by JA Low
“Olivia, may I speak to you privately?” Eddie asks. I look around the room and I notice all eyes are on us.
“Of course.” As Eddie pulls out my chair, he holds out his arm and I slip mine in his. As we pass Penny she sticks her foot out tripping me up, I stumble into Eddie’s arms.
“Are you okay?” He looks at me and I am mortified, my face is turning red.
“You should really slow down on the champagne, Livy, I’m sure Eddie doesn’t want a drunk for a fiancée,” Penny says sweetly.
Never in my life have I wanted to murder someone more than I do right now looking at the smug face of my sister.
Eddie ignores the tension between us. “Come, I have something for you.” He pulls me away before I have a chance to crash tackle my sister to the ground and beat the living daylight out of her. I am not normally a violent person but Penny likes to push my buttons.
We move through the stately home and out to one of the far back parlor rooms. It looks out over the gardens where fairy lights have been strung up through the bushes and are currently twinkling like tiny little stars against the darkness.
“I’m sorry about my sister, she’s—”
“Don’t apologize. I know exactly what she is like,” he chuckles.
I take a deep breath, this is the first time we have been alone together, and it’s a little awkward.
“Thank you for coming tonight. Our parents look happy about our arrangement.”
He stares off into the darkness, his hands shoved into his pockets.
“Can I ask you something?” He turns toward me.
“Of course, I guess we need to get to know each other before the wedding.” My stomach sinks thinking about the wedding, I still cannot believe I am doing this. He nods.
“Why are you doing this? I mean you are a beautiful woman, I’m sure you have a ton of suitors at your door, why me?”
I laugh at his comment. “Eddie, I live in the middle of nowhere, the closest person my age is probably across the border in another country. My days are filled with trying to set the estate up so that future generations don't have to go through what I am going through. I want to be the last generation who has to struggle with this estate.”
Eddie just stares at me; he looks a little stunned by my comment.
“You are a special woman, Olivia.” Moving toward me, I take a couple of steps back feeling a little nervous at his sudden attention.
“When my father came up with this crazy idea, I was firmly against it, like very strongly against it.” He smiles at me; I nod in agreement. I understood exactly what he was saying. “But then I found out it was you.” This stills me, I take a small gulp, nervous at what he is going to say. “And I knew that you were doing this out of duty for your father. That you weren’t doing this with some sort of romantic notion that we would fall in love.” Okay, well bollocks that stings a little. “But most of all I knew that you would be rational about what I am going to ask.” Okay, now I am a little worried. Eddie reaches out and takes my hands and holds them in his. “I’m not ready to settle down yet, Livy. I am having way too much fun as a bachelor.” Okay, well good for him, but this is kind of a semi engagement party so telling me he isn’t ready to settle down is kind of weird. “But I too am bound by duty, so I want to propose something to you.” I’m pretty sure he is supposed to be proposing to me, but I don’t think he is going to be asking me the right question. “I think that we should still see other people, even when we are married, discreetly of course.” And there it is, my jaw hits the floor. I’m in shock.
“You want to have an open relationship?”
Eddie moves closer to me, his hand pushes away a small tendril of hair from my face. “Yes, but we would be the only ones that would know, and like I said, it would have to be discreet.”
“But what happens about children? I mean, I don’t want there to be any…you know...baby mamas knocking down our door.” This makes him laugh.
“Please, Olivia. I never ever go without protection. When the time comes for us to have children we will talk about our extracurricular activities then.”
It all sounds very complicated. “What happens if you meet someone and fall in love? I don’t want to be left a single mother.”
“Livy, there is no way in the world I would fall in love with any of the women I sleep with, they are just a good time. You on the other hand, maybe, maybe I could fall for you. If I’m honest I have always had a crush on you growing up.” This shocks me.
“I don’t believe you.”
He gives me a smirk. “I remember everything about you. During the summer you used to wear that brown one piece and it used to ride up your bottom and you were forever adjusting it.” We used to go swimming in the summer at one of the lakes, and he was right, that swimsuit was horrible, always giving me a wedgie as I swung on the tire rope and dropped into the cool water. I playfully slap his chest, a little embarrassed by his confession. His hand captures mine and holds it to his muscular chest.
“I wanted to kiss you so badly when we went horseback riding, you looked so beautiful, riding free through the countryside. The only time I ever saw you like that was on the back of a horse.” Gosh, we were teenagers then, but I never saw him like that. Okay, I’m lying, I was never allowed to see him like that because Penny would never allow me to.
Eddie pulls me closer to him, the steady beating of his heart vibrating through my hand. “And now, now you are going to be my wife.” The gravity of his words hit me. Dear God, he is going to be my husband, but neither of us are in love with one another, we are both doing this out of duty to our families. Can I seriously live like this?
