“Oh my goodness….lord this is…” Cara stepped off the bottom tread of the long staircase that had brought them deep underground and looked around her. This is amazing.She glanced up at Xavier and his easy smile combined with the warm Press of his palm against the small upper back and had a dangerous effect on her equilibrium.He turned towards her and gave an approaching maitre d a knowing smile. “400 years ago this was a network of winery sellers run by monks he said. Now its one of Madrid's finest restaurants.”The window list space might have felt stuffy and oppressive but it had been so beautifully restored that instead it felt well coming and intimate. Following the matrix d she walked beneath centuries old arches of brick and stone through an in chanting labyrinth of narrow passageways that linked a series of dining alcoves and galleries of varying ships and sizes.Isolated from the noisy bustling city above and with soft music piped through invisible speakers and subtle atmosph
“I haven't made up my mind but I suspect that's what I will end up doing full even if I stay in Melbourne the house is too big for me. It was too big for dad and Matilda really but it's right by the ocean and Matilda adore the sea,” she caught herself. “Sorry,” she muttered dropping her keys to her wine glass. “I know that you are not interested in…”“Don’t.” Xavier reached across the table and covered her hand with his. His mouth formed but his voice was soft. “If anyone should apologise then it is me.”Cara’s skin tingled under the warm pressure of his fingers. Her heart beating a little faster she looked up. “What's the apology for?”His thumbs stroked over her knuckles. “For what I said in the car on Sunday. It was disrespectfully it is not my place to judge Matilda or to make assumptions about the situation she found herself in. The fact is she made the choice 35 years ago and that was ultimately for my benefit report that I am grateful to her.Cara’s throat stuck and for a momen
Xavier did not know her at all. If he did know then he would know that she would settle for the promise of something far simpler and less expensive like a whole uninterrupted day with him. A whole 24 hours with no work no phone calls no emails nothing but him and her talking teasing getting to know one another and making loveShe looked down twirling her glass between her hands. Maybe the high life was what wealthy men expected they are mistresses to demand.Mistress.What was this thing? Was that what displaying or a fair whatever you called it made her? A rich man's mistress?Ughhh.“I am not sure,” she said lifting her gaze and accidentally catching the eye of the man she had noticed earlier. She quickly looked away and focused on Xavier. “Let me think about it.”His eyes held her again and then suddenly the air shimmered with the potent mix of heat and sensuality.“Do I need to remind you how persuasive I can be amante?”Desire tugged inside her belly so intense it almost took her
Xavier stood up so quickly his cheers scraped on the stone floor and the physical dissimilarity between the 2 men was immediately apparent. Diego de la Vega was good looking but he didn't have Xavier’s height or the same powerful build and he didn't possess one iota of the raw masculinity and charisma that Xavier exuded.He looked at her full let's go he said evenly and she didn't need any further promptingWhoever he was Diego de la Vega made her uneasy and uncomfortable and she was more than happy to leave.Fortunately Xavier had already paid the bill and he made occurred Buenos noches to his relative and then made a quick exit do not before Cara had fielded a look from Diego that not only glinted with I'll concealed curiosity but also she thought had a hint of malevolence.Suppressing a short shudder she emerged onto the street and turned to Xavier. His jaw was still tight and his mouth was compressed. “Who was that?”“My cousin.”Hand on her elbow he guided her into the back of th
Surely Victor de la Velga did not stand by idly while his son, his first and elder son was being vilified by the other members of his family.He stood down as chairman last year after a health scare. Problems with his heart. He remains on the board but he has taken a step back from the politicking. I prefer it that way. I don't want him stressed he has given his pound of flesh to the business over the years and he trusts that I can handle whatever hector and Diego throws at me.Cara heard both concern and respect in Xavier’s voice. You care for him very much? of course. He spoke without hesitation. For both of my parents. They are good people. The attitude of 13 family members towards me has been difficult for them. Upsetting.And for you? She queries gently. He shrugged. It has simply made me work harder to prove that I can be better than the likes of Diego and hector.Cara felt her heart squeeze. Looking at him now armed with this new knowledge she saw so much more than a proud dr
The winter sun filtered through the blinds when I woke. I was naked in the middle of the bed with a pair of quilts covering me. My legs felt sore in the best way.Warm air enveloped me when I finally stretched out of the blankets. There was a small pile of clothes on the corner of the bed, but I only needed the shirt. It must have fit Xavier's long torso, but it was large enough on me to fall at my upper thigh. It was probably old too, judging by the softness of the cotton. Much better than last night's clothes, still crumpled on the floor.Out in the main room, the smell of coffee and the sizzle of eggs instantly roused my appetite. Just a few steps into the room and he was in my sights. Xavier stood tall and lean with his huge frame, flipping a few slices of bread-turned-toast. He was already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.I felt myself brighten when I saw him. "Good morning, Xavier."Xavier turned, smirked a shy half-smile at seeing his shirt draped on my curves. "Good morning, be
