Blood Match (9 page)

“I meant what I wrote…” he said softly. “I am really looking forward to being with you this weekend. I have thought of nothing else for days, Serena. You have got under my skin in a big way. There’s a certain something about you….”

His thumb traced a circle around her palm and she held her breath

“I’m looking forward to it too.” She whispered with a meaningful look.

She was quite sure she didn’t need to give him any extra encouragement but to get the ball rolling she added a little sigh afterwards, almost involuntarily and leaned further forward over the table. His eyes blazed into hers and then down to her chest. She had chosen this top very carefully. It was a fitted black and hot pink chiffon blouse with a deep plunging neckline. Another beautiful gift from her mother. It should have been worn with a camisole but she had left that off and had opted for some rather pretty lacy underwear instead which was clearly visible. His eyes lingered on this for some time. She let him look not moving an inch. She was as hot as hell already. She wanted to get on with the après dinner entertainment soon.

“Well, I’m done,” she said finally taking the final bite of her meal. “That was very nice, thank you Ethan.”

She sipped the remains of her small glass of wine whilst he called for the bill and paid.

In the car he put on some quiet soft music and they drove through the darkened leafy lanes until they reached a small side road. He turned off and drove up the tiny lane to some tall wrought iron gates floodlit with the initials KR on them. He pushed a button on a remote and they opened.

“What’s does the R stand for?” She asked.

“Radleigh, my mother’s name” he replied.

“So… this is your family house?” She asked in alarm.

She was not up to sitting around the family dining table just yet. Plus, his sister obviously didn’t want to buddy up with her…

“It’s the family home yes, but I have my own apartment” he replied.

“You do? It must be quite a big house then?” She said as they continued winding through a dense group of overhanging trees and out into the open beyond.

Her mouth dropped open in shock. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t anything as spectacular as this. A huge stone stately home spread out in all directions in front of them. Ethan turned off the gravel approach road before they got to the house and drove around the back, parking up. They got out. He picked up her bag and they went inside his part of the house.

His apartment was so huge. He walked her around it, hand in hand, introducing her to his private rooms. There was a simply amazing beautiful kitchen, a large opulent formal dining room, a small intimate dining room, a luxurious living room with large windows overlooking the gardens, a well-equipped study, three magnificent bedrooms all with ensuites, a media room with reclining comfy chairs and a small windowless den full of large sofas. They stood in the den for a while and Ethan turned on the mood panels to demonstrate… These were the latest designs at B-TECHA and getting very popular.  He left them on a dewy woodland setting as they left the room.

She was so impressed with this house; it was quite unbelievable and so immaculate. She had never been inside anything like it. This apartment was just a small part of it and it was positively huge by her standards and everything was just so beautifully and expensively arranged. She loved the smart black satin seats, golden occasional tables topped with flowers and huge Persian rugs and paintings everywhere.

It really did have a hint of a palace about it.

Ethan pointed out the double doors that joined his apartment to the rest of the house. She stood in the middle of the black and white marble tiled hallway suddenly feeling rather out of her depth, totally insignificant amongst all this grandeur and more than a little shy with him.

What class of woman had he entertained here before, she wondered? She was sure there had been quite a few standing in the position she was now. She had no illusions about their relationship. She didn’t expect it to last more than a few weeks. She was too inexperienced for him, for all this. But she would make sure she enjoyed it though, oh yes!

“Serry, choose which bedroom you would like. Will it be the white one or the gold one? “Ethan asked her enthusiastically, standing in front of her.

She gazed into his eyes thinking
is he for real
! He must know she really wanted to be in his room, with him! Why would she be here otherwise?

She chose the gold one, even if it was for appearances sake.

He took her bag into the room and placed it on an armchair. He sat on the side of her massive gold covered bed watching her standing in the doorway. He looked somewhat pleased with himself right now, having her within his grasp.

“So, what would you like to do?” he asked with a nice little grin.

She bit her lip. What would she like to do? Boy, she couldn’t put that into polite words!

