CHAPTER TWO

Charlene, freshly showered and towel drying her shoulder length braids, ran out of the bathroom into the bedroom and snatched up her ringing home phone resting on the bedside table.

“Hello, Charlie here,” she breathlessly said. 

“Charlie?  I like that.”

“Kane?”  She placed the towel over her nakedness as if he could see her through the phone. 

“I know I promised that I would wait for your call, but it’s been two weeks and I was worried you might have talked yourself out of coming here,” the smoky voice said and her heart skipped a beat.

“Well--”

 “I’m still getting adjusted to our time difference.  Did I wake you?”   

“No, I just stepped out of the shower.”

There was silence.

 Charlene rolled and closed her eyes.  Why did she tell him that?  “How did you get my home number?”

Dead silence stretched between him.  She could hear him breathing so she knew he was still there.

“Hello?”  She prompted.

“I…err…saw it in my managers address book.  I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I should have called you by now.”  Sitting down on the edge of the four-poster canopy bed, she continued to explain.  “I apologize; I forgot to have my assistant contact you with an update.  I’m having a minor family emergency and it’s delayed my making plans to leave the country at the promised time.”

“Are you okay?  Your family?” 

He seemed sincere.  She swallowed deeply and answered.

“Yes, I’m fine, but my mother fell off a ladder.  Her foot got caught and she broke her ankle.  She will heal, but I’ve been helping out with their business until my sister finishes her finals and returns home to help.” 

“What business are your parents in?”

“After my sister and brother moved out, they retired from their careers and turned our family home into a Bed and Breakfast.”  Charlene leaned back on the mattress, her legs swinging off the side of the bed. 

“What did they do before retiring?” 

The rich timber of his voice in her ear was oddly comforting and she responded matter-of-factly.

“My Dad is a heart surgeon and my mother is a lawyer.”

“Very ambitious and admirable professions.”

“My parents are amazing.”  She smiled.  “They encouraged us to make high goals for ourselves and reach even higher than those goals.”

“Then what?”

“You make choices that will keep you fulfilled for years to come, just in case you get stuck doing it.”

He chuckled softly.

“I love my parents for understanding that my dream to be in the entertainment field is what I want.  Even though they had higher hopes that I would follow in one of their footsteps, they never gave me ultimatums, only constructive advice.”

“It must be satisfying to go after your dreams with the full support of your family,” Kane said and the envy was evident in his voice.

“Weren’t your parents supportive of you?”

“My mother was,” he answered.  “She gave me my first guitar when I was four and because I had this ability of playing exactly what I heard without lessons, she introduced me to the piano when I was six; and when she saw I was serious, she found me a tutor.

“Mother said she didn’t want me playing instruments without the ability to read and write music.”  He paused.  “I have her to thank for giving me something to fall on.  Without those skills, I probably would have ended up homeless in the streets.  Instead, my skills afforded my father the opportunity to unload me on to my manager Takusa-san and the best English boarding schools.”

“Your mother allowed your father to do that to you?  How old were you?  Why would he do that to you?”  Charlene asked surprised by his admission. 

“My mother died when I was ten.  I was twelve when my father sent me away and I guess it was because I didn’t appreciate my new step-mother who had been my father’s mistress.”  Kane answered bitterly.

Charlene’s heart opened to him and she wished she were there to hold him.  That was one disadvantage of communication over the telephone.  She didn’t have the words to let him know how sincere she felt about what happened to him and “I’m sorry” didn’t seem to be enough.  She chose to not say anything.

“I want to hear more about your life with your family,” he broke the silence.

“Well, even though my father was supportive, he wasn’t happy with my choices.” Charlene laughed.  “You should have seen his face when I chose music journalism.  My goal was to group both my loves together.  When I told my father he asked me, ‘what are you going to do, sing to the people when you interview them?’” she said in her best deep “father” voice.

Kane laughed.  Knowing she could make him laugh made Charlene feel warm all over.

