Page 48 of Take My Place

“Seriously?” I gasp, my hand flying to my mouth. I feel sick. “But I thought he is supposed to be a friend of my father’s?”

“I have no doubt he’s in your father’s back pocket,” Archer tells me. “But he’s not one of the Donatellos. I’ve had my family’s spies on the case and they confirm he definitely isn’t related to them.”

“So, who is he then?”

“We’re still trying to figure that out. There’s no doubt your father has been in contact with the Donatello family. They’re one of the most influential business families in Italy, so his time out there would make sense if he’s trying to build links with them. But whoever this Lucas is, he’s not one of them. He’s something altogether different and when your father does something this shady, it’s something we should all be worried about.”

“We have to tell Pilkington about this.” I scramble to my feet, ready to go marching into the head’s office here and now.

“No, we can’t.” Archer reaches up and pulls me back down. “If your father’s paying Lucas’s school fees, he’ll already have paid off Pilkington to keep his mouth shut. I bet he knows exactly who Lucas really is or, if he doesn’t, he’s been paid enough not to care. If we start throwing accusations around, we’ll be the ones to get in trouble.”

“But you must have proof that Lucas isn’t who he says he is,” I plead with him. “We get that, plaster it all over school. Stick it on social media. Tell everyone Lucas is a fraud. Pilkington can’t keep him here if we do that.”

“I understand why you’d want to do that, but we can’t.” Archer shakes his head. “Sure, we could get Lucas chucked out of school, but what good would that do? It would let your father know we know he’s up to something, so he’d just fall back on Plan B and we have no idea what that might be.”

“We have no idea what Plan A might be!”

“A few of us went to the pub with him last night to welcome him to the Academy and it was all he could talk about. Says he is really looking forward to getting to know you better and implied Romy isn’t going to be on the scene for much longer once he worked his charms on you.”

“Good luck with that.” I snort. “I might be getting married to Romy under pressure, but I’d still choose him a million times over before I ever go near Lucas.”

“Well, you might have to suck it up a bit and let Lucas think he’s in with a chance,” Archer says. “Out of all of us, you’re the one who has the best chance of figuring out what he’s really up to. You can get him to talk. All you need to do is bat your eyelashes at him and he’ll be putty in your hands.”

“Oh, puh-lease. I’m not that irresistible.”

“Ivy, have you looked at yourself in the mirror recently?” Archer casts a pointed glance down at my chest.

I blush. “Okay, so I made sure the girls were on display today. Funnily enough, you weren’t the only one to have the idea that I ought to pump Lucas for information. I didn’t realise there is so much at stake though. Now Ireallydon’t want to go out with him. The thought of being anywhere near him gives me the creeps. He’s in all my classes, Archer. Says my father advised him which ones to take. I don’t even know how he managed to get into music. He can barely play an instrument and you don’t want to hear him sing.”

“That’s what money can do for you.” Archer shrugs. “But you don’t have to be on your own. I can come to the coffee shop with you, sit nearby, make sure he doesn’t do anything he shouldn’t.”

“Romy already offered, and I said no,” I told him.

“That’s because Romy’s your fiancé and it would be weird to have him there. I’m no one special. Lucas isn’t going to give me a second glance.”

“Of course you’re special. At least… you’re special to me.”

I bite my lip and look away. I shouldn’t be talking like this, but Archerisspecial. My body responds to being around him in a way I’ve never known before. It is weird, but just sitting here makes me ache to be with him again. I want to kiss him, feel his hands on me…

“You’re special to me, too.” Archer reaches and gently guides my head around to face him. “You have no idea how special.”

He kisses me, and I let him. As his lips meet mine, I moan. This feels so right. Archer and I fit together perfectly, as if we were made for each other.

“I’ve missed you so much, Ivy,” he says. “There isn’t a day that didn’t go past without my thinking about you and wanting to know where you were. I hated being apart from you and then when you came back and moved in with Romy-”

“Shhh.” I place a finger on his lips. “Let’s not talk about him right now. It’s… complicated. I’d rather talk about you and forget about everything, everyone, else.”

“Who says we have to talk at all?” Archer grins at me and I grin back, knowing exactly what he is thinking.

I lean forward and kiss him, his lips warm and soft. His tongue probes my mouth and I feel my pussy clench with desire.

I am going to have him right here in the middle of the woods where anyone could walk in on us. This might be my last chance to enjoy his body and I am taking it with both hands.

“Are you sure about this, Ivy?” Archer asks when we break apart. His face is flushed and I can tell he wants me as much as I want him, but he is trying to be a gentleman.

“I couldn’t be more sure,” I reply, pulling him to me to kiss him again. He put his hand inside my blazer, cupping my breast to rub my nipples through my blouse. There is something truly erotic about having him touch me through my clothes, a promise of pleasures yet to come.

I reach down and caress his groin, feeling how hard he is through his trousers.

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