Shades of Trust

Chapter 6-2

“Anything you feel like.”

Mr. Arkade motioned for his assistant to put the trays on the table and started sorting through them. “I have some beautiful butterfly diamond clips and necklaces.”

“Ah…nothing with butterflies, please.”

“Why not?” Ethan asked her.

She grimaced. “I don’t like them.”

“Any preference of color or gem?” Mr. Arkade asked.

“Sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds.” Ethan enumerated the gems as if they were buttons. “Do you have the new catalogue?”

Louise handed Ethan a leather covered book. “This is the latest one, sir. Of course, we have the previous. As you know Van Cleef is timeless.”

He waved her to put the other catalogues on the table as he peered through the first book. “Hmm…I’d like to see this,” he showed a page to Louise. “And the matching complements.” He turned over two more pages. “Also this set with the matching ring.” He passed some more pages and leafed back. “And this one. Come on, Sophia, take a look at the others.”

“Ethan, I’m sure I’m going to like whatever you choose,” she murmured, and drank her water, licking her lips.

He tsked and his eyes flamed, sparkling blue fire. He leaned toward her and breathed in her ear, “Do that again and I will buy you the entire shop.”

Louise returned with big black velvet trays. The first contained an exquisite set of beaded sapphires and diamonds: a remarkable necklace, earrings, and two rings. “This is the Medusa set.”

So uncomfortable she became speechless, Sophia only nodded.

“You can detach the clip and the necklace becomes all diamond. And you can use it as a tiara,” she explained it as if Sophia wouldn’t know how to do it. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Beautiful,” Sophia agreed, annoyed. He is buying your affection. And the saleswoman is treating you like an i***t.

“The Makis set, sir.” Louise gave the other tray to Ethan. On it was a stunning bracelet made of emeralds, rubellites, black spinel and diamonds with flowers, leaves, and cute tiny lemurs with matching earrings, an extraordinary clip, and a wondrous necklace. She showed Ethan the back of the clip. “And this clip, Mr. Ashford, turns into a pendant.”

“That’s it! Perfect.” He showed it to Sophia. “Do you like them?”

Of course. Who wouldn’t? “It’s a timepiece, isn’t it?” she asked Mr. Arkade, and he bobbed his head at her with a big grin on his odd face. She fingered the tiny lemur and opened the flower that covered the watch. “It’s…exquisite.”

“Put it on, Sophia,” Ethan coaxed.

I’m not selling my soul. She placed the bracelet back on the tray. God…I shouldn’t have come inside the shop. Now I’m trapped.

“Please,” he whispered in her ear.

Please? This is smothering. She frowned. Uncertain, she bit her lip and tried the least grand of the rings. If only there was something less expensive on these two trays.

“Now,” he said, and his hand cupped her chin, his thumb caressing her lip. “You like the sapphire set?”

I have to think of a way out without hurting his feelings. “I cannot accept, Ethan.”

“Choose something different, then.” His disappointment was visible on his face.

Can’t he understand? I’m not even a…fiancée, girlfriend. Whatever. She lifted her shoulders. “You can choose.” Choose something with meaning. It doesn’t matter the size or the price. It’s the meaning that’s important.

He motioned to the other trays. “Please, Sophia.”

“You don’t like them, ma’am?” Mr. Arkade’s smile waned.

Sophia took pity on the businessman. “It’s not that I don’t like them, sir. Far from it,” she murmured, and looked at Ethan. She put her hand over his. “They’re dazzling, but it’s too much. Really, there is no need.”

“You like it?” Ethan asked again, relieved.

If I choose one, I’ll look like a slut. If I let him choose and buy them all, I’ll look worse. And if I walk away empty-handed, he will be hurt. Nervous, she bit her lip and nodded.

He leaned toward her and murmured, “You’re doing it again.” He turned to Louise. “We’re taking both.”

“NO!” she shouted, surprised, and tried to reason with him. “Just the—”

He rose, completely ignoring what Sophia was about to say and concluded the purchase, “Mr. Arkade, my driver is going to come by to pick up both sets in half an hour. I expect you at my office tomorrow by ten.”

“Ethan, no.” She sat there stunned. What a mess. And you still have to thank the man.

“Louise, I see that you have good taste.” He bestowed a smile on the saleswoman, who liquefied into a puddle at his feet. “Please, add a diamond necklace for the Makis clip.”

