“What?” Natalie asked, her brow wrinkling cutely.
“I don’t want you to go with him,” I said.
She didn’t say anything, only stared at me, chewing on her bottom lip—hardly sexy in this circumstance. Dark eyes shone with questions and unexpressed emotion. Of course, she looked confused. I’d ambushed her the day before she left.
“Natalie, I might be in love with you,” I admitted before I could fully process what I was saying. “Maybe for a while, and I can’t just let you leave town with some guy without telling you.”
Her eyes had been bright before, but now they shone with unshed tears, and I could see the effort she was putting into keeping her lips compressed so they wouldn’t tremble.
“Why are you telling me this now?” she asked, quiet and subdued.
“Because—”
“Why now, Marcus!?” Natalie repeated, much less subdued this time.
“I—”
“You felt this way while with Jessica, didn’t you?”
I was reluctant to admit it. “Yeah.”
“Then why didn’t you break up with her and ask me out a month ago?”
If I was being honest, it was because I would have felt like an asshole for ending my relationship with Jessica to pursue another girl. However, if I was being really honest with myself, it was because I’d been too much of a coward to ruin a relationship born of comfort and convenience. With Jess, I got my dick wet and filled my intimacy meter regularly. Ending that in pursuit of someone I wanted only to have it not work out had been too much of a risk for old Marcus.
“I would have said yes,” Natalie said before I had a chance to decide how honest I wanted to be with her. “Fuck, I liked you, Marcus. Way before you had money!”
God, that felt good to hear. “Then why did you jump in bed with this other guy? We were just starting something—”
“Because I like him, too, Marcus,” Natalie yelled. “I like him, and he doesn’t come with all the confusing extra baggage you come with.”
“Extra baggage?” I asked.
“The other women,” Natalie said. She counted them off one finger at a time, “Helen. Your assistant. Danielle. That cute little brunette.”
Cute brunette? I wasn’t sure who she was talking about.
“And don’t even get me started on Bobbi and that fucked-up situation.”
“You were—”
“I’ve never considered myself a jealous woman, Marcus, but this is a whole other level. Tyler isn’t doing whatever you’re doing with all these women. He’s living a normal life. He has a normal job, and we go on normal dates. He doesn’t have a harem, and I don’t work for him.”
There wasn’t real heat in Natalie’s gaze despite her raised voice. There was more sadness than anything, and I realized that I’d really fucked up my chance by not going after Natalie sooner. She genuinely looked hurt.
“Natalie…” I said. I needed to navigate this minefield carefully if I had any chance of keeping this from blowing up in my face. “I would have given all that up for you. Why didn’t you say anything?”
Clearly, that was the wrong thing to say. If Natalie could shoot lasers from her eyes, I was sure I’d be a blackened corpse right about now.
“Why didn’t you say anything a month ago, Marcus!” she shouted. “Fuck! I gave you enough signs!”
“I—”
“Why now?” Natalie asked.
“What?”
“Why are you telling me this now? I’ve been dating this guy for a few weeks. You had plenty of chances. You could’ve told me not to date him the moment I said anything! Instead, you just rolled over and accepted it. You didn’t fight back at all! So what’s changed? Why now?”
I’d always been a straight shooter with Natalie, so I decided to keep it that way. “Danielle asked me to be in a relationship with her.”
Natalie huffed. “Congratulations.”
“I should take her up on it,” I confessed. “But… you sent me that message about leaving, and I couldn’t stop thinking about you going away with someone else. I hated it.”
Natalie crossed her arms across her chest, pushing her impressive breasts together and giving me a lot of caramel-colored cleavage to look at. I wanted to take a chance to appreciate the view, but I did my best to stay focused.
“Danielle’s offered me an open relationship,” I admitted.
“Sounds like quite the gal,” Natalie said, her voice tinged with ice.
“She told me there was only one person who would be off limits,” I hurriedly continued so I could get to the point of the story. “It was you.”
That took her entirely by surprise. “Me? What the fuck? Why?”
“She could tell how much I liked you,” I said.
“We met once,” Natalie said.
I shrugged. “That was enough, I guess.”
Turning to pace around the room, Natalie sighed. “Marcus… god. You haven’t done me any favors here.”
“I know,” I said, “But if this isn’t what you want, just say so.”
“Part of me does want it, you idiot!” Natalie snapped, stopping mid-step to glare at me.
A swell of hope blossomed in my chest. “Really?”
“Yes!”
“Then just stay here with me. I’m going out to my grandpa’s place this weekend.” I closed the distance between us and reached up to place my hands on either side of Natalie’s face. She let me.
