Georgina Felton is a very bad habit.I've slept with dozens of assistants. They do for a week or two, until their needs eclipse the pleasure of the chase and conquering. Then it's all about what are we, really? And what am I to you? And who is she?Georgina never asks any of these questions.Why?I take her to bed night after night, each one better than the last. She learns very quickly. I knew quickly that she was competent in her work, that in PR and philanthropy, she knew control and every rule. But in sex, she is new and demure. Every climax she has feels like a point won, new territory plundered.But she isn't always shy in the sheets. I see the subtle change in her. Soon enough, she is asking for what she wants — yes, there deeper, harder fuck me right here, Mr. Platton — and better, what I want.But still, never once does she ask what we are, or how I feel about her. Why?And why, when I see her walking or chatting with Blake Tanner of all people, am I filled with inexplicable,
He yanks my bikini bottoms to my thighs, thrusting himself inside of me before I can catch my breath.When he takes me like this, I know it's because he can think of nothing else. He'll go mad with it, his want for me. But it's just who Richard Platton is. A conqueror. A man atop an empire.And yet, and yet — the longer I stay with him, working day in and day out, sleeping in his bed, in his arms, the more I learn there is more to him than meets the eye. Not too deep beneath the surface, there's a man of real passion. A man with a soft and wounded heart, conditioned by a life of materialism and reverence. His beauty and power have placed him too far above the world, but some things bring him down.I bring him down, in a way he can't possibly like. With me, in quiet moments, he's vulnerable.He's a man I know, stupidly, I could fall in love with.This man is easier. The man who commands me, who fucks me dizzy, whose objective is to break me with my own pleasure.This I can handle. This
"It's incredible," she whispers, trailing behind me in the moonlit sand. "Like a fairytale."A small, grudging smile stirs my lips. "Always the romance with you. For someone so stubbornly dug in against love, you certainly have an obsession with it."She blushes deeply, rose coloring her cheeks even in the nighttime darkness. She wears shorts and a hoodie, her long hair loose and flowing. What is she thinking, I wonder? Does she know what's coming? Does she know I have no choice but to send her away? My resentment grows every day. The sex, though I crave it, has slowed.Because it's not enough, and the realization terrifies me. I want more than just her body and her pleasure. I want...Her.She turns her face to the water, the ghost of a smile on her lips. I could see her here forever, the mistress of my island, the benevolent, soft-edged queen of my empire.Marriage. A thought that only recently filled me with disgust and loathing, But looking at her, this strange woman who has adapt
His touch is impossibly tender.He enters me as though I'm made of glass, his rhythm easy and slow and deep. I let him pin my arms above my head, moaning as the cold tide rushes over my ankles and his, his body an inferno against mine, a protective flame in the cool night.His free hand braces against my hip, palm burning against my skin as he does as I asked — as he makes love to me. My cries fill the night, my body lit and electric, every nerve awake and alive like they've never been. He presses his mouth to my neck, his breath burning, his tongue branding.When he finally releases my hands, I slide them into his curls, meeting his dark, moonlit eyes as our pleasure begins to mount in tandem. He deepens his thrusts, every inch of him igniting every inch of me.The words leave my lips as the orgasm catches me like a slow, unstoppable riptide. "I love you,"I gasp, the desperate sound of my voice lost to the velvet roar of the Ocean, to the groan of his pleasure as he comes inside of
Lewis's familiar silhouette is framed by the floor-to-ceiling windows. His shoulders are a rigid line, hands buried in the pockets of his nice navy suit. His auburn hair, duller than Georgina's, is slicked back stylishly.Thunder sounds over the ocean, seeming to quake the island, rain lashing in violent strokes against the glass."You must have flown all night," I say, as mildly as I can manage.Lewis turns stiffly, eyes narrowed and black with rage. "You son of a bitch."Damn. I sigh, sitting on the edge of the sofa. "So. You know.""I had one fucking request.""Your sister is a grown woman," I say, any guilt I may feel eclipsed by annoyance. "I did nothing untoward.""Untoward? You're fucking your assistant!""Lewis."We both turn to find Georgina, dressed but still obviously sleep-mussed, framed in the parlor doorway. Her face is pink, full of contrition."Pack your things," Lewisorders her. "You're coming back to San Francisco."Georgina sighs softly, as though disappointed. "Lew
The flight feels eternal. Rain streaks the small aircraft windows. The beautiful blue sea is steel-grey, the island cloaked in cloud. Like a daydream, something too fantastical to be anything but imagined."I warned you," is all my brother says, his nose swollen, one eye black. "I warned you about him.""You were right," I say, pulling my crumpled suit jacket closer, resigning myself to the foolish grief rising high, threatening to choke me.In the end, Lewis was right.Richard sent me away. Used me, made me fall for him, and then let me go.Cast me off like a line.Tears streak my face silently as we fly across the sea. Lewis was right, and Richard was dangerous. But I'm the one who fell in love with him.I'm the girl who thought she was a princess, and in the end, was nobody.—The work is steady. No — better than steady. I have more jobs lined up than ever, word that I survived Richard Platton for longer than any one PR assistant in his history. Better, many of the firms and client
The months pass slowly. Every day feels longer than the last.I throw myself into my work what else is there to do? Her absence is felt in every room. She's infiltrated Villa Bijou and Saint-Égaré. Her ghost is everywhere.Every instant I'm not elbow-deep in work, I'm working out, hard, blindingly one-minded. I sail too. I spend days on the water, gliding, ignoring the island. Ignoring the memory of her laugh, her shy dark eyes, her cool hand in mine. My wall flower. Mine.No — never mine. If Georgina felt anything for me, it was destroyed the day I attacked her brother and cast her off like a forgotten line. Did I ever truly possess her, for how badly I wanted to?Work is worse than unfulfilling. It's vacant and cold, and the only time I begin to feel something again is when I remember her work — the philanthropy. I picture Georgina in the jungle, in the mountains of some cold foreign country, camera against her eye, shy smile on her lips. This was what she cared about. Charity and d
"It's Christmas," Lewis says, dejected. "What the fuck, Georgina? We live in the same city. Why don't you want to see me?"I stroke my swelling belly, attacking the expanding stretch marks with meticulous scoops of shea butter. "It's the pandemic," I say. A weak excuse, but how else can I possibly hide the pregnancy from Lewis if I see him in person? It's been hard enough over the phone. I'm due in three months, and I'm showing much more than I thought I'd be.Probably due to the fact that there isn't just one little life growing inside of me - but three."I just want to be as safe as possible."Lewis grunts in irritation. I hear all the things he doesn't say. We've spent every Christmas together since we were kids.After Mom's death, Lewis became the arbiter of all things family. He's really the only reason we have any traditions at all. But it's not a good enough reason to break my pact with myself - that I won't tell Lewis until I'm going into labor. My intense, extremely overprote