‘Believe it or not, I wanted to go for a tasteful colour scheme in silver and gold, not pink for a change, but Cal and Honey got there first. And you can blame them for the Santa and snowman outside. We’ve already had a letter from one of the neighbours accusing us of lowering the tone. Honestly! Where’s their Christmas spirit?’ Angel stopped and looked at her sister. ‘Everything OK with you?’ she carried on. ‘You look great by the way. Are you using a different foundation?’
No idea! Maybe it was the mention of Sean’s name
…
Angel was too busy rifling through her bag to check she had the plane tickets to pursue the matter. And after a hasty goodbye, she, Cal and Honey were off on their festive adventure.
This was weird, Tiffany reflected as she carried her suitcase up to the guest bedroom. She wondered where Sean was going to be sleeping. And where he was. Just the thought of seeing him was making her nervous. How was she going to feel when they came face to face?
An hour later, when it was already dark at four o’clock, he arrived. Tiffany was in the kitchen making a cup of tea when he walked in. He was wrapped up against the cold in a black coat and sheepskin aviator hat.
‘Hi, Tiffany.’ He seemed surprised to find her alone.
As surprised as she was to find herself alone with him
. ‘Where is everyone?’
‘They’ve gone away for a night; some last-minute
trip.
They’ll be back tomorrow night. I don’t know why they didn’t tell me, I’d have stayed up in London.’ She was having difficulty making eye contact.
‘It is strange they didn’t tell us.’
Strange or unfortunate because he was deprived of more time with Erin?
‘Oh, well,’ he added, ‘you’ll just have to put up with me.’
Tiffany managed to look up at his face and Sean was actually smiling. He was probably just being polite. Well, she wasn’t going to hang around while he made small talk and was nice to the boss’s sister.
‘I’m going to get on with wrapping up some presents.’ And she took her mug of tea and marched upstairs. Honestly! This was a great start to her Christmas holiday.
Not
.
She wrapped up all her presents – a gorgeous red Swarovski crystal clutch bag in the shape of a pair of lips for Angel; the original poster of
Diamonds Are Forever
for Cal – the only Bond film poster he was missing. She’d spent a lot of money on Cal and Angel but she figured she hadn’t paid them rent, so it was a way of saying thank you. She’d bought Honey a Hello Kitty suitcase; for Jez a midnight blue velvet Alexander McQueen scarf; and for Rufus a wok, which sounded boring but apparently was what he wanted. And nothing, she realised, for Sean, as she hadn’t even known he would be here! She’d have to nip to the shops one last time. Though quite what she would get him …
Tiffany flopped down on the bed and checked her messages. Nothing. She texted Jez, asking him if he’d known that she was going to be alone with Sean. He didn’t reply, which was unlike Jez as he was constantly checking his messages.
There was a knock at the door. She quickly sat up and smoothed down her hair. ‘Come in.’
Sean opened the door. ‘I’ve lit a fire in the living room and wondered if you wanted to have a glass of wine? That’s if you’re not on the wagon after the party.’ He smiled. His second of the day, it must be some kind of record for him. And it had been a very long time since Sean had bantered with her. Maybe he felt he could because he had the security of knowing he was with Erin?
Tiffany frowned. ‘No, I’m not on the wagon. I wasn’t
that
bad.’
‘You were quite bad. I think you might have mentioned a threesome,’ Sean teased.
Yes, teased her. What was going on!
Her threesome comment still had the power to embarrass her, and she was uncomfortably aware of her cheeks flushing. ‘You must have imagined it.’ She got up off the bed.
‘I promise you, I didn’t. And coming from someone with that angel outfit on, it was quite an offer.’
She was standing in front of him without her heels on. He towered over her and she had a sudden longing to throw her arms around him, to bury her face in his shoulder. Who was she kidding? She wanted to do so much more than that.
‘I’ll have that glass of wine if it’s going,’ she said primly. ‘Just give me five minutes.’
Talk about sending out the wrong message!
‘Wine coming right up. I’ve checked and there’s no randy reindeers to make me jealous.’
He was definitely flirting!
She waited until he’d left before hastily brushing her hair and putting on another layer of mascara, and spraying on some Coco Mademoiselle.
