Champagne Showers (18 page)

“Danielle?”

His voice shakes me out of my thoughts. “Oh yes. What?”

“I asked if you would like some juice with your breakfast.”

“Oh yes, thank you.”

“Where did you go?” He says with an amused look on his face.  It is almost as if he can read my mind.

I turn several shades of crimson. “You want the truth?” He raises his eyebrows and nods. “The talk of the whipped cream has brought back to mind recent indecent activities.” 

Just then, the door opens and Philippe brings us two places of steaming crepes with blueberries and whipped cream. I blush again.

“Thank you Philippe.” I say shyly.

He nods and then leaves us to our breakfast. I greedily eat the beautifully prepared crepes and practically lick my plate. I grab a couple pieces of bacon of the serving plate and chomp that down too. I had not realized how positively famished I am until I actually have food placed in front of me. The juice is delicious as is everything else. I look up to see Harrison has barely touched his food, but instead he is watching me intently.  Now I feel self-conscious. Oh, what a little piggy I must seem. What rude manners to devour my food in less than three minutes.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself, yesterday really worked up an appetite in me. “

“Excellent, glad to hear you have an appetite, I have quite an appetite as well. But as you can see, food doesn’t quite satisfy what I am hungry for.”

I raise my eyebrows, now this is interesting.

“What, pray tell, does satisfy your appetite?”

“You.”

Shit!  There goes that tightening in my loins again.

“Oh.”

“What do you have on your planner today? Are you still free to  play hooky and take a drive with me to Hood River for the weekend? You can see my winery. I have been wanting to re-decorate and I think I know just the person for the job.”

I forgot all about this! Of course, I want to go to his winery. Seriously, could he be any more perfect? I lose all sense of who, what, when, and why with him. I have so many valid questions for him but instead I get  dumb and caught up in the scent of him and the way he’s always seducing me without saying so much as a word. I really know very little about him. I know more about his houseman Philippe than I do about him. I make a risky decision.

“I would love to go with you, under one condition.” He raises his eyebrows and gets that smirk. “I have a lot of questions that I want you to answer. If you agree to undergo my inquisition, I will accompany you this weekend.” There I did it.

“Of course I will answer your questions, besides I have nothing to hide. Now, in order for me to skip town for the rest of the day I do have some business to attend to. Take your time, but I must take my leave. How about I pick you up around 2:30 so we can escape town before the Friday rush?”

“That sounds perfect. Anything special I should bring?”

He gives me a mischievous grin. “You don’t need to bring any clothes as I plan to have you naked all weekend, but if you feel you must, bring a few warmer things as it does start to get chilly in the evenings this time of year.” With that, he gives me a quick but passionate kiss. He locks eyes with me for a moment and then he walks out to the elevator.

My mind is racing. So much has happened that I need to digest. I don’t even know where to begin. I’m hoping that I can catch Simone sometime before I leave today to get her up to speed.

As it turns out, I do have quite a few things I need to tie up before I leave for the weekend. I get up to leave and peak my head into the kitchen to thank Philippe, but he isn’t there. Ah, he must be driving Harrison to his office. I wonder to myself if Harrison will drive us to Hood River, or if Philippe will. I also realize that I don’t actually know where Harrison’s office is. Well, add that to my list of questions. Poor Harrison, he hasn’t a clue what he’s in for.

Back at my condo, I set my things down on the floor next to my sofa. I grab my mobile phone and put it on the charger in the kitchen. It had died sometime last night while he was screwing my brains out. I laugh to myself; I love it when I allow myself to let loose and think dirty from time to time. It’s liberating. I’ve been hiding behind a librarian exterior and am now allowing my inner sex kitten to emerge. Meow.

I go back to my bedroom to change into my yoga pants and a t-shirt while I set to my domestic duties. I have about four hours before Harrison is due back to get me. I need to tidy up my apartment, do laundry and pop in to the office to take care of some business.