God, she was gorgeous. Her high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes suggested the influence of her Native American background. At the same time, her plush lips and coffee complexion were inherited from the African American side of her family. Besides being exotically stunning, she was level-headed and had a good heart. I wanted desperately to whisk her away to some distant location, fall asleep with her in my arms, and wake up every morning to see her wearing one of my shirts. I enjoyed the mental image of her sitting cross-legged on my bed in one of my button-downs, sipping from a coffee mug as she suffered from a severe case of bedhead.
“Come with me. It’ll be just the two of us for the entire weekend.”
Eyebrows canted in concern, she looked up at me with those big brown eyes of hers, and tears began to well up in her eyes. “Marcus…”
Her voice was filled with emotion, and before she could get out whatever she was about to say, I pressed my lips to hers. It wasn’t full of fire or passion; it wasn’t about sex. This kiss contained all the concentrated emotions of nearly a year of admiring and adoring her. I didn’t try to invade her mouth with my tongue, nor did she, but her lips worked back against mine after a moment’s hesitation, and I felt her hands tentatively grasp my hips, then slide up my sides to my chest. Her fingers pressed into my muscles, massaging them slightly. Then she gently pushed me away until our lips parted. I still held her face in my hands, stroking her cheeks with my thumbs as we stared into each other’s eyes.
“Marcus…” her tongue darted across her lips, wetting them. A tear slipped free and slid down her cheek. “God… I want to say yes,” she breathed.
“Then say it,” I said.
“I’m going with Tyler.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. “Why?”
“Please just…”
“Why?”
“Because he asked, and he’s been so sweet to me. Because I like him, and he deserves a chance.”
I opened my mouth to protest… to ask her to just give us a chance, but Natalie cut me off.
“Please don’t. This is already hard enough, but…” She pushed me away enough so that my hands slipped from her face and wrapped her arms around herself defensively as she looked at the floor. Her eyes studied the office’s carpet for the next few moments while I simply watched, trying to find the magic words that would change her mind.
Finally, her gaze returned to me, “This is what I want.”
No magic words came to mind. “You said I didn’t fight for you last time,” I said, trying my damnedest to keep from tearing up.
Shaking her head, Natalie looked away from me and said, “It’s too late for that.”
The tension in the air was suffocating as she stared into the middle distance while I waited for an answer to spring to life in my head. After nearly five minutes of silence, I nodded. “Okay.”
A few minutes later, I climbed into the back of the SUV and shut the door behind me with a dark cloud hanging over my head. Maybe I hadn’t gone into Marduke with complete confidence that Natalie would fall in my arms, but I’d thrown it all out there and felt like she’d nearly chosen me. Being so close to having her and letting her slip through my fingers hurt… a lot.
The SUV lurched in motion toward my apartment, where my chopper was being prepped for the golf course. I had my ‘date’ with Astrid but was no longer in the mood for it; sliding my phone from my pocket, I considered texting her to cancel our plans. Deep down, part of me hated doing that. She seemed like a genuinely cool person that I’d like to get to know better.
“Hey, boss?”
I looked up to see Erin sitting on the bench seat opposite me, watching me with concern.
“Yeah?”
“Mind if I take off the assistant hat for a few minutes and wear the friend hat?”
I sighed and stared out the window as I watched pedestrians whiz by. “I guess.”
“I think you should tell Danni about this.”
Having expected some sort of platitude or other form of sympathy, her words took me by complete surprise. “What?”
Erin inhaled deeply, almost as if she were getting ready for a fight. “Danni’s an amazing woman.”
“I know that,” I said.
“She really likes you. I mean really likes you… enough that she’s willing to share you if that’s what it takes to be in a relationship. That’s huge for any young woman as infatuated as she is.”
“Yeah,” I said, already aware of where she was going with this.
“She only had one stipulation—Natalie.”
Of course Erin knew all the details; she and Danni were friends. It’s how we met, so it made sense that Danielle would have filled her in on all the gory details of our conversation about a potential relationship.
“I haven’t agreed to a relationship,” I said more defensively than I probably needed to.
“No. I know, and I get it. You’ve had feelings for Natalie for a while, and you needed to shoot your shot.”
“How do you know what happened?” I asked.
Erin simply gave me a look that said, ‘Don’t insult me.’
I sighed and rested my head against the glass. “Okay. Yeah.”
“Danni’s a sweet girl, and I think you should be honest about trying to try for Natalie before making a decision. If you start a relationship with her, she should know she’s the consolation prize.”
I winced. That was a really harsh way of phrasing it, and I didn’t think it was entirely fair. “She’s not a consolation prize, Erin.”
Erin shrugged. “If you say so. I’d rather Danni decide that for herself.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“Just… let me finish this?”