“Of course, Mr. Ashford.” Louise ran to retrieve their coats and helped Sophia put hers on.

Ethan turned to Sophia with such a happy smile on his face that she got even more confused. “I’m so glad that you like my choices, darling. You will make them shine as no one else could ever do.”

She didn’t know if she should feel offended, and if his intentions were good but just misguided.

But as always, Sophia preferred to see the good side of people.

She rose on her tiptoes and kissed Ethan briefly on the lips. “Thank you.”

“You’re more than welcome. Now you’re only missing some watches.”

Wilkins appeared as soon as they walked out of the shop.

Ethan entered the car after her, ordering on the intercom, “Home, please, Wilkins.”

Okay, Sophia. Say it. Sophia caressed his jaw, his beard softly tickling the palm of her hand. “I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I’d rather you refrained from your purchase impulses. I don’t feel altogether at ease with so many gifts. It’s smothering me.”

He caged her face in his hands and gave her a long, overwhelming kiss that distracted her from her musings. “Baby, you’ll have to learn. It’s a fetish of mine. It arouses me to dress and pamper you,” he said huskily.

She stared at him, searching for the truth, but his eyes were shining, excited and bright. Yeah, so it seems.

“So, what am I bound to discover under this dress of yours?” His hand wandered up her thigh and his smile turned naughty.

The desire on his face awakened Sophia’s. “Aren’t we impatient today, Mr. Ashford?”

“Jesus, Sophia,” he exclaimed when his fingers touched her skin. “You turn me on like no woman ever has. I want you. Here, now.”

She froze then opened and shut her mouth twice before she could speak. “Here?”

“There’s enough room,” he said, trailing kisses along her jaw and neck. “I’ve been giving this idea some thought. Why not try it?” He raised his head to look at her and spoke on her lips, “To start with.”

The rich tone of his baritone voice washed over her. Oh. This is naughty.

He kissed her. His tongue traced her lips and dipped in her mouth, coaching, caressing, yearning.

“Ethan, we’re too near.” She looked out at the window. “We’re almost there.”

“I can order Wilkins to drive until I say so.” He moved to press the intercom.

She gripped his wrist. “No. Absolutely not.” She tried to stand her ground. “We can kiss, we can fondle, but we aren’t doing it in the car. At least, not today.”

“Okay, okay.” He put his palms up in a peaceful gesture and then picked her up in his arms and settled her on his lap. “So, Ms. Santo,” he said with a wicked smile. “Let me fondle you until the garage.”

Sophia! You and your big mouth. She started to scold herself but her thoughts scattered away as his fingers brushed aside her panties and gently touched her. She let her head fall back on the car window. “Oh.”

He shifted, angling his head to kiss her.

Her fingers threaded through his silky hair, clenching it and pulling him down for a hard kiss. She felt his arousal against her thigh as she wiggled under his expert ministrations.

He kissed her neck and her shoulder, pushing aside the top of the sleeve with his mouth and kissed the place he’d bared. He lifted his head and she thought he’d given up, but then he inhaled deeply and put the fingers he fondled her with in his mouth. And sucked.

Sophia gasped at the erotic scene and threw reason aside. “Dammit!” she exclaimed, and straddled him, her hands fumbling impatiently with his belt and zipper. She reached down and placed her hand over his tented underwear where his erection pushed against the cloth.

His deep moan filled the car as he raised his hips to push down his clothes and his mouth descended on her neck, scattering kisses along the dress’s neckline. He brushed her dress aside, his tongue dipping under and following the contouring of her bra’s lace edging.

She undid his pale-yellow tie and opened the first buttons of his shirt, putting her open mouth on his neck with her hand on his chest. His clean and masculine scent drifted from his skin turning her on even more.

He pushed down her neckline and his hand closed over her flimsy lace bra, his thumb caressing her n****e.

She gasped. Pleasure raced through her and warmth pooled between her legs as he bent his head and sucked the n****e into his mouth, tugging at it lightly with his teeth. She moaned louder, running her hands along his chest to his shoulders, and dug her fingers into his hair, scraping her nails on his scalp.

He tore his mouth away from her breast and she protested with a low sound from the back of her throat.

She opened her clear eyes to discover Ethan watching her closely.

