"Lois Marie Cerullo……" Brenda began, still not turning to face her neighbor across the hall. "It’s almost one o’clock in the morning." She never unlocked her own front door but slowly revolved. "Isn’t it past your bedtime?"

"GEEZ LOUISE, BRENDA!!" Lois clapped both hands to her face dramatically. "You look worse than somethin’ the cat dragged in – and we ain’t allowed no pets in this buildin’!"

Brenda let out a long sigh and realized that Lois was probably right. The explosion at Beds and Beyond had almost been a picnic compared to the aftermath. Although she was grateful to Kismet for saving her from the bomb in the linen shop, she would have been even happier if he had stuck around to smooth the way with the bomb and arson squad when they showed up. It took some fast talking and a call to Dara Jensen to verify her credentials before they finally believed that she was just an innocent bystander who had almost been blown to smithereens with the feather pillows.

"Brenda??!!" Lois’s voice brought Brenda back to the present. "You look like you was in some kind of war zone and…….and……" She sniffed the air delicately. "…….you stink like smoke! What happened?"

"It’s a looooooong story….." She glanced down at her wristwatch and then mouthed a colorful euphemism. "And I probably should get to bed so I can get some sleep and not look like death warmed over in front of a judge later today!"

"Which is *all* the more reason why you should come inside and let me make you something to help you sleep better!" Not willing to take "no" for an answer, Lois curved her arm around Brenda’s shoulders and pushed her towards her own door. "You know my ‘ma would have my head if she ever found out I left you alone in a state like this!"

Finding Lois Cerullo and her extended family had seemed like a gift from God when Brenda first came to Port Charles and moved into the apartment in Harborview Heights. Across the street from some luxury penthouse condominiums, the apartment building was home to many of Port Charles’ young single professionals. The day after she moved in, Brenda met Lois in the laundry room and the two became fast friends before you could say "fabric softener." Something about the vivacious, dark-haired, blue-eyed Lois with her blunt, colorful opinions about everything and outgoing manner was hard to resist. When she took Brenda to meet her parents, numerous siblings, and adorable nieces and nephews, Brenda felt like she finally had the family she had been missing all of her life.

"Come on, now……" Lois closed her door behind them and ushered Brenda towards an overstuffed chair. "You sit there while I go in the kitchen and make you some nice hot tea, and then you can tell me why you smell like a refugee from a toaster oven convention."

Brenda sank into the afghan-covered chair with a sigh. "So you never did answer me, Lois," she called towards the kitchen. "Why are you up so late tonight?" The brunette returned to the living room with a mug of something steaming and fragrant. "Don’t you have an early appointment this morning with some new rock band?" Lois was a freelance agent for musical groups, constantly in search of the next Christina Aguilera or Backstreet Boys.

"Whatever happened to you must have rattled your brains worse than you thought, girlfriend," Lois replied, putting her hands on her hips after setting her own mug on the end table. "I mean – don’t you remember what DAY this is?"

When Lois gestured towards the television, Brenda nodded and smiled. "Ahhhh…….I remember now……."

"The annual Audrey Hepburn Movie Marathon on the Classics Channel," Lois bubbled, sinking into her own chair. "And even better than that – tonight, they’re showing my FAVORITE Audrey movie! Charade!"

Brenda recognized the scene on the flickering TV screen – especially after Lois had coerced her into watching the movie no less than three times already. "With Cary Grant." She held the mug to her lips but then blew gently before sipping. "How could I forget?"

"Beyond me, Brenda." Lois shook her head and then sighed blissfully. "Every time I hear Audrey singin’ that theme song, I could just melt…….." She closed her eyes and tilted her head back to warble. "When we played ouuuuuuuurrrrrrr charade………"

"Ummmmm, Lo," Brenda interrupted gently. "I hate to break it to you, but Audrey *didn’t* sing that one."

"Well, she should have," Lois pouted. "She woulda done much better than them artsy-fartsy Henry Franconi singers……"

"Mancini, Lois. Henry Mancini," Brenda corrected. "And he won the Oscar for the song."

"Yeah – whatever……." Lois scolded, folding her legs beneath her Rocky and Bullwinkle sleepshirt. "Leave it to a lawyer to remember stuff like that."

Brenda smiled and sipped some of Lois’s hot toddy concoction – only to choke and pat her chest firmly. "Lois Marie!! I thought you said this was tea!!"

