Chapter 1

Jessie Smith sank­ back into the comfort of the smooth, black leather chair on which she had been perched, her perfectly manicured hands rested on the cool, wooden boardroom table. A smug smile of satisfaction spread over her expertly made up face as a feeling of relief washed over her. Her bosses praises resounded through her ears, his booming voice reverberating off the walls.

 

“Good job Jessie, we’ll talk more about a new opportunity I have for you tomorrow, until then, go out and celebrate, have some fun.”

 

She didn’t need telling twice, for six months she had been working flat out on a project, late nights and long weekends, it hadn’t been easy, she was more than ready to let her hair down.

 

Jessie had worked at Slater’s, Mr Slater’s publishing company in central London since she had graduated from university six years ago, in those six years she had sat through countless meetings just like this. She was first-class at what she did, she had grown familiar to hearing his praise and it was well deserved. In just six short months she had successfully managed to transform a complete nobody into the best selling author of the year and she had practically done it alone. Now her job was complete, someone else would take over the day-to-day handlings of the account and Jessie would move onto something new. This was how she liked it; it kept things fresh and interesting, always giving her new challenges. She loved her job, maybe a little too much as it could sometimes take over her life. I wonder what’s next, she thought to herself.

 

Edward Slater, Jessie and her three colleagues left the stylish meeting room, departed ways and went back to their separate offices. Jessie’s designer heels clicked across the shinny wooden floor as she walked with a sense of elation towards the office she shared, her hands ran through her silky auburn hair and she beamed with self-gratification. She’d done good, job well done, tonight was definitely the night to finally let her hair down!

 

“I hear a congratulations are in order,” Kelly said flashing her pearly white teeth in an infectious smile as Jessie closed the heavy wooden door of their shared office behind her. “Daisy’s tonight? There’s a bunch of people going, I even heard those hot sales guys from the top floor are thinking of making an appearance, there’s no way we’re not having fun tonight.”

 

Jessie relaxed into her high back leather desk chair, kicking off her high-heeled shoes with that sense of pleasure achieved after finishing a long to do list. Before she could respond to the invitation Kelly was already firing off another question, her attendance at the afore mentioned Daisy’s already confirmed for her.

 

Springing up, cat like, from her chair Kelly brandished two outfits, one in each hand; a choice between a very pretty, vintage inspired tea dress, or a very short and very tight black leather skirt teamed with an opaque white shirt.

 

“So what do you think? S****y or girly?”

 

 

“I vote s****y,” Jessie smirked, knowing that was what Kelly would choose whatever she said. “If you’ve got it flaunt it.”

 

Kelly was an absolute bombshell and there was nothing she couldn’t pull off.  With long, silky smooth blonde hair, super model height and an aerobics instructor’s body she never had any trouble getting what she wanted, from men or women. Confidence shone out from within her, when she walked into a room heads turned, when she spoke people listened, she had never had any trouble getting anyone’s attention. From the moment they had met, six years ago as fresh faced, innocent interns they had been inseparable and had become the best of friends.

 

“I think your right, my s****y side hasn’t been out in a while, but your going to have to join me,” She laughed. Yours has been hidden away for even longer and now you have no excuse!”

 

Jessie swept her long, dark, almost auburn hair away from her face, her green eyes twinkling with mischief as she pouted her full lips for a second, as if in deep thought…

 

“OK deal!” She giggled and pulled out a very short, black, figure hugging dress from an accumulation of Selfridge’s bags hidden under her desk.

 

If there was one thing Jessie loved it was shopping, never a day passed when there wasn’t a collection of expensive looking store bags stashed underneath her desk. She spent plenty of lunch breaks checking out the rails in central London stores or browsing online shops for that perfect outfit for her next event. Jessie’s shopping habit was something she couldn’t always get a handle on; she spent far too much time and money engrossed in luxury retail stores, thankfully due to her generous salary she had so far managed to keep herself out of the bank managers bad books, the result however, was not one, but two bulging closets.

