Allure of Temptation

5: Not My Mother's Friend

Audrey

At that moment, I felt the air evaporate from my lungs. The cool air suddenly felt too hot to breathe in as his eyes lingered on Dante’s hand resting on my waist for what seemed like eternity. I maintained an awkward smile, heart racing as I subtly pulled away from Dante to lean in to Meredith for a hug.

“So nice to see you, Love. How are you? Hope you’re enjoying the party?” I said in one breath, my voice pitch too high and too wrong. My eyes flickered toward Matteo, who was now standing behind his mother, and his whole attention was now on me.

It became all too difficult to breathe. Ran into him for the first time in years last night and now I had ran into him again.

“Oh, please,” Meredith waved, unimpressed. “We just arrived. The music is a bore, but the wine does taste great.” She turned to her son, “Matteo, come, let me introduce you once again to Audrey, my very special friend. I'm sure you should remember her. She was at your graduation. And that's her husband, Dante.”

“I’m sure everybody in the country knows we're friends, Meredith,” I still couldn't keep the fake chirpness out of my voice as Matteo crossed over in slow slides, eyes slowly raking over my body in a way that made heat pool in the wrong part of me. He didn't spare a glance at Dante.

“Of course, I remember her,” he said slowly, and I could have sworn he was thinking about last night, “but it wouldn't hurt to do a reintroduction. May I?” He held out his hand.

I froze before I slowly held out my palms. “Of course,” I whispered.

His lips brushed them lightly, head raised and eyes locked on mine. I instinctively pulled back and moved closer to Dante. Matteo’s eyes followed me, and he nodded curtly at Dante.

‘Pleasure to meet you.”

“Same, kiddo,” he grinned. I recoiled at his tone, and I had to mask my displeasure when he smacked Matteo on the back like one would smack a toddler in greeting. Matteo maintained an impassive expression throughout.

“I'm sure you have some catching up to do. I'll leave you to it.” He announced and I tilted my face towards him with the hope that he'd get the hint to giver a chaste kiss on my cheeks before he leaves. He doesn’t. He just walked away, and when I looked up, Matteo was looking at me with an impassive expression.

But I could tell he saw what happened. I could tell that he witnessed my embarrassment.

I covered it up with a tight smile, already mentally plotting how to excuse myself, but Meredith had launched into a random conversation about an old friend who just married her fourth husband. I had to pretend to be into the conversation and to give exaggerated reactions when all I wanted was to leave and never see Matteo again.

“I'm surprised you're still here, Matteo. Don't you have a knack for abandoning me at parties to pursue girls?”

“Come on, Mom. I never do that.”

“Oh, please, we both know you do that. But I'm not complaining. I just need you to settle down with one of them and give me a grandchild. Isn't that right, Audrey? Don't you think he should be thinking of settling down now?”

“Ehem,” I coughed awkwardly and picked a glass of red wine from a server to save myself from having to reply.

“Just go away,” she told her son, whose eyes hadn't left mine for a minute since they arrived, “I'm having a girls' talk with my friend.”

“Alright, Mom,” he kissed the side of her forehead before turning to me, eyes resting briefly on my cleavage before moving upwards, and I could see the clear hunger in them, “See you around, Audrey.”

He said my name in the exact tone he used when he was slapping my ass and f*****g me from behind into the mat. And for a couple of minutes after he left, all I could think of was his d**k stretching me out, filling me up, eliciting different wanton sounds from me while his mother talked about things I couldn't concentrate on.

Meredith and I eventually got dragged into different duos and trips, and even though we were away from each other, I could feel Matteo’s eyes on me all evening. I avoided running into him, but the minute I went to use the restroom and came back out, he was waiting for me right by the entrance. I made a move to walk past him, but he grabbed my wrist and held me back.

“Audrey.”

“Matteo, hi.” I tried to keep my voice light, “Didn't see you there.”

He exhaled a quiet laugh, “Come on, Audrey, are we going to pretend last night didn't happen?”

“Yes, that's what we're going to do. Pretend it didn't happen because it shouldn't have happened.”

He nodded, and I exhaled, thinking he was going to be reasonable until he raised his hand to massage my hair slowly, “but it did happen, Audrey. You came on my c**k multiple times. You can't just undo that.”

What? My mouth dropped open as I looked around in panic. The vast open doors that led to the party were right in front of us. Anybody could walk past us, anybody could be in the restroom, and they could have overheard him.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Matteo?” I gritted out, “You don't get to talk to me like that. I'm your mother's friend. We're basically agemates. You should accord me respect.”

A muscle twitched in his jaw as his expression darkened slightly, “No, I'm not going to talk to you like you're my mother's friend. I'm going to talk to you like you're the woman I slept with last night and have every intention of sleeping with again.”

I had to face palm. I just had to.

“Apart from being your mother's friend, I'm a married woman too, you know.”

“Ohh,” he grinned as he folded his hands over his chest and leaned against the wall, “breaking news.”

I sighed, “Well, I apologize for last night. I'm the adult, and I should know better than to allow something like that to happen.”

He straightened up and opened his mouth to talk, like he was offended by what I just said, but I held up a palm to stop him.

“It's not going to happen again, and you're not allowed to bring this up again. I'm leaving now, and you're not going to follow me. Whenever we see each other again, I'm just going to be your mother's friend to you, okay?”

I didn't wait for his reply. I just turned on my heels and walked away. There was no sign of Dante in the hall, and even though I wanted to forget him and get lost in the wine and conversations, I needed to see him so we'd leave.

So I looked for him until I found him down the hallway, which was a bit far from the main hall. But he wasn't alone. He was with a lady, and his back was to me while the woman's front was to me. I recognized her to be Danielle Jones, the heiress to Luxe Enterprise and a sleazy b***h, with her hands lightly on his arm. Dante’s face, the side view I could get, was animated in a way I hadn’t seen him look at me in years. She giggled like a stupid schoolgirl when he whispered into her ear as I moved quietly closer.

Dante’s tone dropped, slick and confident as I catch his last words, ”We can’t have it all, can we?”

Danielle Jones laughs too eagerly, ”Poor Audrey! I always knew there was something wrong with her.”

Dante nodded in agreement, ”So what do you say? I’d like to see you again,” he licks his lips suggestively, ”somewhere quieter.”

The implication is obviously not lost on me. My stomach knots into a twist. At that point, Danielle Jones catches me watching, her eyes immediately gleaming. A triumphant smirk glowed on her face as she reciprocated his actions.

”Why don't we just go for a quick one now?” She pulled him in with his tie and, with eyes still fixed on me, Danielle Jones kissed my husband.

They continued kissing. Loudly and disgustingly. It grew, and Dante grabbed her ass, squeezing the cheeks as they fumbled and tumbled against the wall.

My eyes burned. Tears threatened to spill over. I couldn't watch anymore, so I turned back.

Matteo was there, fists clenched, eyes blazing red and fury barely contained as he stared at the kissing duo.