Killing Time: The Bonus Collection (33 page)

“
CHÉRIE
, YOU LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL
. I am so happy to see you again, you have no idea.”

“Thank you, sweetheart. You look gorgeous and happy as well,” I responded before I embraced my best friend.

Nicole had never been a slouch in the fashion department and black was the major color of her wardrobe. That night, she wore a fashionable black sheath dress which barely skimmed slim thighs and knee-high, leather stiletto boots which from the trademark red shoe soles were obviously Christian Louboutin. A slave to French fashion, her dress was no doubt Christian Dior, Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent.

Her honey blonde hair was worn in a high ponytail and the severe hairstyle made her ivory skin glow, her cerulean eyes that much deeper in color and her delicate yet eye-catching features that much more ethereal.

Renaud helped her slip out of a long black and luxuriously elegant fur coat. I almost gasped when I read the label: it was Jil Sander from her ready-to-wear collection.

“What? I have broadened my horizons in the fashion department,” she replied casually. “It’s goat and it was only several thousand euro. Most people assume it is faux-fur. I wouldn’t dare wear my chinchilla. I would just die if one of those crazy PETA people splashed it with paint.”

I smiled and realize although the years had passed and neither one of us were naïve young women in our twenties, my friend had barely changed. She still thought the world revolved around her and had little to do with people who weren’t as offensively wealthy as she was. It always surprised me when she’d married Renaud. Yes, he was good looking but her family had not liked his financial situation at all.

Though he worked for her father’s family, he commanded twice as much as anyone else would have received for the job he did. This was mostly to keep him from trying to get a hold of any of her money. Her parents’ were shrewd and they would protect their only daughter at all costs, even it meant employing her husband and him doing a job he was seriously under qualified to do.

We all sat at the dining room table, which sat six, for a formal dinner prepared by Rory’s chef though he did not reside in-house. None of his help were live-in and they all worked part-time though he paid them for full time work so they would be eligible for their full pensions once they reached retirement age.

It was small details like this which made me love him all the more. He truly cared about people and despite his harsh exterior, once you reached his heart, he was pure emotion. It made it understandable why he let so few people into his life in the first place.

We made small talk, mostly about the French economy and avoided personal subjects at all costs. The death of Trésor loomed over dinner like a black cloak none of us could shake but not one of us brought up her impending funeral either.

“I hope you plan to be around for a while. You two aren’t thinking of going back to the States any time soon?” Renaud inquired in polite French.

The king of double-talk, I knew exactly what he meant. He would have made an excellent politician had he been intelligent enough to apply to one of France’s elite universities. Unfortunately, he’d gone to a mid-level university and had a degree in general business but he was far from the sharpest tool in the shed. His looks had always helped him through life and he’d thoroughly used them to his advantage.

Although he was of average height and just shy of six feet, he had a beautiful body from years of swimming. Crystal blue eyes complimented sandy brown hair, a peaches and cream complexion and perfectly masculine yet classical French features.

I’d never told my best friend but I knew for a fact he’d worked his way through university as a male escort despite not needing the money as he was on a full scholarship. Although I could have ruined his engagement and later, marriage, to my best friend with the embarrassing news, I kept it to myself. Whether or not Renaud was bisexual had not ended our relationship though his lies and social-climbing arrogance had.

I knew right away Rory did not like him because he’d avoided conversation with my ex-boyfriend and Nicole’s husband all evening.

“We don’t know how long we intend to stay however our comings and goings are no one’s business other than our own,” he replied as the maid brought out dessert.

I sliced off a large slice of Soufflé a la Vanilla and quickly placed it in my mouth to avoid adding anything further to what Rory had already said.

“But…I thought you would be here for a while,” Nicole responded in a weary voice.

“Listen, I am here as long as the research permits me to be. Remember, this trip isn’t about settling anywhere. It’s about solving my sister’s murder and if I have to make somewhere else my home base after six months here then so be it,” I said in a quiet tone.

“Well, that is disappointing to say the least.” My best friend eyed me with cool blue eyes. “I was led to believe over the phone we would have a chance to let bygones be bygones. I desperately want your friendship again but it is quite hard to maintain such a friendship if we never see one another.”

“Perhaps this isn’t the best time to discuss this.” Rory set his fork down, obviously hungry for something but not dessert. “After the funeral, you two will have plenty of time to discuss your friendship.”

That was the end of the conversation and I was grateful it was over.

Shortly after the conclusion of dessert, Nicole and Renaud left. Rory closed the door behind them and turned toward me with a devilish look in his eye.

Rory

RORY COULDN’T WAIT UNTIL NICOLE
and Renaud left his premises. He didn’t even bother to wait until they’d walked to their vehicle, a late-model pale cream Range Rover, instead, he closed the double doors and locked them.

His personal chef, Jordane, had left shortly after he’d prepared dessert and the maid had followed after she’d presented dessert. The dishes would be taken care of the very next day when she arrived for her shift so there was nothing for either of them to do other than go to bed.

Well, not bed exactly as they wouldn’t be sleeping just yet. He’d purposely chosen her outfit because it reminded him of the first time they’d had intercourse with one another. Granted that first time had been quite painful for her, unfortunately, and in hindsight he regretted his rash decision. He’d initiated her into his world by giving her the first lesson in proper anal intercourse while it had been quite pleasurable for him.