 

She had psychoanalysed herself countless times and had come to the conclusion that her shopping habit acted as a filler for the dire lack of stability and fulfilment from her love life. James; a stock broker she’d been seeing for a good few months now, held the majority of the blame for this. He was the only source of romance in her life, aside from the stack of romance novels on her bedside table, and for a while she had toyed with the idea that there was more to their relationship than just his random bootie calls and casual, meaningless sex, but recently she had begun to accept the fact that was all it was, for him anyway. He made up for his lack of contact, unavailability and general shittyness with expensive gifts and luxury hotel rooms. She knew that there was a string of other girls he did the exact same thing with, she used to try and kid herself into thinking that they had something special that he didn’t have with any of the other girls but again, she now realised that this was complete and utter bullshit.

 

It had been ten days since she’d heard any word from him, ten days of heartless silence. Their last escapade had been a naughty weekend spent in his luxury sky high apartment, he’d called her up late on a Friday night on his way home from the airport, returning from a business trip and demanded she come down to the car that instant. He’d bought a collection of kinky outfits for her to wear and they spend two whole days locked inside, playing out his eccentric erotic fantasies. She’d not heard a word from him since she left his house on the Sunday evening.

 

In all honesty she didn’t have time for a full on relationship; work, shopping, friends and partying took up all of her time and she wasn’t willing to give them up, as long as she was kept busy everything was fine. James was right for her; casual sex, the odd date and expensive gifts were all she needed; she wasn’t ready to get in too deep. So she kept telling herself.

 

“Yes, yes, definitely yes!” Kelly said in her bossy tone, awakening Jessie from the deep thought she’d slipped into. “That dress is amazing, there’s no way you’re not wearing it.”

 

Forcing herself back to reality Jessie stood in front of the full-length mirror holding the dress up against her slim, short frame and nodded in agreement. Jessie did not have the same outgoing, ballsy confidence as Kelly, hers was a more understated and quite kind of confidence that only existed after applying makeup, fixing her hair and attending weekly beauty appointments, and Kelly’s constant state of perfection did not always help.

 

“I’ll team it with that Vivian Westwood blazer and those black Nine West platforms I bought earlier. A little… Who am I kidding, a lot of red lipstick and I’ll be a s****y vamp, that work for you?” She asked, flashing a sly grin in Kelly’s direction.

 

“Perfection.” Kelly agreed.

 

As the clock crept towards 5:30pm they finished up any of the days work, sent their last emails and then transformed their office into something more like a dressing room. Laptops, folders, papers and notepads were hidden away into drawers and replaced with mirrors, makeup bags, hair straighteners and various items of clothing. Finally the working day had ended and the evening was just beginning, after a tough few months, Jessie finally felt ready to blow off some steam.

 

Their comfortably sized office sat up high up in the London skyline; on a clear day most of London could be seen from their floor to ceiling windows, it was breathtaking. Right now the early November sun had gone down hours ago, leaving the twinkling night-lights of London to light up the dark city outside.

 

A light tapping came from their office door and without waiting for a response; Christine popped her head around the door.

 

“Please tell me one of you guys have makeup wipes?” She whimpered with a nervous look, her dark eyes pleading from underneath her long, heavy fringe. “It’s the one thing I always forget.”

 

Jessie glanced over from the mirror where she’d been admiring herself to the desperate looking Christine, her hands clasped together as if in prayer, still dressed in the same clothes she’d been wearing all day.

 

“Of course I have,” Jessie said, raising her eyebrow with a laugh. “Please tell me your not only just starting your makeup now, we’re near enough ready to go!”

 

“Yes I know, I’m sorry, I had to work late and finish some emails, it couldn’t wait till the morning! You guys go ahead, I’ll be there before you order.” Christine murmured apologetically, twisting her dark, glossy black hair in her fingers.

 

“Just make sure you are, I’m dying for a drink!” Jessie teased. “Here, take this, it’s just your colour.” She tossed Christine a new Mac lipstick in Barbie pink.

