The Temptress (21 page)

Well that was the plan, but how often did plans
work out as expected? Last night had been the perfect example of that. I moved
to my desk and fired up my computer, opening my email and scanning down them
quickly, I always started with new cases. I suddenly stopped scrolling and went
back up to a message I’d discounted, but something in the subject heading drew
my attention.

Subject:       Six years and yet you slip
through my fingers again ma belle.

I swallowed hard, “ma belle” was Luc’s pet name
for me,
my beauty.
I opened the email, noticing it had been sent not
long after I’d jumped in the car with Mike last night.

I cannot understand what has just happened
this evening. I am frustrated and confused. You cannot deny that we still have
something, no one who feels nothing kisses the way you just did. But then you
run from me. Again. Do not make me wait another six years for an explanation, I
have exhausted a million lifetimes of patience on you already. I need answers,
I need to talk to you. I need you to talk to me. You now know my mobile and
office numbers, as well as my private and office email. There is no excuse.
Even if you too are married, a happy woman does not kiss another man with the
passion that you kissed me. I do not take either a husband or your running as a
sign to give up. I take it as a challenge. If you don’t contact me, somehow I
am going to find you. I gave up too easily last time, not again. We still have
chemistry Lulu, married or not, I just want a chance to find out what that
means. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about you, about our
perfect day and night together. A man cannot live on fantasy alone. I await
your response, ma belle. Toujours ma belle. Personne n’a jamais compar
é
à
vous, dans mes r
êves ou dans ma vie. Luc x

I quickly blotted my eyes with a tissue from a
box on my desk. “Always my beauty. No one ever compared to you, in my dreams or
in my life,” he’d written. God damn him.
God damn her,
for putting me
back in his path. I’d been happy. I was doing fine until she thrust him back
into my life. I let out of snuffly sigh. Who was I kidding? Much as I had a
great working life, the trappings that my success afforded me, a beautiful
little boy, amazing friends and family, I wasn’t fine. I didn’t have Luc in my
life. He was the one thing that was missing to make my life perfect.

I was sitting with Sandra, going over the
payroll figures to see if we could fund an IT expert, when there was a knock at
the door.

‘Come in,’ I called, giving her an apologetic
smile.

‘Can someone get the door,’ came Violet’s
voice.

‘Let me, you need to rest that knee of yours,’
Sandra scolded with a pointed finger, as I went to stand up.

‘It’s like being at work with twenty of my
mothers,’ I laughed, as I settled myself back in my chair. I looked up as
Violet entered with a huge bouquet of orange and yellow roses from Parkers
florists. My heart sank. I thought Greg had understood that we were over.

‘I’ll give you a minute and make some coffee
for us both,’ Sandra smiled and disappeared.

‘Biggest bouquet
ever
, Lulu,’ came
Violet’s voice from behind the sprays. It was so large I couldn’t even see her.
‘I’ll put them on your console table behind you, or you’ll never get any work
done with these taking over your desk.’

‘Greg?’ I sighed.

‘I do many things for you, but opening personal
cards on beautiful flowers isn’t one of them,’ she retorted, with a tut.
‘There, I’ll leave you in peace, call me in when you and Sandra are done, I’ve
had a few ideas.’

‘You always do, Violet, that’s why I love you
so much,’ I grinned. She blushed, she was never good at taking praise. I waited
until she shut the door and spun around in my chair to smell the flowers. They
really were gorgeous, the colours were so rich and vivid. I plucked out the
card, wondering what Greg had come up with this time.

‘God damn it!’ I moaned, as I grabbed another
tissue. ‘Stop making me cry you … smooth philandering Frenchman. You’re
married!’

I reached out and caressed one of the petals between
my finger and thumb, they were so soft, like velvet. So orange signified
passion and desire? Well it definitely wasn’t one sided. And now it seemed he
knew where to find me, it was only a matter of time before I had to face up to
what that meant.