Eddie’s lips are suddenly on my neck, shocking me. “I like you, Livy.” His lips make their way up to my jaw. “I trust you.” His lips touch the sensitive area behind my ear, I let out a whimper. It has been too long since a man has touched me. “I believe that you will be the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect duchess.” His soft lips move ever so lightly against mine, gently he kisses me, testing me. “I am very lucky to be marrying you, Liv.” His mouth opens against my own, urging me to open for him. My mind has gone blank at the sensations taking over. I feel the wetness of his tongue, teasing me, begging me to open, and I do because it has been too long since I was last kissed. This man is going to be my husband and I should at least check to see if I can stand kissing him. We are going to be doing a hell of a lot more than kissing once we are married. Eddie groans as his hand grips around my neck pulling me in closer to him, holding me, his expert lips teasing me. “You taste amazing,” he mumbles against my lips. He takes my hand that is still pinned against his chest and moves it down, pressing it against the bulge in his pants. I shriek and jump out of his arms. Eddie looks confused.
“What do you think you are doing?” I question him.
“Having fun with my fiancée?” He gives me a boyish grin.
“Do you seriously think that I would touch your…your…” I point to his considerable bulge because I can’t finish my sentence.
“What, my penis? My cock? My dick?” His words shock me, making me gasp. “I didn’t believe Penny when she said you were frigid, I thought the whole innocent look was for show, but now I see that it isn’t.”
My blood stars to boil. “What did Penny tell you?” My bloody sister, always meddling in my relationships.
“She told me that you are very inexperienced. I like sex, Olivia. I need it all the time, and if I can’t get it from you then I am going to get it elsewhere, hence why I asked about the open relationship. Actually, I wasn’t asking, I was just trying to be nice, because even if you had said no, I was still going to keep seeing other women.”
I feel like I have been slapped in the face, I don’t get how he can change so quickly.
“You know nothing about me,” I argue back.
“Yes, I do. Your sister is a wealth of information; I couldn’t shut her up. You have only been with four people, Liv, four people. I cann
ot be stuck with a woman like that, a woman who doesn’t know what she is doing. I will not be stuck doing missionary for the rest of my life,” he growls at me.
Now I want to murder a second person tonight.
“Here.” Eddie shoves a small velvet box into my hand. “This is for you.” I open it up and see a huge diamond ring. “Wear it, don’t wear it. I don’t care.” Shoving his hands back into his pockets, he continues, “But I suggest that you take my offer of an open relationship, brush up on some experience so when it comes to the wedding night, I am not disappointed.” And with that he walks away, whistling as if he hasn’t just ruined me. I try and stop myself from crying but it’s useless. What the hell have I gotten myself in to?
127
Axel
“Are you seriously inviting Ness up here?” I question Christian as I look at him. This is his goddamn bachelor party and he is moping around missing his wife. Such a fucking pussy.
“She is bringing friends with her.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me. I roll my eyes back at him, but he gets my attention. “And, I’m not stopping you guys going to The Paradise Club either, so don’t worry, brother, there is plenty of time for you to wet your dick.” As he says this, he throws a seven in craps and wins a shitload of money; mind you we have also lost a shitload of money as well. We are currently in the high rollers section of one of the casinos in Monaco. Christian’s bright idea for a bachelor party was to ‘James Bond’ it up here. We are all dressed in monkey suits and basically throwing away large sums of money. At least Nate was here and had his super yacht filled with beautiful women to distract us.
“Angel,” Christian calls out when he sees Vanessa enter the room. So much for guy time! My brother runs and picks up his wife, twirling her around, making her laugh. Evan has made his way over to Sienna and is kissing her, whispering things into her ear making her blush. A tiny little pang of jealousy hits me, but I push it away. Then my eyes fall on a petite brunette who Derrick has his arm wrapped around. Who the hell is she? I have never seen her before, mind you I haven’t met all of Vanessa’s friends. She is so tiny; in heels she makes it to Derrick’s shoulder. They are laughing together. Her cheeks are pink, maybe from one too many cocktails. Who is she? While Derrick has her attention I take my time looking her over. She is wearing a red mini dress that shows off her curves, long brown hair that falls down her back in silky threads. I’m itching to wrap it around my hand and pull on it, maybe while I am fucking her from behind. Her skin, her skin is like porcelain and all I want to do is touch it, to see if she feels as soft as she looks. I shake my head. No, I can’t fuck her, she is Ness’ friend and that always complicates things. Doesn’t mean I can’t admire her. She turns around and she sees me, her big, hazel, doe eyes pull me in, we both still as we realize we are both staring at one another. Derrick bends down and whispers something into her ear, I watch as her skin turns pink and her attention is pulled away again.
“So, how do you know Ness?” I ask Olivia when I get a chance to chat with the beautiful brunette who caught my attention. She is very quiet, timid even, especially around me. I don’t think I’m that scary, usually I have the opposite effect on women. They are usually jumping all over me.
“We met through Camryn. She worked on one of my mother’s charity functions in London, Cam was doing an amazing job but my mother can be…well…a little much when it comes to entertaining and I basically told Camryn to ignore her. Pretty much after that we became friends. I’m best friends with her younger sister, Ivy. She couldn’t make it this weekend as she had to go to Dubai for work, she’s an interior designer. The best in London.” Olivia takes a breath, she kind of info dumped on me, her nerves getting the better of her. I love the fact that I make her nervous, the way she pushes her hair behind her ear, the way she can’t quite look at me fully, she’s got my attention without even trying.
