Starr Destined (Starr Series) (30 page)

“Yes, but…  I was worried because…” he glanced at Kimberley’s receding figure.

“Oh, you thought we were having some sort of a cat fight in there, is that it?”  I laughed.  “Well, you can rest easy.  Turns out your Kimberley’s more interested in becoming Mother Earth than scratching my eyes out.”

“She’s not ‘my Kimberley’ and never was,” he corrected me.

“Whatever.  Just don't be surprised if you get asked to be a godfather by your friend Martin in the not too distant future,” I predicted.

“What?  Are you trying to tell me that Kimberley’s pregnant?” he gasped.

“No, and keep your voice down, Liam.  She’s not pregnant yet, but the second they’ve walked down the aisle together, it’ll be all systems go, apparently.  He wants a son and heir and she’s happy to provide him with one.  Happy days all round.”

Somehow I couldn’t imagine Liam wanting to get involved in their game of happy families.

I don't deny
I got a real kick out of spoiling Seraphina.  Buying her nice clothes, taking her to the best restaurants, giving her presents.  So when it came to her twenty-second birthday on the last Saturday in August, I took great delight in spoiling her even more than usual. 

At breakfast, I gave her a little gift box, and when she opened it,  she discovered the keys to a brand new BMW Mini Cooper, which was waiting for her in the car park downstairs.

“Liam, are these what I think they are?” she asked in apparent disbelief, as she slowly turned the keys over in her hand, and stared at the Mini logo.

“I guess that depends
on what you think they are.”

“Car keys, obviously.” 

“Well, why don't we go and find out if you’re right?” 

I led Sera downstairs to where the bright blue Mini was sat with a big white bow round it.  Despite her protests that it was way far too expensive for a birthday present, I could tell straight away that she fucking loved it - and I fucking loved the way her face lit up with excitement.  I got such a kick out of seeing her so happy, and I think that was why she accepted the car without too much fuss.  She could tell I was getting as much pleasure, if not more, out of her gift than she was, and didn't want to disappoint me.

“This is way too much, Liam,” she still tried to protest, even as she lovingly stroked the bonnet of the car.  

“Why?  What’s the big deal?  You needed a car - now you have one.  Beats getting the bus or tube, doesn't it?  Especially when I'm away and not around to drive you to work.  You should’ve had a car as part of your package when I offered you the job at SCV, so I’m just rectifying an oversight on my part.”  I stood watching her, with a stupid big fat grin on my face.  “I hope you like the metallic blue colour - I thought you’d probably appreciate something brighter than I have f
or my cars, but if you hate it…”

“No!  I love it, especially with the white roof and bonnet stripes.  I’ve always loved Minis and this one is
sooo
cute!”  Sera couldn’t contain her glee as she clapped her hands together, and I was chuffed that it seemed I’d made the right choice for her.  I couldn’t imagine she’d ever been spoilt in this way for any of her previous birthdays, so now I was determined to make up for it, because my sweet girl deserved the best of everything.   

“Good.  Get in and I’ll talk you through the controls.  It must be a while since you’ve driven, so I’ll sit in with you the first few times you go out in it, just while you're getting familiarised and confident about driving again,” I offered.

She blipped the key fob for us to get in - the Mini was quite a tight squeeze for someone of my build, but I didn't mind.  I was just happy to bask in her excitement as she adjusted the seat and the mirror, and then babbled on about how the car had a wonderful new car smell, how everything was so pristine and perfect, unlike the old bangers she’d driven in the past. 

“It’s bit scary though, because I don't want to spoil this beautiful new car in any way,” she worried.  “What if I prang it?”

“Then we’ll just get it fixed for you.  No big deal,” I shrugged, knowing only too well from past experience with Jamie that most scrapes and knocks could be fixed easily enough, as long as you were prepared to pay.

“Liam, this car is a totally
amazing
birthday present.  What on earth am I going to get you for your birthday to match this?” she sighed.

