Chapter 43
Anton
When Gen’s not worrying about me seducing her, she’s excellent company, an assured conversationalist, fucking hilarious, and surprisingly slapstick.
For a woman who’s perfected the implacable ice-queen demeanour for those unfortunate souls who don’t know her well, she has one of the most expressive faces I’ve ever seen. It’s almost elastic, and it’s a great prop when she’s telling a funny story, of which she has many to tell.
I suppose you don’t run a sex club without racking up countless anecdotes, even if most of them are inappropriate for normal dinner conversation.
I sit back in my chair and survey her appreciatively as I nurse my drink.
Our meal has been a roaring success, and I don’t mean the food, no matter how fresh the mullet was.
The wine and the conversation have flowed equally smoothly, and I’m experiencing the unrivalled pleasure of having Genevieve Carew’s company all to myself.
‘Kinkiest thing you’ve ever seen there?’ I ask.
She considers. ‘God. I don’t know. There’s a lot. Probably some of the live sex shows we’ve put on down in The Vault.’
I raise my eyebrows. ‘We?’
‘Fuck off. Our staff. You know what I mean.’
‘Kinkiest thing you’ve ever done,’ I ask, my voice deeper. I hold my breath.
‘Nosy, aren’t you?’
‘When it comes to you, yes,’ I tell her. ‘I’m still trying to figure you out. You’re a conundrum to me.’
‘Pot and kettle,’ she retorts.
‘Maybe, but it’s true. You’re one of the most intellectually impressive, refined, poised women I’ve ever met. I suspect you had your pick of industries. And you chose to run a sex club.’
She taps a fingernail against her glass. ‘It interests me that you see that as a conflict.’
‘Not a conflict,’ I say. ‘Absolutely not. I love it. But you can’t deny it’s unorthodox.’
‘Alchemy was the boys’ idea,’ she says. ‘But I was working in Operations for a bank, and I knew I could run that side of it for them and do a good job.’
I narrow my eyes, because that sounds disingenuous. ‘And the sector was irrelevant.’
‘No.’ She meets my gaze. ‘It wasn’t. I loved the idea.
It was a massive departure for me—not exactly JP Morgan.
But what you see as a conflict is deliberate.
I’ve chosen to present this front of decorum so I can be taken seriously.
Women don’t have enough seats at enough tables.
I want to be there, at those tables. In those conversations.
I have as much right to access and networking as any other senior person in any industry. ’
I think I’m in love.
‘I couldn’t agree more. So that’s why you look like you’re ready to run the country most of the time?’
She smiles, catlike. ‘Exactly.’
‘I told you you and I were alike. The difference is, they let me in without me having to work at it.’
‘Tell me about it,’ she says, tipping her head back and taking a healthy swig of rosé.
She’s so fucking radiant.
I want to return to this conversation. I want to hear her view on every single topic.
I could talk to her for years and never get bored.
I want to help, to open any doors people have been too fucking stupid to open for her.
To sing her praises from the rooftops of the City until she gets everything she wants.
But more than that, I want to kiss her till she moans into my mouth. I want to lick along her collarbones and slide that dress off her shoulders and suck her tits right here. I want it so badly I can’t breathe.
And as I gaze at her in the fading light, the citronella candles on the table flickering between us, I can’t keep it in anymore.
‘Gen,’ I say, unable to keep the pain out of my voice.
She doesn’t reply. She just sets down her glass and looks at me.
Really looks at me.
And I know I’m not imagining the mutual hunger.
‘Please,’ I tell her. ‘Please. Let me touch you. You’re extraordinary. I want to show you how extraordinary you are.’