by Zee Monodee
His first reaction had been anger when she’d said the words. All right to fuck him, but not all right to be seen with him in public?
Then, she’d started talking really rapidly, and the licks of fury had abated. She was out of her depths in this situation, not yet ready for what “the world would say” if they were seen in this light.
“Babe, we’ll walk into the gathering together, you on my arm, and we’ll be seated together, too,” he’d told her.
He’d stifled a chuckle at her blush. The light tinge of colour had touched her cheeks and made them rosier when viewed against the paleness of her naked skin.
“It’s … not the same,” she’d said. “Logan, please ...”
He’d paused at the last word, the request barely concealed in it. She’d looked at him with those big eyes, and he’d been a goner. There wasn’t much he could deny her when she turned that soft look on him.
So, he’d agreed to meet her in the car park; as far as he would go with this concession, and she knew it, too. He wished to give her the room to manoeuvre at ease, yet, he also wished for her to acknowledge as soon as possible that the two of them were a couple.
Easy, mate. He hitched in a breath. With Neha, he had to take things one step at a time. Any faster, and her flight response would go up in full force and she’d backtrack. Bugger, he craved the woman as his so badly, he yearned to scream from every rooftop that she was with him. That she was his. He couldn’t wait for the day when he’d make this official. Oh, yeah, this would be a lifetime commitment. He craved her as his wife. Nothing less.
A spot of yellow caught his attention. A parking spot sat empty right next to his X6, and he smiled when the bright, curvy vehicle slid into the space, and then an equally bright and curvy woman stepped out.
The steady punch of a fist hit in his stomach as he contemplated her. Bloody hell. She wore a sari again, this one more sinful than the red outfit of last week. Sequins and small crystals glinted off the sea-blue silk, and under the light of a lit torch in the hotel’s garden, she shimmered and sparkled like a fantasy. In fact, she made him think of a delectable gift wrapped in glittery paper. He gulped back when he realized how much he wanted to enjoy this pressie, how eager he burned to slowly tear off the shiny wrapping and get to the real gift, her luscious body under all the fabric.
“Something wrong?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I can’t wait to get those clothes off you.”
His voice had come out low, almost like a growl. He’d expected her to blush again under the stark sexual suggestion, but to his surprise, she smiled.
With a groan, he went to her, and, after pushing her into the shadows, he kissed her, hard. She opened her lips under his, and he plunged his tongue into her mouth, only to have her return the kiss with equal force. Desire shot straight to his groin and lit a fire coursing through his veins.
Then, she broke free. Panting softly, she took a step away.
“We’ll be late.”
He closed his eyes for a second. Damn contest, and at the same time, thank Heaven for the contest, too. Otherwise, he may have ravished her in the garden of a hotel propped against the bonnet of her car. He may only be thirty-seven, but it didn’t mean he had to be juvenile in handling his sexual urges.
Logan stepped out of the gloom and walked around to where she stood near the car.
“Lord, it really works,” she said with awe.
His mind still lost in a haze of lust, he didn’t try to make sense of her words on his own. “What works?”
“The lipstick.” She laughed. “Suzanne told me the formula wouldn’t transfer, but I didn’t believe her.”
“Whatever it means,” he said, then frowned. “Let me get this straight. Your daughter gave you lipstick that wouldn’t rub off on your lover’s face even if you happened to kiss him in public?”
She nodded. “Strange, innit?”
There she went, speaking like a pom again. He shook his head and took her arm. “Your whole family is mad. Come, let’s go in.”
He heard her sharp intake of breath. This couldn’t be easy for her. Not because she didn’t want to be here, but such a situation would represent an unknown to her. As much as he died to show the world she was with him, he’d tamp down the urge in order to make her comfortable.
At Reception, they were directed to the section of the garden opening on the beach, where the contest would take place. As VIP guests, their seats lay right in the second row, behind the officials and the judges’ panel.
A man broke from the crowd and came towards them.
“Neha,” he said when he approached. “Suzanne was just asking me if you’d arrived.”
“Good evening, Guy. I know we won’t get to see her before the show starts, so how is she?”
Guy Langlois, Suzanne’s backer in the contest. Logan figured who the man must be from Neha’s comment.
“She’s nervous, but I’m sure she’ll ace it,” Guy said and turned to him. “So I see you’ve brought your ‘other half’ with you.”
People always referred to him and Neha as two halves of the same whole based on how they handled the news in front of the camera. This time, Logan wasn’t sure if he’d heard another, more probing question behind the words.
Slanting a glance at Neha, he saw her smile, but the corners of her mouth looked pinched. Say something, he urged her silently. Her blinking like a deer in the headlights dawned the realization in him: she had no idea how to work herself out of the situation, so he stepped forth.
“Suzanne asked me to come, actually. I’m here as a family friend tonight.”
Guy nodded, apparently satisfied with the explanation. “Well, I think we all better go take our seats. Seems to me the show is about to start.”
As the man indicated towards the rows of chairs, Logan placed his hand in the small of Neha’s back and escorted her to their seats.
