Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 157175 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157175 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
‘You didn’t,’ I assure her on a small smile.
‘Oh, thank God,’ she breathes, her hand coming up to her chest. ‘Finding out I’m married with kids is enough to wrap my brain around, without the added knowledge that I was a kinky bitch.’
I laugh at her evident relief. ‘Oh, you’re kinky, lady. And in a whole league of your own.’
‘What do you mean?’ Her cheeks flush. I haven’t seen embarrassment on my wife for years. It still looks good on her.
I relish the sight, leaning in to her to get close. ‘You’re a teasing temptress, baby. A savage when you want to be.’
‘A savage?’
‘Biting. Clawing.’ I smile a little at her growing shock. ‘Screaming, really loud. We’re fucking perfect together.’
Her blush gets even brighter, her eyes darting away from mine. ‘Oh.’
I chuckle at her prudishness. ‘Well, this is a strange sight.’
‘What is?’
‘My wife being all shy and reserved.’
‘Well, it’s not every day you find out your husband owned a glamorous sex club.’
‘It’s not every day your wife forgets who you are,’ I reply, with no hurt or harshness behind my words. It’s just a factual statement. ‘We’re both out of our comfort zone here, Ava.’
She looks at me in quiet contemplation. ‘Why do I get the feeling that I’m about to experience something incredible?’
I smile and take her hand, helping her down from the stool. ‘Because you are. Because our story is truly incredible. Come on.’ I find the manager and have a quiet word while Ava stands in the entrance hall, staring up the sweeping staircase to the balcony landing. Just watching her there, taking everything in, looking so out of place, brings back so many memories. It’s sweetly reminiscent, if a little painful. The sight is beautiful, but the feelings are ugly. I don’t have the all-consuming intrigue and awe swirling within me like I did back then. I have anxiety instead.
I join Ava and stare up to the first floor, too. The doors off the landing are all closed – doors to guests’ hotel rooms, as opposed to doors that lead to hours of pleasure.
‘This way,’ I whisper in her ear, making her jump a little. I hold my hand out and smile when she takes it, walking us leisurely though what was The Manor. When we hit the ballroom, which is now a huge restaurant with a terrace onto the golf course, I look back, trying not to hope too much that any of this is familiar to her. It’s a long shot, since it’s so very different from how I remember it. ‘Our wedding breakfast was in this room,’ I say over my shoulder, leading her through the scattering of tables.
‘Please tell me you sold this place before we got married.’
‘I can’t.’ I return my attention forward, smiling when she sighs. My smile stretches when I spot an elaborate spray of flowers in a huge glass vase with bursts of every colour imaginable. I divert us to the table where it stands and scan the bouquet, spotting what I’m looking for. There’s only one. But it doesn’t matter. I only need one. I pluck the calla from the middle and turn, handing it to Ava.
She’s unsure as she reaches for it, eyes flicking from me to the flower. ‘It’s beautiful.’
I smile mildly and pull her on. ‘Understated elegance,’ I say over my shoulder, relishing the beam she gives me in return. ‘They’re your favourite flowers.’
‘Since when?’
‘Since the day you met me,’ I tell her as we approach my office door, thinking I was quite romantic back then after all. I look up at the solid wooden door, my mind bombarded with so many memories, the most poignant and important being the first time that Ava O’Shea wandered in. I remember it like it could have been yesterday. I was hung-over. Grumpy. Wishing I didn’t have to endure the mundane meeting with an interior designer. Then John showed her in, and all headaches and irritability were forgotten. Instant intrigue, desire, and want replaced them. ‘Wait here,’ I order lightly, dropping her hand and opening the door, stepping into the vortex of memories.
Her head cranes around me, trying to see into the office. ‘Wait?’
‘I want you to wait one minute and then knock on the door.’
She laughs a little. ‘Why?’
‘Because that’s how it was when we met.’ I shut the door and spin around, taking in my office. ‘Really?’ I ask thin air. What the fuck have they done to it? I rush across to the corner and drag the desk to where it should be. I haven’t got time to rearrange the entire space to replicate what it was all those years ago, so this will have to do. I hear a knock and fall into the chair, quickly rolling up the sleeves of my shirt and roughing up my hair a little. ‘Come in,’ I call, grabbing a pen and jotting something down on a pad to the side. The sound of the door opening fills the office, and I look up to find she’s poked her head around the door.