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CHAPTER 4
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2024-10-29 19:42:56The next day, Cassandra looked at herself in the mirror of the ladies' toilet at work. Nervously, and hating herself for feeling nervous, she smoothed her already smooth hair. She’d tied it back in its usual style for work and now tucked it firmly behind her ears.
She leaned close to check her make-up. She’d had to put slightly more on than usual today to cover the circles under her eyes. She’d arrived home late last night, and had then stayed up researching as much information about Sébastien Monfort as she could.
The fact that she hadn’t had to stay up long said it all. He rarely gave interviews. In fact, the last one had been at least two years previously.
He was the CEO of Banque Monfort and had reached that exa
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“I don’t appreciate being manipulated into this kind of situation, Monsieur Monfort.” Sébastien looked at Cassandra’s tight-lipped profile from across the other side of the car and had to subdue the urge to show her exactly how much she might appreciate being manipulated. He knew she felt the simmering tension between them too. At one point during the interview earlier, when she’d had the temerity to dig so deep, way too deep into his life, their eyes had stayed locked together for long seconds and he’d read the latent desire in those amber depths even if Cassandra tried to deny it. “I prefer to think of it as a gentle nudging.” She cast a glimpse at him and made some kind of inarticulate sound. “There was nothing gentle about it. Your unspoken threat was very clear, Monsieur Monfo
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Cassandra fell silent as she thought of her parents. She was acutely aware of their increasing frailty, and especially her father, who had had a quadruple bypass the previous year. With her older siblings busy with families and their own problems, the care and concern of their parents largely fell to her. Not that she minded, of course. But she was aware nevertheless that they worried about her, that they wanted to see her settled like the others. Especially after what happened to Brian. They’d finished their meal, and the plates had been cleared. She took a quick sip of coffee and avoided Sébastien’s laser-like gaze. It was as if he could see right through her head to her thoughts. She hoped the coffee would diminish the effect of the wine, which had been like liquid nectar.
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By the time Cassandra was standing in her tiny kitchen the next morning drinking her usual cup of tea, she felt much more in control. She only had to look around her small house to feel on firmer ground. This was reality. This was all she’d been able to afford after Brian had died. Her mouth tightened. Contrary to what everyone believed, she hadn’t been left a millionairess after her football-star husband had died in the accident. She was still picking up the pieces emotionally and financially from her five years of marriage. And, while her emotional scars might heal one day, the financial ones would be keeping her in this tiny cottage and working hard for every cent for a very long time. The truth was that Brian had left astronomical debts behind him and, because their divorce hadn’t come
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The shock was rapidly wearing off by the time Cassandra had stepped back into her house, followed by a tall, stunning and magnificent Sébastien Monfort. She crossed her arms and rounded on him with a scowl on her face. Once again, he was demonstrating that ability to suck in the space around him and make everything seem small and inadequate. She tried to block out the fact that he was quite simply the most gorgeous man who’d ever stood feet away from her and looked at her with an intensity that bordered on being indecent.“That…Um… That phone call was a conversation that shouldn’t have had to happen. And, just so you know, it was all your fault.” He inclined his head slightly and smiled slightly. He looked huge in her tiny living room.“I apologize, but, as
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Happy that she’d justified her actions to herself, and not willing to pay attention to the buzz of something in her blood when she heard the strains of her favorite blues CD coming from the sound system, she found it soothing rather than scary.“I hope you don’t mind?” Cassandra looked over to where Sébastien was bent down at the system, the material of his trousers and shirt straining over taut, hard muscles in his thighs and back. She shook her head, her mouth feeling very dry.“No… no… Cass, stop…” she whispered almost imperceptibly and took another quick sip of wine. The dinner was extremely pleasant and by the time Cassandra was taking his cleared plate from him, and apologizing again that their dinner had been on
