‘Your brother’s coming over with his latest boyfriend,’ she replied, rolling her eyes. I grinned at her, with a roll of my own eyes. My parents had got over the fact that Dominic was gay a long time ago, what they found hard to handle was the fact that he got through men faster than wildfire in the dry Australian outback. None lasted more than a few weeks, at a stretch. He always “fell in love” after a few dates and insisted on taking them to meet Mum and Dad, but a man rarely made a visit to see them more than once.
‘He’s in love again?’
‘You know Dominic,’ she sighed, with a shake of her head. ‘Do you think he’ll ever settle down?’
‘He’s happy, that’s all that matters. Why don’t you come over on Sunday and I’ll cook a roast for us all? You can fill me in on his latest conquest.’
‘That would be lovely,’ she nodded. Tristan clapped his hands. Roast dinners were his favourite.
‘What would you like, darling?’ I asked. He screwed up his beautiful face, deep in contemplative thought, as if I’d just asked him to explain some complex Pythagoras’ Theorem.
‘Chicken,’ he finally announced, with a firm nod. ‘With Yorkshire puddings.’
‘Yorkshire puddings go with roast beef, Tristan,’ Mum told him and his face fell.
‘Well as a special treat, we’re going to have them with roast chicken this weekend,’ I confirmed, making him smile again and nestle his face back in my neck.
‘You spoil that boy,’ Mum tutted, in a whisper.
‘We’re a single parent family, Mum, and I have a very demanding business. He misses out on so much. If he wants a roast chicken dinner with Yorkshire pudding it’s not a big deal,’ I snapped.
‘Someone’s had a bad day,’ she observed, pulling a face at my short comeback.
‘I’m sorry,’ I sighed, as I blew out a quick tense breath. ‘I had to fire someone today and things with you know who, didn’t go so well last night.’
‘Who’s you know who?’ came a little voice from my shoulder.
‘Never you mind, big ears,’ I chuckled and kissed his head, as Mum gave me the double questioning eyebrows.
‘Elephants have big ears,’ he replied.
‘Yes they do,’ I agreed. ‘Mum I’ll tell you when Dad’s occupying this little tyke,’ I smiled as I bounced him up and down making him laugh.
‘We’ll see you on Sunday then,’ she nodded, kissing my cheek.
‘Thanks for looking after him. Say bye to Grandma, darling.’
‘Bye, bye.’ He reached out to give her a hug and kiss, before nestling back into my neck again. We waved her off and I let out a contented sigh. At last, it was just the two of us and I couldn’t wait to start our weekend.
We spent the next hour playing with his Lego on the plush carpeted floor, then ate a delicious takeaway and headed up for bath and bedtime. I tucked him up in his bed, sitting next to him, so he could see the pictures in the storybook as he rested his head on my arm. His was tightly around his favourite cuddly toy, Eric. He was a soft grey elephant with pink inner ears and the end of his trunk and pads of his feet. I kissed Tristan’s forehead and read from one of his favourite book series, naturally it was Elmer the elephant. He was crazy about elephants, I had no idea where his obsession with them had started, but that’s where we spent the longest when we went to the zoo. I couldn’t wait for the morning, to see his excited face as we drove there. Just being home with him wiped away all the crappiness of my day. I smiled as his eyes started drooping.
‘Love you, for the rest of my life and beyond, darling,’ I whispered, as I kissed the top of his head, breathing in my favourite scent of his Johnson’s Baby Shampoo and Baby Powder.
‘Me too, Mummy,’ he yawned, fighting falling asleep. ‘Don’t stop.’
‘Never, my darling boy,’ I replied, my heart swelling with all the love I had for him. He was my entire world.
A Parisian Encounter
Six Years Ago
‘I need to sit down,’ I gasped, shoving my hand through my hair as Beyoncé’s Single Ladies ended. My feet were killing me from all the dancing, the music in this club was fantastic.
‘Me too,’ nodded Coco. ‘I can’t believe it’s only midnight. I feel like we’ve been dancing until the early hours. I’m so out of practice.’
‘And I’m supposed to be the old one here,’ sighed Phoebe, as she reluctantly followed us back to our private booth and slid in opposite me.