“That was his way of joking with you, of course.”

“Oh yeah, he knew, but I must have changed my mind twenty times before I finally graduated with my Bachelors in music.  The only thing that kept me from going crazy in school and trying to maintain a long distant relationship with my boyfriend at that time, was reading romance novels.”

“Now you write them,” he commented.

“Oh man, reading them drove me to want to make some additions to my career.  I became so frustrated when I read book after book of women living ‘happily ever after’ and none of them looked like me.  I added more courses and received a Fine Arts degree in writing.  In hopes that I could not only change the romance writing industry, I wanted to change the movie industry too, so I went back and took some courses of screenwriting.”

“I thought I was an overachiever.”  He chuckled. 

“Well, I didn’t say I made the honor roll; I was happy with passing.  Dad wasn’t.  He wanted me to make honors, but I just wanted to get started doing my music professionally and sell my short stories.”  Charlene sighed.  “I was sick to death of school.”

“You mention your father more than you do your mother.”

“Do I?”  A frown light puckered her eyebrows.  “I guess because my mother set her career aside for the family and she is the heart family.  When you needed arms to hold you while you cried or nurture you when you were sick or hurt, mother was there.  She was also the cushion for my father's anger.”

“Your father was abusive.” 

She heard a note of anger in his voice and said quickly.  “No…no, my father is a sweetheart with the voice of a drill sergeant.  He was the disciplinary, but not cruel.  I think his military career background causes him to run his house like a barracks, but he has chilled out a lot since I was a kid,” she said reflectively.  “I suppose having the twins late in life did that.”

“Your brother and sister.”

“Yes, brats the both of them.  Jaycee and Kayla.  I tell you when you are twenty years old and find out your parents are still doing it because your mother is forty-two and pregnant again, it can require therapy,” she murmured satirically.

“I did therapy, but I didn’t take it serious.”  Kane laughed.  “After a stint in a mental ward for a few months with a few of those doctors, I actually thought I was the only sane one in the place.”

“Kane…” Her voice died away.

“No big deal.  Really, it was just a warning from my father that I should do as I was told or my life could get so much worse.”  His voice, though nonchalant, was husky with emotions. “After you got into writing screenplays, what happened?”  He changed the subject.

Charlene swallowed back the tears that tightened the back of her throat.  “I…I was fortunate enough to get a job on a television drama as a writer for the experience.  I was writing songs for my boyfriend’s band and started pulling in enough royalties that I could stay at home and write full time.   Soon I was making enough to produce my own independent films that went to television.  So even if they didn’t have much commercialism, I was gaining experience.”

“Now you are an award winning composer and best-selling author doing your first international featured film.  You should be proud,” he commented.  “And happy.  Are you happy, Charlene?”

“Trust me, coming to this point in my life didn’t come easy and after an incident that I don’t care to discuss, I didn’t think I would ever be able to move forward.”  She rattled off nervously.

“But are you happy?”  He asked again.

Charlene paused to think about it.  Was she happy?  She should be, but for some reason she wasn’t as happy as she had been, once.  Even then, when things weren’t the best it could be, she had been happy but now…

“Charlene?”

“Yes, I’m happy,” she lied softly.  “Why wouldn’t I be?  As you pointed out, my life is…good.  I have a family that loves me, my best friend, Sharon, is the best and oh yeah, Abe is my lifeline.”

“Abe?”

“Goda-kun, that’s Abe, is one of my managers, my main manager and close friend.  I have much to thank him for; he saved my life,” she confessed, her voice softening.

 A light frown marred her features as she questioned why she was telling him all of her business.  She wasn’t one to open up easily, but for some reason it felt easy doing so with him.

“I see,” he said in a rush of breath.  There was a seemingly long pause before he asked, “This Goda-kun is your boyfriend?” He spoke so softly she wondered if she’d heard him correctly.

Charlene started to explain, but realized to do so would open a door for more questions about her past that she didn’t want to discuss with someone she was just getting to know.

