Wild Violet (The Vi Trilogy of The Gilded Flower Series Book 1) (2 page)

Vi takes in the view of the Hudson from his apartment. The windows extend throughout the large living area and wrap around to the other side. “Lovely view,” she says casually.

“Yes, it is,” he replies, taking a seat on the sofa that faces her.

“I wouldn’t have figured you for the country-French style.” Vi motions to the room, which is decorated in light blue and yellow hues, punctuated by a large red and brown abstract oil painting.

“Can’t say it’s mine.”

“No? Whose is it then?”

“A friend’s.”

Vi leans against the window and crosses her arms. “Would this friend care that I’m here?”

“Perhaps. But she’s currently sailing the Greek Isles with her husband, so I think it’s safe to say her opinion doesn’t matter.”

“Should it matter?”

“I don’t think so,” he shrugs. “You strike me as someone who doesn’t care about such things.” He extends his arm over the back of the sofa and crosses one leg over the other.

“About what things?”

“Relationships.”

“That obvious?” Vi tugs at her white linen scarf around her neck, attempting to hide her uneasiness. The self-possessed way he responds to her makes her nervous. They’re both constantly vying for the upper hand, and it’s unsettling to her that she would even bother trying. Yet that pull in her core keeps her feet planted. If nothing else, she wants to know how his lips feel on her.

“I could say the same for you,” she adds, breaking their brief silence.

He runs a long finger along his bottom lip. “Sometimes they are mutually beneficial.”

“Like putting a roof over your head for the summer,” Vi says pointedly, glancing around the room. So she was right about him. He can’t afford a place like this.

“That’s certainly an advantage.”

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

“Why should it? You didn’t pay for those earrings, did you?”

Vi raises a hand to her ear and fingers the diamond studs. They were a high school graduation gift from her father. Five carats. The size was meant to express how badly he felt for not attending.

“And that bag,” he points his chin at her Chanel tote. “The way you tossed it on the floor in the studio. Such things mean very little to you, don’t they?”

“Exactly that—they’re just things,” Vi replies stone faced. He gets her, but isn’t repulsed by her spoiled, childish ways. The way he’s challenging her is turning her on even more.

“That’s right, they are. Just like this place,” he says, his hand going up. “It’s just a
thing
. Funny, isn’t it? The kind of importance people in this City assign to stupid objects.”

Vi doesn’t respond. She’s done talking. She’d rather not have to listen to some diatribe about the unimportance of wealth when it’s clear he wants it, even if he has to use people to get it.

He’s finished as well. The mood shifts as he stares her for a few minutes, the look in his eyes filling with lust.

Vi undoes her bun and lets her long, dark hair fall around her shoulders.

He runs his hands through his own thick chestnut hair and smiles seductively as he makes his way toward her. His stride is confident and slow, every step deliberate to draw out her need. He puts his hand on the back of her neck and whispers into her ear, “I haven’t been able to think about anything else but you.”

His teeth graze Vi’s ear before he bites down and sucks on the fleshy part, sending a bolt of electricity through her body. His hand makes its way up her taut body beneath her loose tank top. Desire shoots through her as he plays with her nipples, tugging and pulling until she can hardly stand up straight.

Suddenly, her top is on the floor, and he has her arms pinned above her. “I can tell you that you are absolutely stunning, but that would mean nothing to you, would it?” He whispers, his tongue entering her ear. “Compliments are repulsive to you, aren’t they?”

Vi moans as his hand moves up her skirt, discovering her wet snatch. “So fucking wet,” he groans, pressing his own need against her. “Of course you were anticipating this. I just had to wait until you wanted it.”

She closes her eyes and shuts out his words, relishing in the feel of his soft lips that trail down her neck and work over her tits. Words are meaningless. So what if he gets her. It’s inconsequential to the moment, which is all they have as far as she’s concerned.

The touch of his bare flesh makes Vi open her eyes. She couldn’t have imagined the exquisite perfection of his body. Every muscle of his torso and shoulders so well defined they appear almost sculpted.

Vi runs her tongue along her lower lip and smiles coyly up at him.

He smiles back and spins her around, pressing her body against the window, his fingers entering her. “You act like you don’t care, but you want to be noticed, don’t you? Poor girl never got enough of her father’s attention.”

Vi pushes back against his hard cock. “I didn’t come here to be analyzed. We can fuck or I can leave,” she warns, her voice husky with desire. She doesn’t want to leave just yet though. His fingers gliding over her clit keep her in place.

