The Temptress (22 page)

‘Yeah, there is that I guess,’ she replied with
a heavy sigh. I squeezed her hand.

‘It will happen for you too one day. You’ll
lock eyes with someone and know in an instant that he’s the one you want.’

‘Knowing my luck it will be when I’m eighty and
I’ll be so dried up the only hot sex I’ll be having is from the friction burn,
my idea of fast and furious sex will be on his Motability scooter and sheet
clawing sex will be from a battle not to empty my incontinent bladder and
bowels over him, while he has a heart attack and collapses on me. You know they
never check people in old people’s homes. I could lie there for days in a
cesspit of my own making with his stiff body on top of me.’

‘Hell of a way to go though,’ I laughed as she
gave me a forlorn look. ‘Don’t worry, if you get to forty and you’re still
single, I’m making it my life’s mission to find you someone.’

‘Great, another mere ten miserable years of
singledom, thanks.’ She gave me a mock smile. I laughed and stood up to kiss
Calvin and gave him a hug.

‘Lovely to meet you at last, Calvin. I was
beginning to think he was ashamed of us or something.’

‘Now you must be Lulu, stunning with the same
amazing eyes and smile,’ he replied. ‘And here I was thinking he was ashamed of
me.’

‘Please,’ I scoffed. ‘You’re all he’s talked
about for the last few weeks.’

‘Really?’ he grinned, flashing a look Dom’s
way, who rolled his eyes. ‘You must be Coco, the Italian green eyed beauty, I’ve
heard all about you too.’

‘All bad, knowing Dom,’ she smiled as she stood
up and gave him a hug and kiss.

‘I’m being painted in a very bad light here,’
he complained, as he gestured for Calvin to slide in next to Coco.

‘So Calvin, you’re a model too?’ I asked, eager
for more information on the man who had my brother’s boxers in such a twist.
I’d never seen him so enamoured.

‘Tell me you’re an underwear model and you have
your portfolio on your phone?’ begged Coco.

‘It’s been a slack year, for both of them,’ Dom
laughed, as he draped his arm around Calvin’s shoulder.

‘Looking like you two do? Seriously?’ uttered
Calvin. ‘You should be fighting off men. If any women could swing me to the
other side, it would be you two.’

‘It’s official, I love you already,’ I smiled,
with a clap of my hands.

‘I’ll reserve judgement until I see the
photos,’ nodded Coco, making us all laugh.

‘I
love
the music in here,’ I screamed,
as Utopia’s
Feel The Need In Me
came on. The four of us had been dancing
for over an hour, the extra bottles of champagne acting as the perfect
painkiller for my knee. The dance floor was packed and I’d never seen so many
good looking men in one place. It was like being out fishing and the catch of a
lifetime was waiting, but I’d forgotten the fishing rod. Coco and I had decided
that Krave must have a strict looks policy for entrance, as there wasn’t one
ugly or untoned guy in here. It was torture for us.

‘Queer as Folk soundtrack, it’s a classic,’
yelled Calvin over the heavy beats.

‘Queer as Folk?’ Coco frowned.

‘Fabulous TV show from the nineties. You have
to watch it. Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy was in it, as a gay teenager
in love with the stud of Canal Street in Manchester,
Stuart Alan Jones,
’
he added in a very good Welsh accent.

‘You’ve not seen it?’ gasped Dom, as he looked
at us both shocked.

‘No,’ we replied shaking our heads.

‘God you so need to, it’s hilarious.’ He looked
at Calvin and both of them grinned.

‘“I spent
all
night chasing after some
bloke who turns out to be mad. He had
every
episode of Juliet Bravo on
tape
,”’
they quoted in unison and burst out laughing.

‘Well if it has this soundtrack it’s a done
deal for me,’ I nodded as we continued to dance.

‘It was really daring for its time,’ Calvin
confirmed with a serious face. ‘Gay sex on TV back then was a big deal.
Charlie’s character even got rimmed.’

‘Holy shit, Charlie’s naked backside
and
these songs? I’m in too. Let’s blow off the wedding and have a marathon viewing
session tomorrow,’ Coco suggested, with a hopeful look in my direction. She’d
always had a thing for blond guys and Charlie topped her top totty list.

‘Bridesmaids,’ I reminded her, with a roll of
my eyes.

