by Kitty French
“I’m done for the evening, Ms. Black. I hope you’ve enjoyed your first day as much as I have.”
Sophie read his words, and any thoughts of resignation melted away. “Yes, thank you. It’s been very… illuminating.”
“I hope that’s a good thing. I’ve left some homework on my desk for you. Pick it up on your way out.”
And with that, he called out goodnight and she heard his door close behind him a second or two later.
She dropped her head in her hands. What the hell was she doing? In the space of twenty-four hours, her life had gone from humdrum to something straight out of a top shelf movie. She picked up her bag and jacket and went out through Lucien’s office, where the Lick’n’Love sex toy lay on top of a piece of paper with her name scrawled across the top.
Sophie,
Keep this. You seemed to like it.
I don’t need you to start until 2pm tomorrow, expect it to be a late one.
L
A little after one the following afternoon, Lucien put the phone down and drummed his fingers on the desk. As far as he was concerned, the information he’d just learned about Sophie Black changed everything. Or the information about her husband, to be precise.
The man obviously didn’t expect Sophie to check up on him, because he’d barely even bothered to cover the tracks of his two year affair. As Lucien sat and digested the information, an email pinged in from his head of security confirming the details he’d just outlined over the telephone. Lucien had learned over the years that his industry attracted more than its fair share of wacko job applicants, so any new staff were routinely vetted. Quite why he’d ordered checks to be carried out on Daniel Black as well as Sophie he couldn’t easily explain, but it turned out that his instincts had been right on the money.
A series of photographs accompanied the written report on the screen. Lucien’s mouth twisted in distaste at the sight of the man Sophie was apparently married to walking through Heraklion airport with his arm around a dark haired, elfin woman.
She was very different from Sophie. The man had diverse tastes. This woman was small and tanned, with severely cropped dark hair. Sophie was taller, and fairer, with curves that would no doubt be soft and full in Lucien’s hands. She reminded him of a young horse: coltish, jittering between nerves and spirit, ready to be taken in hand. He’d deliberately pushed her yesterday. He could easily have read that report and drawn his own conclusions, but it was much more fun to see how far she was willing to go.
She’d surprised him, just as she had at her interview. Beneath the cool, professional exterior that he could see she was working hard to project, Lucien detected a sensual woman waiting in the wings. She was like a ripe peach that no one had bothered to pick, and he wanted to sink his teeth right in.
“Loser,” he muttered under his breath as he scrolled down through pictures of the couple taken yesterday. Yesterday. Laughing in a bar, their heads close together. Reading by a pool, his head resting on her stomach. A nighttime shot of them wrapped around each other on their hotel balcony, and if Lucien’s eyes didn’t deceive him, the woman was naked.
There was no question.
Sophie’s husband was cheating on her.
As far as Lucien was concerned, that rendered Sophie Black a free agent, even if she didn’t know it herself.
CHAPTER FIVE
Sophie emerged from the elevator onto the top floor at just before two, dressed today in a bottle green dress that clung to her every curve. It was a dress she wouldn’t have dared to wear for her old job, and for that matter wouldn’t have wanted to. Being Derek’s PA had been all about fending off his wandering hands, but being Lucien’s PA brought with it a whole new set of parameters.
What would she do if Lucien’s hands started to wander? In truth, she was starting to feel more worried that her own hands might be the ones to stray. She’d tossed and turned in her big, empty bed most of last night, her head full of fantasies of Lucien Knight giving her a personal demonstration of the Lick’n’Love toy. Although it was just as well she’d had something to concentrate her mind on, because Dan had once again proved elusive aside from a message on the answer phone waiting for her when she’d arrived home yesterday. What was the point of calling her at home when he knew she’d be at work? The idea that he’d done it for precisely that reason lurked in the back of her head, but she refused to allow it to come to the fore. She didn’t want to have that conversation, even with herself. Dan was a busy man, and since yesterday, she’d become an extremely busy woman, too.