With my head still resting against the window, I rolled my eyes toward her expectantly.
“Danni’s one of the sweetest, kindest women I know. She deserves the best.”
“I know,” I said, annoyed. It was like Erin was her older sister or something.
“You’re the best,” Erin continued, “Believe me when I say I know rich people, and almost all of them suck. Even I suck—I can be a selfish bitch. I’m not saying you don’t have your faults, but you care… sometimes a little too much. I’m just asking you to tap into that for Danni and be honest with her.”
We continued in silence for a full ten minutes as I considered her words. Finally, I asked, “Do you think I should pursue a relationship with Danni?”
“Do you love her?” Erin asked.
“I could easily fall in love with her,” I answered.
“I know what you mean,” Erin said with a bit of a smile, and I wondered for the first time just how Erin felt about her best friend. Danni had confessed to not being interested enough in women to be in a relationship with one. Was there some unrequited feelings going on with my assistant?
She continued, “Part of me thinks that it might be worth pursuing if you like her enough—especially if love is on the table. I think you’re getting mixed up in a lot of things that are gonna to be hard for a girl like Danni to handle, though. It might be better for her if you left her alone. She’s almost too good for the world you’re living in.”
“Thanks for the insight,” I said.
Erin gave me a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, boss. I can’t tell you what to do. Not in my job de***********ion. More of the other way around.”
That last thought was said with a gleam of mischief in her eyes, and my troublemaking Erin was back as if she’d never left.
“Are we okay?” I asked.
“Oh, we are definitely okay, sir.”
“Even if Danni’s heart gets broken?” I asked.
“Depending on how things go down, I might be disappointed in you,” Erin said, “But if you told me to, I’d drop on my knees and put your cock down my throat before her tears dried.”
My cock stirred at the suggestion, and Erin broke out in a grin as she noticed my pants beginning to tent.
“That doesn’t make you a bad friend, does it?”
“Nope,” she said, her eyes still fixed on my crotch. “Don’t worry about me and Danni. We’ve been friends for years, and whatever happens between you two won’t change that.”
I nodded, leaned back against the seat, and closed my eyes, thinking about the conversation with Natalie, savoring that last kiss we’d shared before I left her office. Then Danni came to mind, reminding me of the last night we shared together… me licking champagne off her body, taking her ass, and making love to her multiple times during that night of celebration. I laid back, contemplating what I should tell her… if I could pursue a relationship with her. If it was fair to even entertain starting something with her while still in mourning over what might have been with Natalie.
Fingers caressed my pants-covered crotch, grazing over the fabric stretched over my hardon. I glanced down to see Erin on her knees between my legs. I opened my mouth to say something, and she reached up and placed a finger on my lips.
“Shhh,” she said softly. “Just lay back and close your eyes.”
I did. My thoughts drifted back to Natalie as I tried to put my desire for her behind me. She was the one I wanted for so long, but I hadn’t acted when I should have, and I lost the girl. All I had to show for it was a lesson—if you want something, don’t hesitate. It was something I needed to take to heart; if I didn’t, losing Natalie wouldn’t have meant a damn thing.
Cool fingers wrapped delicately around my cock as it was freed from my pants, and I felt the warmth of a wet tongue paint the sensitive underside of my cock.
The only question now was… what did I want?”
Wednesday, 3:20 pm
“Compared to the planet’s population, the number of people with more than a billion dollars is small.”
Astrid adjusted her stance as she held the putter in her hand and then tapped the ball. I watched it roll across the green roughly ten feet before sinking into the hole. The blonde Norwegian heiress was a professional compared to me, and it didn’t need to be pointed out that she was squarely in the lead. I’d never familiarized myself enough with the game to understand how the scoring worked, but if I had to guess, I’d say she probably had one stroke to my every two, but I couldn’t have told you what that meant in terms of an actual score. As far as I was concerned, it consisted of putting a ball into a hole with as few shots as possible. Things like handicap, birdie, and bogey meant absolutely nothing to me.
I was dreadful at the game, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t enjoying the date, especially since I’d made peace with the fact that I knew I’d suck. Of course, Astrid had been the personification of poise and tried to teach me everything she knew about stances, terrain, and which clubs were best for which situation. I would probably forget almost all of it within twenty-four hours, but her easy company made up for the impromptu lesson I hadn’t expected. On top of that, it was easy to forget about my woman troubles around her.
My two favorite aspects of this date were watching Astrid do literally anything and enjoying interesting topics of conversation. Like almost every other woman I’d come in contact with since inheriting the Gerrard fortune, Astrid was incredibly beautiful. Her blonde hair was ultra-fine, and even though she had it tied back, silk strands kept slipping free of her makeshift bun to frame her face in white-gold whisps.
