Book 2: Seduction
I did consider giving up, I really did. In fact I agonized over it all night long… all weekend long, before deciding that I shouldn’t let the start of my modeling career be affected by some almost-romance with a horrible man. Just because Kyle Meyer, owner of KM Styles, and the man that I was going to have to pose with in these images, decided to act like a good man while he hit on me, didn’t mean I had to lose out. In reality, he was a womanizing asshole who didn’t care about anyone else’s feelings. His ex-wife told me as much. If I kept that at the forefront of my mind then maybe I would be able to make it through it this job, and then move on to the next one.
Just get through today… I told myself as I stared at the reflection of my terrified face in the mirror. Just get through this campaign. Then you can work for any agency, any company, on any campaign that you want.
“Ellie Wilkes?” someone yelled into the bathroom. “You’re wanted on set.”
“Coming!” I replied, tugging at the clothes, doing my best to get them to fit right.
As I stepped out into the studio, doing my best to keep my features straight, my eyes connected with Kyle’s. He was giving me a curious look, as if he was trying to work out why I ran away from the party, just moments after we were about to kiss, but I wasn’t about to give him anything. I didn’t want him to know that Heather, the woman he once married to, had told me everything about him, so I averted my eyes instead, and focused on the photographer.
He said, “Okay, today we’re doing the pastel colored range, so things need to be soft and sweet. We need to convey romance, okay?” I nodded at that, thinking that romance would be much easier to tackle than the sexual stuff that most of the pictures were conveying. “We’ve brought in the bed prop for you both to lie on as if things are on the brink of getting sensual, so can you do that for me please?”
Oh shit… maybe not…
I glanced over to where the plush-looking bed was, one that screamed luxury, and I gulped down the big ball of fear that was lodged in the back of my throat. Kyle didn’t seem to share any of my reservations though, he strolled over to the bed as if he was right at home, and he lay across it, patting the sheets besides him.
“Come on, Ellie, what are you waiting for?”
I sighed deeply, trying to keep all of the emotions inside, and I made my way over to where he was waiting for me. I hated the fact that I couldn’t dampen my desire for him. I hated the fact that I still felt lust for him, no matter what I knew about him. He was a bad person, the sort of man who would use women just for sex, but somehow despite all of that I found myself still wanting him.
Stop it, I told myself. Just take this one moment at a time. All you need to do is get through it.
***
It took me a while to get into the swing of things again. The photographer made it a whole lot worse by constantly screaming at me. Eventually I found a way to relax.
Actually, it was Kyle helping me to relax, but I was doing my best not to focus on that part. Gone were the suggestive comments and the attempts to turn me on, gone were any moments where we almost kissed, instead he spoke to me as if I were human, as if I were his friend. It helped me to become more of myself.
Soon, before I could even get a grip on myself, I was giggling along with him, really enjoying his company. I’d forgotten my earlier anxiety. While we chatted, while we had fun together, the photographer stopped yelling and snapped away. I couldn’t help but hope that somehow we were doing a good job.
“So, are you still enjoying being a model?” he asked me with a smile on his face. “Is it still as fun as you thought it was going to be?”
“Yeah, I really love it,” I allowed the excitement to flow through my words. “Except for the paparazzi, they are quite intense, aren’t they?”
“You will get used to that,” he reassured me, sending another round of sparks coursing through my body. “It can be very overwhelming to start with, but it will soon just become an unfortunate side effect of the job. With any luck they will get bored of you soon enough.”
I thought of the one guy who kept following me everywhere, the one with sunken eyes and yellow teeth who didn’t seem to want to give up any time soon. Maybe Kyle was right, maybe he would simply give up, I just needed to be patient and give it time. I nodded hopefully.
“This is great,” the photographer yelled loudly, shaking me from the moment, reminding me that I was on set. “But we need you to be closer, more intertwined.”
Kyle moved towards me with ease, but when he heard my breath hitch in my throat, he smiled kindly at me. “It’s okay, just trust me,” he said quietly. “Just pretend that there’s no one else in the room. Remember, just relax.”
But it wasn’t easy, not when he was making me feel so many things all at once. I did my best to calm down my racing heart, to keep my breathing normal, but it didn’t really work. Kyle could tell that I was freaking out, and it was obvious that I wanted him, but rather than making any joke out of that, or asking me why I hadn’t stayed when something real could have happened, he just held me close and carried on chatting to me like I was his mate.
He made it easier for me, and I was really grateful for that.
***
Kyle
Ellie Wilkes was something else, she really was. She didn’t know how damn good she was at modeling, especially when she relaxed and became more herself. That innocence she had made her so refreshing. When Greg had done his best to convince me that I needed to be a part of this advertising campaign, because my notorious reputation would draw in interest from many new people, I wasn’t keen. Mostly, I didn’t want to get stuck with a frozen stiff, airhead model by my side.
But with Ellie, and her passion, I started to think that Greg’s idea would be a good one.
I also liked Ellie a lot.
The closer we got to one another, the more we laughed and giggled, the deeper I started to fall. I just loved the way that she was so different from other models, other women, really. I embraced that. It made my heart flutter for her.
I kept waiting for her to ask me why I left her at the party, why I didn’t come back to finish the kiss that we almost started, but she didn’t. Of course I was glad, because I really didn’t want to have to explain all about Heather, and the terrible marriage that we shared, or her new demand to be involved in KM Styles, but it did make me wonder. Ellie certainly seemed really into me, by the way that she was acting, but she obviously didn’t want to express that aloud for whatever reason.
