Chapter 1

CYPRIAN

A golden hue falls over the crowd of people who dance under the disco ball as yellow lights shoot up at it and bounce off the millions of mirrors used to create the magical ball. Loud music vibrates my body as I sit, unseen, at the top of the spiral staircase which leads down to the ballroom of my father’s mansion.

He’s having another party, the way he does each and every Friday and Saturday night. Sunday is reserved for other social functions. On Sundays, we go to watch horses run around a track while my father trades money with the people around him. On occasion, we get onto the jet and go to other places where my father bets with other people about various things.

Once we watched dogs run around a track and that was cool, because he took me to look at them before they raced and I was allowed to pet a couple of them. The horses are always too high-spirited. I’m never allowed to touch them.

I am, what my parents call, a happy mishap. My mother left me with my father when I started kindergarten a year ago. Up until then, she and I lived in Los Angeles. We lived in a small home and she stayed with me.

She decided, since I was going to start school, she could go back to her job. So, I came to live with my father in Clemson, South Carolina. I am what they call a child prodigy.

I was reading and writing at 3-years-old. I was drawing pictures which won awards at 5-years-old. Now, at 6-years-old, I’ve skipped a couple of grades. I’m in third grade now and my teachers believe I will continue to skip grades.

My father owns a company that makes investments for people. He’s already tutoring me on what types of things make good investments. He tells me often we are a family who works hard and plays harder.

Looking down at the men and women who are dancing, hugging, kissing, and drinking things that make them stagger at times and slur their words, I find my father out of the crowd and see him with a woman on each arm.

He must sense me looking at him, as his dark eyes scan the staircase until they meet mine. He smiles and tips his tall hat at me. The women wave at me and blow me kisses.

I blow them back and they act as if they catch them and hold their hands to their hearts. With a sigh, I get up and make my way to my bedroom to study some more before I go to bed.

My life is full, not the way most children’s are. In other ways. I spend the school days having breakfast with my father, then his driver takes me to school. I stay there for a long time and then the driver brings me home. My nanny makes sure I eat dinner and bathe then I get into bed and go to sleep.

Only in the mornings, do I see my father. We go over the newspaper to see what the stock market is doing. Then we head off to do work, as he calls it.

On the weekends, I do not see him at breakfast. My nanny makes sure I have my breakfast and maybe at lunch, my father will come out of his bedroom. He always has different women with him when he does. Sometimes there are two or even three women who come out of it with him.

I don’t know what they do when he has his sleepovers. I just know I’m not invited to join them. And I’m not to get to know the women. I am to exchange polite hello’s and goodbye’s but that’s all.

My father makes it crystal clear, none of the women have a place in our little family. He and I are a family and my mother and I are a separate family.

I asked my father one time about love. A friend from school told me his mother and father are in love and they are married and live together. He told me he has brothers and sisters and a real family. Not like mine.

When I asked my father about that, he said some like to live life that way, but he doesn’t. He has little time for relationships. His time is better spent on making him and other people money. And when he’s not doing that, he wants no fussing and fighting. He says those things come along with love and marriage.

I suppose he’s right. I saw one of my teachers arguing with a man in the hallway once. When I asked her if she was okay because she was crying, she told me the man I saw her with was her husband and they’d had a disagreement.

If a mere disagreement can make a person, who is in love, cry then I too want no part of that either. Just like my mother and father. I’ve never seen either of them cry and I also have never cried unless I was in physical pain.

I did cry a little when my mother left me here with my father and a nanny. But she told me that I’d be fine and she’d see me when she could. I see her once a month. She comes to my father’s parties for the weekend at the end of every month and I see her some while she’s here. She was right, I was fine, eventually.

I saw her dance one time at one of the first parties she came to. That’s when I found out what the job was she wanted to get back to. She is, what my father calls, an exotic dancer.

At one of my father’s parties, I sat on the stairs, watching my mother dance and toss away her clothes, my nanny found me and scooped me up and took me back to my bedroom where she sat outside my door in a chair to make sure I stayed in my room. She told me I shouldn’t see my mother doing that.

I asked her if what my mother was doing was considered wrong. She told me there is no wrong or right. But some things should go unseen by one’s children.

With no wrong or right in this world, I suppose it is my destiny to follow in my parents’ footsteps. Love may be what some people fall into. I am not like those people. I am like the one’s I came from.

My father told me I was not planned. He wasn’t sorry that I came along but he wasn’t happy with something called the condom that gave me to him and my mother.

Apparently, this thing called a condom has the power to stop an egg from becoming a baby. The one he said he was using must have had a hole in it. He told me never to skimp on condoms and always make sure I had plenty of them when my time comes.

I don’t know when or why my time will come to use condoms but I will remember my father’s advice on them. He must know what he’s talking about since he’s never had any other happy mishaps. My mother hasn’t either.

Laughter fills the hallway outside my bedroom and I get off my bed and sneak to the door, pulling it open only a tiny crack to see who’s coming upstairs.

My father has the same two women under each arm as he did when I saw him downstairs. They’re taking turns kissing his cheeks and he looks very happy and relaxed. Not the way he looked when he got home from work, earlier this evening.

“Goodnight, Papa,” I call out as I open the door a bit more.

All three of their heads turn my way. “Hey, cutie,” the woman with red hair says to me. “Aren’t those pajamas the cat’s meow?”

My father jostles her a bit to get her to look at him. “No talking to the kid, Bonnie.” He looks at me and gives me a grin. “Goodnight, son. I’ll see you for lunch tomorrow. You get some rest now.”

“You too, Papa,” I say and close my door.

Going back to my bed, I have to admit my father looks way happier than my married teacher ever does. His way has to be the best way. He and my mother are happy people. I want to be happy too.

My friend from school will most likely follow how his parents live and I find myself feeling sorry for him and how his life will certainly turn out.

Poor kid…

Chapter 2

CYPRIAN

The disco ball is reflecting purples and pinks as I walk down the spiral staircase to go to my graduation party. I’ve finally earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Investment. I still have to get my Master’s in Finance, I’m not quite ready to become the CEO of Papa’s company just yet. But I am working at Libertine Investments as an assistant to the CLO, Stan Franco. He oversees all the legal affairs of the company.

At 16-years-old, I am the youngest person who works at my father’s company. No one treats me like a kid, though. Not when I can handle myself like an adult. And being the boss’ son doesn’t hurt either.

As I hit the last step, I am met by a couple of beauties. “I’m Roxanna,” the brunette tells me. Her arm moves around my waist as she leans in and kisses my cheek, purposely rubbing her breast against my arm.

“Hello, Roxanna,” I say and turn my head to catch her lips with mine. She tastes like rum and coke as our tongues move around together.

A touch on my ass has me pulling away and looking at the skinny blonde who’s also waiting for my attention. “I’m Bambi. I work at your mother’s club in L.A.” Her breasts are nearly popping out of the tight dress she has on. The silver beads on it catch the strobe lights, just like the disco ball does, making her light up.

“Nice to meet you, Bambi,” I say and take her waiting red lips and kiss her too.

She’s a smoother kisser than the other woman. But the other woman has the curves I like.

I guess I’ll have to keep them both for the night!

The music goes down and I hear a clanking sound. Both women wrap themselves around me and I wrap my arms around them as my father calls everyone’s attention to him as he walks up on the stage.

His temples are going gray in his otherwise dark hair, he’s growing older, a thing he reminds me of often as he seems to be hurrying me along to take over his position as CEO of Libertine Investments. He looks out at the crowd of people who’ve come to my party.

None of my schoolmates were invited. I never made any friends while in college. I wasn’t there to make friendships, my father told me. School was work and not a place to fraternize.

He took care of filling his parties with people. I found out almost every woman who comes to them are escorts, provided by several adult clubs around the nation. And at times, they come from around the world.

My father calls himself a connoisseur of fine women. He likes to taste them all. And escorts are liberal with their bodies. The men who fill his parties are business associates. Some of whom I know are married men but they come to enjoy the buffet of beauties who don’t mind at all showing a man a good time.

I find my father holding up my degree and a smile fills his face.

“Tonight we’re here to celebrate my son, Cyprian Girard’s, achievement. He’s earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Investment. He has a Master’s Degree to get before he can take over my role at Libertine Investments but I have no doubt he’ll make quick work of that. The way he’s done with everything else, academically speaking. And sexually speaking as well! Am I right, ladies?”

Cheers go up as women hoot and holler. I smile and wave then give them a bow. I am my father’s son, after all. I have learned from the most sexually advanced women on the planet, thanks to my father’s generosity when it comes to bringing in women for his parties.

The two, who have claimed me for the night, hold tight to their prize and I have to smile as I find other women looking at me with lusty gazes and some flat-out show me parts of themselves to entice me.

I found out, when I first started my sexual endeavors, when I was thirteen, not to go overboard with too many women at one time. My father caught up with me after an all-nighter with seven women. He told me, just like candy, whiskey, or food, you have to allow yourself to have only what you can handle. Moderation is what he taught me, in all things.

So, now I limit my women to three, tops. I find a feisty woman, with pink hair, looking at me with a raw hunger I think this current threesome could use.

My father goes on as I wiggle my finger at the vixen who is salivating over me. She comes to me as my father continues his speech. “Cyprian is the only fruit to have fallen from these loins.” He gyrates his pelvis, making the women scream. “My happy mishap has made me very proud of him on this day, and all days, for that matter. So, please join me in letting him know he’s appreciated by us all.” More cheers ring out by all the attendees as the pink-haired girl drops to her knees in front of me.

I look back and forth at the women on each side of me.

“I’ll let you two decide. Can Pinky, here, join us this evening for some fun?”

Roxanna asks the new woman, “Do you mind kissing another woman?”

“Excellent question, Roxanna,” I say and give her cheek a quick peck.

Pinky, as I’ve dubbed her, shakes her head. I look at Bambi. “Do you have any questions for her?”

She looks Pinky over then asks, “Do you have any piercings that might add to the night’s activities?”

Her mouth opens and I find a silver stud on the tip of her tongue. Bambi and Roxanna both gasp then Roxanna says, “We’d love to add her to tonight’s activities, Cyprian. Please add her in for our complete enjoyment.”

“Seems, you’re in, Pinky,” I say as she gets up and runs her hands over my chest.

“My name is Paula but Pinky will do,” she says then kisses me, using that little bead on her tongue to run over the roof of my mouth.

I’m happy with the addition to the pack and find myself ready to dance a bit, drink a little, and then fornicate like animals for the rest of the night.

Life is good…

Chapter 3

CYPRIAN

It’s Friday and my nerves are frazzled as the board meeting has gone on longer than expected. “Iran is a no go,” I say as I slam my fist on top of the huge, dark oak table. “I will never budge on that! I am not my father. I will do no business with countries who are terroristic.”

“But their money is as good as anyone’s, Cyprian,” the CFO, Bob Steward, argues.

“Not to me, it’s not. Can we end this now?” I ask as I look wearily at the board. “I will not cave to you people. I am the CEO now. My father, Corbin Gerard, has entrusted this company to me and I have gone to school for a long time to get to where I am. I’ve studied the outcomes of such investments. Something like that, in a time of war, could end any political plans anyone of you may have.”

“How are you so sure?” Claudette, an elderly board member, who’s been here forever and three days, asks as she looks at me as if I’m a stupid child.

I turned twenty-six last week. I am far from a stupid child and have more education than any of these people have. I earned my Master a few years ago and am finally through with school and ready to move on to running the company my father started and has entrusted to me. But this, old as hell, board fights me on every last thing I want to change.

Standing up and picking up my briefcase, I answer her, “Claudette, you may not have aspirations for political greatness but some in this room do. While I don’t care for politics, per say, I am a true American who has tremendous respect for those who have fought a war that’s gone on far too long. I will not make money for or take money from any enemy of the United States. That said, I will be ending this week’s meeting as it’s eight in the evening and my father is hosting a lovely party you are all invited to.”

Claudette looks at me as I walk out of the board room. Her frown is evidence she’s unhappy with me cutting the meeting short, in her opinion. But I am the CEO and I can do such a thing.

My body is weary from the many struggles I’ve gone through this week. It’s been past eleven each night before I’ve seen the comfort of my bed. I have worked so hard and the knowledge pretty girls are waiting in the ballroom at the mansion is just too enticing for me to stay and argue with the old battle-axe any longer.

A chill runs through me as I hear the click of her one-inch heels as she comes up behind me.

“Cyprian, this is not over.”

“Oh, but it is, Claudette. How I wish you could join us over here in the real world. You are from an ancient way of thinking. One that’s dangerous now,” I let her know. “In this time of such upheaval, we need to form a solid stand to make sure we remain the country we’ve always been. Helping that Iranian company make more money is a crime, in my opinion. Let it go. Next week, I’ve got a fantastic company in Hawaii to look at. And we’ll all get to go to the resort owned by the huge company. It’ll be fun, relaxing, all expenses paid, you’ll love it. You should bring that granddaughter of yours along. What is her name again?”

Suddenly, her icy demeanor changes. “Margie is a wonderful young woman. She’s your age and such a prize. The right kind of women to marry such an eligible bachelor as yourself. She’s well-educated and helps out at all of the church functions. She’s a great young woman!”

I’m afraid she lost me at the word, marry.

“Send her to the party tonight.”

“Heaven’s no!” she says as she shakes her head. “Cyprian, she’s a nice young woman. But I could give you her phone number and you could take her on a nice date. A fancy restaurant, some wine, and good conversation. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”

It sounds like pure hell. “Maybe another time. I’m really wrung out from work this week. I need to relax and I’d make awful company for such a nice young woman. Another time perhaps.” I hurry to get on the elevator and find Claudette right at my side.

She’s rubbing her palms together, quite obviously trying her best to come up with another wonderful date idea. “Our church is having a social after the morning services. You two could meet there. It would be fun. You’re such a patriot, aren’t you a God-fearing man as well?”

“Church? I’ve never gone. We go to the track on Sundays. You know that,” I say and find myself relieved when the elevator doors open and I can finally get rid of the old woman.

It’s my fault and I know it, that she’s hooked onto me, as I’ve made the mistake of asking about the woman I’ve seen in pictures around her home when I’ve been there on other occasions.

“Which one will you be at this Sunday?” she asks and I see it all there in her beady little eyes. She’ll bring the good woman there and expect me to court her.

“You know what,” I say as I act as if I just recalled something. “We aren’t going to the track at all. I’m going to my mother’s club in L.A. for a visit. I completely forgot. Some other time, Claudette.”

My driver pulls the car to the curb and hops out to open the back door for me. My long black limousine is spacious, with a full bar, and lots of seating. Tons of room to have fun while getting to another place to have more fun.

I find a flashy platinum blonde with her long legs stretched out, waiting inside of it for me. Claudette does too. “Who is this?” she asks.

With a shrug of my shoulders, I ask, “What’s your name?”

“Lola,” she answers. “Your father sent me to accompany you home after a hard week of work, Cyprian.”

“How, lovely,” I say as I slip into the black-cherry leather seat. “See you next Friday, Claudette.” My driver closes the door as Lola finds a sweet spot on my neck to nibble as she rubs me in all the right places.

I love my life…

Chapter 4

CYPRIAN

“The walls in here are a decadent shade of yellow,” the real estate agent tells me as I follow her through the home on the estate I’m looking to buy.

“I’ve never heard yellow called decadent before,” I say as I look at the walls I would describe as canary yellow. “Good try, though. I do like the ten bedrooms and the theater room that’s in the basement. I bet the sound would be amazing down there.”

“I’m sure it is. Would you care for a demonstration, Mr. Girard?” she asks as she seems about to bend over backward to make this sale to me.

Her commission will probably be more than most people make in a year. Time to haggle a bit, I think. “My father said I needed to get myself a home. It’s a good investment. I’m looking for a place that needs some help getting back up and going. I can use the repairs and reconstructions as write-offs. But I’ll pay no more than what I believe this place is worth right now.”

“Understood. This is an excellent property for you, Mr. Girard,” the woman says as she points out how out of date the crown molding is. “All of this should be replaced.”

