‘I want to eat your pussy. Take me to your bedroom.’
Anastasia ran her free hand along the shiny kitchen counter, appraising the finesse of the finish. ‘Or maybe I’ll have you here.’
‘They could be back any time now… the staff are here.’
‘Please, let me make it up to you,’ Anastasia continued to circle, and Cat’s legs almost buckled as her breaths got heavy. She had to lean onto the counter to stop herself crumbling. Anastasia’s touch, the sensation of her kisses, it was pure bliss. Cat closed her eyes and rolled with the pleasure.
‘Ah, Mrs Diamandis,’ the butler said, as he walked into the kitchen with the dry cleaning.
Cat opened her eyes and shoved Anastasia back with a jolt.
‘Gerard!’ Cat said, in a fluster, as he paused, a pile of luxurious coats and dresses slung over his white-jacketed arm. Gerard was impeccably mannered and impeccably tactful.
‘I was just here doing a tasting,’ Anastasia said, flashing a supermodel smile and nodding to the canapés on the worktop. ‘While I was waiting for Lumi, who I understand is out.’
Gerard looked up with a bemused yet professional smile.
‘Yes, ma’am, can I pass on a message for when she returns?’ He wanted to spare Cat her blushes as she put an apron on over her clothes and smoothed it down.
‘It’s fine, I’ll be in touch again.’
‘Very good,’ he said, poised as if he were waiting for her to leave.
Anastasia put her moist finger between her teeth as if she were thinking, but it was just a way of teasing Cat, who shot her a look.
Why the hell had she come?
‘The basil crème was just exquisite chef,’ Anastasia said, as Gerard held the kitchen door open for her with his free hand.
Cat watched Anastasia sashay through it, into the living area, and couldn’t help noticing how much she was studying the décor of Chalet Edelweiss as she saw herself out.
Chapter Thirty-One
It took nearly the entire ski lesson for Emme to get back to Chalet Stern and try– and fail– to locate Jenny’s skis. They hadn’t been in any of the cupboards and they weren’t in the family locker back by the ski train station. Emme didn’t want to disturb Lexy at work so she rushed to the ski hire shop next to the mountain train, where it was taking a painstakingly long time to hire skis, boots and a helmet.
The man checked her height and weight, asked what level she was (‘pretty much beginner’) and asked her how long she needed the skis for.
‘Oh I don’t know. Just a couple of days until I work something out.’
The man took a little too long with his screwdriver, setting the bindings.
‘Please, how long is it going to take?’ Emme cursed herself for not taking Cedric’s number. She thought it was enough that he had hers down as the emergency contact. She didn’t think she would be the one throwing a curveball today. Emmehatedbeing late.
‘You’re from London, right?’
Emme sighed, what did that have to do with anything?
She watched the man with black eyes sort her skis slowly, biting her tongue so he didn’t slow further.
‘Where are you from?’ she asked, trying to place his accent and relax into a smile.
‘Egypt. Alexandria is my home. Mo Salah is my king,’ he said. Emme smiled, genuinely this time. She noticed the Liverpool FC crest on his fleece top.
‘Nice.’
It worked, he got a little faster with the screwdriver.
‘All done,’ he said. ‘That’s…’ he pressed some numbers into a till. ‘One hundred and seventy francs please.’