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He saw the cards that had accompanied the flowers neatly lined up to show the sentence they’d spelled out. Something forceful struck him then. He’d never gone to such trouble before. Women always said yes… It was always that easy to have every woman he’d wanted. Only recently his experiences with women had always proved somewhat unsatisfactory. And now merely kissing Cassandra was making him feel like a randy teenager again, like a schoolboy on his first crush. And it was wonderful, unsettling, and somehow bothering all tied up into one cool package. Cassandra welcomed the distance as she watched Sébastien put his coat on, accentuating his shoulders, his broad back. Those wonderful shoulders that she’d just been clutching with complete abandon, because if she hadn&rsquo
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Trapped in that intimate space, Cassandra felt as if her entire body was on fire. Suddenly her shirt and tie were ridiculously restrictive. It was impossible for her to look at Sébastien. She was afraid that one glimpse would take her breath away forever. Silence thickened, but it wasn’t all that awkward. As they approached the city, Sébastien started pointing out landmarks in a neutral, deep voice. Just that alone had an effect on her body, the fine hairs standing up all over her skin. Yet it was also calming as if he was trying to soothe her. She still hadn’t looked directly at him, but then she felt his hand, warm and very real on her chin and jaw, turning her head towards him. Her eyes were huge, staring at him with a mixture of fear and trepidation.“Thank you,&rd
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When Cassandra reached her room, she was panting. She went straight into her own bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes over-bright. Her body was too sensitive, and an ache throbbed down low in her belly and between her legs. She dropped her head, hands gripping the edge of the sink. What was going on with her? Why was she so restless? She did the right thing by leaving Sébastien alone in the living room. Cassandra went back out into the bedroom and fooled herself into believing that she was doing what she wanted by unpacking her clothes and taking out her toiletries. A silk dress slithered out of her trembling hands to the ground. After mumbling with discontent, Cassandra picked it up. She’d pulled
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Cassandra relaxed back into the luxurious cushions of the huge, comfortable couch. The tiny baby suckling at her breast was inducing a deliciously soporific effect in her blood. A familiar flood of happiness and pure joy made her smile as she looked up from her daughter and took in the warmly decorated open-plan sitting room, and the big windows that looked out into a large garden littered with toys. Situated right in the center of Montmartre, one could be forgiven for thinking the house was in the countryside, the hum of Parisian traffic barely discernible through the high trees guarding the property. This had been one of the first elegantly palatial townhouses she and Sébastien had looked at that day so long ago when she’d believed that all he wanted was to set her up in isolated seclusion. When s
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With the corner of her eye, Cassandra got a glimpse of Sébastien. He was looking in front of him, but she could sense a change in his demeanor. Maybe her words were breaching the pain she inflicted with her running away. Cassandra continued. “So much money had been spent, so much emotion invested. My parents were old. I knew they wanted to see me settled before it was too late. And I just… I couldn’t stop it. I knew I was making a mistake. I’d isolated myself spectacularly in a bubble of make-believe. And yet still I hoped for the best, put my trust in what I’d witnessed growing up, thought everything would work out for the best.” Cassandra felt Sébastien turn towards her, but couldn’t look at him. Her eyes stung with tears but her voice didn’t waver. “I was just a baby, Sébastien… I was only twenty-two. I hardly knew myself, never mind Brian. I subju
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“Hey, Cass, nice to have you back. We really missed you.” Cassandra smiled at the receptionist, but it felt forced as she walked into her old office. “Thanks,” she said and closed the door behind her. Everything had felt bland since she’d come home just a few days ago. Cassandra felt lethargic as if a vital source of energy had been taken from her body. She smiled bleakly to herself since she knew why was she like that. The reason for her strange mood was Sébastien. She sat down behind her desk heavily. Just then a knock came on her door, and before she could answer, it opened and James barged in totally uninvited. “Cass! It’s so great to have you back. Sorry about all that business before, but you know my hands were tied. I did my very best to keep you here, working for our statio