He started reeling off a glorious list of fun laden entertainment options…

“I have many films we can watch, just name one you like. Horror, comedy, sci fi, romance… I also have just about every album ever produced as music is one of my great passions. Most of them are on the central music system of the house, you can choose from a list… We have some very fine horses to ride in our stables, but that will have to be something for tomorrow, as it is now dark, but we can go out on the estate trails around the lake in the morning. We can also play croquet on our lawn tomorrow, I’ll definitely beat you though as I am extremely good at it, so be warned…. Then there’s the maze… we could play an amusing adult version of hide and seek in there tomorrow …. What about swimming, do you like that?– We have a rather gorgeous large pool that’s quite new, it’s ten foot deep and we keep it very warm, it’s heated to 34 degrees exactly, plus a Jacuzzi…Or we have a games room, for all kinds of bar type games. Are you fond of those? Oh yes, we also have a masseur in house if you fancy a…”

She interrupted his simply marvellous list of playful things to do. She had a not so subtle point to get across.

“No Ethan, none of that – I just want to sit in the living room with you. I don’t really know much about you, do I? Perhaps we can talk for a while and get to know each other better. Then a little later, I am thinking, you can get me just a teeny bit tipsy and then perhaps we can carry on with what we were doing in the car the other evening ….” She said smiling a little.

His face registered a little surprise.

“That’s what you really want, isn’t it?” she added pointedly.

“Well yes, eventually! I was going to get round to it tomorrow evening. I intended to be extremely gentlemanly tonight, impress you all day tomorrow and warm you up nicely before going in for the kill!” He said laughing suddenly.

He had such a lovely laugh. She wanted to hear it again. Then she could see his perfect white teeth too. Oh, those teeth… she remembered the feel of them on her tongue….

“So I have saved you a lot of time and trouble, then!” She said giving him a sexy wide eyed look. “You can start by being Prince Charming and warming me up right now!”

“Oh, I can, can I?” he grinned.

“Yes, you can look after your guest by getting her a glass of something incredibly expensive to drink. Do you have any Champagne in the Karrigan-Radleigh wine cellar, by chance?” She asked cheekily.

He laughed loudly at her request.

“Do you wish to visit our wine cellar Serry? It’s quite impressive. Come.”

Chapter 17

He took her hand and led her out of the main door, along the plush corridor and then they turned right, straight through another heavy door and then turned left and straight down, down, down a spiral staircase to the dark cold vaults below.  He turned on the light and there on display were literally hundreds of dusty bottles arranged in neat rows in the arched cellar that stretched out before her eyes. He walked inside the cellar to stand next to what she assumed to be the champagne racks and carefully picked a bottle out with a large letter S and the word ‘Salon’ etched across it.

“What do you think of this one? I think it’s worth about £200 at a guess. Expensive enough or shall I look again?” he said seriously.

Now Serena was no wine buff!  She truly loved house wine and Breezers, so she agreed with his expert choice.  They went back upstairs. As they reached the top of the vault staircase and entered the passageway they met a tall dark haired woman walking past.

“Ethan darling, there you are! I haven’t seen you for an age, what are you up to?” she said looking at the bottle he was carrying. She caught sight of Serena emerging from behind him and she detected a touch of hostility in her eyes.

“Mother, I want you to meet a good friend of mine. This is Serena.”

As he introduced them Mother looked her over, up and down. She felt uncomfortable in her slightly see through blouse standing there under this goddess’s scrutiny. But despite that she noticed one glaring thing. There was no way this woman was his mother! She can’t be more than thirty years old…

“Pleased to meet you.” Serena said offering her hand. Mother took it and gently shook it. Her skin was lukewarm and smooth, like his. Her face was creamy and line free, she was completely stunning.

“Yes, you too my dear” she replied with a smile that didn’t quite reach her beautiful sparkling brown eyes.  Serena could almost see her thinking, here’s another gold digger trying to get her hooks in my boy….“Well, you two have fun, see you tomorrow maybe?” she said and quickly glided off, turning and disappearing around the corner.

