by Kira Blakely
My blood boiled instantly. How could he do that just a minute after what I just heard him say to his friends about me?
“Surprised to see you here, Samantha,” Nash said, raising his glass to her.
She was holding a glass of champagne, which she raised to him with a twinkle in her clear blue eyes. Then she turned to Casper again, her wide smile displaying a bright white set of teeth. It was evident who she had her sights set on.
“I wouldn’t miss a Casper Argent party for the world,” she said, and swayed toward him, knocking their shoulders together and then breaking into a fit of giggles.
“I think we should go check out the bar again, Nash,” Vincent said, dragging his friend away by the arm. The friends were leaving Casper alone with this Samantha woman, and I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. What was happening? Why was Casper not pushing this woman away?
“Casper, I’ve been waiting for your phone call,” the woman said, turning to him the moment the other two left. She wasn’t going to waste any time. Casper had that deadly smile on his face, the one that usually made me blush painfully, but now made my blood boil with rage.
“I was busy, Sam. You know my schedule. But you’re here now, and so am I,” he said, warmly accepting the arm that she slipped into his. She was drawing herself close to him. She took a large gulp of her champagne and nodded her head.
“Indeed, we are. Fancy me being in Hawaii just when you throw a party,” she said, as I bit down on my lip harder. I didn’t know how much longer I would be able to endure overhearing this conversation. It was driving me nuts.
“Something tells me that this is more than just an innocent coincidence,” Casper said lightheartedly and followed the woman’s every movement with his cool gray eyes. She was still hanging from his arm, swaying gently to the music, sipping her champagne. They were both blissfully unaware that I was there behind them in the dark, clearly overhearing everything that was being said. I was now a witness to the real Casper Argent, the one that he clearly kept hidden away from his friends, too.
“I saw you dancing earlier with some girl I didn’t recognize. A girl in an ugly silk dress?” she said, and she was giggling again. “But how about we set the floor on fire now? Just like the old times?” she said, positioning her body out of his arms and in front of him now.
Before I could hear what Casper replied to that, I was rushing toward them, ignorant of the state of my unruly auburn curls or the leaves in them after the time I had spent in the bushes.
Chapter 13
They didn’t notice me approaching at first until Casper looked up and saw me walking hotly in their direction. He had been smiling widely at the woman a second before that, but when he saw me, that expression dropped from his face. His eyes instantly narrowed and hardened as he calculated the look on my face and the way I was striding toward them. He sensed trouble. The woman saw Casper’s expression change and then followed his gaze, turning around to look at me. Unlike Casper, she still had a smile on her face.
“Casper!” I said it too loudly, much louder than I had intended to.
“Lily, you’re back,” he said to me, slightly flustered. I had never seen Casper this uncomfortable before, but he kept his eyes trained on me.
“What’s going on? Who is this?” The woman turned from me to Casper, and then back to me again. In a sudden rage, I felt my palms itching to simply slap her across her face. My anger was stemming from a very deep and real place. Not only had she insulted my dress, but she was also flirting with Casper, and he was flirting back!
“Sam, this is my friend, Lily Fitz. Lily, this is another old friend of mine, Samantha Meyers,” Casper corrected himself. He was back to being his old charming self, self-assured and confident.
“Pleasure,” Samantha said, extending a delicate, pale hand in my direction.
I pasted a smile on my face. I forced myself to do it, but I didn’t shake her hand.
“Casper, I want to talk to you,” I said, not quite sure yet what I wanted to say, but I knew I wanted to be alone with him.
“How do you know this young lady, Casper?” Samantha ignored what I just said and turned to the man we were both lusting after. My heart instantly ached when Casper looked at her and smiled.
“She’s a friend, Sam,” he said, and placed a hand on her shoulder. My eyes darted to that movement, widening as I felt like I was losing my mind.
“Casper, can we please talk privately?” I repeated myself, beginning to lose patience. I wasn’t one to make public scenes about private affairs, but I had no choice. I’d had a bit to drink and my temper was flaring.
“I assure you, you can say whatever you want in front of me. Casper and I have been friends for too long to keep secrets from each other,” Samantha said with a smile and then looked at Casper knowingly, and rolled her eyes. Like I wasn’t even there!
I could feel my teeth grinding against each other, I couldn’t remember the last time I was this mad. And surprisingly, Casper was completely calm, as if he couldn’t even fathom what I was going through.
I took in a deep breath and licked my lips as my nostrils flared. “I want to leave. Is there any way I can do that?” I said, trying to make my voice as even as possible.
Casper cleared his throat, and even though Samantha jerked her head to look at him again, this time he ignored her.
“The only way you can leave is on my jet, and I’m not ready to go yet, Lily.” He stressed my name like he was explaining something to a naughty child. As if my temper wasn’t wild enough.
“I want to leave, now, Casper. I think I might just arrange for something else,” I said, clenching my fists. I didn’t know what was making me react in such an absurdly violent way. Why was I picking a fight with him in the middle of a party! What did I think he owed me? It could have been the alcohol, or my feelings for him, or seeing Samantha touch him… I don’t know what it was, but I wanted desperately to get out of there.
