‘Come here, Arlo, love me…’
And they began again where they had left off.
Sabine Karlsson sat outside Cosima’s apartment, in the car she’d rented, in which she’d followed Arlo from his hotel that morning. She looked up at the warmly lit window, thinking she could see their shadows, kissing, screwing. The thought of Arlo fucking that little whore…Sabine gritted her teeth. She would find out who she was and destroy her – how dare she think she could take what belonged to Sabine? She was Sabine Karlsson, for fuck’s sake, supermodel. She scribbled down the address and started the car.
I won’t let you be happy without me, Arlo, not ever. I’ll do anything I need to do to ruin your life…anything.
Cosima and Arlo walked to the LaBelle the next morning, hand-in-hand. Arlo grinned at her. ‘Last night – and this morning – was incredible.’
She smiled. ‘My body should feel exhausted…instead, I just feel exhilarated.’
Arlo nodded. ‘Me too. Look,’ he stopped her, ‘I’m not saying we should rush things, but I want us to start planning our future. Would you consider sharing the penthouse with me, when it’s finished?’
Cosima studied him, considering. If anyone else had asked her to move in with him this quickly, she would have laughed in their faces but with Arlo, it just seemed natural. And anyway, she reasoned, the hotel wouldn’t be finished for months.
‘Yes,’ she said simply, ‘I will definitely think about it. Harpa will be in Seattle by then and…well…waking up with you every day sounds perfect.’
Arlo was pleased. ‘Good. Wow.’ He suddenly grabbed her and spun her around, making her giggle furiously. ‘We’re moving in together.’
He spun her until she protested and set her down, steadying her when she wobbled. ‘God, Arlo Forrester, I said I’d think about it,’ she laughed breathlessly, ‘You are a lunatic.’ She put a hand on her chest, catching her breath. She patted his arm. ‘Come on, let’s get to work.’
Neither of them saw the blacked out car across the street and the occupants who were watching them. The driver turned to the man in the back seat.
‘You sure that’s her?’
‘One hundred percent. Damn, I’d forgotten how beautiful she was.'
The driver smirked. ‘Does that make a difference?’
The other smiled. ‘No. It just means I’ll get even more enjoyment out of it when I kill her.’
‘How will you do it?’
The man smiled, watching as Cosima laughed at something her companion was saying. She made his groin tighten with desire but the thought of her dead under his knife was even more exhilarating. ‘Slowly,’ he said, ‘Slowly and painfully.’
After the Sabine debacle, Arlo had changed hotels and now, when they made their way to it, Cosima was confident that nothing could ruin their evening together. His hotel room was as luxurious as she could have imagined. Not so much a room, as an entire apartment, she thought, looking around with obvious pleasure. Arlo watched her with amused eyes.
‘You can’t turn off the artist’s eye, can you?’
He was pouring her a flute of champagne, and she took it gratefully. Her hands were trembling, and he steadied them with his own, the fire his touch ignited in her was searing. She tilted her head up, and he caught her mouth with his, kissing her softly, tenderly. When they broke apart, he smiled down at her.
‘Hello again,’ he murmured and slid his hands around her waist. Cosima wobbled then relaxed into his embrace.
Arlo took the still full champagne flute from her hand and scooped her up into his arms. She started to protest, but he just smiled. ‘Cosima – my belle Camille – there’s no way that we’re doing anything else at this moment but going to bed. I need your skin on mine, your sweet lips against my own, and my cock buried deep inside your tight, heavenly cunt.’
His coarseness made her sex pulse and dampen, and she didn’t protest as he stripped her. ‘Christ, look at just how beautiful you are,’ he growled, pushing her legs up to her chest and burying his face in her sex. Cosima moaned as his tongue found her clit, already so ready for him, swelling and pulsing under his touch. He drove her to madness with his tongue then slowly moved up her body, kissing and tasting her skin.
