by Olivia Fox
They were intersected half way by the half-naked Grayson, six foot two inches of smooth-muscled masculinity, draped in swathes of Ivy.
He looped an arm around Lily's waist and drew her to him, whispering in pseudo-hushed tones, "He's married you know. Watch you don't fall for his upstanding-English-gentleman routine." He sent Seb a sly look; ever the joker. “No, what you need, Lily Wilde, is a free man. Someone untied-down, to lead you down the path of wickedness. ”
Seb shook his head just a fraction. His eyes seemed to darken. Was he warning Grayson to back off?
“And why would I want to be led down that path exactly?” said Lily.
“Because, everybody does. Isn’t that right, Seb? When it comes down to it. When we’re honest. We all just want to enjoy ourselves, uninhibited by our commitments.”
“Right. Sure we do.” Lily had the distinct impression that these two towering gods were warring over an agenda that had absolutely nothing to do with her. “You know what, I really need to get this done so…”
“So I’ll introduce you to Ana and she’ll help you. Seb, Cayley’s wants a word with you. She’s by the altar. Have fun.”
Seb moved in close to Grayson, so Lily could barely hear him. However, the words, “Don’t push me,” had been clear enough.
For a long moment the men glared at each other like stags, gearing up to lock antlers.
Then, Grayson broke the silence.
"Hey," he said, "Lighten up, Sebby boy, we've got company."
He led a very confused Lily, into the East Wing, only mildly abashed what had just happened.
"Sorry to do that in front of you,” he said. “It's just, well, Ana's a great girl. Any man would be seriously lucky to have her. They've been married all of five years and he’s already talking like he wants out. He's my best friend - don’t get me wrong - but he's behaving like a selfish prick. I know we're kind of alternative in our lifestyle choices, but in my mind marriage is marriage. You know?"
Lily nodded. Finally some kind of explanation. Grayson had confirmed all her worst suspicions. Seb was as bad as Tom. Worse. After all he was married. So much for ‘til death us do part’.
Grayson stopped in his tracks and looked at Lily, placing a his hands gently on her shoulders. "I'm only telling you this so you know the full story. If you choose to get involved then that's your look-out but you deserve to know the facts."
I do? Huh?! "Get involved? I… I honestly doubt he even wants to get involved. But either way, don't worry, that's never going to happen.” Lily meant it. No way was she getting tangled up in some ego-massaging little fling. She wanted to have some fun this year - sure - but as someone’s bit-on-the-side? No, that really wasn’t what she’d had in mind.
Grayson gave her a sweet, sexy half-smile and nodded. “Well, then I think you and I are gonna get on.”
“Anyway,” she went on, “What makes you so sure I'm single? I could be a married woman with six kids for all you know."
"Except, you're not are you." It was Ana. Radiant, olive skinned and petite, with thick dark lashes and deep chestnut hair. She moved like a lithe little gazelle, gracefully leaning in to kiss Lily on both cheeks. Her Spanish accent exaggerated the emotion in her voice, as she introduced herself, "I'm Ana. I'm so pleased to meet you. Seb told me how beautiful you are, and I can see he's quite right."
Lily was totally speechless. She opened her mouth hoping words would come. They didn’t. She closed it again, fairly confident this little scenario would feature in her top ten most socially effing awkward moments ever. Ana reached forward and gentry tucked a tendril of auburn hair behind Lily’s ear.
"I’m making you uncomfortable,” she said. “When I meet someone new I get nervous and then I just say whatever springs into my head, do I not, Grayson? I don’t mean to put you in - how do you say - a tight spot. Of course, it must seem so strange, that I can openly talk about my husband’s attractions. It’s not something that pleases me, but I don’t hold you responsible. And don't feel sorry for me. I've known for a long that I'm not enough for him."
"I... I'm sorry. That's just terrible." Lily regretted every ounce of attraction she’d had for Seb Harper.
“I knew you would understand. After what happened to you. Men can be selfish creatures, no?”
Lily was suddenly brought up short. “What do you… You mean - you know about Tom?”
