Authors: Romance Novels Publishing
“My job doesn’t define me. I am simply Lester. If I have been dishonest about anything I’ve said so far, by all means, gouge my heart right now.”
Barbara laughed. “You know, personally, I really don’t care. I guess Linda is feeling protective of me since she’s now ‘happily married.’ The biggest joke of all is that her husband, Max? Is a total sneak. A ghoul, really.”
“Oh really?” Lester asked, raising his brow.
“Well, yeah. I thought you knew him?”
“Well, we share business acquaintances. I don’t really claim to know the man’s personal, secretive qualities. From what I know of him, he acts honorably.”
“Well, I guess I know him better than you do. I know for a fact he lives a double life. He pretends to be something he’s not. He’s completely dishonest.”
“Oh, I see,” Lester said, a bit disturbed.
“So,” Barbara continued, rolling her eyes. “So it’s actually pretty ridiculous for her of all people, trying to tell me who to stay away from. Since she’s marrying the biggest liar this side of the city.”
“So…you think she wants me to stay away from you?”
“Probably,” she said meeting his eyes. “But I think maybe my own sister doesn’t know me. She thinks I should be like her. To want romance, to want a fairy tale happy ending with a big wedding. But to be honest…I don’t really know if that’s me.”
“And what do you want?”
She took another gulp of her champagne glass. “Maybe I don’t want anything. See, I know who you are, Lester.” She sneered and stared into his curious eyes. “I know what you are.”
“You do?”
“And I’m okay with it. But just know…you’re not seducing anybody. I can be a party girl too.”
She poured herself another half glass and swished it down.
“Sometimes I just need a few drinks to get started.” She laughed bawdily and tapped him on the shoulder.
Lester frowned for a moment before forcing a smile on his face. “Well, my beautiful friend. Maybe that is the difference between you and I, your type and mine. I don’t need a drink just to think you’re beautiful. I don’t need a drink to speak my feelings honestly.”
He smiled tightly, closed-lipped, as if offended at Barbara’s speech. Barbara squinted in confusion as Lester nodded, excusing himself. She watched him walk away to Max, and felt her tummy aching with regret. She had offended him? Since when are players like Lester so fragile? Or was this just a ploy?
Before she could walk over to him, she was ambushed by the flushing red bride, who had enjoyed a few drinks herself. “Hey baby sis.”
“Baby sis? I’m older than you.”
“Ohhh right!” Linda cackled. “Hey listen…” she said invading Barbara’s space, and breathing her champagne breath all over her face.
“What?” Barbara said, moving her nose and mouth to the side.
“I really want you to be careful of that guy. That weird guy over there.”
Barbara looked over at Lester, who was talking to Max and his friends, but who seemed distracted. He glanced over at Barbara for a moment, before returning his eyes back to Max who was making his own drunken toast.
“What about him?”
“He’s bad news. In fact, I really think he’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous? Like a criminal?”
“Yeah. Like that. I know Max is a good person…”
“Are you sure?”
Linda giggled. “Yes, don’t you like him?”
Barbara turned her head back. “Well…”
“Of course you do. But what I mean is, I think Max hangs out with questionable people. And I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Trust me sis,” she said with a smile. “I’m not as weak as you think I am.”
“I’m just saying!”
Barbara left Linda to her champagne and walked over to Max, dragging him by the arm and stealing him away from the boy talk.
“Hey now,” he said, keeping a straight face. “Who said I wanted to leave that conversation and talk to you?”
“Because, dark stranger. You think I’m beautiful, don’t you?”
“Yes I do.”
“And so, you’re more interested in me.”
“You’re lucky I am into you, or else that would have been very rude.”
Barbara laughed and blushed, her milky white skin with just a tinge of red making Lester’s pupils dilate and his mouth water.
“You want to get out of here?” Lester asked, dismissing the wedding reception as the vapid mess that everyone knew it was. “Let’s take a walk. There’s nothing as refreshing as a forest walk on a dark knight.”
“You want me to walk with you?” she asked in smiling suspicion.
“If you think I’m bad news, you can always scream. And I’ll stay three yards ahead of you to give you a running start.”
Her eyes looked away in hesitation but returned in confidence. “Yeah, okay. I don’t trust you…but I can handle you.”
“I have no doubt that you could.”
Lester stuck his bent arm and stuck it outward, welcoming Barbara as his date. She took his arm and smiled.
They walked through the forest and felt a slight chill in the air which only seemed to draw them closer together, her skin barely grazing the edges of his suit, their body heat so close and yet so far away from joining.
“So you’re still not going to tell me anything else about yourself? You’re just Lester the Mysterious Man, no past, no history?”
“Sure, we’ll go with that.”
“Why?” she said with a laugh. “And you really expect me to believe you’re not a player?”
“Player? What is a player?”
“For real?” She asked, hands on hips and head bobbing.
“Uh…what I do for a living. I suppose if I had to describe it on a resume, I am an adventurer.”
“Really? You get paid to what?”
“I don’t get paid. I have an estate to manage. I live off the estate. But I am what you might call a frugal spender. I go out on adventures. Looking for…”
He stared at her for a long moment. “Looking for investments. You see? Boring stuff.”
“See, why didn’t you just say that? Geez, you guys can be so secretive. I’ll show you how easy it is. My name’s Barbara Uppers. I work in the library. I have dreams of becoming an actress and my hobby is definitely crossword puzzles. See how easy it is? Now is my life boring?”
“No, no, it isn’t.”
“See?”
“But only because such mundane details are coming from such a beautiful creature’s mouth.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, I don’t mean to sound haughty. But the library is not your dream, is it? Your hobby is not your passion. Tell me about your dreams. That’s what I find the most fascinating. Because a person’s dream is where their heart lies.”
