Mistress on Demand

by Maggie Cox

  ‘Do you see your parents often?’ he asked conversationally.

  ‘About two or three times a month, at most. I’m afraid Ido tend to get rather caught up in my work. When I’m not at school, teaching, I’m either studying or attending courses to try and improve myself. It doesn’t leave much time for visiting anyone. My parents understand, though. They sacrificed a lot to send me to university.’

  They sounded like good people. Dominic’s interest deepened. ‘What does your father do?’ he asked her.

  ‘He’s a builder. He works too hard, though, and he’s getting on a bit. I do worry that he overreaches himself a bit too much physically. Only last month he hurt his back and was off for two weeks.’ The memory jolted Sophie into a regretful reverie. Her dad was back at work now, but she should go and see him soon—make sure for herself that he was doing all right. Realising that Dominic was studying her intently, Sophie reached for the perfectly folded white linen napkin in front of her, shook it out and laid it carefully on her lap.

  ‘What doesyour father do?’ she asked quietly.

  ‘He’s a businessman. Officially retired, but still with his fingers in a lot of different pies.’ Dominic’s smile was rueful, and a little twinge of pleasure flared in Sophie’s stomach.

  ‘And what about your mother?’ she ventured.

  He shrugged, and a veil seemed to come down over his eyes. ‘She keeps herself busy travelling and doing a lot of things for charity.’

  ‘And do you get to see her very much?’

  The last time had been almost a year ago, and that had been only briefly when she had made a flying visit to his office in London.‘No. Not really.’

  ‘Oh.’

  Sophie didn’t know what else to say. Whether his comment signalled that he regretted that fact, or simply didn’t care one way or the other, she couldn’t have said. But the absent look on his face tugged at her heartstrings somehow.

  ‘I’m sure it’s a very tough job being a parent. I take my hat off to those hardy individuals brave enough to try. When I think of the energy and demands of my class of five-year-olds, I can almost feel my hair turning grey at the thought!’

  ‘But eventually…you would like children of your own?’

  Dominic’s question hung poised in the air, as threatening to Sophie’s sense of safety as if she stood with her toes out over the edge of a cliff. She shifted uncomfortably.

  ‘Not for ages yet. I’d have to be married first, and I haven’t found anyone who—’ She turned crimson as the words spilled out, and suddenly stopped as she realised what she was saying.

  Beneath his light tan, Dominic’s skin appeared momentarily flushed, and she knew the topic of becoming his mistress, as he had proposed, had been bubbling all the while beneath the surface of their ordinary conversation, and was about to come up again.

  ‘I have come up with an idea that I would like you to consider.’

  Frowning at this new development, Sophie linked her hands together in her lap and sat waiting.

  ‘What idea is that?’

  ‘A trial period of six months’ duration. We will live together for six months, and if at the end of that period you find that the arrangement is not to your liking, for whatever reason, you can move out again and I will not pressurise you into staying. Does that idea perhaps hold more appeal than tying yourself to me indefinitely?’

  Her heart thudding heavily in her chest, Sophie stared. ‘Why do you want me to live with you at all? Why can’t we just see each other like other couples do?’

  Because with his schedule and her schedule Dominic thought they would barely get to see each other at all.At least if Sophie lived with him, there would be times when he could press her into travelling abroad with him on meetings and spur-of-the moment trips, etc. He was certain that once she got a taste of the kind of world-class travel that was the norm for Dominic she wouldn’t object too loudly about travelling with him. And he might be able to persuade her that her career perhaps wasn’t as important as she thought it was after all.

  ‘Because that’s not what I want. I want you to move in, or I will hardly get to see you at all. I have this big beautiful house and lots of room. It shouldn’t be too much of a hardship for you.’

  ‘So you have this idea that you’re somehow rescuing me from my lowly lifestyle? You think perhaps that I should be very grateful that you’re making me this once-in-a-lifetime offer?’

  For a moment Sophie was furious at his implication that what he was offering was such a fabulous inducement that she should immediately forget everything she’d worked so hard to achieve for herself and simply just move in with him and let herself be kept! Okay, she relented silently. Itwas a fabulous inducement, and plenty of other women might have jumped at the chance to be the live-in lover of a gorgeous rich billionaire like Dominic, but Sophiewasn’t one of those women. As much as her feelings for him had grown, she would not relinquish her life totally for him.

  ‘I do not understand why you are being so stubborn. Anyone would think I was offering you something despicable!’

  ‘You don’t understand because you don’t really know me at all, Dominic! I love my work—I even love my little house—even though it could probably fit into your place ten times over! They both mean a lot to me.’

  Sighing with undisguised exasperation, Dominic pushed his fingers through his hair. ‘What if we agree that you could keep your little house, and your job, and still move in with me? What would you say to that, Sophie?’

