Divas (60 page)

‘It would have reassured me so much to know you hadn’t just vanished into thin air, ’ she explained to him, ‘and that you were on my side . . .’

Niels nodded abruptly.

‘I get it, OK?’ he said, which Lola supposed was the closest he could manage to an apology.

We’re really going to have to work on his communication skills,
Lola thought ruefully.
But it’s amazing how quickly everything’s happened. Barely six weeks ago, I
didn’t even know Niels. I knew who he was, of course. Jean-Marc told me he had an older brother who ran everything, and was much too busy to do anything like come to our engagement dinner,
and he sounded like such a bore I barely even remembered his name.

And now
. . .
now, every time I think of Niels, every time I say his name to myself, I get wet. Every time I look at him, all my insides melt. I’ve never been so infatuated with
anyone in my entire life. I didn’t even know that I could feel like this.

Lola was spinning off into a vivid recollection of the way she had woken up that morning, with Niels’s head between her legs, his stubble grating deliciously on her skin, so that the first
thing that had issued from her lips that morning had been a scream of pleasure, when she was interrupted by Niels’s deep voice saying:

‘Aren’t you going to go for a swim?’

She looked up, but couldn’t see him. Paddling with her hands to bring the lilo round, she swivelled to find him, standing by the edge of the pool, hands on his hips, damp with sea water,
his swim shorts dripping onto the white stone edge of the pool.

‘I’m feeling really lazy, ’ she said, shading her face with her hand and smiling up at him. ‘I can barely even be bothered to turn over.’

Niels grinned devilishly.

‘Well, let me give you a hand with that—’

‘No! Niels,
no –
I don’t want to get wet yet, I’m sunbathing—’

But Niels had already jackknifed and dived into the pool. He came up under the waterfall, shaking his hair back, his eyes gleaming and his skin lightly tanned from a week of sun. Niels’s
fair Scandinavian skin needed a lot of sunblock, and Lola had found a great deal of pleasure in carefully applying it to the tips of his ears, his nose, the back of his neck, as he grumbled and
pushed her away and pretended to be annoyed, while actually enjoying tremendously having her minister to him.

‘So, ’ he said, wading towards her with evil in his eyes, ‘you need some help turning over—’

‘No! Niels,
no!
’ Lola screamed with such relish that the butler and maid on the terrace above could hear her squeal even over the tumbling waterfall below. The two members of
the villa’s extensive staff had been arranging orchids along the marble table in the shade of the veranda where Niels’s and Lola’s lunch would be served; but now they looked at
each other, rolled their eyes, and retreated back inside the villa again to give the couple privacy.

‘At least they’re not doing it inside this time, ’ the maid said in relief. ‘I’ve had to change the sheets once already this morning.’

‘
No!
’ Lola protested happily, wriggling back on the lilo as Niels approached, grabbed the rubber rim, and dragged it high in the air.

She had a glorious view of his flexing biceps, and then he twisted the lilo and, despite her efforts to hold it flat, she spun off it, flying into the warm, soft water, coming up giggling and
pummelling him as he caught her and held her, pretending to fight him, letting him catch her hands and hold them behind her back with both of his while he kissed her so hard it took her breath
away.

She tasted salt on his mouth from the sea. Her naked body was pressed tight to his, and even though they had spent the past week mostly naked together, being underwater gave it even more of an
erotic charge; she could feel how hard he was already, his cock pressing insistently up between her legs, fully erect, and she went limp in his arms with pure desire, kissing him back with
everything she had, trying to get every inch of her body in contact with his, floating in the water, wrestling her arms free from him so she could wrap them round his neck and twine herself around
him and kiss him forever.

And then Niels was spinning her round, pushing her against the side of the pool, his hands leaving her momentarily to strip off his swim trunks and throw them impatiently onto the pool edge. She
braced herself, so ready for him she could hardly bear it, moaning in excitement as Niels’s feet caught hers and nudged them apart, her eyes closed to feel the sensations better, suddenly so
desperate for him that if he didn’t fuck her then, that instant, she knew she would explode with frustration.