Sophie bypassed the reception desk today with a polite nod towards the receptionist, and a small thrill of belonging rippled low in her belly when she rapped her knuckles softly against Lucien’s door.
“You don’t need to knock.” He was right there and opened the door wide for her to pass. Sophie stepped inside the lush office, feeling rather like a lion had opened the door of his lair and beckoned her in.
“Good afternoon, Lucien.” She raised her eyes and gave him the benefit of a megawatt smile. She’d made a pact with herself as she’d applied her eye make up carefully that lunchtime. From the moment she stepped foot inside Knight Inc. today, she was going to let the other Sophie take over, and she was damn well going to enjoy it.
“Sophie,” he murmured, and the slight smile on his lips let her know that her greeting had pleased him. Christ, he was gorgeous. All in black, from his well fitted shirt to his trousers that tapered down to black boots. He was covered from the throat down, yet somehow sexier than any other man naked.
How would Lucien look naked? The scandalous thought made Sophie glance down at her shiny shoes and hope mind reading wasn’t one of Lucien’s skills. Although, it wouldn’t surprise her if it was. He seemed to look at her and see straight through her carefully constructed outer shell, right through to a dormant, sexy temptress that needed awakening from her slumber. She’d known Lucien Knight for less than forty-eight hours, but he’d already changed her in more ways than anyone else had in her entire life.
A few minutes later, Sophie glanced at Lucien’s computer screen as she placed coffee next to him on his desk. From what she could make out, it looked like a club website, but not any kind of club she’d ever been in. It was dark and opulent, and screamed sex from every shot.
“Is that one of your clubs?”
He picked up his coffee and rolled his shoulders. “Yes. The newest of the Gateway Clubs. It’s curtain up tonight.” He paused and licked his lips. “We’ll head over there around five o’ clock.”
“We?” Sophie’s mouth went dry.
Lucien nodded. “Do you have a problem with that?”
Did she have a problem with that? She shook her head. “I guess not. It’s just I’ve never been to a …”
He laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back in his chair, a lazy grin on his face. “A what, Sophie?”
“Anywhere like that.” Sophie gestured towards the screen.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be perfectly safe.”
She glanced down at her dress. “Aren’t I a little underdressed for a club?”
Lucien’s laugh was low and suggestive. “Quite the opposite, actually.” He laughed again at her shocked expression. “I’m joking. We’re going to work, not play.”
Sophie nodded and escaped back to her own office.
She didn’t want to go to a sex club with him.
She did want to go to a sex club with him.
She opened the email programme and started work, letting the routine of getting to grips with her new job soothe her tattered nerves. Her predecessor had run a very tight ship, which made Sophie’s job much easier and stopped her from needing to constantly ask Lucien for help. A bleep from the computer alerted her to the flashing message box on the screen.
“You’re very quiet in there.”
“How much noise do you expect a PA to make?”
“The previous one was quite vocal.”
What did he mean by tha
t? Sophie burned to know why Claire had needed to leave the job early. Had she been sleeping with Lucien? Had it all gone wrong? He certainly didn’t seem to be nursing a broken heart.
Lost in thought, Sophie must have taken too long to reply, because a second message flashed in as she sat there mulling things over.
“She left to marry her French boyfriend. A whirlwind romance, or some equally trite phrase, I believe she used.”
Christ, he really was a mind reader. Or else, he really understood how her mind worked. Sophie went through to Lucien’s office and picked up his empty cup. It was half past four.
“Do we need to leave soon?”
Lucien nodded. “Don’t be nervous, Sophie. I think you’ll enjoy it if you keep an open mind.”
Sophie appreciated his attempt to settle her nerves, but the fact that she was going to need an open mind was actually more worrying than calming.
“I’ll just grab my bag.” Back in her office, Sophie checked her phone for messages. Nothing. She sighed heavily. Even by Dan’s standards, this was ridiculous. She flicked her mobile into mirror mode and slicked a fresh coat of gloss on her lips, then paused for a second as her reflection gazed back at her. Did she look different, somehow? Did her eyes have a more alive glow than usual? This job and Lucien Knight made her skin tingle with excitement and the blood flow a little faster in her veins.