"It is……." She shrugged guiltily. "With a little flavorin’ added for preservative."

"And just *what* would that flavoring and preservative be?" Brenda arched one eyebrow.

"Oh, for cryin’ out loud, it’s just a little brandy, Brenda." Lois sipped at her own mug. "It gives the old chamomile a little zip and will help you sleep." She grimaced at Brenda, her lips thin, her expression critical. "From the looks of you, you probably *need* a stiff belt after what you been through." Lois lifted her mug towards Brenda but then frowned. "Which, by the way, you never did tell me…….what DID happen to you tonight?"

Brenda shook her head glumly as she spoke to herself. "Sipping spiked tea at 1 o’clock in the morning……..nearly getting blown to pieces in deserted exploding buildings ……..Lord, what ARE you coming to, Brenda Barrett?"

"Exploding buildings!!??" Lois gulped her tea and sat up straighter. "Is THAT what happened to you? How in the heck did you ever get yourself mixed up in something like that?"

"I know, I know….." Brenda held up a hand to stop Lois from upbraiding her further. "You don’t have to go all maternal on me, Lo." She took a sip of toddy, closed her eyes, and sighed. "I did a stupid thing and tried to follow up a lead on a suspicious merchant down near the docks."

"Alone??!!"

"Just me and my lonesome." Brenda smiled ruefully. "You’d think after what happened to me the other night, I’d know better, wouldn’t you?"

"And this place just blew up? Right before your eyes?"

Brenda gripped her mug tightly with both hands and sank down lower in the chair. "Well – more like *behind* my eyes. About two *blocks* behind." When Lois arched an eyebrow in question, Brenda sighed. "I would have been the poster girl for Krispy Critters if Kismet hadn’t poofed up behind me and whisked me away right before the building blew."

"Kismet??!!" Lois grinned broadly and re-settled herself in her chair, leaning forward eagerly. "You saw him again?"

"As much as you can *see* of some guy who dresses all in black and stays in the shadows." Brenda shook her head and took another sip from her mug. "He must have watched too many re-runs of Zorro as a kid."

"So what was it like this time?" Lois set her mug on the table next to the chair and rubbed her hands together in glee. "Did he ask for your number or anything?"

"Yeah, Lois," Brenda shot back sarcastically. "He asked if he could take me to the Saturday matinee of The Perils of Pauline."

"BRENDA!! What is WITH you, Girlfriend?" Lois slumped down in her chair, clearly dejected at her friend’s lack of awestruck rapture. "Don’t you understand that most of the women in this town would KILL to be in your shoes right now – including me?"

"You want to smell like smoke and feel like an overdone pop tart?"

"NO, silly!!" Lois sat back in her chair, her hands clasped romantically to her chest. "I want to be swept off my feet by some tall, dark, strong, handsome hero……"

"I don’t know for sure that he’s handsome," Brenda objected. At Lois’s dirty look, she added weakly, "He wears a mask."

"AS I WAS SAYIN’…….." Lois’ wide-eyed censure made Brenda wince. "EVERY woman deep down wants to be carried away and seduced by some dark hero, Brenda! It’s like some fantasy that they plant in little girls when our moms start readin’ us those fairy tales……"

"Yeah, well, my mom must have been reading from a different book, Lois," Brenda groused, staring into her mug glumly. She smiled ruefully, snorted, and then stared off into space. "See, in MY fantasies, the hero comes to swoop me away to some dark and mysterious place, gently lays me in a soft feather bed, gives me a foot massage……."

"Yeah, yeah……" Lois sat forward eagerly. "That all sounds right to me!"

"…….and then softly whispers in my ear, "I’ve done the dishes and balanced the checkbook, dear. I’ll just go clean the toilets now if there’s nothing else you need……."" Brenda snickered and shook her head when Lois sat back in her chair with a grunt of disgust. "There’s just no hope for me, Lois." She sighed. "I don’t have the soul of a romantic like you."

"You don’t have to be a "romantic" to appreciate a hero, Brenda," Lois retorted strongly. "And that’s what this Kismet guy is! A genuine, blue-blooded, all-American….."

"VIGILANTE!!" Brenda interrupted before Lois could finish. "He goes AROUND the system, Lois! He refuses to even TRY to work WITH us!"

