Page 23 of Daydreamer
“My freckles? Why are you asking about my freckles?”
“Your freckles are gone.”
“You were the one who wanted me to fit in at your office. To smarten up. Make-up is part of that.”
“I didn’t mean for you to cover up your freckles,” I said in a grumpy tone.
“Have you gone mad? And what the hell was that for with Piers?” she snapped. I gave her what I thought was a patient look and went for a patient tone to go with it. This might not have been the best policy as it only seemed to infuriate her further.
“Piers wants to sleep with you, Lucy. Guys like him are only after one thing.”
Lucy was so annoyed then that she actually growled. It was cute. I decided not to point that out to her – she looked murderous enough already.
“Felix,” she said in a low voice, vibrating with fury. “You’reunbearable, you know that? I can do what I like. I don’t needanotherbig brother throwing his weight around.”
“I can’t have you taken advantage of. What would your mother say?”
“Oh my God!” she semi-shouted. “My mother would be the first to tell me to get on and have some fun. ‘Play the field’ is how she put it. ‘Have a few rides.’ And, my personalfavourite, ‘Get out there and get proper seen to – do you the power of good’. Mymotherwould have expected me to go home with Piers in a heartbeat. Why on earth do you think she encouraged me to leave Little Buckingham? Do you know how many single men there are back home, Felix?” I shook my head dumbly, still having trouble getting over the shock of Hetty telling her precious daughter toget proper seen to. “Zero. There are exactly zero. Emily married Pete, the last relatively attractive single man in the area. You remember Pete? Nice chap, but not exactly George Clooney. The vicar’s single, but he’s old enough to be my grandad, so that’s out.”
I blinked. “Is that why you came to London? To meet men?”
She sighed. “Not just men. I’ve never lived away from home before. Never even went away to uni. I wanted to get out there in the big smoke. And well, I needed to get used to… people and such. Why did youthinkI came here?”
“For the career opportunities.”
Lucy looked up at the ceiling as if she was seeking patience with me, which was totally the wrong way around. “What exactly did Mum say to you when she asked you for this job?”
“Well…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “She said you needed to get out of Little Buckingham.”
“Did she mention furthering my career? You think I want to work in property development or finance?”
“What was I supposed to think, Lucy?”
She sighed and looked down at her feet for a moment. “You really don’t knowanythingabout me at all, do you?” she muttered in a dejected tone.
How much was I supposed to know about Lucy? I’d barely seen her for the last few years. I mean, I avoided going home like the plague, and the few times I’d met up with Mike it had been in London and had involved beers and shit-talking eachother. Information about his little sister was not top of our agenda.
“Listen, Lucy Mayweather,” I said in my most commanding voice. “You will not be havinganyrides with anyone, and that includes bloodyPiers.”
“Have you considered that maybe I can make my own decisions, you high-handed prick? Maybe I might want to have some fun after being cooped up in Little Buckingham for nearly three decades. Maybe Piers should be careful around me – huh?”
I frowned, then took Lucy by the hand and led her away from the bar and out into a large alcove near the exit, away from anyone who might be watching us. She took a step back but I followed her, leaning in with my arm on the wall above her head, and registering the sharp intake of breath she took at our proximity. She was still bristling with anger, but I could feel her attraction to me through the waves of fury. Colour crept up from her neck to her cheeks, and her chest rose and fell with her fast breathing.
“Do youwantto sleep with Piers?” I asked, my voice low, my face so close to hers that our lips were almost touching.
“I–I maybe I do,” she stuttered out, her voice hoarse now. Anger coursed through me, and I felt my jaw clench. “B–b–but that would be my choice. You’re not the boss of me.”
“Aren’t I?” I replied, my voice dropping even lower now.
“N–no, n–n–not here. Not outside work. You can’t tell me what to do.” She was breathless now, and her pupils were so dilated that only a thin rim of blue was evident around them. She shivered as my mouth moved to the shell of her ear.
“See I think Iamthe boss of you. I think that’s what youneed.”At this point, I had definitely lost my handle on self-control.It was the smell of her shampoo, those goddamn freckles trying to show through the makeup, the rapid rise andfall of her chest, plus the alcohol coursing through my system, lowering my inhibitions.
“I think you’ve come here to drive me out of my mind so that I’ll remind you of that. Remind you who your boss really is.” My mouth moved from her ear to her neck, and I grazed her soft skin below her ear with my lips. Her pulse was flickering frantically in her neck as she let out a small sound from the back of her throat. I could feel the anger morph into confused excitement as my mouth moved to her delicate jawline, and another small shiver went through her. When I reached the corner of her mouth, I spoke again, this time against her lips. “You’re not going to be doing anything with dickheads like Piers. Isn’t that right, baby?”
“W–what,” she whispered, our lips now a hair’s breadth apart.
“Be a good girl and say, yes Felix,” I said against her lips.
