I wonder if he'd be this gregarious if I had come alone.
None of the gossip about him mentioned that he's a brazen flirt.
"Sit down," Dexter says, dropping onto a Victorian-style, high-backed chair. He gestures toward the little sofa that's overflowing with throw pillows. "Give your bums a rest."
We've been sitting down all through dinner, so I don't feel like my bum needs rest. I'd rather stand for a bit, but indulging our host seems like the best way to soften him up for negotiations.
So I push a few pillows out of the way and settle onto the sofa.
Maddie sits down beside me and sinks into a pile of pillows. She slips her hand into mine while she offers me a sweetly encouraging smile.
I know she came with me to this so-called meeting because she wanted to meet the mysterious Dexter Armstrong-Hill. But why is she helping me by buttering him up? She hardly knows me. Yet here she is, laughing and drinking with Dexter, telling him I'm a good man.
Our dessert plates and cognac snifters are on the coffee table that separates us from Dexter's chair. He picks up his glass and plate, then Maddie and I do the same. She starts delicately pulling pieces off her little cake, or whatever these confections are, with the tines of her fork. I watch her slide a bite into her mouth and close her lips around the tines. As she withdraws the fork, she shuts her eyes and sighs like it's the most delicious food she's ever put in her mouth.
"Try the cognac," Dexter says. "It goes beautifully with the cakes."
She holds the snifter close to her nose, swirling it gently while she gazes into its depths. "Do I smell figs? Vanilla too, I think, and a whiff of leather. That's weird, but I'm game."
"Take a sip, darling," Dexter instructs, his voice deeper, almost like he's trying to seduce her. "You'll love the way it feels inside you."
Yes, now he's definitely trying to seduce my date.Cheeky old codger.
Maddie sips the cognac. Her eyes drift shut again, and her lips curl in a rapturous little smile. "Mm, yes. Sweet and decadent, but with a silky-smooth finish. It's wonderful. The warmth of it glides down my throat and makes me feel…tingly all over." She takes another sip, her smile getting bigger but no less sensual. "Oh my, it's even better the second time. It's like liquid sex."
Christ, her voice and the words she's saying… It sends blood rushing below my waist. Any second, I'll go hard—right here in front of the world's most famous and reclusive author. What a brilliant way to start an important meeting. Well, with Dexter, who knows? He might think it's hilarious, or he might suggest we have a threesome right here in the sitting room.
I'm not sharing Maddie with this old goat. Not even if he promises to sign with my company if I agree to a small orgy. And if he suggests a threesome with him, Maddie, and Ilsa… I just might pummel the lecherous arse. I like Dexter, but notthatmuch.
Liquid sex, Maddie said. She sounded like she might climax if she takes another sip of her cognac. Why did I tell her we shouldn't have sex again yet? If there was a reason, I've forgotten it. The way she looks in that old-fashioned dress, and the way she reacted to the cognac, all of it has me ready to throw her over my shoulder, drag her to the nearest unoccupied room, and shag her until she can't move anymore.
Except she's still sore from what I did to her last night. Maybe I'm the lecherous arse in this room.
Maddie slips another, larger bite of cake between her lips, then takes a drink of the cognac while she's still chewing.
Her eyes roll back in her head.
I'm not exaggerating. They do that. The look of unbridled ecstasy on her face has me flashing back to last night when I'd made her look that way while she'd begged me to never stop fucking her.
And now I'm hard.Bugger.
Grabbing a throw pillow, I hold it on my lap and set my plate on it. That way it sort of seems like I'm just worried about the plate falling off my thigh, not like I'm so aroused by Madeleine Solberg that I need to hide my raging erection.
Maddie consumes more cake while lacing each bite with cognac from her glass. She exhales a soft moan with every mouthful she swallows.
Dexter chuckles with all the lecherous intent of a randy old goat. "Maddie, you are the most fascinating woman I've ever met. If you get this excited about cognac, you must be the most bloody incredible shag on earth." He glances at me, smirking. "Can you confirm that, Richard?"
"Ah, well…" I scratch under my collar because this sodding costume seems to be made from poison-ivy thread. "I don't kiss and tell."
"We're mates. That means you can tell me anything."
"I'm still not discussing my sex life with you."
He rolls his eyes, turning his attention to Maddie. "Is my mate Rick any good in bed? I certainly hope so. A woman like you needs intense passion in her life. If he can't handle you, I'm ready and willing to take over."
Maddie chokes on the piece of cake she'd been chewing. Coughing, she swigs her cognac. That makes her cough even more.
I pat her back, and I wonder why people do that when someone is hacking. Does that actually help? I doubt it.