"But he doesn’t work AGAINST you either, Bren!" Lois argued. "He’s not exactly settin’ the criminals back on the street, like some defense lawyers who shall remain nameless." Brenda had made no secret in the past of her dislike for certain attorneys in Port Charles who made a habit of getting their powerful clients off the legal hook.

"I guess you’re right – sorta." Brenda pursed her lips and rubbed her face with the palm of her hand. "But you should have SEEN this guy Kismet tonight!" she added, sitting up straighter in her chair, her annoyance piqued once again. "He already knew about the lead I had spent the entire afternoon chasing down, and yet he would DREAM of telling the police about it? Nooooooo….." She shook her head. "We have a criminal justice system for a *reason*, Lois, and if we’re going to admire people for going around it and playing by their own rules, we might as well go back to living in the caves and clonking women over the head with clubs."

"Uh-huh…." Lois grimaced, glanced over at the TV, and then nodded. "You know……you and Audrey are a lot alike."

"Me? And Audrey Hepburn?"

"Yep." Lois folded her arms and smiled smugly. "You and my girl Audrey both have problems recognizin’ a hero when he’s right in front of your face."

"I’d *hardly* put Kismet and Cary Grant in the same category, Lois!"

"Yeah, but Audrey didn’t think Cary was her hero in the beginnin’ of the movie, either! In fact, she thought he might be the villain!" Lois rose from her chair and stretched, rubbing one bright yellow ducky slipper-clad foot against her other leg. "You’re both just stickin’ your head in the sand cause you’re afraid that you might fall for the guy if you ask me!"

Brenda shook her head in disdain but then her eyes widened when she glanced down at her wristwatch. "I hate to drink and run, Lo, but I’ve got to get some sleep if I don’t want to look like a fool in front of a judge tomorr……" She jumped up determinedly. "……..THIS afternoon!"

"Yeah, OK, OK……..I understand." Lois waved a hand and then hugged her firmly when Brenda came over to return her empty mug. "You just take care of yourself, OK, girlfriend?" she whispered, patting Brenda’s back before turning her around to stare into her eyes. "Because if my man Kismet turns out to be a flake instead of Cary Grant, I don’t want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing’s going to happen to me, Lois." Brenda smiled and hugged her friend again. She waved one last goodnight as she went through Lois’s front door.

"No……nothin’ goin’ to happen to you, Bren," Lois echoed softly. "If you don’t ever open up that heart of yours and give a guy a chance."

*~*~*~*~*

As Brenda stared into the bathroom mirror in her apartment at 6:45 PM, she decided that perhaps Fate was on her side after all. She had slept soundly for a quick four hours after leaving Lois’s apartment and somehow managed to finesse her way through her morning meeting. After steeling herself for her 1PM court appearance, she was informed at 12:30 that the judge had come down with a 24-hour virus and the hearing was postponed to the following day. For once in her life, she avoided duty and instead of going back to her office, Brenda went home and took a well-deserved nap.

When her doorbell rang at 6:57 PM, Brenda smoothed the palms of her hands on the skirt of her dress nervously. {Just stay cool tonight, Brenda. You’re always in charge. He’s a gentleman. Nothing will happen that you don’t *want* to happen.} She chewed on her lower lip. {Of course, that might not stop him from trying to *persuade* you to *want* it to happen…..}

The bell rang again, making Brenda jump a little. She took a deep breath and opened it to find a smiling, confident, tuxedo-clad Jasper Jacks. "Which one is it?"

Of all the pick-up lines he could have used, that certainly wasn’t one Brenda expected. "Excuse me?" she asked, putting a hand to her chest.

"I always forget," Jax replied smoothly. "On the first date, is it more traditional to bring the lady candy or flowers?"

"Ohhhh……" Brenda tried to keep the relief from her voice. "I don’t really know," she replied, stepping back inside to reach for her evening purse.

"Good." She looked up just in time to see Jax produce a large bouquet in one hand and a heart-shaped gold box of Godiva chocolates in the other. "I brought both – just in case." Before she could register a complaint – although she couldn’t seem to come up with one – Jax was over the threshold and inside her apartment.

"That was very thoughtful of you," Brenda smiled. She took the generous spray of spring flowers from him and inhaled their fragrance. "More relatives of the roses?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him playfully.

"More like roommates, actually," Jax replied, looking around the living room of her apartment while she quickly went to the kitchen for a vase. When she returned and set the flowers on an end table, he was lounging casually against the back of her sofa, his arms folded. "Nice place."

