The Gentleman Has Left the Building Read Online Free PDF

one, is it?” I said dryly.
    “Kind of. Aidan
told me he had somebody I’d like, so…”
    She was telling
the truth. It softened the flush along her collarbone, caused the
pout of her lips to swell. In that second, putting a hand on her
knee felt the most natural thing in the world.
    “That makes two
of us,” I whispered. I loved the way her smile flashed me a hint of
pale pink tongue.
    “Yeah…where
have our drinks got to, do you think?”
    I glanced about
the terrace, squinting in the candle light. “Elijah’s--um.” Oh dear
God. Elijah was sitting back in a deck chair, still fully clothed,
but the woman in the suit was bobbing slowly in his lap. He had a
fistful of hair as he grinned up at me.
    “He’s being
blown on the patio,” she said with comic normalcy. “Now there’s a
man who doesn’t waste any time.”
    “What the fuck?
He’s barely been gone five minutes. Do they sprinkle everyone with
magic fuck dust at the door?”
    “Something like
that.” She patted my leg as she started up. “I’ll go and--”
    I eased her
back down gently. “No, no. I’ll get the drinks; you stay put.”
    A cinnamon
eyebrow arched at me; playful, eager. Inviting. “Is that an
order?”
    “Would you like
it to be?” Oh fuck. I was better at this than I thought.
    The kitchen was
full and raucous now, wine-tainted laughter rising above the music
and the click click of heels dancing over the stone floor.
Magdalena refilled her tray of glasses as she fought off the
swatting hands of two older men. I spotted Aidan near the doorway
and hurried over, tugging him away from his clipboard.
    “Aid,” I said
through my teeth. “I want to know what you’ve drugged her
with.”
    The wide smirk
almost split his face. “Who, Lei-Lei? She doesn’t need drugging.
She’s like that all the time.” He seemed to find my gape of horror
vastly amusing. “Not for everyone, you pillock. Didn't I tell you
that you're hot? Like her. A proper ten there, huh?”
    “A proper ten?
She’s like--like--”
    “She’s like,
left on her own at a party full of carnivores,” he cut in, leaning
to whisper. “Now listen up: be courteous. Take her home, enjoy
yourself.” A pause, just for effect. He wanted to hear me swallow.
“She likes it when you tell her what to do.”
    I should have
asked how he knew that but frankly, I was past caring. I nodded
dutifully, mouthed my thanks and hurtled back towards the bar,
where I swiped two glasses from Magdalena’s fresh tray. The first
one disappeared down my throat in a single mouthful; the second, I
took back to Leila and proffered it like a badge of war.
    “Ooh,
Champagne.” She stood up to accept it. “Thank you, Rhys.”
    “A pleasure.
So…um." Conversation. It begged to be made. "What do you do?”
    “I’m a lawyer.
Tax, acquisitions, that kind of thing. How about you?”
    “Advertising. I
design--hey, what are you doing?”
    She teetered on
tip-toes to examine my earlobe. “Sorry. Just checking for an
earring.” She bit her lip. “Long story. You don’t mind, do
you…?”
    “No, no.” I
lifted the glass from her hand, stretched forward to balance it on
the wall, and that was when I felt it: her warm mouth and flat
teeth grazing along my ear. “ Oh .”
    “You don’t
mind?”
    Her voice was
muffled with breathy languor, and I found myself wrapping am arm
around her waist. The scent of her hair rushed up into my
nostrils--sugar and nutmeg and mellow heat and hairspray--I just
wanted…
    …to kiss
her.
    But she got
there first.
    We played
tongue games. She was the kitten. I was the ball of string. Then
when I got over the initial rush of it--she’s kissing me, fuckin’
A!--I relaxed into it, crossed the border, took charge. The way she
arched back as I leaned in, pressed up to me…electric. The house,
the people, they fell away. Sparks spewed indecently and I felt
like we ought to stop and clean up our mess.
    “Rhys,” she
said softly, “we don’t have to stay