She was waifish, with delicate bone structure, slight curves, and sharp, angular features. Combined with how relatively tall she was, she looked like she could have walked right off the set of a fantasy movie where she had a part as some elven or fairy noble.
Yet despite her ethereal looks and classy demeanor, there was something down-to-earth about Astrid. She spoke with an advanced vocabulary but managed to communicate her ideas without coming off as pretentious. She kept her fingernails short and wore very little jewelry, suggesting practicality. Almost every subject we touched on had a depth to it. She was well-read and up-to-date on her pop culture. She had a soft, easy smile and eyes as blue as Helen’s but much warmer than my lawyer’s usual icy gaze.
“Nice one,” I said, referring to the ball she’d just sunk.
She performed a slight curtsy despite wearing pants and primly said, “Thank you.”
I nodded a ‘you’re welcome’ to her and said, “So, all the rich people know each other?”
“It’s kind of like a large high school,” she said as I lined up my shot, “Everyone knows of everyone, but there are cliques and groups with common interests. There are feuds, rivalries, and friendships. A lot of people date within their own groups or cross over into others, creating alliances or contentions. Like everything else, it’s full of humans with different desires and designs.”
“Man, we really are all the same, aren’t we?” I said as I lined up my ball, tapped it, and was pleased to see it was heading in the right direction. I followed after it.
“In a lot of ways, yes,” Astrid said. “Except unlike the rest of the world, we’re allowed to be honest with our morals.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, finally sinking my ball with the second shot, unlike Astrid’s single stroke. I gave her an apologetic look, but she simply smiled like the graceful woman she was.
Astrid said as she handed her club to her caddy. “We aren’t obligated to pretend morality is objective.”
“You don’t believe morality is objective?”
“No one does, Marcus,” Astrid said, watching my caddy as he took the club I handed him and slid it into my golf bag. He slung it over his shoulder and started leading us to what I assumed was the next teeing ground. “Everyone pretends to, but no one believes it deep down.”
“That’s not true,” I said.
Astrid gave me a look. “Please. Do you think any parents hold their own children to the standards they set for others? If someone murders, many would suggest the death penalty, but if it was their own child who committed the crime? Never.”
As we trudged across the green, I thought about her point. Parents were often able to overlook moral atrocities that their kids are part of, but not all parents behaved that way. Anyway, that sort of behavior was an emotional response and often considered an inconsistent moral failing, even if it was understandable.
“That’s not really the same,” I said.
“It is,” Astrid said, arguing with me but keeping her tone conversational. “We’re a social species, Marcus. We’ve evolved to rely on each other. How much do you think we could accomplish if we all had to gather our own food daily? What if we all had to maintain the cleanliness of our homes by making our own supplies and soap? Do you think we would have time to make rockets if everyone had to worry about making our own clothing?”
She shook her head and looked at the clear blue sky, shading her fair eyes from the bright sun. “No. Some slightly less dumb animal realized that cooperation was the key to progress and passed that to its offspring.”
She looked back at me. “We can’t have cooperation without a social agreement to respect each other.”
“‘I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me,’” I suggested.
“And more,” Astrid said, “‘I have your back if you have mine.’ Those simple concepts eventually turned into morality. It’s the vehicle in which cooperation is allowed to thrive.”
“Okay,” I said cautiously, “Let’s say I buy that. Why does being rich allow you to realize or admit the truth?”
“Because I don’t have to cooperate with most of the world, Marcus. I have what they all want, and they’re willing to overlook my actions as long as I give them enough of it.”
“Money,” I said.
“Most of the time,” Astrid said. “Or influence… opportunity… comfort… sex.”
She was eyeing me as she threw out that last one, and we stared at each other in silence for several beats. Then she looked away and said, “I’m sure you’ve already compromised your morals now that you’re so rich.”
My thoughts immediately went to Bobbi, and there was a small throb of guilt somewhere in the back of my mind.
“For instance,” she said, “going behind Hiro’s back and using his wife against him. Surely, you wouldn’t have done something like that a year ago.”
“That’s not what happened,” I said, explaining the entire situation to Astrid from the moment I met Carla Tanaka to the moment she voted for Chandler in the boardroom. By the time I was done, Astrid had an amused smile on her face and shook her head.
“Carla… she really is something.”
“No kidding,” I said. “If I had to go back and do it all again, I probably wouldn’t have had her go through with it. I don’t think what I got from the deal is worth having Tanaka mad at me.”
I finally noticed that we weren’t approaching another teeing ground but a table set with a linen cloth and two chairs. Two plates sat on the pristine white cloth and were covered with silver cloches, and a bottle of alcohol was cooling in a tub of ice.
