The two of them sat together on the couch to think of a way to address the whole hostage taking, runaway bride situation but try as she might, Alexis just couldn't get her mind off of the kiss.
She had been shocked when he had approached her but damn, had it jolted through her body so pleasantly, the remnants she still felt now. Julian just continued trying to strategize as if it had never happened. She so envied men and their ability to compartmentalize everything.
All the men in her life had been like that. Of course not all of them had sat moments later discussing how best to figure out how to deal with a professional hit man for hire with all of the Five Families on the eastern seaboard.
But oh yeah wait, he…they had to focus on business until they worked through the entanglements of the kidnapping. Yes, the wedding might have been aborted by their abrupt departure before she even walked down the aisle but her relationship with the suave businessman who killed people for a living still had been somewhat unresolved at least in the mind of the almost groom. At least completely, because the man was taking to the airwaves and insisting his bride to be had been snatched away from him by a remorseless man who knew her.
A rival mobster but of course Shawn hadn't mentioned that anywhere in his emotional plea for the heartless gun toting kidnapper to deliver her unharmed.
When nothing could be further from the truth because wasn't her groom the one who had been breaking the law? This made how many homicidal boyfriends practically in a row for her, not the best of records.
Julian sitting alongside her looking all suave and sophisticated even though like her he'd dressed down.
She looked over at him now as he wrote a list of tasks for them to carry out for them to put this situation behind them and then what…her lips tingled at the memory. Oh yeah, she definitely wanted more of that not to mention the rest of him.
No, that was her body talking, the one that had betrayed her enough in the past. The rest of her had decided to build a wall against him and it wasn't coming down anytime soon. So what if she physically responded to him, because that's all it was, a physical response.
"Alexis …"
She returned to the present.
"What….oh yeah, it sounds great."
He gave her a curious look.
"Where were you just now?"
She sighed, leaning closer to him.
"Where you are, in the living room planning what to do next," she said.
He nodded and she guessed her answer at least made sense to him. What did the guy expect when he dropped a kiss on her like that, to just tuck it away as some nice memory and pretend it never happened?
That's right though it never happened. No way would she remind herself that it did happen.
"Okay…I think we need to call some of our contacts in P.C.…Sam…Spinelli and clue them in on our plan…"
"Which is…," she said, because she had missed some of that part.
"To first of all find out how the indictment process is going…Now we know the grand jury process is done secretly but there must be some way to get some approximation of how much more time they're going to need."
She nodded.
"That's doable," she said, "If you have a contact at the U.S. Attorney's office," she said, "Didn't you date someone from there, it seems like a Mafioso in hiding like you would get along and we know how you like sleeping with the enemy…"
He shot her a look but didn't respond right away.
"There might be someone…but it's not a woman."
She nodded.
"Okay then, it's just something to think about if you want to go that route…unless you burned your bridges when you started taking over Sonny's territory."
"I think in this case it might still work," he said, "This person hasn't exactly been a model employee."
"Why am I not surprised? Well if it works…"
"I'll see tomorrow..."
Alexis watched as he jotted down another notation and then she continued.
"Okay next…we need to counter this media onslaught that Shawn has done portraying himself as the wronged party…the victim of the ruthless bride-napper."
Julian scoffed.
"That's not difficult; the guy's a hired killer."
"Yeah but that's not official knowledge yet and we don't want to risk the indictment process without proof of his connection to all his bosses."
Julian could see the logic in that because a man like Shawn, he really belonged behind bars in a maximum security prison for the rest of his life but what they had on him so far….tax fraud, racketeering mainly white collar stuff. It'd take much more to make sure he went down for his string of hits that created trails of corpses across portions of the country.
"I'm being painted as some scorned lover of yours," he said, "breaking up a marriage before it even happened."
Alexis mouth turned up in a smile.
"Scorned lover…that's a bit of an overreach don't you think," she said, "I mean that's hardly the case right?"
Julian cleared his throat.
"I mean you do kiss…well but that's not meaning anything right now."
"That's the nicest thing any woman's said to me…the kissing part."
She threw him a knowing look.
"In a while…," he finished, "Especially by a woman who knows her way around kissing herself."
She shrugged.
"What can I say, I went with the moment."
"Now that's modest…"
She sighed.
"Not really Julian because it won't be repeated…can we get back to planning our case of action?"
They did that for some time before Alexis broke to get something else to drink besides Scotch because she had begun to feel a bit too relaxed sitting there which had to be from the alcohol imbibed and not just being around him. Because really she needed to be on her toes sitting so close to him after what had happened. Despite their agreement to keep things on ice or her insistence on it as they focused on the crisis in front of them.
Because she had agreed to be focused on the plan after all, a promise she meant to keep. Still when he had felt so good, his hands on her waist and his mouth…well never mind. Time to get serious before they ran into Shawn during the moments he wasn't playing the wronged fiancé and would be channeling his more ruthless side or the media might show and expose their hiding place as some kind of love nest.
"I think we should give a press conference," Alexis said, "to counter all this bad press describing us as kidnapper and victim…or you as a scorned lover if that's not going to work for you because it seems crazy to me. But you know media works…it's your profession or Derek's at any rate."
Julian considered that stroking his chin thoughtfully ignoring the obvious jab.
"I'd rather be the not scorned lover…"
She just dropped her jaw open when he said that.
"Julian…put the Scotch down like I did and don't write checks your ass can't cash."
He just looked at her nonchalantly.
"I'm not drinking Scotch now."
