The Temptress

by C. J. Fallowfield

  ‘What’s he doing up?’ I whispered, as I hobbled past.

  ‘He wanted to wait for you to kiss him goodnight and I couldn’t say no.’

  ‘Gave you the big eyed pout, did he?’ I smiled, looking at him with his thumb in his mouth, his long lashes fanned on his cheek.

  ‘Please, I’m immune,’ Dom scoffed.

  ‘Right,’ I nodded and slowly made my way upstairs. I went to wash my knee and my hands first, there was blood all down my leg and it was swollen and bruised. I cleaned it up and put a bandage around it, then stripped off and dressed in some sweat pants and a t-shirt. I scraped my hair back and removed my lenses, blinking a few times to hydrate my dry eyes. When I looked back at myself in the mirror I sighed. No wonder he hadn’t been sure if it was me, I looked so different now, better, I was me again. I winced as I touched my bruised wrist and found a support bandage to put on it and made my way back out, jumping to find Dom sitting on my bed. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘I put him in bed, he’s spark out. Sorry he really wanted to stay up to say goodnight, I knew he’d fall asleep anyway, I didn’t see the harm.’

  ‘You did right,’ I sighed, as I sat next to him and patted his thigh. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘What the hell did you do? One night back in the field and you come home looking pale as anything and like someone’s beaten you up.’

  ‘Long story short?’ I asked, as I glanced up at him. He nodded. ‘Unbeknown to me the mark was Tristan’s father.’

  ‘What!’ he spluttered, the look on his face just how I imagined mine was, when I saw Luc staring at me.

  ‘Why don’t you go down and open a bottle of wine. I’ll give you the full version. I’d just like to go and give him a kiss.’

  ‘Never a dull moment with you, baby sister,’ Dom sighed, kissing the top of my head.

  ‘Tell me about it,’ I smiled weakly. I made my way to his room, crept to the side of his bed and stood for a moment looking down at him. Dom had laid him on his back and tucked the duvet around him. He still had his thumb in his mouth and his overlong hair, that was in desperate need of a good cut, had tumbled over his eyebrows. I gently swept it back, leaning down to plant a delicate kiss on his forehead, then picked up his elephant and tucked it in next to him. Henry was right, Tristan had all of Luc’s features, in fact the only thing he’d got from me was those amber flecks in his dark brown eyes. He really was his father’s son. The question was, now that I’d found Luc, what was I going to do about it?

  A Parisian Memento

  Lulu

  Six Years Ago

  I rang Coco’s doorbell, my thumb nail in my mouth, nervous as to how she’d react. Not only was it early on a Saturday morning, she never surfaced on a weekend until about nine-thirty and I was a good hour earlier than that, I was about to shock her with my news. I had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be happy. I heard banging inside and had visions of her wrapped in her duvet, bouncing off the walls as she tried to find her way to the door through sleepy, hung-over eyes. I knew she’d been out with Dom last night, I’d declined which had shocked them both. The three of us always went out together at least once a week. Rarely did any of us hook up as a twosome. I giggled as the door was flung open and she presented herself exactly how I’d imagined her. I knew my best friend too well.

  ‘Lulu?’ she groaned. ‘What the hell? It’s the middle of the night!’

  ‘It’s eight-thirty in the morning, I brought pastries and tea,’ I volunteered, holding up the cardboard tray and bag I had dangling from it.

  ‘Tea! I need caffeine at this hour, lots of it. Since when do you bring tea?’ She flicked her head for me to enter her apartment, so I squeezed past.

  ‘Lounge or bedroom?’

  ‘Lounge,’ she yawned, ‘or I’ll just fall asleep again. Besides Dom’s crashed out in there.’

  ‘He didn’t pull?’ I uttered, flabbergasted.

  ‘He’s blaming you. He says being out with me on my own turns me into a cockblocker, because everyone thinks we’re a couple and they take no notice of him. When it’s the three of us they either think he’s gay, or damn lucky.’

  ‘People always take notice of him,’ I retorted, as I plonked myself down. ‘He’s too good looking for his own good.’ I grabbed an almond croissant from the bag, then passed it over to her to take the other one.

  ‘Hmmm, delicious,’ she nodded, taking a small bite. I handed her the take out carton and she took a sip, then shook her head with a grimace. ‘This? Not so much. Seriously, what’s with the early call and the tea?’

