Delecto - Games of Mastery (part 1) (8 page)

I led her down
the stairs to the living room, far more attuned to her presence
than I was before. Every cell in my body was tuned in, wanting and
wanting...

She sat on the
sofa, her legs crossed demurely.

“
Amanda,
can I make a proposal?”

“
If it's
a decent one, otherwise, no thank you,” she said, raising her
eyebrows at me.

Well it didn't
take her long to get prickly again. “Straight to the point, as
ever. D'you really think I'd make an indecent proposal?”

How I loved her
sticking her sharp thorns in my ribs and finding my annoyance
tolerance levels. It was obviously one of her better skills. I
expected her profession was the reason for that.

“
Yes I
do.” She laughed in a hollow fashion. I ignored all that, and
continued with my very decent proposal.

“
Can we
call a truce? I'd like to talk to you without you jumping down my
throat and accusing me of things unsaid.”

“
A truce?
Oh, I must have missed the declaration. Are we at war?”

I loved her
blatant sarcasm too.

“
A one
sided war, maybe.” I smiled.

“
I'm
naturally defensive and suspicious. It's my line of work to read
people and situations.”

“
Fair
enough, I appreciate that, but tonight, you're my guest, not my
lawyer, and definitely not my enemy. Can we at least have a
pleasant meal together without having a verbal wrangle over
everything?”

Her eyes
widened and she drew breath. I think I've just taken the wind out
of her sails. I suspected she was all set to do just that. To do
battle with me. I think I've surprised her with my outright
honesty. And it was honest, there was no hidden meaning in
that.

“
I'm
always prepared to give people a second chance.”

“
A second
chance? What do you mean exactly?”

“
Oh come
on. Let's just say, I know your plans, but I'll give you the chance
to redeem yourself.”

My plans? Was I
that obvious? No doubt I was. It was written across my face and
just about everywhere else. But I could use this to my advantage. I
was going to go on the offensive. Hard and fast.

“
So I'm
attracted to you? You're attracted to me, aren't you?”

“
I beg
your pardon?” she said, straightening her back in
indignation.

“
I find
you very attractive, I want you, and I'm getting the feeling it's
mutual.”

“
I find
lots of things attractive and want them. It doesn't mean I'll act
on it.”

I smiled at her
and changed the subject.

I could
manipulate a conversation wherever I wanted it to go. Like I was
about to do now.

“
Anyway,
here I am being a very thoughtless host, would you like a drink
before dinner?”

“
Yeah, I
think I'd better, I need one already.”

I laughed at
her honesty. “Follow me. Come and choose something you like.”

I led her to
the bar area in the dining room and opened the wine cooler,
gesturing inside.

“
Take
your pick. Anything you like.”

She chose a
vintage Rioja. It was a good choice. I uncorked the bottle and
poured us both a glass. We stood silently while I did it. I offered
her her drink and she took the glass from my hand and sipped at it,
slowly, watching me warily as I sipped at mine.

“
So
you've chosen the wine you want. And you're drinking
it..”

“
You
offered it to me, why wouldn't I?”

“
I'd like
to offer you something else. Me.”

She laughed at
my blatant cheek. It was a lovely sound.

“
You
can't just offer yourself to me like that.”

“
I can do
what I like with myself, but if it offends you, I won't
offer.”

“
This is
a ridiculous conversation.”

“
You do
want me though, don't you?”

“
I never
said that.”

“
You
don't need to. I can tell.”

“
Can you
really? Which part of me is telling you that?”

“
Just
about every part of you is telling me something, loud and clear. I
can read a woman's body very well.” I smiled at her flustered look
of confusion. I was a good liar. She wasn't telling me anything
much through her body language. “So, you deny yourself things you
want. Why is that?”

“
My
feelings and the reason I do things are my business. And you want
to know something? I like subtlety, you're far too obvious,
Mr Shaw.
”

“
Please
stop calling me
Mr Shaw
, just
to stress the point that you find my conversation a little personal
or testing. Let's be more open with each other. Call me Seb. What
about you? Are you Amanda or Mandy?”

“
I'm
Mandy to my friends. But you can call me Amanda.”

“
Oh how
amusing.”

“
I'm not
laughing and neither are you.”

“
Amanda,
loosen up will you, please?”

“
Any
particular reason why you want me to loosen up?”

God she was
exasperating. And way too gorgeous. I slipped my arm around her
waist and pulled her against me. Her shocked gasp was a pleasure,
as was the trembling I could feel running down her body. Her warm,
beautiful softness was bewitching, I wanted more. I kissed her
gently on the cheek and she melted against me, her breathing
ratcheting up.

“
I can
think of one very good one...”

Then she did
something that really surprised me. She didn't just push me away,
which I kind of expected. She slapped my face. Exceptionally hard.
The word 'oww' sprung to mind, but thankfully, not to my lips.

“
Keep the hell out of my space,
” she ground
out.

I took a
step back in shock. I'd never been slapped before. I obviously went
in a little
too
hard and
fast. I needed to repair the damage, and quickly.

“
Sorry,
you're too beautiful to resist. I had to have a little
taster.”

“
What a
clever man you are, or so you think.”

We were
interrupted and saved from our awkward moment by Bertrand appearing
with his serving tray.

“
Dinner
is served sir and mademoiselle. Please do be seated,” he announced.
I loved his butler mode. It was so damn formal.

We sat and
Bertrand served our starter; a miniature quiche with salad. I knew
he'd do this, his smoked salmon quiche was absolutely delicious. My
mouth watered and I forgot the sting in my cheek and ignored her
evil glare as she sat opposite me at the table. I could feel the
daggers about to fly in my direction, but no matter, there was
plenty of time to rectify that. Food was more important at that
second.