As I look around at the massive home that sits on one hundred acres, I contemplate all the people I’d need to hire and the money I’d have to pay them to take care of the place. I’d also have to hire contractors to make the renovations. With the work it needs and the write-offs I can take, it seems like the perfect home for me.

It sits just outside of Clemons, South Carolina. The office is only thirty minutes away on the other side of town. The drive out each night might be relaxing.

I open the door off the kitchen and listen to the crickets chirp in the cool evening air. “Nice, peaceful, relaxing. This will be perfect for me.”

“And all this room is great for a man who’s thinking about marriage and family soon,” she says as she looks past me, at the vast backyard.

I laugh at her idea. “I’m not about to get married. Ever.”

“I’m sorry,” she says as she looks down at the clipboard in her hand. “Your birthday shows me you’re 35. Surely, you want to settle down pretty soon. I mean, you can’t wait forever.”

“I can and I will. I’m not the marrying type. I work hard. I have no time for the bickering that goes along with having a wife and kids. No, thank you!” I step outside and smell the fresh air and look up at the sky where stars are already beginning to show with no city lights around to hide them. “This is great. I’ll take it.”

Her words of marriage and kids are put behind her as she sees dollar signs and hops up and down with excitement. “Fantastic!”

I am about to become a homeowner. A thing I’ve never been. I will be the lord of this castle. Ruler of the many it will take to keep this place running like a well-oiled machine.

Turning around to go back inside, I find myself laughing. “I’ve never overseen servants and groundskeepers and people like that. I hope I’m good at it.”

“I’m sure you will be, Mr. Girard. Now, when would you like to meet to sign the papers and set up financing?” she asks as we walk toward the front door.

“I’ll be paying in cash. If the seller accepts my offer.” I take her clipboard and write in the amount I’m willing to pay for the place. “I’ve managed to squirrel away a few dollars.”

The fact is, with no bills, and making the money I make as CEO now, I’m a multi-billionaire. There never was any doubt I’d meet my goal to become one. I set that goal when I was a child and it took a little over twenty-five years for that to come to fruition but I made it happen.

The other goal I have is to make sure my life stays happy and carefree. Well, carefree as far as women go. Women and children have limited roles in my life.

Do I like kids?

Sure, but on a limited basis.

Do I like women?

Again, sure, but on a limited basis.

I don’t consider myself a user of women. I do consider myself a man who knows himself and knows what he wants. Am I capable of having a real relationship?

Of course, I am.

Do I want one?

Of course, I don’t!

Women are beautiful creatures. Their bodies come in all shapes and sizes and that’s wonderful to me. Why settle on one when you can have so many?

My father is still reaping the benefits of bachelorhood. My mother is a very happy single woman. I think I’ll be fine as a single man who has fantastic weekends with women who expect nothing from me, other than amazing sex.

I can deliver that two nights a week. Work has me exhausted the other five, anyway. I never realized how hard my father actually worked until I took over his role in the company. It’s a huge job. It takes forever. And so many people depend on me now.

With all that responsibility, why on Earth would I add in a wife and kids?

Why would anyone?

It makes no sense to me. I have tons of beautiful women at my fingertips two nights a week and all day on Sunday. Who could ask for more?

I’m not greedy. I’ve seen men who are married and have families and still dabble with the women at my father’s parties. They’re walking a tightrope. If they ever got caught, they’d lose half of everything they’ve managed to gain.

I, on the other hand, have nothing to fear. I’ve watched men run and hide when their wives have shown up, unexpectedly. I’ve helped many to dash out secret doors and get to cars their wives knew nothing about while making sure those women were treated well while they looked for their errant husbands.

I don’t want that. I don’t want to look over my shoulder for the one woman who wants to hold me down. I don’t want to change into a man who is a hypocrite. Telling the woman, he’s made a life with, to be faithful, while he whores around.

That’s just mean. Why do that to another person? Why hurt people like that?

You don’t have to if you keep it all real. Don’t make false promises, like I love you and I will always love only you.

If it’s not even possible!

I see no reason to lie to a woman. I see no reason to lie to myself. I like women. I always will. But I will never see fit to cage myself or any woman into a life of dread, deceit, and anarchy.

Yes, some call it love. Is it really something so easily captured with one word, though? Is it really so easily done?

‘I do’ can turn into, ‘I can’t’ in the blink of an eye. Why put myself or some poor woman through that torture?

Not a thing I’d like to do. Not a thing I have a goal to do.

Not a thing I want!

“I know the owners will go for this amount. So, how about tomorrow then?” the real estate lady asks me. “I can have you and this house together before you know it. I just know you’ll treat her well, Mr. Girard. Give her that tender loving care, she’s been needing. You’ll have this estate blossoming in no time. I can’t wait to see her with your hand on her.”

Staring at the woman, blankly, I shudder as she sounds as if she’s talking about a woman. Suddenly, owning a house sounds like a huge commitment.

“I’m going to think on it,” I say as I walk out the front door.

“I thought we had a deal,” she calls out to me, waving her hand, frantically.

Ducking into the back of my car, I slam the door. “Drive away, Beau. That woman is trying to tie me down!”

As he speeds away, I turn back and see her slumping as she walks to her car. I may have just cost her some of her time but she was about to trap my ass with that house.

And I cannot have that…

Chapter 5

CYPRIAN

“What do you mean, you don’t want to be tied down to a house, Cyprian?” my father asks me as he looks at me over his morning cup of coffee.

“It sounds awful,” I say as I look over the stock report in the New York Times. “Have you seen the price of pork bellies, it’s atrocious?”

“I have,” he says as he pushes the paper, gently down and looks over it at me. “You should stay away from them. About the house. You need one, Cyprian. Every man needs a castle to call their own.”

“This place is great. Why move away?” I ask as I fold the paper and put it aside.

“It’s not that I want you to move away,” he says as he taps the cherry wood table we eat breakfast at on the weekdays in the small breakfast nook just off the main kitchen. “It’s just that you seem a bit stifled. You haven’t made much progress in the last, say ten years. You took over my position and that’s where you’ve stopped. I love to watch you progress. You’re so good at it.”

“I don’t know what you mean. I’ve made Libertine Investments billions in that amount of time. What’s not progressive about that?” I ask as I watch his eyebrows dance as he thinks about what I’ve said.

“I mean you, personally, son,” he says then places his hand on top of mine as he looks into my eyes. “You have been a person who has moved rapidly through life. You make goals and meet them and then you make new ones. You haven’t made a new goal since taking the CEO position at the company. That’s what I mean by progressing. I think a home of your own and building it up to be what you want it to be should be your next goal. You’re so much happier when you have a goal to work on.”

Looking away from him, out the window that looks over the large swimming pool in the back of the mansion, I think about what he’s said. “Papa, I have only had one final goal this whole time. It was to take over your position, so you could take an early retirement. And I’ve met that goal. I’ve seen that you have more money than you could spend in a lifetime and watch you enjoy your free time. And that’s my prize at the end of all of my hard work.”

“Cyprian, while that is very noble of you, it’s not a goal for you, son. That was a goal for me. Now, it’s time to make one for yourself. A home will fill your mind with new ideas. It’s a great experience. When I think about the day I bought this place, it always brings a smile to my face. It was the biggest purchase I’d ever made and it was the one thing which was entirely mine.”

My eyes fall to the table and I look at my clean plate that had been filed with strawberry crepes. “Then I was thrust upon you, taking some of your home away. And what you really want is your home back and me to find my own. I understand now. I’ll call the real estate lady and tell her the deal is still on. I didn’t think about you wanting your old life back, the one you had before I came along.”

The weight of his hand on my shoulder has me looking at him. “Son, that’s not it at all. I know your mother and I call you our happy mishap but you were a true gift from above for me. I assume to your mother as well. I don’t know as we hardly converse at all. She and I never were conversationalists.”

“So, that’s not it? Then why do you want me out so badly?” I ask as I don’t understand and I usually understand almost everything.

“You need to make your own life. I’ve watched you following me and my life patterns and that’s not fair to you. You’re deeper than I ever was. Or your mother, for that matter. I feel as if you think there’s only one way to live life but there are many ways to live it,” he says, making me wonder if he’s on to something.

“I think I do want to live the way you and Mother do, Papa. I see your faces are always happy. I want to be like you two. I want to live the life you two have,” I say and watch a frown cover my father’s face.

His hair has gone completely gray. But he’s still what people call a handsome man.

He stills gets all the ladies he cares for!

“Son, I am getting older with each passing minute. And it’s beginning to settle in with my retirement, that I have set myself up to live alone forever.” He looks around at the empty room around us. “The servants move about like ghosts to make sure I’m never bothered, the way I used to ask them to do. But that was back when I was a busy man with the weight of the world on my shoulders.”

“Are you saying, you’re unhappy now, Papa?” I ask as he hasn’t seemed unhappy to me in the least.

He nods. “I don’t know how to talk to women. I flirt with women I know I can or talk business with women who are in my business world. But I have no idea how to talk to one like she’s my friend. I don’t want that for you. I want more for you.”

“You’ve told me, on many occasions, when you have a relationship, it means arguments, unhappiness at times, and putting people before yourself and what you want. Are you changing your mind, now?”

“Not for me, no. I’m old and set in my ways. I couldn’t put up with that now if I wanted to attempt to. But you’ve led a life that’s been led by me and I think it’s time for you to follow your own heart for a while. See what you really want in your life. That’s why a home of your very own is the best place to start,” he says then looks out the window to watch a sparrow fly past it to a nest in the tree next to it.

“And if I decide to make my own party room and live life the way I’ve come to know it, will you be disappointed in me?” I ask as I’ve never seen my father like this before.

With a shake of his head, he says, “I will never be disappointed in you. Not ever. Live however you want to. But do it because you want to. Not because you think anything is expected of you.”

My mind is a mess. “You seemed proud of my male prowess.”

“I am proud of you no matter what, Cyprian. I always have and always will be.” He gets up and pats me on the back. “I’m going to take a nap. Do whatever it is you want to, son. Stay here, buy the house and move, whatever it is you want. I will always be proud of you.”

Watching my father leave the room, I get up to head to the office. I’ve always done what I thought was expected of me. I never once realized that nothing was expected of me.

Making my way to the waiting Mercedes my father’s driver is driving me to work in today, a dreaded Monday, I let the driver open the door for me and watch as he closes it, without a word said between us.

It’s odd, how lost I suddenly feel. It’s as if the rug has been pulled out from underneath my feet that I had been steadily treading upon for decades.

I can do whatever I want to?

I should feel great. Nothing is expected of me and anything I want to do, I can. Papa will still be proud of me and so will Mother. So, why do I feel so alone?

The car pulls out of the large horseshoe drive and onto the road. I find myself pulling out my cell phone and tapping a message to the real estate lady. I’m going to take the estate. I’m going to live alone out there and see what it is I want to do with my personal life.

Businesswise, that’s settled. I am to remain the CEO of Libertine Investments until I find another to groom to take over my place. Not a child of mine, obviously. Children are still off the table for me. I’d have no idea how to appropriately raise one of them.

With my own home, I could decide to keep women there overnight and into the next day, week, month, or year if I wanted to. And all this time, I thought my father would lose respect for me if I ever tried to keep a woman or women for more than one night.

I suppose I’m too literal of a person to understand everything. The little nuances that some people get, I just don’t. Maybe with this advanced thought process, I was born with, I lost the ability to read between the lines. Or even realize I didn’t have to follow my parents’ exact footsteps.

I feel free but completely petrified for some reason. My first step at finding out who I really am and what I really want is upon me. I’m about to buy my own place to live and see how I want to live.

Who really knows what will happen to me…

Chapter 6

CYPRIAN

Six months into living in my own place and I’ve yet to find the ‘me’ that I want to be. I love the ‘me’ I have been and think that’s the real me.

It’s Friday night and I have a young woman named, Cookie, sitting in my lap as my driver takes us back to my estate. I haven’t made a party room at my place yet as Papa’s is still fantastic so why give that one any competition?

Pulling up to the last convenience store at the edge of town before we leave it to go out into the country where I live, my driver goes inside to pick up the essentials I’ll need for the night’s activities.

“Oh, is he getting us some things for tonight?” she asks me as she plays with my hair.

“Yep. You got anything you’d like?” I ask her as I push back her brown hair.

“Whipped cream,” she says then runs her hand over the swell in the front of my pants. “I feel like a banana split if you get my drift.”

“I do and I’ll make sure you get some of that. I think some cherries would go well with that too,” I say as I pick her up and take her off my lap. Rolling down the window, I lean out. “Ashton, can you add whipped cream and try to find some cherries too. And I want the ribbed condoms this time.”

He nods and Cookie giggles as she climbs back onto my lap and plants a kiss on my lips. “Ribbed for her pleasure,” she says when she pulls her lips off mine and erupts into giggles again.

I laugh and pull her face back to mine to enjoy a bit more of her twisting tongue. A knock on the window has us pulling our mouths away from each other and we look to find Ashton waiting at the window. I roll it back down. “Yes, Ashton?”

“They’re out of ribbed. The cashier says there are none in the back and she said this Friday night you should try something new, like keeping it in your trousers, sir.” He chuckles. “She’s a spitfire, that girl. Anyway, do you have any other preferences or should I get what’s on the shelf?”

I find myself a bit pissed. “Who is this girl, cashier, who thinks she knows me?”

“Oh, just the same young lady who waits on me every Friday and Saturday night when I pick up your supplies. She’s a hoot. I always leave with a laugh and a smile when she waits on me. She means nothing by it. She’s a comical person. So, I’ll just pick up another kind. I’ll ask her if any of the ribbed will be in tomorrow,” he says then turns to walk back inside.

“Oh, Ashton,” Cookie calls out. “I’d love a fountain drink. Surprise me, will you?”

He nods and throws up a peace sign as he walks back through the glass doors. I find myself craning my neck to see if I can see this spitfire cashier he’s talking about. The glass along the side of the store where the checkout counter is located is too dark to see through.

“Cyprian, I really need to use the ladies room. How far is it to your place?” Cookie asks me as I’m still trying to catch a glimpse of the girl Ashton is talking to then he breaks into laughter.

I have every reason to believe it’s at my expense and a heat fills me. I move Cookie off my lap. “Go inside and use the ladies room in there. I need to go now too.”

As we get out of the car, I see Ashton cut his eyes at me and his smile vanishes. The man is around 50-years-old. When he calls someone young, it can mean they’re a couple of years younger than he is. But I am dying to know who this woman is.

She’s making fun of me, that’s for certain!

Ashton pushes the door open. “I’m done. She managed to find a package of ribbed in a return bin behind the counter. Come on, now.”

He seems nervous as hell for some reason. “She has to pee,” I tell him as we keep going toward the doors.

“Home is but a few minutes away. I wouldn’t recommend using these facilities, sir,” he says then he holds up the large fountain drink. “Look, miss, I have your drink here. It’s a Mr. Pibb.”

“Oh, yes! I love that,” Cookie gushes and turns back to accept the drink from him. “I can wait until we get to your place, Cyprian.”

“Great, get back in the car. I’ll only be a minute. I really have to go. I can’t wait,” I say then push the glass door open.

A little chirping bell rings, announcing my arrival. “Hello, welcome to Ty’s Quick Stop,” I hear a woman say but see no one.

“Hello,” I say and make my way to the back of the store to where I see the bathroom sign. Only, I’m looking down each aisle to see if I can get a look at the cashier Ashton was talking about.

I find a short woman, putting bags of candy on the shelf. She has on a green smock and looks at me with a toothy grin. “Hi there. Can I help you find something?”

I raise my eyebrows at her and chuckle. “No, I think I’m good.”

Making my way to the men’s room, I find myself chuckling as I go. I don’t know what got into me. I was so mad a moment ago about what the woman said but now that I see it’s just a little, older woman, with most likely no real life outside of this little store, I’m anything but mad.

Going into the bathroom, I find it smells clean and almost sparkles. The door across the little hallway squeals open and I hear a soft voice say, “Women are filthier than men, Gina. Did you know that?”