“That’s easy.  You already know what I want more than anything else.”  I pulled her hand over to kiss the third finger of her left hand.  “My birthday is at Christmas, so that means you’ll have to give me an extra special present.  And we’ll have been together for over six months by then, so I think I’ll have been very patient.”

“You never give up, do you?” she muttered as she frowned at me.  “I wouldn’t put it past you to be in cahoots with Nana either - every week when I ring she asks if we’ve set a date yet.” 

“Your grandmother is a very wise old woman.  You really should listen to her,” I smiled.  Having her family’s approval certainly made my life easier, as it was one less objection to getting married Sera could come up with.

I offered to drive Sera’s new car when we went out for the day, but she insisted she’d be fine and that she’d always loved driving.  So I somewhat reluctantly took the passenger seat while she drove us out to Windsor, which was where she wanted to spend her birthday.  Apparently, she knew it well, because it wasn’t that far from where she’d grown up in the suburbs of London. 

“Mum and I used to enjoy having a day out in Windsor, walking along by the river, or having a pi
cnic in The Great Park.  We’d look up at the funny little slit windows of the castle, and wonder if any of the royals were taking a sneaky peak out at us minions below, or if they sneaked out in disguise and pretended to be just ordinary folk.  I’ve never envied them their lives in the slightest - what’s the point of being so rich if you have to live your life in a fishbowl the way they do?” she happily chatted as she drove. 

At first, I had to resist the urge to tell her to concentrate on the road, but gradually I managed to relax once I saw that she wasn’t such a bad driver, and I had to admit I was pretty impressed when she effortlessly reverse-parked into a tight space in the tiny car park she headed to.  In my exper
ience, most women are fucking useless at parking - it’s not their fault, it’s just the way their brains are wired, and it’s a recognised fact that women’s brains have much poorer spatial awareness than men’s do.  But as usual, Sera defied the norm.

We spent the morning wandering around Windsor, and as we browsed round a little old antique shop we came across down one of the little cobbled side streets, I noticed she kept looking at a necklace she’d spotted in one of the display cabinets.  I called the dealer over to get it out for her to take a closer look.  

“I’ll buy it for you for your birthday,” I offered, as I could see she really liked it.

“Liam, you’ve already spent far too much on me,” Sera protested.

The dealer hurriedly intervened, obviously not wishing to lose out on a sale.

“It’s your birthday?”  he asked.  Sera nodded.  “Well, in that case this necklace would make a perfect present.  You see, that’s a Peridot in the centre, which is the birthstone for August.  They’re som
etimes called evening emeralds, because of their lustrous green colour, and they are said to ward off evil.  And those are genuine pearls surrounding it.  It’s a very nice piece,” he explained, as he produced a mirror for her to see what it would look like on.

“Do you like it?”  I asked.

“Well, yes, but...”

“I could do you a special price, seeing as it’s the young lady’s birthday,” the dealer wheedled.  “It is a very unique piece. Edwardian.  Set in platinum.  You don’t see craftsmanship like that these days.
”

As I watched her trying it on, I thought how great it would look if that was
all
she was wearing.  Just the necklace.  Nothing else. 
Fuck.
  Decision made.

“We’ll take it.”

“An excellent choice, if I may say, sir.  I’ll just give it a quick clean for you,” he beamed, as he disappeared towards the back of the cluttered shop.

“I thought you were good at doing deals.  Shouldn’t you at least have haggled with him, you know, knocked him down a bit?”  Sera whispered.

“Oh, I think it’s going to be worth every penny,” I murmured, thinking about getting Sera naked, and then making use of the special present that was being delivered to my place while we were out. 
How soon could we leave?

“Well, thank you very much, Liam.  It really is gorgeous.” Sera smiled and stretched up to kiss my cheek.

