Born into the lap of luxury and a time of turmoil, Duchesse Eleonore Vigneron experiences her coming of age in the Court of Louis XVI . Embroiled in the chaos that surrounds Versailles, Eleni uses her unique blend of wit, charm, and beauty to ensure...
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"It is the most sensual men who need to flee women and torment their bodies."--- Friedrich Nietzsche
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The creepy noise that startled Eleni wasn't a ghost or a storm or whatever else she'd imagined. It was Dino.
As he walks into the hotel, Dino Dinelli throws his bags on the floor, disturbing the peace with his mere presence. Finally, he finds the hotel and greets it as if it is an enemy. Dino is angry because he spent most of the day walking, asking strangers for help and ending up travelling in circles. Most were entirely unhelpful and a waste of his breath. He tromps up into the building and pauses at the front counter. His mismatched eyes settle on the woman, sweat gleaming over every inch of his body and sticking his shirt to his chest and stomach like glue. His words could be heard distinctly by every patron in the small hotel. Fuck it. It's a goddamned hotel, he thinks in annoyance before turning to the lady at registration.
"Aight, miss. I ain't one to sound fuckin' rude, but it's been a long fuckin' day. Please tell you got a fuckin' room, an' a fuckin' workin' shower. It ain't even gotta have fuckin' hawt water. Just needs fuckin' runnin' water. I got fuckin' soap an' shit. I need a fuckin' shower an' a fuckin' bed to pass out in." He settled his hands on the counter, leaning a bit toward Kyla. Kyra. Kayla. Whatever. "So, can you work wit' me here? Or do I gotta fuckin' beg?" He smirks to the clerk, then pulled out his roll of cash. He only has a few hundred to last him, and the place looks ritzy enough to be expensive. He can only hope that being the remote town that it is, the hotel would be cheaper than it appears.
In the parlour next to Dino and the bewildered clerk, Marius is finding it difficult not become wholly entranced by the woman sitting near him. It was a respectable distance between them, but he knows what will happen from the moment she first touches his hand. The longer they converse, the more necessary her presence will become for him. It is dangerous territory for the Navy man. What he didn't expect was that she would start to become equally addicted to his reactions, the domino-style response that comes from the way the pair of almost-strangers interacts. It is as if they are suddenly the entirety of the world.
The more he watches her, though, the more he can see it. She isn't merely a lovely and seductive woman, but she likes him as much as he wants her. He is reasonably sure of this, though not 100%. His certainty keeps wavering, along with his confidence. Eleni leans in close to talk to him, her almond-shaped eyes bigger and darker. She smells like rose petals and something that reminds him of picking strawberries in the summer.