However, tonight would be different.

He’d make sure they were both pleasured in every way and to be honest, he never wanted to see her in pain, not really. It was a very difficult precipice where he found himself these days. It had only been a short while since he’d shared her with his brother, Severin, for a second time, but lately, he felt himself becoming more possessive and jealous.

Rory couldn’t admit to Aurélie how much he loved and desired her. She was no longer a plaything or a mere submissive though he sometimes liked to treat her as one. He truly felt his admiration of her courage, intelligence and beauty down to his very marrow. She was his to control but not to use or abuse. It had gone past the simple relationship a usual Dom shared with his sub. He never wanted her to be frightened of him and to know she trusted him implicitly was paramount to their arrangement.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to keep her as a simple lover and girlfriend. She had begun to symbolize someone greater than that to him and he cherished her more than anyone or anything in the world. No, he wouldn’t be satisfied until she was his wife and he knew he owned her completely: mind, body, heart and soul.

To do that, he had to vanquish the memory of Trésor and their relationship from her mind. He was willing to let her go on her fishing expedition to find out who murdered her sister because he found himself to be curious as well but that was as far as it went. He’d never been in love with Aurélie’s sister and the ultimate betrayal she caused cut deep, all the way to the bone.

Trésor had played him for a fool, a weak Dom and bottomed him out like she mastered a game of chess. He’d never been anything to her but a meal ticket and the key to his brother’s affections. She’d gotten pregnant with Severin’s child and they’d decided to get married. How his slaves would have taken this was anyone’s guess but she would have definitely liked the feeling of controlling others’ the way she had allowed herself to be manipulated and controlled.

This wasn’t just a hunch or a feeling, it was sheer intuition. She played the wanton sex kitten and sub to the hilt but underneath it all was a quiet strength waiting to be released. No doubt Severin planned to teach her to become his sub-Dom to control his slaves and she would have had a lot of fun with both Hans and Ingrid.

Now that she was dead, he could see his brother slowly and irrevocably start to fall apart. Instead of a continual progression, Severin had started to regress. There was no way a sub like Ingrid could replace a beauty like Trésor. Not only couldn’t she hold a candle to the young woman in the looks department but she didn’t possess Trésor’s cunning skills and that would eventually become a major point of contention for Severin.

Rory sighed as he climbed the stairs. It was none of his business what happened in his brother’s life as long as Severin stayed firmly out of his. Though with them living so close to one another, Rory thought the situation might turn out to be tenuous and impossible to manage although he would do his best to keep his twin at bay.

He entered their bedroom to find Aurélie at the vanity table removing her makeup with cold cream. She’d just scrubbed the last of it off and turned toward him in an expectant manner with those gorgeous green-gray eyes of hers. They were one of her best assets but unlike many women, she was equally stunning without makeup as she was with it pasted on.

She was quite lucky as her skin was smooth and the olive tone would leave her ageless for years to come. She’d never suffered from acne as a teenager and her pores were still small and tight. Although a lovely package on the outside, it was the inside that counted, and she had most women beaten in spades
there
too.

Every orifice on her body was nice and tight. She had the qualities of a young teenager as opposed to a thirty-two year old woman. Nothing about her was loose and if he wanted to wax poetic about how wonderful she was on the inside, she was also a truly decent human being. She tackled every project or obstacle with gusto and gave her all in everything she’d accomplished throughout her life. There were no half-measures with her.

There wasn’t a deceptive bone in her body and that made her all the more wholesome and pure. Her former fiancé, Grayson Compston, understood she’d never loved him though she was “fond” of him and he’d been willing to marry her anyway. She would never profess something she didn’t feel or think was true and hence the reason though he’d begged her on quite a few occasions, she’d yet to say she loved him and that bothered him deeply.

Not because he knew it to be untrue but because he knew she did love him as much as he loved her and due to the treacherous cretin whom had turned up at his home, it might be a while before she admitted her feelings to him. Renaud had deeply scarred her in such a way she would never be all right and though she might have once or twice said she loved him, it wasn’t said with real feeling. It was always something
about
him she loved but she’d yet to declare the words, “I love you”. Only half-hearted measures in the heat of the moment meant to placate him yet that was no longer good enough for a man like him. He wanted her to say it and feel it in her bones the way he felt his love for her and nothing less would suffice.

Hence the reason why he so carefully had planned that night; he wanted to show her something he’d only partaken in with one other woman: his first love, Mathilde. Although a first love, the feelings he had for Mathilde were downright immature and adolescent in comparison to the way he felt for Aurélie and if there was a God above that could truly explain why, he would be terribly interested in hearing His theory.

But Rory did not believe in gods or anything man had created really. He believed in himself, in logic and in the humanistic qualities of what knowing people had shown him over the years. Human beings were, by and large, intrinsically evil and would happily do and enact ways of hurting their fellow humans just because they could. Sometimes animals were better because at least when they loved, it was pure and true. They acted out of sheer instinct and self-defense where as humans could be cruel just because they could be and with no real reasoning behind their actions what so ever.