‘Coco, stop,’ I groaned, covering my glass with my hand as she attempted to pour in more champagne. ‘I’ve had nearly a bottle already.’ It prompted her to pull a face. My best friend was a little wilder than I was. We’d met at primary school, my twin brother Dominic having had the biggest crush on her when we were seven, before he realised he preferred cock to pussy. The three of us had become inseparable and drew plenty of attention as we grew up. Dominic was stunningly handsome, his hair and eyes matching mine. He was a male model, mainly underwear given he’d been blessed with a snake like appendage, Coco insisted it was a crime against womankind for him to not bless them with it. She was drop dead gorgeous, Italian on her father’s side, which meant her complexion wasn’t quite as light as my English porcelain one. She had light brown hair with sun kissed highlights and unusually for Southern Italian heritage, vivid green eyes and a pair of luscious full lips. She was slightly shorter than me, at five foot eight, but like me had curves in all the right places. The three of us had shared digs at University, Coco studying design. I’d tried to convince her to be my business partner, she had no problem attracting male attention either and would have been fabulous in the field, but she had her heart set on the jewellery industry, coming up with some unique pieces as she practiced at home, many of which I snapped up, at discounted rates of course. Dom had gone to study Economics and Statistics, but had ended up majoring in beer and cock, ending up with no qualifications at all, other than giving “amazing” head, by all accounts.
‘Lu,’ she moaned, as I refused to move my hand and let her top up my glass.
‘Come on, Lu,’ coaxed Phoebe, ‘you can’t not drink on my hen weekend.’
‘I am drinking,’ I protested. ‘I’ve had plenty, I’m trying to pace myself, we’re out tomorrow night as well. It’s my first time in Paris, I want to be clear headed enough to enjoy it in the morning.’ We’d only landed this afternoon and had gone straight to our shared suite at The Domville, to unpack and get ready to come out. We’d had a delicious meal first, stopped off in a cocktail bar, before coming on here, the top recommended club in the whole of Paris. Phoebe was Coco’s sister, she was a few years older than us and getting married next weekend. Coco had convinced her to have her hen night in Paris, mainly out of self-serving purposes, as she wanted to come and see the architecture, to soak up the atmosphere of somewhere known for its artists, so she could draw inspiration for some new pieces. I was just happy to be in a seriously swank club, surrounded by sexy French accents. There was something about it that just did things to my mind and body. Ask me to choose between the best looking English guy or an average looking guy with a French accent, I’d probably go with the latter. The club was very sexy looking, in tones of black and red, giving it a Burlesque club type atmosphere. The music was electric, right on point with the charts back home and the lighting low and sultry. You could just feel the sexual energy coming from people grinding on the dance floor.
‘We’re never going to get you laid if you don’t down some more,’ sighed Coco. ‘And after that disaster of a relationship with Thomas last year, you need to get laid by a man who appreciates the clitoris is a few inches higher than he was thinking it was. And you know what a French accent does to you, where better than here to find a seriously sexy one night stand?’
‘I don’t do one night stands,’ I reminded her. My face was a curse sometimes, I never knew if men were interested in me because of how I looked, or for the real me behind this façade. It made me reluctant to rush anything with the opposite sex.
Phoebe had never had that problem, to be honest it was amazing she’d agreed to get married. She’d have been the last person I’d have imagined settling down. Coco on the other hand was all mouth and no trousers, like me she was wary of men. We’d seen Dom tempt too many men who were in relationships with women, for us to be too trusting, me in particular given my career. Not one man had turned down an offer to come up to my room when I was working and not one of them had been single. It didn’t exactly inspire confidence in the male species.
‘You may reconsider when you see the guy that’s not taken his eyes off you since he arrived at the bar,’ advised Coco, with a teasing smile. ‘Smokin’ hot.’
‘How hot are we talking out of ten?’ I asked.
‘Eleven,’ replied Phoebe and Coco together, also nodding in unison, making me laugh. I rummaged in my clutch and pulled out my lip gloss and a mirror.
‘Damn, he must be fine. You two handing out elevens is rarer than a Strictly Come Dancing ten off Craig. Where?’