‘Trust me, watching this series would be so much
more entertaining,’ Calvin laughed, as he grabbed my hand and spun me around. I
laughed, I was drunk and carefree for the first time all week.
And
I was
going to see Luc again, however complex that was going to be, right now I
didn’t care, right now I craved him.

Luc

I shook hands with Mr. Armand, withholding a
sigh of relief that the meeting was finally over. The last three days had been
hell, stuck in Monaco, discussing the state of emerging markets and forecasting
trends for stock. Even with the financial possibilities an investor that large
could bring me, I only had one thing on my mind.
Her.
Since Bertrand
rang me on Tuesday morning with her work address, I’d wanted to cancel my
meetings and fly to see her immediately, but it would be discourteous to my
long standing client. I’d hoped to return to London early today, to go and see
her immediately, but annoyingly there’d been some complication with my flight
papers, ensuring that my plane could not take off until this evening. Bertrand
had done just what I had asked of him by finding her, he’d volunteered to do a
more in depth report, to give me a full background check, financials, family
tree, medical information, perhaps more pertinent whether she was married or in
a relationship, but I’d declined. None of that information would be of any
consequence to a man like me. I saw something I wanted and I ensured I got it,
no matter what was standing in my way. Lulu’s relationship or financial status
wasn’t going to change that. Nothing was going to prevent me from pursuing her,
from making her mine.

No, the only issue I saw was my darling wife. A
wife with a heart so cold even Polar bears would run from it in terror. I
shivered as I thought of her. How the hell I’d stayed with her for so many
years was beyond me. It was as if I’d had a spell cast over me, that I’d been
made to believe that my life was as fulfilling as it was ever going to be. But
finding Lulu again had broken that illusion, half an hour in her company, one
intense kiss and I saw clearly for the first time in years. I was miserable. I
was ridiculously rich and absolutely fucking miserable. Chained to the most
toxic woman to ever walk the planet. I needed a divorce. And fast. Despite the
state of our “relationship” I could be committing financial suicide. Divorcing
the pride and joy of Monsieur Bouchon would come with consequences. I had no
doubts that he’d pull the plug on my trading in any stocks that had bonds or
equities with the Bouchon name and that he’d blacklist me with any of his
worldwide clients. I sighed as I stroked my chin, deep in contemplative
thought. Whilst seeing Lulu again had been the catalyst for my ponderings, this
was actually nothing to do with her. Divorcing Myrtille was something that had
been on the cards for a number of years, in fact if I hadn’t been so damn miserable
five years ago, I’d never have married her in the first place.

‘Jean Paul, viens ici s’il te plaît,’ I
requested over my intercom, asking my PA to come in. I asked him to compile a
list of all Bouchon holdings and all clients with close personal connections to
the Bouchons for when I returned on Tuesday and to arrange a meeting for me
with the head of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest in
the world today, as well as Crédit Agricole. I needed to start solidifying my
relationships with them, before I announced my intentions to Myrtille. My
personal finances wouldn’t be at stake. I doubted, given her assets, any judge
would force me to hand over any of mine, even at fifty percent I was more than
financially secure, but my business assets could take a substantial hit. Worst
case scenario I could be blackballed by those loyal to the Bouchon family and
be unable to continue to trade, in France at a minimum. I was going to have to
start meeting with key clients sooner than later and judging their stance in
the event of a rift. Jean Paul assured me that he’d get on the case and I asked
him to ensure our IT guy had fortified our systems, I didn’t want Myrtille to
be able to access any information from this moment forward, by any means.

He suggested having the locks to the offices
changed, as she had a key, changing all passwords on a daily basis for all
staff with computer access and assured me that he would not reveal my
whereabouts if Myrtille was to call. He’d worked for me for thirteen years,
since I started this firm at the tender age of twenty-two. I had no doubt of
his allegiance to me and trusted him implicitly. I asked him to contact Havershams,
to source a vivid yellow orange diamond for me, to set it into a necklace and
gave him a deadline of one week. He raised his eyebrows and I smiled. I
purchased white diamonds for Myrtille’s birthday or Christmas, she hated
anything that wasn’t “pure” in her own words. When I told him who it was for,
he nearly fell off his chair. He remembered my melancholy and lamenting after
she left Paris, how I’d been so affected by her. He couldn’t help smiling as he
made notes, commenting that he considered my personal life of greater urgency
than my business one. He was right, it was in dire need of resuscitation.