  ‘And if I agreed?’ Her mouth going dry at the very idea of moving in with Dominic and sharing his fabulous lifestyle, Sophie nervously skimmed her tongue over her top lip. ‘What…what would you expect of me, Dominic?’

  He answered without flinching, direct and to the point. ‘I would expect you to be my companion and my lover…of course. What else did you think I would expect, Sophie?’

  Feeling hot at his undoubted implication that being his lover would be the most important part of all, Sophie felt her thoughts scatter wildly, like leaves swept up in a gust then blown away again.

  ‘If I were to…to consider this new proposal…I want it to be understood that I won’t give up my career. I’ll live with you, and assume the role you want me to, but only if it is understood that I come and go as I please. I’m used to my independence and I won’t consider anything less. Icouldn’t .’

  Feeling hugely relieved and quietly elated, Dominic allowed his deceptively calm expression to give very little away as Sophie sat there looking back at him. He would give way on her desire to keep her job, he was thinking, but he would not want her to be too independent. When she realised that he was willing to give her everything her heart desired, she would soon come to accept that in effect Dominic was the boss, and that naturallyhis needs were the ones that would take precedence. Besides, if she were going to be his mistress he would want her beside him on his travels round the globe. Sometimes he was gone for weeks at a time, and there was no way that he would be leaving Sophie once she’d agreed to live with him—otherwise what would be the point of going through with the arrangement at all?

  ‘We have an agreement, then?’

  Reaching for her hand, he twined it in his own, his smooth fingers weaving through hers with a definitely possessive air.

  Telling herself that she had well and truly taken complete and utter leave of her senses for even considering Dominic’s proposal—especially in light of the fact she hadn’t exactly even been considering another relationship for a long, long time—Sophie could barely articulate a reply.

  ‘I—I would like some time to take all this in before I move in. Do you agree?’

  ‘How much time?’

  ‘A week…maybe two?’ She shrugged, indecision temporarily freezing her brain.

  ‘I will give you seven days, then this time next week I will arrange for your things to be moved here.’

  ‘And what about your family and friends, Dominic? Will you tell them about me?’
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  He avoided answering by turning the question around. ‘Will you tellyour parents?’

  ‘There wouldn’t be any point. Not when—not when it’s not even a proper relationship.’ Her expression was pained, and Dominic squeezed her fingers hard with his own.

  ‘You are wrong! Of course it will be a proper relationship. Your parents will have no cause for concern. How could they, when I will look after you and you will want for nothing? I am merely suggesting the six months’ trial period so that you do not feel as though I have trapped you into this arrangement. You can tell whoever you choose about it.’

  ‘So you will tell your parents, too?’ Sophie asked him, wide-eyed.

  Yes, he would tell them.But he didn’t expect them to jump for joy. Not when his mother found out that his new paramour was a simple primary school teacher, with working-class parents, and not the daughter of wealthy or even professional people. His mother expected her son to have relationships, of course, but she was very much a snob at heart, when all was said and done, and only expected the best for her one and only son. His father might frown and ask him if he could not have done better, but he would not disturb him half as much as his mother. Especially when shemet Sophie. She was unlike any other girl Dominic had ever dated, neither a social climber nor a gold digger, and that, of course—apart from the hot sexual attraction that sizzled between them—was another reason for her appeal.

  ‘Of course.’

  Sophie didn’t dare speculate if Dominic’s parents would like her, should they ever meet. She had enough trouble focusing on the fact that she had agreed to become Dominic’s mistress and—even more pertinent—what living with Dominic Van Straten was going to be like!

  Back at work on Monday, it really only hit Sophie then—what she was proposing to go through with and the effect it would no doubt have on her life.

  She’d been fully expecting to receive a phone call from Dominic in Geneva, where he had flown yesterday, to tell her he had thought over the matter some more and he was sorry but he’d made a terrible mistake. When she’d received no such communication Sophie had gone about the rest of her weekend in a complete daze, nervously reminding herself that she needed to pack some things ready for moving in with him in only a few short days’ time. She’d also had a postcard from Diana in Cyprus, where she was on honeymoon, and the sight of her friend’s familiar handwriting had made Sophie’s stomach seesaw, as if she’d just polished off a glass of neat vodka before breakfast.

  Diana would hardly be able to believe it!Away for just a fortnight, only to return and find out that her best friend was moving in with her boss! And after they had clearly disliked each other intensely on sight!

  ‘Good weekend, Sophie?’ Barbara Budd asked slyly as she poured herself a coffee from the machine in the book-laden staffroom.

  Pretending to concentrate on the staff bulletin she was reading on the board, Sophie shrugged lightly. ‘Okay. How about you?’

  ‘Nothing too exciting. Seen anything of your rich boyfriend lately?’

  Feeling dizzying heat pulse through her body at the question, Sophie spun round. ‘What are you talking about?’ Studying the other woman uneasily, she felt a keen stab of dislike at the unconstrained curiosity in her eyes.

