interested in to dump him once the management team yanked her aside and shoved a confidentiality contract in her face before he could even ask her out on a real date.  They escaped as quickly as they could.

Therefore, the only sexual contact Kane had had with a woman in his twenty-four years was with paid hostesses.  His first sexual experience took place when his personal manager hired a hostess to celebrate his twenty-first birthday along with his first and last night of drunkenness.  That was a memorable night: ten minutes of sex and sixteen hours of feeling like shit.

His lovemaking abilities have gotten better; but he often wondered if there would be a difference between having sex with someone that was being paid and making love to someone that actually wanted to be with him because they didn’t want to be with anyone else?  The hands shoved into the Levi low-rise denim pockets knotted into fists of frustration. 

Kane’s contract would expire on his twenty-fifth birthday and he would be free of Takusa’s Entertainment Group.  He had an idea of what direction he wanted to take his career but in order to make it work he had to surround himself with the right people.  Charlene was one of those people at the top of his list that he had always wanted to work with musically.  Her getting a movie deal for one of her novels was an added bonus. 

He expected her to be attractive, but he had no idea until now just how beautiful she was.   Kane had a sudden urge to rush across the room and sink to his knees before her.  He wanted to bury his nose against the side of her neck and know what she smelled like.  Would she be powdery soft or pungently floral?  Was she the type that enjoyed being nibbled behind an earlobe in which a set of small diamond studs and a silver loop were embedded or would she find it irritating? 

Gee.  What was he thinking?  This was not some potential date to fantasize about.  This was a potential employer and she was older and more experienced.  It probably wouldn’t occur to her to see him as anything more than just another portfolio among the hundreds she probably go through every day.

He rolled his shoulders under the washed leather-racing jacket and removed his hands from his pockets to make room for the semi-erection his meandering thoughts had aroused while gazing at Charlene Alfred.   

Kane’s dark eyebrows arched mischievously as he drew in closer and saw Charlene leafing through his portfolio pictures in the briefcase on her lap.  His mouth curved into an unconscious smile.

“I hope the real thing can stand up to the photographer’s artistic skills.”  At the sound of his voice, the heavy lashes that shadowed her cheeks flew up.  She lifted her head and her mouth dropped wide in obvious surprise.  

“Kane!”

His dark eyes hypnotically stared down into hers.  “What do you think?” he asked softly.  “Do I do those publicity photos justice or were the photographers being kind?”

She snapped her mouth shut, apparently stunned by his forward behavior before she rewarded him with an impish grin and said, “I thought they did a lot of airbrushing.  However, now I see I was wrong.” 

New and unexpected warmth surged through him at her compliment.  Embarrassed, he was the first to look away.  Obviously, he had a lot to learn about older women.  She hadn’t shied away from his open flirtation but met him head on with a little flirting of her own.  He liked it and felt as ease meeting her in person as he had speaking with her on the telephone.

“Ohayoo gozaimasu!”  He grinned.  “I’m sorry to have you meet me here so early in the morning, but in order for me to meet you here personally; I had to make sure I returned for a radio interview on time.”

“Good morning, to you too.”  Charlene returned his greeting, tucking his pictures back in her briefcase and zipping it shut.  “I must say this is a pleasant surprise.  I hadn’t expected you to fly all the way here just to turn around and fly with me to Japan.”

“I told you I was handling our meeting personally, with the help of my assistant only to make certain calls, such as a driver to pick you up. I hope your ride here was comfortable.” 

He took a seat in the empty chair beside her.

She nodded her head.  “Quite comfortable; however, I don’t have any problems making my way through airports, so the bodyguard escort was unnecessary.”  She smiled at him and added, “That’s the good thing about being a writer and composer.  You can maintain a fairly anonymous lifestyle.”

Kane cleared his throat somewhat embarrassed that he had made the assumption she would be mobbed in her commercial airports as he is in his.

In Japan, he only needed one good bodyguard.  There the media and fans are usually content with pictures from a respectable distant and stopping for a few scribbled signatures in passing, makes him a “respectable and nice Japanese entertainer.”  When visiting Taiwan and Hong Kong, it’s another matter indeed.  He has to have an entourage of guards surrounding him to keep the paparazzi and fans from crushing him. 

“An anonymous lifestyle,” he said smoothly, with no expression on his face. “I envy you being able to do what you love, yet living something that resembles normalcy.”

Charlene set aside her briefcase.  “You know, it would be a shame if you hadn’t shared your talent with the world.” 

“You really think that or you’re just being nice?”

Charlene spoke with quiet firmness.  “The one thing you will learn about me is I don’t say useless words just to make nice; especially when it comes to talent.”

Kane’s eyes bathed her in admiration.  “I will try to remember that.”

Each time her gaze met his, he felt a strange turnover feeling in his stomach.  She was so strangely disturbing to him in every way.  He liked her, the way she spoke what was on her mind.  Even after hours of speaking with her on the phone until she started to nod off on him, he felt there was so much more she could tell him about her traveling and experience. 

The one subject he wanted to discuss with her and didn’t yet feel comfortable approaching was her much publicized marriage to the Asian American entertainer, Jason James.