“Relax.” He breathed the word into her ear when he sat down by her side.
“Thanks.”
He turned his attention onto her. Her gaze low, she bit her lip.
Was she having second thoughts about being here with him tonight? The thought flitted through his mind of its own volition.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
His breath caught in his throat. What did she mean by it?
“What for?” he asked cautiously.
“For … not saying anything back there. I didn’t know what to say. I mean, you and I know what’s between us, but—”
“Stop babbling,” he said as he dipped his head close to hers. “You’ll give us away if you continue.”
He infused a strong note of humour in his tone, and he had the pleasure of seeing rosy colour on her cheeks again. Bugger, how he loved to unsettle her, watch those emotions playing on her face.
He reached for her hand and squeezed it.
They sat really in the open, and as much as he wished to keep holding her hand, anyone might see them, and the conclusions would only be evident. Neha needed room, and he’d give it to her.
The spotlights around the area dimmed, and the show began.
In a blur of music and catwalk poses, the twelve competitors took to the stage with individual introductions and then walked the ramp in exclusive creations from local designers sponsoring the contest.
When Suzanne appeared, he yearned to reach for Neha but didn’t. Instead, in the dark at the bottom of the seats, he slid one shoe off and let a sock-clad foot touch her ankle under the folds of her sari. She jumped as he made contact, and the glance she gave him asked if he was insane.
Nothing like the thrill of the forbidden, of being caught. He communicated this to her by running the tip of his toes against her leg.
He continued teasing her like this for most of the show. Finally, they whittled the line-up down to the final five, and after seeing the other contestants, he’d had no doubt Suzanne would be in the last leg. Then, the time arrived for the finalists to do their talent skit.
The first four girls did dance or song routines on ethnic or pop music. Suzanne took the stage last, and as the spotlight settled on her sitting on a chair in a long coat and wearing his Fedora, he pulled himself up straighter in his chair. The notes of the trumpet in the song she had chosen opened, and a collective gasp resounded among the audience at her ballsy choice of music.
The biggest gasp came from Neha. Her hand came up in surprise, and he clasped her fingers, keeping them down in her lap.
“Oh, no, she didn’t,” she muttered.
Had it been a good idea for him to encourage Suzanne in doing this choreography? Truth be told, he had no idea what she had planned. He could only hope his words hadn’t fallen on deaf ears, and that he really had sized her up as a girl with a thinking head on her shoulders.
Pressing Neha’s hand, he kept his focus on the stage. His heart beat in a rapid thump, but halfway through the routine, it nearly burst out when Suzanne started to drop the coat, giving the hint of a sheer blouse underneath it.
And then, she hitched the garment back up on her, and she smiled and winked at the audience. A few chuckles and laughs greeted the move, and afterward, Suzanne seemed to have won every one of the seated guests who openly cheered when she completed her dance routine.
A huge round of applause greeted her when she finished, and as she had told him, not one piece of clothing had been discarded, and she had also left the hat on. Shaking his head at the extent of this girl’s guts, he clapped heartily as she left the stage.
He turned to Neha. She clapped, too, but her face appeared pale.
“You okay?” he asked as he leant towards her.
“Blast it, she about scared the life out of me back there.”
You and me both. Bugger, was this what having kids felt like?
A band of entertainers came on the stage afterward while the jury deliberated. Logan remained pretty certain Suzanne would make the top podium. Would she win, though? The girl lived mainly for this, and he wished her hard work and efforts would be rewarded.
A hush fell over the whole gathering as the five final contestants walked on stage to meet the panel of judges who had gone up, too.
By the time the usual sponsor-thanking and aim and mission of the contest had been reiterated, everyone lay on tenterhooks. Get it over with!
And then, a surprise announcement by one of the partners of the contest, a designer label called Angénue, happened. The lead designer went on to explain how they were a young company experiencing a fabulous expansion, and one of the aims of the contest that hadn’t been leaked had been to find a brand ambassador for the label.
“The Angénue woman is young, trendy, and modern, still between ange and ingénue. But at the same time, she isn’t afraid to take risks, to be in your face with her choices. Yet, she always walks on the side of timeless class with ease and panache.”
There came a pause, and Logan wondered if this actually meant what he thought it meant. He felt movement near his foot, and with a chuckle, realized Neha had moved her leg to touch her skin against his ankle.
“We weren’t sure this young woman existed,” the designer said. “Until a few moments ago.” She smiled. “So this year, not only does the winner of the Isle Looks Contest get awarded her title, she also becomes the international brand ambassador for Angénue as the label prepares to hit markets in other countries.
“So, without further ado, the winner is … Suzanne Kiran!”
***
Everything happened in a blur after the announcement. Exclamations of happiness and squeals of joy. Photographer’s flashes. Media people rushing to talk to Suzanne.
“She won,” Neha said as if in a daze next to him.
“She did great,” Logan replied. “You can really be proud of her.”
He took her hand, then they stood and walked over to where a swarm of people surrounded the beaming girl. As soon as she saw them, she excused herself and threw herself into her mother’s arms.
“I made it, Mum!”