He laughs and pulls her head back by her hair, his lips covering every inch of her neck. “It’s even better this way, isn’t it? All our shit just out there, the fears that separate us from everyone else. This is intimacy.”

Vi pulls her arms free. “Clearly we have different goals.” She bends down to gather her clothes.

In one swift move, he lifts Vi and wraps her legs around his waist. “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”

He buries his long, hard cock into her, groaning the deeper he goes. “This is what you want?”

Vi doesn’t answer aloud, but it’s exactly what she wants, what she imagined it would be. Her body moves with him in perfect rhythm. Each thrust is taking her to another place. She feels herself stepping outside of her body. She’s there, but not quite fully, keeping a part of herself hidden.

Her stomach muscles begin to clench, the pull inside of her is almost too much now. He surprises her by pulling out and carrying her to the sofa, lying her on her back with her left leg folded in front. He bends down and kisses her cunt, while working over his hard shaft. She opens her mouth to speak but lets out a loud cry when he pulls and sucks her clit so hard her orgasm nearly threatens to overtake her. She delights in the love juices around his mouth as he brings it up to her lips to devour them. Tasting her wanting on his tongue begins to send her over the edge as he pushes his cock back inside her.

He’s inside her even deeper than before. There’s no thinking anymore. It’s pure pleasure, total ecstasy for both of them. He pistons his hips back and forth as her cunt muscles begin to tighten around his shaft. “That’s right,” he grunts, looking into her eyes.

Vi shuts them, not wanting that intimate connection with him. Her orgasm begins to take hold, her muscles pulling and quivering with his final thrusts. Finally, he stills, pouring himself into her.

Sweat covers their bodies as he collapses next to her on the sofa. When their breathing becomes even, he turns his head and asks, “Are you ever going to tell me your first name?”

“Miss me today?” He asks.

Vi sits down on the bench to remove her pointe shoes. “Not particularly,” she replies unconvincingly. Over the past week, they’d made it a habit to hook up after dance class. She isn’t usually one to establish any kind of fuck routine, but he’s made it worth her while, every time. Even she had to admit to herself, some exceptions are worth making.

However, yesterday and today he didn’t show up for class. By the beginning of this morning’s class, Vi had decided it was time to forget about him.

He lowers himself to the floor to unlace her other shoe. “Since you must know, I was vacating my sublet.”

“I didn’t ask.”

He smiles, handing Vi her shoe. “No, but I know a part of you is curious, Violet.”

“How did you get my name?” Vi asks, peeling the tape off her toes.

He shrugs. “There’s a girl at the desk who has a crush on me. I just had to ask her nicely. ”

There’s that smile again
, Vi observes. It’s a knowing, mischievous smile, but has a bit of boyish innocence that makes it extremely sexy.

“Well, now that you know my name, we should probably stop fucking.” Vi picks up her bag and heads toward the door, not bothering to change out of her dance clothes.

“Why would you say that?” He asks, allowing the door to slam behind them, leaving them alone in the stairwell.

“First you want to know my name, then where I live or what I do. Those details imply some sort of relationship, which you rightly pointed out I’m not interested in having.”

He chuckles. “When two people get together for almost a week straight to fuck each other’s brains out, I’d say they have some sort of relationship, even if it’s devoid of any deep emotions.”

He takes a step forward, forcing Vi to move back toward the wall.

“Is that what scares you, Violet? Having feelings for another person?” He inches forward again.

Vi looks out the window to her left and doesn’t bother to say anything. He isn’t telling her something she doesn’t already know.

“Daddy really must’ve done a number on you. Let me guess, he abandoned you and your mom for another woman?”

He leans in and whispers, “So you shut yourself off from men, don’t you? I can feel it when we’re together. You’re there physically, but you put up a wall.”

Vi feels his fingers trail lightly up her leg. She’s so turned on by his touch that she hardly registers the people passing them on the stairs.

“Yes, there’s a wall. So what?” She starts down a flight of steps. The spell is broken.

“There doesn’t have to be,” he replies, cornering her on the next landing.

“It’s my choice, though, isn’t it?” Vi spits back.

“True.” He moves his arm so she can continue. “But I think you’ll find your choices will end up isolating instead of freeing you,” he says, keeping in step with her all the way to the street.