Kane felt her hand on his and realized she was speaking to him.

“Are you okay?”

“Um…a bit jet lagged but I’ll be okay,” he stumbled over an explanation.  “I’m sorry.   What were you saying?”

She removed her hand but he could still feel the soft warmth of her touch.

“I was saying that you never did tell me what time my flight was supposed to leave.  I surmised my plane tickets would be waiting here since I didn’t receive them with the itinerary you sent.  I assumed it’s an early flight.”  She repeated.

Sitting closely, he found her facial bones were delicately carved, her mouth fuller than he thought from across the room.  Her skin seemed to glow with deep gold undertones.  His fingertips itched to reach out and touch her face, to see if she was as soft as she looked.

“Kane.  You’re doing it again.”  Her warm brown eyes gazed at him with expectation.

“I was listening this time.”  He defended himself.

“Maybe, but you’re staring,” she said touching her blushing cheeks.  “Do I have something on my face?  My lipstick on my teeth?”

Seizing the opportunity, he reached out and caressed the corner of her mouth with the padding of his thumb.  She lowered her thick, black lashes and grew very still under his touch.  He couldn’t help but feel warmth that she hadn’t shied away from his touch.  Her skin was as soft as he suspected.   Not even one wrinkle flawed her features; it was hard to believe she was fifteen years older than he was.

Her eyes caught and held his.  “What is it?”

Clearing his throat, Kane withdrew his hand quickly and stood up pushing his hands deep into his pockets.  “You…uh…had a little lipstick smudge by your lips,” he lied.  She was perfect.

“Thank you.”  She mumbled and rose fluidly from the chair. 

His smile widened when he saw her head come leveled with his chin.  At 5’8”, he found himself coming up short to non-Asian women’s preference for men of taller heights.  However, in comparison to Charlene’s short stature, he felt like he was tall enough. 

As she turned to lift her purse from the chair she occupied, he glimpsed that she was more bottom heavy than he had first suspected.  But from where he was standing, that wasn’t a complaint.

“Let me.”  Kane removed his hands from his pockets, rushed forward and lifted her soft leather briefcase and laptop bag from the floor beside the chair. 

“Thank you.”  She smiled up at him.  “You never did say what flight we were taking.  Do we still have time to grab a bite to eat?  They have some finger foods here, but I’m not one for caviar styled appetizers and champagne at six in the morning.” 

Kane chuckled.  “You’re more a coffee woman?”

“Nope, herbal teas.  Especially mint tea,” she confessed.  “I have my own special blended brand with me and all I need to do is find some hot water.” 

“I think I can handle that and I can also offer you a more substantial breakfast.”  He placed a hand on the small of her back and ushered her out the VIP lounge ahead of him. 

Once more, he found his eyes admiring the way her black jeans hugged her firm bottom and looked away as she turned to see what was keeping him.  He caught up with her and shortened his longer stride to walk by her side.  They continued to walk in companionable silence until she realized they were heading into a more private sector of the airport.

“I’ve never been in this part before,” she stated. 

“It leads to the private runway strip where my jet is awaiting us.”

“Kane, you mean you flew all the way here to get me on a private plane?  That is too much,” she protested.  “I know you are trying to impress me to get the lead in my movie but stuff like this isn’t going to make me—”

“Don’t get upset.  That is not what I’m doing and I’m not bragging but this is the best way for me to travel because it can be maddening trying to fly commercial if I’m booked on a flight that happens to have an Asian high school girls volley ball team aboard.”

Charlene laughed aloud.  “Ah, so it’s the voice of experience.”

“It is and I don’t want to talk about it.”  He cut a side-glance at her and saw the curiosity on her face.  “Let’s just say, do you know how hard it is to reach an opened airplane door when four people are stuffed between it and you?”

“Kane, you didn’t!”

“No, I didn’t, at least not what you’re thinking.”  He gave her a wicked grin.  “If I had done that, then it would have been so worth it.”

Charlene gave him a disapproving look until he explained. 

“I was coming out of the toilet when I was rushed by four overanxious female fans.  They crowded me inside,” he announced.  His accent grew more pronounced as he explained, laughing at the same time.  “Mmm, it was a nineteen-year-old male’s dream come true.  However, for a nineteen year old Japanese public figure trapped in an insufferably small space with four touchy-feely sixteen-year-olds equipped with camera cell phones, it was a nightmare waiting to happen.”

Charlene continued to giggle and he shook his head with a serious expression. 

“Yeah, I can laugh now,” he stated.  “But at the time, I could see the authorities waiting for me when the plane landed.  My face with girls kissing each cheek pasted across the front-page of all the newspapers.  Can you imagine?  Kane, caught, inducting a group of under aged girls into the mile high club.”

“Well, you never said how you got out of the bathroom,” Charlene reminded.

 “My bodyguard, Alfred-san, came to check on me after I was gone for a bit.  I swear that was the longest four minutes of my life.” 

“Only four minutes!”  Charlene giggled and playfully punched him in the shoulder. “I thought you were in there for a long time being squished to death.”

Laughingly grasping her wrist, he said, “Oh, do you think four minutes isn’t long?  How about I get four of my bodyguards to crowd you into the plane’s bathroom and we can see how you like it?”  He said playfully opening an exit door that led out to the concrete runway.