“So your mom does charity work?” I ask.
Olivia looks a little uncomfortable at my question. “Yes, she um…we are…um.” She is tripping over words.
My finger darts out under her chin making her look at me, her cheeks pink at my touch. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I understand fully about keeping some things to yourself.” I let my hand fall away.
“I’m surprised you don’t already know,” she says, giving me a small smile. Why would I know? I think to myself. “Your brother is getting married at my home,” she giggles and my eyes widen. She is the friend that owns the castle.
“You’re…” I am a little speechless.
“I see that you didn’t know.”
Shaking my head, I reply, “No, all Christian said was a friend of Vanessa’s owned a castle, he never mentioned your name.”
“Yes, it’s been my family’s home for four hundred years.”
“Wow.” I am impressed, I don’t think my family owns anything even close to that old. “And you live there?”
She nods. “I have my own cottage away from the castle, but yes, I live there. It’s rather beautiful, rolling green countryside, peace, tranquility.”
“By yourself?” Just need to be sure she is single.
Her eyes lower to the floor. “Yes, by myself.”
Stuck in a castle by yourself and here I thought I was lonely, that must be hell.
“What do you do up there?”
“I run our estate.”
“Estate?”
She blushes. “Yes, it’s what we call our holdings, a castle, some country homes, manor houses, a village, that sort of thing.” She shrugs.
“And you run all of it by yourself?”
“Yes, I would love more help from my sister but she thinks hard work is boring, she would rather reap the rewards.” I can hear the disdain in her voice when it comes to her sister which is interesting.
“Guessing you two don’t get on?”
“That’s an understatement, but she’s the youngest and my parents like to indulge her.”
“Christian’s the youngest, I totally get it.” This makes her laugh.
“But you are twins?”
“I am older by a couple of minutes, makes all the difference when you’re twins.” She gives me a broad smile.
“You totally give off the older brother vibe.” Is she flirting with me?
“Older, wiser, more experienced.” I give her a wink which makes her blush.
“Liv, come on, we are going dancing,” Camryn calls from the dance floor.
She hesitates which makes me feel good, she wants to keep talking to me. We will have time; the night is young.
“Go, I’ll see you down there, I’m sure we will be following once the boys are finished up here.” She gives me a nod and joins the girls as they disappear out of the high rollers section.
“They are a beautiful bunch of women.” Nate joins me at the casino bar, his eyes are equally glued to the girls dancing on the dance floor. I nod in agreement sipping my beer. “That petite brunette I saw you chatting to is pretty cute.”
“That she is.” I don’t want to give anything away.
“Think she might want to come to The Paradise Club later?” He sips his whiskey on the rocks.
“I’m hoping so.” Yes, that would be the perfect place to sample Olivia.
“So talking about the club, my friend, Sam, who’s an investor in the resort is actually friends with Camryn and has hired her company to organize our launch.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, small world. I have known him most of my adult life and I have never run into her.”
I can see that look in his eye, he wants to do more than business with her. “She’s not single.”
He nods. “Yeah, I’ve done my some research now. I try not to screw around when it comes to business.”
This makes me chuckle.
“Yeah, yeah, asshole, I’m just saying we have a working relationship now so…you know nothing would happen.”
I nod, but I don’t believe him. “And taking her to the
club tonight is professional?”
“Probably not for conventional businesses, but I need to know that she is not going to freak out when she comes to the resort. The last thing I need is some uptight prude to make my guests uncomfortable.”
He had a solid point, but the way Camryn and Vanessa are gyrating on the dance floor, I’m pretty sure he has nothing to worry about. I turn and look at him and he is mesmerized by what he is seeing. Most men are.
“You guys go; I’m going back to the hotel with Ness.” Christian has his arms wrapped around Vanessa, nuzzling her neck. I need to stop being such a dick because my brother is happy, I mean if he wants to stay with one woman for the rest of his life then who am I to rain on his parade.
“I’m going back with Sienna too,” Evan adds. He’s another one that shocked me. Evan was the worst of us all, he wasn’t much into any of the kinks at The Paradise Club but he was definitely into the free pussy. One look at Sienna and he was a goner. How the hell can my boys be dropping like flies? At least Finn and Oscar are still going strong in bachelorhood. Maybe not so much Finn because he keeps hooking up with Isla which I know is supposed to be some massive secret. I’d be pissed if I found out my best friend had been hooking up with my little sister all these years behind my back. I think Oscar is going to freak when he finds out. I still can’t believe they have gotten away with it for this long, I try and stay out of my friends’ sex lives.
Well not entirely true, a while ago Oscar asked me to join him and Stacey at the club, she wanted to experience something that Oscar couldn’t do alone, there were boundaries set by Oscar and I kept to them and we all had fun. We have done it a couple of times since, but it’s just fun, nothing more. Stacey is a lovely girl, she is also beautiful, but I am not interested in her. I like control in the bedroom, I need it. I love it. I know there is a fucked up reason why I like it, but that was a long, long time ago and something I don’t want to dwell on. Shaking those dark thoughts from my mind, my eyes land on Olivia.
