Page 5 of The Seductress

She needed more than a few kisses or me covering her again to reassure her I knew. For all her bravado, I’d seen the soft heart of her time and again in the last few days though she does a good job of tryingto keep it hidden from me.

I pulled her head down to my chest, cradling her like the precious gem that she was until I felt the tension leave her and she relaxed back into me. “I’ve not given you the words as yet, not because I feel it’s too soon. I’m not a man to live by the dictates of others, but because when I finally tell you what you mean to me I want there to be nothing hanging over our heads to mar it. But…I have done everything in the past week to show you.”

“Yes you came into my life unexpectedly, but no matter how much I lusted for you, I would never have turned to you had there not been something more there.” It was the closest I’d come to telling her what I had grown to feel for her. I’d used mybody, my mouth, even my fingers to show her through touch what was inside me, but I knew my sweet girl needed the words. After tonight, after I’d relegated her aunt to the outskirts of my life, then I would feel free to share with her, just what I envisioned.

“I’m going to make you very happy baby girl, just hold onto that no matter what or who tries to convince you otherwise. Look at me.” I turned her face to me with a finger under her chin. “Better.” That haunted look had left her eyes, but I figured I could give her more, because knowing females, especially one so young, as soon as she left me she’d be back to worrying again and I couldn’t have that.

“Do you remember the night you told me the truth about Jen, abouther past marriages and what she was really like? I had no idea about any of that. I guess it was easy for her to hide that from me even in this day of modern technology because I never even thought to look. She’s very good at what she is.”

“The marriages alone followed by divorce probably wouldn’t have been enough to make me call things off, but there was more that I found after I went digging. You know because I’ve told you, that I was never in love with her. She was more like a business merger than anything else. I fell for the businesswoman more so than the woman if that makes any sense.”

“But like I said, there’s more to it than her marrying men for their wealth. I’ve uncovered some thingsabout her that make that pale in comparison. After learning what I have…” I put a finger to her lips when she made as if to ask me just what it was that I had found out.

“I have to deal with her first and then I’ll tell you all of it. Just suffice it to say that I wasn’t in love with her before and after this, whatever care I had for her is now long dead. She’s no threat to you, to us. No one will stand in our way I promise you, least of all her.”

“I still don’t understand how you could plan to marry someone you didn’t love.” Ah, I get it now.

“What she and I shared was different, hard as it is to believe, until two weeks ago I was a completely different person. I didn’t look atmarriage the same way as I do now. My life was all business and forging my dynasty, until this brown eyed beauty waltzed in and took over.” She grinned at that and the band around my chest eased.

This being in love thing is all consuming. I never knew what it was to hold someone else in that place that was my very essence. I’d probably never tell her this, because who in their right mind would give another that much power? But I sometimes feel I will die without her. One fucking week and she’d turned me into the lovesick sap I’d never been not even in my youth.

Chapter 5

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After lunch, I called the driver to come take her back and admonished her to stay put this time. No one knew where she was and I was trying to keep it that way until everything was over. I hated deceiving her parents, but she’d been so freaked out when I suggested we let them know, that I’d given in. She rightfully feared her parents’ disapproval and I could see why. But once I’d taken care of Jen, I had all intentions on going to them and setting the record straight.

This is the south and a grownman taking up with a young girl after seemingly having an affair with her aunt would be frowned upon I had no doubt, so I was going to have to tread carefully there. I wasn’t too worried about it though, since the only thing I cared about was keeping her with me. If they didn’t accept us, I’d just have to find another way to fill the void for her. But no matter what, she was never leaving my side again.

The rest of the afternoon flew by quickly and the closer the hour grew the more annoyed I became. I was long past the anger that had seized me once Jen’s perfidy was uncovered. I’d have had to care more for it to have lasted, but I was more angry at myself for being so careless, than at her for being what she was and trying to walk me into a trap.

The papers laid out before me on my desk told a dark twisted story. If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, I would find it hard to believe. Obviously the two men that came before me had seen something way more in her than I had to have been suckered in so completely. My excuse was the indifference I’d felt for the whole marriage game. I can’t imagine what theirs had been.

A look at my watch showed it was almost time. She’d wanted to meet at a restaurant but I’d convinced her to meet me here at the office after everyone else had left. The shit would hit the public soon enough, but I wanted the pleasure of annihilating her here first. It was a kind of spit in your face kind of deal.

Sitting back, I replayed everyconversation we’d ever had. It was so plain to see now, all the traps and snares. What I’d mistakenly took for moral ethics on her part had been nothing more than cunning manipulation. The one fucking time in my life I took my eye off the ball and she almost got me. I won’t be making that mistake again though, and now I won’t have to.

I had no doubts about Ashley’s feelings for me. She wears them on her face like a beacon. It may have started as simple teenage lust, a crush as she calls it. But when I watch her asleep in my arms it’s there for me to see.

Nothing had scared me in the business world. I’d gone after bigger fish than me and won. In fact, not since my parents died leaving me anorphan at the mercy of the state’s foster care system at the age of six, had I ever really feared anything. After the first few years of the state’s hospitality you tend to grow immune to the shit life has to offer.

I’d pulled myself up and never looked back. Fear was something I had no time for, and the words ‘I can’t’ were never part of my vocabulary. But each time I think of how my life could’ve been fucked had she not walked into it, I get a hollow feeling in my gut.

Oh, I would’ve beaten Jen at her own game eventually. I have no doubt that the mask would’ve cracked sooner or later and I would’ve seen beneath the façade, but not before she’d taken me for a fool. Now I understood why she’d been sostandoffish. It was so that I couldn’t read her too well.

I smirked at the very idea of what she’d had planned. I can do that now, but had things turned out differently, had Ashley not come between us, I may very well be singing a different tune. I unlocked the bottom drawer of my desk and looked at the box I’d hid there. I’d never so much as looked at a ring when I was contemplating marriage to Jen. The morning after, I’d taken my baby girl for the first time, I’d had hers picked out and delivered.

Knowing her pain in the ass tendencies, she’d probably gripe about my high handedness in choosing her ring, but I’m from the old school of thought. The man should pick out the ring he meant toshow the world that he’d claimed his woman.

Our time together hadn’t been spent entirely on her aunt and her bullshit. After the first night when she’d revealed that shit, we’d spent the rest of our time either making love or getting to know each other. She brought something to me I didn’t know was lacking. It was as if through her I could regain the part of myself I’d lost since the day I was left alone in the world. I could still kick myself in the ass for almost giving that up by hitching myself to this viper.

I see now that I’d just been going through the motions. Making money had taken the place of having a family. I was for all intents and purposes, dead inside. That’s why ithad been so easy for Jen to pull the wool over my eyes. I couldn’t wait to see her reaction when I burst her bubble, which should be any minute now.

I heard the click of her heels against the floor outside and gathered the evidence to put it away for now. I’d thought of a million ways to do this, there were so many to choose from. In the end I’d chosen to go with the scenario that would get me some of my own back. Lucky for her, her niece had begged for leniency, we’ll see how this shit played out in the next few minutes. I hadn’t made any promises.

She came through the door all smiles. She was good. I still didn’t see it. “You’re back.” I got up from my seat and approached her, turning mycheek at the last minute to avoid her kiss. I patted her shoulder cordially before moving away again and saw the first sign of unease.

“Is everything okay Simon?” She pulled her gloves off and watched me pace. I thought I knew how I wanted to play this, thought I could remain calm and unattached. But now that she was standing here all I felt was rage. “You tell me. How was your trip?” I turned to face her to gauge her reaction, to see if she’d give herself away just a little bit.

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