“Not even sleeping with Carla?”
My gaze snapped back to Astrid. “What?”
Astrid laughed. It was a light, carefree sound. “Relax. I didn’t hear it from anyone. I’m only guessing. She kept telling me how handsome and rich you were when we met for lunch yesterday, and she mentioned she was going on a date with you last night. How was it?”
“It was… interesting.”
“And did you sleep with her?” she asked.
“Isn’t it rude for a man to sleep with a woman and then tell?”
“So that’s a yes?” Astrid asked.
“No,” I said. “That’s an ‘if I did, I wouldn’t say anything.’”
“Fair enough,” she said with a nod.
We walked toward the tables a few paces, and then she said, “Be careful with that one. She’ll make you her next husband if she has the chance.”
“She won’t have it,” I said. “I’m not interested in Carla Tanaka.”
“Probably for the best. Hiro is a bastard.”
“How well do you know him?” I asked as we reached the tables, pulling out a chair for Astrid, who took it with a gracious smile.
“Well enough to know he can be a bastard,” Astrid said as I sat. “He’s had people killed for offending him, including a former wife and one of Carla’s extramarital lovers.”
I gaped at her. “You know this for a fact?”
“I don’t have proof, but I’m sure of it. There are probably more I’m not aware of.”
“Fuck,” I breathed. “Do you think he wants me killed?”
“I know he wants you killed,” Astrid said.
Jesus… and here I’d been asking Henry the million-dollar questions when she could have simply told me over dinner the entire time. Maybe I should get her to work for me. I needed to mine her for all it was worth.
“Anything I can do to change his mind?” I asked.
“Not sleep with his wife, for starters,” Astrid said.
“Well, whether I did or not, he’s pretty sure I did, and I don’t think there’s anything I can do to convince him otherwise.”
“If you were to hand over Carla and pay him off, that would likely make him feel better, but I don’t know. He’s a prideful man.”
Two waiters attended us, and they both stepped forward to remove the dish covers and reveal a lovely collection of greens topped with a thin pink sauce, sweet potato puree, and a generous cut of lamb covered in gravy. Astrid immediately began cutting into her food, and I did the same as I considered what Astrid had to say about Hiro.
“I could talk to him for you,” Astrid said after about a minute of eating in silence. “Perhaps I could broker a talk between you on a neutral territory.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“Of course. Hiro respects my father and likes me. I’m sure he would honor any attempt I make to bring peace between you two.”
“Is there a possibility he might take offense… maybe think you’re taking sides?” I said.
“No. Ideally, he would prefer to work with you, but forgiving you without good reason would show weakness. With my family backing a deal between you, there’s more of a chance of him seeming reasonable rather than weak.”
“No offense… why would you do that for me?” I asked.
Astrid had just shoveled a forkful of greens in her mouth and considered my question as she chewed. A bit of the dressing clung to her bottom lip, reminding me of how Erin had gone down on me not long ago, and I had a sudden flash of Astrid kneeling between my legs in place of my assistant. It didn’t help that she reached up with one slender finger, swiped the dressing and popped her finger in her mouth to suck it off.
She swallowed her bite of salad, removed her finger, and said, “I like you. You’re different from most of the people I’m around. I think you have potential and could be good for our community and the world. I think you could also be good for me.”
My face heated at the compliment, and I had to look away. That and the little display with the dressing left me curious, though. “So, are you dating anyone?”
She gave me a pleased smile and said, “Why, Marcus! What a bold question! Why would you ask such a thing?”
“Just getting to know you better,” I said.
“No,” Astrid said, shaking her head. “I’m not. In fact, I’ve never seriously dated anyone.”
That shocked me. Astrid was cool as hell, smart, and stunning. She could have had anyone; was she simply that picky, or was it something else?
She could obviously see the surprise on my face because she broke out in a mild laugh. “What about you? Any girlfriend?”
My thoughts immediately went to Danni, Natalie, and Jessica—the possibility, the opportunity gone, and the past. “I had one. She broke up with me the morning before I found out about my inheritance.”
Astrid laughed even louder as she pressed her pianist’s hands to her slender belly and leaned back in her chair. Her laughter was a lovely, melodic, infectious sound that made me chuckle along with her.
“God,” Astrid said when she settled down a few moments later. “That poor girl… what horrible timing!”
“I think about it every day,” I said. “I know she does, too.”
“What happened to her?”
I recalled passing her around to my friends and then fucking her while she ate out my sexy little assistant, but I wasn’t sure how hardcore this girl was yet, so I simply said, “I hired her to clean my apartment. She starts this weekend.”
Astrid had just taken a drink of champagne and had to press her fingers to her lips to keep it from escaping as she snorted.