“Just a little gift that’ll make a nice memento of our first birthday celebration together - the first of many,” I smiled.  “You could wear it now - it goes well with your dress.” 
For now.

Sera was wearing a pretty floral summer dress and strappy sandals, and for once the weather was as it should be for August - warm and sunny.  I was wearing my favourite washed out jeans, with a pale blue linen shirt that Sera had picked out for me to wear -
she always seemed to like me wearing blue for some reason.  At least she never tried to get me into anything pink - I don't do pink.  Jamie would disagree, but real men just don't wear pink in my opinion.

As we stepped out into the bright sunlight, we both put our Ray-Bans on.  I’d recently bought them for Sera to replace the cheap nasty pair she had, and now she was appreciating how much better they were.  Finally, I was beginning to get through to her that some quality items were definitely worth investing in, but even so, I couldn’t imagine she would ever be careless with money.  Thanks to her upbringing, being frugal was too ingrained in her nature for her to be any other way, and I realised it was going to take a long time for her to acclimatise to the fact that she didn't have to scrimp and save, or worry about every little penny.

We had lunch in The House on The Bridge, which unsurprisingly was on the edge of the bridge over the River Thames that divides Eton and Windsor - hence the name.  I’d booked us a table there after Sera had said her mother always considered it to be the classiest restaurant in the area, but that they’d never actually eaten there as it was far too expensive for them. 

“We just had to satisfy ourselves with looking at the menu and gazing in through the windows,” she’d told me. 

Now I made sure we had the best table in the place for our lunch.

“Are you having a nice birthday?”  I asked, as we sat by the window overlooking the river, in the shadow of Windsor Castle.

“The best,” she smiled, as she reached over to squeeze my hand.  “Thank you for making this such a special day, Liam.”

“It’s my pleasure, seeing as you make every day special for me, Sera” I told her as I gazed into those gorgeous green eyes of hers, highlighted by the green of the Peridot necklace.  “I can't believe I ever thought I was happy and contented before I met you, and I don't ever want to go back to the kind of life I had back then.”

“Well, you don’t have to - especially if you keep spoiling me like this,” she teased, as she toyed with her new necklace.  “But seriously, Liam, you do know I’m not just after your money?  You believe me when I say I’m not with you just because you keep buying me all these expensive gifts?”

“Sera, if anything, I’d say that’s gone against me at times.  I really don't think anyone could ever a
ccuse you of being a woman who’s easily bought,” I laughed. 

“Finny could.  He thinks I’ve lost my artistic soul by ‘shacking up’ with you, as he put it,” she sighed, as she toyed with her plate of food.  She’d opted for the sea bass, while I’d gone for the rib eye steak.  Actually, I thought the food in this place was decidedly average, and the service wasn’t that great either, but I made no comment, not wishing to spoil Sera’s impression that this was the best restaurant in Windsor.  However, I wouldn’t be bringing her here again - she deserved better. 

She looked so beautiful sitting opposite me, and as usual, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.  She’d scooped her hair up into a simple ponytail, but some rebellious little curls had escaped, as they always did, and I couldn’t resist reaching over to tuck them back - really it was just an excuse to touch her in some way.  But I'd noticed that Sera did this too - she’d often reach up to brush some imaginary piece of fluff out of my hair, and then her fingers would linger, combing through my hair.  We just had this need to touch and be in contact with each other, and the pull between us was so strong, that even just sitting together there in the restaurant, a simple light touch between us was enough to make me want to take her to bed.  I subtly tried to look at my watch, wondering how soon we could leave.  Andrew had sent me a text to confirm the surprise had arrived, so I knew it was ready and waiting for us.

“Finbarr is just trying to make you feel guilty because he’s a sore loser.  He doesn't want to accept that what we have is the real thing, so he’s looking for another reason, an excuse to explain why you would choose me over him.  And he really has the biggest chip on his shoulder that I've ever come across.  So he’s biased and I wouldn’t worry too much about what he thinks.”