‘Cosima, my lovely girl, I want you to see how beautiful you are…’
He left her on the bed, bereft at his going, but pulled the dresser over so that the mirror faced the bed. Cosima could see her own body stretched out, golden in the dim light. It was slightly surreal, the dust on the mirror giving an otherworldly appearance to their bodies. Arlo stripped, and she admired the broad shoulders, the deep vee of his hips, his large cock, curving upwards as he fisted the root of it, pumping it even harder.
‘I could look at you for days,’ he said, and she smiled.
‘Right back at ya, handsome.’ She loved that they could fool around and laugh when they had sex, that it wasn’t a solemn occasion but a joyful one. He grinned back at her then dropped to all fours over her body, his hands braced either side of her head.
‘I want you to realize how beautiful you are…’ he lifted her leg so her sex was exposed. ‘Look at you, look at your sweet little cunt, Cosima.’
She didn’t ask she asked, gazing into the mirror at herself, seeing him stroke her clit, feeling herself get damp with longing.
‘Do you want my cock now, Cosima?’
She nodded and grinned; he shifted so he could slide, oh so slowly, into her. She watched as his cock sank deep into her sex, felt the stretch of her vaginal muscles accommodating him. They watched as he slid in and out of her, Cosima almost losing her mind with pleasure as he fingered her clit at the same time. She came violently, again and again and as Arlo neared his own climax, he whispered, ‘I want to come on your belly.’
She nodded, her eyes alive with arousal and he pulled out and with a shuddering groan, pumped creamy white semen onto her skin. ‘God, Cosima…Cosima…’
She pulled him into her arms as he finished and kissed him, wrapping her legs around him. ‘Let’s not move from this place ever.’
‘Good idea.’
They lay in silence for a few minutes just gazing at each other. Arlo stroked her face and Cosima smiled.
‘You know, one thing we need to discuss is, I think you need to meet Jack.’
Arlo frowned. ‘Who’s Jack?’
‘My imaginary friend. He travels with me everywhere. He’s here now,’ Cosima tried not to giggle at Arlo’s expression but failed. ‘No, seriously, he’s our FBI liaison. He needs to know about us, about what we plan. He kind of already knows that you are I are…um…acquainted. They found out about your detective.’
Arlo nodded. ‘Makes sense. I hope I haven’t caused any difficulties for you by seeking you out.’
Cosima wriggled into his arms happily. ‘Nothing that wasn’t totally worth it. But he will need to know if we move in together. Sadly, there are still some of my father’s enemies who want Harpa and me dead.’
Arlo winced. ‘God, I can’t imagine living that way. How do you do it?’
She shrugged. ‘We’ve never really known anything different – at least, not for the past few years. You get used to it. Moving from city to city has helped, although it’s stressful, and relationships are difficult. When the call comes, you have to go, right then, no time for goodbyes. That’s the extreme cases, the ones where our lives have been in imminent danger. New York was really the only time that happened.’
‘Last year?’
She nodded. ‘The FBI has been great. Why they should want to protect us is beyond me, but there you go. At least, they’ve been able to narrow down the parties involved. Most of my dad’s enemies have either died or simply don’t care anymore, but there are a couple of offspring that have been radicalized. What’s weird is…I grew up with at least one of them - Naveen. We played together as kids, and I had the biggest crush on him, and now he wants to kill me. I’ll never understand that kind of mindset.’
She so
unded sad, and her eyes glistened with tears. ‘It’s Harpa I feel bad for, the most. I’m scared someone will get to her; she’s such an extrovert, so the opposite of me that she rubs against any restriction, and she takes risks. If anything happened to her…’
‘Hey, hey,’ he brushed the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. ‘I promise you, Cosima, I won’t let anything happen to you or Harpa. I can have protection arranged this instant – protection that will be unobtrusive but comprehensive. Harpa will never have to know they are there. I was going to talk to you about that, anyway – and now you’ve mentioned this Jack person, yeah, I need to meet him. Not,’ he added, hurriedly, ‘that I want to give the impression that I’m in control of your life. Entirely your choice…but I will do everything to protect you, Cosima. I love you.’