Ana drummed her palm against her forehead. “See! Stupid Ana. Chatter chat chat - I need to start using my brain before I say these things. But yes, I know about him,” she said, then added, “It must seem very intrusive, our vetting process, but it has proved useful in the past. To be honest, we mostly just use social networking sites. There's nothing underhand involved, but you'd be surprised how much information is available.”
“Information about my break up?”
Ana looked awkwardly from Grayson to Lily, “Well, your friends talk. It’s all well meant. Not gossip, you understand. But it doesn't take much to piece together all the little comments and see a clearer picture. It's how I knew I could trust you with Seb. No one in your position would want to break up a marriage. You must so loathe that girl, Celia."
Lily clapped a hand to her mouth. Celia? But Celia was Emma's little cousin. She was - what-eighteen now? Nineteen at the most. She'd been in a lot of trouble the last couple of years, in fact, on a couple of occasions she'd ended up crashing on Lily and Tom's couch. Lily felt nauseous.
"Celia James?" This was all making horrible sense.
Ana gasped, "Oh hell - you didn't know?! Lily, I am so, so sorry.”
Lily felt breathless. “Can I… Do you mind if I sit down a minute?”
Ana led her to the first of many bed chambers which filled the East Wing and gestured to a small leather armchair. Lily sank down into it and focused on trying to get the room to stop spinning.
Grayson crouched in front of her. “Listen honey, I’m gonna go right ahead and pour you a drink - no arguments - so what’s it to be - we’ve got everything - including tea if you want to be ultra-English.”
“It’s fine,” Lily started to say, then changed her mind. “Actually, yeah, thank you, but just water please.”
“You’re sure? I do a mean rum cocktail?”
Lily laughed despite the ache in her chest. “Thanks, but no.”
“Another time then. One water coming up.”
Ana held Lily's hand. "Were you together for a long time?"
"Eight years."
"You poor thing. Your longest relationship? You're still young after all?"
"My only relationship," sniffed Lily. "I was so shy before going to uni, and we got together in my first year so - yeah. He was my only lover. Pathetic huh?" Why am I telling you this, Lily wondered. Haven’t I embarrassed myself enough already?
Ana shook her head at once. "Not at all pathetic. Maybe not so unusual either. But - exciting too, no? So much unexplored territory! Or maybe you'll start to see it that way soon. Perhaps when the break-up is less raw."
Lily looked up, amazed that Ana's thinking was so in tune with her own. "No, no you're right. That's exactly how I see it... When I'm not blubbing like an idiot around total strangers."
“Ah, but we're not strangers now. We already know about each other's struggles in love, so we've fast-tracked.”
“Thank you,” said Lily, genuinely appreciative. Her nervousness at meeting Ana had evaporated, she realized.
“Don't mention it,” said Ana. “I'll be honest; I was anxious about meeting you. I'm sure you can understand that.”
Oh sure. What’s not to understand?
Ana clutched Lily’s hand. “And then with you being a journalist too... But I was wrong to be. We have much in common- a similar outlook on life. I must admit I envy you - so much to discover. You should unleash yourself! Have some guiltless fun.”
“That's the plan. I've made it my New Years resolution actually,” Lily admitted.
Ana clapped her hands together, seeming genuine
ly impressed. “Good for you!”
“Good for me, in theory. We'll see. I'm not sure I've got the guts to be so - what’s the word I’m looking for - hedonistic.”
“Hedonistic? Christ, what did I miss?” Laughed Grayson, striding in and passing Lily a glass of water.
“Oh - thanks.” Lily cringed a little with embarrassment.
“Lily was just saying how she's now free to enjoy herself. In fact she's resolved to do precisely that.”
Ana looked meaningfully at Grayson who, in turn, responded with the subtlest of shrugs.
“I'll drink to that,” he said, dramatically, as though nothing had passed between him and Ana.
“Sorry to interrupt,” announced Seb from the doorway, his voice dark and unsettling.
“Are you, my love?” replied Ana, and Lily had to resist shivering at the chill between them.
Seb continued as though Ana hadn’t spoken. “Lily - Cayley's finished with the altar. Strangely she couldn't remember needing to speak with me. Anyhow, she's just helping housekeeping set up the banqueting table. Once that’s done, she wants your help arranging the harnesses.”
