She slides her finger to the left, opting for no.
Carolina returned home physically tired but at the same time psychologically much lighter, receiving fresh air, even in the middle of the city and seeing thousands of people was for Carolina very relaxing.
At night, sometimes when she fell asleep and entered into the world of dreams, she dreamed of him.
The man she’s in love with.
She dreamt she is with the man sitting by the water, barefooted on the sand facing each other; he touches Carolina’s face gently with his hand, he is staring at her with his passionate blue eyes.
In the dream, she feels incredibly loved, when she woke up, she can still sense the most amazing feeling.
In her dreams she doesn’t know where the beach is, she only sees the light yellow sand, the beach surrounding has some rocks, no houses to be seen, just a cliff of rocks and then a huge desert beach.
She remembered there was a black Range Rover on top of the beach, with the front wheels on the rocks, next to a wooden pathway already with its colour eaten up by the sun. She knew the Jeep was his.
Carolina was never able to see with clarity his face because of the brightness of the dream, she thought it came from the sun, but she wasn’t sure.
In the dream, she could sometimes stare at his blue eyes just for a few seconds, sometimes she could even see his beard and his figure against the sun, revealed a tall and defined body figure.
There was never more than that, she could never go beyond that, sometimes she tried harder to see him better in the dream, always struggling to see him in a much clearer way, but the light wouldn’t let her.
She was sure that in the dream there was a mutual feeling, she felt that they liked each other very much by the way they were looking at each other.
In real life, Carolina has only a few friends and they were always very engaged with family and Carolina didn’t feel it’s right to bother them and challenge them to go out with her for dinner or see a movie. And the other reason is that she has a very different taste from her friends, they didn’t really appreciate going out to fancy restaurants, or watch a play in the west end. That was Carolina’s best night out.
Most of the time she wants to go out, she goes out with her sons and sometimes she goes out alone, as it happens regularly. She got used to it and she doesn’t mind, although like everybody else, she misses romantic dinners, walks in the park or going to a museum on a date. It’s so much fun.
By the next day arriving at work 15 minutes before 9 a.m., she had plenty of time to send messages to the boys to make sure they are well.
Once she knows they were good, she decides to open the application in her iPhone again, and there it is, the photo from this arrogant man with the hypnotic blue eyes from the previous day.
From what she had read on the application, when she opts for no, that person should no longer appear, but why was he there again, she couldn’t understand. It’s almost saying:
"I will continue to show up until you say yes."
Carolina felt the urge to meet him, his expression...his eyes...she chose to slide her finger to the right, giving the final yes.
Moments later emerged the photo of Carolina and JP (with their initials) as a match.
From now on they could exchange messages if they wished.
Carolina had to admit that the photos taken by JP could have been taken by a professional. He has very good quality photos and yet he didn’t look like a model. It was a bit confusing because in the photos he wasn’t comfortable enough to be a model, but with his physical features, yes, definitely he could be a model or an actor, he even resembles the American actor Patrick Dempsey.
While Carolina was heading back home after work, she remembered to check if she has a message from JP. She opened the application, and there it was, the message she was waiting for with his brief presentation.
"Hello my name is JP, single, I am professionally very successful. I spend half of my time in London and the other half on the other side of the Atlantic, I am rich and I can transform your life far much better. As I have a very intense professional life, I am just looking for fun."
If Carolina had accepted the first impression that she had with his look in the photographs to be just a little arrogant, certainly from his writing he acts as such.
It was probably a dead end, it would most likely lead to nowhere, but she was curious and she wanted to know where it was going, replying:
"Are you a Sugar Daddy? I'm Carolina, I live in London, divorced, working in marketing. I am looking for a relationship with consistency”
Minutes later, she received another message from him:
"I've never needed to be a sugar daddy, but I wouldn’t mind being because I have lots of money. By the way, I love your photos, you're very sexy, and I would like to see more, can I see more of you? I’ll send my photos as well, they are all recent. Tell me what you think."
After the first message, many others followed and lots of photos were shared.
He explained that after the birth of his daughter, he fell in love with a 50-year-old woman; she was a divorced mother with teenage children.
He said he had never been in love before and he never felt anything like it, he was terrified by the intensity of that feeling that he was experiencing. And at the same time, he couldn’t live with a guilty conscience for leaving the long-time partner and his newborn daughter to be with another woman.
Their relationship was pure passion, he said. He felt completely addicted to that older woman, but wasn’t able to deal with his feelings; their relationship was consumed by great moments and really bad ones, he was struggling on a daily basis with that, as she walked away from him every time they have the slightest discussion, leaving him heartbroken. She walked away for the last time almost six months ago and didn’t return to him.