Maybe she was shy, maybe she was inexperienced. Maybe she just didn’t know how to say what she felt inside. I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to find out.
“So, how long have you lived in New York?” I asked her casually, trying to find out more about her. “I mean, you didn’t grow up here, did you?”
“No, I grew up in Clinton, New Jersey,” she told me with a small frown on her lips. “How did you know?”
“You don’t seem like a New Yorker. You seem like you’re just trying to figure you way out in the world here. It’s nice.” She didn’t respond to that. I decided to skate around the one question that I had been avoiding. “So, did you enjoy the party the other night?”
I waited for her expression to change, and it did fall just a little bit. “I did… it was different to what I was used to.” Okay, maybe that was why she had acted strange. Maybe it had just become overwhelming for her. She added, “Do you do that sort of thing all the time?”
“Yes,” I admitted, not wanting to hide anything. “Partying is kind of what I’m known for.”
‘All you are is an idiotic party boy.’ Heather’s words flew back into my mind, like a slap in the face. ‘You don’t deserve the business, that’s why I’m taking it from you.’
I did my best to reason with her, ignoring the party and the almost-kiss that Ellie and I had shared, because I so desperately wanted to keep my business. I’d worked so hard to get to where I was, and I certainly wasn’t about to hand it over to my vindictive ex-wife. I’d already paid her off a fair amount to keep her off my back, even though her infidelity was what ended our marriage. It wasn’t my fault that she’d spent it all.
‘Don’t relax ever,’ she’d warned me. ‘I will do what I can to take everything from you, to leave you with nothing. You ruined me with the divorce, now I’m going to ruin you.’
It was fair to say that by the time Heather had left me alone in that room, I was too angry and upset off to face anyone else. Since that moment, I’d spoken to Greg and he reassured me that there wasn’t anything Heather could do, but I’d still blown it with Ellie. I wasn’t sure if there was any coming back from that.
“I… I think I would like to do it a little more,” Ellie told me bravely. “Partying, I mean.” I glanced at her, surprised to hear those words coming from her. “It was kinda fun.”
I broke out into a smile at that, seeing just how different Ellie really was. She wanted to explore this new world, she wanted to have fun… and to actually enjoy herself, not just to pose in front of the rest of the world. I just hoped that it didn’t swallow her up alive.
“Well, you know that I’m always here to take you out. And KM Styles throw a lot of parties too, so I’m sure you’ll get the chance.”
Just as I was about to tell her that I would be having another party at the weekend, the photographer called time on the photo shoot, so we split apart. As soon as her body was away from mine, I felt cold, and more alone than I ever had done before. I missed her… something I didn’t feel would ever happen again.
Now my desire to be with Ellie more wasn’t just motivated by what was in my trousers, now there were feelings growing too; emotions that were strong enough to stop me from worrying about Heather and her threats anymore. Heather had nothing over me, not really. She’d gotten what she needed in the divorce. She was awarded more than the judge thought that she deserved. It had been settled in court. There was no legal reason for why she should have any of the business anymore.
She just wanted to scare me. That was all. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. She was the past. These feelings that I had for Ellie – they were the future, and I would much rather focus on that.
***
Ellie
“This is so much fun!” Katya yelled over the music. “Who knew that lil ol’ Ellie would be such a laugh.”
She was drunk, but that didn’t really matter because we were all drinking. When I did the photo shoot with Kyle, and we grew a little closer, it made me realize how I wanted to change. I wanted to get out more, to have some fun while I was still young and free, and I hoped that by doing so I would end up less naïve, and more able to deal with difficult situations, such as the one Heather presented me with.
They were dressed in tight fitting, flesh-revealing clothes, whereas my outfit was much more conservative. They were making me feel like one of them regardless. They didn’t seem to be put off by our obvious differences. That was incredible to me. I was so grateful to them. Without their kindness, I might never have managed to break out of my shell.
“Yeah, in all honesty I thought that you were going to be totally boring,” Talia admitted, handing me another shot. I was tipsy, but I felt like I could handle one more. “That’s why I didn’t bother talking to you much before, at the photo shoot. Now I can see that I was wrong.”
“Does KM Styles constantly hold parties like this?” I asked curiously, finally feeling brave enough to try and find out the truth about Kyle from an outsider’s perspective. I kept trying to find reasons why Heather might have been lying about Kyle. I guessed she could have been because she was an ex with an agenda. I just needed to know the truth.
“Yeah, Kyle is a massive party animal,” Katya told me. “I always assumed that it was just so he could score hapless chicks, but I haven’t seen him with anyone for a little while now. Well, ever since that party where I assumed that you were going to hook up with him,” she eyed me out of the corner of her eye, causing me to shake my head.
“I didn’t hook up with him,” I insisted, for what felt like the hundredth time. “We were just talking.”
“Didn’t look much like talking to me!”
Before we could get into a debate about that, a group of guys circled us – male models, by the look of them – and invited us onto the dance floor. I was unsure of going anywhere with them, because I didn’t know what they would expect from us, but considering Talia and Katya didn’t seem bothered, I got swept along with them.
