Larger Than Lyfe (14 page)

“Are we clear here?” she repeated. “It’s non-negotiable and non-debatable.”

“Yeah,” Marcus responded.

They were silent again, both of them seeming to contemplate the next steps in their increasingly uneasy alliance.

“Does Rick know of your plans to separate from the organization after securing the new supplier?” Marcus asked.

Keshari didn’t answer.

“I didn’t think so,” Marcus said.

“On your most ideal second date, where would you go? What would you do?” Mars asked.

After two weeks of phone calls from New York and D.C. to Los Angeles, more bouquets of flowers delivered to Keshari’s home and office, and numerous exchanges of e-mail and cute, little text messages, Mars arrived at Keshari’s Century City offices, looking gorgeous in a crisp, white linen shirt and black linen trousers, fresh off a plane from New York.

“I don’t know,” Keshari said, thinking it over. “Maybe a drive up the coast with the top down and a good bottle of wine, some jazz on the CD changer, watch the sunset.”

“That sounds really, really nice, but I’ve got something better in mind than that.”

“Oh, really?” Keshari asked, amused. “Like what?”

“You’ll see.”

Mars held her hand as the two of them rode the elevator down to ground level of the upscale office building on Century Park East. He held open the door of the chauffeured Lincoln for her and she slid inside.

“Straight to LAX,” he told the driver.

Keshari looked over at Mars, confused.

“LAX? I can’t think of a single good restaurant in the airport area. I’ve got a meeting in a couple of hours, so we’ll have to wrap this up pretty quickly. I’ll be able to give you my undivided time and attention on the weekend.”

“Just chill,” Mars reassured her. “I don’t want you to spoil the surprise.”

“I don’t really like surprises, Mars.”

“You’ll like this one. I promise.”

Mars looked over at her. Keshari was very quiet and the look on her face was very serious. She really didn’t like surprises and the fact that she was suddenly riding off into the unknown without a clue was taking no time at all to render her fit to be tied.

For a moment, he was hesitant about telling her what he had planned.

“Negril,” he said, kissing her hand. “We’re going to Negril.”

He had such a mischievous twinkle in his eyes after divulging that tidbit of information that Keshari couldn’t be sure if he was making a joke or not.

“‘Negril’ better be the name of some new and trendy, Caribbean restaurant,” she said. “I know very well that you better not have composed the very foolish notion in your head that you are gonna kidnap me away to Jamaica.”

Mars smiled and said nothing. Keshari knew then that “Negril” was not the name of a Caribbean restaurant.

“Are you out of your mind?! Mars Buchanan, you take me back to my office right now!”

“Uh-uh. No can do. I told you that we were going to do something completely spontaneous when I got back into town and to clear your schedule in preparation for it. I also told you that I did not want any argument from you about it.”

“Mars Buchanan, I have a twenty million-dollar nationwide talent search in the works as we speak. The Los Angeles auditions launch in exactly one week! We are crunched for time as it is and there are still venues that need to be finalized, expenses that still require my review and approval. I have a four o’clock meeting with
my attorney to complete a funds transfer that only my signature and voice authentication can authorize. Goddammit, I have a company to run!”

Mars smiled.

“Your assistant sent your laptop. NetMeeting is an excellent tool. We’ve got a state-of-the-art webcam, fax machine, laser printer, copier, phones, supplies, everything you need. You can issue orders as if you are right there at your record label. Any contracts or other documents that you need can be faxed or overnighted to you at our hotel. You have complete control over this entire situation and you don’t have to be in your office all day and half the night to exercise that control.”

Keshari put her head back and closed her eyes. For many months, she’d been coveting what she liked to call a “normal” life. Was this “normal”? she asked herself.

“This is so ridiculous. I don’t have any clothes with me…nothing. I don’t even have my passport.” She sighed. “I cannot believe that you would arrange for me to fly off with you to the Caribbean like I’m some rap star groupie without consulting me first! This is our second date! Why couldn’t you just take me to lunch?!”

“First off,” Mars said calmly, “of course, I’m not treating you like a rap star groupie…because I am not a rap star. Second, I asked Terrence if it would be too much of a problem to secretly put together the things that you would need for this trip. He told me that it would be no problem at all. He was actually excited about getting involved in the surprise. He coordinated with your housekeeper to get you packed. He cancelled your schedule. He also took care of providing me with your passport. He and my assistant were absolutely instrumental in putting all of this together.”

“Terrence is going to find himself in search of new employment
if he continues to show such readiness to appease the requests of someone who does not pay his salary,” Keshari glowered.

Mars chuckled and squeezed her hand.

“You’ll thank Terrence when you get back.”

The two had first-class accommodations all the way. An attendant met them at curbside as soon as their chauffeured car pulled up to check their baggage and secure their boarding passes for them while the two of them sat and had lattes and sandwiches in one of the VIP lounges. Then the attendant escorted the two of them through security checkpoints and to their gate to board their plane.

Just before the flight lifted off, Keshari took out her cell phone and called her best friend, Misha Tierney.