  ‘I’m pregnant and the smell of coffee’s making me feel sick,’ I shrugged, thinking honesty might just be the best ploy. She looked at me wide eyed, then burst out laughing and shoved my shoulder.

  ‘You’re too funny, especially at this time in the morning. I need to make coffee, I really can’t drink this. What were you thinking, bringing bloody tea. You want one?’

  ‘No, I just told you that I’m pregnant and it makes me feel sick,’ I repeated, wiping the icing sugar off my lips. She stared at me for a moment, as if trying to make up her mind if I was being serious, or joking.

  ‘No way,’ she gasped, plonking her croissant back down on the table.

  ‘Yes, way,’ I nodded with a sigh, as I picked up my tea.

  ‘Well how did that happen?’

  ‘I had unprotected, hot, crazy French sex at precisely the right time of the month, that’s how it happened.’

  ‘Luc?!’ She looked at me stunned, her big green eyes wide awake now.

  ‘Don’t you think I’d have told you if I’d been having sex with anyone else, let alone another Frenchman, after him?’

  ‘O. My. God. How far along? I mean that was …’ she stopped to count on her fingers. ‘You’re about seven weeks?’

  ‘About,’ I nodded, as I tried my tea again. I screwed up my face as well. ‘This tea is bad.’

  ‘Isn’t it? Seriously, I can’t even be in the same room as you with a coffee or you’ll be sick?’

  ‘Just don’t sit next to me with it, don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

  ‘Well, what are you going to do?’ she asked.

  ‘Move to another chair if you try it.’

  ‘Not about the damn coffee, the baby?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I sighed. ‘That’s why I’m here, I needed your advice. I mean part of me is terrified. I’m twenty-four years old, single, my business is very demanding and my life seems to revolve around it. All I know about the father, other than sexual stuff, is his first name, so it’s a little bit daunting. But then part of me is thinking I’m twenty-four years old, single still, my life seems to revolve around my business and every time I think about the father I get a warm, tingly feeling all over. Maybe this is a good thing?’ I looked at her for support, but she stayed quiet and just looked at me. She always did that, she always made me talk things through until I reached my own conclusions. ‘I think about him all the time, Coco. He was a one night stand, but I can’t get him out of my head. I buried myself in work because, until him, no man has ever given me a reason not to, no man has seemed interesting enough to not be at work for, then your bloody sister has to go and have a hen night in Paris and I met him. What if no one ever compares again? What if I never have sex like that again? Is my life just going to be work, work and more work? I want someone to love. I need love in my life. Who better than his baby?’ I wiped a tear from my eye as I looked down at my stomach and put my hand over it. Coco gently put hers on top as she sighed.

  ‘I think you’d be an amazing mother, but I worry about you doing it without a father around. You wouldn’t be alone if you chose to, as you’d have me and Dom, but it’s not the same as having a man who loves you, to help out. Yes, you work too hard because you have nothing to look forward to when you come home, so this would definitely change that. I’ve also never known you be this crazy about a guy before, especially not one you only knew for one day and two nights and whose baby you’re thinking of
having. But if you’re going to keep it, doesn’t he have the right to know. Shouldn’t we try and find him to tell him? See what he has to say?’

  ‘How? What do I know about him, other than he’s called Luc and got me to drop my knickers within hours of meeting him, then gave me the best night of my life?’

  ‘You don’t remember where his apartment was?’

  ‘No,’ I groaned as I covered my face with my hands, ashamed of myself. ‘Too busy kissing on the way there, too busy fleeing in the morning. I honestly don’t think I’d find it again. The only connection I have is the club we went to. God, if I hadn’t lost that damn card with his phone numbers on, or been so ashamed of being a sexually liberated woman with a stranger for one night in my life, things could have been so different.’ I felt tears rolling down my cheeks, I’d never had a connection with a man like that before. I had a feeling I’d really fucked up, that I could have had something really special with him. Coco put a cushion on her lap and pulled me down onto it as I started to sob. She just let me cry out my tears of frustration as she stroked my hair.

  ‘What’s going on?’ came Dom’s voice, as he wandered in just wearing a pair of low slung jeans. His muscular torso, without an ounce of fat on it, reminded me of Luc’s. I took a wobbly intake of air, trying to calm myself down.

  ‘She’s got a frog in the oven,’ stated Coco.

  ‘We’re eating frog for breakfast?’ he uttered, a look of distaste on his face. I sniffed and giggled at the same time as I tried to dry my eyes.

  ‘She’s pregnant, with his baby.’