Neha hugged her tight. “Congratulations, darling. You did a fantastic job.”
Suzanne released her and turned to him. The smile on her face beckoned contagious, and he found himself grinning back. Unabashedly, she came up and hugged him as hard as she had her mother. Pulling back but not yet releasing him, she squeezed his shoulders. In her high heels, she stood at eye level with him.
“Thank you,” she said. “Your words made me cut it tonight.”
“I’m glad you listened, Suzie. Now go enjoy your fame. You’re a celebrity now.”
“Almost as famous as you,” she said, before ducking into the crowd of sponsors and reporters again.
A good kid, this one. Neha had done a great job with her daughter.
Taking her arm, he led her away from the crowd and towards the refreshments bar where the after-show party rolled on for the VIP guests.
As they stopped by a palm tree, she placed a hand on his sleeve.
“What did Suzanne mean by, ‘your words made me cut it tonight’?”
Confusion brewed in her tone. How would he breach the topic with her? All of this had happened unbeknownst to her, and he didn’t want her to think he and Suzanne had plotted behind her back.
“I lent her the Fedora she wore for her dance.”
“And you knew what she planned to do?” Panic, followed by disbelief, laced her words.
Tricky situation—he had to show all his cards. “She told me, yes, when I asked.”
“You let her do it, anyway? You didn’t think of telling me about it?”
Her voice had taken on a high pitch. He placed a hand on her arm. “Neha, calm down.”
“This could’ve gone so wrong—”
“But it didn’t.” He moved so he stood face to face with her. “I spoke with her, told her there’s a fine line she must never cross.”
“Still—”
“Still nothing. Your daughter is a mature girl who knows what she is doing. Credit her with some good sense. Credit yourself for having brought her up in the right way.”
The last statement silenced her. She appeared on the point of saying something; she took a deep breath, parted her lips, but then, no words came out.
“Neha, if you had known, would you have let her go through with it?”
“That’s what she feared, innit?”
He inclined his head a little. “Yes.”
She looked stunned at his reply, and he took her arm and led her to a table in a far corner. Once seated, he grasped her hand. “Babe, listen to me.”
She lifted those big eyes onto him, and he swallowed. He had something very important he had to tell her. It was suddenly imperative he get it out.
“Neha, when you decide to do something, you go through with it all the way. You don’t pike out when the going gets tough, or when change pokes its nose in. If you’re in, you’re in.”
She remained silent, as if pondering his words.
“It’s scary, you know,” she said.
“No one says it’ll be easy to stick through thick and thin.”
“Especially when you’re alone,” she added in a murmur.
What did she mean by this? Did she talk of now, or about bringing up her children, something she’d done seemingly on her own? Given how the talk had started upon Suzanne here, he ascribed her words to the latter thought.
“You’re not alone now.”
She tightened her hand around his, and when she nodded, the vise-like grip on his heart released abruptly. She was acknowledging his presence, his place, in her life, and he couldn’t wish for more right then.
Well, actually, he could. He raked a long gaze over her body, yearning to have her. As soon as possible.
“The boys are over at Trent’s place, eh.”
“Yes. Why?”
A small smile tickled his lips. “Suzanne won, meaning she’ll be staying at the hotel tonight as part of her winner’s package, and also to be present tomorrow morning fo
r the press conference.”
“Logan ...”
“My place is five minutes from here, babe.”
She parted those lush lips, darted the tip of her tongue out, as she always unconsciously did when she weighed a proposition. He stifled a groan. Bloody hell, she looked so sexy when she did that.
Someone drifted over to them, and he shelved the moment as they engaged in social chitchat and mingled with the other guests. Most of them wished to extend their congratulations to Neha regarding Suzanne’s win.
One o’clock had struck and gone when Suzanne retired for the night, and this spelt the end of the cocktail party. Logan accompanied Neha back to the parking lot, stopping beside her Citroën.
“Come with me,” he asked her, standing between her and the door to her car.
She laughed. “Someone might see me at your place.”
“So what?”
“It’s so not a good idea.”
“Who says we have to be good?” He reached out and let the tips of his fingers caress the nape of her neck, before trailing upward to tangle in her hair.
She hitched in a breath at the touch; he was gaining ground. He needed to get her to the point of no return, and she’d melt in his arms.
“Think about it, babe. Just you and me. And my bed is really big,” he added with a wink.
All the while, he kept playing with her hair. Reaching closer, his face was an inch from hers when they heard noise from the other side of the thick brambles delineating the car park from the entrance alley.
She gasped. “Someone will hear us.”
“Say yes. Or I’ll kiss you and make you moan really loudly so everyone will know what I’m doing to you.”
Push must come to shove.
“Okay,” she said on a rush. “But only for an hour.”
“That’s all I’m asking.” Bridging the distance between them, he pressed a hard kiss to her mouth and released her. “Follow my car.”
***
Propping up on an elbow, Logan leaned into a thick pillow as she sauntered away from the bed and gathered her clothes around the room. Silvery moonlight filtered in from the partially closed blinds at the window, bathing her pale skin with a translucent light.