“Enough of me.  I read that you come from an elite family of businessmen and real estate moguls.  So I would have thought your father would have pushed to groom you for the family business, as usually the case in Japan.”

 “That’s true and my father wanted me to be an exact clone of him.”  He paused.  “I suppose I would have considered it, but I would have had to respect the man to want to emulate him.  Besides, I was more like my mother, ‘a born dreamer with illusions of foolishness’ so my father says.”

“You know you are so much more than that, don’t you, Kane?  My God, you’re deemed a musical genius in our business.  Your ability to play so many instruments, modern and traditional, and at such an early age, will go down in musical history, trust me.”

“Domo arigato gozaimas,” his voice faded to a hushed stillness.

When he remained quiet, she continued, “No reason to thank me.  You should be proud of the countless songs that you’ve written.  As well, the numerous awards you’ve received from all over the world and all of this under the age of thirty.  And you’re young enough to achieve much more.”  Charlene said passionately, feeling a sense of dissociation to be lying partially naked across her bed soothing the ego of an International Pop Star.  “Your father should be proud.”

“Yeah, well, he has my older brother.”  Kane let out a long, audible sigh.

“I see.”

 “Ryugo is very much like my father and my father is content as long as he has him and my younger sister Kotomi.  I stopped trying to make him proud years ago.”

 She realized there was nothing she could say that would ease the mental anguish Kane’s father must have inflicted on him and at such a young age.  She wasn’t able to justify another person's cruelty. 

Charlene couldn’t imagine a parent disassociating themselves from their own blood.  This would never happen in her family, no matter what they do.  Her parents would be displeased by their actions, but never stop being parents. 

This was something Kane and his father would have to want to work out between themselves.

Charlene couldn’t possibly give him advice when she didn’t even know all the facts.  All she really knew about Kane up until now rested in a file upon her desk; a file of press releases, news clippings and photos of a young man that seemed to own the love of the world in his hands. None of this told her about Kane’s more personal or human side.  Yet, as he spoke to her, she could hear the same insecurities that everyone experienced at one time or the other.

What Charlene found stranger than her curiosity about him, was his willingness to share such personal information with her. 

“Kane--”

“Can we discuss something else?”  Kane interrupted, clearly feeling uncomfortable after his admission. “

“Kane, are you okay?”

Stillness settled between them until his soothing voice cut the silence.  “Charlene, do you want to know what isn’t written under my list of accomplishments?  I’m a compulsive perfectionist, an overachiever and I intend to work hard to please others in order to overcompensate for my lack of social skills.”

“Kane--”

 “I suppose I should be use to being alone by now.”  He continued as if he hadn’t heard her say his name.  “The last time I ever truly felt loved for who I truly am was with my mother,” he explained.  “It seems that everyone else wants something from me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.  I shouldn’t have disturbed you at home but I truly didn’t have anyone I wanted to talk to but you.  Today is the anniversary of my mother’s death.  I went to visit her grave.  My father was there and he brought her, his wife, with him.  I don’t even know how he could do such a thing.”  His voice was cold and exact. 

“Didn’t the bastard hurt my mother enough when she was alive?  Why shame her memory by bringing that woman?  Hell, why did he bother coming at all?  It wasn’t like he loved her!”

 “Kane.”  Charlene closed her eyes for a moment.  She felt as if his pain was her own.  “Don’t worry yourself trying to figure out your father.  Would it make a difference if his reasons were good ones?”

“There is no good reason to betray the woman you love and ruin an otherwise happy home.”  He ground the words out between his teeth.

“I know you have every right to resent your father, but your mother died some years ago.  I have this odd feeling that something else is going on with you and it has nothing to do with your family.”  She rested her forearm over her eyes.  “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Am I that obvious?”

“No, it’s not that…it’s just, well…I don’t know how I know, I just do,” Charlene replied.  “Am I wrong?”