The woman’s voice is on the deeper side of the female octave. It’s smooth and has the slightest French accent to it. It’s not like anything I’ve ever heard before.

“Camilla, I know you’ve only been a cashier for six months but I’ve been one for fifteen years. Of course, I know women are nastier than men when it comes to public restrooms. The things I’ve seen and smelled,” the women I recognize as the short older woman says.

The other one cuts her off as she says, “No, don’t tell me. My stomach is still lurching a bit with what I just had to clean up.” I hear her walk past my door and her footsteps keep going. “I wonder why moneybag’s car is still parked outside. I found the pervert the kind of rubbers he wanted.”

Pervert!

“I don’t know,” the other lady says as she has no idea it’s me, the moneybags pervert, in here.

“That man is a mess, I bet. Obviously, he’s wealthier than any human needs to be and the way he buys condoms is a crime. Who actually screws that much each night but only on Friday and Saturday nights? It’s ridiculous to need a new pack for each night. I bet he’s old and bald and has to pay for his women. That’s the only thing that makes any sense to me.”

“Most likely,” the other lady says. “He only started coming here just about the same time you started. His driver says he moved into an estate just outside of this side of town. I haven’t seen him at the grocery stores or anything. I’m sure he has servants to do that kind of thing.”

“An estate just outside of town. I bet he bought the old Franklin estate. I live right down the road from him then. In a little duplex, I rent, out that way. I might have to take a jog up the street one day and see if I can spot the fat bastard,” the one I now know is called Camilla says.

I think I’ve heard enough. Pushing open the men’s room door, I make my way to the soda machine. “Are your fountain drinks good?” I ask, without looking at either of the women.

“Our coffee is better. But I’d recommend a bottled water over either of those things,” I hear that smooth voice say.

I listen as her footsteps move behind the counter and I walk over to the cooler to take a bottle of water the little shit has told me about. “Thank you. You’re right, water is much better for the body. You a doctor or something?” I ask with a chuckle because no doctor would be working a crap job like this.

“A scientist, actually. I won’t get my doctorate for another two years but I will be one then,” she says.

I stop chuckling and open the door to the cooler and take a bottle of water and turn around slowly.

A scientist!

I can’t wait to lay my eyes on the woman who will be the first person I have ever called out on talking shit about me.

As I turn around, I see no one behind the counter. Then the little woman pops up in front of me. “Will that be all, Sir? Are you ready to check out?”

I look around her to find the other woman. “Not yet. I’m a little hungry but there’s nothing healthy jumping out at me. Perhaps the scientist has some suggestions for me.”

“Nuts are on aisle three at the front of it. There’s a package with a mixture of them that are about the healthiest thing you can get here,” I hear her but don’t see her.

So, I move on to aisle three and find the packages of nuts. There are six varieties. “Which ones do you recommend, doc?”

“The package on the row closest to the front. They have almonds and those are great for men. Women too, but especially for men,” I hear her say but still don’t see her.

“Are you going to school here?” I ask as I try to follow her voice.

“Clemson U, yes. I’m working here to make ends meet. And you, sir?” she asks.

I find her voice coming from the area of the counter and make my way to it. But when I get there, I still don’t see her. “I dabble in this and that. Where are you?”

A head with a tight black bun, with curls that have escaped, comes out from under the counter. “Under here. I had to add money to the vault and you have to climb under this thing to do it. It’s a real pain in the butt.”

Watching her climb out from under the counter and smooth her green smock that fits her curvy body extremely well, I see her eyes when she lifts her head up. Gorgeous, blue eyes, framed by lush dark lashes, find mine. Her rosy red lips curve into a smile, showing brilliant white teeth that look amazing in contrast to her creamy caramel skin. “Will that be all, sir?”

“Huh?” I ask as her beauty has rendered me speechless.

She looks at the water and package of nuts in my hands. “I can ring those up for you if you’re done shopping, sir.”

I place the things on the counter top and stammer, “Sure, uh, yeah, that’s going to do it.”

Two little beeps have my purchases done and she looks at me with that pretty smile again. “Three fifteen, sir.”

Handing her my credit card, I see her smile vanish. “Oh, sorry, sir.” She points at a small sign on the counter that says they don’t accept credit card payments for less than five dollars.

“Damn,” I say. “I never carry cash. I’ll put them back.”

Before I can turn away, her hand on my arm stops me. “I got this. You have a nice evening, sir. Drink all that water and eat all those nuts, and have a healthy evening, it’s on me.”

I look at her name tag and smile. “Thanks, Cami. I’ll repay the favor.”

“No need,” she says as she looks at her name tag. “Did you call me, Cami?”

“I did,” I say with a chuckle. “I’m afraid I have a habit of making up women’s names on my own. Sorry. That’s rude of me.”

“Think nothing of it. I think that’s kind of sweet. See you around then, sir. You come back and see us.” She turns to walk away to get back underneath the counter.

“Cyprian, not Sir,” I say then lean on the counter top. “You can call me, Cyprian.”

She stops her retreat and smiles at me again. “Cyprian? What a beautiful name.”

“Thanks,” I say and open the bottle of water. “What’re you doing when you get off work tonight, Cami?”

“Going home to study,” she says and looks a little nervous, suddenly. She fidgets a bit and I find that cute.

“Do you have to? I mean, I’d like to get to know you a little bit,” I say. The sound of the door opening and someone coming in, I barely notice as I look at her and can’t seem to take my eyes off her. “I bet your hair looks amazing when you let it out of that bun.”

A pink blush covers her cheeks then I hear a man’s voice coming from behind me. “Mr. Girard, I just realized you were making purchases. I forgot to tell you about their payment policy here,” my driver says and I watch Cami’s face go from pink to red.

“You’re him?” she asks as she steps back three full steps, as if I have leprosy or something terrible she might catch.

“Who?” I ask. I know damn well, who but I have to ask.

“The condom man?” she asks.

Now it’s me who’s blushing. My driver slaps a five-dollar bill on the counter. “There you, go, miss. We’ll be going now.”

The sound of someone coming in fills my ears and when I hear Cookie’s voice, I cringe, “Cyprian, are we going to get to your place and get the night going or what?”

Cookie is about as bimbo looking as they come. Nearly white hair with blue tips, she’s skinny and pale. Not a beauty in the light but she looks good in the dark, where I picked her up at my father’s party a little earlier.

Cami ducks her head and grins. Her amusement at my choice for the evening sends prickles through my skin. I take my water and nuts and leave the store in shame. “Come on, Cookie.”

A short burst of laughter I hear come from Cami, I am positive, as she hears the woman’s name.

I’m shaking with anger mixed with embarrassment, the addition of humiliation makes the emotional cocktail complete as I slam into the backseat of my car.

“That was brutal,” I mumble as Cookie tries to climb back onto my lap.

“What was?” she asks then slurps her drink.

“Nothing, never mind,” I say and close my eyes as I lay my head back on the seat.

What she must think of me…

Chapter 7

CAMILLA

With a name and face to put to the perverted moneybags, as I had dubbed the man with what must be a nearly insatiable sex drive, I find I’ve thought all wrong about him.

“He wasn’t fat and bald at all, was he?” I ask Gina as I help her clean the shelves where the can goods go.

“No, he was not,” she agrees as she nods.

“He was actually very nice looking,” I add as I wipe the top of a can of green beans.

“Yes, he was,” she agrees again.

“Did you see how tall he was when he walked out the door? The tape on the door frame read six feet and three inches,” I say as I think about how he filled that door frame nearly completely. “He was all muscles too.”

“He had nice light brown hair, dark brown eyes too,” Gina adds as she hands me a clean rag. “Use this one, honey. That one’s merely pushing the dirt around.”

What about those high cheekbones?” I ask. “And that Roman nose? It was the most perfect nose I recall ever seeing in my life. And his lips. Man, were they something. The top lip was a bit fuller than the lower one was.”

“I suppose that’s why he needs those condoms every weekend,” Gina says, taking me out of the trance I was putting myself in as I thought about the man.

“Yeah, he’s a male-whore. I know, I know,” I say as I shake my head to clear it.

“He was flirting with you, Camilla. Do you suppose he was about to invite you to join him and that other woman?” she asks me with a grin. “And if he had?”

“Of course, not!” I shout and walk away as heat has suddenly invaded me. “You know I’m not that kind of woman. I know it’s rare at my age of twenty-five to have only been with three men but I have to have feelings for any man I have intimate relations with. My parents and grandparents would kick my butt if I did it any other way.”

“What about what you would do if you didn’t have them to tell you what to do, Camilla?” she asks me, making me think about it.

“I’m a product of my raising. That belief runs through me, hardcore. I won’t be a notch on any man’s bedpost. No matter how gorgeous, sexy, and viral he is,” I say as I make my way back to the counter.

“Are you describing moneybags, pervert, there, Camilla?” she asks with a laugh.

“He has a name now Gina. Cyprian Gerard. That last name is French,” I say as I look out the window into the empty parking lot. It’d be nice to see that long black car pull back up into it and get to see that man one more time before I go to sleep.

“Like yours, Camilla Petit. But you still have a bit of an accent and he doesn’t have one at all,” she says as she joins me behind the counter.

“My father came here when he was a boy and my grandparents still speak it frequently. I wonder how my family would feel about him,” I mumble to myself.

“Camilla, he’s a rogue, a Romeo, a Lothario. You’ll have to watch yourself so as not to let him charm you. He’s much too handsome and I’m sure when he turns on the charm, he’s almost irresistible,” she says, reminding me he has to be kept at arms-length at all times.

“Do you suppose he’ll keep coming in here, merely to hit on me?” I turn the outside lights off, so we can close the store.

“Most likely. He was looking at you with fire in his eyes. To tell you the truth, if I was a younger woman, I’d do it. He’s rich, built like a one-ton tank, and the most handsome man I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’d give him a roll in the proverbial hay. But I was a bit of a whore myself, back in the day.”

I have to laugh at the short, fifty-something woman. “Gina, you’re a trip. Let’s go home. Tomorrow night we’ll see what happens. I doubt he had a second thought about me. I mean, why would he? And even if he did, it doesn’t matter. I’m not a bimbo and he’s obviously into them. If you took a good look at Cookie, you’d know that.” We break into laughter as we lock up the store and walk to our cars.

“See you tomorrow night, Camilla. You have a nice night.”

Getting into my little ’67 mustang, I make my way down the road and notice the lights on at the old Franklin estate. It sits back off the road. A long driveway leads up to it and it’s gated.

My mind wanders off to what the hot man is doing right now and then I find an animal crossing the road and have the jerk the wheel to miss hitting it.

“Shit!”

I have to get that man off my mind. He’s definitely nothing but trouble!

* * *

Chapter 1

CYPRIAN

The light show my father has had put on for tonight’s party, has mock fireworks, sparkling over our heads in his ballroom. Two women have me in their clutches. For the first time ever, I’m trying to figure out how I can ditch them before I go home.

Someone has filled my mind all day and even into the night. The young woman from the convenience store has my thoughts muddled. I had a bouquet of red roses delivered to the store for her today. Ashton told me she works every weekend, so I’m pretty positive she got them when she got to work and I hope they brought a smile to her face.

I didn’t put a thing on the card except, ‘To Cami, From Moneybags-Pervert.’ I hope it made her laugh.

My sights are set on her for tonight. I could use the sound of her slight French accent, cooing in my ear as we play around in my large bed a little later on tonight.

Ashton told me the store closes at two tonight and I plan on being her last customer. I’ve made a plan that’s foolproof, as she will have to give me a ride home as I’m going to have Ashton drop me off there.

She seems the type of person who wouldn’t leave another one of her fellow human beings in a bind. When I get her to my place, I’ll offer her a drink. A little nightcap, I’ll call it.

She’ll accept, so as not to be rude. And after our little drink and some well-placed kisses from me, she’ll come, willingly to my bed. It’s all set out and I see no reason why it wouldn’t work.

But I have to get rid of the women, who have their claws dug into me, holding me tightly, so as not to lose me to someone else for the night. I keep forgetting their names, and that’s not like me.

“I need to check the time,” I tell the one on my left. My watch is on that wrist.

“Why, are you ready to go?” she asks. “Because that’s cool with me. We can leave now.”

Wiggling my arm away from her, I check my watch to find it’s almost one-thirty. “Not yet,” I say. “I need to make a visit to the facilities. I’ll be right back.”

The women exchange worried looks, then the one on the right says, “We’ll go with you. We can help you in your bathroom endeavors.”

A sense of fear runs through me that I won’t be able to ditch them and I blurt out, “I have to take a crap!”

Both of their expressions show me, my words were inappropriate. “Oh!” the one on the left says. “You go take care of that then. We’ll wait for you right here.”

I’m let go by both, with my bathroom talk and finally, set free. Off I go with a wave, neither aware I will not be returning to them. Not on this night, anyway.

Slinking out through a side door that’s hidden behind the stage, I find Ashton waiting for me as I had directed him to. “Are you sure about this, Sir? She’s not really your type.” He opens the back door of the BMW that he brought me in tonight.

“I am sure and every woman is my type. What are you talking about?” I ask as I slide into the car’s backseat.

“But you’ll have to work for this one. You’ve never had to work for a woman in your entire life,” he says as he shakes his head. “Best to stick with what you know.”

“You are irritating me, Ashton. Just take me to the damn store, okay?” I pull the door closed as he seems intent on stalling me.

If I miss her because of him, he’s going to hate the outcome!

As he gets into the driver’s seat, he looks back at me. “Are you sure?”

“Yes! Drive, damn it!” He has me nearly shaking with worry that we’ll miss her. “You seem a bit protective over this woman. What’s the deal, Ashton? Do you want her for yourself? Perhaps she’ll give you a little taste, I don’t care. After I’ve had mine, though.”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about. She’s not the kind of woman you’re used to. And the answer is, no, I am not interested in her in a romantic way. She’s a good kid. I think you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. That’s all,” he says as he finally starts driving.

“Do you think I’m incapable of wooing her? I assure you, I do have the skills required to reel in a woman who is unsure she wants to give herself to me. It hasn’t happened often, this is true. But a few have wavered at my bedside and I had to entice them into it. I can handle a bit of work when it comes to getting what I want.” I lean back and look at the stars overhead, through the moonroof.

“I think she’s a bit too spirited for you. And I doubt she’ll fall into your bed easily. If you are depending on her to quench your sexual thirst tonight, I fear you will go to bed thirsty, Cyprian,” he says as he looks at me through the rearview mirror.

“Do you really think so?” I ask as I turn my head to watch the city lights begin to dissipate as we near the edge of town. My heart starts to flutter with excitement as I know we’re getting closer to her.

“I do, sir,” he says and I find myself a bit worried that might happen as well.

“Perhaps it will take some time to get her where I want her. I only want her once. That’s all I’ve ever done with any woman, one time and one time only. That way no one gets attached.”

“I don’t think she’s that kind of person, sir. But you seem set on trying. This may be a goal you cannot reach,” he says as he pulls into the parking lot of the store she works at. Parking at the side, instead of the front, like he usually does, he stops and turns to look at me. “Are you sure? You’ve never been turned down before. I don’t know how you’ll handle rejection.”

His negative vibe is rubbing off on me as my insides go gooey. I have to get away from him. “I’ll call you if she won’t give me a ride.”

He nods as I get out of the car on my own and wave at him to drive away. Checking my watch, I see that it’s three minutes until they close and go around the side of the building to get to the entrance.

Just as I put my hand on the door, the outside lights go off. I push the door open, anyway and see her and the same woman she was working with last night, standing behind the counter. Cami is quick to say, “We’re closed. Oh, it’s you.”

“Hello to you too,” I say, feeling more than a bit put off.

“I’ve already shut down the registers. Looks like you’re a minute too late to buy your Saturday night condom fix, sorry,” she says as she reaches for something from under the counter.

“I have some leftover from yesterday, so we’re all good. I have ten of them, to be exact. Do you think that’ll be enough for tonight?” I ask as I lean on the counter.