She re-arranged a few blooms and then smiled sadly. "It’s a shame I don’t get to spend enough time here to enjoy it."

"Dara Jensen is working you too hard?" Jax pre-empted Brenda’s move when she reached for the matching jacket to her black voile cocktail dress.

"More like the criminal element in Port Charles is working me too hard," Brenda replied. She had debated for almost 30 minutes on what to wear to dinner and had finally decided that she couldn’t go wrong with the traditional "little black dress." This one was made of taffeta with a voile overlay and high waist. Small gray voile flowers with rhinestone centers dotted the bodice of the scoop-neck, sleeveless dress.

"I would think that with all the help the Port Charles law enforcement community is getting from Kismet, you’d be able to take some extended vacation!" Jax smirked as he helped Brenda don the bolero style, long-sleeve taffeta jacket embellished with the same gray voile floral motifs. He saw her shoulders jerk and her back stiffen as soon as he mentioned the masked hero’s name.

She turned to face him, an artificial smile painted on her face. "Perhaps we should get one thing straight here and now, Mister Jacks," she announced crisply. "If you sincerely want me to enjoy our evening together, you’d best NEVER mention that man’s name again tonight!"

Jax smiled crookedly, bent down to retrieve her evening purse, and then handed it to her with a flourish. "WHAT man?"

Brenda tapped his chest lightly with her purse. "Good answer, Mister Jacks."

"I learn VERY quickly after a long period of time, Miss Barrett," Jax quipped. He bowed at the waist and caught a whiff of her lavender scent as she whisked past him and out the door of her apartment.

Brenda wasn’t at all surprised to see Jax’s limo waiting at the curb. Thomas greeted her politely, helped her inside, and then closed the door once Jax joined her in the luxurious car. She folded her hands and tried to make polite small talk but couldn’t help but notice that they were heading away from the Port Charles business district and towards the docks. She managed to stifle her curiosity until the car slowed and came to a stop near one of the jetties.

"Don’t tell me ……" Brenda arched an eyebrow at Jax as he helped her out of the car. "You have a yacht down here?"

"I wouldn’t exactly call it a yacht, but it gets us where we need to go." Jax smiled mysteriously and extended his hand towards a small excursion ferry.

"And where exactly would we be going?" Brenda kept asking questions but Jax remained silent as they walked across the boarding plank. "There’s no restaurant onboard, and the only other place around here that you can go by water is……." Her eyes widened.

"Spoon Island." Jax nodded slightly in the direction of the pilot house on the ferry and Brenda felt the hum of the engine as it revved to life. "Wyndemere," Jax added, naming the enormous mansion that was the only piece of residential real estate on the deserted island. "My place."

Brenda strolled towards the ferry’s deck to watch the moonlight dance on the water and try to ignore the fluttering in her stomach. She told herself that it was just the motion of the boat, but down deep she knew better. Being alone with Jasper Jacks was dangerous to a woman’s virtue. Being alone with Jasper Jacks on HIS island, in HIS chateau, on HIS terms, was downright lethal.

She caught her breath when she felt Jax come up behind her at the rail. "Have I mentioned yet tonight how beautiful you look?" he crooned in a husky voice, spooning her from behind. His chin nestled on her shoulder as he settled a hand on either side of hers on the rail, effectively trapping her in his embrace.

"It’s……." Brenda felt sparks run down her arm when Jax brushed his lips ever so softly over the exposed skin at the side of her neck. "It’s just the moonlight," she laughed nervously, rolling her eyes and biting her lip to stifle a whimper when she felt his tongue lightly flick the sensitive area behind her ear. When the ferry hit a swell and he shifted his weight to maintain his balance, Brenda seized the opportunity and ducked under his left arm. "It’s so dark out here that you can’t see the circles under my eyes from lack of sleep last night!" she laughed.

To her dismay, Jax caught her by the arm and held her fast before she could get any farther from him. "Why, Miss Barrett! Are my attentions making you nervous?"

She almost swore aloud when the ferry hit another swell and she pitched forward into his arms. Pinned against him, chest to chest, the strangest feeling of déjà vu washed over Brenda as she looked up into his eyes. It left as quickly as it came and she grabbed for his forearms for balance and to put some distance between them. "Probably just remembering something my mother told me about never taking my feet off solid ground on the first date with a man!" she chattered with a smile that covered her anxiety. The clanging of a bell as they neared the dock at Spoon Island seemed like a heavenly reprieve.

