by Sophie Lark
She was ignoring the resentment in his voice. She didn’t seem to have any resentment herself, or any political leanings.
They pulled up in front, letting the valet take the keys. Lex stepped carefully out of the car, mindful of the delicate fabric of her skirt, and the revealing slit.
Black took her arm. He loved how petite she was next to him, a full foot shorter. She was the smallest woman he’d ever dated—she probably weighed less than a hundred pounds. But she still had elegance and presence, from how she carried herself.
They strode up the broad front steps and into the grand house.
It was much lovelier inside than out. They found themselves in a lavish entryway, all glimmering marble and polished mirrors.
A receptionist checked their tickets and took their coats, before they were offered a glass of champagne and ushered into the main room of the party.
It was, for lack of a better word, a ballroom, though the Home Secretary’s wife probably called it a salon or something equally pretentious. Black recognized a few of the other guests (the mayor of London and his wife, and the author that won the Booker prize the previous year, with a woman who was most definitely not his wife). They would never have recognized Black. He only knew them from television or news articles.
Because the party was already in full swing, most of the guests looked a little buzzed, if not already drunk. Black had no intention of imbibing anything other than his glass of champagne. He never allowed himself to drop his guard in situations like this. An earl might be forgiven for getting sloshed at a party, but a common cop never would be.
Commissioner Coldwell waved at Black from across the room. He strode over to greet them. He was an older man, on the far side of sixty, but still with an imposing build, only a little gone to seed. He had a big, hawkish nose and thinning black hair.
“You found the place,” he said.
“Easy enough,” Black said. “It’s lit up like a Christmas tree.”
Coldwell chuckled. “They don’t like to be subtle, do they,” he said.
He liked to be conspiratorial when talking to Black, as if they grew up in the same neighborhood. But Black knew he was from old money himself.
“And this must be the lovely lady we’ve heard so much about,” Coldwell said, taking Lex’s hand. “Black wasn’t exaggerating.”
“He never does,” Lex said, smiling at the commissioner in her charming way. She allowed him to kiss her hand.
“Is that an American accent I hear?”
“It is,” she said patiently, as if she didn’t have to answer that question every single day.
“What brings you to our little island?” Coldwell asked.
“The weather, of course,” Lex replied.
Coldwell laughed. “Well, it can’t be the food,” he said. “Unless you like curry.”
“I do,” Lex said.
“She likes curry and rain! Won’t take much to keep this one happy, Black.”
“If only that were true,” Black said.
Coldwell slapped him on the back and continued on through the crowd.
Black turned to Lex and made a face.
“Sorry,” he said.
“What’s to be sorry about?” Lex said. “Look at this place.”
She gazed around appreciatively at the many fine paintings hung on the walls and the glamorous guests in their dress clothes. A string quartet played from the far corner of the room. Black could see an elaborate banquet table against the opposite wall, piled high with fresh fruit, confections, and exotic-looking finger foods.
“Are you hungry?” he asked Lex.
“Not yet,” she said. “Let’s dance first.”
He would have preferred not to, in front of all these people, but she pulled him to the center of the room without waiting for an answer.
He had to admit, it was easy to dance with her. She spun around so gracefully, as light on her feet as if she really were a ballerina.
He could see the men in the vicinity turning to look at her, and more than a few of the women. The rest of the guests might all be millionaires, but right now he felt like the luckiest man in the room.
The music stopped when the Home Secretary held up his glass to make a toast. Presumably, he was about to extoll the virtues of his wife, whose birthday it was. She stood next to him in a gray gown and heavy string of pearls that probably cost more than Black’s flat, looking pleased at the turnout.
Black never got to hear the speech. The moment the Secretary pinged his glass, while everyone was turning to look at him, Lex seized Black’s hand and pulled him through a side door, out of the ballroom.
“Where are we going?” Black whispered to her.
She was pulling him rapidly down a dark hallway, through an area of the house they were clearly not supposed to be exploring.
“Come on,” she urged him, laughing softly.
“We’ve got to go back,” Black said. “They’ve got tons of security around, they’re not going to want us poking around—”
But he broke off, because Lex had pulled him into another room, some kind of study. It was still too dark to see. She pounced on him, kissing him wildly, pulling at his dress clothes.
All his resistance melted away. He scooped her up in his arms, sitting her on top of the desk so he could reach her mouth more easily. Her lips tasted sweet from the champagne she’d been drinking.
She was kissing him ravenously, as if she wanted to eat him alive. Of all the things he loved about her, this might be the best thing of all—the way she fucked like an animal, completely uninhibited.
She was already unbuckling his pants, reaching her hand inside to grip his cock. He was fully hard already—it only took seconds whenever she was in the room.
Her long, dark hair had come loose from its bun, all around her shoulders. He wanted to rip her dress down too, to get at her breasts, but he knew he couldn’t tear the gown. They’d have to go back out to the party in a minute.
That was the last sane thought he had. She’d succeeded in getting his pants down, and she pulled him into her, wrapping her legs tight around his waist.
Sliding inside of her was like slipping into a vise greased with warm oil. It made him go out of his mind with how ridiculously, phenomenally good it felt.
He lifted her up and fucked her like that, holding her up in the air as easily as if she weighed nothing at all. She was so light, and he was so much stronger than her. It always made him feel like such a man, the way he could lift her, and carry her, and put her in any position.