“You can’t do that, Lily. And you definitely can’t fly commercial tonight, not at this hour,” Casper said, finally letting go of Samantha’s shoulder.
“Why would you want to pay for a flight when you can go back with Casper?” Samantha chipped in.
I looked at her crossly with my nostrils flared and then turned back to Casper again with a jerk. “Can we leave now, then?” I asked him, crossing my arms over my breasts to further display my disapproval of him and her.
“Lily, I can’t leave now. It’s my company party. I can’t just up and go right now in the middle of everything. Everyone expects me to stay till the end. I have business to attend to.” Casper was speaking harshly now, like he had lost his patience.
Samantha started cracking up with laughter in the background, and I’d never felt more embarrassed.
“I feel like a prisoner here, like I can’t leave when I want to. This is seriously ridiculous,” I said, and turned my face away from them both. Samantha was still laughing and Casper tried to reach for me, but I stepped back.
“Don’t touch me!” I hissed at him. “Can we go now or not?”
“Lily, I just told you that I can’t!” This time, he yelled.
I took a few steps away from him and turned my face toward Samantha. She seemed to be enjoying herself, like she was at some kind of show. She was also delighted that the girl Casper Argent had come to the party with had just managed to piss him off. I hadn’t yet turned to see who else had witnessed this little demonstration of my temper, but I didn’t want to know.
I turned on my heels and went running as fast as my feet could carry me.
****
All I knew was that I had to get away from there, from him and from that cackling witch. I had tears streaming down my cheeks as I ran in my new black cocktail dress, in my sandals, with my curls blowing behind me. More than anger or vengeance, what I was feeling was embarrassed.
I managed to escape out through the bushes again, and now I was running in the direction of the sea. When my feet
hit the sand, I felt my body sink a bit with my weight, but I kept running. The sound of the lashing sea waves were louder in my ears now, and the sun had entirely set. The water was the color of a navy velvet curtain, matching the sky above. When I looked up, I realized that I had never seen a clearer night sky. Stars twinkled everywhere, and the sight had an instant calming effect on me.
I took in a deep breath and stopped in my tracks. What was I doing? Where was I running to? What was I running away from? I was running away from Samantha and Casper, but I also felt like I was running away from the person I had turned into at that party.
Too many emotions, too much had happened to me in the course of a day. This morning, I hadn’t expected to see Casper again, hoping he would just be a part of my memory. Then he turned up at my door, then I was on a four-hour long flight on his private jet, then we were making love, then he was making me come with his tongue, then he was dancing with me at this insane party, then he was telling his friends how I was the wildest, most beautiful girl he had ever met, and then he was accepting the sexual advances of a woman who I didn’t know about, and who he seemed to know intimately.
That was the confused state of my tired mind by this time. I had no control over my emotions anymore. I was panting from the lack of breath from having run that hard. I doubled over with my hands on my knees, trying to just catch a breath.
I didn’t even want to imagine what Casper was doing right then, what he was saying, or what Samantha was saying to him. I pictured him laughing about it, about the scene I had just made, his friends pulling his leg for calling me wild just moments ago.
What was I doing? This wasn’t the Lily Fitz I recognized. I was ashamed of myself and of my behavior. Casper Argent was supposed to be the enemy, the kind of guy I should have stayed away from. And now he was driving me crazy. He was making me do things that I could never have imagined myself doing. What would Marla say if she saw me like this? How let down would my environmentalist friends feel if they found out that I had slept with the man whose company I was supposed to be protesting against?
What would Marla say? Was Zoe missing her Aunt Lily?
I was holding my chest as I tried to catch a breath and orient myself again so I could think straight. The moon illuminated the beautiful silver beach around me, and in any other moment, I would have been awestruck by the sheer island beauty, but not this night. Right now, I couldn’t appreciate anything. I couldn’t see the beauty in anything. All I could think about was myself and what a huge mistake I made by even opening the door to Casper. That now, in less than a day, I was falling in love with a man I should have stayed away from since the beginning.
The gentle crashing sounds of the waves before me had masked the sound of Casper’s footsteps in the sand. When he called out to me, I turned, a little afraid of him.
He was still some distance away, and I couldn’t see him clearly, but his voice was unmistakable. He was in no rush to catch up, almost as though he was giving me some time to think about what I had just done.
Even from this distance, his sandy blond hair was a bright golden. He was in his tuxedo and bowtie still, with his hands thrust into the pockets of his black pants.
He’d rolled up the bottom of his pants and taken off his shoes when he had stepped into the sand, and now the breeze had blown his smart hairstyle to the side, making him even more handsome. As he came closer, I saw his eyes were that deep blue again, almost like the color of the sea around us. His jaws were clenched as he approached me, and his lips were set tightly. His skin looked darker now in the night, but seemed to shine in the moon’s silvery illumination. Casper was like a Greek god walking stealthily down the beach. My stomach did an instant flip. All the thoughts I had been having about all this being a mistake were gone. I was reminded of why I had suddenly gone this crazy.
It was because of this man and how he made me feel. Because of how handsome and perfect he was. And because when I expected him to be back at the party, laughing about me with his friends, he was walking toward me on a dark deserted beach instead.