‘At your three o’clock,’ Coco replied, taking the opportunity to refill my unguarded glass with the last of the current bottle of champagne. I reapplied my gloss and carefully angled my mirror to look for this mystery man. I knew better than to turn around, that was a signal for someone watching to have an excuse to wander over. ‘I see three men at the bar and of the two facing us, I’m not seeing an eleven,’ I replied, though the one in the middle, leaning in to talk in the barman’s ear, had the most biteable firm arse I’d ever seen.
‘Wait for him to turn around again, if you don’t think he’s an eleven I’ll eat my … shoe,’ uttered Phoebe, as she knocked her champagne back, her eyes trained in his direction. ‘And I’m wearing a pair of Choos, you should know how devastated I’d be to lose a Choo.’ I sighed with a chuckle, we all had a shoe fetish and losing one of a pair would be devastating to any of us. I patiently waited, with my eyes trained on the mirror, feeling my heart beat a little faster as I studied the back of this supposed Adonis. He was in a dark navy suit, the jacket of which had ridden up, revealing that deliciously toned backside and a pair of muscular firm thighs. His shoulders were broad and powerful and I just knew that if his body looked this good from behind, clothed, that he was going to be in insane shape from the front. No amount of clothing could disguise a powerful, sinuous body like that. A body that mine had already apparently decided was worthy of attention.
‘O. My. God,’ I breathed, as he looked back over his shoulder, pointing his hand in our direction. All the heat in my body converged between the top of my thighs, my clit murmuring in appreciation of the most beautifully proportioned face, sexily messed up dark brown hair and the most inviting deep chocolate eyes I’d ever seen. I couldn’t tear my eyes off his perfect lips, images of them on my suddenly aching, swollen and frankly starving pussy, flashing through my mind.
‘Tell me you’re not damp knickered now?’ Coco chuckled. I gulped and nodded, as I quickly snapped the mirror shut.
‘So much I may have to go to the ladies and ditch them,’ I replied.
‘Lulu McQueen! When was the last time a man ruined your underwear?’ she gasped. I bit my lip and shrugged, embarrassed at my ability to find men with no sexual skills. ‘The Ice Queen has been thawed.’
‘Speaking of ice, if I wasn’t getting married next weekend, the things I could do with an ice cube to that body,’ Phoebe nodded as she gazed in his direction, virtually drooling. ‘Trouble is he doesn’t seem to have eyes for anyone but you, Lulu.’
‘Please,’ I scoffed, secretly delighted inside.
‘He hasn’t, he was watching you dancing earlier as well and he’s turned away plenty of women who’ve approached him. In fact he’s doing it again. They’re swarming around him like bees.’
‘Excusez-moi,’ came a French voice. ‘I have a bottle of Champagne for you, compliments of the gentleman at the bar.’
‘Thank you,’ grinned Phoebe, as she went to take the ice bucket from him.
‘I’m sorry Mademoiselle, I was specifically instructed to hand it to the beautiful lady with the eyes of molten lava and to tell you that he feels the heat from where he’s standing.’
‘O smooth,’ giggled Coco. ‘Well it’s confirmed then, it’s definitely for you Lu and it’s proper Champagne, the one with a capital “C” and a high price tag.’
‘Why not one of you?’ I objected, as the bucket of expensive Champagne, nestled in its bed of ice, was put on the table in front of me.
‘Neither of us have amber eyes and seeing how he hasn’t taken his off you all night, it’s a given,’ she replied. I rolled my eyes, I’d been so happy letting my hair down and just dancing and soaking up the atmosphere, I’d tried desperately not to look at all the good looking men eyeing us up. That wasn’t why I was here. I didn’t need the complication of an attractive man paying me attention, particularly not one in another country.
‘Do you have a message to return?’ our waiter asked.
‘Hmmm,’ I pondered. ‘Tell him thank you very much, it was very generous of him, but I’m not interested and all that I’m feeling is the very frosty chill from the ice bucket.’
‘Bien sûr,’ he nodded and disappeared, without taking the Champagne back with him.
‘What’s wrong with you?’ gasped Phoebe, as Coco looked at me equally stunned. ‘You had the hottest fling ever lined up.’
