Hot Revenge Box Set 2
Chapter 40
Still steaming from my shower, my hair turbaned into a towel, I examine the two dresses I brought with me. I’m not sure how formal the Threesome are with dinner, so I packed choices.
I hold them up to Ryan. “Which dress do you think I should wear? Christmas red with sparkly bits, or classic ‘little black dress’?”
“Not the red,” says Ryan. “That satin will show every mark.”
“Why should it get marked? We're only having dinner.”
He sits on the edge of the bed, tugging off his boots and smiling away from me. “I’m going for my shower.”
?
Mmmm…
Standing in front of the mirror, I switch on the hair-drier, brushing through my long locks, easing them to lie as I want, slightly covering my left cheek.
Ryan comes up close behind me. Taking me by the shoulders, he presses lips to the cheek, then in the mirror, his eyes meet mine. “You shouldn’t be so self-conscious about it. It barely shows. And in any case, you are still a beautiful woman; the most beautiful I know.”
“I… I still prefer to cover it if I can,” I stutter. I angle my face to the mirror, tracing a fingertip down the jagged red scar down the side of my face.
After my time in hospital, my months invalided, all my other injuries healed, but this…
An extra layer of foundation…
And some blusher…
Then no-one will see it…
*****
“Dinner is served!” James’ voice reverberates from the kitchen.
We head for the dining room. Out in the hall, Charlotte and Mitch descend the stairs, Mitch carrying Cara.
Mitch looks amazing. In a dress of jade, her hair is set in an elaborately up-style and at her neck she wears the silver and emerald necklace. The matching combs glint green against her copper-red hair.
Charlotte looks equally good. Although she still has much of her ‘pregnant shape’, the gown she wears emphasises her height and her much-expanded bosom but drapes smoothly over her expanded stomach.
Michael and Larry enter together, wearing their sweaters in a kind of protective fraternity, Rudolph side by side with the penguin, each refusing to meet each other’s eyes. Charlotte and Mitch exchange giggles as their men sit beside them.
Richard and Beth join us, she leaning on his arm, waddling a bit as he guides her to sit next to Charlotte. But Beth too, for all her advanced pregnancy, looks spectacular, in a dress chosen to make the best of her inflated stomach and bosom.
Michael aims a finger at Richard. “If you think you’re getting away with the suit and shirt, you’re mistaken. If the rest of us have to dress like idiots, so do you.”
Mitch turns to him, her voice all innocence. “Idiots, Michael?”
He turns to her, bowing elaborately. “My apologies, Mitch. If the rest of us have to meet your high sartorial standards, so does Richard.” He turns back to Beth’s elegantly dressed husband. “Go and change.”
James enters carrying a platter of smoked salmon, bedded on a green salad and dressed with sliced lemons.
Richard demurs, smirking…. “The meal’s arrived. If I take the time to change, the food will be cold.”
Michael takes on a quite untypical heartless tone. “Smoked salmon doesn’t go cold. Neither does melon. We’ll wait.”
James, Rudolph staring out from his chest, sets down the platter. “I’ll be back in in a sec with the soup. It’s just under the grill now.”
Hope lights up Richard’s face but Michael interrupts, “Just hold the soup for five minutes will you, James. Richard wants to change into something more appropriate. We don’t want his starter to go cold.”
James measures the billionaire’s perfectly cut, hand-stitched suit with his eye and his face stone-walls. “Yes, quite right. We’ll wait for you, Richard.”
Next to me Ryan, in his silk shirt and tie, lets out a slow release of air.
“Just realising what a narrow escape you had?” I murmur.
He scratches his nose and sniffs. “Mmmph…”
gives a satisfied chuckle and vanishes from the dining room. Five minutes later, at the sound of
it down, centre-table then takes his place, then glances up. “It suits you
Harrumphs, his face almost
offers up a bottle. “Red or white,
“Red for me, please.”
the table, pouring wine all
serves the food. “Larry, French onion soup, melon or
father shifts his
He’s always watching her…
platter, radiating good humour as he serves himself a generous helping, squeezing
plate, her mouth twisting. “I don’t know how
protest but Larry, eyes crinkling, drawls, “Mitch is sensitive to anything of this sort. She didn’t do well with Scandinavian
at his melon. “You’ve
table to Richard’s sweater, then he twists side-on to face Mitch. “Did I
her teeth, then props her chin on a fist. “No, I don’t think you
call him Jultomten. Or just Tomten… Anyway, Tomten gives presents to all the…” He makes air commas with paired fingers… “… good little boys and girls, but whereas Father Christmas here comes in the
father as though she has
how often Santa ever visited her
…
Or him?
So…” He stabs at another slice of salmon… “This is excellent, James...” He swallows the salmon, washing it down with
gifts, knocks on the door and asks, ‘Are there any good children here? Of course, all the kids say, ‘Yes’. So, then he’ll sit them on his knee…” Larry shifts to a fake and slightly comic Swedish accent… “So, Inga… You have been
the parents will give him a slice of cake or stollen, and a glass of schnapps. And then he’ll go on his
so far…” says Mitch, her
He grins and takes another swig
get drunk?
Or… actually, genuinely, relaxing?
play the part. But… there are also what you might call professional Father Christmases. The parents book them beforehand, tell them a bit about the kids and what they’ve
cradles his glass in paired hands. “I’m beginning
him. “So, if Tomten has, say, twenty bookings on Christmas Eve, by the end
out laughing, throwing out a finger at him…” … and drunk twenty shots of
night, it’s not that uncommon to visit the town centre in Sweden to find two dozen Father Christmases, complete with red
burst out laughing. Mitch
ever been to Sweden,
eyes. “Sweden no. But Larry took me
“Really? That sounds marvellous.”
“One of the best weeks I’ve ever had. That was at Christmas
over the table, topping up her glass. “But you didn’t take
little cafe. It only had a couple of chairs and those were outside on the street. There must have been two feet of snow, but they did a hot salmon soup. The temperature was way below zero, but the soup
to her, and her fingers
is very still, watching her parents, all but
speaking. “…So, yes, the salmon soup was great. But
he says… “… If I am not much mistaken...” He hesitates, glances at Charlotte, and then very obviously, closes his mouth, swallowing
him, then down to her plate. Blinking, she sips at her wine. “Yes,” she mumbles. It
the time obviously…” His voice turns dry… “… I was missing certain crucial information then. It was only much later that I figured what
James and Michael exchange baffled
missing
are you both talking
head. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s not for me to speak unless your mother is
happy about something. “Whatever it is, it sounds important.” Her words shift to a hiss. “You can’t just leave it like that.” In her arms, Cara whimpers and fusses. Larry winces
Wishing he’d not spoken?
have private stuff between them.
don’t mind. It’s just a bit…
“Since it’s a day for embarrassing confessions…” Then he turns, aiming his words at Charlotte. “Twenty-six
grow round. “Why did you choose
to heaven. “It was Christmas. She wanted snow…”
her and at first, meals-wise, she stayed with what was familiar; porridge and fruit for breakfast. That kind of thing. But after a few days of playing safe,
About Hot Revenge Box Set 2 - Chapter 40
Hot Revenge Box Set 2 is the best current series of the author Simone Leigh. With the below Chapter 40 content will make us lost in the world of love and hatred interchangeably, despite all the tricks to achieve the goal without any concern for the other half, and then regret. late. Please read chapter Chapter 40 and update the next chapters of this series at novelebook.com