In my room, I notice quite a few things out of place, but I just shrug it off considering the little French man had to acquaint himself with my belongings to bring them to me this morning. Still though, something is just off. Things that he wouldn’t have had reason to bother have been disturbed. I have a place for everything and an ‘everything has its place’ kind of mentality. I haven’t dusted in about a week and in these old buildings, the dust seems to materialize quickly.  Things on my bureau have been disturbed as I can see the dust free spots where those things were originally placed. I get this prickly feeling at the back of my neck and a chill descends my spine. I’ll make sure to mention this to Harrison. I don’t want Philippe in trouble, and while I appreciate his fetching my things, I don’t like that he went through my belongings.

I continue to work on tidying up my condo and getting packed for the weekend.  My sourpuss self-conscious suggests that it is too soon to be spending so much time with a man and succumbing to being his sex slave. I tell sourpuss to shut up and mind her prude business. I hear a buzz at my door. I wasn’t expecting anyone. I go to the door and see Frank through the peephole. Just as I’m looking at him, he says in a loud voice “Danielle, it’s Frank, I have a package delivery for you.”

I unlock and open the door. There is Frank standing with a large white box tied with a big wide red satin ribbon.  As he starts to hand it to me, he gives me a quizzical look. “You’ve had a lot of comings and goings lately with all these strange people, yet I’ve hardly seen you. Everything okay?”

Ignoring his last comment, I take the package and lay it down on the counter. I walk over and grab my purse to get Frank a tip. He pokes his head through the door. “No need for that, the delivery guy gave me a generous tip. Imagine that, the delivery guy tipped
me
!”

“Frank, what did you mean all the strange people here?”

I’m only aware of Philippe, so this has my curiosity piqued.

“Well, I have a log I keep downstairs at my desk, but there was that guy the other day who was asking if you lived here.”

I interrupt, “What guy, what did he look like?”

He grumbles, “I was getting to that. He has light blonde hair and sort of greenish or maybe blue eyes. He looks kind of like one of those guys off of a soap opera or something.”

“Frank have you ever seen him here before?”

“Yeah, he’s been here a couple times. But I didn’t tell him you lived here. I told him I don’t give out information about the occupants here. He seemed really ticked off and left. The second time he came here, yesterday, he came in and saw me and then left.”

I’m guessing from Frank’s description that it was Bradley, so I feel myself relax a little.

“Then there was that little dark-haired man who came by this morning, he had a heavy accent so I couldn’t make out his name. He said he had your permission to be here and that if I had a problem with it I guess I could call his boss. He handed me a card and lo and behold it’s the owner of this building, Harrison Towers.”

What the hell? How come he hasn’t told me that he is my property owner?? Oh geeze. I don’t like this at all. It makes me feel inferior to him. Another item to add to my list of questions.

“Frank do you know if Harrison owns any other buildings around this area?”

He starts to belly laugh and looks at me with the most dumfounded expression. “What rock have you been living under? Harrison Towers Holdings owns probably half of Portland. Of course he owns more buildings in this area.” He snickers again, shaking his head.

Well Frank is right; I have been hiding under a rock.

“I appreciate the info, Frank. I have to pack for the weekend so gotta get going. Thanks so much for bringing up my package.”

“It's all in a day’s work and besides the misses says I could stand to lose a few,” he says as he pats his rounded belly.

I chuckle aloud. “But Frank you took the elevator.”

He laughs too, “Yeah, well don’t tell her that!”

I shut the door behind him and bolt the locks. My curiosity is getting the better of me so I quickly open the card attached to the box. I open the small envelope and pull out a handwritten card that reads:

Looking forward to seeing you in this

~Harrison.

Oh my, there goes the tightening of my loins and I haven’t even opened the box yet.