  ‘You know very well what I’m talking about, Sophie. The one who owns the Rolls Royce. I wouldn’t let him go in a hurry, if I were you. I’d jump at the chance to say goodbye to this place!’

  It was well known by the other members of staff that Barbara hadn’t chosen teaching as a vocation. She hadn’t got the grades she’d wanted to study as a lawyer, so teaching was a poor second-best in her eyes. Sophie couldn’t help but feel sorry for the class of eight-year-olds she taught.

  ‘I’d really prefer it if you just minded your own business, Barbara, if you want to know the truth! My private life is nothing to do with you.’

  ‘Pardon me for breathing, I’m sure.’

  Tossing her head, the other woman picked up her voluminous handbag and marched out of the room as though she were the Queen of Sheba herself making an exit. Feeling her shoulders droop with a mixture of relief and defeat, Sophie collected her things together and made her way slowly to her classroom. At least that was one arena where she didn’t feel so mixed up and afraid.

  CHAPTER NINE

  DOMINIChad rung Sophie to ask that she come with Louis to the airport to meet him. Almost a whole week had gone by since he’d left for Geneva, and every day that passed Sophie had surprisingly found herself missing him more. Stunned by such a heartfelt reaction, she barely knew what to do with all the tumultuous feelings that were racing around inside her. She carried his absence around with her as though she were bereaved, and even doing the simplest of tasks seemed to require an almost monumental effort of concentration. All she could think about was Dominic.

  Not liking the idea that she’d become obsessed with the man, she’d irritably tried to shake off her morose mood. She’d even gone out a couple of evenings in succession for a drink with friends, determined to demonstrate to herself that she was definitely not one of those silly women who could only survive if they had a man in their life. It hadn’t worked. All she could do when she got home again was play some unashamedly romantic CD and moon around the house as though some mysterious sickness had descended upon her.

  Now, as she paced the VIP lounge at Heathrow, too restless to even pick up a magazine and read it, Sophie glanced nervously down at the lovely coat that Dominic had insisted she keep. It made her secretly marvel at how one thing could lead to another and take you down a very different path from the one you’d been intent on travelling. From a girl who’d wondered if she’d ever have a relationship again because she’d become so commitment shy to contemplating moving in with a man she’d only just met was a pretty big detour in a person’s life. She’d even taken particular care with her make-up this evening, because she wanted to look especially nice for Dominic, and Louis had kindly commented on how well she looked when he’d come to pick her up.

  ‘Sophie.’

  A little bolt of heat shot through her at the unexpected sound of that voice. Slowly she turned, her heart leaping with unconstrained joy at the sight of him with a stylish raincoat thrown over his dark suit, his blond hair a little mussed and a suggestion of darkness beneath his amazing eyes that immediately concerned her. All it took was just one little glance to make Sophie lose her centre of gravity. Suddenly finding herself completely at a loss for words, she willed her feet to move forward, but remained where she stood as Dominic disconcertingly smiled and travelled towards her instead.

  The long meeting-filled days of the past week had somehow taken more out of him than Dominic liked. He’d had to fight for his position long and hard, coming up against stiff opposition from his rivals and having to revise plans, assessments and financial projections deep into the night every night he was there, to come up with a viable and realistic package that would win him the deal. His main desire that several Swiss nationals would win gainful employment through his efforts had overriden his usual number-one need to make a substantial profit.The deal had been won.

  Elated, but weary, Dominic had flown home with only one aim in mind to ease the tension and fatigue that had accumulated over the past few days.Sophie. He was desperate to see her, to make certain that she knew he fully intended her to keep to their arrangement and move in with him either the following day or the day after that. He’d allowed her her seven days to take it all in, and he didn’t want to wait any longer.

  He’d made up his mind that he would make her remember how good they were together tonight in bed. The thought of that had sustained him throughout the flight, and now it was all he could think about. As his gaze settled on her small, slender figure, Dominic was gratified to see that she was wearing the coat he’d bought her, and he couldn’t suppress a rush of excitement that chased his previous tiredness away and made him feel amazingly and insatiablyalive .

  ‘How are you?’ he aske
d her, unable to prevent the definite traces of need and emotion straining his voice.

  ‘I’m fine.’ Smiling up at him, Sophie kept her hands down by her sides, nervous and unsure how to greet him even though instinct dictated that she fling her arms around him and kiss him.

  But he looked almost too untouchable for her to concede to such unconstrained emotion in public. Dominic was exactly what he appeared: a perfectly groomed and handsome businessman, successful and wealthy beyond measure, from the tips of his shoes to the top of his gilded head. He wasn’t just Sophie’s boyfriend, returning home from a trip abroad. When this man said ‘jump’ people automatically responded with ‘How high?’ That put the matter of his homecoming into an entirely different perspective for Sophie.