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He rested over her on his hands for a long moment and Cassandra bit her lip. She couldn’t take her eyes away from his… she knew there was a silent battle of wills going on. Finally, just when she thought Sébastien was going to make her beg, he slipped a hand under her buttocks, tilting her up towards him, and then with one deep, earth-shattering thrust, he entered her and she felt as if he’d touched her soul. She wrapped her legs around him as far as she could, drawing him in deeper and deeper, going with him when he pulled out and drawing him in tight again when he thrust back. Cassandra reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, her mouth blindly finding and pressing kisses to any bit of exposed flesh, and he took them higher and higher. &nbs
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She was feeling it and him too… The air around them was saturated with their desire. Cassandra didn’t know how she was still standing. She felt weak and trembly. And a little angry. “Would you stop being so damn enigmatic? What are you talking about, Sébastien? What things are you trying to elevate to another level? You’re really… Listen, we’re just… We were lovers. I’m here while things settle down at home. Nothing’s changed.” Sébastien crossed his arms at that, and his face got even harsher. “Why do you keep saying that? I’ve told you, we’re together now. I’m not going to be apart from you or this baby.” Bitterness and something else indefinable washed up through Cassandra. “And yet you’ve spent the day showing me places where you’ll happily shelve me and our child.” &nbs
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As soon as she knew she was alone, the tears came like a raging river, and through them, Cassandra ranted at herself. What was wrong with her? She wanted Sébastien and yet she didn’t want him. She wanted to be independent, and then when he brought her out to show her places where she could live independently, she didn’t want that, either. All she knew for sure, as she wiped away the tears and prepared some dinner, was that she wanted him with a bone-deep ache that ran through her body like a dull pain. It got worse every time Sébastien came near. Cassandra had been having erotic dreams nearly every night about what had happened in the restaurant, waking with sheets damp and twisted around her body. She needed his physical presence. It was as if that would make all her confusion go away if she could just b
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The following morning, Cassandra woke up and found herself naked but for her underwear in her bed, and she couldn’t believe it when the clock said 10:00 a.m. She’d slept for the entire previous evening and night. Had Sébastien undressed her? Who else could it have been? And she’d slept through it? She showered and dressed quickly, feeling completely disorientated. When she emerged into the living room after finding no note in the kitchen, she jumped with fright when Sébastien’s study door opened and he strode out, dressed head to toe in his successful, powerful billionaire gear. Her heart clenched. Seeing him like this, a world away from the muddy rugby coach of yesterday made Cassandra feel so sad. She folded her arms defensively, not sure why she was feeling like that. So sensitive about it. So irritate
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Finally, her suspicions were confirmed. “Now I can see things pretty clearly. You did want to be a rugby player too. Anyone watching you out there could see what a natural talent you have. Why didn’t you go for it, Sébastien?” He looked out to the men on the pitch and then spoke with a kind of resigned modesty. “My grandfather could see how good I was. He had played all his life, and he was a great player. But it never got him anywhere. Originally, he played it for acceptance into the community. I never told you, but he was half-Algerian, and he always felt like an outsider. That’s why he took it so badly when my mother disgraced the good name, he’d built up by having an affair with a married man.” Cassandra looked at his profile. It was proud and harsh. A warrior’s profile. “He’d always regretted his
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Cassandra was utterly consumed by him at that moment… Nothing else existed around them. A waiter tried to get their attention, but gave up and walked away leaving them immersed in their conversation. “I’m sorry, Sébastien. I don’t mean to pry. If it’s that hard to talk…” “No,” he said quickly, his hand tightening on hers. His eyes locked onto hers. The sympathy he saw in their depths reminded him of what he wanted, what he’d vowed to set out to achieve after that catastrophic night in the restaurant. If he wanted that, then he had to tell her everything. She had to know who he really was… where he was coming from. “It’s not that, Cass. I can take you somewhere tomorrow if you like. Perhaps it’ll be much easier to explain then.” She just nodded, every part of her warmi