I put my foot down on the accelerator of my Aston
Martin Vanquish Volante, speeding up the autoroute towards the private airport
where my plane was waiting to take me back to London, a smile finally settling
on my tense face. Being in this car always made me smile, it reminded me of Lulu.
I’d chosen it in sleek Carbon Black, glossy and classy, with smooth curves in
all the right places. She felt expensive, she was a thing of beauty to be taken
care of, but that would give me so much enjoyment. Just like Lulu
had,
just like I hoped she would. The thought that I’d be seeing her again soon had
my heart rate speed nearly as fast as the car. I was disappointed that she’d
not responded to my original email, or to say anything after the bouquets of
roses I’d sent to her every day. I was also getting increasingly frustrated
with her tenacious receptionist, who repeatedly told me that she wasn’t
available and would take a message to pass to her. I wasn’t a man who was
easily deterred, I’d never have succeeded as a businessman if I was. Short of
locking herself in the vault with the Crown Jewels in The Tower of London,
nothing was stopping me getting to her now. I was the hunter and she was the
prey, she’d tried to flee, but her surrender was inevitable. I forced myself to
focus on the road, instead of the way her body had responded when I’d pulled
her against mine and kissed her on Monday. She was a fool if she thought that
attraction like ours could ever be sated. It was a wild and savage beast that
could never be tamed. My cravings for her ran so deep the Grand Canyon would be
displaced as a natural wonder of the world.

Lulu

Monday

I dropped Tristan off at school and headed to the
office with a feeling of dread. I’d had an amazing weekend. Drinking and
dancing with good company on Friday night, an emotional wedding on Saturday,
Coco and I pretending to be a couple to avoid the slew of men trying to flatter
us, then a lovely day on my own with Tristan and a roast dinner. Reality had
come back to bite me in the arse last night though. I’d tapped into the camera
feed to see that Luc was back in his suite. He seemed brighter, his posture was
straighter and he had a knowing smile on his face. I’d even taken my iPad to
bed with me, so I didn’t miss a moment. When he’d gone into the shower and had
started to masturbate again, I couldn’t help myself from doing the same as I
looked at that perfect wet body and his beautiful face contorted in ecstasy.
Our first mutual orgasm in six years, my best in all that time point of fact
and he had no idea. For all I knew, he could be waiting for me outside the
office as I pulled up. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed to find
he wasn’t when I activated the remote garage doors and eased my Mercedes in.

‘Morning, Mike,’ I called as I stepped out of
the car and locked it up, seeing his legs sticking out from under the van.

‘Morning. Good weekend?’ came his muffled
voice.

‘Excellent thanks, see you at ten for the staff
meeting?’

‘Sure thing,’ he called. I smiled and headed
up. Violet was waiting by the lift doors as they opened and thrust my coffee
into my hand. ‘Morning,’ I greeted, startled. It wasn’t like her to veer from
her perfected routine.

‘I can’t take it anymore, I’ve been tense all
weekend,’ she moaned. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘How about we start with something easy, like how
was your weekend, other than being tense on my behalf?’ I suggested, as we
headed to my office.

‘Awful. You’re affecting my sex life now, when
I’m stressed I go off sex. Jared said to tell you to sort it out and soon.’

‘Did he now,’ I laughed. ‘Easier said than
done, but I’m sorry for ruining your sex life too. Are we still on for her
coming in at four?’

‘Yes, I confirmed as soon as I got in this
morning,’ she nodded, opening my door for me, the gently scented aroma of my
roomful of roses hitting me immediately, making me breathe in deeply.

‘Great. Once I’ve seen her I’ll go home and put
Tristan to bed, then I’ve decided I’m going to go and see him.’

‘Really,’ she squealed, with a quick burst of
excited claps.

‘You’re as bad as Coco and Dom. He might not
even be there, he might have plans.’

‘So call him, tell him, you can’t let this
opportunity go to waste. Henry says he has a crazy diary of appointments in
Paris Tuesday and Wednesday, then he’s going to China on Thursday. He won’t be
back in the UK until Saturday morning.’

‘Fine, I’ll send him an email this afternoon,
when I’ve seen her and found out what’s going on. Satisfied?’

‘So much so that I might have to dash home for
a quick nooner, if you can spare me at lunch time?’ she asked, raising her
eyebrows hopefully. I burst out laughing. ‘If
she
wasn’t coming in I’d
say take the afternoon off.’