She felt his cock behind her, parting her buttocks, and then she screamed in surprise as Niels eased it up inside her, the first time he had done that, one hand guiding it slowly, the other one
coming round to finger her so she writhed in pleasure even as the shock of him doing what no one had even tried with her before made her cry out again, not knowing whether she wanted it or not.

‘Is it all right?’ Niels said in her ear, the first time he had ever asked her permission for anything, and she opened her mouth to say that she wasn’t sure, knowing that if
she expressed any doubt at all, he would stop instantly. But just then his clever fingers made her come, and simultaneously his cock slid up her another inch, hurting her, but somehow so exciting,
so forbidden, so shocking that she found her body pushing down on it, trying to take him in even further, amazing herself with her own abandon, and Niels groaned against her, biting her earlobe,
making her moan with sheer delight as he kept going, licking and biting her ear, driving his cock still higher inside her till she could feel his balls pressed right up against her bottom, fucking
her slowly but surely, making her come again and again, till by the time he cried out and slammed into her with a series of fast hard finishing strokes, she was crumpled on the edge of the pool,
overwhelmed with sensation, unable even to stand up any longer, the combination of pain and pleasure like a drug that had sapped every ounce of strength and will from her, everything but her
ability to feel ecstasy.

Niels collapsed on top of her, breathing heavily, the weight of his torso pressing her down, hot and wet, water trickling down from the sides of his body, his damp head pressed into the nape of
her neck, his hips still jerking slightly from the aftershock of his orgasm.

‘That was
amazing
, ’ he said fervently.

‘Mmm, ’ Lola agreed, barely able to talk.

‘Were you—’ he cleared his throat. ‘Was that OK?’

She smiled drowsily, her cheek pressed against the warm stone.

‘That was the first time anyone ever did that, ’ she admitted.

‘Really?’ Niels sounded unbearably smug.

‘You love that, ’ she accused him. ‘You
love
that you’re the first man ever to do that to me.’

‘First and last, ’ Niels said possessively, biting the back of her neck and making her shiver under him. ‘Will you marry me, Lola?’

‘
Niels!
’

She got her hands underneath her and, with every trace of strength she had left in her body, she managed to shove herself upright, pushing him off her, backing him away till he slid out of her.
He grabbed for his discarded swim trunks to clean himself up as she turned to face him and said indignantly:

‘Did you just
propose
to me while you were still
inside my
—’

‘I’m sorry!’ Niels raised one hand in the air in apology, the other still wrapped round his cock. His tough, craggy face wore such a hangdog expression that she burst out
laughing at the sight of him; he looked more ashamed of himself than she had ever imagined he could be. ‘That wasn’t how I planned it at
all
—’ He was bright red now.
‘It was supposed to be tonight – I had a special meal arranged, the ring was going to be floating on an orchid in your champagne glass . . . It’s full moon, I was going to wait
till the moon was up and do it then—’

Lola was still giggling at the sight of Niels van der Veer, international tycoon and multi-millionaire, one hand wiping off his penis, the other flailing in the air helplessly. He came towards
her, bunching up his swim trunks and throwing them by the pool again, taking both her hands, looking down into her eyes with such sincerity, such love, suddenly, that the laughter dried up in her
throat; her mouth went dry as she met his gaze.

‘Lola, this wasn’t how I planned it at all, please believe me. It just – it just came out, I couldn’t hold it back, ’ he was saying. ‘And that’s why I
want to marry you. Do you remember in the plane coming back from Italy, when you asked me why I was single? This is why. You’re the only woman who ever does this to me. You’re the only
woman who’s ever made me lose control, do the things I really want to do, say the things I really want to do. I’d built a life for myself that was so controlled, so regimented –
you’re the only woman who’s ever made me feel free.’

He looked imploringly at her.

‘I don’t know how you do it, but you’ve set me free to be myself. Please, say yes. I need you, Lola. I need you more than you can possibly imagine.’

Niels’s words were so beautiful, so heartfelt, that Lola was temporarily tongue-tied with sheer happiness. She wanted desperately to remember every word he had just said, to save this
moment forever, never forget the way he was looking at her with his whole heart in his eyes.