They were all very handsome guys, but much too clean cut for my liking. They didn’t do anything for me. It seemed like my type was more rough and ready, more like Kyle. Nothing else would do. But meanwhile, we were drinking, and they were there, and it was a fun night, so I joined in.
We all danced in a circle and enjoyed one another’s company, but as soon as Talia started making out with one of them, it seemed like the competition to get to me and Katya kicked up a notch between them all. They started grinding against us, grabbing us, trying to get our attention, and I didn’t like it one bit. I wasn’t that sort of girl, and that was never going to happen, not like this.
“I think… I need…” I tried to break free from the crowd, but one of them wouldn’t let me. He grabbed onto my waist and pulled me close to him, despite my obvious dislike of the moment. It wasn’t anything particularly about him. He was good looking enough. I just didn’t know him well enough to feel anything for him. I had no intention of faking it, and I had a feeling he did not want to stop at just dancing.
“Stay, dance with me,” he whispered into my ear. I tried my best to squirm away from him without dampening the mood but it didn’t seem to put him off. “Come on, loosen up, it’ll be fun.” I didn’t want to loosen up, especially as I got the sense of where that would lead. He wanted me in bed, but unfortunately for this guy his attempt at flirting was doing nothing for me.
I gripped my glass tightly between my fingers, until my knuckles went white. “I need to get another drink,” I lied, despite the fact that my glass was half full. “I’ll be back in a minute.” What I really needed was a miracle, a superhero, but that wasn’t about to happen any time soon.
“You still have plenty to drink,” he said with his face far too close to mine. “Just stay with me.”
I managed to free my wrists from his grip, and I stared at him defiantly. I decided to glare at him while I knocked back the rest of this drink, just to prove my point that I needed to go, but as I slowly put the glass to my lips, and I went to swig it backwards, someone stunned me by snatching it from my hands, pouring it all down my dress in the process.
“Kyle?” I gave him a terrible look as I patted down my dress. “What the hell are you doing?”
***
Kyle
I glowered at Ellie from the other side of the bar, actually resenting her for having a good time. It wasn’t that I wanted to wrap her up in cotton wool, or that I wanted to take complete control of her or anything, I just wanted her to save that smile for me. I didn’t like her giving it to any other guys.
As the male models danced around her and her friends, I could see that Ellie wasn’t interested in any of them, she wasn’t giving them any of those gorgeous, turned-on looks that she gave me, which made me feel a little better, but they didn’t seem to be put off by that at all. I had to keep really regaining control of myself, just to force myself not to go up to them and punch them in the face in turn.
Ellie is new to the city, I tried to remind myself. She wants to have fun, she needs to explore the world, to learn more about herself, and I really need to let her if I ever want her to come back to me. In fact, I’m kind of the one who started it by getting her to go to that first party!
But then she looked like she needed help, so I jumped up on my feet, ready for action at any moment. I held back while she tried to make her way through the crowd, I gripped tightly onto the table in front of me as one of the guys grabbed onto her, just waiting to see what her reaction would be. If she liked it, I couldn’t do anything, not without making a fool of myself, so I made myself wait, however hard it was.
But then I saw him doing something, using sleight of hand. Ellie wouldn’t have noticed it because she was so busy talking to him. No one else would have seen it because they were so wrapped up in their own nights, which was exactly what this guy was hoping for. He wasn’t counting on me watching him intently. I saw everything that he was doing.
He had slipped something into her drink.
With that I pushed my way through the crowds, not even caring about pushing people out of the way. They didn’t matter at that moment, only Ellie and her safety did, but by the time I got to her, the glass was at her lips and I had to snatch it clumsily from her, spilling some of it over her dress.
“Kyle? What the hell are you doing?” she snapped at me, looking very pissed off.
“He slipped something into your drink,” I shot back, glaring at that asshole. I wanted to punch him for what he was trying to do, but I didn’t think Ellie would appreciate that. “I don’t know what it was, but I saw him do it.”
“You were watching?” she gasped in shock, looking as if she didn’t even realize that I was at the party. I had been doing my best to blend into the background when I saw her having fun, however much I didn’t want to, so it was hardly surprising. “You saw?”
“I saw you trying to get away from him, and him grabbing at you, and I saw him put something in your drink.” I got up in the guy’s face, needing him to see that I meant business. “You can get out of my party now. I will make sure that you never work in the modeling industry again.”
“Whatever,” said the male model. He shrugged his shoulders casually at me, not even bothering to deny the accusation that I was throwing at him. “As if you have that much power.”
“You have no idea.”
“This party is lame anyway, so I’ll happily go.”
It got really difficult not to smack him, but somehow I managed to hold myself back. He would have a big shock coming to him when he couldn’t get any work again, especially as I recognized him from past jobs, and I knew that his name was Benjamin Hugh, but he wasn’t my priority at the moment. I needed to make sure that Ellie was okay. It was unlikely that she’d ever been through anything like that before.
“Are you alright?” I said. I wrapped my arms around her, noticing how wet she really was. She was shaking too, trembling with fear, and all I wanted to do was comfort her. “Do you want to get out of here?”
“Yes,” she whispered sadly, tears filling her eyes. “I want to go home.”
“Well, my place is nearer,” I told her without a hint of suggestion in my voice. “I can take you there first and get you something warm and dry to wear.” I just wanted more time with her, to ensure that she was okay. I didn’t want to leave her alone in the state that she was in. “Then I’ll take you home, okay?”