I drew in a deep breath and licked my lips as I watched him. The closer he came to me, the faster my heart beat. I was still angry, I was still embarrassed, but I was also relieved to see that he hadn’t abandoned me completely.
Chapter 14
“Lily, what on Earth was all that about?” he asked when he was finally within earshot.
I shrugged my shoulders and splayed my hands. Even though I was glad that he followed me here, that I wasn’t alone on this deserted, dark beach, I still had my pride. I couldn’t completely give in to him yet.
“I was overwhelmed. I wanted to talk to you privately, and you were shutting me out,” I said, watching him shyly as he walked toward me.
Casper wasn’t smiling yet. He looked like he was visibly upset by what had just happened. It was embarrassing. I didn’t want him to be upset with me. I didn’t want him to start thinking that bringing me here was a bad idea.
“I was in the middle of something, Lily. I couldn’t just go away with you,” he said, exhaustion in his voice. His jaw was set straight, and he was still clenching it. That humorous expression I was so used to seeing in his eyes was gone.
“Yeah, I saw that. You were in the middle of being seduced by some woman you claim is just your friend,” I spat out. I didn’t know where those words were coming from exactly, but they came tumbling out of me. I hated myself instantly for saying them.
Casper laughed. He threw his head back, and his shoulders shook as he laughed. “Samantha? You thought I was in the process of being seduced by Sam?” he asked through his laughter.
It angered me more, seeing him not taking my words seriously. I crossed my arms over my breasts again and stood glaring at him till his laughter began to die.
“Look, Sam is an old friend. I’ve known her since college. Our parents tried to arrange a marriage between us for the sake of our family businesses, but we both refused. She knows just as well as I do that we are not meant to be together.” His voice had a certain earnestness to it, which immediately calmed me down. I also felt slightly silly, hearing him explain what the situation was. Obviously, it was all a big lie, right?
“It didn’t seem like she knows that you’re wrong for each other,” I blurted out, still not able to control the words spewing out of me. Casper laughed again, but this time more subtly. He kept his distance from me, and his hands were thrust into the pockets of his pants.
“Sam is a special woman. She has a certain way about her, but Lily, believe me when I tell you that I’m not interested in her,” he said and finally took a few steps toward me.
I could feel the hotness of my face beginning to die down a little now. Whether I completely believed him or not, I wanted to. What other choice did I have but to accept the explanation he was offering me? Besides, I already made a fool of myself by displaying my jealousy. I dropped my arms to my side as I sensed his body move closer to mine.
“Ah, Lily, Lily, Lily… what am I going to do with you?” He placed both his hands on my arms and squeezed my body between them. The smile in his eyes returned, and there was laughter in his voice again.
I looked up at him with a slight quiver in my lips. I was embarrassed and flushed, and unsure of him still. And I also had nothing to say to him. I knew an apology was in order, but I wasn’t about to give it to him that easily.
When I remained silent for a while, Casper took in a deep breath and sighed, studying my face closely.
“What can I tell you, Lily? I have a past. And I’m also set in my ways.” he continued.
“You mean you’re a Casanova? A playboy?” I snapped, still not aware of what exactly I was feeling. My cheeks burned despite the cool sea breeze as I glared at him.
“Call it what you want. But human nature is a strange thing,” he added. I sighed and looked away from him.
“Are you trying to say that I shouldn’t try and change you?” I asked him without looking at him.
“You can’t, just like I can’t change you. And it would only be foolish of you to try,” he said, and I faced him again.
I was trying, with all the strength in my body, to not simply break down and cry. That would be a disaster. That would make him laugh again. And he was right, who was I to try and change him?
“Lily?” he said again, trying to catch my gaze.
“Casper?” I said, and he smiled like he was satisfied with my reaction.
“You are very warm,” he said, running his hands up and down my arm. Even through the fabric of my netted sleeves, he could feel the hot rage coursing through my veins. I remained silent, allowing the sensation of his hands on my body to wash over me.
Despite everything that had just happened, Casper Argent could, in an instant, completely change everything. Just one touch from him was enough to make me forget myself and give in to him.
I leaned in toward him. Before I could stop myself, I lifted myself up on my toes, and I kissed him. I didn’t know what I was doing, all I knew was that I wanted him. His mouth was rough and strong as he kissed me back. I pressed myself against him, my breasts crushed against the muscular strength of his chest.
We kept kissing, his hands slowly tracing my back, pulling down the subtle zipper that ran down the back of my dress. I was moaning into his mouth, and my moaning got louder when my dress fell to my feet. The cool breeze lapped against my skin gently and sent a shiver down my spine.
Casper pulled away from me, ending our kiss and he quickly undid his bowtie, flinging it to the sand. He took off his jacket, unbuttoned his shirt, all while keeping his eyes on me.
“You drive me crazy, Lily,” he grumbled as he pulled me close again, kissing my neck, down my throat, and to the top of my breasts.
His hands were fumbling with the hooks of my bra while my hands worked on his pants. His belt came off, and I boldly unzipped him. I was eager to have his solid, long cock in my hands once again. When I did, it was hot and throbbing, already prepared and hard to be inside me.