 “No, you’re not wrong,” Kane admitted.  “I’m worried because I’m in trouble.  I haven’t been able to write a new song in over a year.  I was scheduled to release a new single three months ago and I still have nothing!” 

She snapped her mouth shut, stunned by his admittance.  She completely understood how he was feeling.

“It happens, Kane, and it’s not unusual or something to really be concerned about because before you know it, you will find your muse again.  I went through the same thing after…” her voice trailed off into silence.

“After what?”  He urged her to continue.

“After...I…lost someone I loved very much.  For awhile I couldn’t seem to function or even think properly.”  She answered truthfully.  “I did well to remember to get up in the morning or bathe or comb my hair.  Music and writing are my way of healing but at that time it was the last thing I wanted to deal with.”

“Is this the situation that you said your manager, Abe Goda, helped you to deal with?” 

She was surprised that he remembered.  “Yes.” 

“Charlene, I know that your husband was a highly successful Japanese rock musician and he committed suicide.”

She held the phone tightly in silence against her ear with her heart pounding.

“I know that had to be hard on you.”

“You couldn’t possibly know how…” her voice broke off in mid sentence.

“My mother took her life.  I know the situations aren’t the same, but our pain is,” he said.

She covered her mouth and swallowed deeply, once again caught off guard by this unpredictable man.

 “Baka-janai!”  He moaned.  “How can I be so stupid?  I’m sorry Charlene; I’m really pushing it by calling you again.  Calling you at your home makes it even worse; and to top off my shame I tell you all my problems.  Still nothing is as unforgivable as me bringing up these sad memories for you.”  He moaned again, sounding like a wayward boy that was caught doing something naughty.

“Kane, it’s okay, really.  I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to call and speak with me.  My life isn’t a secret.  Everything you said is true.  So don’t beat yourself up about it.”  Charlene couldn’t stop the chill that ran up the length of her spine as memories of another conversation she had with a disheartened musical genius came to mind.

She closed her eyes and swallowed a sob as tears burned in the back of her eyes.

“Then can I ask you something?”

“Can I stop you?”

“Of course.”

She wanted to say no, but then there was no telling what he had already read about her, so wouldn’t it be best if she was the one to answer any questions he may have about that time in her life?

“Charlene, you don’t have to,” he said softly.

“What did you want to ask me?”

“I have read articles that hint of you and your manager as being lovers.”

She had to laugh.  “I would think you being an entertainer that has been romantically tied to male members of your band, your male stylist and let me see, the last pop sensation you did a duet with, you tell me, is all that information true about you?”

“That’s a loud and clear, NO,” he murmured satirically.

She giggled.  “I love Abe, but he is my best friend and confidant.  I wouldn’t trade that in for a relationship.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

Charlene rested quietly while holding the phone and listening to his steady breathing.  Some of her sadness evaporated, leaving her strangely flattered by his interest.

 “You’ve become very quiet.”  He said in a low, composed voice.  “I hope my forwardness--”

“No…no, I’m just a bit surprised at how much we covered in this short time,” she responded quickly.

“Actually, we’ve been on here for a little over two hours.”

“What!”  Charlene looked at the clock it was 2:10 am.  She didn’t remember the last time she talked on the phone with anyone this long.  Yes she did.  It was with Jason.  They used to speak like this on the phone until one or the other fell asleep when he was on the road and she couldn’t be with him.

“Sorry, I know I should have said something especially since I know it’s late there, but this was the only time I didn’t have something scheduled.”

“No problem, but I really need to go to sleep.  I’ve got to be at my parents in four hours to help dad with breakfast for the guests.”

“I understand.”  His disappointment was clear.  She smiled.

He had no idea how sexy his voice sounded.  She was a heartbeat away from saying, “Talk nasty to momma so she can relieve some stress, Baby Boy.”  Of course she didn’t.

