by G E Griffin
“I don't deny that’s true, which is how I know what Scott’s potentially capable of, and why I don't want to take the risk of anything untoward going on. Fully consensual sick shit is one thing. Potentially coercing a naïve young girl into it is quite another.”
“Okay, Liam. Leave it with me. I’ll find a way to get shot of him, especially if he’s been cooking the books,” Hugh promised.
~*~
I finally managed to persuade Seraphina to leave what she was doing and come for a walk with me, and so we set off to explore the local area again, which I had to confess I’d never really bothered to do up to now.
“Abbey and I had a quick look round the local market the other day, so do you mind if we head that way? There was a stall selling handmade candles, I thought I might get a couple, just in case you…if you wanted to… you know,” she blushed sweetly.
“Sure, we can go wherever you like. And if that’s your subtle way of asking if I'd like to stay the night at yours, then the answer is yes, I’d be delighted.”
“So, tonight, after this date, you’ll stay over? Even though my bed isn’t a massive oversized one like yours?”
“Yes, I’ll stay over, and I'm sure the bed will be just fine. When you travel as much as I do, you learn to sleep pretty much anywhere, but I don't think sleeping is going to be the main item on our agenda, is it?” I grinned, as I took her small hand in mine. She just smiled back shyly. I was looking forward to spending another night with Seraphina; in fact I could hardly wait. It had been a long time since I'd felt this kind of excitement and anticipation about anything.
That afternoon, I was surprised by how much fun it was browsing round the market with Seraphina, mostly because I just liked watching her. She found the stall selling the candles she wanted, and picked out a couple of pillar candles with a star design, which she seemed to think appropriate, and some scented floating candles.
“How about the ylang ylang and lavender ones, seeing as those essential oils you used in the bath smelled so wonderful,” she suggested.
“Sure, I’m happy to try them out,” I agreed, and then ignored her protests as I paid for them.
“You’re still officially a student as you haven’t actually graduated or started earning a proper wage yet, so please, let me,” I insisted, as she glared at me.
“Okay, but next time I’m paying, when I start getting my wages.”
I just smiled at her, letting her believe I’d let her if she wanted to.
As we wandered along, Seraphina seemed totally oblivious of the fact that she turned heads. She was very simply dressed, with no makeup and her hair loose, but she was still stunning. One guy literally walked into a lamp post because he couldn’t take his eyes off her. I put my arm around her waist to show that she was with me, as we chatted and laughed at some of the items for sale. There was a stall selling handmade cushions.
“Aren’t you tempted by any of these?” I teased.
“No, should I be?”
“I thought all women had an uncontrollable urge to fill a place with as many cushions as possible. That’s always been my experience, anyhow,” I elaborated
“Not me. I have one or two old favourites, but that’s it. I think maybe you’ve been mixing with the wrong type of women, Liam,” she said archly.
“You know, I think you might be onto something there. That’s why I need you to show me the errors of my ways.” I glanced down at her as we laughed together.
Next, Sera’s eye was caught by a stall selling silk scarves of every possible hue of every possible colour. My eye was caught by a couple of them – a green one and silver one, so I picked them out and wrapped the green one round her neck. As I'd thought, the green was the same shade as her eyes. It was perfect for her.
“It’s beautiful,” she agreed.
“I want you to have it, and the silver one,” I said, as I got my wallet out. I had plans for those scarves.
“Liam, you don't have to…”
“No, I don't have to, but I want to. Please, it would make me very happy if you would graciously accept these small gifts from me.”
I stared at her.
“Okay, if you insist. Thank you very much, Liam,” she finally gave way with a sigh, but she was smiling as she stretched up to kiss my cheek.
When we came across the food stalls, we sampled some cheese and some olives before deciding which ones to buy, along with some Italian tomato bread.
“We can have this with a glass of wine when we get back, before we get ready to go out,” I suggested.
“That’d be nice, although I did wonder if you wanted to stop for a coffee maybe? There’s a great little place around the corner that Abbey and I came across.”
I checked my watch – it was already past four o’clock, and we were being picked up at six.
“I don't think we have time today, but maybe next time?”
“Next time? Quite frankly I'd have thought shopping like this was the last way you’d choose to spend your time again, Liam.”
“You know, to be honest so would I up until now. But it’s been fun this afternoon. Being with you makes it fun,” I smiled at her.
And it was true. I’d never have imagined doing something like this, something rather domestic and coupley, would be pleasurable and relaxing. But it was, at least it was with Seraphina. She’d taken quite a few photos of anything that caught her eye while we were out, as well as some of me and a couple of us together. I wanted some copies of those for me to look at when I was away on business.
We headed back to my place, where I cracked open a decent bottle of red wine to have with the bread, cheese and olives, as we sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen.
“Just one small glass for me, Liam. You know I’m not good with alcohol,” Sera said.
“I know it seems to make you rather uninhibited, which under the right circumstances, I don't have a problem with,” I said, as I fed her an olive, and then gently kissed her, enjoying the savoury flavour on her lips.
“It’s embarrassing, especially if there’s music playing and I start dancing,” she replied, as she returned the favour to feed me an olive too, and then softly kissed my lips.