“I don’t know, I’m not a public figure and if they are cute, it may not be a bad thing,” she replied teasingly and skipped away from him towards his awaiting plane.

“I can’t believe you said that,” he yelled after her, hoisting the dislodged shoulder strap back up.   “Since you have so much energy, maybe you should carry your laptop case.”

Charlene laughingly shook her head without looking back at him.

Kane liked seeing that Charlene had a playful side and looked forward to spending time with her.  He only hoped that he would be allowed to enjoy himself.  The only way he knew that would be possible is if the media assumed she was there to discuss the possibility of him playing the lead in Blu’s Diary.  The only thing was he didn’t know how Charlene would feel about making it public knowledge considering she wasn’t even sure she wanted him in the film.

Waiting patiently by the steps that had been pushed up to the entrance of the plane were his two regular Asian pilots and his six-foot-four African American ex-marine bodyguard along with a couple of LAX employees.

As soon as he and Charlene reached the plane, the airport employees that had been speaking to his bodyguard came forward with requests of his autograph on a couple of t-shirts and caps they must have purchased from one of the airport shops. 

Settling on the comfortable leather sofa and buckling in for takeoff, Charlene smiled at him and said, “I see I’m not your only fan in the United States.”

“Don’t let that fool you; they probably want to sell the items on one of those online auction places.”  He grinned.  “I think that is the second time you implied you were a fan of mine.  If that is true, what is your favorite song?"

“Oh, that’s difficult to say.”  She placed a finger to her lip and stared upward as if she was seriously thinking about it.

She wasn’t fooling him.  She probably didn’t know any of his songs, and if she did, he'd bet she would say one that was well known.  Her answer surprised him.

“I like several but if I have to choose one, I choose the first one I heard called, Cherry Blossom Holiday.”  She responded matter-of-factly.

He captured her eyes with his.  “Are you serious?  Man, I think that was on my second CD,” he said, hoping to catch her in a lie considering it was his first biggest hit an

d was released as a single before being released on his first CD.  If she were truly a fan, she would know this bit of J-pop trivia.

“No, actually it was your first CD, but before that it was picked up by a Japanese television drama and released as a single, which is how I discovered your music. After hearing Cherry Blossom Holiday for eleven episodes of the drama, it just seemed to linger in my head and I found myself singing it all the time.” 

“You know, I think the drama got better reviews than I did for that CD.”

“Yeah, well probably because that was the only good song on it,” she said bluntly and paused.  “I’m sorry, that was rude.”

Kane grimaced but couldn’t deny it for she told the truth.  He was seventeen singing about losing love and passion.  He had no clue what the songs were about until he started writing his own music utilizing his own emotions.

“No, you’re right.  Back when I started, I just sung what was put in front of me.  Not much has changed except I write my own stuff.”

Charlene shrugged.  “I don’t know.  The last CD was your best and it had a lot of emotions in it, but for some reason it seemed very sad.”  She downcast her eyes and he marveled at how long her eyelashes were.

Her honesty was obviously as genuine as her beauty.  He was flattered that she honestly appeared to be a fan.  When he wrote his last CD, he utilized all the dreams he had been having for the past years and turned them into music.  Unfortunately, his dreams did leave him lonely, sad and frustrated. 

“You’re a fan, but you still don’t think I’m capable of performing your character, Blu,” he stated and gloried briefly in the shared moment of her eyes looking into his. 

“I think you’re capable,” Charlene replied softly.  “I just don’t’ think you have enough personal experience to incorporate the emotions it will take to do some of the scenes.”

“Such as?”

“You yourself said your experience with women has been limited.  Don’t you think that will show during the close up kissing scenes,” she pointed out.  “We don’t have enough budgeted film to waste on trying to get the perfect onscreen kiss.”

She was teasing him of course, but he wasn’t inexperienced enough to pass up the opportunity she afforded him.  “Maybe, we can test your theory, for the sake of the film of course.”  His voice thickened and instinctively he leaned forward, her sweet moist lips seemed to beckon him to kiss her. 

“Excuse me.  Kane, as soon as we are cleared I will bring in your breakfast.”  A deep voice interrupted the intensity that radiated a vitality that drew him to her like a magnet.  Never had he wanted to kill someone as he did his bodyguard at that moment.

“Alfred-san, perfect timing as usual,” he groaned leaning back in his chair, regaining control of the emotions that surfaced from being in close proximity with the one woman he felt he’s known all his life. Charlene.  Dreams and media pictures of her on her website were completely different from having her right here before him in the flesh.

Kane felt disappointment and relief sweep through him.  Even though he wanted desperately to explore his attraction to Charlene, he didn’t want to ruin any developing friendship between them by making any unwanted advances.

 Not to mention, the unprofessional manner of him moving in to kiss her without her permission or any indication that she would be receptive to his advances.   He’d almost ruined any opportunity he had to get to know her better.   All he could think about was how he was feeling and what he wanted.  How stupid could he be?  Maybe she was right.  Maybe he wasn’t mentally adult enough to play the role of Blu.