Once the ferry docked, it was only a short walk along a charming stone pathway until they reached the massive wooden doors of the mansion. Thomas went ahead and by the time Jax and Brenda arrived, he swung open the door and greeted them warmly.

"Everything is just about ready as per your instructions, Mister Jacks," Thomas smiled, closing the door behind them. "Shall I light the candles and pour the wine now?"

"Wait a minute……." Brenda frowned and looked from one man to the other. "I’m confused here. I thought Thomas was your driver."

"Driver, cook, valet, and best friend a man could have. Although, having you around *does* seem to have put him on his best behavior tonight," Jax chuckled, leaning towards Brenda. "I’m usually "Hey, you!" not "Mister Jacks.""

Somehow, after coming so close to being kissed on the ferry, the *last* thing Brenda wanted to do at that moment was find herself facing him over a candlelit table – alone. "I do admit that I’m hungry since I skipped lunch," she said smoothly to Thomas, "but this house is just so *amazing*!" She tipped her head coyly in Jax’s direction. "Do you think I might get a private tour before dinner?"

Jax smiled as though he was perfectly well aware of the game she was playing – but would humor her. "Of course." He looked to Thomas. "And I think we’ll dine in the conservatory, if that’s not too much trouble."

"It is." Thomas grimaced at Jax and then smiled fondly at Brenda. "But for the pretty lady – I’ll be glad to do it."

As Thomas scurried away, Jax extended an arm to Brenda. "You see?" he asked, patting her hand as she looped her arm through his. "If you hadn’t been here, he probably would have told me where I could stick tonight’s dinner!"

They strolled arm-in-arm through the cavernous mansion, with Brenda oohing and aahing at the various pieces of fine artwork that graced its walls. "The place is much brighter now than it was when I first bought it," he explained. "My parents thought I was going to use it for a Halloween haunted house the first time they saw it."

"Didn’t some European family own it before?" Brenda caught her breath at the sight of a huge medieval tapestry in the main salon.

"The Cassidines." Jax nodded. "They had a slight reversal of business fortunes……"

"Meaning that you took over their company and left them high and dry."

Jax bowed, his hands to the sides. "Guilty as charged, Madame Prosecutor." He took her arm and they headed towards another wing. "Even though it’s been several years, I’m actually still working on the renovations. The spa and exercise room are down that hall," he added, pointing to the left, "and the greenhouse is off that way."

"Greenhouse?" Brenda’s smile lit up the dusty castle like a thousand suns. "So *that’s* where my roses came from?"

"You have Thomas to thank for those," Jax replied, extending an arm to continue the tour. "He has the green thumb – not me."

"And what do *you* do in your spare time, Mister Jasper Jacks?"

She let out a little yelp of surprise when Jax caught her from behind and held her tightly in the darkened hallway. "I waylay beautiful maidens and carry them off to my dungeon, where I keep them captive and then seduce them nightly!" he murmured huskily. When he nuzzled her neck again and his hand slipped around her waist in the front, his thumb grazing the lower swell of her breast, Brenda’s eyes fluttered closed. They popped wide open again when thoughts of a dark Crusader whisking her through the night and carrying her to his mysterious lair intruded on the fantasy Jax described.

"I……uh……." The sound of Thomas’s voice broke them apart quickly. He appeared from a doorway about ten feet in front of them on the right. "Dinner is served whenever you and Miss Barrett are ready, Mister Jacks."

Jax released her quickly and straightened his sleeves. "Your timing is impeccable as always, Thomas," he replied smoothly. "Since the dungeons and torture chambers in the basement haven’t been cleaned lately, I was just telling Miss Barrett that she’ll have to come back some other night for *that* part of the tour!"

As soon as she entered the conservatory, Brenda went to the French doors and large picture widows overlooking the harbor and sighed loudly. "Ohhhhhh, Jax!" She turned back to him with awe clearly written on her face. "This view……..well, it’s just magnificent!"

"I thought you’d like it." As Jax motioned for Thomas to leave them, Brenda finally noticed a small table set for two near the wall of windows. A white damask tablecloth glistened in the candlelight and the fine china and silver were unmistakably priceless. He pulled back her chair and winked at Brenda. "Would you care to join me, Miss Barrett?"

"Whyyyy, Mister Jacks……." She batted her eyelashes and flounced over to the table. "I never thought you’d ask."