 

“Wow thanks babe, this is perfect for what I’m wearing tonight! Does it not suit you?” Christine asked appreciatively, testing the colour on the back of her hand.

 

“No, it’s a touch too bright for me, but it will look perfect on you. Now piss off and get ready, we’re starving!” Jessie commanded with a giggle, unable to keep the serious look on her face. Christine stuck out her tongue before scarpering off down the corridor to her own desk, taking with her the makeup wipes and lipstick.

 

Jessie applied a final coat of her newly purchased Dior Rouge Premier lipstick to her full lips, sprayed her favourite Coco Mademoiselle perfume to her neck and chest and checked herself over in the mirror. Her tan from a recent trip to Greece had begun to fade; she made a mental note to top it up at the tanning salon over the weekend. The new Wonderbra she had changed into created a voluptuous looking cleavage from her average sized breasts. Looking pretty good, she thought to herself, the blazer she’d draped over her figure hugging dress gave her enough subtlety for early evening dinner and at the same time gave her the option of turning the night into a wild one.  Her long dark auburn hair had been perfected into loose waves framing her small face and the platforms on her shoes had added an extra 6inches to her small 5”4 frame.

 

“Move over, you’ve been looking at yourself for long enough!” Kelly exclaimed as she playfully shoved Jessie away from the mirror. “Right dear, I think we may be ready, lets knock them dead.” Kelly said after giving herself a glance over and held out her arm as if she were a gentleman escorting her lady to dinner.

 

They left the emptying office and made their way through the chilly early November air, aside from for the odd browning, decaying leaf the last remnants of autumn were all but swept away and winter was settling in fast. Jessie loved London during the winter, to her it was beautiful. Coffee always tasted richer on a crisp, fresh morning and the air somehow smelt cleaner. She loved layering herself in leather gloves, cashmere scarves and big, warm wool coats. She loved the sound her heels made as she stepped over the crunchy leaves and the soon to come frost and snow. Somehow the architecture seemed more beautiful, the statues more prominent, her flat more homely and welcoming.

 

They entered the bar shivering and welcomed the warmth. 7pm and already Daisy’s was starting to fill with hungry city dwellers in need of food and drinks to start their evening. Jessie had become a regular at Daisy’s, they started many nights this way, getting here early so they could sneak in a light dinner and a few cocktails before everyone arrived, an old habit they’d learnt after finding out the hard way that drinking after work on an empty stomach only ever ended badly.

 

Chic décor and an exclusive client base had solidified Daisy’s as a London hotspot; delicious food accompanied their highly imaginative cocktails. The waiting list for a table was always full, however Jessie and Kelly had been coming here for years as it was so close to work and they’d befriended the owners. They never had a problem with getting a table.

 

The space was light with warm, rose tinted lighting, luxurious mahogany tables decorated with single white lilies filled the room and cosy booths lined the walls. As it was still early the crowd were mostly suits but soon they’d begin to dwindle away and out would come the cocktail crazy socialites.

 

Kelly and Jessie sat at their usual booth and both ordered G’vine Orchid’s �" a mix of gin, elderflower and pink grapefruit juice topped with champagne, a reward for a crazy couple of weeks at work, before glancing at the menu.

 

Just as they were about to order, a glamorously transformed Christine slid into the booth. The gifted Barbie pink lipstick on her lips adding colour to her skinny leather jeans, opaque black tee and matching sleek black hair, it really did suit her better than it did Jessie.

 

“Thank god you’re here, we were about to order without you.” Kelly moaned dramatically giving her a wink.

 

The waitress made her way to the table and they ordered salads and a sushi platter, as well as another round of cocktails.

 

“So I hear you’re up for a big job Jessie?” Christine asked with a knowing smile.

 

Christine was Edward Slater’s, Jessie’s boss’s secretary and was often privy to juicy office information.

 

“Tell me what you know!” Jessie pleaded demandingly.