She looks at me as if I’m daft, as she says, “How the hell should I know? How many tramps do you have in the car tonight?”

“None. And I have to ask you for a huge favor, Cami. My driver, Ashton’s, wife became ill, suddenly. He had to drop me off here, so he could go get her and possibly take her to the hospital. I told him to do it. Time was of the essence for his poor wife, after all. I assured him, you would take me home. That is what neighbors do for one another, isn’t it?” I have my fingers crossed behind my back, a thing I’ve never had to do before.

“Ugh,” she groans and I find myself completely surprised. “I was going to go home and have some wine and watch some crappy television. I’m off tomorrow from school and work. It was going to be a chill night. But I suppose I can take an extra five or ten minutes to drop you off. It is on my home, anyway.” She comes around the counter, unzipping her green smock and taking it off, tossing it on top of the counter and revealing a very nice set of tits.

Her tight white T-shirt is showing off a lacy blue bra and now that I can really see her ass in her tight black jeans, it’s perfectly round and absolutely edible.

“You may not know this but I happen to have a whole cellar of fine wines from all over the world. I also have this dope home theater, I’ve yet to use. Want to come over for a while?” I ask her as she takes a set of keys out of her pocket.

“No thanks,” she says like what I’ve just offered isn’t cool at all.

Then I notice the flowers on the shelf behind the counter. “Aren’t you going to take those with you?” I ask as I point to the large and expensive crystal vase full of red roses.

“Why would I take the manager’s flowers?” she asks as she looks at me with a blank expression.

“Those are yours,” I say as I make my way behind the counter to get them.

“And how do you know that?” she asks me as she crosses her arms in front of her.

I pull them down and take the card I wrote on at the florist’s shop and hand it to her. “Because I sent them to you. Didn’t anyone tell you?”

“Obviously not,” she says as she rolls her eyes and takes the little card I’m holding out for her. Then she smiles and laughs and it makes it all worthwhile. “You’re funny.”

Step one, complete…

Chapter 2

CAMILLA

Gina is giving me a thumb’s up as Cyprian gets into the passenger seat of my car. I give her a thumb’s down, making her shake her head. Then I get into the driver’s seat and look at the hot man in my car.

He’s wearing a tuxedo and looks too good to be true. “What kind of grand ball did you attend tonight?”

Running his hands over the lapels of the expensive garment, he smiles at me, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth. His lips are caramel colored with a hint of pink. They look delicious. “My father puts on formal parties on Saturday nights. All men are required to wear tux’s.”

“Fancy,” I say and back out of the parking space. I put the car into first gear and see him looking at how close my hand is to his leg as I move the gear shift.

“You know, I’ve never driven a stick,” he says. “Maybe you would be kind enough to teach me.” He looks into my eyes and I have to avert them, quickly, as my stomach just went very tight with just that look.

“Maybe,” I say. “So, tell me how you managed to escape the party with no woman, Cyprian.”

“It wasn’t easy, let me tell you. I had to make a daring escape to get away alone tonight,” he says, making me wonder why he’d even want that.

“In all of my six months of working here, there hasn’t been a single Friday or Saturday night that you haven’t had your driver come in and buy condoms for you. What gives?” I ask as I pull out onto the main road out of town.

His hand touches mine as it rests on the gear shift. “Can I move my hand with yours as you shift the gears, Cami?”

Heat is coursing through me and I have to shake my head to clear it. He frowns as I make the motion, not meant to answer his question. “Yeah, you can. That way you can get an idea of where the gears are.”

His frown moves easily into a smile and his hand rests on top of mine. “Good. I’d really like to know how to drive a stick. This is a cool classic car. Most don’t drive something like this around. Was it a gift or did you buy this, yourself?”

“Papa gave it to me when I graduated from high school, seven years ago,” I tell him and try hard to ignore the pulsing that’s going on in my nether regions.

If I’m getting this horny over his hand merely touching mine, not even holding it, I have a serious problem!

“Papa, is that what you call your father?” he asks as he smiles like crazy for some reason.

“Yes, that’s what I call him. My mother is called Mama. Papa is originally from France. His parents moved to New Orleans when he was seven-years-old. My grand-mere and grand-pere still live there, only a few houses down from where my parents live.” I stop talking as I feel as if I’m rambling on, nervously.

“I call my father, papa too. My mother, I call, mother. She and I are not very close. She lives in Los Angeles. She sent me here to live with my father when I was five.”

“Wow,” I say, without thinking. “Sorry, my bad.”

“Sorry? Why?” he asks, looking confused.

Even confusion on his face doesn’t make him any less attractive at all!

“I was being judgmental about your mother. Sorry,” I say as I see the huge black, wrought iron gated entry nearing. “This is it, right?”

“It is,” he says. “And now you will know the code to the gate.” A smile moves over his entire face and I see a little spark of evil in it.

“You can get out and push in the code. I don’t need to know that,” I tell him as I pull to a stop just far enough away from the control panel to allow him to get to it.

“Pull up, Cami. I’m not afraid for you to know the code to my gate,” he says with a laugh.

With a shrug, I pull up and roll my window down. “Okay then.” I position my finger over the keyboard, waiting for him to tell me the numbers.

“696969,” he says as I look back at him, catching him smiling.

“Seriously? Damn!” I punch it in and the gates open. “I was right. I called it right from the get-go.”

“About?” he asks as his hand moves back over mine to help me shift gears.

“About you being a pervert,” I say with a laugh.

“I’m not happy with you thinking that way about me,” he says and taps the top of my hand. “I’m not perverted. I am a sexual creature who enjoys having sex with many different women. But I am not perverted.”

“Okay, think that if you want to,” I say as I make my way up the long drive to his monster-sized home. “This place is huge.”

The entire front of the house is lit up. The landscaping is magnificent. You can’t see it from the road. “You like?” he asks as I pull to a stop in front of the front door.

“It’s gorgeous. You’ve had a lot of work done on it. It looks great. Well, see you around, Cyprian,” I say as he opens his door.

He stops and looks back at me. “Come inside. I’ll give you the grand tour.”

“I really should get home,” I say, as I don’t trust myself to be alone with the man. Especially in his home!

“Who do you have waiting for you, Cami?” he asks as he looks at me with no emotion on his handsome face.

“No one,” I say as I look into his dark brown eyes.

“Then come inside. I’ll pour you some wine. Take you on a tour of this gorgeous home and maybe then you will decide to watch a movie with me in the theater. Please,” he ends his request.

“K,” comes out of my mouth without me knowing it would.

What have I done…?

Chapter 3

CYPRIAN

With a couple of glasses of red wine poured, I take them over to where Cami is standing, looking at one of my paintings that’s hanging on the wall of the bar room. Her eyes are moving over every last inch of the painting I made of a stallion, prancing around in front of a stable of mares.

Placing her glass on the bar next to her, I lean over her shoulder a bit. “Do you like it?”

“I do, it’s so lifelike.” Her finger moves just over the canvas where I signed my name. “I can’t read the writing. Who is the artist?”

“I am,” I say then take a sip of the wine.

“No way!” She turns to look at me and takes a step back. “For real?”

“For real,” I tell her then pick her glass up and hold it out for her, she takes it then I extend my arm for her to take. “Come with me and I’ll show you the house.”

She places her hand in the crook of my arm and I lead her to the next room. “This is what I call my study.”

“Strategically placed right next to the bar,” she says with a smile. “Smart man.”

“That I am. I was a child prodigy. Did you know that?” I ask her.

“Cyprian, I am not in the world of the wealthy. I don’t know a single thing about you. Except you make large purchases of condoms on Friday and Saturday nights.” She sips her wine as she looks around the room full of floor to ceiling bookshelves, filled with all types of books.

“I made my way through school very quickly. I was CEO of Libertine Investments at the age of twenty-five.”

“Impressive,” she says. “So, what other secret talents do you have, Cyprian?”

With a growl, I lean in close and whisper, “If you’ll come to my bedroom, I can show you some more of my talents.”

Her laughter peels through the air. “You are funny!”

I’m thrown off be her and straighten up, moving on to the next room. “I wasn’t trying to be funny. But on we go.” Pulling the door open, I take her into my meeting room. “I’ve yet to have a meeting in this room but if I ever need to have one at home, this is where it will take place.”

“Like a board room, huh?” she asks as we walk through the large room with redwood siding covering the walls.

“Just like a board room, yes.” I push the next door open and we’re in the small kitchen. “If I ever do have a meeting, this is where my staff will make the food to serve at it.”

“This kitchen is three times as big as the one in my duplex apartment. Pretty cool, I must say. State of the art appliances and everything.” She stops and looks at the granite countertops. “You’ve spared no expense, haven’t you?”

“Of course,” I say. “You see, everything I did to upgrade and renovate this place is a tax write-off. Why spare expenses when it helps to offset the taxes I have to pay each year?”

“Pretty clever, Cyprian. Your mind works like a machine,” she says, giving me another opportunity to throw in a sexy remark.

Leaning in close, I whisper, “That’s not the only thing that works like a machine, Cami.”

Laughter again sends me into a state of confusion. “Oh, Cyprian! You are a card!”

A card?

A door leads off this small kitchen to an outside patio and I decide to take her out there for a while. Maybe the cool night breeze and the sounds of the night will have her going to another place in her mind. A sexual place. Because she’s sure not in one right now!

“Perhaps a brief pause on our tour to take in some of the night air,” I say as I take her to the door and open it. I leave the light off on purpose, so she can mellow a bit with only the stars and moon to light the night.

“This is beautiful. Even in the dark,” she says as I help her to sit on one of the small sofas on the deck.

I take the seat next to her. The sofa is so small our legs touch and I rest my hand on her thigh. “It’s peaceful out here. I spend at least fifteen minutes each night when I come home, outside on one patio or another. This place has six patios, three decks, this being one of them and five balconies. The master suite has a massive one. You’ll love that one. I have a bed out there, covered with mosquito netting.”

I can feel her pulse race and she turns her head to look at me. “Cyprian, can I ask you hold old you are?”

“Thirty-five. And you are?”

“Twenty-five. I’m ten years younger than you and I’m having a hard time figuring you out. Most men your age are married. They have families already and everything. Why don’t you?” she asks me the way an innocent child would.

I run my fingers along her jawline as I answer her, “Camilla, I am not a man who wants those things. My life is full enough as it is.”

“Do you think you will always be this strong and viral, Cyprian?” she asks me as her eyes search mine.

“Why do you ask that?” I trace her lips one time then rest my hand on her collar bone, stroking it with my thumb.

“I ask that because one day when you’re old, you will want to have someone around. My parents and grandparents have been married for years and years. They tell me all the time how life wouldn’t be worth living without the other. I know it’s important to make a life with someone. Only one person, who you can grow old with.”

“I don’t think that way,” I say as I move my hand to run over her shoulder.

“Perhaps you should think about the way you’ve been leading your life and how it will affect the end of it. Can you imagine, lying alone in your bed, unable to get up from the aches and pains that come along with old age. And have no one to help you up or go get something for you. That sounds terrible to me,” she says.

“To be honest, I don’t think about the future in that way. I think about business in the future but not me in the future. I suppose things will work out for me as they have for my parents. They’re both still single and living their lives the same way they were when they were young.”

“How boring,” she says then takes a sip of her wine. “How very boring to do the same things over and over again. No growth. The same people at the same parties every weekend. The same thing, week in and week out.”

“Fuck! You make it sound bad,” I say without laughing.

“Isn’t it?” she asks as she looks at me again.

“And what is it that you do, Camilla? What is so fascinating about your life? Please, educate me,” I ask her as I sit back, taking my hands off her.

“Well, I am a scientist which might not sound exciting but it really is. I put things together to create new things. I pull things apart to see how they work and then put them back together again. My job is vast. I never do the same exact thing twice. The only boring part of my life is working at that store.” She finishes the glass of wine and places the empty glass on the table. “Now you tell me about what it is you do.”

“I read the New York Times every weekday morning as I eat my breakfast,” I tell her.

“Is it always the same thing?” she asks with a cocked eyebrow.

“No, well, yes and no,” I say. “Mondays are pancakes, Tuesdays are scrambled eggs. But not the same thing every day.”

“Hmm.” She taps her finger to her chin. “Now I think I see why the never-ending, turn-style of women. You do the same thing, day in and day out, the only variable is them. I bet you’ve slept with only a handful of them more than once.”

“Wrong!” I tell her and get up, holding my hand out for her. I’ve never slept with any of them for more than the one night. But I’m not about to tell her that.

“Is my visit over?” she asks as she takes my hand.

“No,” I say then drain my glass of wine too. “Your drink is finished and we’re in need of refills. The kitchen we just left has more wine in it. Come on. There’s more house to see and I think you’ll love the theater room.”

I pull her along with me and kind of hate how she has the gears moving in my head. I’ve never thought of my life as boring. Nor that of my parents either. Who does she think she is?

“Cyprian, what are your plans for tomorrow?” she asks as we walk inside.

“We go to the horse races on Sundays,” I tell her, making her laugh.

“So, Friday and Saturday are party nights. I never see you on the weeknights. You must work you ass off and get home late on those nights. And Sundays are spent at the track. Would you like to change it up some tomorrow?”

“What do you have in mind?” I ask her as I pour us more wine.

“How about you and I spend the day together, watching movies while we bar-b-que and just hang out. I saw a swimming pool. We could chill out together. A nice, peaceful day. What do you say?”

Looking at her and wondering what the fuck she’s doing, my mouth opens on its own, “Yes. I say, yes to that.”

Whoa! What just happened…?

Chapter 4

CAMILLA

After an hour of touring his home, I wave goodbye to Cyprian, who’s standing in the driveway as he walked me out to the car. He tried to give me a kiss but I turned my head and he only caught my cheek. It made me giggle and him smile.

“See you at noon, Cami,” he calls out as I pull away.

“I’ll be here,” I call out to him.

“Bring your bikini,” he shouts as I drive off.

I have no idea what the hell I’m doing with the man. I can’t believe I made a date with him. And I can’t believe he accepted it!

Never, have I wondered what the rich do. But finding out how he has lived all these years, doing the same thing day in and day out, is mind numbing to me. I went to the same club three weekends in a row, once when I was younger. That third night was so dull to me. The same faces, the same music, the same atmosphere. It was terrible!

I don’t see how he’s done the same things for so long. He told me how he’d watch his father’s parties when he was a little kid. When he was only fifteen, his father asked him to join the parties. He was swept into that life so early.

It’s sad, really. But he doesn’t see it that way at all. I feel sorry for him. And I think he’s in need for someone to shake his little world up. I’m not sure I should be the one to do that but the want to do it is coursing through my veins.

The man needs some substance in his life. Work, parties, and gambling on horse races are all fine and dandy unless that’s all you do.

He does have his painting. He is a true artist. Perhaps that’s what I see inside of him. He has depth. More so than I believe he’s aware of. To help him find some of that, is a thing I feel I could do.

Pulling into my half of the driveway between the two apartments that make up the duplex, I turn the car off and get out. Getting my phone out of my pocket to use the light so I can unlock the door to my house, I see it’s nearly four in the morning.

I spent more than an hour with the man I had no plans of spending any time with. Just as I push the door open, I remember the flowers he gave me in the back floorboard and turn back to go get them.

With the vase of flowers in hand, I go back to the front porch and find a little skunk standing on the step, looking at me. Terror flows through me as it lifts its tail, spraying the inside of my house before it runs off.

“No,” I whine as I hold my breath and walk inside. “Ugh!”

Straight back to my bedroom, I go as the smell has already taken over the front of the house. I hope I don’t smell like the damn stink the small rodent has plagued me with.

What will Cyprian think if I smell like a skunk tomorrow? Crap. I’m going to have to cancel.

But I don’t have his number. Crap!

CYPRIAN

Making my way to my bedroom, I find myself not sleepy in the least. I don’t know what it is about that woman but there’s something different about her.

I also can’t believe I accepted a date, of sorts, with her. I’ve never had any one-on-one time with a woman at my home. Other than the usual thing. But afterward, they are taken home by my driver and I am left to sleep.