Lily felt her eyes widen. She couldn’t help it. She felt like the dog in the fairytale with eyes as big as saucers.
“OK. Thanks,” she managed to stammer, while Grayson and Ana fell about laughing.
Again, Seb ignored them. “Don’t mention it. I’ll be outside,” he said, gesturing with his cigarette, as he moved toward the door, pausing just briefly to look back at his wife in disgust.
Ana calmed herself. “We shouldn’t laugh. Your innocence is so endearing. You’re a delight. I’ve made a decision. I think you should sleep with my husband.”
What??! Her eyes widened yet further. Oh here we go, she thought, ‘next you’ll see a dog called Lily with eyes as big as mill wheels’.
Grayson wrapped an arm around Ana’s shoulder. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes, I am. It's what he wants, and it’s what she needs. I’ve had this all wrong. Let him get it out of his system. Don't be too surprised, Lily. We do sleep with other people, so that doesn't concern me.”
“Uh-huh,” gulped Lily. It was all that she could manage.
Grayson tossed the idea to and fro, “I can kind of see where you're coming from. I mean, so long as Lily doesn't want a relationship with him - you don't, right? - then, yeah I guess it might take away the whole forbidden fruit thing.”
“And it would be so good for Lily,” said Ana, now looking at her. “He's an amazing lover.”
… and next you’ll find a dog called Lily with eyes as big as a castle tower…
“Uh-huh,” she said, again. “You're serious.”
Ana smiled, taking Lily’s hands in her own. “It's strange for you. Of course it is. But you should consider it.”
“Right. But you just said - literally twenty minutes ago -”
“What? That I'm afraid he'll leave me, afraid he'll give up on our marriage. I still feel this way.”
Lily didn’t know where to put herself. This whole scenario was mortifying. For one thing, Lily didn't entirely believe that Seb had any real interest in her, beyond teasing her and trying to provoke a reaction. More likely he was lying to his wife. Faking an interest in Lily to hurt Ana.
“I - I don’t really know what to say.”
Ana laughed, "You should say 'thank you Ana Pancheva for allowing me to fuck your gorgeous husband'... But more likely, you'll say no, I expect. No matter. It was just a suggestion."
"Have you even considered... Do you think that maybe you've got it wrong? I mean what if all he's really trying to do is make you jealous?"
"I know him. I can tell the difference," Ana insisted.
Lily nodded respectfully but remained unconvinced. She refocused on her job. With all the tears and drama, she felt like she'd been more of a hindrance than a help. In an effort to pull herself together, she grabbed the remaining chiffon.
"Honey, just leave those," said Grayson, as Lily began hanging the cloth. But she insisted, determined to at least partially earn her pay.
Once finished, she went in search of Cayley. In the entrance hall, Gav was adjusting the lighting while Rob checked the sound system. Cayley, they told her, was waiting for her in the dungeon. By that point Lily just nodded. Dungeon - right - sure. After the shock of Ana’s offer, she doubted anything else would shock her that morning. She’d been wrong, of course.
Gav pointed her in the right direction; past the now table-less dining hall, complete with fake marble statues and a kinky altar; along a corridor; past the gym/climbing wall, and down a flight of stone stairs. Lily found her friend attaching hand cuffs to a red velvet love swing. The room - she guessed it had once been regular cellar - was dimly lit, which was highly convenient as her eyes were no doubt still red and puffy. It was decked out in wrought-iron candelabras, shackles, straps, hooks and buckles. A flagellation rail, for want of a better term, hung on the far wall, supporting a variety of whips, paddles and other bottom welting implements. Various sections of wall were leather-padded, and the slate-tiled floor was warm under foot; at odds with the dungeon’s harsh appearance.
Lily poked at the leather padded interior. “How exactly does all this fit with the Bacchanal theme. Ancient Roman dildos I can kind of believe in… but this lot?! Kind of stretching it, don’t you think?!”
“It’s just what the guests expect. They think orgy, they expect to see some bondage. Most of the gear barks louder than it bites. Here, put your hand out-” Cayley fetched a riding crop.