“Ethan….that cannot possibly be your mother! She is far too young!” She exclaimed.

“She is my stepmother actually. My real mother died many years ago.” He explained, satisfying her curiosity.

They went back to his apartment and he locked the door inside with a key.

“So…Let’s set this bubbly free, shall we?” he said heading into the kitchen. He popped open the bottle and poured it into two beautiful swirling flukes. They went into the living room and flopped down on the enormous white leather sofa. He sat one end and she sat the other. He removed her shoes for her and slipped off his.

“Well then Serry, tell me all about your wonderful colourful life!” He said to start off the conversation. She told him a few fun things about Adam the Adonis, her beloved brother. A couple of things about herself and then just a little about her parents who lived in Singapore. Not too many important things, but enough to interest him.

“What about you…” She asked. “It looks like you have had a privileged life here.”

He looked at her uncertainly.

“Things are not always as they seem.” He replied cryptically. “We do have a lot of monetary wealth, but there are some things missing in our lives. Some I can tell you about, others I can’t yet – they are family secrets – but when I get to know you better, I shall reveal some more…”

“Oh really!” She exclaimed, quite interested in what family secrets he was hiding. “Like what? Tell me something you are missing…” She pressed him.

“Well, we are too insular here. Cut off from the world. That can be difficult at times. It’s easy to lose track of reality. We have everything we really need here, you see. Well almost. I have my work to keep me occupied, but mostly that runs itself. I just make high level decisions these days.”

“Mmmm, I can understand why you may feel like that at times, it is like another world here.” She agreed.  “… and what else do you miss?”

“There is one thing in particular I am missing a great deal” he paused and looked at her “I am missing a mate…”

“What, like friends? You don’t have any friends… well I can’t believe that…” She said in amazement. His money, charisma and his looks must surely attract people in droves. He must have a pal somewhere surely?

“No, that’s not what I meant Serena. I do have some good friends that I play a little golf with and so on. My large family are also my good friends. What I meant was, I don’t have a female mate, you know… a lover, a partner… I haven’t had one for some time actually. It has taken me a long time to find someone who is truly compatible with me. In the past I haven’t been so particular and it hasn’t worked out so well. In fact that part of my life has often been disastrous in a variety of ways. It’s vitally important to me that any woman I chose to be with is not corrupted and exactly the right kind of match.”

He looked at her solemnly in a way that turned her on instantly and his eyes bored into her head.

So he had been unlucky in love, had he….?

She swam in a sea of attraction and connection. How could he make her feel this way just by looking at her….?

“….not corrupted…..the right type of match…?” She repeated trembling with excitement. She looked at his mouth and wanted to kiss it badly. She took the last gulp of her expensive champagne and it burnt its way down her throat boosting the warm glow already present in the pit of her stomach. She put her empty glass on the floor and crawled, in what she hoped was a highly seductive manner, along his legs to the other end of the sofa to sit astride his lap.

“What type of match is that precisely?” She asked breathlessly, with her face quite close to his.

“A blood match” he answered unexpectedly and a divine chill shot up her spine.

“Oh yeah…and does my blood match yours?” She asked him feeling quite overcome being so close, trailing a fingernail round the open neckline of his shirt.

“Yes it does Serena. That is just one of the reasons why I am so incredibly attracted to you.” He said clasping her wandering finger in his hand. She leaned closer.

“I don’t know what it is you are saying – I’ll admit that. But I’ve never heard anything so damned exciting…” She brushed his mouth softly with hers and pressed herself to him running her hands around the back of his head. She lowered her head to kiss his neck and breathed gently into his ear whispering. “How’s your blood doing now then… hotting up a little? I know mine is!”

He suddenly took hold of her shoulders and sprang up with an incredible force, twisting and pushing her down abruptly so that they now had swapped positions and he was sprawled on top of her.  That was amazing! She thought. How on earth did he do that? She wasn’t sure that even Adam could have performed that technical manoeuver….