“Sounds good,” she smiled weakly at me through the tears. “Thank you.”
“I’m sorry about your dress, I didn’t mean for that to happen, I just couldn’t let you drink that not knowing what was in it.”
“It’s okay,” she nodded quickly. “You saved me. If you hadn’t been looking then anything could have happened to me. It doesn’t even bear thinking about.”
Luckily I’d spent the entire night sober, wanting to keep my head on my shoulders, because that meant that I could drive her away from the party right away, without having to wait for a driver.
As I wrapped my arms around her, and I led her from the room, I realized how strong my protective side was. I enjoyed being the one to save Ellie then, it made me feel really good about myself. I’d never been able to do that for anyone before, Heather hadn’t needed it because she was too busy screwing other people, and I hadn’t cared enough about anyone since. It felt good to have someone who needed me to protect her vulnerability. It made me like her that much more.
***
Ellie
As the car whizzed along the city, my mind was all over the place. I couldn’t believe that Kyle had been watching out for me, and that he protected me, when he really didn’t have to.
Surely if all those things that his ex-wife had been telling me about him were true, then he would have moved on to someone else by now. He would have found a girl much more willing to drop her panties for him. He must have seen by now how inexperienced and unsure about myself I was, he must have realized that I wasn’t about to jump into bed with him, so why was he still here?
Was it possible that he actually cared about me?
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye as he drove, feeling my heart skip a beat as I saw him there, concentrating hard on the road. He’d shaved off his stubble, but he still looked just as rugged, just as dirty, just as gorgeous. Damn it, why did the one person I really liked have to be my boss? The man that I had to model with? The man that I’d been warned against?
“Where do you live?” I asked him, recalling him saying that it was nearby. But he didn’t answer me. Instead he pointed to the mansion in front of us, one that I could have fit about twenty of my apartments in. “Here?” I gasped in shock. “Are you serious?”
“Yep, this is my home, brought with my own hard-earned money.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. Kyle Mercer was known for coming from a fairly well of background, but the riches he’d made were all his own doing. I wasn’t sure how well the clothing brand had been doing in recent times – I guessed that his involvement in the advertising campaign was to give the new range a much-needed attention boost – but it had been making a lot of money for a lot of years. It was something to be admired really.
“Well, it’s lovely,” I finally finished lamely, doing it no justice. It looked like a house from a movie, as if it should have been a set rather than real life.
As we walked through the massive front doors, and into the luxurious reception area, my eyes were everywhere trying to drink in everything at once. This was the sort of life style that someone like me could only dream of having.
“Come into the kitchen with me,” he grinned at me, with that adorable cheeky twinkle in his eyes. “I’ll fix you a drink and get you something dry to wear.”
“Have a lot of women’s clothes lying about, do you?” I teased, referring to his reputation.
“Of course I do, I run a clothing brand, remember?” he chuckled, causing me to laugh alongside him. “Now, what do you want to drink?”
“Coffee, please,” I shot back quickly. I’d had enough alcohol to last me all night long, and after what I’d just been through the last thing that I needed was more booze. “Thank you.”
I slid into the nearest chair, trying to make myself at least a little bit at home, but the whole place was utterly intimidating. How could Kyle live in this house all by himself without freaking out every single day?
“Okay, coffee is on, let me go and get you something to wear.” As he left the room, my mind was everywhere, trying to work out how I felt about this man. I knew what I’d been told, but he hadn’t been anything other than good to me. Should I trust what I’d heard, or what I saw with my very own eyes? I just didn’t want to make a naïve, silly mistake that would taint my New York City experience, but I didn’t want to throw away a good opportunity either. I didn’t want to cast Kyle aside, when actually he could be really good for me.
Unfortunately, I was too tipsy for this deep subject matter. I needed to be far more sober before I could make any rational decisions, so I decided to concentrate on something else for a while…
He handed me his tee-shirt, with a bright grin on his face, bringing the feelings that I was trying my best to ignore, back to the surface again. “Here,” he said.
I stepped closer, and took the tee-shirt from him, our hands brushing as I went. I kept my fingers lingering on his much too long, and our eyes connected in an intense moment, where feelings were silently exchanged.
Eventually his head moved closer to mine, and I found myself pulled in as if we were magnetized. This was wrong. I shouldn’t have been doing this, but I couldn’t stop myself however much I tried.
Our lips connected and fireworks exploded within me, making all my cares simply float away. He felt so good against me, so right, but then his arms started to snake around my waist, startling me and causing me to jump backwards.
Kissing was one thing, but anything else was too much to handle. Not yet, it was all happening too quickly!
“Don’t freak out,” Kyle pleaded with me. “Don’t run away. Just give me a chance.”
“But… it’s all too much,” I told him honestly.
“Then we’ll take it slow,” he said sincerely, with a promise in his eyes. “Will you give me a chance to prove myself to you if I promise to take it slow?” He gripped onto my hands, staring intently at me.
I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to agree with him, but I wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea. This was Kyle, my boss, but also the man that I felt a lot for.
Maybe it was time to stop worrying about what everyone else had told me. Maybe it was time to make up my own mind about this man. Maybe I needed to trust my own intuition and judgment, rather than the words of others, and actually give him a chance.
“Okay,” I finally heard myself whisper. “Sounds good.”