As if that were the signal he'd been waiting for, Xavier straightened. He towered over my perch on the table. But his hands slid up from my outer thighs to my hips and to my waist. They snagged the oversized t-shirt up and over my ribs. He slowed just enough to caress the outside of my breasts then my shoulders.Suddenly I sat naked while Xavier stood fully clothed. My nipples were prominent despite the radiant warmth of the stove. It must have been from how he looked at me as if I were the only woman he'd ever seen.Then he wrapped a hand around each breast, with my hard pink nipples pinched firmly by each thumb. My hips rolled at the touch. Forget a light, hesitant brush. There's almost nothing better than an assertive tug. Still holding my breasts, he knelt in front of the table. His jeans rustled as he settled onto his knees. His mouth found my thigh and worked up towards my heat.I couldn't hold back my need any longer. I leaned back with palms pressed against the tabletop, thrus
At 6:45 AM on Friday they boated his jet on the tarmac in Madrid for their return to Barcelona.Cara had not complained about their early rising but she had looked deliciously flashed and disabled as she had raised around the apartment gathering her things up before the car had arrived. Her last minute rush to pack had been his fault. He had joined her in the shower and pressed her back against the tiles and dumb things to her under the streaming water that had consequently made them both run lead but she hadn't complained about that either.In the final minutes before they had left their apartment she had flown back into the bedroom looking for something and Xavier had spied on her journal on the side table in the living room. It had lain open at a page on which she had written her list of things to see and do in Spain and although he hadn't intended to look one item had caught his eye before he had closed the journal and called out to her that he had found it.The flight crew ready
Cara pursed her lips and then said,” You really think that I am going to tell you anything?”“No I don’t. But I am not above hurting you and you don’t mean anything to me so hurting you is going to be easier and probably be even fun.”“You think you are a man and that is why you are stronger than me?”“There is nothing to question about that. It is a known fact. You are the one who has been kidnapped and not me, so there is actually no point in arguing with me. I can do a lot of things to you, querida and make sure that no one ever finds you again but I am a good man with a good heart. Help me with what I require and I shall make sure you are sent back to Australia safe and sound.”“I know that you are lying. And nothing you say is going to make me believe that..” Cara spat at him as she said the words. Diego wiped his face with the back of his hand and sighed and then back handed her again. Cara knew it was coming and she had already swerved away and his hand did not hit her.She mov
Clubbing is a place for a type of people. Firstly, they had to be rich. Clubbing wasn't a poor man's activity. The cheapest booze inside would be worth twice the expensive brands outside. Everything was outrageously overpriced—not that he cared anyway.Second of all, they had to be a crowd person. Being in an enclosed room full of drunk people isn't exactly a paradise for introverted people. Sure, there wouldn't be much talking. Half of the experience was having conversations you'd barely hear over the booming music, or even remember the next morning because you're wasted as fuck, but there are still people who'd come up to you and talk.So when Xavier saw her, standing awkwardly with her outgoing friend dancing wildly by her side, he knew she didn't belong to this kind of scene. The complete opposite of him; as someone who basically grew up here, Xavier loved everything about the place. It felt like home, more so than any of his mansions, actually.He watched the two women as they he
“I know who you are, Diego. You made the mistake of speaking to me. And now I know that you are the one who is torturing me and has kidnapped me.”There was silence for a while and then all of a sudden the blindfold was taken off from her eyes and Diego was standing there before her in his shirt and trousers. He looked quite normal almost as if nothing had happened and was smirking at Cara.“I am sure you enjoyed that, querida.”“Don’t call me that you freaking bastard. You are nothing else but a vile manipulative..” said Cara as suddenly she was slapped and she could feel her lips split and she was bleeding and she could only feel helpless because her hands were still bound.“Don’t call me names, querida…your mouth was made for far better purposes and not this. You are a lot more important to me that you are ever going to be to my bastard cousin.”“And you are never going to be half the man that Xavier is.”“Whatever you say is not going to make me angry. You are a beautiful woman Ca