“Savage!” She said after swallowing the alcohol. “Remind me not to piss you off.”
“Hey, at least I didn’t have her killed,” I said, referring to Hiro.
“Some might prefer that, I think,” Astrid said. Then she canted her head to the side and watched me. “So… no significant other, then?”
“Some are asking,” I said, “but I haven’t given anyone an answer.”
“Good,” Astrid said with a nod. Her comment was so definitive that it made me wonder if she was about to try to make a claim. I entertained the possibility of dating someone like her, and I didn’t hate the idea.
“You should stay away from dating for a while,” she said, immediately shattering the illusion.
“Why do you say that?”
“So you can take some time to have some fun… sow your wild oats.”
I eyed her. “My dad said that’s not an actual thing and just gives people an excuse to be selfish at the expense of missing out on meaningful growth and relationship building.”
“Your father sounds boring.”
Nodding, I said, “He is, but boring doesn’t mean wrong.”
“Everyone deep down wants to sow their wild oats. Only, some of them never get the opportunity. Either they’re poor and don’t have the opportunities that the well-off do or are burdened with responsibilities. Some of them are scared into not being allowed to experience their baser urges because they’re taught that a man in the sky is waiting for them to mess up so he can curse them with eternal damnation.”
“We’re different. We have the means to do whatever we want. Go sleep with that movie star or model. Go be that mysterious rich person who sleeps with that naive barista in a foreign country. Buy a business and burn it to the ground. Base jump off a skyscraper. Succumb to some of your darker desires. You’re the wealthiest man in the world, Marcus. The world is your oyster.”
“Darker desires, huh?” I said.
Astrid took a sip of her coffee. “Like I said—everyone has them.”
I thought about Bobbi and how I had already explored some of those sinister cravings. I would be lying if I said I completely hated it, but there’s no way I would admit it to anyone other than maybe Helen or Erin. I certainly wasn’t going to confide in the classy, blonde heiress sitting across the table from me. I couldn’t imagine a single malevolent impulse hidden away in such a classy woman’s mind. Although, Danni surprised me, so…
“What are some of your darker urges?” I asked.
She smiled at me over her glass of champagne, taking a sip before replying, “You haven’t earned that kind of information yet.”
“So, maybe when we’ve gotten to know each other better?” I asked, taking a few more bites of my dinner.
“Perhaps,” she said. We spent the next few moments in silence as we ate. The waiters, caddies, and bodyguards were just far enough away to give us a modicum of privacy as we had our date.
“Speaking of sowing wild oats, have you thought about having sex with me?” Astrid asked out of the blue.
The question made me gasp involuntarily, which was unfortunate because I was halfway through chewing on a mouthful of lamb. I coughed a couple of times, clearing my esophagus and swallowing my food as I gaped at her. I hadn’t expected that level of candidness.
She giggled. “You heard me. I’ve certainly thought of it.” She looked out at the green. “Would you do it right now?”
“Here?” I asked. “Now?”
“Here,” she repeated. “Now.”
“I…” I glanced at everyone else nearby; the waiters and caddies were quietly talking among each other, while Chloe and the other two security agents with her were silently watching the surrounding area, occasionally glancing at us. None of them seemed to have any clue what we were talking about.
“Oh,” Astrid said, “I would send them all away. Unless you were into that sort of thing.”
“Good luck trying to send Chloe away,” I said. “She hardly lets me leave her sight these days. Anyway, it’s not like she hasn’t seen it before.”
“You mean… you and her?” Astrid asked, her white-gold eyebrows arched.
“No,” I shook my head. “She’s seen me with others, though. Like I said, it’s hard to separate us since the kidnapping.”
“The kidnapping… I heard about that,” she said. “Are you recovering?”
“Yeah,” I said, chewing on my lip as I considered what I could tell Astrid. She’d been insightful regarding Hiro, after all. Maybe she’d have some thoughts on the new developments on the kidnapping that Psalter brought to light. “I think both my kidnappers were at the board meeting.”
“Who?”
“Amber Bell and Roger VanCamp,” I said.
“Seriously?”
I hesitated and explained what I knew to Astrid, leaving nothing out. She was a good listener, paying attention to every word with acute detail and chiming in vocally at the appropriate times. It felt good to tell someone the entire story from start to finish, ending with my confusion that there was evidence of Amber in Alexandria at the exact same time that she was interrogating me in Las Vegas. As frustrating as that was, though, Amber was a mystery for another day. My bigger concern was Roger and how to handle him now that I knew for sure that he was the one who had kidnapped me. After all, not only had he been involved in my kidnapping, but he’d openly threatened me at the party. He was also applying pressure to keep Helen from me and harboring Ashlee, who I suspected still knew more about the kidnapping than I did.