I’ll be spending the entire day with Cami. The whole day. What the hell will we do?

She didn’t ever seem to get my, not so subtle, hints about what I want to do with her. Either that or she was just ignoring my advances on purpose. But how could she, is she made of stone?

Maybe Ashton was right. Maybe she’s not the kind of woman to do anything with a man without some type of a commitment. Which I will never give her.

So, I may spend the whole day with her and still see no benefit from it. What will I do then? Make another date?

Surely, not!

No, I’ll move on, letting Camilla Petit stay in the past as a woman who simply lost out. She’s the one who’d be losing out, after all. Not me.

I can have pretty much any woman I want. She’s the one who’ll miss out on the experience I can give her. It’s her who will be unhappy about missing out on having amazing sex with me. Not the other way around.

Climbing into my bed, I pull the blanket up to cover my naked body. I was an early fifteen the last Saturday night I went to bed without having tons of sex. It feels odd.

I’m kind of wound up but I don’t exactly feel bad about it. Spending time with Cami, tonight was interesting. Not exactly fun but it was enjoyable, even though we really didn’t do anything but walk around my house and talk.

Odd, but a good odd. I wonder what tomorrow will bring. She and I will be next to naked as we swim. That’s when I’ll be able to get to her. And if she’ll allow it to happen once then I can see it lasting all day long. Then I can move on.

I should let the staff have the day off. She’ll probably be much more susceptible to my charms if no one is around at all. I’ll have to turn up the charm on her. That’s for sure.

But why am I bothering at all with the woman when I can go to the track tomorrow with my father and some of the women from this weekend’s party and get some action there?

Why, indeed…

Chapter 5

CAMILLA

A dog’s barking wakes me up from a deep sleep. I was dreaming about Cyprian and I, in his gorgeous home. I was helping him host a small get-together with some people he wanted to impress.

It was all so weird. And now that I’m awake, I can smell the damn skunk stench and I know I have to smell like that too. To the kitchen I go, climbing out of bed and holding my nose as the stench is much worse in the front part of the house where the little stinker let loose his horrible musk.

It’s hard to believe that same musk oil is used in some perfumes. But it is and perhaps I can formulate something that will work with the odor rather than overpower it.

Some vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar which I’ll need to burn first. A few drops of lemon oil should help. I find a couple of cans of tomato sauce. Opening them, I take them to the bathroom with me and slather the stuff all over my body and saturate my hair with it as well.

Catching a glimpse of what I look like in the mirror has me laughing as I look like something out of a horror film. “Nice,” I compliment myself.

After an hour of sitting with that stuff on me, I shower it off and go to make my concoction that I’ll put into a spray bottle and douse myself with. Then I’ll go see if Cyprian is even home. There’s always the chance he’s decided not to spend the day with me and go on about his typical Sunday routine of gambling, women, and sex.

Once I’m dressed in blue jean shorts, and a tank top that covers my black bikini, I head out to the car and take my aviator sunglasses from the visor and put them on.

Flip flops and clutches don’t work well, so I slip mine off and drive barefooted up the road to the estate I left so late last night. I wonder if the light of day will have Cyprian thinking differently about hanging out with me.

Pulling up to his gate, I press the naughty numbers into the panel and the gate opens for me. I drive up and park in front of the house and am shocked to see him waiting for me at the front door.

“Hey, you,” he says as he lets out a long whistle.

I slip my shoes back on and get out of the car as he comes to open my door. “Hi,” I say, a little shyly.

“Look at that hair! I knew it’d look gorgeous when you let it down.” To my horror, he takes a chunk of it and takes a big whiff of it. I prepare myself for humiliation as I squeeze my eyes shut. A thing he can’t see as my glasses hide it. “Wow, your hair smells amazing. Like nothing I’ve ever smelled before. You have to tell me what shampoo you use. It’s off the charts.”

How do I explain this?

I laugh as he takes my hand and pulls me along with him. “I made it myself,” I manage to come up with.”

“You’re kidding me,” he says as he stops and sniffs my neck. “Your whole body must smell like that. And you made this yourself?”

With a nod, I say, “I did.”

“You really are smart, aren’t you?” he asks as he tugs me along.

“That’s what they tell me,” I say as I pull my shades off as we walk inside. I lay them on a table near the door, so I don’t forget them when I leave.

“You should patent that and sell the formula or something. It’s that good.” He stops and closes the door then stays in front of me as I’ve become trapped between him and the door. “Did you miss me after you left me last night?”

Laying my palms against his chest, I smile at him. “Does that mean you missed me, Cyprian?”

“What if I told you I did?” he asks and runs his nose along my neck, taking in another whiff of me.

“I’d say that doesn’t sound like a man who says the things you say. So, what are we doing first? I’m starving and making something on the pit was my idea of what to do first.”

He presses his body against mine, pinning me to the wall as he looks down at me. “I kind of thought we’d get this sexual tension out of the way first.”

“Think again,” I say then slip down and get away from him. “Is your staff around? I’d love to talk to your cook.”

“I gave them the day off,” he says as he catches my hand and pulls me back to him. “We’re all alone.” He wraps me up in his strong arms and I laugh.

“I’m not here for your sexual enjoyment. So, let’s get to the main kitchen and see what we have to cook. I’m dying for some jalapeno wraps. I hope you have some and some cream cheese. I’m sure you have bacon. Who doesn’t have bacon, right?”

With a chuckle, he says, “You seem to be chattering away, nervously. Are you feeling nervous for some reason, Camilla?”

“Me?” I ask and hear my voice go up a little too high.

“Yes, you.” He lets me out of the hold he had on me and leads me to the kitchen.

“I’m not nervous. Just hungry,” I lie.

The truth is he’s making me hot and bothered and I have to find something to distract myself from that. I am not a woman who gives her body to a man without true feelings.

“The kitchen is well stocked, I’m sure. So, let’s go put together what you want. Maybe, once you’ve eaten, you’ll calm down. There’s nothing at all to be nervous about. I can be very gentle or rough if you prefer,” he says, ending with a growl and stopping to pull me into his arms again. “Which do you prefer, Cami?”

His obvious plan is to get me into his bed and mine is to stay far away from it. Placing my hands on his chest and pushing him back a bit, I say, “When I first make love with a man, I like it gentle. If you must know. Later on, I like it rough now and then. But today there will be none of that. As you are aware of, after our talk last night, I do not have casual sex. If you want me to leave, I will.”

His eyes soften as he looks at me and a smile curves his lips. “I don’t want you to leave. I’ll ease up on you. Just remember, though, I do want you that way.”

“Yes, I can tell,” I say as I pull out of his arms and look at the swell in his shorts. “That’s pretty obvious, Cyprian. Now, can we go to the kitchen?”

With a sigh, he takes my hand and off we go to the kitchen. I hope he doesn’t act this way much more. I don’t know how long I can actually take it!

CYPRIAN

“Yeah, well, I think some cloves of garlic would taste great wrapped up with all that other stuff,” I argue as she’s refusing to put them in the jalapeno wraps she’s put everything but the kitchen sink into.

“I don’t see it lending a flavor that will combine with the chicken, shrimp, cream cheese, bacon and the pepper,” she says as she rolls a piece of bacon around one of the filled pepper halves.

“But I already peeled a whole thing of it,” I say as I gesture to my work.

“I see that,” she says as she glances at it. “How about you chop up a yellow onion and chop up that garlic too, we can sauté them to put over the steaks we’re going to grill.”

“I can do that,” I say and make my way to get an onion. “I’ve never cooked before. This is kind of fun.”

“I would be surprised but since you come from money, I’m not one bit surprised. You wouldn’t happen to have some beer in this place, would you?” she asks as she wraps another stuffed pepper. “I can make a beer run if you don’t.”

“You’re not going anywhere. I have every beer they make. Name your poison,” I say as I walk over to the third fridge and open it.

Her eyes move over the fridge full of all kinds of beer. “Wow, okay how about that one there? It has a skull and crossbones on it that looks cool.”

“Okay, it might be too much for a little thing like yourself but I’ll be sure to take good care of you if you get yourself drunk,” I say as I open the bottle and take it to her.

She laughs. “Little thing? Really? No one has ever called me little. I’m anything but that.”

I slide my hand along her waist, which is fairly thick but not too much. “I think you’re perfect and I do see you as a little thing. You are smaller than I am.”

She smiles, shyly as she looks down. “Who isn’t? You’re built like He-man.”

“So, you have noticed my fine physique? That’s nice to know, Cami. I thought you weren’t looking at all.” I leave her to go get my own beer and turn back, quickly to find her watching me.

Her eyes move back to the pepper in her hand and her cheeks go pink. I turn back around and feel pretty good about how today will go. She thinks she’s got the self-discipline to withstand my advances but I can already see cracks forming in the wall she has up.

Looks like today might be more fun than she anticipated…

Chapter 6

CAMILLA

With a fantastic lunch behind us, we sit at the edge of the pool, dangling our feet in the water. “You are a very good cook. You rival the one I have on staff here. You wouldn’t want a job, would you?” he asks me with a little smile on his handsome face.

“I have one and a career is soon to follow. Thanks, though. We could, however, make this a Sunday thing. Even if I have to work, it wouldn’t be until seven in the evening. We could spend the afternoon with me teaching you how to cook and perhaps how to drive my car.”

“We’ll see. I don’t make long-term plans. Never have. Want to get in the water?” he asks as he pulls his shirt off, revealing a very nice six pack and some great pecs. His monster biceps have me wet already and I can only nod my answer at him.

When he stands up, pulling me up with him, I’m surprised as he takes my shirt from the bottom and lifts it off, over my head. His fingers move quickly to unbutton my blue jean shorts and he shimmies them off me, leaving me standing in front of him in my black bikini.

A wolf-whistle follows then he has me in his arms. “Hold on tight, Cami. We’re going in.”

I wrap my arms around him and hold my breath. He runs and jumps and into the water we go. All the way under and when we come up I find my hair in my face and hear him laughing. He tilts me back and my hair is pulled back off my face with a slicked back look. “Thanks,” I tell him for helping me out.

“Yes, that’s a bunch of hair you have there. I couldn’t let it smother you,” he says as he walks along, still holding me.

There’s never been a man who picked me up and carried me before. I’m not huge but I’m not small either. The way Cyprian can pick me up, like I don’t weigh a thing, is pretty cool, in my book.

I wish he wasn’t such a player.

Our bodies touching, skin to skin has me thinking things I shouldn’t. I find him setting me down on some kind of a bench at the edge of the pool and he places his hands on it in front of me and lets his legs float out behind him. “Cyprian, where do you see yourself in say, five years?”

“Here, doing what I do. Working. Making people money. I suppose you’ll be a big scientist by then.” He moves his hands off the bench and onto my thighs.

I push away a lock of his light brown hair that’s fallen into his face. “I hope so. Summer’s nearly over and my classes will be starting up again. I’m only taking one summer class now and I’m not very busy but when the summer ends and my classes begin, I’ll be swamped all the time.”

“Then you should get in some fun while you still can,” he says as he moves in close.

I pull back. “By fun, you must mean sex and that’s not the kind of fun I can have with you.”

“Oh, but you can,” he says and attempts to kiss me again.

Moving my head, his lips land on my cheek, but not far from my lips. I have to fight myself not to turn and take the kiss he’s offering. But I manage. “Cyprian, you’re being silly.” I laugh it off and find him pulling me into his arms.

Our bodies are flush and I can feel the thump against my stomach as he grows. Even though the water is cool, my body is hot as hell. “One kiss, Camilla. One sweet kiss then I will leave you alone, for a little while.”

“No,” I say, quickly.

Leaning over me, holding me tight, his mouth moves up my neck until his teeth take my earlobe and he nibbles it. My knees go weak and I’m glad we’re in the water or he’d know the effect he’s having on me. “Are you afraid it will leave you wanting more?”

I don’t know what to say. The answer is, yes but I don’t want him to know that. “Cyprian, please stop.”

His arms go loose and he lets me go. Moving back, he swims backward. “Okay. Do you want to come jump off the big rock with me?”

I nod and swim after him as he makes his way to the large rock at the other end of the pool. My body is still tingling from his attention and I don’t think coming to hang out with him was smart.

This is much harder than I expected it to be…

Chapter 7

CYPRIAN

“Raiders of the Lost Ark? You want to watch that old movie. I can get things that are still in the theaters and that’s what you want?” I ask Cami as she’s curled up in one of the leather theater lounge chairs with a soft, light blue blanket wrapped around her.

Her hair is still damp and hanging around her face in spiral curls and all I want to do is scoop her up and take her to my bedroom. Then take her to Heaven with me. But she’s very good at keeping herself out of men’s bedrooms, it seems.

“I watched that movie only one time when I was a kid and I liked it and never got to see it again. If you don’t want to watch it, I guess I’ll understand,” she says with a mopey voice.

“We can watch it,” I say as I push the button to order the old as hell movie. “There’s this new one out with a lot of car races and cool shit like that. But we can watch what you want to.”

I grab us a couple of bottles of beer and a bag of popcorn and go sit in the chair next to hers. She leans her shoulder against mine as she takes the bottle I’m handing her. “You know, it’s only four in the afternoon. We can watch the one you want to next if you want. It’d mean I’d have to hang out with you longer than expected but I will if you want.”

“We could heat up some leftovers in between the movies,” I say, feeling kind of excited for some stupid reason. “That sounds cool.”

She grabs a handful of popcorn out of the bag that’s resting between my legs and my cock stirs as the bag moves against it. I’ll be leaving that right where it is!

Taking the remote, I start the movie on the big screen and dim the lights. I’m happy to find her resting her head on my shoulder. “Thank you, Cyprian. You’re a nice guy.”

I’m so not a nice guy!

Her hand moves over my leg and she leaves it there. She seems more than comfortable with me and I am beginning to feel very comfortable with her as well. It’s so strange.

“Don’t do that!” she shouts, suddenly.

“What did I do?” I ask, as I have no clue.

“Not you, silly. Indy,” she says with a giggle.

Going back to watching the movie, I feel her jump when a painted face of some tribesman pops up on the screen. She buries her face in my chest. “Tell me when this part is over.”

Chuckling, I run my hand through her hair. “It’s okay, Cami. I won’t let the scary man hurt you. He’s gone now.”

She peeks at the screen and I run my arm around her, she rests her head on my chest and I can’t recall a time I’ve ever felt this satisfied. It’s crazy!

More tribal action comes on and she climbs over the armrest that’s between us and climbs right onto my lap as she hides her face in my chest again. “God, I don’t remember it being this damn scary. Tell me when it’s over, please.”

“I don’t think it’s scary at all. You’re kind of a big chicken.” I laugh at her and she smacks me in the chest. “Ow.”

“I’m not a chicken. Is it over yet? I hear Indiana talking again.”

“It is but you can stay where you are,” I say as she looks up at me. “I like you cuddled up on my lap.”

Gazing into her sapphire eyes, I find myself inching toward her. And she’s not moving away from me, for once. Closer, I go and find my heart pounding.

“Cyprian?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“You understand the kind of person I am, right?”

I nod. “You’re a good person.”

“I mean the kind of person I am about sexual relations,” she says. “I can’t be with you like that without knowing you better and having a commitment.”

Commitment!

That stopped me. “Cami, I’m not a commitment kind of man. I told you that before. Just because we’ve shared a little time doesn’t mean I want more.”

She scrambles off my lap and into the other chair. “I’m not some easy tramp. Sorry you wasted your time. I’ll go. I’m sure you can call one of those whores you know.”

Before I know it, she’s slipped her shoes on and is hightailing it out of here. “Cami, wait!”

She’s hauling ass and the bright light as she throws the door open blinds me. “Just leave me alone, Cyprian. I can’t believe I entertained the thought you could be a decent human being.”

I manage to catch up to her as she gets to the front door. As she opens it, I grab it and push it closed, trapping her between me and the door. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’re shallow. A hollow man. You have no depth. You have no heart. You will die alone. And I won’t be one of your casualties.” Her eyes have gone hard. Judgment fills her expression.