***
Kyle
I had to admit that things were going great between me and Ellie. I really wasn’t used to taking things slowly. In fact even when I heard the words spilling from my lips I’d been unsure about it, but surprisingly I could do it. I didn’t even mind it.
I was hanging out with Ellie a lot, a little bit as friends, a little bit as lovers – but of course only with kissing. She was definitely warming up to me, which was great. But she had barriers protecting her. I wanted to bring them down, but I was prepared to do it slowly.
I just hoped that it would be worth it when I finally got there. I had the strong sense that it would be, and I really wanted to be proven right.
She swayed towards me in a slightly more revealing dress than she usually wore to my parties. “Are you ready?” I asked her.
“I am,” she said. She trembled a little from fear. “But what do you think everyone will say when they see us together?”
I knew how gossipy the fashion world could be, and I was very used to it after hanging out with so many well-known women. I wasn’t sure that Ellie had been through enough of it yet to have developed the much needed thick skin.
I pulled her in for a hug and held her close to my chest. “Don’t worry,” I said kindly. “I will be there with you every step of the way. Yes, people will look at us, and yes they will probably talk, but it doesn’t matter. It’s all water of a duck’s back. Just be true to yourself, be true to us and who you are and nothing else will matter.” I pulled back to look at her, staring deep into her eyes. “We know the truth, and that’s all that matters.”
“Okay,” she gasped, practically clinging onto me. “Okay, I trust you. Let’s just get there already!”
As we walked through the crowds of people, everyone slowly turning to look at us, I felt a sense of pride. I was aware that most people would simply assume that Ellie was the next target on my hit list of women, but I didn’t care. I knew that they were wrong, so I didn’t think that anything else mattered.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered to her, holding her hand tighter in mine. “Don’t you worry about anything. I have you.”
Her breaths were coming out ragged and labored, but I knew that she’d be alright. She would get used to life in public with me. She was going to have to, if we were going to carry on being together.
I remembered when Heather and I wed, back when I thought that she was a nice person. She was happy to blend into the background back then, but as the business grew and people started to know who I was, she wanted more. She became entranced by the limelight, keen for more, even applying to be on reality TV shows just to get noticed.
Of course, the ironic thing was that if she hadn’t cheated, she would have ended up with all of the attention that she craved, but she’d blown that herself.
“Come on, let me get you a drink, help you to relax.”
***
“That was so much fun!” Ellie squealed excitedly. “What an amazing night.”
“See, I told you that you would be fine. You just needed to relax. Everyone was fine with you, weren’t they?” She’d been surrounded by a lot of people most of the time, but she’d been smiling and happy, not looking like anyone was saying terrible things about me. That had to be a good thing.
“Everyone was so lovely,” she said. “Some people were a little shocked, but not too badly. Talia and Katya had guessed anyway, after your act of heroism the other night.” Of course, the drink spiking. I couldn’t have let that happen anyway, so I didn’t care that it gave the game away. “And it helped that you were so nice to me all night long; bringing me drinks, checking I was okay… I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
I intertwined my fingers in hers, before leading her outside. Now that we’d gone public, allowing people in the fashion industry to know that we were together, I could finally start taking her out on real dates. We’d been to dinner once, but she’d been too nervous the entire time. Hopefully now this would help us progress and finally take things to the next level…
“Oh my God,” she said, gripping tightly onto my arm. “There he is, that’s him.”
I followed her eye line to see the shadow of a man hiding behind the dumpster. “Who? Who is that?” I racked my brains, trying to figure out what I was so clearly missing here, but I was drawing a blank.
“The… the photographer, the paparazzo, the one I told you was following me, don’t you remember?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I don’t think you did tell me. You mentioned that they were intense.”
“Well, this one keeps hiding from me, jumping out at odd moments, he really freaks me out,” she was shaking, absolutely terrified, which made me cling tightly to her.
“That is strange,” I admitted, as we both watched him run away with his face covered up. “But they are scum of the Earth, I wouldn’t worry too much. He’ll get bored of you soon enough.”
“Hmmm,” she murmured, unconvinced. “I hope so.”
“Come on,” I said. We both had too much alcohol swilling around in our systems to allow this to get us down. “Let’s go back to my place, we can carry on the party there.”
She moved into my body, clearly not wanting to be alone. The appearance of the paparazzo had upset her out far more than it should have, which brought my protective side out.
“Sounds great,” she said, “Thanks Kyle.”
***
Ellie
As Kyle took me to his home, I tried my best to forget about that photographer. He was creepy as all hell, but if Kyle didn’t seem too bothered, then maybe I shouldn’t have been either. He was far more used to the paparazzi than me, so he would know better how they behaved.
Plus, to be perfectly honest, I had a million and one other thoughts circling my mind. Everyone had loved me and Kyle as a couple, they had said only good thing about him, which convinced me further that he was a good man, and that all Heather had told me was the vendetta of an ex-wife that couldn’t let go.
I liked him, a whole lot, and with the alcohol swirling through my system, I finally wanted to take that next step. I wanted to take things to the next level with him. I was scared to do so, but I was ready. There was a sizzling chemistry between us. My desire for him was deepening. I had a feeling that when I finally let him in it would be amazing.
“Do you want anything?” Kyle asked me as soon as we got inside, concern filling his expression. “Do you need anything to feel better?”