‘Hello! Do I need to introduce myself to you? Lulu McQueen, occasionally has great sex, gets too attached, then ends up heartbroken when all they were interested in was my face and body. I don’t do flings. We’re here for two nights, it’s not happening.’
‘Well I’d let myself be flung,’ sighed Coco, as she looked back over at him, her chin resting on her knuckles. ‘He’s … I don’t even have the words. I mean a face like that, combined with that body? That doesn’t come along very often. If you don’t want him, I could be tempted to waive my no one night stand clause and forget the fact that I prefer blonds. O shit, he’s coming over and he’s got a seriously sexy, pissed off vibe going on.’
‘No,’ I gasped, mortified. This was a man I needed to steer clear of. My gut was telling me that he could be trouble, that I could have a hot encounter, but I’d end up going home in a complete slump.
‘O yeah,’ nodded Phoebe, fanning her face with her hand, ‘and damn, he even walks sexily. He should be up on that catwalk with Dominic. In fact he’d put Dominic to shame and you know how hot I find your frustratingly gay brother.’
‘Shit,’ I muttered, grabbing my bag and leaping to my feet, my eyes darting for the quickest way through the crowds to the toilets. I’d only seen a glimpse of this man in my mirror, but he was definitely trouble. I had sexual tingles running up and down my spine, I’d become hyper aware of my hardened nipples and throbbing clit. One glance at a man’s reflection and my body needed him like oxygen. It was crazy. One look had flicked off my cool detached persona switch which I kept turned on for work, and twelve months’ worth of repressed sexual desire suddenly screamed at me to be sated. Had it really been twelve months since I’d given in to my urges and had sex? I could barely believe it.
I virtually ran through the crowds, squeezing my way through the gaps until I reached the safety of the ladies’ powder room, the door swinging shut behind me. I grasped the sink, looking at my flushed face in the mirror. I knew myself too well. I stayed distant, because once I got sexual with a guy I found attractive, if it was good, I tended to fall hard. Really hard. Just like my brother Dom did. He’d been in love more times than an accountant could tally. I’d been burned really badly by my first love, losing my virginity to him when I was seventeen, only to find he was screwing other girls in our class behind my back. I’d fallen for his lines of how beautiful I was, how much he desired me and only me. I only found out that was bullshit when he tried it on with Coco and she came to tell me. I’d been heartbroken and had put my childhood sleuth training into practice, to follow him and catch him in the act. I’d ended it there an
d then, while he had his cock inside another girl in his battered old Ford Escort, in the car park of the local playground on a Friday night. Since then, I’d been extra cautious, Coco too. She’d felt my pain. That’s when the idea for my agency Sweet Temptation came about, so I guess some good had come out of it. I sighed as I ran my hands under the cold water, putting them on my burning cheeks and chest, trying to quench the raging hormones and fire taking over my body. A one night stand with a man I reacted to like this, a man I hadn’t even looked at directly, was a recipe for total disaster.
I glanced up as the door swung open, a blonde stumbling through it as she looked back over her shoulder. I let my eyes drift up to see what had drawn her attention and cursed. Leaning on the wall opposite, his arms folded across his imposing chest, as he looked directly at me with those gorgeous intense eyes, was my perfect wet dream, come to life. I felt my cheeks flush as my breathing rapidly increased. His lips lifted sexily in the corners, recognising the effect he had on me, affording me a quick glimpse of some knicker melting dimples as the door closed, blocking him from my view. So now he knew that I wasn’t feeling the chill of ice, he knew I was full of burning desire for him. I quickly scooped up more cold water for my face as I tried to regulate my breathing. Close up he was even better looking than I’d initially assessed. He had one of those masculine square chins, with a slight Michael Douglas trademark dent in it, his eyes were so glossy and reflective, but the look of sexual need in them had ignited my very core. I closed my eyes as I tried to recall the rest of him, broad shoulders, a flat stomach under that crisp white tieless shirt, a slim waist and hips and … my eyes shot open as I registered what I’d caught a glimpse of, straining against the material of his obviously expensive navy suit. Damn it! I gave an apologetic smile to a girl trying to reach the hand towels at the side of me and sneaked a glance at the door as she headed out, to see he was still waiting. He raised his eyebrows.
The Temptress Page 3