I took a
mouthful off my fork and savored the flavor as it rolled over my
tongue.

“
Mm,
Bertrand's quiche is beyond description,” I mused. I really was
quite obsessed with it.

“
I agree
with you for once,” she replied tartly.

We locked eyes.
It was a strained look.

“
As for
what just happened, that was pure instinct. My intelligence had
nothing to do with it. I apologize for being too forward. I really
couldn't help myself. Put it down to hormones and being light
headed with hunger.”

She laughed and
took a sip of her drink.

“
You
know, you're actually quite funny, Seb,” she said, popping some
food into her exquisite mouth. I'm delighted she used my pet name.
I was actually making some progress. But whether it would be one
step forward and two steps back, remained to be seen.

I watched her
lick a stray crumb of pastry, her tongue sweeping across her lower
lip to catch it. My stomach sucked itself in tightly. She had no
idea what that small action did to me. She had a beautiful tongue,
to add to everything else.

My eyes
returned to hers. “I try to keep a good sense of humor.” That was
not strictly true. I 'appeared' to have a sense of humor. In fact I
wasn't humorous at all. I didn't find much humor in life, since my
world turned black.

I dragged
myself out of that line of thought.

“
Are you
going to hit on me again?” she asked unexpectedly.

“
Hit on
you?” I knew exactly what she meant but I liked playing with
her.

“
Just
answer the question.”

“
Yes,
repeatedly. It's beyond my control. I apologize in
advance.”

“
You'd
better get your first aid kit ready.” She took another sip of her
wine.

“
It's not
my body I'm concerned about, it's my ego that's more easily
bruised.”

“
I'm sure
your ego can take a great deal of bruising. It's certainly big
enough.”

I wasn't sure
how I was doing anymore. How did she do that? I may have met my
match.

“
I
thought we'd agreed a truce?”

“
I didn't
agree to anything at all. But whatever, I'll make some effort to
meet you half way. Why don't you tell me something about your
work.”

I had to laugh
at her, She really was most entertaining.

“
I study
market charts, place orders in metals on my broker trader platform
and buy or sell. It's a simple process.”

“
Have you
ever made any big losses?”

“
Only
one, but oh boy, was that a helluva big one. About two years ago. I
lost half a mil in one day. I was trading the Gold Volatility
Index, the VIX, it's always a risky bet, but that day the
volatility suddenly went through the roof. I had such a high
leverage factor, another ten second delay on my closure would have
cost me a further half mil.”

“
Does it
thrill you, to indulge in high risk activity?”

“
It used
to, but I tend to keep to low risk trading these days. I prefer my
sanity and don't want to provoke a heart attack when I don't need
to.”

“
You've
lost your nerve, you mean?” She smiled at me.

“
No. I'm
still as fearless as ever, but far more sensible than I used to be.
With age comes wisdom.”

“
Fearless, sensible, wise, what else are you?”

“
Now
there's a big question. But I'm pleased you're interested enough to
ask.”

“
Intrigued is a better word.”

“
Well
that makes the two of us, Amanda. You intrigue me equally. Perhaps
in the near future we may discover all the reasons why that is,
hmm?”

We
continued to eat and finished our starter. As I sat back, sipping
my wine, I realized I was really enjoying her company. She was
definitely a challenge, but a different one than I imagined. One
who had secrets. I liked the fact she wasn't concerned about
upsetting me, or speaking her mind. I wanted to find out more about
her. I might hold off a little, and surprise her by
not
hitting on her.

“
Would
you like to visit again. This Sunday, maybe?”

“
No thank
you.”

That was very
final.

“
You
don't want to think about it?”

“
I have
responsibilities to attend to at the weekend.”

“
Oh, do
you have a child?” I never thought of that possibility. That would
explain her reluctance to warm to me. She had a child to consider
and maybe a broken relationship behind her?

“
No
child. But I do have someone who needs my care.”

“
In that
case, perhaps I could visit you? Keep you company while you
care?”

“
No thank
you.”

Another cold
slap in the face. Her frosty air was still very much in
evidence.

“
Why
not?”

“
I don't
want to discuss it.”

“
Right.
Well I guess we won't then.”

I smiled at
her. She was a closed book as far as her personal life was
concerned. A closed book that was bound and chained. I didn't
expect she was going to tell me much. I wondered why. But then
again, I wasn't revealing my personal life to her. And why would
I?

Bertrand
appeared with our main course.

I really did
enjoy his cooking. He didn't cook every day, as he wasn't actually
employed to slave in the galley. He was foremost, a gentleman's
valet and butler. Cooking just so happened to be his hobby. I was
very grateful for his efforts in the kitchen. It saved me starving
or trying to make something edible myself. The fact I ate a lot of
salad said it all.

I came upon him
by accident, three years ago. He was working on the counter in a
French tailoring store I used now and then. He'd thought by working
for a tailor who catered to wealthy men, he'd be more likely to
find a position like his former one. And he did. That very day. We
rubbed along well ever since. He trusted me enough to tell me he
was homosexual, one evening, when we were having a glass of wine
together in the kitchen while he made supper. I'd guessed somehow,
it was little things he did and said. But in any case, I didn't
care what he was. He was a fine butler and valet and I couldn't be
happier having him around. In fact I paid him a massive salary to
keep him around. He lived in the grounds in the small two bedroomed
cottage. I'd never been in it since he lived there. It was his
space entirely.