Forbidden Delights

Chapter Four

The days that pass after the dinner are uneventful. Lorelai feels somewhat satiated by Dante's agreement not to tell anyone about her midnight rendezvous, but he's unpredictable and she doesn't trust him. Not to mention the vagueness of their deal — owing a favor is not something Lorelai is comfortable with.

The Ciceros were still in the process of moving in, and the large vans came everyday to deliver more of their furniture and belongings from their old penthouse in the Upper East Side. It gave Lorelai the urge to get her hands dirty and snoop through their belongings like a rookie journalist searching through someone's trash to get dirt on them. However, she decided that this was a level of deranged behaviour that she was yet to sink to. Still, it was tempting.

Maybe she should sit at her window with binoculars like a pervert and try to catch Dante doing something blackmail-worthy in the room opposite hers? Though, once again, that was the behaviour of someone who had truly lost it.

Instead, she has been keeping busy with the investment into the cosmetics company, Sunday Breeze. They want a retail outlet and possibly franchises in the future, and were delighted when the infamous conglomerate Minerva contacted them the day after the meeting with an offer.

She's in the heart of Manhattan on her lunch break, sitting in some trendy all-day breakfast restaurant with her head perched in the heart of her palm and her lips wrapped around the paper straw in her vanilla milkshake. Opposite her, Robin Darcy, her best friend, nurses an Irish coffee.

"As far as I see it, you're stressing over nothing," Robin says, waving a hand dismissively. "Who's to say that your dad would even believe Dante if he told him? You know he sees you as his precious little angel."

"I'm just annoyed at myself," Lorelai complains. "I've been so careful all these years."

"Him catching you is just a small obstacle that you have overcome," Robin assures her, flicking her dirty blonde curls behind her shoulder. "Just keep your nympho-tendencies on the down-low for a little while and you will be fine."

"I don't have nympho-tendencies," Lorelai scowls.

"You do, my little sexual deviant," Robin replies, fondly. "So do I. It's why we get along so well."

Lorelai rolls her eyes. "Normally a good fuck is my stress reliever, not the cause of it."

"Your personal poison," Robin muses. "I wonder what his is."

"What whose is?"

"Your neighbor. Dante." The blonde elaborates. "This whole debacle would be a non-issue if you had something to use against him. Dangle it in his face to ensure his silence."

"I know," Lorelai agrees, sighing. "But he is incredibly boring. All he does is work, lurk in the room opposite mine, and chain smoke."

Robin laughs. "If only he was having an affair, or something. The ultimate blackmail."

The two women pause, looking at each other. They rewind for a moment, backtrack on that thought and revisit it.

"I doubt he is having an affair," Lorelai thinks aloud. "Though he certainly could if he wanted to."

"If only he was in contact with someone who has a penchant for seduction," Robin hints, eyebrow raised. "Someone who also happens to be going through a Dante-induced dry spell and has an itch that needs to be scratched."

"He is incredibly hot," Lorelai hums. "I would have already tried to seduce him if it weren't for the circumstances."

"So it is beneficial for everyone," Robin says, lips curling up into a smirk. "You get to have an affair with an attractive man and gain the upper hand to secure his silence, and he gets to fuck someone other than his uncannily cheerful wife."

"But he's absolutely insufferable," Lorelai points out. "It's unfair that such a beautiful man can be such a colossal asshole."

Robin snorts. "So? Half of the men you fuck are unbearable cunts."

Lorelai sighs, conceding. It's true — when your type is powerful older rich men, you tend to encounter more than a fair share of narcissists and dickheads.

"So?" Robin asks, knocking Lorelai out of her reverie. "Are you going to go for it?"

She purses her lips, thinking. It seems that she has stumbled across the solution to her problems.

"Yes," Lorelai decides. "I'm going to seduce Dante."

Robin grins, raises her drink. "Cheers to that."

Lorelai clinks her glass against Robin's. "You are a terrible influence."

The blonde just laughs. "I know, honey. I love you too."