She smiled. ‘As I love you. Man,’ she rolled on her back and laughed, Arlo enjoyed the way her full breasts danced as her chest moved, ‘This is all such a fairytale, isn’t it? You’re so perfect…it’s a little annoying.’
He grinned. ‘Sorry, ma’am.’
‘So you should be. Now come over here and fuck me good.’
‘Dirty girl.’
‘You bet.’
Sabine had cashed out some of her savings and hired a private detective to find out what he could about Arlo’s new love. What he gave her his report, she couldn’t believe it. She read through his findings and looked up at him.
‘She’s a god damned princess?’
Her detective, Hal, nodded. ‘Exiled but yeah. Looker, her sister too. Pity about their situation.’
Sabine read and reread the section of the paper that caught her eye. ‘Threat of assassination, hey?’
‘Yup. Nasty stuff too, which is why the FBI moved them around every few years. My guy at the FBI says someone got too close to the older girl last year; that’s why they had to move and change their name.’
‘So…if they were exposed, they’d be killed?’
The man nodded. He didn’t like the woman in front of him; she creeped him out with her blank stare and icy beauty. But she paid well, and at least he got to follow the two Malhotra girls who were both very easy on the eye.
‘What do you want me to do next?’
Sabine smiled. ‘Nothing. Thank you, this has been useful, but I’ll take it from here.’
When he’d gone, she sat back, considering. Well, now this was interesting – so much more interesting than just a love rival. She weighed her options. One: she could kill the girl herself, frame her enemies and swoop in to console a grieving Arlo. She wrinkled her nose. Too risky, she didn’t trust herself not to chicken out at the last moment then everything would be ruined. No, it was better to lead the killers to the girl, then act horrified and offer to help Arlo track them down when she was murdered. That was option two, and she liked that a whole lot more. But it left her unsatisfied. She wanted the girl – Cosima – to feel fear, to know the consequences of stealing Sabine’s man from her. Prolong the agony, like a Chinese water torture.
‘Drip, drip, drip,’ she said to herself now, laughing. She would torment her, make her paranoid, feel the fear and when the time was right; she would expose her and lead the killers to her. She could see it now; Arlo bent over the bloody corpse of his Indian princess, her body riddled with bullet holes, Arlo screaming his grief then Sabine herself, gently taking him away as the police came.
Yes. That was perfect. That was just. The girl dead and Arlo once again in Sabine’s arms.
‘Where you belong, my love,’ she whispered, ‘Where you belong.’
Cosima called Jack, and he agreed to fly down to New Orleans the following day to meet with her. She didn’t talk about Arlo on the phone, just told Jack that both the sisters were planning major changes in their lives, and they needed to discuss them with him.
She left the LaBelle early that day, kissing Arlo goodbye and checking in at the office. There was someone else she needed to talk to too.
Tal was in his office, and he smiled delightedly when she knocked at his door. ‘Well, hello stranger. You’ve been out on site so much; we’ve hardly seen you.’
She grinned. ‘I know, and I’m sorry. Look, Tal, I have to talk to you about something.’
He indicated the seat across his desk, and she sat. ‘Want a drink?’
‘Yes, please.’
He poured them out some sloe gin. ‘From Mrs. Beavers, a client. It’s magnificent.’
Cosima sipped the drink then choked. ‘Jeez, strong enough.’
Tal grinned. ‘Now what have you got to tell me? Not that I can’t guess, it’s written all over your face.’
Cosima blushed. ‘Well, yes, okay. Arlo Forrester and I are involved, we’re dating if you can call it that. We’re talking about moving in together when the LaBelle is finished, and I wanted you to know that we have kept our relationship purely professional during working hours.’ She felt nervous all of a sudden. ‘Tal, I would never disrespect you or the company’s reputation by acting like a love sick teenager. There was one kissing incident that may have been witnessed by a contractor.’ She shifted in her seat, looking sheepish.
Tal smiled. ‘Look, Cosima, you’re doing an incredible job. And really, it’s not the biggest surprise; I’ve seen the chemistry between the pair of you. And besides, if it weren’t for your acquaintance, we might never have had this opportunity. Relax, dear; it’s fine.’