‘Trust me, an hour is plenty of time for him to
do his quickie magic,’ she grinned, making me blush.

‘So, take my mind off her and the fact that you
get to have hot sex during the day please, let’s talk business,’ I suggested,
as I took a seat and nodded for her to do the same.

‘Before we discuss anything, can I tell you how
amazing you look?’ she uttered sincerely, as she ran her eyes up and down my
knee length fitted black leather skirt, hot orange silk blouse and matching
coloured shoes. I wanted to look smart, to face that awful woman, I didn’t want
her looking down her nose at me. Coco had let me borrow some of her statement
designs to accessorise with and I’d made more effort than usual with my eye
makeup, a soft brown gold shade with long dark lashes and flicked out eyeliner.
I’d even left my long hair loose, letting its natural, thick lustress tresses
tumble down my shoulders.

‘Thank you, I didn’t want her showing me up.’

‘Please,’ she scoffed, with a shake of her
head. ‘Even with no makeup and greasy hair you’d look a million times better
than that frigid old cow.’

‘Violet!’ I laughed, shocked at her unusual
bluntness.

‘Well you would. And you’re beautiful on the inside
too, Lulu, something she’ll never be. Never forget that. Right this is getting
a bit personal, so let’s get on with the business stuff. First of all you have
an appointment at eleven, new client, Mrs. Jones. In need of advice as she
suspects her partner is about to have an affair.’

‘About to have?’ I asked, loving the way she
slipped effortlessly back into efficient PA mode.

‘Yes I queried that, she seemed a little
flustered and said she couldn’t say more, but it was imperative that she meet
with us urgently. I can see her if you want?’

‘Thanks Vi, but it will do me good to keep
busy.’

‘I’m collating files on the candidates Ian
suggested for you to interview, I was thinking I could pencil out some time for
you to review them on Wednesday and decide who you want to shortlist, then I could
ask them to come in next Thursday or Friday?’

‘Great,’ I confirmed, trying my hardest to
focus on work and not the thought that I might be seeing Luc this evening.

‘Mrs. Jones is on her way up,’ came Violet’s
voice over the intercom, an element of frustration in her voice. ‘She’s four
minutes early! Do you want me to have her take a seat or bring her straight
down?’

‘It’s fine, I can see her now,’ I replied,
resisting the urge to chuckle at Vi’s indignation at someone turning up a few
minutes early. ‘Would you be able to order me a sandwich before you go?’

‘Sure. Avocado with bacon bits, no mayo?’ she
asked.

‘You know me too well, Violet,’ I smiled with a
shake of my head.

‘I’ll get them to bring a fruit smoothie and
chocolate caramel square as well. You like sugar when you’re stressed.’

‘What would I do without you?’ I sighed, full
of appreciation.

‘You’ll never have to find out. I love my job,’
she replied before clicking off. I pressed the recording button and stood up,
checking my appearance. I frowned when I heard raised voices approaching my
door and skirted the desk to go and see what was happening. ‘You
can’t
go in, this is
unacceptable
,’ came Violet’s sharp voice. I jumped in
surprise as my office door was flung open and an enormous bouquet of more
yellow and orange roses appeared in the frame. ‘I told him, Lulu. I tried to
stop him, I’m so sorry.’

‘Stop who?’ I demanded, as I spotted the highly
polished black oxfords and black pinstripe trousers visible below the biggest
bouquet I’d ever seen in my life. This was overstepping a line, for flower
delivery people to burst into my office.

‘It was a lady on the intercom, she said she
was Mrs. Jones, but I couldn’t see her face for all the flowers. If I’d known
it was him forcing the flower delivery lady to let him in, I’d never have opened
the door,’ Violet added, shaking her head as she followed the flowers in. I
stepped backwards, my stomach twisting nervously as they were placed on my
coffee table and the immaculately dressed man carrying them straightened up,
affording me the first look at his face. His lips curled into a smile as his
brown eyes met mine, taking my breath away.

‘Luc,’ I whispered, the rhythm of my heart
starting to speed up.

‘Lulu,’ he replied, as he cocked his head,
brushing a hand through his messed up hair as he took his lower lip between his
teeth. His face was full of carnal need as he slowly ran his eyes over my body,
a body he’d run his tongue over. I felt myself blush.

‘I can call Mike and Henry to escort him out,’
offered Violet, twisting her fingers nervously around each other.