“Who are you to say those things? You don’t even know me,” I shout at her.

“And who does?” she asks as she moves her hands to her hips. “Do you even know who Cyprian is?”

“Of course, I do.”

“Explain him to me,” she says as her expression changes. She looks softer and more open.

“Why should I?” I ask her as I run my hand over her smooth cheek. “Your skin is as soft as rose petals. Did you like the flowers I sent you? You never said a word about them.”

“I think they’re beautiful. The crystal vase is something I’ll keep forever. Thank you.” She moves her face and her lips touch the palm of my hand.

A heat streaks through me and I feel the pulse begin in my cock. “Cami, please don’t leave.” I bite my lip as I wait for her to tell me what she’s going to do.

“Cyprian, I’m afraid of you.”

“You think I’ll hurt you?” I ask, as I have no clue why she’d be afraid of me.

“I know you will.” She caresses my cheek. “You see, I am in touch with myself and I know I cannot have a taste of you. I will want more and more and you won’t give that to me.”

“You think you’d like to have me around more often?” I ask as I push a lock of her hair off her face.

“Nothing would make me happier.” She leans in and kisses my cheek.

I push her back, gently. “I’m not a liar. I am not a user of women. I am a man who is very busy all week long and on the weekends, I merely want to relax, unwind, and recharge for the next week. I don’t want a relationship and doubt I ever will.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Cyprian. It’s a nice thing for a man like yourself to do. I appreciate your honesty. I have to be honest with you too. I am a woman who doesn’t sleep with men she’s not in love with and has a commitment with. We can be friends,” she says.

I step back, ending our physical contact. I’m doing nothing, other than making myself frustrated by it. “I don’t keep friends. I have people I work with and people I party with and that’s it. There’s no place or time in my life for friends. So, if we aren’t going to fuck, I guess you can leave.”

Her entire body goes rigid and her eyes glisten with what seems to be tears. “We are not going to fuck. And I am sorry for taking up your precious time, Cyprian. Good luck with your life. I fear it will be one of great loneliness.”

I watch her walk out the door and find myself feeling lonely right away. I don’t recall ever feeling lonely. Not ever. I’m fine being alone. I always have been.

Turning around to try to find something to fill my mind and stop thinking about her, I see her sunglasses on the table and sigh as I pick them up. Going back to the door, I open it and find her head is resting on the steering wheel and she has yet to leave.

“Hey, you forgot your sunglasses,” I shout.

I make my way to her and when she looks up, I see tears streaming down her face.

What the hell have I started?

CAMILLA

“Shit!” I hiss as he’s caught me crying over him and now I feel really stupid. I turn the car on and start to peel out but he gets to the passenger door and I might run him over if I do.

“Cami, don’t cry,” he says as he opens the door and gets into the car. “You’re making me feel terrible.”

“Thank you for bringing me my glasses. Bye.” I take them out of his hand and shove them on the dashboard.

His hand moves over my cheek as he wipes the tears away. “I’ve never made anyone cry. Not ever. This is awful. Come back inside. Please. Let’s try this again. I’m sorry.”

“No, I can’t go back inside. This is my problem, not yours. You see, I have this thing where my heart jumps ahead way too fast. It always has. It’s part of the reason I’m single right now. I fall head over heels in love and when it doesn’t work out, it leaves me shattered. I need to learn to reign in my emotions. I wear my heart on my sleeve and that’s a dumb thing to do.”

“Love?” he asks as he frowns. “Cami, that word shouldn’t even be bantered about right now.”

“You think I don’t know that, Cyprian?” I shout at him. “I had a dream about us last night. I was with you, in this house, helping you with some kind of a get-together. It was like we were married or something.”

“Married?” he says then laughs.

“I know, what a joke,” I say and find the tears stinging my eyes again.

He stops laughing and wipes them away again. “Cami, please stop crying. It’s kind of tearing me up inside.”

“I would think you’d be used to seeing women cry over you.” I sniffle and reach over to take some tissues out of the glovebox.

“No one has ever cried over me. I don’t date. There has never been anyone who didn’t know where they stood with me. No one has had any reason to cry over not being anything more to me than a sexual partner for the night. And the truth is, I have never had sex with any woman for more than one night or day.”

I’m not surprised and he can see that on my face, I suppose as he looks down. He seems ashamed.

“If that’s how you want things to be then why did you come for me?” I ask as I have no clue as to why the man sought me out last night.

“I can’t explain it, Cami. You’ve filled my mind since the moment I met you. I thought we’d have a nice time and some fun in bed then you’d be out of my mind and I could think about important things again,” he says, appalling me.

“Do you hear yourself?” I ask him as he seems to think what he’s said is perfectly fine. “I’m glad you’re being honest but, Cyprian, that’s terrible. You want to have sex with me so you can forget about me. And you basically called me, unimportant.”

“I didn’t mean that. I’m sure you’re important to lots of people. But I don’t have time for people to be important to me. If you spent one day with me at work, you’d understand, completely.”

“Is your job so encompassing that there’s absolutely no room for a person to share your life with? Because if that’s so, then you should change things around. There are plenty of rich people in this world who have time for families.”

“Would you stop talking about things like families and sharing lives together?” he shouts. “You’re sparking things inside me that have me wanting to run as fast as I can away from you.”

I level my eyes on his. “Are you afraid of me, Cyprian?”

“I’m not afraid of anything. I merely don’t want to talk about things that are never going to happen for me. Because I don’t want them to. I don’t want a wife or even a fucking girlfriend. I sure as hell don’t want an entire family. God knows I have no time for all of that. And no want for it!”

“Then what are you doing, sitting in this car with me? You shouldn’t even be talking to me. I strive for all the things you don’t want any part of. So, why are you sitting here?”

“That’s an excellent question.” He gets out of my car, slamming the door behind him. I watch him walk all the way to his front door and he slams it behind him too.

I suppose that means this is over…

* * *

Chapter 1

CYPRIAN

The lights of the last business in town, before we leave the Clemson city limits, catch my eye, the way they’ve done every night for the last week. It’s Friday and I’m going home. I’m not in the mood to party at all.

The damn woman haunts me. Day and night, she’s there, in the back of my mind. How she managed to squirm into my head is still a mystery. But she’s there, going nowhere.

I’ve tried hard to forget her and go on but it seems impossible. Her words echo in my brain, ‘you will die a lonely old man.’

Will I? Is that my fate? Does it have to be?

My driver, Ashton, slows down as we approach the store she works at. A car is turning in front of us, causing us to stop and just as we do, she walks out of the store, coming to the gas pumps with a rag and a bottle of cleaner.

Her eyes dance as she greets one of the customers who’s pumping gas into their car. It’s a man, she’s talking to. The tall man is smiling like crazy at her and she’s unaware of the fact he finds her attractive.

“Pull in, Ashton,” I say as I watch her smiling and laughing as the guy regales her with his wit.

“Are you sure, sir?” he asks me as he looks into the rearview mirror with raised brows.

“I am.” I run my hand over my Armani slacks then brush my hair back and sigh as we pull into the parking lot. I don’t need anything, except to hear her voice.

Once he parks, I sit and wait, watching her as she cleans the gas pumps and talks to the man who hasn’t left yet, even though he’s done pumping his gas. She’s oblivious to how he’s watching her every move.

Three short steps he takes and he’s standing behind her as she’s kneeling, wiping the bottom of the pump. His hand moves over her shoulder and she turns to look up at him.

Her head is shaking and his is nodding. He’s asking her out, I bet. My heart is pounding as I wait to see what she does.

“Do you want me to get out and get you something, sir?” Ashton asks me.

“No. I’m getting out when she goes back inside.” I can’t take my eyes off her. I haven’t seen her at all since Sunday when I walked away from her.

I was angry at her for judging me and my life. But that anger turned to contemplation as I thought about how I’ve been living. She wasn’t wrong about anything she said about me.

I am hollow.

Being less than perfect is a thing I knew I was. But I never knew I was less than human and selling myself short with how I’ve lived and have always thought I’d live my life.

Camilla is moving away from the man now, looking over her shoulder and saying something to him as she goes and he watches her. I open the back door of the Mercedes, Ashton picked me up in, and step out of the car.

Her eyes move to look at me and she stops in the middle of the parking lot. Then she ducks her head and hurries to go inside. I meet her at the door and open it for her.

She says nothing to me as she moves past me. I follow her, closely, staying right behind her as I’m sure she means to hide from me, in the ladies’ room perhaps.

I’m wrong about that, I see as she gets to the cooler and reaches out for the handle. “Stop,” I say. Placing my hand on her shoulder, I hold it tight enough that she can’t get away from me.

“Why?” she asks as she doesn’t bother to turn back to look at me.

“Because I want to talk to you.” I take her by the shoulders and turn her around.

Her eyes are bright with defiance. “There’s nothing to talk about. You want something I won’t give. End of subject. Moving on.” A slight tremor moves over her red lips then she licks them.

She’s upset and I am to blame, once again. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Being who you are?” she asks as she shakes her head. “Don’t be. It’s me who’s sorry. Sorry, I ever spent a minute with you. That was my fault, though. I could read you like a book. I knew your modus operandi. It was me who sold all those condoms to your driver for you to use on countless women. It was foolish of me to think you wanted me for any more than a one night stand.”

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” I tell her and watch her eyes go hard.

Her body tenses even more as her face goes red. “What the fuck do you want me to do about that, Cyprian? Wait, I know. Fuck you, right? Do that, so your mind can be rid of me and you can think about more important things. You’re out of luck. I’m not a woman who does that kind of thing. Seems you’ll be stuck thinking about me.”

“I deserve that,” I say as I hold her hot gaze. “Come to my house after you get off work. We should talk.”

Slowly, she shakes her head. “You are insane if you think I’m going to go to your house, so you can attempt to make me feel sorry for you and your thoughts about me and how they’re messing up your life.”

“Have you thought about me, at all?”

Her eyes cut to the side and her body sags a bit as she sighs. “It doesn’t matter.” She looks back at me. “So, let me help you find your Friday night condoms, Cyprian.”

I shake my head. “I don’t need any. I’m not going to my father’s party tonight. And most likely, I still won’t be feeling like going tomorrow.”

She grins as she looks down and moves her tennis shoe over the white floor. “I see.”

I can see she’s happy I’m not going and it prompts me to ask about the man I saw her talking to outside. “Did that guy ask you out?”

“Huh?” she asks as she looks up at me. “How did you know that?”

“I was watching you. So, you told him what?” I bite the inside of my cheek to hold my tongue in case she tells me something I don’t want to hear.

“I turned him down. He’s not my type.” She looks away as the door chime takes her attention. “I need to get back to work. Surely, you understand that.”

Dropping my hands off her shoulders, I release her and nod. “I understand. If you change your mind about tonight, give me a call.” I slip my card with my personal cell number on it, out of my pocket and put it into the pocket of her green smock. “I am sorry, Camilla.”

With a nod, she leaves me, standing by the cooler as some woman takes a soft drink out of it and looks at us. The woman’s eyes move to meet mine. “You two okay?”

I shake my head and turn to leave. My feet move, slowly. I don’t want to leave her. I want to hear her say she’ll come to me in a little while. I want her to forgive me and I want to tell her all the things I’ve been thinking about and ask her what she’s thought about.

Instead, I’m walking past the checkout counter where she’s ringing up another customer. And older man who’s looking at her as her eyes are drooping. “You look blue, sugar. What’s got you so sad?”

Her brilliant blue eyes move to me and I flinch as it makes me feel terrible. She’s right, I am a terrible person. I give her one last, pleading look and she looks back down. “I’m not sad for me, Bernie. I’m sad for someone else. Someone who doesn’t understand what life’s about.”

With that, I leave the store and go get into my car. “Take me home, Ashton. This was a huge mistake.”

He keeps his mouth shut as we leave the parking lot and head home. But his eyes look at me off and on, in the mirror and I know he wants to say something.

“You have something you’d like to tell me, Ashton?”

“It’s just that I told you this would happen, sir. She’s not like the women you’ve known. I’m afraid your father, hiring escorts to fill his parties, has left you with the idea all women are that free with who they give themselves to. That young woman isn’t an escort. She’s just a normal girl and wants normal things.”

“That woman is far from normal, I expect. And you are right about me not knowing a thing about normal women and how to interact with them. So, I will read and educate myself on how to do that. Because I can’t think of anything else, except how I can see that woman again. And have her stop being mad at me. I long to see her beautiful smile. I long to hear her laughter. I long to feel her skin pressed against mine.”

“Maybe you can read up on things and figure it all out, sir. You are one smart man, after all,” he says and then I find we’re home and I get out of the car.

My heart is heavy and my mind is full. I have got to find a way to get her to forgive me.

I want a chance with her, a real chance…

Chapter 2

CAMILLA

Locking up the store, I find my hand shaking as I hold his card in the other hand. He’s all I could think about after he came to the store.

He’s all I’ve thought about this whole week.

The way he walked away from me on Sunday was jarring. He was cold in an instant and made the decision to walk away, so quickly. I believe he has that ingrained in him. Hasty retreats when things aren’t going the exact way he wants them to.

Walking to my car, I glance at my co-worker as the teenage kid gets into his car. “Night, Kyle.”

“You working tomorrow?” he asks me.

“No, I have this weekend off.” I put the key into the lock on the car door and unlock it.

“You got any plans?” he asks.

Shaking my head, I say, “None at all. See you next week.”

He nods and gets into his car. After he pulls out, I look at the card in my hand and slip into the driver’s seat.

Cyprian didn’t go to the party he’s gone to every Friday and Saturday night since he was a child. I know it’s because of me and that has me wondering if Cyprian is capable of change.

What if he is and I am the one who can help him with that? What if he has this one opportunity to live a full life, with love and companionship? What if I ignore him and the feelings I have? What will happen to the man then? What will happen to me?

My heart hurts. It has since he walked away that day. And I have a feeling he can do much more harm to it than anyone else has ever been able to. But I find my fingers moving over my cell phone screen anyway.

It rings only once. “Cami?” his deep voice says and I feel a heat move through me.

“I know it’s late,” I say.

He quickly says, “Not too late for me to see you. I’ve been waiting up, hoping you’d call. Will you come over?”

“Will you promise not to make any attempt to get me into your bed?” I ask as I pound my head on the steering wheel, as I don’t know what I’m doing.

“Can I touch you? I miss the way your skin feels.”

“I guess some touching won’t hurt,” I say, though I think it might.

“I’ll be waiting at the door for you, Cami.”

I end the call and pull out of the parking lot. I’m probably going to regret doing this. But something inside of me is telling me that man needs me. And something else is telling me to hold tight to my heart that is so quick to fall in love. He’s a gamble. And I’m not the gambling kind.

The gate pops up much faster than I thought it would. I push in the numbers and drive through it. I see him waiting outside, in his pajamas. No shoes, his T-shirt is light blue and his pajama bottoms are a dark blue. He looks like something I should run away from.

A heartache in PJ’s, waiting to claim me.

He comes to my door, once I stop, and opens it. I’m pulled up into his arms and he holds me, tightly. “Thank you, Cami. Thank you for coming.”

He’s holding onto me as if I’m some life preserver he’s been tossed, in a stormy ocean. “You okay?”

“No,” he says. “I have so much I want to talk to you about.” He lets me go and takes my hand. “Come inside.”

I go along with him and have to wonder if I’m taking on more than I can manage. He’s not the same man I saw on Saturday and Sunday. He’s kind of a mess.

He takes me inside and pulls me along until we’re on a patio where he has a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses, waiting on a table for us. A platter of cheese, crackers, and cut up bits of fruit are in the middle of it. He takes me to a small sofa, covered in dark green upholstery. I sit as he goes to get the things off the table and places the tray next to me.

“This is for me?” I ask as I watch him fill the wine glasses.

“It is,” he says. “I figured you’d be hungry after work.” He places a glass of wine on the table beside me and goes to sit on the other side of the tray.

“That was very thoughtful of you.” I pick up the glass and take a sip then pick up an apple slice.