But I didn’t respond, I simply moved closer to him, swaying my hips seductively as I moved. The liquor was giving me the confidence that I needed to make this bold move, and from the way that his eyes widened in surprise, it seemed that he could already sense that.
“What are you…?” he asked, but I didn’t let him finish his question. Instead I pressed my lips hard up against his, whilst snaking my arms around his waist, making my meaning clear. I had tingles of electricity racing through my body, and that made me feel amazing. “Are you sure…?” he asked into my mouth, causing me to nod.
“I’m sure.”
As those words flew past my lips, an animalistic tendency overcame me, an urge that I had held in check for a long time now and was finally setting free. I began tugging at his clothing, desperately needing him naked. He was making me feel phenomenal, and I wanted to go with that, to enjoy every damn moment of it.
As his tee-shirt flew up over his head, and I got a real feel of the abs that he had hidden away underneath. An involuntary moan escaped past my lips. With that, his mouth moved away from mine, and down to my neck, leaving me dizzy and overwhelmed with lust.
His fingers trailed lightly along my thighs as he pushed me backwards against the nearest walls, stroking erogenous zones that I didn’t even know that I had, sending me wild in ways that I didn’t even know I could enjoy.
“Oh God,” I groaned in ecstasy, allowing my head to loll to one side, fully succumbing to the pleasure that was gathering inside of me. “Oh, Kyle.”
He yanked my dress downwards, tearing it a little as it went down, but in the heat of the moment I wasn’t bothered about that. It might have been the most expensive thing that I owned, but with the sensations that were swimming all through me, I really didn’t care.
His mouth moved over my body, down towards my breasts, and I felt his fingers expertly unhook my bra at the same time, leaving it tumbling to the ground. A weird bolt of nerves raced through me at that. It was all well and good feeling sexy and confident, but now that he was actually about to see my body I felt really anxious about the way that I looked. Sure, he seemed to like me just the way that I was, but he’d seen so many bodies; actresses, younger models, women I couldn’t compete with. I wasn’t sure that I would match up.
“So beautiful,” he moaned, as his mouth found my nipples. “You look so good.”
I wanted to question him, to ask him if he was being serious about that, but I couldn’t seem to form any words, not when he had so many feelings floating through my body all at one time. I was overwhelmed by the moment.
My eyes slipped shut as I felt him pull my underwear down. He was exposing me, revealing my nakedness to him, and I actually didn’t mind. From the way that his body was pressed up against me, hot and close, from the way that I could feel his thick, throbbing erection pressing up against my leg, he liked what he could see. Maybe I needed to get out of my own head for a change.
Wait!
In my moment of trying to organize my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed Kyle moving slowly down, getting closer to my core with his mouth. That wasn’t something that I’d ever experienced before and I wasn’t sure that I was ready now.
“Wait, what are you...?” I started to ask, but as his eyes flickered up at me in surprise, I found myself trailing off, unsure of how idiotic I would sound if I actually said that aloud.
Kyle stared at me for a moment, as if he was trying to work out what I was about to say, before whispering two words. “Trust me.”
I gulped and nodded, hoping that I was doing the right thing, and I shut my eyes again, giving him complete control of my body. He gripped my thigh where I was standing, and tossed it over his shoulder, giving him full access to me.
Then the tip of his finger ran slowly and tantalizingly up and down my slit, causing me to fist up my hands in shock. This was taking things slowly in a way that I really did like. Once he could sense that I wasn’t about to panic and run away, his slipped his finger deeper into me, exploring me deeply, massaging my insides, getting a real feel of what I enjoyed. The longer that he was there, the more I could relax and let him in even further, allowing him to push in another finger, and another. Eventually he settled his movements into a comfortable rhythm.
My head spun, my body trembled ecstatically, and I felt like I was losing total control of myself. I could feel a rush of pleasure filling me up and consuming me, and it was becoming incredibly difficult not to scream…
And then his mouth was all over me, and his tongue was exploring my clit as though he were hungrily licking a candy.
“Oh fuck!” I yelled, grabbing on to him instead. I needed something to cling onto, something to hold me upright, and unfortunately for Kyle he was the only one around. His mouth was making me feel phenomenal. His tongue was affecting me in ways that I didn’t know was possible. I got to the point where I really didn’t want the intoxicating moment to end.
“What are you… doing to me?” I managed to ask, as he moved away from my core, and further up my body, but he stopped me by pressing his lips up against mine, giving me a taste of where he’d just been.
“Come on,” he grabbed onto my hand and pulled me along behind him. “Let’s go up to my bedroom.”
Once we were inside the most impressive bedroom that I’d ever been invited into in my entire life, I couldn’t take any time to enjoy it. Kyle was yanking his trousers down, revealing all that I’d been too scared to explore myself. It completely held my focus.
“Get onto the bed,” he growled, showing me the glint in his eyes. “Lie down.”
As I happily followed his command, I watched intently as he walked over to his nightstand and grabbed a condom from it. He expertly rolled it down his very impressive length, keeping his eyes fixed upon me the entire time, making my heart thunder so loudly I feared it might burst from my chest at any moment.
Suddenly I had a powerful desire to touch it, to have it between my hands, in my mouth, deep inside my body. And I wanted to give him pleasure. I might have felt incredibly shy around him, but there was a sexual goddess inside of me, and she had taken over.