“It’s not embarrassing. I enjoyed your uninhibited dancing that time at the club. Do you have any idea how incredibly sexy you looked?” I fed her a sip of wine this time, lingering a little longer as I kissed her.
“I don’t exactly have great memories of that night, Liam, so I don’t know about looking sexy. It’s just that when I've been drinking, music seems to call more strongly to me, and I can't help myself. I have to go with it; I have to get up and dance.” She fed me a sip of wine and slowly kissed me back.
“Now I wish we weren’t going out so that I could feed you wine, put some sexy music on, then sit back and watch my own private dance show,” I sighed. “However, I think you’ll enjoy what I've got planned for this evening.”
“Can’t you tell me where we’re going now? I need to know what type of clothes to change into. Please?” She put her hands around my neck and kissed me again, this time just sexily flicking her tongue over my lips.
“Hell woman, if you don't stop tempting me like this, we won’t be going anywhere,” I growled, as I put my hands around her waist and pulled her to me to kiss her properly. She tasted deliciously of red wine, but I forced myself to break away.
“If you must know, we’re going out to dinner in Covent Garden, then we’re going to the theatre to see ‘Les Misérables ’.”
“That’s cool - I’ve wanted to see that for ages.” she beamed at me.
“The show has good reviews, so I hope you’ll enjoy it. As for what to wear tonight, I’d suggest something to show off those great legs of yours, just as long as it’s nothing too short. Only I get to see your legs all the way to the top.”
I'd never really considered myself a leg man until I'd met Seraphina, but hers were something else, so I loved seeing her in a skirt or dress to show them off. And
I really liked the quirky type of shoes she wore rather than boring classic stilettos that I used to think were so sexy in the typical clichéd way.
“We’d better not go swimming in a public pool then, hmm?” she teased.
“I’d just make sure you were in the water most of the time, and covered with a towel when you weren’t,” I smiled coolly. She may not have realised it, but I was being deadly serious. I didn't like other men ogling her when she was fully dressed, never mind in a tiny bikini, or even a close fitting swimsuit.
“Well, I’d better go and get ready, seeing as you said Greg was picking us up at six, didn't you?”
She gave me a final quick kiss before extracting herself from me, and I reluctantly let her go.
“Yes, he is. Go if you must, unless you want me to come and wash your back for you in the shower? Save water by showering with a friend?” I offered.
“Tempting, Liam, very tempting. But I think we both know we’d never make it out for the evening if you did that, would we?”
“I knew you were a fast learner,” I smirked. “ We need to resume your tutorials when we get back tonight. I’m afraid we’ve been getting ahead of ourselves, so we’ve some topics that have been omitted and are in urgent need of some expert one to one tutelage.”
“I’ll look forward to that, Professor,” Seraphina whispered.
“Professor? I rather like that,” I chuckled, amused by Seraphina yet again.
~*~
When I collected Seraphina for our date, she was wearing a simple V necked pale pink dress that was gathered under the bust and then flared out. It was short, but not indecently so. She was wearing nude colour strappy shoes which made her legs look a mile long.
“You look lovely,” I complemented her. “Something Abbey concocted?”
“Why thank you,” she smiled at me. “Not Abbey this time. My whole outfit is Primani.”
I frowned, as it was not a label I'd heard of, but she burst out laughing.
“It’s from Primark. You know, the ultra cheap store, heaven for hard up students. It’s considered very chic you know. The idea is to mix cheap high street staples such as Primark, with high end fashion like Armani. Except I don't have the Armani of course. It also gets called Primarche, Pradamark – you get the picture.”
I’ve always believed in buying good quality clothes, so I didn't really approve of such a cheap outfit, although I couldn't deny that it looked good on Seraphina.
“Of course you’d look sensational wearing just a bin bag, Seraphina, but you don't need to dress like a hard up student any more. We’ll go shopping and get you a whole new wardrobe, including some decent work clothes,” I stated.
“Hmm, depends what you mean by decent clothes. You see, I have a problem with ridiculous designer label prices. I think they’re outrageous, and even if I had that kind of money, I still wouldn’t pay those prices, because in my opinion they just aren’t worth it. And if you think I'm going to start wearing boring, bland, corporate black trouser suits and white blouses to the office, you’ve got another think coming. I don't do boring clothes, in case you hadn’t noticed. I accepted the Jimmy Choo shoes and the Agent Provocateur lingerie from you rather than tell you where you could shove them because I was trying to be nice and gracious, but that does not give you carte blanche to start trying to mould me or change my image, Liam, because I'm warning you now, it is not going to happen.” She stuck her chin in the air defiantly as those green eyes flashed her warning at me.
“Of course I'm not trying to change you. I like you just the way you are,” I hastily protested. “But you said yourself the whole look is about mixing in some high end pieces with the cheaper rubb… pieces, but that you hadn't got any. So all I'm saying is that I’d like to provide you with some of those better quality items. Of your choosing, of course, although I’d like to think you’d take my opinion into account.”