“You stay on my mind, Cami.” He looks at me as he takes a drink of his wine.

“You had things you wanted to talk to me about?” I ask as his gaze is making me feel kind of naked.

“You were right about me, Cami. I am a shell of a person. I am empty and had no idea I was. You see, the women I’ve been accustom to, have all been escorts my father brought in to entertain us. I don’t know how to romantically handle a woman like yourself.”

“First of all, using the word, handle, is offensive,” I tell him then pick up a cracker and place a piece of creamy white cheese on it.

“Okay, noted. What word should I use in place of that?” he asks as he looks at me with a serious expression on his face.

“How about we call it, getting along with, instead of handling?” I ask as I move the tray to the low table in front of us. “If I keep that right beside me, I will eat it until there’s nothing left on the plate.”

With a smile, he scoots closer to me. “I’m glad to have it gone.” His hand moves over my arm, up and down it goes, with a soft caress. His chest rises as he takes a deep breath. “To be able to touch you is a relief.”

Sparks of electric current follow the path he’s making over my arm and I put my hand on his leg and rest it there. “So, you really did miss me? That wasn’t a line?”

“A line?” he asks. “Cami, I don’t even know any lines. I’ve never had to use them.”

“Tell me about these parties with escorts you’ve been attending since you were, how old did you say you were?” I ask as I gently squeeze his thigh, relishing in how well muscled it is.

“I was fifteen when I was formally introduced into my father’s world.” He takes a drink.

“You started having sex then too?”

He puts the glass down and looks away as he says, softly, “Yes, it was.”

“With your father’s consent?” I ask as my parents would never consent to such a thing.

He nods and keeps looking away from me. “Sex is sex in my family. It’s what you do at the end of the week to help relieve the stress the work week has brought down on you.”

“How mechanical,” I say then take a long sip of wine. “And your mother and he, how do they get along?”

“Mother gets along fine with my father. She doesn’t come once a month like she did when I was young. She does make it for the holidays. She sleeps with other men when she’s here. Never my father. Not even once that I’m aware of.”

I reach out to touch his cheek as he keeps looking away from me. “Are you upset about that?”

“Upset isn’t the right word. More like, confused. They are cordial to one another. There is and never has been any bad feelings between them. I was a mistake, their happy mishap, they call me.”

I gasp and move my hand to my heart. “They call you that!”

“You make it sound horrible, Camilla,” he says as he looks at me with wonder.

“It is. To be called a mistake is terrible. Were you treated like a mistake?” I ask, completely appalled.

“I don’t think so. I was treated well. I lived my first years with Mother. She stayed at home with me, thanks to money my father sent her. I don’t recall any bad treatment. Then she took me to my father’s when I was five, so I could go to school. She wanted to get back to her career.”

“Which is?” I ask then take a drink.

“Stripper,” he says, as if it’s no big deal.

I nearly choke on my wine. He pats my back and takes the glass out of my hand, so I don’t spill it as I gasp for air. Finally, I regain control. “She’s a stripper?”

“Was,” he corrects me. “Now she runs an adult nightclub my father bought for her.”

“Okay, not a lot better but that’s something,” I say and he hands me back the glass of wine from which I take another sip. “So, she took you to your father to go back to stripping, okay. Had you known your father before she dropped you off with him?”

“No, I had never met him.”

“How long did she stay with you, so you could get to know him before she left you?” I ask him and watch his face pale.

“She didn’t. She brought me to him and kissed my cheek after she introduced us and then she left, telling me it would all be fine. And, eventually, it was.” He takes his wine and downs it.

I am horrified and move in close to him and take him in my arms. “Cyprian, that’s awful. My God, what you must’ve thought. You must’ve been so afraid.”

His hand moves through my hair as his lips graze the place just behind my ear. “I was.”

Things are beginning to make more sense now…

Chapter 3

CYPRIAN

Throughout the night, we talked and talked until we found ourselves unable to stay awake to talk anymore. And now, here we lie. I moved our little party into the house then laid out a blanket on the floor in front of one of the fireplaces. I gave her one of my T-shirts to put on, so she could get out of her work clothes and be comfortable. She looked cute as hell in it.

The atmosphere was just right to get Cami’s guard down. She let me hold her as we talked about me, and my past. She told me a lot about hers too. She and I come from extremely different worlds. I don’t think either of us would like the others.

She told me, she never wants to meet my parents, and for fear she’d blurt out how she feels about them and how they raised me. It’s odd how I feel about her. It’s as if she’s becoming protective over me. No one has ever been protective over me before.

Her family would hate me. She didn’t say that. I just know they would. The son of a former stripper and a man with no sexual morals. A thing I didn’t know my father was until Cami schooled me on it.

And, apparently, I am that way too. A man with no sexual morals and no idea how to get some of those elusive morals she spoke about.

I cannot lie and say she’s turned my mind around where casual sex is concerned. In my life sex, has served a purpose. To let off steam. To relax after a hardy bout of pleasurable activities and that’s it.

Cami told me she supposed that’s exactly what sex is and that’s all I’ve ever had. Making love is different, she said. And I have to wonder if she’s right.

She moves, slightly. I hold her tighter, not wanting her to wake up and make some excuse to leave me. She settles into my arms and begins to snore a bit. I kiss her cheek then lie back down.

Her ass hits me as she scoots back and it settles right at my juncture. The morning has me ready to go and I can’t stop myself from grinding into her. I stop when she moans.

She reaches back and runs her hand along the arm I have wrapped around her. I’m stiff as a board as I wait to see if she’s going to finally let me have sex with her.

Moving a little, I press myself against her ass and pump a bit, making her moan more and press her ass against me. Getting braver, I move her hair to one side and kiss her neck. She groans, “Cyprian.”

At least she’s aware it’s me back here. I whisper in her ear, “Camilla.” Then I take her earlobe and deliver a gentle bite.

Pushing her ass even harder against me, has my cock quivering in anticipation and now I’m aware I have no protection with me. The condoms are in my bedroom.

Now, how to move this upstairs and into my room without giving her a chance to think about things?

Giving special attention to her neck, has her making some great sounds and letting me grind into her, so I pull her backward as I stand up and slip my arms around her to pick her up with me.

As she’s jostled with the movement, her eyes open. At first they’re dreamy and she makes a small smile. “Cyprian.” She leans her head on my chest as her arms wrap around my neck.

“Shh,” I shush her and start to carry her away.

Her fingertips roam over my chest. We still have on our clothes and that will have to be dealt with delicately as well. If I hurry, she’ll surely come fully awake and if I take too long, she might also start thinking and I can’t have that.

She seems to have fallen back to sleep as I make it to my bedroom. I open the door, which I’d left ajar, and quietly kick it closed. Just as I get to the edge of the bed, which is made, I lie her on one side and go to the other side to pull the blankets down.

As I walk back to her, finding she’s snuggled down on the pillow, I pull my shirt off and drop my PJ bottoms. Taking a deep breath, I start to pull my T-shirt off her, gently taking it from the bottom and lifting it up until it’s just underneath her tits.

Her eyes fly open. “Cyprian! What the hell are you doing?” She sits up and grabs my hands. “You’re naked!”

“You were into it. Don’t you remember?” I ask her as she looks at me with wide eyes.

“Would you cover yourself, for God’s sake?” she shouts at me.

I pull my PJ bottoms back on, quickly and see her pull the shirt back down to cover herself. “You were into it, Cami.”

“I was asleep!” she rolls off the bed and gets up. “I’m going home. I trusted you, Cyprian!”

“Wait, please. I swear to God you were into it. Stop and think for a second.” I grab her arm to stop her from leaving and she snaps her head to look at my hand.

“I was asleep!” She jerks her arm hard and I let it go, so I don’t hurt her.

“Cami, I’m sorry,” I say as I sit on the bed. “I am. I thought you were awake and wanting it as much as I was. I am sorry.”

She spins around and looks at me with tired eyes. “Cyprian, if we ever do that, it needs to be a thing we discuss and are ready for. Not a thing that happens if we’re together and have too much to drink. Or are hanging out, fall asleep in each other’s arms, and barely awake. I, for one, would like to be fully present for our first time. If there ever is one.”

“You’re dead set on being in love and having a commitment, aren’t you?” I ask as I realize this woman really is going to be a hell of a lot of work to get her where I want her.

Her face goes soft, the indignation gone. “Cyprian, of course, that’s how I want it to be. I thought, after last night, you understood me better.”

“I do.” I look at her, standing in my bedroom with my T-shirt on, her hair a wild mess and I find her the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on in the morning. And I have seen many.

“Then why would you do such a thing?” she asks as she puts one hand on her hip and pushes her hair back.

“I want you,” I say, simply. “And if you will be truthful with yourself, you want me too. Or you wouldn’t have pressed your ass against my cock, Cami. You wouldn’t have moaned at how it felt and you wouldn’t have let me kiss your neck the way I was kissing it. You have a hickey or two from my attention to your sweet neck.”

Her hand moves to her neck as her face goes pale. “No!” She rushes to look in the mirror over my dresser and pulls her hair back, revealing two, very nice sized purple spots on her long and elegant neck. “This looks terrible!”

Getting up, I move in behind her and wrap my arms around her and look at the marks I left on her. “I like the way they look.” I turn her in my arms and look into her eyes. “Admit it. You want me as much as I want you, Cami.”

“Okay, so I can admit that. But I am very self-disciplined. I can wait until what we have is real.” She runs her arms around me and hugs me. “If it ever gets real.”

Holding her and looking in the mirror as she hugs me, makes me think about what she’s saying. So, I pull her with me to sit on the bed and hold her hand. “Cami, I don’t think I know how to love. I haven’t ever been very close to anyone. It could take a very long time or it might never happen. What then?”

“Then you and I are not meant to be. You see, I will not sell myself short. I want a man who loves me. Who will be there for me through thick and thin. Who will cherish me and put me above all others. And I will never settle for anything less. Because I will do that for him too. If you feel like this is a waste of your time, I will certainly understand.” She looks at me as if trying to see if I am capable of understanding her.

“Go home,” I say.

She nods and gets up. No arguing. No questions. She just gets up and starts walking away from me. “Okay.”

“Uh, don’t you want to know why I said that?” I ask as I get up and go to her. She shakes her head and I stop her retreat as I take her by the shoulders and turn her around. “I want you to go home and get cleaned up and put on something nice. I want to spend the day with you. I want to take you somewhere nice for breakfast. We’ll do a bit of shopping then eat somewhere nice for lunch. Maybe take in a movie and go somewhere spectacular for dinner. I want to take you on a very long date. What do you say?”

“I’d like to say you will need to watch how you ask me out. I was sure you were done with me. Emotional whiplash is not a thing I like to have.”

“Is that a yes?” I ask, as I’m still unsure about her.

She nods and hugs me. “You and I either have a long road ahead of us or a very short one, Cyprian.”

“I hope it’s a long one,” I say. “Don’t you?”

She lets me go and shakes her head as she walks to the bedroom door. “I hope it’s a long road that doesn’t end in a dead end.” With that, she’s gone, leaving me with myself and wondering if this is worth it.

The woman’s mind is set. It’s love then sex. And if I never find the love for her, she demands, then I will never get a taste of her, and I will most likely never stop thinking about her.

I wonder if one can make themselves fall in love…

Chapter 4

CAMILLA

“Did you ever watch a love story movie, Cyprian?” I ask him as he holds my hand and we stroll along the sidewalk that goes through a picturesque park in the middle of town.

He’s been acting like a boyfriend. It has me thinking, he’s trying to project the image of what I want. But I want more than a mere projection from him.

“No, why do you ask that?” he asks me as he pulls our clasped hands up and kisses mine then lets my hand go and runs his arm around me, kissing the side of my head.

“You’ve been acting different today. At breakfast, you cut up my ham when I had trouble doing it. At lunch, you kept feeding me your french-fries. And here we are, taking a walk in the park on our way to see a play put on by the local theater club. It’s very romantic, and you are anything but a romantic.”

“I thought this is what you wanted,” he says as he stops and looks at me. “I’m doing what you wanted. Are you saying that, even if I become the man you expect, you will still find fault with me?”

“No!” I shake my head and find myself confused. “Cyprian, I want you to be you. I’m not trying to change you.”

“But you are.” He pulls me along again to continue on our way to the small, open-air theater on the other side of the park. “You’re lying to yourself if you really think that. You don’t want me as I am. You want me the way you want me. A perfect gentleman who is in complete love with his girl.”

Suddenly, I see him for who he must really be. A man who does what’s expected of him. And that breaks my heart. “Cyprian, please be who it is you want to be. I will either like you or I won’t but don’t be a fake person with me. Please.”

“I’m not being fake. I’ve never done the things we’re doing. I feel light-hearted and free. I feel healthy and to be honest, I feel I have you to owe that to and it makes me think you are a very special person and I enjoy just being with you, doing anything at all or even nothing. So, sue me if you think I’m faking it. I’m not.”

“You do seem light-hearted. And you do seem happy.” I look at him from the corner of my eye and see the smile that’s been on his face most all day long.

As we arrive at the theater, I see by the sign, it’s Romeo and Juliet. “Have you ever seen this one?” he asks me.

“I’ve never been to a play at all. I have read the book and seen the old movie. Have you seen it before?”

He shakes his head as he heads close to the front and finds us a nice hill to sit on. He tosses the blanket he brought for us on the ground and sits down then pulls me to sit in front of him, between his legs. “Lie back on me, so you’ll be comfortable. And, no, I also have never seen a play. We had a home theater like I have at my place. That’s where I saw any movies I wanted to. Which weren’t many, as I spent the majority of my time studying, once I got home from school. Weekends were full. Once I went to work, free time only came on the weekends and you know how I’ve spent them.”

“So, this is new to us both. That’s nice,” I say as I lean back on him.

More and more couples come and spread blankets and get ready to watch the play. It’s a very couple’s kind of thing to do and I find it fascinating Cyprian could think this up on such short notice. Being he’s never been a romantic kind of man.

His fingertips stroke my neck as he leans his head on my opposite shoulder. “You look so pretty today, Cami. I love the blue ribbon you have holding your hair back. And your soft, pink sundress is pretty too.”

I smile as he seems to be trying so hard to say all the right things. “Thank you. You look handsome in your black slacks and pale green button up, yourself.”

His lips press against my neck, where I used makeup to cover the marks he left there this morning. “You have yet to allow me to kiss your sweet lips, Cami.” He nudges my head to look at some of the other couples who are exchanging kisses.

“What the hell,” I say and twist a bit, so we can look at each other. I run my arm around his neck. “You’ve been a very good boyfriend today. I think you deserve a kiss.”

His eyes sparkle as I push back a lock of his light brown hair. His lips part then he licks them and looks at mine. “It’s because we’re in public and it can go no farther than a kiss, isn’t it?”

I nod and he smiles. “Of course, Cyprian.”

“I’m going to make you wish we were alone, Camilla.” His hand cradles my head as he holds me still for him. His face moves so slowly I have to fight myself not to move mine to meet him.

His lips, barely touch mine as he hovers. His breath is warm on my lips that are aching for him to press his to them. One tiny peck, he gives me, then three more in slow succession.

My heart is racing and my body is aching as he toys with me. Small pecks leave me wanting more and then his mouth is full on mine. His tongue moves past my lips and into my mouth, stroking my tongue in a way I’ve never felt before.

His fingers grip the back of my head as he tastes me, but only for a moment. Then his mouth is gone and I am left, panting. He says not a word, as he gazes into my eyes. “Did you feel that, Camilla?”

I blink and nod. “I felt something I’ve never felt before.”

The actors come on stage and everyone begins clapping. Cyprian turns me around and leans me back against him, wrapping me in his strong arms, leaving me nearly breathless with that one kiss and my mind moving in fast circles about what that was.

I’ve told myself, time and time again, not to fall for him as quickly as I’ve done with the others who’ve come before him. I have to guard myself against this man. He may seem to be acting like he’s all about me but he isn’t really this guy. He is a man who’s never learned how to develop real feelings for others. And he is dangerous because of that.