 

“Not much I’m afraid, it’s been kept pretty hush-hush, but I can tell you that it’s something pretty special and there’s big money involved, I think some travelling too.” Christine explained emphasizing the word big.

 

All three girls looked impressed, Jessie was already planning how she’d spend the money. As they were finishing their meals and ordering another round of cocktails, two more girls joined their table. It was getting close to 9pm now and the place began to fill up, sure enough the suits were dispersing and the glamorous London socialites were taking their spots.  

 

There were six of them sitting around the cosy private booth with room for a few more, already a few cocktails down and Jessie was feeling relaxed, she could feel the alcohol taking effect and all her work related stress melting away with each glorious sip.

 

It had taken a while compared to her usual standards but Kelly had spotted a group of guys at the bar, the hot sales guys from their building she had mentioned earlier.  

 

“Black shirts mine girls, I’m calling it! You guys can fight over the others!” Kelly exclaimed in her bossy tone, pointing a sly finger at the men in question.  

 

They all knew not to challenge her when it came to men, Kelly always won! She loved the challenge in a game of chase and any competition only made it more fun for her, she knew every trick in the book and wasn’t afraid of playing dirty.

On the few rare times her exceptional good looks hadn’t been enough, she had always gone the extra mile to secure her man.  She’d played the wet t-shirt card many a time and had even pretended to faint on a guy, she had all sorts up her sleeve, and she never failed! Hearing the juicy and usually explicit details the next morning had become part of the well-rehearsed routine.  

 

Kelly sent a flirtatious smile over to the black shirted guy, winked and went back to sipping her cocktail. “Commence phase one.” She murmured with a coy smile.

 

Jessie’s phone buzzed to a message from James �" her bootie call lover.

 

“Are you out tonight? I’m getting lonely.” It Read.

 

Her heart fluttered as she tried to read into his short message, it felt like so long since she’d last heard from him. He’s lonely, he wants me, he’s missing me, he’s thinking about me…

 

“Is that your mystery guy?” Kelly asked loudly, spotting the text, making everyone stop talking and turn and look inquisitively.

 

“SPILL!” Christine demanded, “Who is he and why have we not met him?” The group of girls nodded, all demanding answers.

 

“Guys, chill, its nothing, its just a casual fling, nothing serious.” Jessie replied trying to shrug it off and keep her cool but she couldn’t quite help the smile creeping past her lips.

 

“Oh yeah? So why are you blushing?” Kelly teased. “Is he hot?”

 

“I am not blushing!” Jessie argued turning even redder. “And yes, he is hot, he’s gorgeous actually, blond, blue eyes, tall, tanned, athletic, well groomed, well dressed! Plus he buys me the most amazing gifts �" that Chanel purse �" him, Hermes scarf �" all him.”

 

“Sounds like a dream, what’s the catch? Why do you not have him chained to your arm?” Christine asked.

 

“Oh you know, neither of us have time for a full on relationship, we’re keeping things casual, keeping our options open and all that.” Jessie said, squirming slightly in her seat as she said aloud the old lies she told herself so often.

 

Normally she could tell these girls anything but not this, it was confusing, she couldn’t quite get her head around it. Even though deep down she knew the guy was a d****e bag, her face still lit up when he text her, she always went back for more when he called her and his kind words and thoughtful gifts sent her into a cloud of happiness, which was probably due to him starving her of attention ninety percent of the time. She hated him that ninety per cent but she always went back for that ten percent, every time.

Somehow she still managed to push his d********g qualities and other negatives to the back her mind where they came back to haunt her as soon as she felt venerable. She wasn’t sure if she could explain this to anyone else, she knew they’d judge her and think her weak and she didn’t want to be thought of that way. So she kept it to herself and told the old lie that she was happy with their relationship, if she could even call it that.

 

“Hmmm… well I guess if your getting what you want from it, and the sex is good… then…”

 

“It’s just what I need, and the sex is great.” Jessie replied with a raised eyebrow and a grin. Another lie, he was a selfish lover the majority of the time.