She nodded, satisfied. ‘Good, I’m glad. Look, I have to skip out early today to meet my FBI guy.’ She had told Tal at the beginning about her situation, and now he nodded.
‘Good. Hope you get on okay.’
Cosima drove home, lightness in her heart. For the first time since they left New York – and not counting those heady days in the Indian Ocean – she felt everything in her life was right. Harpa was happy – albeit with Deacon who Cosima was trying to like for Harpa’s sake - – and planning her future in an occupation which Cosima thought would serve her sister’s talents better than styling. Her own job was a place of teamwork, encouragement and fraternity and her love life…she couldn’t believe how utterly consumed she was with love for Arlo. Even now, all she could think of was his voice, his dark eyes, his wicked smile, the way he would kiss her throat, stroke her belly, his cock thrusting inside her…concentrate, she told herself with a grin, a fender bender would not be conducive to a happy ever after.
She was still smiling when she got back to the apartment, but as she climbed the stairs, she heard a voice call her name. She turned to see a tall blonde woman staring at her. Cosima’s eyes narrowed. ‘Yes?’ She said politely.
The woman half-smiled. ‘You probably don’t recognize me with my clothes on.’
Fuck. Sabine. Cosima reluctantly walked back down the stairs. ‘No, I didn’t.’ She injected just the right amount of ice in her voice to make the other woman hold her hands up.
‘Seriously, I came to apologize. I had no idea you were with Arlo – that he was even seeing anyone. We were together for fifteen years, and I screwed it up. And I keep screwing it up, obviously. Please forgive me.’
Cosima studied her. ‘How did you find out where I live?’
Sabine had the grace to look sheepish. ‘I followed Arlo one day. I am sorry for that, for the intrusion, for that night at the hotel, but I’m not sorry for getting the opportunity to apologize. I feel bad.’
Cosima looked at the other woman and believed her. ‘It’s okay; it’s all in the past. Hopefully, we can all move on.’
‘Yes. Look, it’s up to you, but I’d rather you didn’t tell Arlo about this. I hope one day we can all be friends should we cross paths. This wouldn’t help; I don’t think.’
Cosima nodded. ‘Okay. Well, goodbye, Sabine…and good luck.’
‘Thank you.’
Cosima started to walk back up the stairs.
‘Cosima?’
She turned. Sabine was smiling again, and this time, there was a hint of mockery about it. ‘Make sure, Cosima, make sure he treats
you like a princess.’
With a shocked gasp, Cosima stared after her as she got into her car and drove off.
‘Are you okay?’
Cosima had been quiet since Arlo had arrived, preparing the food for the meal. She smiled and nodded. ‘Of course, sorry, I’m just trying to remember this recipe.’
Arlo was satisfied with this. On her kitchen counters, there was an array of colorful vegetables and a scent of jasmine rice hung in the air. ‘Can I help?’
Cosima grinned. ‘How do you feel about preparing the garlic? You can use the press, so you don’t have to touch it.’
‘No worries.’
She watched as he expertly peeled the garlic bulb then squeezed them through the press, mixing them into a paste. ‘Want me to add the spices to this?’
Cosima’s eyebrows shot up. ‘You can cook? Why, Mr. Forrester, you are a dark horse. Yes, please.’
Together they constructed the curry, Arlo frying off the spice paste with onions, Cosima preparing the chicken and vegetables. They moved in tandem, working together on the meal as easily as they did working on the hotel.
Arlo grinned at her as the curry bubbled gently on the stove. ‘Our first home-made meal together.’
She nodded. ‘You’re a great sous-chef.’
‘Why, thank you. Can’t wait until we can do this in our own home.’ He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her. She tasted of coriander and cumin. ‘God, I love you. You and your curry.’
She grinned. ‘You haven’t tasted it yet, and I warn you, Harpa is a much, much better cook.’
‘When am I going to meet this master chef?’ He took the wine bottle she offered him and opened it.
Nightclub Surprise Page 97