But how am I to hold back now that I know what his kiss is like…

Chapter 5

CYPRIAN

Dancing with Camilla in the cool night air, on an outdoor dance floor, I hold her in my arms, enjoying how her scent mixes with the breeze, sending me to a place I’ve never been. She is so easy to be with.

I’ve never argued with a person, other than at work. Honestly, I thought if a woman ever wanted to argue with me, I’d simply walk away from her. But I can’t seem to walk away from this one. And I don’t see myself ever wanting to.

She’s made me feel things I’ve never felt before. And when we kissed, it was unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Fireworks went off inside my head. My body tingled all over. It was mind blowing!

We came to this place for dinner and dancing, a thing I always thought sounded lame as hell. But it’s anything but lame. With her, anyway. She and I went shopping and I found myself buying us matching outfit after matching outfit.

She asked me if I’d watched a movie about love and I didn’t lie when I told her, no. The truth is, I got a couple of books, okay ten of them, and read them between the time I saw her at the store and she came to my house last night.

Ashton had reminded me about how smart I am and I downloaded e-book after e-book to help me understand what love is and what people in love do. So, I did use that help but I don’t see that as a bad thing.

She might, though. So, I’ll keep that tidbit of information to myself. That was a thing one of the authors said to do. Women and men think differently, hence all the arguing that comes along with any healthy relationship.

I found out that in any relationship where no arguing occurs, it’s a shallow thing that’s not healthy. My parents and I have shallow relationships. It’s hard to tell myself that, as their child, who should be able to have at least deep relationships with his parents.

The part I didn’t like about some of the information was that a person forms their core personality and beliefs in the first six years of their life. If that’s true, then I’m in for a tough time of it, as from what I can recall, it was a time with relatively no emotions. And that might make it hard when it comes to finding love with Cami.

And I want to, so very badly. Now that I’ve read about how fulfilling love can be, I want to feel that too. But it did say you can’t find it with just anyone. You need to have chemistry, connection, and common beliefs.

She and I have the first two but not the last one. But I am a work in progress. I may never look at sex the same way she does but I don’t have to. I also don’t have to talk to her anymore about that. I can simply agree with her and keep things easy between us in that department. That seems to be the one she’s most concerned about.

The song ends and she pulls her head off my shoulder and looks at me. “That was nice, Cyprian. Thank you for the dance.”

I take her hand, leading her back to our table and pull the chair out for her. The night is nearly over, as it’s closing time, I see as the lights come up.

She smiles at me. “Time to go, Cyprian. I had a very nice time with you today.”

I take her hand, helping her back up, then lead her to the car. I drove us today, so we could be alone and she’d feel more normal than being chauffeured around.

“I’m glad you had a nice time. I did too. I really did. It was surprising.” I open the door and help her into the car and find her smiling.

She’s smiled a lot today and so have I. Just being around her makes me feel happy.

I want to take her home more than I’ve ever wanted anything but I think that might make things take longer than I want them to. As I slide in behind the steering wheel of my BMW, I look at her. “What would you like to do tomorrow?”

“Another date?” she asks, looking surprised. “Do you think you can top this one?”

“I can try,” I say as I start the car and head out.

“How about I let you decide? You did a pretty great job today. I’ll do anything you want to.”

“I’ll think about it then.” I drive toward the outskirts of town and take hold of her hand, holding it between us.

It’s so hard not to ask her to come home with me. It’s so foreign to me to go without sex for this long. I feel pent up and more than a bit frustrated.

I haven’t told anyone a thing about her. My driver is the only one who knows about me and her, and no one else does. I’m a private person, anyway. And we are not a for sure thing either.

The gate to my place comes up and I keep going. She looks at me with a smile. “Not even going to make an attempt at it, Cyprian?”

“No, ma’am. I am determined to treat you like a proper young lady. I want you to know I hear what you say. I respect what you say. And I am striving to treat you the way you want to be treated.”

She smiles as I pull into her small driveway. “I’m glad to have you understanding me.”

Parking the car, I jump out and open her door and walk her to her front door. I’m not going to ask if I can come in, as that’s improper. According to one of the books I read. “What time can I pick you up tomorrow?”

“I suppose it depends on what you want to do.” She bats her eyelashes at me.

“I want to spend the whole day with you again. Is that okay?” I ask her as I move her between me and the door.

“Okay, if you want to. How about eleven? We can go to brunch. I love brunch.” She runs her hand through my hair.

“I’ll make plans for that then. And now, may I have a goodnight kiss?”

She nods as her arms go around my neck. I move in, slowly, watching her eyes dart back and forth and her lips begin to tremble. Her heart is going crazy as my lips touch hers.

Holding me tight, her mouth succumbs to mine. I dominate her as I take her with a hard kiss, demanding she kiss me back. Our bodies are flush as I press her against the door. Her body heats with the kiss and I can tell she’s on fire for me.

My body is on fire for her too and I can barely control myself. But I find the strength to end the kiss. I have to leave her wanting more or she’ll never give into me.

Her hands move down my chest. “Cyprian, I hope you’re not disappointed.”

“How could I be?” I ask her then lift her chin. “I don’t think you could ever disappoint me, Cami.” I leave a soft kiss on her plump lips. “Goodnight. I’ll be here at eleven tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, thank you for the wonderful day.” Then she unlocks the door and slips inside.

As I make my way to the car, I feel tortured. I want her so bad, I can taste it. I lick my lips and taste her there. I want to taste every last inch of her and this waiting is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

Driving back to my place, I feel the swell in my pants and it’s uncomfortable as hell. I suppose a cool shower will ease this discomfort from being celibate longer than I have in twenty years. Plus, wanting that woman more than I’ve ever wanted anyone.

My cock is chastising my brain for picking a woman with such strong morals.

It wants to feel a woman and it wants it now!

I pull through the gate and pull up to the house to find a long black car in the drive. Once, I park and get out, I see the back door of the car open and two women get out of it. Both are giggling and one has a bottle of champagne in one hand. The one with dark hair holds her arms open. “Your father sent us to you, Cyprian. I am Lola and this is Becca. We belong to you for the rest of the night.”

Becca has long blonde hair and six-inch heels and a tight, red, short dress that barely hides her ample breasts. Lola is wearing a skirt so short it’s almost not there and my cock is twitching to get to them.

“I can’t!” I shout as I take steps back.

“What?” Lola asks as they come toward me, anyway. “Come on. Your father told us you’ve been without female company for over a week. What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m seeing someone. I can’t do this with you guys. Thanks, but tell my father, I don’t need his help in finding women.” I have to move to the other side of the car as they’re still coming at me.

Becca takes over the pursuit. “Cyprian, we’ve been told about you by some of the other women at your father’s party. Please allow us to experience you. We’ve already been paid, after all. And I have a few tricks you may have never seen before.”

“What kind of tricks?” I ask without meaning to.

She wiggles her finger in a come-hither fashion. “I can make miracles happen with just this little finger.”

“Like what?” I ask and I swear it’s my cock talking because my brain is telling me I can’t find that out, anyway.

Before I realize it, they’re on either side of me and moving me toward the front door of my home. Cherry red lips are on mine as the door opens and we three spill inside.

My cock is throbbing to be set free as Lola puts her hand on it and undoes my pants with the other. She sets it free as Becca kisses me. We move backward until my back hits the wall and I feel the cool air as Lola pulls my pants and underwear down to my ankles then her wet mouth is on my throbbing cock and I am lost to them.

The animal in me takes over as the women fondle my entire body. Becca takes my hand and helps me to pull her tit out of the top of her dress. I squeeze it as Lola sucks me off.

My entire body is shaking with the release that’s already beginning. It’s been too long. I have no control over it. And just like that, I spurt into Lola’s mouth and she moans as she drinks it all down.

You’d think I’d be spent, but I am anything but that. I move us to the next room. “All fours, Becca,” I command as Lola rids me of my shirt. She looks over and sees the remote for the gas-lit fireplace and turns it on to light up the room a bit.

“I want to see this,” she purrs as I push Becca’s short red dress up and rip her lacy panties off. I’m in such a frenzy, I almost forget a very important thing.

“Fuck! Do either of you have any condoms?”

Lola pulls one out of her black bra and slides it on for me. My body is trembling as she does and I look at Becca’s ass, riding up in the air, waiting for me.

With the condom on, I pull Lola up and kiss her hard. “Go upstairs, the first door to the left is my bedroom. In the drawer, next to my bed is a box of condoms bring them down. You’re next!”

She giggles and runs off to fetch the things that will make this frustration leave my body. I turn back to the waiting Becca and run my hands over her pristine ass. Then plunge my cock into her and relish how it feels to be inside of a woman again.

Over and over I thrust until I feel the ache inside of me turn into ecstasy and find myself shouting and growling with the release. Panting, I lean over her body and let myself complete the act.

Lola comes back with the condoms just as I pull out of Becca and find myself a bit weak with the amount of fluid that’s left my body. “I’m going to grab a bottle of water and be right back. Do either of you want anything?”

Both of their heads shake as they begin to undress one another and I head off to the bar in the next room. My body feels only a little bit less tense and I know it will take the rest of the night to rid me of all the tension the last week has given me.

Taking the cold bottle of water from the mini-fridge, I gulp it down in three large gulps. The girls’ giggling stops and I find myself wondering why.

“Who the hell are you two?” I hear a deep female voice ask and I know it’s Camilla.

My mind freezes as I have no idea what I should do. Then my brain goes into overdrive, sending my ass flying through room after room to get up to mine and put some clothes on.

Why did I let this happen?

What will she do?

I make it to my bedroom and haul ass to the bathroom to clean myself then run to the dresser and put on underwear and shorts and a shirt. Then I pace back and forth as I scratch my head and wonder what the fuck I’m supposed to say or act like.

She and I have not said we’re exclusive, that’s a fact. I didn’t ask her to come over here, another fact. She could’ve taken care of my needs but she refused to, yet another fact!

With such facts on my side, why is my entire body shaking? Why am I acting like the men I’ve made fun of countless times who are married and dabbling at the parties?

I am not married and not even in a relationship!

So why do I feel this way…

Chapter 6

CAMILLA

“Cyprian!” I shout as I hold his used condom between two fingers. It has been tied up and is nearly full of his semen.

The women are quickly pulling on what little clothes they had on. “His father sent us. It’s not his fault,” the blonde says.

“Oh yeah?” I ask as she seems very nervous. “I think it may have been his fault that he fucked one of you. Is that all he’s done so far?”

The blonde jerks her head toward the dark-haired woman. “She gave him a blowjob.”

“Shut the fuck up, Becca,” the one she called Lola, hisses at her. “This must be the woman he said he was seeing.”

“So, he told you he was seeing someone and you fucked him anyway?” I ask then shake my head. “No, don’t even bother to answer that. He should’ve never done it. It’s not your fault. You’re paid to do this, I suppose.”

“Yes, yes we were. His father pays a lot of us to come to his parties for the weekend and we’re expected to come on really strong to the men. It’s our job,” Becca says.

“I see that. Please, leave him to me,” I say as I escort them to the door. A long black car is waiting outside and I guess it’s for them.

Lola looks over her shoulder and asks, “For future reference, is he going to be a free man again? I mean, just in case his father tries to send us out to him again. We don’t like to get into any kind of altercations with pissed off girlfriends or wives.”

“He will be a free man.” I shut the door and go to find Cyprian. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

He’s obviously in hiding and afraid to face me. I stop at the restroom just outside the entry room and drop the used condom in the wastebasket and give my hands a good washing.

I have no idea what got into me when I saw it. I just reached down and picked it up. It was right next to a torn pair of red panties I suppose belonged to the girl in the red dress.

As I continue my journey to find Cyprian, I see the tray of chocolate chip cookies I made for him, on the floor where I dropped them, and shudder at what I found when I got here.

Two naked women, kissing and touching each other. Cyprian’s clothes spread from the entry room to the next room. The fireplace lit up, making romantic glows and, finally, the used condom and panties on the floor, amongst his shirt and the women’s clothes and shoes.

I figure he’s hiding in his bedroom, so I make my way to it and find the door is locked. “Afraid of me, Cyprian?”

I hear the door unlock and he pulls me into his arms. “Thank God, you’re here. I wanted to call you but my cell phone was in my pants and they managed to get those off me. I finally got away from them and ran up here to lock myself away from them. My father sent them. I had no idea. I swear it!”

Pushing his chest, I make him let me go. “So, you were raped?”

“Raped? No,” he says as he steps back. “Molested is a better word.”

“Those little women molested you, Cyprian?” I ask. “Perhaps we should report the incident?”

“No, my father sent them.” He looks at me with a sheepish expression.

“But you allowed them to do to you what they did and you fucked one of them. They told me everything,” I say as I cross my arms in front of me. “And, just so you know, one of them asked me if you would still be in a relationship, the way you told them you were, any longer. I told her, no.”

“We aren’t in one. I just said that to try to get them to leave me alone. They seduced me, Cami! They both took a hold of me and pulled me into the house and had me undressed before I knew what was happening. One kissed me while the other took me into her mouth. I was blindsided by all the sexual stimulation. I couldn’t help myself. You have to understand!”

“I have to understand that two women that small could make you do all that? I have to understand you lost yourself in the sexual desire for them?” I stop and shake my head. “Today was one of the best days I’ve ever had. It was, hands down, the best date I’ve ever been on. You were wonderful. Affectionate, funny, cute, sweet, lovable, and it was all a lie.”

“It wasn’t a lie, Cami! It was real. It was the most real thing I’ve ever done in my life. Being with you, I feel more of a person than I ever have. I’ve felt like a robot, going through the motions, most of the time. Sex is exactly what you said it was, mechanical. An act. Much like any other act that requires a bodily function where you expel bodily fluids. That’s how I think about it.”

“Oh, so what you did down there was just like when you take a shit. You find a toilet, any one will do, and you release yourself into it. Then you flush it all away and no one should even worry about what you just did. It was a bodily function, everyone has to do, in order to live. Is that pretty much how you think about what you just did?”

He sits on the bed and looks up at the ceiling. “Pretty much.”

“You will never be the man for me. You will never be what I need in my life. And I think it’s better I figured that out before I fell head over heels in love with you, Cyprian. Because I could fall so easily for you. Thank you for fucking those girls, minutes after our date ended. Thank you very much for bringing to light that you are not a man I want in my life.”

I turn to walk away but he stops me as he asks, “Why were you over here in the first place?”

I turn back to him with eyes full of tears. “I was bringing you a plate of cookies. I wanted us to share a couple of them and a glass of milk then I was going to leave you with another goodnight kiss.” I turn away again.

His hand on my shoulder stops me. He turns me to him but I can’t look at his handsome face. It’s just too hard. “Cami, I need sex. I need it. You don’t seem to understand me. If I give you the commitment you need, will you give me the sex I need? Then we can make this work. I do care about you and I do love spending time with you. You are my most favorite person and if I lost you…”

“You already have,” I tell him before he can say anything else. “I will not be holding you to me with a sexual rope. I will not be held to you with a commitment that doesn’t involve love. I cannot trust you, Cyprian.”

“I go all week without sex. On the weekends, I’ve had an abundance of it for twenty years, Cami! You cannot expect me to go cold turkey, with no idea when I will get to feel the inside of a woman again. When I’ll get to feel, soft breasts, pressed against my chest. When I’ll get to feel sweet lips on me. You can’t begin to understand my needs. I have them too, Camilla.”

“I cannot change my entire way of thinking, just so you can get off. I don’t have sex, I make love. You don’t have real feelings about anything or anyone. Any woman will do for you to relieve yourself in. I can’t handle that. Sorry, Cyprian. You’re asking for more than I can give you.”

I pull away from him and leave him in his bedroom. I’m not trying to punish him or manipulate him in any way. I am merely trying to keep myself from getting hurt any more by him.

Making my way down the stairs, I let myself out of the house and get into my car and drive all the way to the gate before the waterfall of tears overtakes me.

Why does he have to be so damn corrupted…?

Chapter 1

CYPRIAN