This is a drink between friends, she told herself as she looked in the mirror. Just friends
…
*
The living room looked very cosy and inviting with a fire flickering in the fireplace, and Sean had lit candles on the mantelpiece. There was a smaller, slightly more tasteful Christmas tree in the corner and the fairy lights glowed off and on. Tiffany sat at one end of the sofa and sipped her red wine. Sean sat at the other. It suddenly felt very intimate, almost like a date. Or was it her imagination, reading a deeper meaning where there was none? Where Sean was concerned, she felt her intuition had deserted her.
‘Why aren’t you spending Christmas with your girlfriend?’ Tiffany came straight out with her question.
‘I don’t have a girlfriend.’ A pause. ‘We broke up just before I came back from LA.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’
She wasn’t
.
‘I saw that Raul Garcia got engaged. Are you OK about that?’
‘I’m totally, one hundred percent completely OK about it. I’m happy for him. He’s a good bloke. Just not for me.’
‘I thought you liked him. He had everything going for him.’
Was that a teeny-tiny note of jealousy she could detect in his tone?
‘He did, but we just didn’t have a connection.’ A pause, then: ‘Why did you break up with Erin?’
‘Probably similar reasons to you and Raul. And she could tell that I was thinking about someone else.’
Tiffany held her breath.
‘Oh?’ She wasn’t going to make this easy for him. ‘Who’s that then?’
Now Sean was gazing at her. ‘Do you seriously not know? It’s you Tiffany. I can’t stop thinking about you. And now I’ve finally got the chance to tell you how I feel.’
‘As your friend?’
‘No. I don’t want to be your friend. That was such a stupid thing to say.’
One slip and she felt he would be lost to her, this man, this gorgeous, infuriating, kind, sexy man with whom she had fallen in love. He would go. And she’d be lost. She knew that now.
He moved closer to her, ‘Tiffany, I need to know. Is there any chance you might feel the same about me?’
The butterflies were fluttering wildly inside her as she struggled with her emotions. Desire, longing, fear that it was all going to go wrong again … The moment seemed to require a leap of faith. She reached out and lightly touched his face. ‘Of course I feel the same way. You idiot!’
‘Who are you calling an idiot!’ And in one fluid movement he took her in his arms and kissed her.
She curled her arms around his neck as she kissed him back. Such a soft, gentle kiss at first, as if they were unsure of each other and of themselves. And then the kiss became deeper as they let their passion go. Sparks of lust were exploding inside her at the feel of him against her.
‘D’you think maybe we could go upstairs?’ she murmured, when they caught their breath. She gestured at the CCTV camera in the corner of the room.
‘Don’t worry. I disabled it. But yes, upstairs would be good.’
He shut the bedroom door behind them and they practically fell on the bed together, tugging off each other’s clothes. He kissed her again, deep, hard, hungry kisses that made her burn for him, then she was slipping off his boxers, caressing him, thrilling at the feel of his body against hers and didn’t think she had ever been this turned on … she was longing for him to touch her, longing to touch him. She slid her hands under his tee-shirt, felt his smooth, warm skin. He felt
so
good, just as she’d remembered. Strong, solid, warm … She kissed the dragon tattoo, wanted to kiss every part of him. She couldn’t get enough of him.
He pushed her tee-shirt up, caressed her breasts. She gasped as his lips took over, sucking and kissing her nipples in a way which turned her on so much, and then he was caressing her between her legs, where she was already melting, circling, teasing her.
‘You’re so beautiful,’ he murmured, ‘I want you so much.’
He touched her slowly, sensuously, as if he had all the time in the world and wanted only to please her. She surrendered to his touch, gasping as the exquisite waves of orgasm rocked through her. She ran her hands over his muscular chest, his rock-hard abs, dared to go lower.
It was his turn to gasp as she touched him. All she wanted to do was please, pleasure, this beautiful man. She had never felt so powerful … but then he pulled her back to him, and she lay down, knowing what he wanted … what they both wanted … and it was every bit as a good as she had anticipated. Oh, yes, Sean had staying power. She felt connected, close, caught up in him … every movement of their bodies bringing them closer … until he came and called out her name.
‘No regrets?’ Tiffany said afterwards.