“Let me make one thing crystal clear, Liam. I accept that I know very little compared to you when it comes to sex, so I’m willing to let you guide me. But that’s it. You were really pushing your luck with all the Nike running gear you had sent to me, but in the spirit of trying to make things work between us, I resisted the urge to send it all back. You may be used to micromanaging every little detail of everything and everyone around you, but I will not let you take over every aspect of my life and make me into someone I am not. I’m happy in my Primark dress, and you said yourself it looked nice before you found out where it was from. I love the fact that it didn't cost me a fortune. So, you can like it or you can lump it, but you have to stop being such a label snob.”
“Okay, okay, forgive me, but I thought women liked it when their boyfriend offered to take them shopping to buy nice things. I didn't realise it was such a crime.” I held up my hands in defeat at her feisty attitude. Not that it was going to stop me from buying her whatever I wanted of course. If I wanted to see her in nice things, then I fucking well would. I'd just have to be a bit more subtle about it.
“Maybe that’s been the case with all your previous girlfriends, but I thought we’d already established that I'm not like them. I'm not impressed by money being thrown around, because it means nothing when you’ve got plenty of it. What does impress me is thoughtfulness, which was why I was happy when you took the time to pick out the Jimmy Choos for me while you were away. That’s why I accepted them; you’d noticed the kind of shoes I like, and that was very observant and thoughtful of you.”
“Seraphina, what am I going to do with you? You’ve got me all wrong. I’ve told you before, I’ve not had a proper girlfriend before, you are the first. I've never bought presents for any of my previous female acquaintances, because it was never that kind of relationship. Look, I’ve worked extremely hard to acquire my wealth, and now I'm finding it gives me great pleasure to buy you nice things, because you deserve the very best of everything. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but it’s all about scale, as you said before. What seems expensive to you, doesn’t to me, if you look at it as a percentage of what I earn. I don't deny I prefer decent quality things, because in my experience, you get what you pay for. I bet by the end of the evening those cheap Primark shoes will have given you blisters, whereas the Jimmy Choos would be comfortable to wear all night. Now come here and give me a kiss, and stop being so prickly and argumentative. ”
She frowned at me as she stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, before a smile broke through.
“How did you know I’ve got some special blister plasters in my handbag for later on in case the shoes rubbed? Have you been peeking?” As she laughed, I knew we were back on track. I took her in my arms and kissed her.
“Just relax and let me spoil you, Seraphina. It’s fun for me, and it’s meant to be fun for you too, so surely that’s a win/win situation? Look on it as bringing me back into the fold of nice, kind, generous human beings again, hmm?” I rubbed my nose against hers, and then kissed her sweet lips again.
“I’ll try, Liam. For you I will try,” she sighed.
~*~
I’d planned for us to have a nice romantic meal at Silvestre’s near Covent Garden, but somehow we ended up in fits of laughter, which was most unlike me. I put it down to Seraphina’s wicked sense of humour.
“Could the waiter be any more pretentious about the wine or suck up to you any more than he is?” she whispered, and then burst out laughing because she saw him trip up, and then pretend he hadn't.
“There were a couple reasons I picked this place. Firstly, it’s supposed to be one of the most romantic restaurants in London, but now you can’t stop giggling. Secondly, they’re meant to have one of the best wine lists, but seeing as I can only persuade you to have one small glass that’s rather wasted on you,” I said wryly. It seemed every time I tried to take her somewhere nice to impress her, things didn't go according to plan. And yet that didn't seem to stop us from having a good time.
“Well, I’ve told you what could happen if I have too much to drink.
I don't think they’d appreciate me getting up on the table here to dance, so you should be thankful.”
“Surely you would struggle to dance to this music even if I got you blind drunk?”
There was a man wandering around playing a violin in what I assumed was meant to be a romantic manner, but it just sounded like a terrible racket to me.
“Are you disputing my undoubted dancing abilities?” Sera whispered from behind her menu, just as the man came our way. I caught her eye and raised my eyebrows, as if daring her to dance.
We both started laughing, and after that, everything seemed funny, even at the theatre.
“Les Mis was very good although it was also rather sad and depressing in parts, don't you think,” Sera said on our way back from the show.
“I guess the title gives a hint about what to expect,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, I guess so. The Miserables. The music was totally amazing though. Thanks for taking me, I’ve had a great evening.” She smiled at me and squeezed my hand
I never usually found the time to go to the theatre, so I hadn’t been in a very long time, but I’d really enjoyed taking Seraphina. We’d had a great evening together, we’d laughed and joked and it had been a lot of fun.
Fun. A concept I wasn’t very familiar with these days, but being with Seraphina was certainly changing all that.
~*~
When we got back to Seraphina’s place, I suggested we finish off the bottle of wine I’d brought over earlier.
“You like your wine, don’t you? I take it you're a bit of a connoisseur?” Seraphina commented.
“I know what I like. Naturally I’d rather drink a decent wine than some cheap nasty rubbish.”
“I know nothing about wine, except that it makes me drunk and gives me a headache the next day.”
“That’s what cheap plonk does for you. Cheap wine has chemical additives that give you a far worse hangover. Here, try a glass of this. I think you’ll enjoy it, even if you don't appreciate the finer points of wine tasting, which I won’t bore you with. Just trust me that this is a decent wine.”