 

She text him back; “I’m in Daisy’s, moving on soon. Fancy catching up later? Xxx”

 

Kelly had kept up the long distance flirting with the black shirted guy at the bar and soon enough he and his group of friends were making their way over to the girl’s booth.

 

“Hi girls, a round of drinks?” The black shirted guy asked with hopeful confidence. “I’m Tom by the way.”

 

He introduced his friends; Jessie could already tell there would be stiff competition between the other girls for the remaining guys. They were attractive, well dressed and buying drinks �" a winning combination. The others seemed to have already realised and each stepped up their game, fluttering their eyelashes and flashing seductive looks across the table.

 

Jessie, regarding herself as already taken let the other girls battle it out for the men’s attention. She knew it was all about the competitions with these girls, just a friendly game, all they needed was a phone number from the guy in question and the battle would be won, the game over.

 

Jessie’s phone buzzed again. Get yourself down to Cloud. Read the text reply from James.

 

“Sooo… Where to next”? Jessie asked the group, her fingers crossed for an easy answer.

 

“Cloud? I hear that’s where it’s at tonight.” Kelly pitched.

 

The group nodded their approval. Thank God. Jessie thought to her self, she had hoped that would be the answer, it meant she didn’t have to talk the group and Kelly into it.

 

Tom, the black shirted guy and his three friends returned with drinks and squeezed into the booth, Tom squeezing up a little too close than necessary to Kelly.

 

“We’re moving onto Cloud after these,” Kelly told them, “will you be joining us?”

 

“For sure, that’s where it’s at tonight! I have a contact there who should be able to get us all on the guest list?” Tom replied, a little too enthusiastically in his bid to please Kelly.

 

“Amazing!” Christine squealed

 

The evening’s cocktails had done their job and everyone could feel the alcohol taking affect, making them tipsy and giggly. Christine, it seemed had managed to win the attention of one of the guys, his hand rested on her leg as he listened to tales from their recent girly holiday. “When in Rome, or Cyprus I guess.” She giggled as she finished her story.

 

Soon enough the drinks were empty and the group made their way to Cloud, one of the newest and hottest night clubs to open in the west end, it was pretty exclusive �" they didn’t just let anyone in.

 

Jessie had been once before but not as a VIP, which she knew instantly gave you a higher status, a private VIP booth and waiter service just for starters.

 

They by passed the long line outside the club, strutting a little as they went, breezed passed the bouncers and went up into the club. Bodies filled the dance floor, all moving in time to the music, swaying and bouncing. The music was pumping hard and the lights were flashing, making everything seem blurred.

Jessie scanned the calmer VIP room in search of James but he was nowhere to be seen, Tom and his friends were straight at the bar ordering more drinks and Jessie was already feeling pretty drunk.

 

“Come on, I want to dance!” Kelly said as she pulled a giggling Jessie onto the dance floor, who dragged Christine with her. The music and alcohol took control and Jessie started moving with the music, the beat controlled her movements and soon enough it became easy and natural. She felt the smile spread across her face as Kelly threw her hands in the air.

 

Tom came back laden with drinks for everyone and put his arm around Kelly as he danced behind her. Christine had the same move pulled on her by his friend she was flirting with earlier. The music dropped and became faster and more intense, Jessie and one of Christine’s friends joined hands as they danced, giggling at Kelly as she started playing hard to get with Tom, making him work for her.

 

After a particularly fast track Jessie left the group, her heart beating fast and headed to the bar for a glass of water, she glanced at her watch and was shocked to see it was already passed 2am! Crap! She thought, she had work the next day and that meeting with her boss. Where on earth is James? He said he would be here, her mind started racing. I bet he went home with another girl before I got here? Maybe he forgot about me? He definitely said Cloud…? I guess I should just head home. The thoughts raced through her mind.

 

As she finished her glass of water her phone buzzed, a message from James read; “I’m outside, waiting in a cab, coming?” Her heart skipped, he hadn’t forgotten about her.

Kelly and Tom were making their way to the bar, his arm around her waist as he whispered something into her ear.