Oh yeah, she had been doing most of the hitting on the Scotch since they had returned to the beach house for this planning session after being blitzed by the media campaign orchestrated by Shawn or his PR team.
"Well you're not drinking that single barrel bourbon either…"
He smiled.
"No I'm not. I'm taking in the view."
She wanted to throw up her arms at him. Really when he acted like this…it was just to tease her, to rile her up, to get under her skin to get her where he wanted her. Well it wouldn't work…twice shy remember that. More like half a dozen times shy when counting all the train wrecked relationships with men in her life.
"I'm leaving…I'm going to go make myself a sandwich in the kitchen and then lie down a while because I'm feeling tired and this teasing of yours isn't fair. It's not going to work either."
She got up and he watched her go, as she took what was left of the Scotch with her into the kitchen. He settled on the couch and flipped on the television, his eyes widening when he saw the screen.
Carly who had torn into Alexis on her wedding day wore a simple black dress with a string of pearls around her neck and diamond earrings on her ears. She sat there, choking up and was that the glimmer of her tear in her eye. Julian prepared to listen to what she had to say knowing it just had to be good.
"Yes…Phillip, thank you for asking me that…I am just so shocked that some man could crash such a sanctimonious event as a wedding and grab the bride, my future kind of surrogate sister-in-law at gunpoint and drag her away while she screamed for help."
Say what, Julian thought, Alexis hadn't…he sighed, yet another member of that crime committing family standing up and acting like the victim or to get their 15 minutes of attention. But Carly hadn't finished yet.
"I will personally thank the person who delivers Alexis…"
"Alexis doesn't need rescuing," Julian said, without thinking.
It seemed almost as if the woman heard him.
"I mean it…I will personally wrap my arms around that kind heroic person and thank them from the bottom of my heart."
Julian wondered why she didn't just offer up a reward from her generous trust fund from the hotel. The anchor who must be Phil nodded at the angst filled woman.
"Do you or your best friend…Shawn plan to offer any rewards for her return?"
Carly made a face.
"We do not wish to reduce this to being about something petty like squabbling over money nor do we wish to mar the return of our loved one by some sort of feeding frenzy…"
"Oh my God…"
Julian looked behind him and saw Alexis just about ready to drop her plate at the sight in front of her.
"She has never said a kind word to me since I've known her," she said, "On the other hand, she's tried to bribe me, threaten me and harass me and has thrown the fact that she's had every man I liked first in my face..."
"Sounds like a charming lady…"
She snorted.
"I guess you'd know from having slept with her. Look I don't blame you. She should bottle up what she has that attracts men to her first and sell it. Probably make a fortune."
Julian figured that Carly must be playing her own angle in this situation but couldn't figure out right now what it would be, maybe something to do with protecting Shawn or someone else? After all, hadn't she been having an affair with one of his rivals, not to mention their brief dalliance and was she aware that the law was about to catch up with her family including Shawn?
"I mean she almost sounded believable on television just now…almost."
She sat down in a chair with her sandwich on a plate in front of her. She shot him a glance back when she saw him looking at her.
"Did you want one…the fixings are still in the kitchen?"
He shook his head.
"Does she know what he really does? I mean how many families he really works for beside Sonny's?"
Alexis bit into her sandwich with a shrug.
"I doubt she'd care if she did," she said, "but Carly's a bit self-absorbed as they call it and she might not have a clue. She does tend to idealize Shawn and everyone tied with Sonny…or just any sociopath looking for a champion…like Franco."
"She's in for the shock of her life if she doesn't know," Julian said, "because some of his employers are enemies of Sonny's and this could blow back on all of them including her."
Alexis knew she should have been shocked but seriously she wasn't anymore. She also didn't give a rat's ass about Carly.
"Were they rivals of his family that were also interested in your territory?"
"Nah…one of them, the Scalia clan, they were representing some workers at one of the plants one of the capos owns…trying to get better conditions."
She rubbed her forehead.
"Shawn came back from some trip back east with a necklace for me, made out of diamonds surrounded by emeralds…he knew how much I liked them but I could never wear it…it just didn't feel right."
Julian watched her face which had frowned when she had recalled that memory, of the man she thought she had at least needed if not loved and it turned out she hadn't even known. She returned back to her sandwich chewing it thoughtfully.
"I meant what I said," he told her, "that you didn't deserve this and when this is all over…"
She looked at him suddenly.
"Julian…no…when this is all over, I'm going back to my girls and Danny and figuring out how to get a job in a post-Mafia PC."
The word that hung between them now that she had said it…what did he have planned anyway and did she really want to know?
"There won't be any room for you there Julian."
He shook his head.
"Alexis there's a lot unresolved between us that we need to discuss," he said, "I really am looking forward to discovering how much."
She rolled her eyes at him.
"Seriously I don't know if I'll be up for it after this adventure."
Those eyebrows of his moved on their own volition again, a sure sign he had mischief in mind. She moved out of his reach and if he noticed, he didn't let on.
"I think there's ways of persuading you."
Her brow arched up.
"Really…I don't see any and I really don't think so."
He didn't seem perturbed.
"Oh you'll do more than think about it," he said, "I'll bet all my money on that."
She furrowed her brows considering that because he did have quite a bit.
"I'll think about whether I'll take that wager," she said, "but you might lose…besides if the feds freeze all your bank accounts well then your talk is cheap."
He shook his head.
"I think in the end, we'll both come out winners," he said, "Now excuse me while I go make myself a sandwich."
He got up to go to the kitchen and her eyes followed him, what was he really up to now?