Starr Fated (49 page)

“Are these
yours?” She smiled and nodded. “I really like them. You obviously
have a very good eye.”

“Thanks. I
love going for walks by the sea, whatever the weather, even if it’s
pouring with rain. It looks so different every day, the light
changes, the water changes. And I love that it’s always very breezy
to blow all the cobwebs away. Basically, I just love being by the
sea,” she sighed, looking all dreamy.

“Perhaps we
could have a few days away together at the coast, maybe somewhere
near that beach you talked about before. You could even collect
some more pebbles,” I smiled, as I picked one up from the small
dish I noticed on her desk. “Unless you think it would just stir up
painful memories for you?

“No, actually,
I think that would be really nice, and it might be good to build
some new, more positive memories. And some extra pebbles would be
good – you can never have too many. I find them very relaxing
because they’re so smooth and tactile,” She picked up a pebble as
well, and rolled it around in her fingers.

“I’ll look
into it then. But come on now, enough with the working. What would
you like to do? What do you usually do on a Saturday?”

“Um, normally
I’d be studying, and then working at the restaurant. It actually
feels very weird not to be either working or studying. I guess
that’s why I'm champing at the bit to get on with your projects. My
brain feels underused, with all this time off.”

“Monday will
be soon enough to start work, so I suggest you make the most of
these last couple of days. I told you, you’ll be working very hard
for me. So leave that now.”

“Just let me
finish this, it won’t take me long,” she insisted.

“Okay, if you
must. I have a call to make, but after that, we are going to go for
a walk. And don't forget, we’re going out this evening, Gregg is
picking us up at six.”

“Sure, I
haven’t forgotten. Aren't you going to tell me where we’re
going?”

“It’s a
surprise. But don't worry, you’ll be fine. This date doesn’t
involve any skyscraper buildings,” I smiled at her, recalling her
issue with our date at The Shard. Sera just raised her eyebrows as
I wandered out of her study, closing the door as I left and headed
for the lounge, opening the patio doors to walk onto the small
balcony. I took my mobile from my pocket, as I looked out at the
view over the River Thames towards Tower Bridge.

“Hugh? It’s
Liam. Sorry to disturb you on a Saturday, but an urgent issue has
come up that needs dealing with immediately.”

Hugh Wright
was a fellow partner of the Butler’s Wharf Fitness Complex, and he
was responsible for the hiring and firing of staff, while I was a
silent partner who provided financial backing and advice.

“I’m sorry to
hear that, Liam. What kind of an issue?”

“Inappropriate
behaviour from a member of staff.”

“Really? Which
member of staff are we talking about? And what kind of
inappropriate behaviour?”

“Scott
Franklin. He directly approached a new young female recruit, and
mislead her into believing that he was the only member of staff
qualified to undertake her induction, despite the fact that she
specifically asked for a female trainer. I have to question his
motives, taking into account his reputation, of which I am sure you
are well aware.”

“I see. That
is a disappointing and a highly irregular lapse of protocol,” Hugh
agreed. He was a happily married man, but what kept him so happily
married was that he liked to have plenty of no questions sex on the
side, so he knew all about Scott and the list he ran. He also knew
the man’s reputation for being a brutal animal when it came to
young girls.

“As a major
share holder in this enterprise, I will not have the reputation of
the gym brought into disrepute. I don't have to tell you that if
word got out about any kind of sexual harassment, that kind of
sordid publicity would see membership numbers fall dramatically. I
want Scott out, now.”

“That might
not be so easy, Liam, not without definite proof or evidence,
especially as he has a permanent contract with us rather than being
a freelancer. But I could certainly get him transferred to a lower
profile gym, out of harm’s way.”

“No, that’s
not good enough, Hugh. I want him out, so just do whatever you have
to do to get shot of him, or I’m withdrawing my funding,” I stated.
“It’s not my problem if you were foolish enough to go against my
advice and give him a permanent contract. However, I would suggest
checking all the accounts. I think you may find that he has been
fairly creative in his book keeping, which will give you a
perfectly legitimate reason to terminate his contract with
immediate effect.”