  ‘He does have a name,’ I moaned, as I sat up and wiped my face. Everyone referred to Luc as him.

  ‘Holy shit. Switch Coco, go and make me some coffee, I need it, especially after that revelation. I’ll look after her.’

  ‘No coffee, she’s got morning sickness and I’m looking after her.’

  ‘She’s my baby sister and she needs me.’

  ‘She’s my best friend, she needs me.’

  ‘She’s lying right here and she needs both of you,’ I replied as I dried my tears. Dom came and sat on the coffee table in front of us and took both of my hands in his.

  ‘What are you going to do? What do you want to do? You know you’ve got me if you need me.’

  ‘Got us,’ Coco uttered, as she slapped his arm.

  ‘Anyone would think you two were the twins, the way you bicker,’ I sighed. ‘O Coco, go and make some coffee for you both, you obviously need it. Just bring me the washing up bowl and don’t complain if I heave.’

  ‘Thank God,’ she smiled and kissed my temple. She shrugged off the duvet and headed out, Dom immediately taking her place and putting his arm around me.

  ‘No wonder I woke up cold,’ he muttered, as he curled the discarded duvet around his chest. ‘You ok? Really?’

  ‘I will be,’ I nodded, as I smiled up at him. ‘I was just shocked when I found out.’

  ‘Which was when?’

  ‘A couple of days ago. I was so busy with work I didn’t notice I’d missed my periods and when I realised and did the test, I just needed a few days to process it. How can I have been so stupid, Dom? I had unprotected sex, the first time ever, with a guy I barely know anything about?’

  ‘Don’t beat yourself up, we’ve all been there, well most of us have. And you knew he was crazy about you, that’s why you ran the next morning, you knew he could have been a keeper and you were protecting your heart. Just like you’ve always done. Have you ever hooked up with a guy that fast before?’

  ‘No,’ I replied, with a shake of my head as I chewed on my croissant again.

  ‘So you felt something for him that you didn’t with other guys. I mean you make guys wait centuries to sleep with you normally, you thought he was special, where’s the shame?’

  ‘Centuries,’ I snorted.

  ‘You’re talking to five minute man here, trust me weeks is centuries to me.’ He leaned forward and grabbed Coco’s croissant, taking a sizeable chunk out of it.

  ‘She’ll kill you. I didn’t know you were here, I only got two and you know how she needs sugar after drinking,’ I warned.

  ‘I need sugar, I’ve just found out I’m a bloody Uncle,’ he mumbled through his mouthful.

  ‘Might be an Uncle,’ I corrected.

  ‘Sis, you’re going to spend the rest of your life asking yourself what if over this reportedly super-hot and sexy guy, don’t add to it by asking what if about his baby as well. Have it, you’re a grown woman, financially independent, with a good support system. It will be a memento and permanent reminder of your perfect Parisian day and night with him. We’ll be here for you.’

  ‘Dom,’ I smiled as I stretched my neck up and kissed his cheek. ‘That means so much, thank you.’

  ‘Mum and Dad will be over the moon, they keep complaining I’m never going to make them grandparents,’ he nodded, polishing off Coco’s croissant.

  ‘If I do keep it we are not telling them it resulted from a one night stand, or I’ll never hear the end of it. The fact I’ve had unprotected sex will be bad enough. I’m going to get the lecture of a lifetime, at twenty-four!’

  ‘You’ll always be their baby.’

  ‘You know these what if regrets? I often wonder how much I could have teased you if I’d been born a few minutes before you.’

  ‘Right, one washing up bowl, the two coffees are on the way next,’ Coco confirmed as she handed it to me. ‘Where’s my croissant?’

  ‘The fat pregnant one ate it, she’s got really bad cravings already,’ Dom advised with a flick of his head at me, making me pinch his side in protest, forcing him to yelp.

  ‘Dominic McQueen, you’re the fat one, a big fat liar, you have icing sugar on your top lip and the tip of your nose,’ Coco scolded. ‘And don’t you ever call my pregnant best friend fat again or I’ll … I’ll …’

  ‘You’ll what?’ he taunted.

  ‘Tell everyone we’re a couple, that you love pussy, big pink juicy pussy,’ she grinned, with a wink in my direction. Dom shuddered and leapt off the sofa.

  ‘Stop!’ he groaned.

  ‘Plump pink succulent moist pussy,’ she teased, making him pull a face and cover his ears.