Lily put her hand out and squeezed her eyes shut. THWACK! She flinched, half-expecting it to burn, but in reality it was little more than a quick sting.
“OK, point made. Not bad, but I don’t really get the appeal,” she said.
Cayley shrugged. “Depends whose doing the punishing I suppose,” she said. Then in her best attempt at an American accent, “Please remove your panties and let me spank that fine British butt of yours!”
That brought a much needed smile to Lily’s face, and for that remaining hour, busily re-arranging the dungeon, she was thankful to Cayley for offering some distraction.
By 2.30, as the Bellevue staff clambered back into the van, they felt like they’d done a day’s work in the space of a few hours. Cayley apologized for being uptight that morning, and the guys shrugged it off, saying they were used to it.
Grayson and Ana, waved them goodbye, and Seb, the man apparently so taken with Lily, was nowhere to be seen.
She tried not to be disappointed. She told herself she wanted nothing to do with Seb Harper and his commitment issues, that this whole stupid situation was way too messy. And if she told herself these lies for long enough, she thought, she might just start believing.
6
He leaned into the window frame and exhaled a slow trail of smoke into the chilled outside air, as the van became a distant speck on Hatherly's long drive. Down below, Ana and Grayson stood side by side on the gravel, thick as fucking thieves. They'd been his closest friends. Family. But it was high time to say goodbye. They'd outgrown each other, he told himself, before deciding false modesty didn't really suit him. Fuck it. He'd outgrown them.
They'd been three spoilt rich kids, never having to work or fight for anything, and thinking the world owed them a good time. And he was still spoilt. There was no denying it. He had it all. The house, the luxury, the endless no-strings lovers eager to lick his dick. And still he wanted more. Not love - probably not - the idea of it had become so alien to him that he could barely imagine the feeling. But maybe closeness. It had been a long time since he'd had that. Being close to Lily - knowing her inside out - he'd be able to please her in ways she didn't even know she wanted to be pleased. He groaned, hardening near instantaneously at the thought, and slumping further still into the timber frame. He'd please her alright. It was what he was good at. Getting under a woman's skin. He'd have those innocent, indignant, pouting little lips of hers so red with lust that al
l manner of filthy desires would spill out for him. And her other lips... Christ. They would be even redder, would taste even sweeter. Seb's eyes were no longer focused on the scene below, they were fogging over, allowing him to see something entirely more pleasant. God - what he wouldn't give to spread those silk-smooth thighs and run the tip of his tongue along that pretty little slit, torturing her until her lips glistened and her clit swelled plump and suckable and...
He took a final dissatisfying drag on his cigarette. For fuck sake. Why did he always have to be such a lewd, chauvinistic cunt? He knew the answer of course. It was because lewd Seb was easy. The path of least resistance. He could excel at being lewd Seb. He'd sure had enough practice. Doting, monogamous Seb was a trillion times harder. By now, for all he knew, being that Seb might just be impossible. But he'd wanted to at least give it a shot even before Lily had stumbled into his eye line. He'd had his reasons then, and now - now he had his incentive. Even if Lily was too sweet for him. Too unmistakably lovely for such a sick bastard.
She deserved better. But hey - he might have left the hedonism parties behind, but he wasn't quite ready to announce his sainthood just yet. He wanted Lily and unless she had any objections he was going to have her.
Or maybe not. He was like two men warring in one body. One man wanted to rip the clothes from Lily's pixie-ish little body and devour her. That guy was insatiable. Almost hulk-like in his bullish hunger-driven determination. The other man was the problem. The one who cared, actually cared that Lily was vulnerable right now. Because she obviously was. No matter how hard she tried to act in control, a blind man he could see she'd been hurt. And could he really stand to hurt her again? Because he might. If hulk-Seb got his way.
Though as he watched Ana and Grayson, probably scheming, down below, he had the cold suspicion hulk-Seb would get his way. The more anyone told Seb he couldn't have a thing, the more determined he was to have it.
Ana turned serenely toward his window, as though she knew just what he was thinking. She was no doubt going to make seducing Lily as hard as humanely possible. Well, if she thought pissing him off was going to make him stay, she had another thing coming.