I bit down on my lip and slowly moved my hand towards him as he climbed up onto the bed to hover over him. I was trembling, but my body was pulsating for him, encouraging me to grasp him and possess him, screaming out with temptation. Then my fingers were wrapped around him.
“Ellie,” he gasped, hanging his head in joy. “That feels…”
His thighs tensed with pleasure, and I moved up and down his shaft rapidly, proving to me that I could do to him exactly what he did to me, which made me feel amazing about myself.
“Oh fuck,” he moaned. “You don’t know how amazing you are.”
Kyle kissed me hard, crushing his body up against mine, forcing my hand away. “I need you,” he gasped quickly. “I can’t hold back anymore. I want you.”
I nodded, wanting that too, and he finally slid inside.
***
Kyle
I couldn’t believe that I was here with Ellie, finally having sex with her. The wait had totally been worth it to be with her right now, feeling her, enjoying her, running my hand over her smooth, soft curves.
She was the perfect mix of innocence and sexuality. That really got me going, more than any other woman had before, proving to me that even I didn’t know what I wanted, not really.
As I filled her up, feeling her walls all around me, and she arched her back in pleasure, I gripped tightly on to her, pressing my body up against hers, wanting to feel every damn inch of her. I thrust into her slowly and seductively. I was unsure of how experienced Ellie was, and I didn’t want to take things too quickly in case it wasn’t what she wanted.
But then she began to slam back against me, telling me with her body what she needed. I reacted accordingly, giving her what she wanted. I slid into her hard and fast, making sure that I was angled perfectly to rub her clit every single time. Eventually I even wrapped her legs around me, allowing me to drive even deep into her.
“Oh my God,” she screamed loudly, grabbing the sheets beneath her tightly. “Kyle, this is too much!”
I could feel her walls starting to contract, and the shudder building up through her body, letting me know that she was growing ever closer to coming. I pressed my lips softly up against hers as the orgasm pulsated through her body. I wanted to build the bond between us and bring us closer. From the way she gripped tightly onto my arms, it was working.
She collapsed beneath me, just as the pleasure exploded from my body too, during which time I stared into her eyes the entire time, committing every aspect of her face to memory forever.
I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be with Ellie, she was different, my feelings for her were new, and that was incredibly exciting. This was usually the time when I was done with a woman, wanting to move onto the next, but with Ellie I wanted to stay forever more. I wanted to hold her until she slept.
“That was something else,” she giggled breathlessly, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Thank you for looking after me, thank you for bringing me back here. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
And I honestly didn’t want her to have to find out. I wanted to be around her all the time. I couldn’t vocalize that, not without making her nervous, so I sent her a warm smile instead and held her close to me until she drifted off to sleep. I knew that I couldn’t rest though, not with her in my arms, so I simply watched her sleep instead, hoping that she was dreaming of me.
***
Ellie
I felt really good as I got ready to go to the launch party for the photographs. I was almost on top of the world. When I came to New York, I never knew what I was going to find myself faced with, but so far things had gone brilliantly. I had gotten the first modeling job that I applied for, leaping me right into the big leagues, and I had a guy that I was seeing, one that made me really happy. It was incredible. I couldn’t believe it.
And now I was about to see the pictures of the shoot for the very first time. It was going to be awesome. I had no idea how I was going to look in any of them, not blown up at any rate. I was really excited about it. My heart was pounding with anticipation.
I couldn’t go to the viewing with Kyle because he had too much to organize, but I was looking forward to a night with my girls.
“So,” Katya teased as she brushed her hair in my mirror. “Are you going to tell us about him, or what?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, with my face blushing brightly.
“What’s he like in bed?”
I giggled like a school girl like that, not sure how to answer it. It wasn’t exactly the sort of conversation that I was used to. “He’s good,” I said, trying to brush it off. Katya wasn’t about to let me get away with that.
“Just good?”
“Okay… he’s incredible,” I laughed, remembering the way that he’d opened up my body, turning me into something else. “Like nothing I’d ever experienced before.”
“Well that will show in the pictures. I can’t wait to see them.”
“Come on then,” Talia jumped in impatiently. “Let’s get going, we’re about to be late.”
***
Talia was right. We were late. By the time we got to the party, it was already heaving, I could barely see anyone that I knew. Then, much to my disappointment Katya went off to the bathroom, and Talia to the bar, leaving me to muscle my way through the crowds on my own. Now that I was here, I wanted to see Kyle anyway, and that wasn’t about to happen if I didn’t move about.
“Ellie,” someone yelled, loudly enough to get my attention. “Ellie I need to talk to you.”
I spun around to see myself faced with Heather, and it took all that I had not to roll my eyes. I’d chosen to ignore her words, I didn’t want her back here giving me more.
“What do you want, Heather?” I snapped as a reply.
“Please,” she grabbed onto my arm, giving me a pleading look. “Please just give me a moment. I need to talk to you, it’s important.”
I didn’t want to go, but she had such a tight grip on me that I didn’t have any choice. By the time I could even think about wrestling my arm free, we were in a secluded area of the party.
“Are you ready to tell me what you want now?” I asked exasperatedly. “Only, my friends will be looking for me soon.”
“I just want to show you these pictures, that’s all. No talk, no explanations, I know that doesn’t work,” she gave me an awful look, one that made me shrink in on myself. “Just… please take a look at these.”