 

“Kelly! Jessie beckoned. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I have a ride downstairs.”

 

“Ok, bright and early, get home safe.” Kelly giggled as she leaned into Tom, her arm around his neck; her hard to get game was obviously over.

 

Jessie made her way out of the club without saying goodbye to any of the others, she could feel the alcohol had taken control of her senses as she tried to focus on walking soberly out of the club.

 

A row of taxis were waiting outside and leaned casually up against one was James. His smart light grey suit complemented his tanned skin and piercing grey eyes. He was suave their was no doubt about it.

 

“Hello gorgeous,” he said in his smooth, deep voice. “Back to mine?” His lips curved into a sexy grin.

 

Jessie walked over to him, as sexy as she could, managing not to stumble.

 

“Where else?” She said with her best seductive grin, he pulled her close towards him, his hands on her lower back and kissed her full on the lips.

 

“Where else indeed.” He murmured as he pulled her into the cab.

 

They shared a steamy 15 minute cab ride back to his, finding it hard to contain to contain themselves in the presence of the cab driver. His hand on her upper thigh as they shared long, heated kisses. Jessie hadn’t seen James in two weeks, he’d done his usual act of going cold, not answering texts and basically just ignoring her when he thought they might have spent too much time together, then, out of the blue he calls he up without any explanations and Jessie, as she always did, let him.

 

When the cab finally pulled up to the curb outside James’s apartment they literally ran to the elevator, which would take them up to the dizzy heights of James’s apartment.

His apartment was in a high rise next door to London Bridge, Jessie had been here a number of times since she’d met James but it never failed to stun her. The apartment was decked out in complete luxury, everything looked expensive, the views from the huge windows was outstanding, the whole city was illuminated and from the height it looked like a toy set.

 

Once in the privacy of the elevator he pushed her up against the mirrored wall and kissed her full and hard, his tongue wrestling with hers, his hands in her hair moving longingly down her lower back to her cheeks which he grabbed, lifting her up so she could wrap her legs around him. Her fingers were pulling at his hair as she tilted her head back allowing him to run his lips down her neck and onto her chest.

 

All to soon the elevator came to a stop at his floor, he took her hand and pulled her into his apartment.

 

“Did I already tell you your looking sexy as hell tonight?” He asked, his eyes moving slowly up and down her body making her blush, her heart beating fast as she stared back at him longingly and slowly walked towards him where he took her into his arms and kissed her on the mouth. His hands travelling slowly and lightly up her spine where he paused and tugged on the zip which held her dress together, he peeled it from her body and let it drop to the floor where she stood in nothing but her back lacy Agent Provocateur lingerie and black platform shoes. Damn she felt sexy!

 

“Miss Smith, I didn’t think it were possible for you to look any sexier.” He said in his sexy deep voice as his hands squeezed her behind before lifting her up onto the solid marble kitchen counter. She wrapped her legs around him, hungrily unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his tanned toned chest. She traced her finger over the six pack she knew he worked hard for at his expensive gym, as his kisses ran all over her neck and down to her heaving breasts. She could feel his erection pressing against her as her hands moved down to his Gucci belt and unzip his trousers so she could reach in and hungrily caress his arousal.

Without her realizing he’d unhooked her bra so that his tongue could slide over her n****e, he moaned in delight, his hands moved slowly inside her lacy underwear, she moaned again, louder, unable to take much more.

 

“I want you now.” He demanded gruffly into her ear.

 

He pushed her back flat against the cool kitchen counter so that his lips could run down her stomach to the top of her lacy panties where he teased her, kissing around her pelvis bone and the inside of her thighs.

 

His hands ran under the small of her back, pulling her up to a seated position before lifting her up off the counter and onto his arousal as if she weighed nothing in his arms. She gasped with pleasure as she felt him enter her and clung to him as he bounced her up and down, each bounce giving her more and more pleasure. Soon when his arms became tired her carried her into the bedroom where they continued their shared pleasure.