In spite of this need to get phone nasty with the gorgeous Kane, Charlene kept it clean and said, “I need another two weeks to wrap up things here and then I will come to Tokyo.  I’m very interested in seeing you move and perform live.”

“Hai!”

 “Kane, don’t just say ‘yes.’”  She rolled her eyes. “I need you to get serious.  If you want this part, you have to show me you can do it.  I’m going to be brutally honest.  So if you don’t have what it takes to play Blu, I’m going to let you know it.

“I don’t expect anything less, Charlene,” he assured her.

‘When I get there, be prepared to sing, no perform a few songs from the arrangements I wrote for the film.  It’ll be songs of my choosing and I’m not saying which ones; so learn them all.”

“I already have,” he answered with staid calmness.

Her smile broadened in approval.  “Thank you, Kane.”

“For what?  I’m the one who should be thanking you for giving me this opportunity.”

She could tell from the sound of his voice he was smiling too. 

“Nevertheless, thank you for calling to check on me and for speaking so honestly about yourself.”

“Thank you Charlene, for listening and for doing the same.”

“I want you to know as much as I think you are a great guy, I must choose who will be best portraying my character.”  She countered.

“I know,” he spoke in an odd gentle tone that wasn't lost to her over the phone.  “It’s not why I was so open with you.  As a matter of fact, I don’t know why I shared so much about myself with you.  I think it’s because I feel that if you could write such soulful songs, you must understand some of what I’m going through.” 

“I do.”  She spoke softly. 

“Charlene?”

“What?”

Do you mind if I call you again?  At home, I mean.”

“If you want.”  She felt a warm glow flow through her.  Although she couldn’t see him, she pictured his full lips parting in a smile.

“Mata kakeru-ne.  I’ll call you again,” he stated.

“Makaseru.  It’s up to you.”  Charlene replaced the phone on its charger with a deep sigh.

Turning onto her side, she pulled her legs up to her chest in a fetal position.  Feeling lonely, naked and vulnerable, her lashes fluttered, settled and locked on the gilded picture frame on her bedside table.  She looked at the face of her husband, Jason.  Forever he was half-smiling in that sexy way of his while the serenity of their lovemaking still smoldered in his drowsy almond shaped brown eyes. 

Charlene loved the way he looked after making love.  She remembered how he laughed and hid behind his hands to block the camera shot.  She told him to give her that multi-thousand dollar come hither look he gave his fans.  He laughed and told her only if she could sign a contract for nonstop blowjobs.  That was her Jason, always laughing and coarse. 

Her burning eyes grazed over his dyed auburn locks of hair and reflectively her fingertips twitched as she remembered the silky thick texture as she pushed it off his face when he was on top of her.  His full mouth was rosy red from her ardent kisses.  As imperfect as he was, she never could imagine choosing to spend her life with anyone else.

He was beautiful…he was her soul mate.  After she took his picture, he held his arms wide.  She fell into them and he made love to her until she was mindless.  They were so in tune with each other, their breathing was coordinated.   She figured that is why when he died, she felt that any moment without him, she’d stop breathing and went through panic attacks.

Charlene remembered the secure strength of his arms and she remembered when depression hit Jason, he would linger on the dark side and not even her love was enough to keep him grounded.  Now she wondered how arms that felt so strong holding her could belong to a man so weak in many other ways.

She couldn’t believe that after all these years his death was still so raw in her heart. Tears fell silently from her eyes. 

Juno-kun, why did you choose to leave me?

***

Charlene read the email from Kane for a second time.  Since the day he’d surprised her with a phone call to her home phone, he’d been persistent in calling her every night before she turned in for bed.  No matter which city he was touring in, she could depend on her phone to ring at 9:00 p.m. each evening like clockwork. 

Along with his attentive telephone calls there were the emails with quick notes about his day; the interviews and the latest performance.  Charlene mostly enjoyed the photos of his band, and the many associates he was pictured with that came attached to the emails.   He treated her as if she was a dear friend he’d known all his life. 