Lulu

‘Champagne’s on me,’ I confirmed, as we headed to
the upmarket gay bar, Krave. I was deliberately wearing trousers, my knee
looked like it had gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson, so a sexy little dress or
skirt wasn’t going to cut it tonight. I’d teamed a pair of white skinny jeans
with an emerald silk blouse and matching green heels and clutch. Coco was
looking gorgeous in her flapper style black dress, with black heels and a load
of her designer silver jewellery and Dom, well Dom rocked anything he wore. He
was in distressed dark jeans with a white shirt, navy waistcoat and topped off
with a trilby. He drew attention straight away and Coco and I smiled at each
other. It felt good to be out, I’d never been so relieved to have a Friday come
around in my life. It had been the week from hell and I had a feeling until I
let them both grill me tonight, to a crisp, the worst of it wasn’t over.

‘I’ll secure a booth,’ Coco nodded. ‘Do you have
one of those UV black lights in your bag?’

‘Noooo,’ I replied. ‘It’s not exactly one of my
go to
handbag items.’

‘It should be, who knows what we’ll be sitting
in,’ she sighed, as she headed off to secure us a seat.

‘Please,’ yelled Dom after her. ‘Like straight
people don’t fuck in clubs. Well they do,’ he protested as I narrowed my eyes
at him. ‘Use one of those devices anywhere and I’ll warrant she wouldn’t ever
sit down again.’

‘Are you going to behave until Calvin gets here
later?’ I asked, as I tried to attract the barman’s attention.

‘Like bending over showing your cleavage is
going to work in here, sis,’ Dom laughed as he snatched the notes out of my
hand. ‘Go and sit down, I’ve got this,’ he winked. He put his fingers in his
mouth and did a shrill whistle and in seconds three barmen were fighting over serving
him. I laughed and kissed his cheek and headed over to join Coco.

I liked it in here, it was very modernistic,
all black, gold and silver, with exquisite chandeliers, mirrors everywhere and
fantastic music. Even better, no straight men to harass me. I was all maxed out
on men at the moment. Greg had been ringing, trying to convince me to give him
another try and had sent another bouquet, one was arriving from Luc every day
too, I could open my own florist shop for the amount of flowers in my office at
the moment. I’d also been on tenterhooks all week, expecting Luc to turn up at
the office demanding to be let inside to see me. I’d never felt so stressed.
Tristan seemed to have picked up on my state of mind as well, as he’d become
extra loving, not wanting to leave my side. It had even been a chore to
convince him he’d have a fun weekend with his grandparents, given I was out
tonight and we had the Eloise’s wedding tomorrow. I decided tonight was the
night I was going to let my hair down and get drunk. If I was sober tomorrow, I
could head over to pick up Tristan early and spend Sunday with him. I squeezed
into the white leather booth next to Coco.

‘So, give me some news, good news, I’m in
desperate need,’ I confirmed.

‘I have an interview with a jewellery firm next
week,’ she offered with a shrug.

‘Well I was thinking more along hot men, hot
sex, but that’s amazing,’ I replied, giving her hand a squeeze. ‘I had no idea
you were looking for a job.’

‘I wasn’t,’ she replied, with a shake of her
head. ‘I earn good money from my one off pieces, but it’s not exactly
challenging me, you know how much free time I have. They approached me,
apparently the wife of the guy who owns the chain has a few of my pieces and
mentioned it to him. Their head designer left recently to go and work abroad,
so they were after someone to take her place.’

‘Head designer? Wow! That’s amazing. Which
chain?’

‘Havershams,’ she muttered, with a hint of a
blush to her cheeks.

‘Way to bury the lead,’ I gasped. Havershams
were up there with Boodles as one of the world’s foremost and finest jewellery
houses. ‘Head designer at Havershams? O my God, Coco. I’m so proud of you.’

‘I haven’t got it yet.’ She rolled her eyes,
but her face went even more pink.

‘Please, with your talent, they should be
begging you, not asking you to interview. Good package?’

‘
Amazing,
’ she grinned. ‘And I’d be
based in Knightsbridge, not far from your office or home. I may even think
about moving closer too.’ She burst out laughing as I clapped.