She stared at him a long moment, not sure if she was repulsed, attracted or both. “Okay, smart ass. My dream is acting. Because the truth is, I hate being myself. What I want most in life is to be someone else. To live a fairy tale life, far away. And for your information, I do love books. Because they transport me to another world.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Lester said with a grinning nod. “Now I can see and feel the passion in you, rising up, popping out of your…”
He looked down at her tight bridesmaid dress, squeezing her big breasts together mercilessly, and lost his train of thought. “…your…head.” He cleared his throat and looked away, for once showing a glimmer of nervousness.
“Hey,” Barbara said, pushing forward and meeting his eyes. “Okay, Mister Mystery Man. You tell me what your dream is. Since managing an estate and investing sounds pretty damned boring to me.”
“My dream?” he asked with a morbid brooding voice a face to match. “My dream is to share my life with someone. Do you have any idea what it’s like…to be alone? To be so ahead of civilization, and yet, so far removed from the people you live with?”
His frown and furled brow softened into an evil little sneer. “Do you know what it’s like to have so much, to experience so many lifetimes of adventure, but to have no one to share it with? And then…do you know what it’s like to meet someone so right, so perfectly delectable, so beautiful and soft to the touch, that as soon as you meet them, all you really want to do is hug them and say ‘Where have you been all my life? We have…so much catching up to do.’”
What started as a sarcastic grin on Barbara’s face weakened into a curious gaze.
“Kiss me,” he said, staring deep into her entranced eyes. “Kiss me and remind me of what it’s like to feel joy.”
He moved into kiss her and she slowly tilted her head, eager to please, and a bit flattered—never before had anyone said that her kiss would give them reason to live, a reason for joy. The kiss was nothing short of red-hot flames and a black void of despair that seemed to strike whenever she thought about letting go. All of this felt right. It felt much deeper than a sexy fling. More intense than even the last pseudo serious relationship she wasted so much time on. Whatever this man was…it was beautiful. Intense. And just what she wanted—the opposite of every man who just feigned like for the most superficial of pleasures.
His lips were warm, soothing, better than balm, as pressed their skin together. The inside of his mouth was fresh, minty, and the swirls of flavor seemed to reach inside as if massaging her heart. He created in her a traveling spark that shot up her spine to her chest to the tingling top of her skull. The kiss itself, the bonding of their cheeks, seemed more intense than a hard fucking—definitely better than the last three flings she allowed herself to have in hopes of boosting her ego. But when Lester Lincoln kissed her, her ego, her entire id, seemed to grow.
She let go of the kiss gradually and almost became teary-eyed at the sensation of stopping—as if the life force breathing in new hopes and dreams were lost.
“Oh my…Lester. If you’re a player…you sure know what you’re doing.”
He laughed quietly. “You keep using that word. I don’t understand what it means.”
“You know, you’re probably right. Whatever you are…” she said, holding her head in dizziness, “You’re not like all the others. They don’t make them like you anymore.”
“That is safe to say,” he said, with that devilish, knowing grin. “Barbara…”
“Uh huh…” she said, her voice cracking in heat, her eyes this close to forcing herself on him.
“What if there was a way for you to live the dream? Instead of the mundane reality? What if I could transport you to a world, like the one in books? Take you away from here on an adventure?”
She laughed, blushed and started taking deeper, throatier breaths. “I’d say you’re full of shit...first reaction. But if you’re for real, there’s nothing keeping me here, Dark Handsome Stranger.”
He hugged her a second time, bringing his wine-like lips, so sweet and just moist enough to welcome her close. She kissed him this time, sucking in his lips, first the top then bottom, and melding their mouths together. His tongue entered her mouth, tasting like champagne itself, slightly chilled and every bit as intoxicating as an entire bottle of that cheap wedding wine.
Lester took a deep whiff of Barbara and it sent him into a shiver. Her skin was the ideal temperature, a smell of pure sugary decadence. In weakness, he slid his lips further from her lips and down to her chin and neck.
“Uhhhh…” Barbara moaned, her neck coming alive and sending little panic signals all over her body. For a moment, he just inhaled her scent. He hugged her with his arms, bringing her closer. Like a connoisseur of wine, he whiffed first, pushing his lips side to side against the contours of her flesh—from her hot-blooded neck to the cooler mounds of her shoulders.
“I love your skin,” he whispered softly, but with an odd face of pain that Barbara didn’t see.
“Then touch me. Touch me where you want…” Barbara whispered, craving the touch of his hands, ready to let the seducer do anything that tickled his fancy.
Lester stared intently into her eyes, her weakening gaze with eyes still tightly locked into his, so alluring, so nourishing. He continued looking at her, as the folds of her dress shifted.
Barbara let out an excited gasp, as her dress was lifted from her ankles, his out-of-signt hand undoubtedly adventuring across her mounds, crevices and curves.
“Ohhhhh…mmmmmhmmm!” Barbara cried, trying to keep her voice down as the party went on less than 50 yards away. She said nothing, nor did he, and she didn’t even see where his hand went. But her eyes told the story. She writhed side to side, as his hand pleasured her.
As she began shaking in excitement, he hugged her tightly with his other arm, forcing her to stay still as he continued exploring her moist, warm secret spot.
“Don’t stop…” she cried, eyeing only the ground below, his eyes too intense to stare at, less she come right then and there.
“I want to make love to you,” he whispered. “Right here. Right now.”
“Mmmm-hmmm…” she whined, biting her lip down, ashamed of how close she was to orgasming so soon.
“Look at me.”
“No…”
“I said look at me.”