‘Only that I was stupid enough to say I couldn’t see you months ago.’ He lay back on the pillow. ‘If only you knew how much I’ve wanted you all this time! What it was like seeing you with Raul …’ He pulled her on top of him, so that they were gazing into each other’s eyes. ‘I’ve wanted you for so long. I didn’t want to admit it, I thought it would go away, but it didn’t.’
‘What? Even when you saw me in the nightclub with
that
wanker?’ she teased, when all the while she was thrilled by his declaration.
‘Even then I fancied you like crazy, I just couldn’t believe you were with him.’
Tiffany didn’t want to bring up anything serious, just wanted to revel in lying next to Sean, but she knew she had to. ‘What are we going to do about Angel and your job?’
Sean lightly stroked her hair. ‘Tell her the truth. And if she wants me to resign, I will. I’ll get another job, I know that now. I’m thinking about starting my own business, have been for a while.’ He grinned. ‘Anyway, you’re a famous TV star, I could be your kept man.’
‘No way! I don’t want any free-loaders.’
Sean rolled over so she was underneath him. ‘Not even ones who will be your sex slave and do whatever you want?’ He dipped his head down to kiss her neck, her breasts, and kept going …
‘Hmm, I suppose I could find an opening.’ Sean definitely had staying power.
Later they lay in each other’s arms, totally blissed out.
‘This is the best Christmas present ever,’ Tiffany told him, reaching for his hand.
Now, he’ll tell me that he loves me!
She had never cared in the past whether her boyfriends told her they loved her or not. She had never been in love with them, so it hadn’t mattered. When they had told her that they were in love with her, she had always replied that she loved them, it seemed the right thing to do, but she never had been in love. And it seemed as if she might be about to get her wish as Sean said, ‘Tiffany, I’ve got something to tell you.’
But whatever that something was would have to wait as the electricity suddenly went off, plunging the room into darkness, lit only by the moonlight and by the flickering candles.
Instantly Sean got up and pulled on his jeans and jumper. ‘It’s probably the decorations tripping the system,’ he told her. ‘I’ll just go and check outside.’ And when he saw Tiffany was all set to follow him, he said, ‘Stay inside and keep warm, I won’t be long.’
For a few minutes Tiffany did as she was told, but when Sean didn’t come straight back, she started to feel anxious. She slipped on her clothes and walked cautiously out of the room.
‘Sean, are you there?’ she called out in the pitch-black hallway. No reply. He must still be outside.
Everything’s fine
, she told herself.
The house is completely secure
. She had to feel her way along the corridor and down the stairs, but once she reached the kitchen the windows let in moonlight. She shivered. Sean had left the French windows open.
Where was he?
There was a pair of Angel’s UGG boots by the door and Tiffany slipped them on, along with her aviator jacket. If Kara could only see her now, wearing UGGs which she had vowed she never would. The temperature seemed to have plummeted; it was freezing. Perhaps it would be a White Christmas, she told herself, trying to stay calm. She stepped outside. Already a hard frost was setting in. Her breath came out in white clouds.
‘Sean!’ she shouted. ‘Where are you?’
Again, there was no reply. The only sound was the gravel crunching under her boots. The drive curved to the right and when Tiffany turned the corner she saw there was something lying on the path. Oh, God! Not something, someone! She sprinted over. It was Sean, lying face down.
She kneeled beside him. ‘Sean, it’s me, Tiffany. Can you hear me?’
She quickly took off her jacket and laid it over him. He groaned and tried to move. Tiffany could see blood coming from a wound on the side of his head.
‘You have to get out of here,’ he managed to say.
‘I’m not leaving you.’ She reached for her mobile in her jacket pocket. ‘I’m calling an ambulance right now.’
‘No, call the police.’
She glanced behind her; there was no one there. With any luck the burglars, because surely that’s who they were, would be inside.
‘Operator, which service?’ asked a female voice.
Tiffany didn’t reply. A man wearing a black ski mask had a gun pointed straight at her.
‘Hang up now, and drop your phone!’
She did as she was told. The man grabbed her and pulled her roughly back into the house.
‘We can’t leave Sean outside … it’s too cold … he could die.’ Right now Tiffany wasn’t at all scared for herself. Getting Sean somewhere safe was all she could think of.
‘Shut up! Don’t tell us what to do.’
He pushed her into the kitchen where there were two other masked men.