‘Ok, what did I miss, you know that I love the
gossip,’ Dom asked, as he slipped in opposite with three champagne flutes and a
barman put the champagne bucket in front of us.

‘Coco’s only going to be Havershams next head designer,’
I nodded proudly.

‘Might be,’ she laughed. ‘I’m not the only one
interviewing.’

‘In. The. Bag. Girlfriend,’ Dom exclaimed and
gave her a hug and kiss on the temple. ‘Way to go, girl. This really is cause
for celebration. You landing a high profile job, me on week two with a
boyfriend and Lulu finding her French Prince Charming again, who I’m dying to meet.’

‘He’s
not
my Prince Charming,’ I
corrected with a scowl. ‘He’s someone else’s husband.’

‘And your baby’s daddy. He’s not exactly
happily married if he’s kissing you and sending you flowers,’ Dom retorted with
an equally fierce scowl.

‘Ok, what the hell did I miss this week?’ Coco
demanded. ‘Talk about burying the lead. I had no idea you’d even seen him
again.’

‘Sorry, it was a shock to me too, it only
happened on Monday and things since then have been crazy. I needed some time to
get my head around it all.’

‘Well dish, start to finish please.’

‘No,’ interrupted Dom. ‘I need to know what
decision she’s made, I’ve lived this all bloody week. I need answers. Now.’

‘I need details, no way is she dishing the good
stuff without me having the backstory,’ Coco argued, then gave me a
disapproving glare. ‘I can’t believe something this momentous happened and you
didn’t call me?’

‘I’m sorry, I told you I needed some time. Dom,
it’s not fair that she doesn’t know, why don’t you go and order some nibbles for
us while I fill her in?’

‘No way, this is award winning soap opera style
drama, I’m reliving it all again. Start to finish, but no trying to weasel your
way out of the conclusion. I’m off to New York next week for a shoot, I don’t
want you trying your stall tactics on me too. Dish.’

‘Yes, dish the dirt, the nibbles can wait. I
can’t believe I just said that,’ she uttered, after a considered pause. ‘You
know me and my appetite.’

‘Thought your arse was looking a bit fat in
that dress,’ teased Dom and earned himself an arm punch. I sighed and relived
it all again, with many interruptions from Coco, asking me questions I still
didn’t have answers to. ‘So, now the juicy stuff, what are you going to do?’

‘I’ve arranged a meeting with his wife on
Monday morning to try to get some answers and I’ll tell her that evidence of an
affair is all I’m prepared to offer,’ I confirmed.

‘Hang on a moment, what if that affair is you?’
Coco asked.

‘What do you mean?’ I looked at her surprised.

‘Please, you’ve already kissed, within an hour
of seeing each other again, you’ve got that special
Luc
glow again, like
you had for weeks after you first met him and he’s sending you flowers saying
you’re the woman he wants? If you last ten minutes without jumping each other’s
bones at your next meeting I’d be surprised.’

‘For once I’m with Coco here,’ Dom nodded,
making my jaw drop as she grinned and high fived him. They
never
agreed
on anything. They constantly bickered. ‘It’s inevitable that you’re going to
fuck again, this is the one man who melted your resolve and got you to break
your one year sex rule.’

‘One year, ha! Nice one,’ chuckled Coco,
slapping his hand in the air again.

‘Three months,’ I protested. ‘And you’re a fine
one to talk, Coco. When’s the last time you had sex?’

‘Touché,’ she mumbled. ‘But I think Tristan is
proof enough that you don’t exactly have a lot of willpower around this guy.’

‘He’s married,’ I protested weakly.

‘Not happily, that’s for sure. No affairs to
date and he’s gone on record saying what you mean to him. So where do you stand
on the feelings part?’ Dom asked as he topped up our glasses and clicked his
fingers to order another bottle. We’d already got through two and I was feeling
squiffy.

‘I want him,’ I moaned, as I put my head in my
hands. ‘So badly it hurts.’

‘So, you need to meet with him and talk, after
the hot sex of course,’ Coco said gently as she rubbed my back.