He pressed her up against the nearest wall and kept thrusting madly into her. He knew she liked it like that, rough and fast.
She came hard, biting into the shoulder of his jacket to stifle the sound. He could feel the waves of her orgasm pulsing through her body, making her tremble in his arms.
He exploded only a minute after her, insanely aroused by the naughtiness of their tryst, and the danger of it. His climax was so intense that it drained the strength out of him, and he could barely keep standing, holding her up against the wall. He had to put her down carefully and lean against the desk to catch his breath.
They were both laughing and sweating slightly. They were trying to be quiet, but they had such a rush of euphoria that it was hard to be quiet, and hard to focus on tidying themselves up once more.
Black had lost his belt somewhere. He got down on his hands and knees to hunt for it under the leather armchairs. At last he found it, halfway across the room beneath a paisley settee.
He threaded it back through the loops of his trousers while Lex pinned up her hair once more. She reapplied her lipstick, using a small mirror from her clutch.
Soon they had made themselves decent to be seen, or at least they hoped so. It was too dark in the room to be certain.
“I can’t believe you,” Black said, as he took her hand to lead her back down the hallway to the party. “You’re just incredible.”
“You seemed stressed,”
Lex said carelessly. “I just wanted to help you relax.”
When they got back to the first door they’d come through, Lex said, “Wait.”
She cracked the door just a little, peeking out. Judging the coast to be clear, she pulled Black back into the ballroom.
They joined the crowd once more, Lex plucking a glass of champagne off the nearest tray as if she’d been there all along.
She was right, Black did feel surprisingly calm the rest of the evening. They talked to all kinds of boring and important people, Lex laughing and joking as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Their naughty little liaison seemed to have invigorated her. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkling. She looked happier and more excited than he’d ever seen before.
When the night was over, Black couldn’t consider it anything but a success.
They retrieved the rented car from the valet, Lex tipping him far too generously. They headed back into the thick of the city, driving down mostly empty roads.
It was well past midnight. Black was hoping he could coax Lex to stay the night at his flat. He wanted to make love to her properly, over an hour or two, when he could touch and taste every part of her to his heart’s content. Then he wanted to hold her in his arms all night long and wake up to her beautiful face in the morning.
He was just about to ask her if she’d like to come over, when their sedan was hit from the side by a delivery truck.
Black’s window exploded inward, showering the interior of the car with broken glass. His face was cut in a dozen places along the right side. Their smaller vehicle spun around once, twice, before coming to a rest up against a cement divider.
“Lex!” Black cried. “Are you alright?”
She had been flung against the passenger-side door. Her window had cracked, probably from her head striking against it, but it hadn’t broken. Her hair had been knocked loose from its bun once more, coming half undone. He could see blood running down the side of her face, staining the bodice of her gown. Her blue eyes looked dazed.
The driver of the delivery van cracked his door and stumbled out. He took one look at the other car, then bolted off down the street, weaving from side to side. Even in his shocked state, Black thought the man looked drunk. That was probably why he was running away. But he had abandoned his van, so Black was sure he would be able to track him down easily enough.
At the moment, he was much more concerned about Lex.
“Lex,” he said again. “Are you hurt?”
It was a stupid question. He could see the blood. But this time, Lex responded.
“No,” she said, “I’m alright. I’m fine.”
“I’ll call an ambulance,” Black said.
“No!” she said, quickly. “No need to do that. Really, I’m alright.”
“We’d better go to the hospital just to be sure,” Black said. “We’ll have to call a cab either way. The car’s not fit to drive.”
He touched her cheek softly, relieved she was alright.
He began to pick the shattered glass out of her hair. Large shards had caught there, glimmering in the dark strands.
But then he stopped.
He held up a piece of glass between his thumb and index finger. He turned it back and forth in the light from the street lamps.
It was much too regularly cut for a piece of broken glass. And the way that it sparkled and gleamed…
He was holding a diamond in his hand. A stone as large as a 5p piece. There were many more, stuck in her hair and scattered over the seat and floorboards of the car.
“Lex…” he said, his voice shaking.
She looked at him, her large blue eyes wide and bright. Her face was more beautiful than he’d ever seen it in the stark light from the street lamps, with the dark blood against the pale skin.
“I’m sorry, Byron,” she said.
She reached behind her and pulled the door handle open, slipping out the passenger side.
Black stared stupidly after her, not understanding what was happening. As he watched, Lex kicked off her high-heeled shoes, lifted the long hem of her dress, and began sprinting off down the street.
He tried to open his own door, but the metal had caved in from the impact with the van. He had to clamber over the stick shift, no easy task for a man his size.
He crawled out Lex’s door at last, dazed and stumbling. By the time he ran after her, she had already turned down one of the alleyways and disappeared.
Click to read Sapphire
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Sophie lives with her husband, two boys, and baby girl in the Rocky Mountain west. She writes intense, intelligent romance, with heroines who are strong and capable, and men who will do anything to capture their hearts.
She has a slight obsession with hiking, bodybuilding, and live comedy shows. Her perfect day would be taking the kids to Harry Potter World, going dancing with Mr. Lark, then relaxing with a good book and a monster bag of salt and vinegar chips.
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