“Really? You
surprise me because Scott came highly recommended. And I seem to
recall that you’ve made considerable use of his talents without
complaint up to now,” Hugh pointed out.

Of course he
was well aware that my name was included on Scott’s list. The truth
was, up to now I’d turned a blind eye to Scott’s unhealthy
predilections, telling myself that it was none of my business, but
now I felt guilty wondering how many other naïve young girls like
Seraphina he might have lured into his sordid web. I wanted no
further part in his activities, neither did I want to allow him any
new recruitment opportunities.

“I don't deny
that’s true, which is how I know what Scott’s potentially capable
of, and why I don't want to take the risk of anything untoward
going on. Fully consensual sick shit is one thing. Potentially
coercing a naïve young girl into it is quite another.”

“Okay, Liam.
Leave it with me. I’ll find a way to get shot of him, especially if
he’s been cooking the books,” Hugh promised.

~*~

I finally
managed to persuade Seraphina to leave what she was doing and come
for a walk with me, and so we set off to explore the local area
again, which I had to confess I’d never really bothered to do up to
now.

“Abbey and I
had a quick look round the local market the other day, so do you
mind if we head that way? There was a stall selling handmade
candles, I thought I might get a couple, just in case you…if you
wanted to… you know,” she blushed sweetly.

“Sure, we can
go wherever you like. And if that’s your subtle way of asking if
I'd like to stay the night at yours, then the answer is yes, I’d be
delighted.”

“So, tonight,
after this date, you’ll stay over? Even though my bed isn’t a
massive oversized one like yours?”

“Yes, I’ll
stay over, and I'm sure the bed will be just fine. When you travel
as much as I do, you learn to sleep pretty much anywhere, but I
don't think sleeping is going to be the main item on our agenda, is
it?” I grinned, as I took her small hand in mine. She just smiled
back shyly. I was looking forward to spending another night with
Seraphina; in fact I could hardly wait. It had been a long time
since I'd felt this kind of excitement and anticipation about
anything.

That
afternoon, I was surprised by how much fun it was browsing round
the market with Seraphina, mostly because I just liked watching
her. She found the stall selling the candles she wanted, and picked
out a couple of pillar candles with a star design, which she seemed
to think appropriate, and some scented floating candles.

“How about the
ylang ylang and lavender ones, seeing as those essential oils you
used in the bath smelled so wonderful,” she suggested.

“Sure, I’m
happy to try them out,” I agreed, and then ignored her protests as
I paid for them.

“You’re still
officially a student as you haven’t actually graduated or started
earning a proper wage yet, so please, let me,” I insisted, as she
glared at me.

“Okay, but
next time I’m paying, when I start getting my wages.”

I just smiled
at her, letting her believe I’d let her if she wanted to.

As we wandered
along, Seraphina seemed totally oblivious of the fact that she
turned heads. She was very simply dressed, with no makeup and her
hair loose, but she was still stunning. One guy literally walked
into a lamp post because he couldn’t take his eyes off her. I put
my arm around her waist to show that she was with me, as we chatted
and laughed at some of the items for sale. There was a stall
selling handmade cushions.

“Aren’t you
tempted by any of these?” I teased.

“No, should I
be?”

“I thought all
women had an uncontrollable urge to fill a place with as many
cushions as possible. That’s always been my experience, anyhow,” I
elaborated

“Not me. I
have one or two old favourites, but that’s it. I think maybe you’ve
been mixing with the wrong type of women, Liam,” she said
archly.

“You know, I
think you might be onto something there. That’s why I need you to
show me the errors of my ways.” I glanced down at her as we laughed
together.

Next, Sera’s
eye was caught by a stall selling silk scarves of every possible
hue of every possible colour. My eye was caught by a couple of them
– a green one and silver one, so I picked them out and wrapped the
green one round her neck. As I'd thought, the green was the same
shade as her eyes. It was perfect for her.