The food was as extraordinary as the host and his surroundings. Their dinner conversation touched on various harmless topics – national and local current events, movies, television, and even sports. Brenda found herself actually enjoying Jax’s company – he was a charming, witty, intelligent, urbane man who took great delight in catering to her every culinary whim.

As they were sipping their coffee – her favorite blend, of course – Brenda sat back in her chair and shook her head firmly. "I just can’t imagine it."

"What?"

"You – a cop." Brenda looked around them and laughed softly. "I mean, how can the *same* man who lives with art by French masters and sips fine imported brandy turn around and spend his days busting hookers down on the docks?"

Jax smiled and lifted his coffee cup to her in salute. "You forget, love, I never worked vice."

She arched a raven eyebrow in accusation. "Probably because you were too busy committing it."

"Speaking of which……" Jax rose from his chair and extended a hand to Brenda. "Shall we dance, Miss Barrett?"

Brenda paused. "There’s no *music*, Mister Jacks."

"Tsk, tsk……" Jax clucked his tongue at her as he shook his head. "Always the perfectionist, aren’t you, Miss Barrett?" He sighed theatrically. "Ahhhh, well…….if you insist……." Although she told herself she should have been, Brenda wasn’t at all surprised when Jax snapped his fingers and the sound of mellow violins filled the room.

{OK. This is getting bad. This is getting REALLY bad. Dinner was nice, and even the ferry ride was nice. But now we’re down to the nitty gritty part of the evening, and it’s MUCH too soon to let this guy see how nitty my gritty is.}

"Miss Barrett?" Jax’s devilish smile could have melted Gibraltar. "Do you tango?"

"I thought that’s what we were already *doing*, Mister Jacks," she replied, referring to her evasion of his seductive moves so far. But before she could think of any other excuse, she found herself out of her chair and in his arms – and in BIG trouble.

For such a large man, Brenda was surprised when Jax moved to the music with fluid grace. He held her tightly against his chest and stared down into her eyes with the bravado and arrogance traditional to the male tango partner. Her left arm was curved slightly as he threaded his fingers through hers at the small of her back. He didn’t quite extend his left arm fully to allow for the shorter length of her arms, her hand resting in his gracefully.

They moved slowly around the conservatory and out the French doors onto a stone balcony that circled the house. The gentle night breeze toyed with Brenda’s hair, which she had simply swept back off her face into a riot of curls with marcasite combs.

Jax slowed the pace of the dance and applied delicate pressure so that Brenda arched her back to bend over his supporting right arm. He kept hold of her right hand and shifted his weight so that his hips braced hers. Pressed intimately against his lower body, it was difficult to ignore the obvious effect she had on him. As he pulled Brenda out of the dip, Jax tightened his hold so that her breasts were flush against his chest, her face just centimeters from his.

"Jax……" Brenda breathed his name on a sigh as he closed the space between their lips. "I don’t think……."

"Shhhhh……" She felt his breath caress her skin. "That’s right." His blue eyes glistened with white hot fire in the darkened night. "Don’t think."

She expected him to overpower her with his seduction. To take her lips, as he seemed to take everything else he wanted in life. But when Jax leaned forward to place a soft, nibbling kiss at the corner of her mouth, Brenda saw the first of her outposts go down to defeat. When he trailed more erotic love bites across the width of her lips, she felt her sturdily-reinforced walls of resistance crumbling. When he maddeningly rubbed his lips back and forth across hers, her last resort cavalry failed to come to the rescue. And when he finally covered her lips with his, sinking his tongue past her honeyed gates, she raised the white flag and her body melted against his.

She couldn’t tell whether he let go of her hands or she pulled them away from his to thread them into the short blonde hair at the nape of his neck. As soon as she did, Jax cupped her face with his hands in order to turn it and allow him better access to the sweetness of her mouth. As the kiss deepened, Brenda took some consolation in the fact that she could feel Jax’s chest rise and fall more quickly, just as hers was. She heard the low rumble of his groan when she met the thrust of his tongue and parried with her own.

The music played on and finally Jax broke the kiss to stare deeply into her eyes. "I want you, Brenda," he groaned, slowly trailing a finger up and down the side of her neck. "And I can feel from the way your heart is pounding that you want me, too….."