Because they were two single people, Carolina and JP, finally agreed to meet and whatever happened would be nothing but sex, no illusions for anyone, no drama and no future. And for Carolina, that was the perfect opportunity to turn a hidden fetish come true, meet a man, have sex and walk away as if nothing happened.
Carolina decided to ask him directly instead of trying to guess what could be the true situation behind his attitude.
JP gave her a completely unexpected answer for which Carolina was not prepared at all to hear, saying:
“If you want to make sure that I'm telling you the truth that there is no woman in my life right now, come to my house and see it with your own eyes.”
Carolina went.
From that day Carolina’s life would change forever.
CHAPTER 3
Since that date, she had with JP she couldn’t stop thinking about everything that happened in that encounter, she went through all the details over and over again, triggering in her neurological system a feeling of anxiety with a mixture of excitement and desire for repeating the experience.
She wakes up every day hoping that JP would send her a message or call her just to say "hi" after having been together.
But he never contacted her again.
Saturday finally arrived but Carolina didn’t hear anything from JP.
She knows he doesn’t want to see her again, because if he wanted to, he would have already contacted her.
But Carolina was already completely in love and ignored the obvious signs. Still, she contacted him.
JP answered her that unfortunately, he can’t make it, but he would like to see her again as soon as possible.
Days and weeks go by without any contact from JP to set another date.
She decided, to send a message one month later to let him know that she would be moving on, hoping unconsciously to rip a reaction out of him:
"Hello, I know you don’t want to see me again, but I want you to know that I loved meeting you. Goodbye."
Taking Carolina completely by surprise JP answered her the next minute:
"Where do you think you're going? We are n
ot done yet"
Looking at his message, her hope was instantly renewed and she couldn’t resist asking:
"I don’t understand, if we aren’t done yet why are we not together?!"
"Because I'm in New York," He said.
With a breath of relief, she smiled, after all, he was only engaged with work and she thought all this time, he wasn’t interested in her and he's just out of the country.
Again she ignored all the red flags coming from the bottom of her brain just because she was already madly in love with him.
Another month passes by, two months, failing to reschedule another date, JP never gave Carolina the opportunity to talk in person, and he didn’t show any interest in repeating the extraordinary sex they had together. They only keep contact through text messages and sometimes sexting.
Carolina started to get anxious and angry with him, she didn’t know how to handle the situation, because she never meet a man like him: Oh that filthy English, how could I be so stupid and believe in him? Making me trust in him, because he said in my eyes he would like to see me again and be together on a regular basis, but he lied. And in the middle of everything, how is he capable of filling my mind with dirty thoughts, putting me on fire for him.
Whenever Carolina thought about him and how he treated her, the angrier she got.
Carolina, at this point, knew already what had happened between them meant nothing to him, he was still in love with the other woman, although she kept playing him in the palm of her hand and what had happened between JP and Carolina had been only one time and there was no chance of repeating it.
She couldn’t forgive herself, for not being able to talk to him and ask that they should spend more time together to get to know each other better.
Being conscious, she loved an illusion, a fantasy from her head, she didn’t know who that man in real life was that she had fallen in love with.
Trying to forget JP at all cost, Carolina accepted social invitations to distract herself from failed affair. Days later in one of the events, she was invited, almost weekly but never shows up, she finds one of her social friends she’d met previously, they were not intimate and they talked only about events, twice.
In fact, Carolina knew Tess was a highly recommended professional in matchmaking, bringing couples together who otherwise wouldn’t get to know in any other way, and that is what Carolina needs right now, an expert to find her the man of her dreams.
As soon Tess hears Carolina’s words, she was so thrilled about it, that she would start searching immediately for the right guy for Carolina. Tess knew Carolina was a great challenge for her, due to Carolina’s requirements:
“I agree to help you, but I will only introduce you to one man, that’s all that it takes.”
Carolina smiled, thinking that it was highly unlikely that Tess could introduce her to the right man and spot-on with just one date. However, she didn’t say anything to Tess, making her believe that it was possible.
“I know you don’t believe in me, but I will proof it to you, you will see,”
Tess said almost as if she was reading Carolina’s mind.
Carolina agreed, taking the time to make her profile and to submit the man’s profile that she was looking for in a written form, giving it to Tess for a detailed analysis.
They agreed to meet the next day for lunch.
During lunch, Carolina explained what she really liked and thought her perfect man would need to be, she talked about her life, goals and priorities.
Tess was asking questions that sometimes didn’t seem to make any sense to Carolina, but she answered them anyway, while Tess wrote down everything.
Two days after, the matchmaker found the man for Carolina, a charming gentleman, with the same goals in life as Carolina, he wants to get marry, raise a family and be very successful.
Tess sent to Carolina a complete profile of the man in question in a long e-mail.