  ‘You know I hate it when you say things like that, I’m going to need the washing up bowl, I feel physically sick.’

  ‘Join the club,’ I groaned as my stomach roiled and I clamped my hand over my mouth.

  Dom swung me around in his arms, with Coco clapping in the background, as I clung to the 4D scan of my twenty eight week old baby, a baby that we’d just been told was a boy. I’d paid to go privately to have the special scan done, which was only normally done if there was some kind of medical necessity, but given that I didn’t know anything about Luc or his family history, they’d agreed. We’d all been relieved to hear that there was nothing wrong and even Dom had shed a tear or two as we’d seen the baby’s face on the monitor, his little thumb in his mouth.

  ‘So, now you know it’s a boy, are you going to call him Luc, after his father?’ Dom asked, as he gently set me down and kissed my forehead.

  ‘No,’ I smiled, as I shook my head. ‘There’ll only ever be one Luc. I have found a name that’s very French too though, Tristan. What do you think?’

  ‘I love it,’ Coco confirmed, linking arms with me and kissing my temple. ‘I really do. So are you ready?’

  ‘As I’ll ever be,’ I nodded, as we headed to the car loaded with our suitcases.

  ‘Why now?’ Dom frowned. ‘What changed?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I shrugged. ‘I guess it didn’t seem all that real until I’d passed the danger zone, then we’ve been busy turning my study into the nursery and me training up Violet to cover for me. I just feel like if I don’t do it now I never will and I don’t want to have any more regrets than I already do. I want to be able to look my son in the eye one day and tell him that I did everything in my power to try to find his father.’

  ‘You cou
ldn’t have decided that before it was the peak of Summer in Paris, where they’re having an unprecedented heatwave and you’re waddling like a fat penguin?’ he asked, with a roll of his eyes. I didn’t even have a chance to object as Coco launched herself at him, leaping onto his back and clinging to him like a monkey, as he tried to shake her off, while I laughed.

  ‘You are so mean to your sister,’ she uttered. ‘Take that back or I’ll tickle you, right where it hurts.’

  ‘You wouldn’t dare?’ he exclaimed, trying to prise her legs from around his waist.

  ‘She knows all your secrets, Dom. Don’t tempt her,’ I laughed, as I opened the car and lowered myself into the front seat, as I heard her laughing and him squealing as she obviously got him right in the ribs, the most ticklish spot on his body. ‘Your Uncle Dom and Auntie Coco love each other really, take no notice of them,’ I whispered to my rather large stomach. ‘I hope you get to have best friends just like them when you grow up.’

  ‘Stop, stop!’ Dom yelled, his face bright red, as Coco chuckled on his back.

  ‘Apologise now,’ she ordered.

  ‘I’m sorry Lulu, you don’t look at all like a fat penguin and you don’t waddle,’ he gasped. Coco grinned and hopped off his back.

  ‘You look more like a beached whale,’ he uttered, as he raced for the driver’s seat of his car and locked himself in, with Coco glaring in his direction.

  ‘Thank you for defending my honour, but he’s right, I’m bloody huge. Please can we go, I don’t want to miss our flight. And if you bicker on the way to the airport, I’m telling you now that I’m going alone, you’ll both be banned from coming.’

  ‘Are you sure you should be flying?’ Dom asked for about the tenth time, as Coco strapped herself into the back seat.

  ‘Doctor’s letter’s in my bag to say I’m super fit and healthy. Stop fussing, we have a baby’s daddy to find.’

  ‘I wonder how he’ll react when you turn up on his doorstep looking like that. I’d have a heart attack.’

  ‘Well I should think so, as you only sleep with men,’ I laughed. He grinned at me and started the engine. ‘Besides, we all know the chances of finding him are slim to impossible, so let’s not get carried away. I’m doing this because I need peace of mind that I tried, so I can look my boy in the eye one day and say I did look. I have no expectations at all.’ I saw them exchange a look in the rear view mirror and I sighed and looked out of my window. Who was I kidding? I had so many expectations. I wanted to find him. I wanted him to say that he’d at least want to be a part of his son’s life, even if he didn’t want to try anything with me. Part of me couldn’t help thinking, that even though we’d only had one night together, we were meant to have more. We were just meant to be together. Another part of me was laughing hysterically. This always happened, well the only two times it had happened, I had amazing sex and fell really hard. It was probably just one sided. I was just another one night stand to him, if I did find him, he’d probably take one look at my ginormous stomach and slam the door in my face.