“Come on Sophie. Time to roll.”
An hour or so later Lucien eased his Aston Martin into a reserved parking bay outside the newest in his chain of Gateway clubs and turned to Sophie in the passenger seat.
“This is it.”
She glanced out of the windscreen at the gleaming, low-slung building, and then turned big, apprehensive eyes to him.
“Is it open yet?”
“Not yet. It opens at eight.”
Sophie’s eyes cut to the clock on the dash. He could almost see her working out how much ‘safe time’ she had left.
He turned to face her. “Sophie. This is business. We aren’t here to play, so just relax, okay?”
He saw her throat move as she nodded and swallowed hard. She didn’t fool him for a second with her acts of bravado. She was like a kitten, brave every now and then, but mostly marshmallow. Her feisty interludes turned him on, and he wanted to push her into situations that encouraged the tigress in her to come out more often. The girl shimmered with untapped sexual potential. Her dick of a husband obviously wasn’t able to see what he could see, or he wouldn’t be swanning around the Med with some pixie-faced tramp.
The man must have rocks in his head, or else not be using his head at all. He was obviously the kind of guy who listened to his cock rather than his conscience.
He got out and opened Sophie’s car door. “Come on. I’ll give you the grand tour before it opens.”
The reception area was a world away from Sophie’s expectations. More like an upmarket spa than a club, she thought, as Lucien pointed out the changing rooms as they passed through the double doors beyond the reception area. Inside, the club opened out onto a large open plan space, opulently decked out in aubergine velvets and gilt chandeliers.
“This is the social area.” Lucien gestured at the various seating nooks, a bar, and a dance floor.
“It looks like any other club,” Sophie marvelled, surprised by the normality of the space. “Or a nicer version of a normal club.”
“I’ll take that.” Lucien nodded. “What did you expect? Something seedy? People use this area to make friends, dance, have a drink…” He shrugged.
“Just like a normal club,” Sophie said again, feeling slightly less intimidated.
“Kind of.” Lucien’s tone made her look back at him curiously, but he just shrugged again and motioned for her to head towards the open tread staircase that ran up one side of the dance floor.
She regretting going ahead of him as soon as she set foot on the stairs; he wouldn’t be able to avoid a close-up view of her backside, and Kara’s bottle green dress was cut to leave little to the imagination. She forced herself to keep climbing the steps steadily, and when she turned to him at the top he looked at her with a grin.
“What?”
He threw his hands out to the side and raised his eyebrows innocently.
“Nothing.”
Sophie narrowed her eyes at him.
“Which way next?”
Lucien placed a hand on the small of her back and urged her forwards down a corridor. The moody décor from downstairs continued up here, dark and opulently atmospheric. Each door along the corridor was closed, three on either side. Lucien reached for the first one and pushed it open, and Sophie peeped in. And then, hesitantly, stepped inside and stared.
“Okay. So this is nothing like a normal club anymore,” she murmured, taking in the huge bed area in the centre of the room and the mirrored ceiling.
“No.” Lucien’s voice was close enough to warm her neck, and his hand still scorched the small of her back. “We choose the best fittings and fixtures to make our rooms the most comfortable around.” Sophie nodded, too conscious of the fact that she was staring at a big sexy bed with Lucien to comment on the quality of the furnishings.
“Try it out. Tell me if it’s comfortable.”
Sophie gasped and shook her head.
“Don’t panic, it’s unused. This is launch night, remember?”
Sophie weighed up her options. She kind of wanted to say no, but she had to acknowledge that she kind of wanted to say yes too. She remembered her resolution to have fun today, and stepped tentatively forward towards the edge of the bed.