Cara struggled desperately, trying to free her hands from the heavy ropes that bound them together behind her back. She couldn’t see anything, thanks to the blindfold which covered most of her face. The ball gag shoved into her mouth prevented her from making much noise at all. When at last she realized the futility of her movements, she lay still and listened.Abruptly she felt the car begin to slow down. Cara’s heart fluttered in fear, wondering where she would be taken. She didn’t have long to wait. Moments later the car rolled to a stop, and a door opened. She was grabbed and hauled roughly out of the car, where she stumbled a bit on unsteady feet. Two hands gripped her shoulders, forcing her to walk quickly and unsteadily forward.She heard a door open. As she stepped through it, her footsteps echoed on what she wagered were hard tile floors. She and her captor proceeded through the room, then stopped suddenly. She heard a bell, followed by the sliding of a door that she realized
Some say, 'From pain comes wisdom,' but Jean had endured a lot over the past weeks and felt no wiser. Her boyfriend left her and it had hollowed out her soul. When she pushed through the door and rang the bell at Trader Dan's, she was hoping to put a bullet in her old life and thumb her nose at the jackass who left her behind.And Trader Dan's is just such a place; where souls are bared, pain will be endured, and whatever healing occurs will be everlasting.As she settled into the proprietor's chair with the tools of the trade laid out neatly on a small table nearby, Trader Dan's resonant voice filled her ears with a tale from another age. It seemed charming but odd to her. Perhaps it was just his effort to entertain his clients or calm frazzled nerves. Regardless, Jean found herself drifting back in time while the man gave her 'wisdom,' prick by prick."Meijuan sang like an angel, and from a very young age her voice would echo in the cavernous St. Ignatius Cathedral in Shanghai. Alth
“Love is really that important for me, Xavier. I know it sounds really stupid to you and you think that if I would just not think about it, things would be better but I cannot imagine spending my life in this way…”“All the time that we spent together, was it that difficult for you? Did you think that I did not care for you one whit? That I don’t wish to make you happy? If this is not all that there is to love then what is it that you want from me?”“Want from you? Xavier, from the moment that I have come here and have stepped into your world I have never wanted anything from. I have just wished for you to know the woman who was my mother and who was your mother as well and you never had the chance to. I never asked you for anything. You showered me with gifts, but those aren’t important to me. Do you know what is?”Xavier remained silent and looked at her darkly.“What is more important to me is the time that you spent with me…not just the love making but all the moments that you wer
Seeing that the stands were filling as the start of the game approached, Ulysses headed toward them to grab and save seats for the rest of the family that would be watching the game while Devon headed for the outfield to call his team into their dugout. At six feet, Alex stood a good head taller than any other player on the team. He looked like an adult being followed by children when the rest of the team fell in behind him as he led them to the dugout.Alex's team would be the visiting team for today's game, so Devon explained the planned batting order to the players before taking his lineup card out to the umpire at home plate. He saw that Aphrodite, Athena, his mother, and mother-in-law had all joined Ulysses in the stands. He heard his daughter squeal when she saw him and paused to wave to her. Athena looked as much like a junior version of her mother as Alex did his father.As had been the trend all season, Alex and his teammates batted around their first at-bat with Alex hitting
She was hopelessly in love.And nothing anyone would say could change the fact ever.Cara stared at Xavier who was sleeping on the bed with his back towards her. Sometime during the night he had woken her up by kissing her and pulling her nipples and then entering her again and again in deep and long strokes and Cara could not do anything but moan and cry out in pleasure.“Come for me, querida…make all those noises for me. You will always know that I was the one who made you cry out of pleasure!”It was so ardently male and so egoistic in nature that Cara thought how could a man be so full of himself, be so arrogant that he was the reason for a woman’s smile or tears. Even though he wasn’t wrong but still, the inherent feministic tendency in her tried saying that this was something that she should let go so easily but looking at him sleeping peacefully after such a night was not something she could agree to. She wished for him to sleep. They had the food that she had cooked and Xavier
"Well, I don't have a fancy car for you to drive to demonstrate my love for you, so I guess you'll have to settle for my undying concern for you and copious amounts of carnal pleasure. That's it! I can drive your Bentley and you get to drive me wild like you did last night."Laughing, Devon said, "That sounds like a win-win. We better get up and start getting ready if we intend to meet your parents on time."Aphrodite didn't move her body from on top of Devon as she reached over to the nightstand and retrieved her cell phone."What are you doing?" Devon asked."I'm texting my mom to let her know to meet us an hour later than we had planned.""Why? Traffic shouldn't be a problem for any of us on a Saturday morning."Finishing her text and returning the cell phone to the table, Aphrodite smiled down and said, "You haven't taken any of my hints, so I'll just have to make my intentions perfectly clear, my love. I intend to verify a suspicion that I have had since waking next to you...""W