“I can’t believe I’m being analyzed by a gigolo,” Vi spins around and crosses her arms as they reach the street corner.  “For your information, I like my life the way it is. I like living according to my rules. There’s no one to dictate how I live my life. As far as I’m concerned, that’s pure freedom.” She continues down Broadway, looking behind her for a cab, but there aren’t any.
Crap
.

He follows, stopping behind her at a crosswalk. Bending down to whisper into her ear, he says, “I think you’re too defensive to mean what you say. Freedom, like anything, is an illusion. We are not as independent as we like to think.”

“And I think you’re projecting your regrets regarding your lifestyle onto me,” Vi snaps back, not bothering to turn around. She starts to walk as soon as the light turns green.
Where is a goddam taxi?

“I have no regrets, Violet. At least it’s a means to an end. What about you? If you have no purpose, what will all these choices bring you?”

Vi stops mid-stride and pauses. He’s right. She can admit that to herself, but not to him. She wonders about her purpose all the time, knowing full well that eventually the responsibilities of adult life will force her to reassess how she’s living, but until then, she had fully planned to do as she pleases.

She spots someone getting out of a cab and rushes to grab it. Vi glances over to where he’s standing. “See you around.”

A week later, Vi sees him at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. His remarkable beauty makes him hard to miss, even in a crowd. Despite a few one-night stands, she still can’t shake the experience of being with him. She knows it isn’t love because she’s felt that once before, and it’s not even close. Yet, it’s still something more than lust. Perhaps it was the way he looked at her or smiled after they had sex. It’s desire that goes beyond just physical. There was something about his way of being that made her crave
him
.

As soon as they get to the scene where Petruchio brings Katherine to his country home, he comes up next to Vi and startles her. “Not sure if I would’ve taken you for a Shakespeare fan.”

“I’m English,” Vi replies dryly. “It’s in my DNA.”

“Oh right,” he says, sitting in the empty seat next to her. “You make it a habit to come to the Park alone?”

“I like the pleasure of my company.”

“I know what you mean.” He smiles at her.

That smile says everything to Vi. The idea of being on top of him makes her wet with desire. She nods in the direction of his date. “Seems that you already have someone paying for your company tonight.”

He shrugs. “I’m still free to be with whomever I want.”

“I highly doubt she would agree with you right now. She’s quite attractive,” Vi says, noticing her trim figure and golden blonde hair. “I didn’t think your dates would be so public.”

“So you think about me?” He reaches out and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“No,” Vi replies too quickly. “But your situation is interesting. I’ve never met someone who dates and fucks for money.”

“A lot of people date and fuck for money. There’s very little people won’t do for it. You know that, Violet.”

“When you put it that way, you’re right. Although you’d assume she wouldn’t want people to know she pays for your company.”

“How would they know? I’m discreet.”

“I’m sure you are,” Vi replies. “If she’s out with you, I can’t begin to imagine what her husband is doing.”

He lets out a low laugh. “The way the women on the Upper East Side cheat on their husbands, it’s any wonder there aren’t more divorces.”

“I’ll tell you why. Everyone has someone on the side so there’s no point. It’s ridiculous, really. You get married and the first thing to go is fidelity. Why bother?”

“Doesn’t have to be that way.”

Vi laughs. “That’s incredibly optimistic of you. Don’t you think there’s a double standard where sex is concerned. Men are allowed to pay for it and women aren’t allowed to want it, at least with more than one man in their life time, lest we be called whores.”

He shrugs. “Women care far more about that than men, I think. They seem to be the worst when it comes to judging.”

Vi nods and turns her attention back to the performance. “Do you believe that women can be tamed?” She asks, referring to the play.

She notices him purse his lips, obviously trying to form a careful response. “Only by choice. Hers, not his. She’s complicit in the act. Maybe Katherine sees what Petruchio does as a form of love so she goes along with it. Not that I think dominating a person is love, of course. But you can’t really know what goes on in a relationship. There’s so much to the language of it all, both spoken and unspoken.”

“You seem to think you have me figured out,” Vi comments.

“You’re different.” He stands up and smoothes down the front of his blue linen pants.

“Different how?”

There’s that smile again
.

“I have to go.”

“I thought you said you were free to come and go.”

“We don’t all have trust funds that pay the rent,” he says facetiously. “Besides, I finish what I start. Check your phone later.”

“Why? You don’t have my number.”

“Think again, Violet. Good night.”