“Where the hell are you?” Keshari asked.

“I’m at Manolo Blahnik in Manhattan, trying on shoes.”

“What are you doing in New York?”

“Networking…shopping…taking care of me. Chris is meeting with a new sports management company. He asked me to come out and kick it with him for a couple of days.”

Keshari laughed. “Girl, you are becoming a little NBA whore.”

“Excuse you. I date a couple of NBA players and now I get classified as a groupie. Forget you! What’s up with you, anyway?”

“I just thought that I’d call to tell you that I’m taking a couple of days off work to relax and get my bearings in preparation for the launch of this talent search. My flight is about to take off for Negril right now.”

“Negril? You haven’t taken a vacation since…well, shit, since…NEVER. What brought this on?”

Keshari lowered her voice to a whisper. “Well, you know how
you’ve been so strongly demanding that I go and get myself laid? Maybe I’ll just do that.”

Mars overheard what Keshari said and chuckled. A woman across the aisle from them heard what Keshari said and chuckled, too.

“OH…MY…GOD!” Misha squealed. “Somebod
y’s been keeping secrets. Who is he? Who is he? I’m sure that he’s in the industry…because all you ever do is work. I want to know all the details…blow by blow.”

“After I get back,” Keshari promised. “Tell that brotha with the NBA’s most gorgeous smile that I said hi.”

M
ars’s secretary had taken care of all of the arrangements per Mars’s very detailed instructions and had booked Keshari and Mars into an
enormous River Suite right on the water at Sandals Negril. The hotel was amazing with a staff at the ready to fill their every need and a personal butler assigned to their suite to provide them with around-the-clock, personalized service.

When they arrived at their plush and tropical hotel suite, vases of pink, red and purple tulips, Keshari’s favorite flowers, were all over the living room as well as in Keshari’s bedroom. There was a bottle of Cristal on ice. There were also bottles of Keshari’s favorite pinot grigio and white zinfandel stocked at the bar as well as in the suite’s refrigerator. There were fresh strawberries and decadent, European chocolates on the cocktail table. Mars had even managed to acquire a box of Keshari’s favorite Cuban cigars after finding out that she indulged in them from time to tim
e. A corner of the expansive living room had been converted into a fully equipped office for Mars’s and especially Keshari’s use. A rented Jeep was at hand for them to drive and explore every corner of the beautiful island during their stay. Mars had thought of everything and he had clearly spared no expense where their elaborate “second date” was concerned.

Even though, technically, this was her second date with Mars Buchanan, this was the first time that Keshari could remember
having taken anything resembling a real vacation in her life. She’d traveled with Ricky on many, many occasions to exotic cities on practically every corner of the globe, but the trips had always been connected in some way or another to the business affairs of The Consortium, and, since Larger Than Lyfe Entertainment’s inception, Keshari had thrown herself completely into her work, building the success of her record label, without ever even considering taking a break. She’d been to exotic locales for artists’ video shoots and had enjoyed Presidential Suites at luxury hotels, VIP
treatment, and nights out with rap stars and their entourages and video crews at the hottest nightclubs in the area while entertainment media swooped in out of nowhere and lapped it all up with their cameras, depicting to the public the beautiful record label mogul living and loving the “glamorous life,” but Keshari hadn’t been so far as San Francisco simply to get away from it all and have some much-needed time to herself. This excursion was specifically intended for her enjoyment and she had no idea where to begin, particularly since it wasn’t something that she had orchestrated herself.

“Why don’t you go and get settled, maybe take a relaxing bath?” Mars suggested. “The masseuse will be here in a little while.”

“I need to make some calls,” Keshari said, heading over to the converted office space and picking up the phone. “I’ve definitely got to call Terrence and give him an earful. I still cannot believe that he knew all about this elaborate second date, helped to plan it and did not say a thing…as much as he runs his mouth. I also have to touch bases with a few of my people regarding my talent search project. We were actually working on some time-sensitive issues when I was kidnapped today.”

She looked back at Mars and smiled coyly. She was still on the phone, issuing orders and jotting notes on a steno pad when the masseuse and the masseuse’s assistant arrived.

Mars walked over, took the phone away from Keshari, and hung it up without even allowing her the opportunity to end the call.

“Enough work,” he said. “It’s time to start our date.”

The two of them got full body, Swedish massages.

“I’m going to make a point of setting aside time for a massage at least once a month from now on,” Keshari said, as she lay on the massage table across from Mars. “This is mind-altering.”

Without even having dinner, Keshari fell asleep on the living room sofa after the masseuse and her assistant were gone. Mars picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, tucking her gently under the covers. He sat on the floor beside the bed, stroking Keshari’s hair and watching her sleep until he lost track of time. She looked so peaceful and she slept soundly, as if she hadn’t a truly good night’s sleep in a very long time. Mars finally pulled himself away from watching her and took his laptop into the living room to check e-mail, make contact with his secretary and to make some ne
eded phone calls of his own.