Chapter 15: Seduced by Paulo

“Chloe will kill you if you mutter one word about what you’ve just seen to Paulo or anybody else,” says Cassius, clearly not happy about Chloe’s arrangements for tonight.

“I think she wants to kill me anyway, but I’m not a blabber mouth,” I reply, heeding Sarah’s advice about knowing when to stay silent. “Whatever games she wants to play tonight are her own business as far as I’m concerned.”

“Hmm. OK. That’s a good attitude ... Now I shall escort you to where Paulo is waiting.”

I follow Cassius to the elevator, and we go up to one of the rooms on the top floor of the building. I can hear Mansel’s party further down the corridor.

“Be gone by 2 am,” says Cassius as we enter what must have once been a teacher’s living quarters. “If Chloe discovers you here when she returns I can’t answer for your safety.”

I nod in acknowledgement of his sound advice. I walk into the living room and see Paulo sat by the window. I turn to say ‘thank you’ to Cassius, but he is already on his way out.

“We have the place to ourselves,” says Paulo. “Chloe decided to go out again and Mansel agreed to take over hosting the party. I hope you aren’t too disappointed about missing the party.”

“I’m most upset,” I lie. “I was so looking forward to a decent party and you change the arrangements without even informing me.”

“I’ll do my best to make it up to you. Would you like something to drink?”

I let Paulo make a close examination of my outfit. He reaches out to touch me but I grab his hand.

“Not so fast, Paulo. We have a few things to sort out before we go any further.”

He steps back and looks at me with a puzzled frown. This isn’t going the way he expected and I’ve got him off balance. I shall follow Sarah’s advice and show him who is in control of whom tonight.

“Firstly ... What is my name?” I ask, recalling that he had admitted to previously fucking young women without bothering to learn their name.

“Jasmine,” he laughs. “After this evening’s broadcast I could hardly not know it.”

“Good,” I reply. “Now, there is the not-so-small matter of you abandoning me at two o’clock this morning with a chain locked around my ankle. I think I deserve some serious grovelling from you for that shabby trick.”

“I said I’m sorry and explained it was Chloe’s doing. What more do you want me to do?”

“Don’t hide behind Chloe’s skirt,” I say, mentally recalling that very little could hide behind the skirt Chloe was wearing when she left here. “You can kiss my feet. Then I might forgive you.”

“Kiss your feet?! You’re joking, of course! ... You’re not, are you?”

I let the silence between us continue. Paulo doesn’t know what to do. He resolves the impasse by pacing about the room. I’ve won a victory of sorts. At least he isn’t throwing me out. While he is pacing about I move over to a chair and sit down. Paulo returns with a plate of nibbles and silently offers it to me.

“Thank you, Paulo,” I say as though our previous conversation hadn’t occurred.

I can tell that his grand seduction scene has collapsed around his ears. I just hope he doesn’t take too long making his mind up about my demand. Yesterday I would have pretended it was a joke so we could move onto what we both want to do. Tonight I feel the need to ensure Paulo sees me as an equal and not just some wench who is good for a roll in bed.

Paulo sits on the couch a couple of metres away from me. He tries making small talk, but his efforts are half-hearted and our stilted conversation peters out. Then he leaps up without warning. I tense in case I need to defend myself. But he sits down on the floor near me and lifts my left foot. Off goes my shoe and he gives the top of my foot a short kiss. Then he removes my right shoe. Instead of kissing the top of my foot he nibbles my toes. The pleasant sensation makes me giggle.

“So, am I forgiven for leaving you alone in the café last night?” he says.

“Mmmm ... possibly. Why don’t we move over to the couch and you can apologise some more?”