‘Why did I tell you to wear this tonight?’

‘So people didn’t recognise me.’ I spoke quietly. I could see where this was going.

‘And why didn’t I want people to recognise you?’

‘Because…it would be bad for…for my image.’

‘Lower your profile, I told you.’ He threw the mask over towards the coffee table. ‘Don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself.’

I winced at his words.

‘Then, I suggested we go for a picnic.’

‘I remember.’

‘We went to board a bus and what did I see, to my great delight?’

‘I don’t know,’ I lied, his sarcastic tone rendering me more uncomfortable by the second. I had an almost irresistible urge to smirk.

‘Well, since you seem to have the memory of a goldfish, I’ll tell you, shall I? Your face, plastered right the way along the side of it.’ He turned away for a moment. ‘And on the back, I shouldn’t wonder. I purposely didn’t look when we got off.’

‘I did a cosmetics advert,’ I said. ‘It was Jimmy’s idea…my…’

‘Agent, I know,’ he said, sounding weary. ‘I give up.’

‘I need the money,’ I said. ‘You wouldn’t understand. I can’t live at Liv’s forever and my job doesn’t pay enough…I only worked there because I needed something that was, well, mine. It was never about the money. It was just a way to feel normal. Now I’ve got the chance to earn real money.’

‘I understand all about needing money,’ he said, sounding irritated suddenly. ‘Believe me. And I know just how low some people will stoop because they need the money.’

That sarcastic tone, again. It was beginning to piss me off.

‘You don’t need to work for Max or Jimmy, don’t you understand? I’ll take care of you. Find you a job, if you feel you need one.’

‘I don’t want to work for you.’ I could feel the anger rising in my chest. Why did he always think he could tell me what to do? Was that what all…this…was about? Telling me what to do?

‘Not for me, Grace.’ He sighed. ‘With me. You’re good with figures – I could use your skills.’ He ran his hand through his hair. ‘And your company, to be honest.’

It was those last six words that mollified me. I’d been right – he was lonely. It was true what they said – money couldn’t buy happiness. I should have known that, just from looking at Leo and Johnno.

‘I’ll think about it,’ I said, reluctantly. ‘But I don’t think I can give up on Jimmy.’

‘Do you want to?’

I thought for a moment. Did I want a life in the public eye, or was it really just that I was desperate for the money? ‘No,’ I said, finally. ‘I like it.’

It was the first time I’d really thought about it, but it was true. I’d enjoyed it so far – even the interview, when I’d burst into tears. I’d even have enjoyed the make-up shoot, if I hadn’t had so much on my mind. The whole experience so far had given me back some of the confidence Leo had chipped away at over the years.

‘Okay,’ he said, with a shrug. He came over to me and tipped up my chin until he was looking into my eyes. ‘Come and work with me, anyway. I love you, Grace. I’m just trying to look out for you, that’s all.’

‘I know,’ I said, quietly. I felt oddly disappointed. There’d been so much build-up to this moment. It was supposed to be fun and, now, it had all gone wrong. He’d let me down from the cuffs in a moment, I was sure, and, suddenly, I didn’t want him to. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, and this time I meant it.

He kissed me gently, his eyes closed. His breath tasted of champagne, and he smelt of sage and mint. I opened my mouth under his and licked his lower lip with my tongue, my gaze taking in his soft, thick lashes and the angle of his cheekbone. He was more beautiful than any man I’d ever met and he wanted me. It still hardly seemed possible, and maybe that was why I was finding the whole situation so difficult. He didn’t want me like that at the moment, anyway, but I wanted him. Exactly like that.

I ran my tongue along the inside of his top lip and, this time, he opened his eyes. At first, they were soft but, as I smiled at him, still kissing him, they grew more piercing and, barely moving his arm, he ran the cat-o’-nine-tails across my back, letting it trail down until it brushed gently over my buttocks.

He pulled away, biting my lip as he did so and pulling it. ‘Enough about buses,’ he said, releasing it. ‘I believe I still have a punishment to administer.’

I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘You do,’ I said, emboldened now by having taken charge, to some extent. ‘Bring it on.’

‘Dear, oh dear,’ he said. ‘Famous last words, Miss Anderton. Famous last words.’

    Thirty Six

Him

She looked beautiful standing there, naked but for her corset and boots. Her long hair fell becomingly down her back and her breasts hung full and firm, the seams of the corset accentuating the slender curves of her body, while the boots did the same for her legs. I could see how she had ended up as a WAG, but she was really nothing like the others I’d met.

I thought back to Kitty Hart with something approaching a shudder. She’d caked on the cosmetics with abandon – Grace wore none, save the merest touch of mascara and a smear of lipgloss, most of which I’d managed to remove earlier in the evening. She was mixed up, there was no doubt about that, but she still had an innocence and freshness about her that appealed to me far more than she could possibly understand. She still didn’t seem to get it – I’d give up everything tomorrow, if it meant keeping her. I could only hope that, at some point, she’d feel the same way about me.

Now, standing there in front of me as she was, it was as if all my dreams had come true. I don’t know if even Aimee coming back to me would have meant as much. As I ran the flogger over her ass again, she closed her eyes and let loose a tiny moan of pleasure and, in that instant, my cock was as flooded with desire as my heart. I wanted to do everything to her, all at once. I wanted to empty the case and use every implement at my disposal to bring her to the edge, again and again, but I had to focus. With her, I was in constant danger of losing all control.

‘Now, Angel,’ I said, making an effort to rein myself in. ‘This is a punishment, remember. It can’t be all fun.’

‘I know,’ she murmured, arching her back as the strands of the flogger ran back and forth across her bare skin. She opened her eyes and stared into mine. ‘Punish me.’

She knew what she was saying, this time, I could tell, and she meant it.

‘Turn around, then,’ I said. ‘I want your ass to the window.’

‘Can people see?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said, with a shrug. ‘There’s nothing you can do about it. Anyway, you’re far more obvious facing the window.’

She turned gingerly around until her ass was reflected in the glass. She looked breath-taking and, as I lifted the flogger, I prayed to God that she’d still love me in an hours’ time.

    Thirty Seven

Her

He cracked it across my buttocks. I didn’t get the feeling he was holding anything back, but it didn’t hurt as much as I’d expected. It was as if the many fronds of it served to dissipate the pain, spreading it out, instead, over a wider area.

‘This is a flogger, Angel,’ he said. ‘It’ll serve to warm up your skin, make it more sensitive.’

It had certainly warmed up my skin – it was pulsing gently, I noticed, distractedly, before he brought it down again, slightly harder.

‘I’m going to do this the nice way,’ he said. ‘I’ll build you up slowly – give you time to get accustomed to the pain – raise your threshold higher.’

‘Okay,’ I managed to say, as the flogger whipped across my skin again…and again…and again.

‘How’s that, Angel?’ He dragged the tails across my ass gently before moving round to my front and putting it between my legs, pulling it out slowly across my clit. I couldn’t help letting out a moan of sheer bliss.