His hand moved up under her dress, sliding over her stocking over the garter and further upward. He grabbed her tiny lace thong and ripped it, his fingers caressing her intimately.

“Now, Ethan,” she said, as he stroked her. She felt wanton, as she never imagined she could. Sophia, you’re in a car, for God’s sake. She shooed the thought away.

“Sophia,” he moaned, as she stroked up and down his length.

She rose onto her knees, positioning herself and put her hands on his shoulders for leverage.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said thickly, and entered her with one swift thrust of his hips.

She threw her head back and gasped with pleasure.

“You are mine, Sophia. Mine,” he murmured as he held her hips, diving into her hard and fast.

She lifted her eyes to meet the blistering azure of his gaze and ran the tip of her tongue over his lips.

He made a sound deep in his chest; a laugh and a groan combined as he lost himself in the pleasure, just as she was. He cupped her face in his hand and kissed her deeply. Demanding and possessing, he thrusted and fingered her.

The car moved slowly through the heavy Londoner traffic and they were oblivious to everything but themselves.

She pushed down the other side of her dress neckline and brushed aside her bra, grasping her breasts, offering them to him as she moved up and down, slowly.

He took a breast in his mouth and sucked. “Sophia. I’m close.”

Her face sank into the hollow of his neck. She kissed and nibbled him, deranged with the unexpected danger she felt from being exposed. “Oh, Ethan.” She bit his suit on the shoulder to muffle her shout of pleasure. She loved the feel of him inside, filling her. She tensed up as he groaned and thrust fiercely.

The pleasure tightened and spiked, rising high. Higher and higher. And burst, flooding her with heat and warmth, making her dizzy with its force.

He held her tightly while she came back to herself.

“Oh,” she gasped softly. “You’re crazy. We’re crazy.”

He drew back a little to look at her with a smile on his face.

She gazed at him dreamily. “You have no inhibitions, have you?”

“I do. But I lose control when I’m with you. I’ve never made love in a car.”

She stroked his beard. “Neither have I.”

The warmth of their lovemaking fogged the windows a bit, and his mind started to thicken again along with his arousal, still inside her. He took her hand and kissed it. As he did so, his gaze strayed to the tinted window. “Curse it,” he blurted.

“What?” she demanded in a murmur, her forehead still on his shoulder. “What?”

“We have arrived,” he said, adjusting his trousers. He ran his fingers over her hair, combing the wisps that had escaped her braid and extended his handkerchief to her. “Here.”

“Thanks,” she said, and wiped between her thighs. Stuffing his soiled handkerchief in her purse, she picked up her gloves and coat from the floor of the Rolls Royce. She smiled naughtily at him, “You are debauching me, Mr. Ashford. I should be working. Instead, I’m having s*x with you on the backseat of your car with your driver in the front, probably listening.”

He shook his head amused. “Of course, he was not listening, Sophia. The glass is soundproof.”

The car parked in the garage. Wilkins got out and opened the door for her with an impassive face.

Sophia blushed and looked at Ethan, who just laughed and whispered in her ear, “I can assure you he doesn’t know what happened here. Come on, baby, let’s move this to the bed.”

“Ethan, Ethan.” She shook her head at his eagerness and exited the car with a smile on her face.

5:35 p.m.

Sophia waited for Ethan in his sitting room. She pulled 1984 from the shelf and leafed through it.

Ethan approached her from behind, put his arms around her and inhaled her scent. “You smell so good, sweet Sophia. What are you reading?” He perused the book over her shoulder, “George Orwell?”

“I read this book when I was very young. It made a huge impression on me. Do you remember the book well?” She turned in his arms to watch his face.

“Yes. Why?”

“Room 101. Have you ever imagined being in a room with your worst fear?”

He looked at her askance. “No. Never. Why, Sophia, I don’t even know what my worst fear is. Not rats, for sure.” He chuckled.

“Mine is moths and butterflies.”

“You’re kidding.” He laughed this time. “I don’t believe it.”

“I’m serious. I loathe butterflies and moths. That’s why I said earlier today that I don’t wear jewelry depicting those insects. A room 101 full of moths and butterflies would be the most effective and horrible torture I could ever imagine undergoing.” She shuddered.

Ethan hugged her, “Don’t worry, darling. No one is going to torture you.”