Niels misunderstood her silence, and panicked.

‘Lola—’ he said urgently, ‘if you’re not sure because of Jean-Marc, all of that, believe me, Jean-Marc knows – he’s happy for us—’ He
swallowed. ‘He told me on the courthouse steps, remember, he whispered in my ear? He said, “Let Lola take care of you.” God knows, I’ve spent my life making sure no one ever
needed to take care of me. But somehow I actually
like
it when you look after me – Lola,
please
say yes!’

‘Of course I will!’ Lola said, finding her voice, watching his expression turn to sheer joy. ‘Of course I will, you big
idiot!
’

And then she screamed as Niels picked her up and threw her high in the air, catching her as she splashed back into the water, hugging her tightly to him, her face buried in his neck, kissing and
kissing his salty skin, her arms wound round him, her fingers twisted in his hair.

‘Niels?’ she said finally, lifting her head.

‘Anything, ’ he said fervently. ‘
Anything
you want.’

‘We go through the whole thing tonight, just like you’d planned, ’ Lola said firmly. ‘Full moon, ring in orchid, everything. And you propose again, OK? And I pretend to
be surprised.’

‘Well, sure, ’ he said, frowning in bemusement. ‘But why?’

‘
Because
, ’ Lola continued, ‘when people ask me how you proposed, I am damn well
not
going to tell them the true story of what you were actually doing to me when
it happened, OK?’

Niels grinned.

‘I think, ’ he said, lifting her out of the pool and setting her on the edge, ‘I have been more embarrassed in the brief time I’ve known you than in the whole rest of my
life.’

He vaulted out himself and stood up, reaching down a hand to pull her to her feet, crossing to the pale teak loungers on which lay a pile of white fluffy towels. Picking up one, Niels enfolded
Lola in it.

‘I love you, ’ he said, looking down at her seriously. ‘You make me human, Lola Fitzgerald.’

Lola went up on tiptoes so she could plant a kiss on his lips.

‘And you saved my life, Niels van der Veer, ’ she said. ‘So I’d say we’re even. Just promise me one thing.’

‘Anything, Princess, ’ he said, smiling down at her.

‘That you never tell anyone the story of how you proposed to me, ’ she said firmly. ‘Just
imagine
Jean-Marc using that in his best man’s speech!’

And she laughed so hard at Niels’s appalled expression that he grabbed her with one hand, pulling her in for a kiss, and smacked her bottom hard with the other.

‘Start as you mean to go on, ’ he murmured against her mouth.

‘I should have married Jean-Marc, ’ Lola sighed naughtily. ‘I can tell that you’re going to be much harder going as a husband.’

‘You’d better get used to it, ’ he said, sweeping her up into his arms and starting to carry her up the stairs to the terrace of the villa.

‘I’m not going to be just a socialite wife, either, ’ she told him. ‘I’ve had a fantastic idea – I’m going to manage Evie’s burlesque act. If
I’m investing in it, I should have a stake in it too, don’t you think? I might not be any good, but I won’t know until I try!’

‘Nice to hear you’re planning to make youself useful, Princess, ’ Niels said.

‘Don’t call me that!’

The butler and maid, who had re-emerged onto the terrace where they were setting out a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket, next to a pitcher of freshly pureed mango juice, rolled their eyes
and retreated back inside.

‘I’ll have to change the sheets
again
, ’ grumbled the maid.

‘You never know, ’ the butler said consolingly. ‘The way he’s looking at her, they might not even make it to the bedroom . . .’

December 22nd

I
should have known better. Why on earth did I ever let someone take a scalpel to my face?

Melody Dale stared at her reflection, experiencing a brutally bitter comedown.

Only last year, she had been voted not only the most beautiful woman in Britain, but the sexiest one too. Her agent had been over the moon with joy: this simply never happened. It was an
almost-impossible balancing act, but Melody had pulled it off. She had been pretty and approachable enough to appeal to women, avoiding being so overtly sexy that she alienated them, while still
projecting enough sex appeal to have the readers of
GQ
casting their votes for her in droves as the girl they’d most like to spend the night with.