What would sexy Sophie do? She dropped to her knees on the edge of the mattress and crawled to the centre, then flipped onto her back and glanced up at her own reflection. She caught her breath. The woman looking back at her was nothing like the woman she usually saw. This girl was sexy, no, sexual. Rosy cheeked, blonde waves spilling over rich aubergine velvet like a fifties pin-up.
“Well?”
Lucien crossed to the bottom of the bed and gazed down at her, then reached for a button that made the whole bed vibrate. She shot up on her elbows, and he laughed, low and smutty. “Pretty cool, huh?”
The vibrations did strange things. Sophie lay back and closed her eyes, allowing the sensations to play along her spine. She pushed her body down into them, and in answer Lucien turned up the intensity. Sophie could feel her whole body melting into the bed and as she pushed her bottom down, the sensations were strong enough to radiate all the way up between her legs. She gasped involuntarily and opened her eyes, meeting Lucien’s gaze as he watched her. “Shall I turn it up again?” he asked, levelly, one knee resting on the mattress.
Sophie straightened her dress and crawled hurriedly off the bed.
“It’s, umm, very comfortable,” she managed, as she darted out of the room. Jesus Christ. What was happening to her?
She jumped as Lucien’s hand returned to the small of her back. Her skin throbbed with awareness. If he’d chosen that moment to press her against the wall, she’d have let him. And begged him for more.
He opened the doors to the rest of the rooms along the corridor one by one, but Sophie made sure to do no more than stick her head around and peep inside. Which was just as well, given that one room held a cage and shackles, plus an impressive array of whips and other sinister looking things she didn’t recognise on the wall. Another revealed a Nordic steam room, and a further one seemed quite tame by comparison, with its central pool table. Tame until Sophie’s mind offered up the idea of Lucien bending her double over it. She caught his eye and, not for the first time, she felt as if he could see the very thoughts inside her head.
As the tour continued, Sophie became familiar with the concept of playrooms for couples, swingers, singles… whatever your desire, it could be met here in these shadowy rooms.
A large spa area dominated the rear of the upstairs space, with an opulent hot tub lit with inviting stars and glittering mirrors all the way around. It was unden
iably fabulous.
“Fancy a dip?”
Sophie had to look over at Lucien to be certain he was joking. After the unexpected interlude in the first room she couldn’t be altogether sure.
“Maybe later,” she ventured, and received instant gratification from his expression of surprise. “Just kidding.” She smiled sweetly.
“That’s a shame, Princess.”
Sophie caught her breath at his casual endearment. Coming from him, this towering Viking, it was mind-numbingly sexy. She was in way over her head with Lucien Knight, and in that single moment of clarity she made a decision. If she didn’t let herself have this man, she’d spend her entire life wondering what would have happened if she had. Dan had absented himself from her in body and mind for long enough. No more.
Lucien unlocked a side door, and led her up a separate flight of stairs to his private suite on the top floor. The front area held a desk, with office paraphernalia to one side and a lounge with invitingly sumptuous sofas and a huge TV on the other. Double doors stood open at the end of the room to reveal a decadent bedroom beyond. Sophie moved silently forward to stand on the threshold, and her eyes took in the huge bed, the massive gilt-edged mirror leaning against the wall, the open door affording her a view into a hotel-style, slate tiled bathroom.
This was it.
Now or never.
CHAPTER SIX
Sophie stepped into the bedroom and sat down on the club chair nearest to the window.
Lucien leaned one strong shoulder against the door and tilted his head to one side, watching her.
She crossed her ankles and looked up at him.
“My husband is having an affair, Lucien.”
He had the grace to look genuinely shocked, then waited and watched for her to continue.
“And here’s the thing. Right at this moment, he’s God knows where with God knows who until next weekend, and I don’t think I even care.”
How good did it feel to say that? Sophie was momentarily taken aback by the strength of her relief at hearing her own words out loud. Dan had held her down with his casual disinterest for long enough. Acknowledging it was a release. Lucien crossed the room slowly, never taking his eyes off her, and sat in the chair opposite.