Carolina opened the email and read his profile.
He was exactly the kind of man she loved, wanted and needed.
But was it really? Could it be so easy?
Or will he be just another guy saying everything that you want to hear, and in the end nothing will be what it looks like or worse, there is no spark between them.
Carolina was very apprehensive about meeting another man because she was completely convinced, it would fail from the start. And there was the issue, she didn’t want to make the same mistake she did with JP, she didn’t want to go that road ever again. She learned her lesson the hardest way.
Nowadays men find women so easy, they think that sex always comes first before anything else, that's why relationships don’t work today or have such limited time - She thought, remembering Tess’ advice on how to behave on a first date, she thought about what happened between her and JP. She had lived with that experience, and didn’t intend to repeat it.
Time heals everything, even broken hearts.
CHAPTER 4
Stopping Carolina’s thoughts, Tess was again on the other side of the line, all excited about starting the dating arrangements.
Obviously, she wanted to meet the man Tess chose for her badly, Carolina couldn’t help but show some worry, Tess noticing her signs of doubt, insisted and Carolina finally agreed to meet the man who promises to be the man for the rest of her life.
Carolina tried to convince herself that she has nothing to lose and he seemed to be someone worth knowing.
Inevitably, her thoughts fled to JP once again but she was definitely sure, based on his actions that he was not interested in her, it was time to move on, and she needed to set herself free from the past.
Carolina was still processing her acceptance to meet with this mysterious guy, and Tess was excited planning a romantic dinner for Carolina and Mr. Marvellous for the next day.
Once Carolina realized what Tess was doing, she felt that she had rushed her decision.
She called Tess and requested to see a photo of Mr. Marvellous before the date.
Carolina wanted to know if in the photo he looked interesting or not. Since she was going to a romantic date, she needed to see if his look meets at least her expectations.
Tess explained that couples usually only see each other on the dating night. They were was not allowed to exchange their pictures or phone number before then because most of the time photos could be misinterpreted, and it would take more time for both to realize that they had been made for each other.
To Carolina’s surprise, her date made the same request, he wanted to see Carolina’s photo or there was no meeting at all.
When Tess realized that she was losing a couple, she was sure they were made for each other, she made an exception, sending a photo of Mr. Marvellous to Carolina and a photo of Carolina to him. Hoping they would like each other and still want to go to the romantic dinner.
Finally, Carolina received Tess e-mail like she promised to send a single photo of Mr. Marvellous.
Opening her e-mail, she took a look at the photo and immediately recognized who Mr. Marvellous was, it is JP!
She was about having a cardiac arrest right there; she felt her heart wanting to stop and then accelerating, bewildered.
How could it be?! How could it be...JP?!
How could he be her match?
Still, in shock with the photograph she received, she didn’t know what to say to Tess. Carolina was trying to figure out how to sort all that mess, why JP and not any other man?
Oh gosh...what would he think of me? - Shuddering at the thought.
While she is trying to gain the strength to call Tess and talk with her about JP, she could only imagine what JP would be thinking of right now, because he had for certain received her photograph as well. Now that he knows that the woman behind the profile he liked is Carolina, he will not be happy.
Would he now be interested in me? She thought.
Deeply, she wished her hopes were renewed only for a mere moment.
She finally re
ached with her long fingers for the phone buttons and searches for Tess’ number:
"Tess it’s Carolina, I received your email with the photograph, I want to kindly thank you because you made an exception for me, but turns out I know him already. Turns out, we are not really best of friends I know already that I am not the type of woman he wants in life. However, I need to thank you once again for all the effort and all the work you have put into all of this, however, I'm not interested in going out on a date and having dinner with him. Don’t worry I’ve transferred the agreed amount for your services."
"Are you serious?!"
Tess could barely articulate one word she couldn’t believe what she heard. In the meantime, Carolina tried to sound as natural as possible on the phone:
"We met a while ago and we realized that we had nothing in common"
Tess continued:
"Bloody hell...I was convinced that you two were really made for each other. Well, I have to go, talk to you later"
Tess hung up.
Their damage under control, it was easy, hmm, too easy to convince a woman like Tess.
Carolina was already on her way home, ending another day of work when her phone rang again, she looked at the phone and saw Tess’ name:
"Hi, I just want to tell you that I just spoke with JP. He shares the same opinion as you, in fact, as you said, you didn’t want to have dinner with him and he isn’t interested as well."
Carolina had no strength for an open and honest conversation about JP right now, all she needs is to forget him once and for all, after a few seconds of silence she said:
“Can we talk later? I am in a middle of something” And hung up.
While she was fighting with her thoughts with what had just happened, she received a new text message:
FILTHY ENGLISH: Romantic Tryst - BOOK 1 Page 2