‘That won’t be necessary. Ms. McQueen and I
have unfinished business to discuss and I can assure you that I have no
intention of harming her, nor do I have any intention of leaving until we have
reached an agreement,’ Luc advised, his sexy French accent affecting both
myself and Violet, judging by the way her face flushed too.

‘I have a client due,’ I glared, full of anger
to have been taken by surprise.

‘I’m your client. Mrs. Jones the flower lady was
right, I am very worried that I’m about to have an affair,’ he replied, a hint
of a smirk on his face.

‘I can’t believe you tricked me,’ Violet
groaned, as I tried to think how in hell I was going to handle this.

‘You may leave us now,’ he ordered, without
taking his eyes off me.

‘She works for
me
, not you. I can’t
believe your
audacity
to confront me in such a manner,’ I glowered.

‘Much like your audacity last Monday evening,’
he quickly snapped. ‘I think if anyone should be affronted then it should be
me. You accost me as someone else, run when I realise it’s you, then ignore all
of my messages and attempts to contact you. I deserve an explanation and I
won’t be leaving until I have one. I asked you to leave,’ he barked at Violet,
as he turned to give her an intimidating glare. ‘I will carry you out over my
shoulder if that is what is required to have some privacy.’ She gulped and
looked over at me for confirmation. I threw my hands in the air with a sigh. I
had no doubt he was more than capable of carrying out his threat, I was going
to face him later anyway, I may as well get it out of the way now, but I didn’t
like being thrown off kilter without a plan in place, not with him anyway.

‘I’m fine, Violet. Please don’t let this
interrupt your lunch plans, but if Mr. Le Grand is still here when you return,
you have my authorisation to call the police and tell them that we need
assistance removing someone from our premises.’ Violet nodded and backed out,
shutting the door behind her, Luc quickly strode over and turned the key in the
lock.

‘
Now
we can talk.’

‘How
dare
you,’ I hissed, trying to hold
on to my anger and ignore the longing in my body to have him standing so close
to me. He was in a three piece black pinstripe suit, grey shirt with white
collar and cuffs, cufflinks and a dark grey tie. He looked so edible. I had a
thing about men in suits and this was no ordinary suit, it had been tailored to
fit his muscular body without a millimetre to spare. The man simply radiated
sexiness.

‘How dare I?! You have the nerve to question
me?’ he snapped back, his brown eyes dark with fury or desire, maybe a
combination of the two. Whichever it was, it was so damn hot.

‘This is between you and me, you do
not
drag my staff into this or accost me at work.’

‘How else am I supposed to get your attention?’
he demanded, undoing his jacket and placing his masculine hands on his slim
hips. I blinked a few times, trying to drag my eyes away from his crotch, from
that large erection I’d just seen.
Now
he had my attention, letting me
see that definitely seemed to have done the trick, or he could always strip off
and hop in the shower,
that
got my attention quite easily last night, I
thought.

‘I was going to come and see you tonight,’ I
whispered, taking a step back as he took one forward.

‘So I’m supposed to be a mind reader? You’ve
had my contact details, as well as my address in England, for a week, yet nothing,
rien!’ he bit angrily.

‘It’s complicated,’ I replied, moving back
again as he moved closer. Damn him turning up here, throwing me, looking so
delicious, sounding so sexy with his angry French tone and smelling so …
Luc
.
My nipples were painfully hard, my pussy clenching in desperation. My
traitorous body needed putting against a wall and shooting.

‘Complicated?’ he frowned as he strode
forwards, forcing me back against the edge of my desk.

‘You’re married,’ I reminded him, my eyes
darting left and right, trying to plot an escape route.

‘Non! You do not get to run again, not a third
time, ma belle,’ he snapped, as he pressed up against me, grabbed my hands and
anchored them behind my back, trapping me. My body trembled to feel his
touching mine again, the warmth of his breath on my face. I focussed on the
knot in his tie, I couldn’t look at him. One look and I’d be kissing those sexy
lips again. I had to resist, this was so fucked up. ‘Regardez-moi,’ he ordered,
firmly, but quietly.

‘You’re married,’ I repeated in a whimper.

‘I am, but I told you, I’m not in love with
her. I have
never
been in love with her. I’ve never had an affair, but
for
you
I would. You fill my head, Lulu McQueen, still and yet I am
baffled at your actions. Your body screams that you still want me, but you keep
rejecting me. Look at me, talk to me,’ he coaxed.