“It’s
beautiful,” she agreed.

“I want you to
have it, and the silver one,” I said, as I got my wallet out. I had
plans for those scarves.

“Liam, you
don't have to…”

“No, I don't
have to, but I want to. Please, it would make me very happy if you
would graciously accept these small gifts from me.”

I stared at
her.

“Okay, if you
insist. Thank you very much, Liam,” she finally gave way with a
sigh, but she was smiling as she stretched up to kiss my cheek.

When we came
across the food stalls, we sampled some cheese and some olives
before deciding which ones to buy, along with some Italian tomato
bread.

“We can have
this with a glass of wine when we get back, before we get ready to
go out,” I suggested.

“That’d be
nice, although I did wonder if you wanted to stop for a coffee
maybe? There’s a great little place around the corner that Abbey
and I came across.”

I checked my
watch – it was already past four o’clock, and we were being picked
up at six.

“I don't think
we have time today, but maybe next time?”

“Next time?
Quite frankly I'd have thought shopping like this was the last way
you’d choose to spend your time again, Liam.”

“You know, to
be honest so would I up until now. But it’s been fun this
afternoon. Being with you makes it fun,” I smiled at her.

And it was
true. I’d never have imagined doing something like this, something
rather domestic and coupley, would be pleasurable and relaxing. But
it was, at least it was with Seraphina. She’d taken quite a few
photos of anything that caught her eye while we were out, as well
as some of me and a couple of us together. I wanted some copies of
those for me to look at when I was away on business.

We headed back
to my place, where I cracked open a decent bottle of red wine to
have with the bread, cheese and olives, as we sat at the breakfast
bar in the kitchen.

“Just one
small glass for me, Liam. You know I’m not good with alcohol,” Sera
said.

“I know it
seems to make you rather uninhibited, which under the right
circumstances, I don't have a problem with,” I said, as I fed her
an olive, and then gently kissed her, enjoying the savoury flavour
on her lips.

“It’s
embarrassing, especially if there’s music playing and I start
dancing,” she replied, as she returned the favour to feed me an
olive too, and then softly kissed my lips.

“It’s not
embarrassing. I enjoyed your uninhibited dancing that time at the
club. Do you have any idea how incredibly sexy you looked?” I fed
her a sip of wine this time, lingering a little longer as I kissed
her.

“I don’t
exactly have great memories of that night, Liam, so I don’t know
about looking sexy. It’s just that when I've been drinking, music
seems to call more strongly to me, and I can't help myself. I have
to go with it; I have to get up and dance.” She fed me a sip of
wine and slowly kissed me back.

“Now I wish we
weren’t going out so that I could feed you wine, put some sexy
music on, then sit back and watch my own private dance show,” I
sighed. “However, I think you’ll enjoy what I've got planned for
this evening.”

“Can’t you
tell me where we’re going now? I need to know what type of clothes
to change into. Please?” She put her hands around my neck and
kissed me again, this time just sexily flicking her tongue over my
lips.

“Hell woman,
if you don't stop tempting me like this, we won’t be going
anywhere,” I growled, as I put my hands around her waist and pulled
her to me to kiss her properly. She tasted deliciously of red wine,
but I forced myself to break away.

“If you must
know, we’re going out to dinner in Covent Garden, then we’re going
to the theatre to see ‘Les
Misérables
 
’.”

“That’s cool -
I’ve wanted to see that for ages.” she beamed at me.

“The show has
good reviews, so I hope you’ll enjoy it. As for what to wear
tonight, I’d suggest something to show off those great legs of
yours, just as long as it’s nothing too short. Only I get to see
your legs all the way to the top.”

I'd never
really considered myself a leg man until I'd met Seraphina, but
hers were something else, so I loved seeing her in a skirt or dress
to show them off. And I really liked the quirky type of shoes she
wore rather than boring classic stilettos that I used to think were
so sexy in the typical clichéd way.

“We’d better
not go swimming in a public pool then, hmm?” she teased.