“Well,” Astrid said, rubbing her hands together as she absorbed everything I said. “You certainly can’t have him arrested.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s one of your lawyers. He probably knows where a lot of the proverbial bodies are buried. Roger could make life difficult for you, your company, and everyone you care about. He’s also well connected.”
“What do you suggest?” I asked.
“My father taught me never to suggest anything illicit or illegal,” Astrid said. “That advice has served our family well. All I will say is that you have Hiro Tanaka coming after you. If you can’t handle someone like Roger VanCamp, you won’t stand a chance against Tanaka. He’s probably aware that you’re having issues with VanCamp and may even know that he took you hostage. If you were to take care of Roger decisively, you might make Hiro hesitate long enough to buy enough time to broker peace.”
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion; she hadn’t outright said anything incriminating, but she was starting to sound similar to Psalter and Chloe. “What are you suggesting?” I repeated.
“Nothing,” Astrid said, leveling her gaze at me. “I’m only telling you facts.” The way she said it made it sound final—when devising a solution to my Roger problem, I was on my own. I watched her for a few more moments, though, sure that she was suggesting that I murder the man. On the one hand, I had a hard time believing that was what she was actually suggesting. Still, on the other… it was fitting coming from a woman who had just spent part of our date waxing philosophical about moral relativism. Her blue-eyed gaze returned to my security guards, watching them with interest while I memorized her fine features. I was impressed with this complex woman who seemed so genuine and sincere, yet underneath that velvety softness, she was rigid. What kind of life had she led to develop that tough core?
“Hm,” she said. “Too bad for you. She’s gorgeous.”
It took me a second to realize what she was talking about, and I glanced over my shoulder to see that she was staring at Chloe, who was watching us. “Do you enjoy women?” I asked.
“Not especially,” Astrid said. “They feel good, but I really love men too much.” When I looked back at her, she broke out in a grin. “Relax. We’re not going to fuck on the golf course in front of your bodyguard. Maybe next time we meet.”
“I wouldn’t mind that,” I said, still amazed that we were speaking so casually about fucking each other on our first ‘date.’
She looked me up and down. “I wouldn’t either. Maybe you can visit my home sometime.”
“I’d like that,” I said.
She smiled softly as she studied me and said, “Good. me too.”
We finished our meal, and the waiters packed everything up. Astrid decided she would play a little longer but released me from the obligation of staying with her. I would have been fine spending more time with her, but leaving didn’t break my heart either—golf would never be a pastime for me. She gave me a soft, lingering kiss on the cheek before letting me go, telling me to let her know if anything significant developed with my ‘little problem.’ And then she returned to the two caddies. As we loaded up in the cart, I gave Astrid one last glance, watching as she laughed along with one of the caddies at something he said. Then, we headed back to the helicopter.
The ride back to the club was quiet, a welcome change after a long conversation over dinner, but I kept catching myself glancing at Chloe as she operated the cart. Finally, without looking at me, she said, “There anything I can help you with, sir?”
“You started a conversation earlier at the funeral. It was just before Emily came over.”
Three heartbeats passed before she replied, “I remember.”
“It was about the other day. What were you gonna say?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Chloe said, fixing her eyes on the trail.
I wanted to protest, but Chloe was always so terse and stoic that I sometimes still found it unsettling. I stared at her for another few moments and then leaned back into the seat as we continued down the road.
After a few more moments, I asked, “Are we gonna ever talk about that night in Vegas?”
“What night are you referring to?”
I looked back at her and caught her looking back at me. I studied her freckled face for anything that might reveal what she was thinking behind that stoic visage. “You know.”
She peeled her eyes away from mine. “Someday. Maybe.”
Wednesday 7:00 pm
The faint smell of some kind of cooking meat hit me as soon as the elevator doors opened, and I stepped inside the living room. Naturally, I made my way to the kitchen and found Camille in there, pouring some kind of broth into a slow cooker. With her back to me, I could only see tendrils of steam curling around her arms and wafting past her shoulders and head as she stood over the large pot.
“Smells good,” I said.
Camille placed the bowl on the table and turned halfway from her work to look at me; her plush lips were compressed into a thin line of disapproval. “Sorry about that, sir. I accidentally left the door open earlier.”
“What’s there to be sorry about? Making the place smell good?”
“I prefer to not have tomorrow’s food dominate the house with its smell. It invites hunger before the meal is ready.” She nodded toward the door I’d just come through and said, “Your kitchen doors are equipped to keep most of the smells in the kitchen.”
