Deceit. [COMPLETED.]

Chapter 14

"To business."
[KIRK ATTWOOD.]

Max looked absolutely stunning.

Out of her denim shorts she was a completely different woman. She seemed older, more refined. Her face was different. She looked totally at ease with the hub of noise as she fixed her eyes on me.

She saw that I was looking at her thin satin dress all in gold. It was figure hugging. It showed all her lines in perfect contours accentuating her hips and there didn't seem to be any sign that she was wearing anything underneath. Her gown shimmered in the light and went all the way down to the floor.

'So what do you think?' she asked clearly pleased with the impression she had given me and for good measure she turned slowly round in a full circle hesitating just that fraction of a second to allow my eyes to wander down to the lower half of a body that was perfectly formed.

'You like?'

She knew damn well that I did. There was not a man in this room who would not find her attractive and at any other time I would have been happy to have continued with her verbal foreplay only I wasn't alone and I was reminded of this fact with the next statement.

'H Hmm.' Cheryl had succeeded in catching my attention.

I still had not said anything about my drive home.

My mind whirred.

I had no time to think and so came up with the first idea that filled my head.

'Oh I am so sorry. Darling this is Max,' I placed an affectionate arm across my wife's shoulder. 'She's one of the secretaries from the office and Max, this is my lovely wife Cheryl.'

I hoped that I had sent across the right signals and Max had understood why I lied but there was a pause.

It was long.

Far too long.

It gave me more time to admire how she looked, how her dress embraced her body like a long lost friend, how a diamond necklace around her neck pulled your vision towards what lay underneath.

All the time her face remained a picture of serenity.

She smiled graciously, looking first at me then back at Cheryl.

'Oh please ... call me Jenny.'

My heart stopped, Cheryl spinning her head towards me.

'Jenny?'

Max shrugged an apologetic shoulder and I could see the same faint glint in her eye that I saw back in the car. It was mischievous and it was also dangerous.

'Yes,' she answered genially. 'It is and for my pains I am the one who thought up this idea of owning a racing car company.'

The glint turned into a frown as she turned her attention to my battered and bruised face placing what could only be described as an affectionate finger just above where it hurt. It was gentle, it was subtle and it lingered far too long before pulling away.

'Oh now that must have hurt.'

'Have I missed something?'

Cheryl's voice cut through air like a knife through butter as she directed her gaze first at me and then at Max.

'Is it Max or Jenny? Only my husband seems to be under the impression that you are someone else.'

People were opening bottles, starting their introductions and if I were a better person, I would have made our excuses and carried Cheryl away only I couldn't move.