They were all images of Kyle in clinches with various women, in different places. Each one hurting my heart more than the last, but I still couldn’t see what the point of this was. I knew that he’d been with women before me.
“Why are you showing me these?” I asked, pressing my lips firmly together. “What’s the point?”
“These were all taken in last few weeks,” she told me sincerely. “And one of them is your friend.”
I could barely look as she showed me the image of Talia with Kyle, looking like they were getting very friendly. It made everything within me shake with anger and hurt.
“Now I know this must hurt you to see,” Heather continued, even though I was silently that she would stop. “But I want you to understand what sort of man you’re dealing with here.” I felt hollow inside, sick to my stomach, but still she didn’t stop speaking. “Now I’m sure that you will probably want revenge on him, which is exactly why I’m here. I can help you with this.” She leaned in and rested her hands on my shoulders, and I was far too in shock to stop her. “All I need is information on Kyle, and the company. That way I can take him down and destroy him.”
All of this felt like far too much for me to take in at once. Kyle was a cheat, just like Heather said, but I liked him so much that I didn’t want to just distrust him. I certainly wasn’t interested in this crazy one-woman vendetta, but I didn’t want just to do nothing either.
“So, what you say?” Heather asked, in a sickly sweet tone of voice. “Do you think that you might be able to help me?”
I couldn’t answer her, I didn’t know how, so I simply gulped down the big ball of fear that was lodged in my throat and shook my head. “No,” I whispered, trying to let the photographs go, but somehow I couldn’t. “No, I… I…”
I couldn’t speak anymore, I couldn’t be around Heather, I couldn’t make a decision. I needed to confront Kyle, to get answers.
“Excuse me,” I said. I stumbled away from Heather, my mind spinning everywhere. I could hear her calling out after me, but I didn’t care. I owed her nothing, but I owed myself a lot. I needed to find out the truth once and for all, no matter what it took.
***
Kyle
“Thank you, Greg, that’s great,” I said.
I smiled at my business partner, glad that things were going so well, but I was also trying to get away. The unveiling of the chosen photographs would be soon, and I really wanted to experience that with Ellie. She was my partner in the images after all, and she was slowly becoming my girlfriend in real life too.
Things were going so well between us, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was.
But just as I was about to turn to head back into the party, the woman that I wanted to see stormed in with a handful of papers.
“Hi…” I started, but she began yelling over the top of me.
“What the hell is this?” she yelled. She threw a bunch of photographs at me. As I looked through them I could see some of the embarrassing memories of my past. Sure, it had been fun to hook up with all those women at the time, but now that I wanted more from my life it made me feel a little shallow. “All in the past few days? Is that why you haven’t always been able to see me?”
“No, what are you on about?” These pictures were from ages ago, long before Ellie came into my life, who the hell had gotten into her head like that?
Oh, of course…
“So now I want what you didn’t allow me to have last time. I want in on the business, and you might as well know now that I will not stop until I get it.”
Heather, this was her attempt at getting back at me.
“Have you met my ex-wife?” I asked her quickly. “She’s crazy, don’t let her get into your head, she will do anything to get to me. She wants to take the business from me…”
“Don’t lie to me,” she snapped, before storming from the room and back out into the party.
I followed right behind her, really needing to explain, but as there were so many people there it was hard to find her. She didn’t want to be found.
“Damn it,” I muttered angrily, as I pushed through everyone. “Ellie, why did you let Heather get into your head?”
I knew that Heather was a manipulative bitch, but I never thought that she would go this far. I heard her warning, but I’d chosen to ignore it and now I was paying the price for that.
Just as I managed to catch up to her, and I grabbed her shoulders, an announcement was made that the pictures were about to be revealed. Whatever Ellie and I were going through, we both wanted to see the pictures, so we turned to watch the curtain drop.
Ellie panted heavily right through the speech, anger still coursing through her, and I spent the entire time trying to find the words to make things right, to get her to understand, but my brain wasn’t coming up with anything. I didn’t know exactly what Heather had said to her, and that was the hardest thing of all. If I knew, then I could find a way to make her understand the truth. Yes, I’d been a player in the past, but that wasn’t me now. Not since I’d met her.
As the guy grabbed hold of the curtain ropes and went to pull them, I glanced over to Ellie, and she did me. We shared a moment, an understanding, and I got the sense that the anger might be losing its grip on her.
But then the curtain fell, and the picture that was revealed only showed me. Ellie’s hand was on my torso, and her leg wrapped across me, but it was only me there. I could tell that I was smiling at her, and there was that familiar loving look in my eyes when it came to Ellie, but she wasn’t there. She’d been cropped out.
My heart stopped dead in my chest. What was this? Why the hell was this happening to me, and how the hell could I fix it? Who had authorized this behind my back? Whoever it was, he about to get fired, because someone had to pay! I couldn’t just let that slide.
“Wh… what? Ellie?” I gasped out, but this time as I turned to face her there was only hurt there. She thought that I’d used her the entire time, it was written all across her expression. “N… no… I didn’t…”
I tried to grab her hand, but she shook me off violently, and ran out of the room, leaving me a total and utter mess. First the thing with Heather, now this? How could I fix it? Ellie would hate me forever. I knew that I couldn’t even run after her, because she was far too emotional now, she would never want to hear what I had to say.
I pumped my fists angrily at my sides, an intense need for revenge flowing through me. Whoever was messing with me was going to pay, and I could guess who that was…