At first she wasn’t sure how she should feel about the attention Kane was giving her, but eventually she had to admit to herself that she looked forward to his phone calls and emails.  In fact, she felt utterly spoiled by the attention he was bestowing on her.  Of course, it all could be because he wanted the lead in the movie badly.  But then again, he already had that because her producers weren’t budging. 

She wondered if he had been sincere, that if she didn’t want him to play Blu, he would withdraw from the running.  There was only one way to know for sure and that was to tell him she didn’t want him to play the part, but she couldn’t do that now because she wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t be good in the role. 

In the past week she’d found so many similarities between him and her deceased husband, Jason, that it was disconcerting.  On the other hand, maybe it wasn’t a similarity with Jason at all.  It was possible Kane was playing the part of Blu in the real world to convince her that he was capable and because she immolated Blu after Jason, they seemed eerily similar. 

“Okay Charlie, give over.  You’ve been looking at that computer screen grinning for about fifteen minutes.  Let me see what you’re staring at.”  Sharon came into the office and placed a cup of Charlene’s favorite mint tea on the desk in front of her.

Charlene jumped at the sound of her assistant’s voice.  A spread of heat stained her brown cheeks.

“It’s nothing,” she said hitting the exit button and clearing the screen of Kane’s latest email. 

“Nothing?  If it was nothing, why did you just clear the screen?”  Sharon placed her hands on her slim hips. 

“Have you seen my itinerary of book signing events for the next three months after I return from Japan?”  Charlene made busy adjusting and shuffling the papers lining her desk.

“Yes, it’s where it’s always been; on the computer in the file marked itinerary,” Sharon said sarcastically.  “So I don’t know why you are pretending to look on your desk.  You don’t print off your schedule; you transfer it to your cell phone calendar.”

Charlene glanced up at the slim sleek blond with not only beauty and boobs but also brains and attitude straight out of the Bronx.  She was an asset that kept her on time and her work thoroughly edited.  Not only was Sharon Lupon her jackpot assistant, she was also her best friend.  For that reason alone, Sharon had no problems calling it as she saw it.

“You’ve met a man.”

“Share, don’t even go there.  I’m not seeing anyone now, or ever,” Charlene said defensively.

“Yeah, uh huh.”  Sharon agreed before saying.  “So what’s his name?  What does he do and do I know him?”

“Who is who?”  Charlene’s lashes fluttered.

“See, I know when you’re lying because you blink three times in quick succession.”

“I do not!”

“See, you did it again.  You might as well tell me the truth, Charlie, ‘cause you know I’ll find out once I get to snooping in your business.”

 Charlene smiled because Sharon was an ace hacker when it came to computers and it wouldn’t take her any time at all to crack her latest password.  What could be the harm in telling her?  It wasn’t as if she were interested in Kane romantically?  He was fifteen years her junior, for God’s sake!

“Okay, it’s no big deal.  As you know, I will be leaving the day after tomorrow to meet Kane and for the past week we have been talking on the phone and emailing one another.”  Charlene confessed.  “I was reading an email from him as you walked in.”

“I see.”  Sharon stated.

“See what?  There isn’t anything to see!”  She screeched.  “We are just discussing business.  It’s nothing romantic.  Besides, he is too young to even consider such a thing.”

“Well—”

 “Well what?  See your dirty mind is already going to the gutter, Share.  That is why I didn’t want to say anything because I knew you would blow it all out of proportion.”

“Damn girl, for you not to be feeling anything romantically, you sure are twisted tight.  I haven’t even said anything and you’re defending yourself.”  Sharon shook her head. 

“Romancing a twenty something young man is out of the question.  Besides there is no way someone like him would be interested in someone like me.”

 “That’s the second time you mentioned your age difference.  Are you trying to convince me or yourself that this could be a problem?”  Sharon asked dropping into the guest chair sitting in front of Charlene’s desk. 

“Have you always been this way?”  Charlene asked.

“What way?”