I glanced back at the door, noting that the edges were lined similarly to those on exterior doors of houses. It felt like a frivolous thing to be concerned about, but then again… I wouldn’t have minded a taste of whatever was cooking despite having not too long ago. Maybe there was a logic to keeping the smells of her cooking contained.
“You mind if I have a taste?” I asked.
She’d just picked the bowl back up and had started pouring again, wordlessly looking over her shoulder at me with an arched eyebrow and a closed-lip smile. “A taste of what, sir?”
Her body language made the double entendre clear.
“Uh… whatever you’re cooking?”
“Of course,” she said, grabbing the ladle on the counter nearby. I approached as she scooped out half a portion of the rich brown liquid. She offered the utensil, cupping a hand underneath it to catch stray droplets, and I took it from her. She pressed part of her palm to her lips and suckled off some of the broth she’d caught, her eyes never breaking away from mine as I sipped. As with everything she cooked, it tasted fantastic. Erin had really outdone herself finding this chef. I closed my eyes and simply savored the taste.
Then I felt something brush my chest and opened my eyes. My chef was standing close enough to me that her large tits were brushing my chest. They drew my attention, and I noticed how the buttons on her chef’s tunic were straining ever so slightly at her breasts. Her uniform wasn’t too small, but it was definitely a snug fit. She retrieved the ladle from me and laid it in the pot.
“Good?” She asked.
“Yeah,” I said, my eyes falling to her lips.
She gave me a pleased smile, “I’m glad you’re pleased.”
And then she stepped away and returned to the pot, leaving me with a fully erect cock, thanks to her teasing. I know I’d just had wild monkey sex with Carla less than twenty-four hours ago and that Erin had deepthroated me in the car, but the date with Astrid and the constant thoughts about Chloe in her underwear that night in Vegas had me horny again. Now, my chef was doing an excellent impression of seducing someone who wasn’t her fiance. I had to know.
“Are you and William settling in okay?” I asked.
“We are,” she said. “Thank you.”
“No problem. I liked him. He seems… nice.”
“Oh… he’s definitely nice,” she replied, and the way she said it suggested… dissatisfaction?
“Have you guys set a date for the wedding yet?”
“No, monsieur,” she said, slipping another occasional word of French into her English. “We haven’t.”
I glanced down at her left hand and saw no ring. “You guys are engaged, right?”
“Oh, we are,” she said, glancing down at her hand. “It’s a… unique relationship.”
“Unique?”
“Open,” she said, leveling another look at me.
“Oh,” I said, and suddenly a war was going on in my head. I was sure she was giving some kind of invitation, but I didn’t want to misinterpret anything.
Camille looked like she was about to say something when my phone vibrated, and I pulled it out of my pocket to see that Erin had texted me. Opening it, I found a close-up of a vagina—it wasn’t Erin’s. However, on the thigh, just next to damp petals, a dark lipstick mark had been left on the pale skin. It included a message from Erin’s phone. Come find us.
The mystery of Camille’s relationship would have to wait. I had a raging hard-on that needed to sink into something soft, warm, and wet as soon as possible.
“Sorry,” I said to my chef. “I need to go.”
“Not a problem, sir,” she said with a crooked little smile and a smoldering stare. “We can continue this conversation later.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” I said, leaving her to finish her work.
It didn’t take long to find her. The lighting in the image ruled out the dungeon, so the next obvious choice was my room, so I headed there first. I was right.
Erin was stretched across the foot of my bed, lying on her stomach with her bare feet kicking in the air as she ran her dainty fingers through her silver locks. As soon as I walked into the bedroom, her eyes found me, and she broke out in a brilliant grin. “Hey, Marcus,” she husked.
Arms tied to the headboard above her, Bobby lay stretched out across my California King. Straps ran out from under the bed’s sides and held Bobbi’s ankles apart, showing off her pale inner thighs, covered in dark lipstick marks. The telltale trail continued around Bobbi’s mound, up her flat belly, and across both her breasts. My submissive’s face had more kiss marks left all over it, and another one was placed squarely on the center of the red ball gag stuffed in Bobbi’s mouth.
“I wanted to try something a little different with her this time,” Erin said as she slid up onto her knees, placing her hands on her thighs as she spread them for me. “Maybe something more on brand for me… if that’s okay with you.”
—————————————————————————————————–
Thanks again for reading another installment of the story. If you have any feedback, please feel free to email me. Or if you’re interested in reading any further installments, check out my Patreon at patreon.com/mindsketch. Book I is completed and available there, and there are 20 bonus chapters for tier 2 patrons, including a bonus chapter that deals with what happens directly after this one. I’ve also started Book 2. Chapters 1-13 are already available. Thanks for your time and cheers!
-MindSketch