He kissed her again, stealing her breath and nearly every ounce of willpower in her body. "Jax……" She finally managed to gain some semblance of sanity as he moved to nibble behind her ear. "I can’t do this……." She pushed at his chest and he loosened his grip on her slightly. "I don’t sleep with men I barely know……."

"Then stay with me tonight……." Before she could take a breath to object, he kissed her again, hard and hot and delicious. "Get to know me better." He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip as the hypnotic, husky timbre of his voice wove a spell around her. "We’ll spend as much time as you want talking, and then we’ll celebrate the sunrise together……"

He lowered his head to kiss her again but somehow Brenda managed to hold him off. "That’s quite a line," she snapped, trying to get her heart back to a normal rhythm and her defensive position re-established. "I’ll bet Bunny falls for it every time."

Her sarcasm washed over him like a bucket of ice water. Jax managed to disguise the disgust with himself he felt at that moment. Ever since he had met Brenda Barrett at the mayor’s fundraiser, she had been like an itch he couldn’t quite scratch. It hadn’t been hard to plan the evening’s menu around Brenda’s favorites, since the large bank of computers hidden in Wyndemere’s cavernous basement had been humming for days, spitting out research reports on her past, present, and future. Making conversation was easy since he already knew her preferences in movies, how she scored on her LSAT’s, and even which way her political leanings swayed in the last primary election.

And now, the unflappable Jasper Jacks – playboy extraordinaire, lover of many, committed to none – found himself so anxious to make love to this woman – this magnificent obsession of his – that he would forsake all others and cling unto her. He wanted her so much he could barely breathe – and it terrified him.

To her surprise, he stepped back and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "You’re quite right, Brenda." He smiled and shoved his hands in his trouser pockets. "It was quite ungentlemanly of me to think that you would grace my bed after such a short acquaintance."

"That’s……." Brenda swallowed hard. Part of her was grateful that he had stopped – part of her kept flashing to visions of another set of fiery eyes and another tempting pair of lips – and part of her was screaming in unsatisfied sexual frustration. "That’s alright." She glanced up at the night sky. "We probably just both got a little carried away by the moonlight and the atmosphere."

Suddenly, he caught her by the shoulders and held her firmly in place as he looked deeply into her eyes. "Make no mistake, Brenda. I won’t try to make love to you tonight, but eventually you WILL share my life and my bed." Her breath hitched in her chest at the fire in his eyes. "You can try and deny it all you want, but I know the truth here. You and I were MEANT to be together. And we WILL be, sooner or later."

"I…..uh……" She pushed past him to walk back towards the French doors. "I don’t think I can make that kind of commitment to *any* man right now, Jax." She turned back to face him, wringing her hands slightly as she spoke. "My job means everything to me, and I’m involved in several cases that require my complete and total focus."

Jax walked slowly to where she stood and trailed a finger down the side of her face. "Then by all means, we’ll wait." He passed the finger over her lips. "Because when we DO make love, I’LL want your complete and total focus." Before she could take a breath, he kissed her again – instantaneous combustion – and then went into the conservatory. "I’ll call Thomas to take you back home again, Brenda."

"You’re……." She paused in the doorway to stare at his smiling, impossibly handsome face. "You’re not angry with me?"

"No." He laughed a little as she joined him near the table where they had dined. "Just grateful that you won’t hold my caveman tactics against me and you’re willing to give me another chance tomorrow night at dinner."

Brenda narrowed an eye coyly. "I never said I would have dinner with you tomorrow night."

Jax tapped her on the nose lightly. "Yes you did. Your heart told me." He caught her lips in a kiss that sent sizzles down to her toes. "Goodnight, Brenda," he whispered, kissing her again before she could object.

"Goodnight……Jax." After one more feathery pass of his lips, Brenda pulled herself away from him, took her purse from the table, and went to the doorway. Thomas appeared on cue and sent Jax a knowing look after she preceded him into the hallway.

Jax stood rigidly still until he heard the massive front door close. He went out on the parapet, where he watched Thomas escort Brenda to the jetty and onto the ferry again. When he saw her turn and look back in his direction, he shrank back into the shadows.

{It was good that she stopped you tonight, Jax. You almost made a big mistake, letting your heart open up again. It’s better that she turned you down. You can’t allow her to become your weakness – even if she is your destiny.}

To be continued……….

Song credit: "I Get Ideas," music by Julio Sanders, lyrics by Dorcas Cochran, originally made famous by Tony Martin, adapted from "Muchachos"