“A pain in my ass.”

Sharon’s ruby red lips spread into a wide smile revealing a stunning white smile.  She crossed one leg over the other and adjusted her short skirt before answering.

 “Yup.”

 “Why haven’t I fired you?” 

“Because without me you would never get anything completed,” Sharon said without looking in her direction.  Her eyes were transfixed on her manicured nails. 

Charlene laughed.  This was a familiar routine between them and it was easier than having to explain her strange growing attachment to Kane. 

“You can sit there cool as you please, Charlie, but I know you’re interested in Kane.”

Charlene closed her mouth tightly as Sharon held up her palm to halt whatever denial she was preparing. 

“You know it’s cool to be hot for him.  He is fine as hell and I would sleep with him if given the chance.  You know it’s okay to have sex for sex sake.  Trust me, when you’re going at it like rabbits, you can’t tell the difference between love and a good fuck.”

“Do you always have to be so crude?”  Charlie rolled her eyes heavenward. 

“Do you always have to be such a prude?”  Sharon countered.

She didn’t say anything.  What could she say?  It was true in some ways she could be considered prudish.  Charlie could still count her ex-lovers on one hand and she never slept with a man until they dated at least two months.  That was until she met Jason James.

The instant she met Jason, the world went into a state of overdrive.  He was powerful, charismatic and had more dimensions than anyone she’d ever met.  As she looked back on their time together, she realized that with him she never had the chance to stop and take a breath.  

“You’re thinking about Jason aren’t you?”  Sharon’s voice broke into her deep thoughts.

“How can I not?   Working on this script keeps him in my mind constantly.  I had hoped once I wrote Blu’s Diary, I could purge myself of all the pain and memories.  It almost worked until it was chosen to be made into a film and now there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about Jason.”

“Charlie, you know the only similarities between Kane and Jason are they both are Asian.  Jason was hard rock and he lived his life like one.  From what I read about Kane, he seems to come from a pretty stable background, again unlike Jason.”

Charlene realized Sharon wasn’t telling her anything she hadn’t said to herself already.  Yet, it didn’t change the fact that in spite of their differences, there were also similarities between the two men.

“I know; but still, when Kane speaks, I find myself gravitating towards him.  He has the same addictive energy that Jason had.  Also, we can speak for hours about everything and he never bores me.” 

Sharon smiled.  “You’re falling, girl.”

Charlene’s heart skipped a beat.  There was no point in denying it.  She was attracted to Kane.   Not only was he strikingly attractive: the pale golden skin, black hair and dark, piercing eyes with foolishly long lashes.  Hmm…the one thing that enticed her most were those wonderfully proportioned lips with the most delectable pout she’d ever seen on a man. 

“I have a crush, that’s all.”  Charlene admitted.  “I’m sure once I meet him and spend some time with him, the illusion will be gone and so will my attraction.”

“If you say so.”  Sharon’s left brow lifted a fraction, her doubt obvious.

“Oh please, Share.  After the first day in his company, I’ll be ready to fly back home.  Talking on the phone and emailing is one thing.  However, spending time with an immature twenty-five year old will be a rude awakening I’m sure.

“Charlie, stop over thinking everything.  Enjoy your trip to Japan.  Enjoy Kane’s company for what it is and nothing more.  I will hold down things here.  Just have fun.”  Sharon pushed herself up from the chair and made her way towards the door before asking, “Are you going to take the contracts with you so that Kane’s manager can look them over?”

“I haven’t said Kane has the part yet.”  Charlene’s voice was cool and dismissive.

“Yeah, whatever you say.  I’ll pack the contracts.”

“Sharon Lupon, you’re fired!”  Charlene yelled at her assistant’s retreating frame.

“You’re so funny and you’re falling for him!” Sharon yelled back, her voice filled with laughter.

“One day I’m going to fire her ass for real,” Charlene mumbled and opened her laptop to finish reading the email from Kane.

CHAPTER 3