‘You make it sound so easy. His wife wants to
ruin him, I can’t have a part in that. Then there’s Tristan, how do I see the
father of my son and say nothing.’

‘You’re not going to tell him,’ Dom gasped,
making me drop my hands and look up at him.

‘Not yet. Everything’s so complicated and I barely
know the man remember? I’d want to at least meet him a few times and get to
know him properly. I mean, what if he wants to be a part of Tristan’s life?
It’s just been the two of us for the last five years, what if Luc wants to
apply for joint custody? It would break my heart. Especially if the two of us
can’t be friends, if we don’t even get on.’

‘Then I say that you need to see his wife, find
out what’s going on and tell her you won’t be pursuing him with a view to
tempting him, then turn up at the hotel on Monday night and talk to him, find
out what he expects from you. If he wants to see you, you have to tell him he’s
being investigated, that you’ve refused to be complicit in his wife’s attempts
to catch him out, but you’d like to get to know him better as friends. No sex
until he resolves things with his wife,’ Coco suggested, with a look at Dom for
his approval.

‘I agree, with the exception of meeting at the
hotel. For one it’s too easy for you to slip upstairs to his suite and have
wild monkey sex, plus if this woman is as crafty as you think, what’s to say
that she’s not already had his suite under surveillance and she’s waiting to
catch the two of you together?’

‘I’m not having wild monkey sex, thank you very
much,’ I chastised, but the thought of Luc’s skilled fingers, mouth and
that
cock working on me was heady. It had been a long time since I had anything
that could even be classed as “good” sex, let alone the type of sex I’d had
with him all that time ago. Dom was right though, maybe she’d hired me to lull
me into a false sense of security, I’d think I had the only cameras, when all
along she intended for the two of us to get together. ‘Damn it. Why is it so
hard?’ I groaned. ‘Why couldn’t I be attracted to some hot single guy?’

‘You were back then and you ran away from him,’
Coco gently reminded me. ‘And it sounds like he begrudgingly moved on.’

‘I don’t want to be the woman who splits up a
marriage, Coco.’

‘If he was happily married with sproglets of
his own with her, I’d say steer clear, sis. But he’s not, he’s in a marriage of
convenience, a sexless marriage, with a bitch. Don’t be so hard on yourself. If
two people are meant to be, nothing will keep them apart. Speaking of, my hot
boy toy du jours has just arrived,’ he winked, with a wicked glint in his eye.
‘Mind if he joins us?’

‘I don’t mind at all, I’m all talked out,’ I
sighed. ‘What about you Coco? You’ve hardly had a chance to get a word in
edgeways.’

‘Trust me, my life is so boring compared to you
two, you’ve heard all of my news. I say bring him over, let’s have a bit of fun
and laughter, before we hit the dance floor and enjoy this outrageously
fabulous music,’ she grinned, doing a little jive in her seat to Respect and
Hannah Jones’s version of
I am what I am
which had sent all the men on
the dance floor crazy.

‘“Why not try to see things from a different
angle,”’ Dom sang in my face, laughing as he got up and disappeared to see
Calvin.

‘Well I have to say Dom and I have never been
more in tune,’ Coco smiled, with a shake of her head. ‘You need to meet Luc.
See how it goes, there’s no rush. But I think you know that eventually you need
to let him know about Tristan, no matter how much it may hurt you, if he wants
to be part of his life you don’t have a choice.’

‘I know,’ I sighed, resigned to the fact. I’d
never wanted to keep Luc and Tristan from meeting, but it was scary and it
needed to be carefully considered and planned. Dom was the one who rushed
things, not me. I smiled as I saw him weaving through the crowds, holding the
hand of a very good looking blond guy with dark brown eyes. ‘Trust Dom to find
the best looking guy in the club to date,’ I whispered to Coco. Neither of us
had met him yet.

‘It’s so not fair,’ she moaned, as her eyes
roved over his face and body. ‘He’s just my type as well.’

‘Except for the whole prefers cock thing,’ I
laughed.