I tug at the red satin ribbon and it falls to the counter. I lift on the big white lid and then pull away at the iridescent tissue paper to reveal something black and lacy. I reach in and pull out the first item and it’s a lace corset with
sheer tulle and Swiss floral embroidery in black and baby pink, I see the tag says ‘Agent Provocateur’. It has panties to match and stockings attached to a garter. I notice a couple more items kind of hidden by the tissue, one is a black satin eye mask and the other is a small bottle of tasty love potion in Mandarin Orange. Aha, I was right about the flavor last night. Wow, the man is sexy and has exquisite taste. Or, did he actually have his assistant pick it out. That is yet another question to add to my list. If she picked this gift out, I’m probably going to turn crimson red every time I see her. 

The rest of my day goes without a hitch. I manage to get everything on my list marked off. I pack my overnight satchel with plenty of cute ‘weekend at the winery’ options as well as his provocative gifts. I grab my phone and notice that I have missed another one of those unknown callers. I’m really sick of these telemarketers. Note to self, on Monday get phone number on the National do not call list.

I hear a buzz at the intercom and Frank’s boisterous voice. “Danielle?” I hit the button, “Yes, Frank?” Some hot shot in a hot rod is here to pick you up. Says you’re expecting him.”

I giggle; he is a hot shot. If Frank only knew it was his boss!

“Thank you, Frank, I’ll be right down!”

I grab my things, take a look around and lock the three deadbolts. Hey, can’t be too safe!

I exit the elevator and Frank opens the front door for me and carries my bags out. I once again stop dead in my tracks. I’m becoming rather accustomed to my strange reactions to Harrison, but today he’s taken it to a new level. He’s standing there next to a black Aston Martin Vanquish. It’s the sexiest come fuck me car there is, in my book. I’m hardly aware of Frank waddling over to the car and depositing my things into the trunk. Harrison gives him what must have been a very generous tip as he practically kisses Harrison’s hand.  He bids me a wonderful weekend and disappears back into the building. He must have been flustered because he completely forgot to open my car door for me. Just as I am about to do so myself, I hear from behind me,

“Hang on Miss Austen, don’t do that, I’ve forgotten myself.” I turn to see Frank breaking out in a sweat as he waddles quickly to beat me to the car door. Once inside I look up at Frank to see beads of sweat forming above his brow and upper lip. I coo at him a thank you and assure him that it’s just fine.

He shuts my door and says something to Harrison that I can’t hear and then as he heads back into the building. Harrison hops into the driver’s seat. I feel my loins tighten and my breath hitch at the back of my throat.

He flashes me his award-winning smile and in a seductive almost whisper, he says, “Hi.”

All I can do is lean over and whisper, “Hi.” back into his ear and then he turns to me and kisses me with unbridled passion. It’s like we are star-crossed lovers who would never see each other again. He deepens his probing tongue in my mouth. He smells like something spicy and musky, but tastes like mint. I’ve always had a thing for fresh breath. I can already feel the ache building in me and I now realize that this hour-and-a-half drive to Hood River is going to be the longest ride of my life.

We break away from each other and he smirks. “You ready?”

I nod.

“Then fasten your seatbelt, you are in for a ride.”

Yeah, he isn’t kidding and I get the irony in his statement. I smile to myself. I like irony.

He’s wearing some hot dark worn jeans that fit his long and toned legs perfectly. A semi-fitted gray crew neck t-shirt and a brown leather jacket. To top it all off, he has a pair of Ray Ban Aviator shades on that make me want to take him right now in this hot car.

“You wore the right thing, you look amazing,” he says as he eyes me up and down, stopping at my cleavage with a wicked grin. After that long sex fest, I have to keep him wanting. He usually sees me in professional attire and I thought I would play it up for him. I see that he’s already enjoying the white mini skirt and matching low-cut tank. I had slathered a layer of bronzing gel onto my smooth freshly shaved legs. There’s nothing better than tan skin against a sexy white outfit. I am also wearing my Tori wedges, a long gold necklace and gold hoop earrings to top it off.