full length mirror in front of which I stood, trying to avoid coming face to face with myself and the decision I would make in the next minute or two.
I had come willingly, but I had come with a plan. Unbeknown to my parents I have the key to a safety deposit box and a diamond choker that the Sultan of Brunei had given to my grandmother at the premiere of her most critically acclaimed movie. My grandfather’s nose had been put completely out of joint and he had threatened to toss the choker into a bin. My grandmother had kept it in a separate safety deposit box to appease him, but the day after my eighteenth birthday she had taken me to the holding company and shown me the exquisite piece of jewellery. She’d fastened it around her throat and caressed it lovingly. It had sunk into the folds of her lined neck, but I could have imagined her as a younger woman and how regal she must have looked in it. Then she surprised me by placing it around my neck. She and I always had played a game where she was queen and I was a princess, so I raised my chin and acted like I was royalty. She nodded in approval, took it off and carefully re-mounted it onto its black velvet rest. When she handed me the key and told me it was mine, I was stunned. I started to protest, but she’d hushed me saying that on her death my mother could have every other piece of jewellery she owned, but not that one.
If I sold it I could repay the money my father owed Jared and have enough left over for the next stage of my plan. I had come to reason with Jared, to explain matters to him and ask for his help. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that I would take one look at him, throw my carefully thought-out plan through the window and thank God that my father had stolen his money!
Jared had become more and more elusive as his wealth had increased, until frustrated paparazzi had dubbed him ‘The Phantom Billionaire’. He travelled around the world only in his private plane, didn’t socialize and rarely ate in public—reputedly poaching world-class chefs from top restaurants and dining in rather than out. There had been a rumour circulating that he had suffered severe facial injuries when a truck had ploughed into his limousine on the M25 motorway a few years prior. My father had told me that the accident had occurred, but Jared had suffered only a few superficial cuts and bruises.
I hadn’t known what to expect. I knew that he was eleven years older and that he was tall, sandy haired and blue eyed. I’d known nothing else.
What I found when I had lifted my eyes to meet his was a man in the very prime of his life—a real life prince who looked almost exactly like the drawing of the prince who had kissed Sleeping Beauty awake in the fairytale.
For the last five years I have felt removed from life, experiencing it at a distance, shielding myself from pleasure, fearing the pain that too often accompanied it.
I often felt as though I’m asleep.
And now like Sleeping Beauty, I’d found a prince to awaken me.
***
She re-entered the room naked but for the sari draped across one shoulder and trailing behind her. Looking nervous, she stood a few metres away, her eyes not meeting his gaze. Through the material Jared could see that her breasts were every bit as magnificent as he had hoped.
“Let the sari go, sweetheart.” He was surprised at the huskiness of his voice.
Taking a deep breath, which pressed her nipples tantalizingly against the material for a brief second, she let go the end of the garment and let it slip to the floor. With a touch of defiance, she raised her head and gazed back at him.
Jared had prepared himself for the sight of her naked breasts. The material of the sari was almost translucent and the sides of them had peeped out tantalizingly, but naked they were simply magnificent. Proudly defying every law of gravity, they sat on her ribcage, firm and tip tilted, like offerings
I had come willingly, but I had come with a plan. Unbeknown to my parents I have the key to a safety deposit box and a diamond choker that the Sultan of Brunei had given to my grandmother at the premiere of her most critically acclaimed movie. My grandfather’s nose had been put completely out of joint and he had threatened to toss the choker into a bin. My grandmother had kept it in a separate safety deposit box to appease him, but the day after my eighteenth birthday she had taken me to the holding company and shown me the exquisite piece of jewellery. She’d fastened it around her throat and caressed it lovingly. It had sunk into the folds of her lined neck, but I could have imagined her as a younger woman and how regal she must have looked in it. Then she surprised me by placing it around my neck. She and I always had played a game where she was queen and I was a princess, so I raised my chin and acted like I was royalty. She nodded in approval, took it off and carefully re-mounted it onto its black velvet rest. When she handed me the key and told me it was mine, I was stunned. I started to protest, but she’d hushed me saying that on her death my mother could have every other piece of jewellery she owned, but not that one.
If I sold it I could repay the money my father owed Jared and have enough left over for the next stage of my plan. I had come to reason with Jared, to explain matters to him and ask for his help. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that I would take one look at him, throw my carefully thought-out plan through the window and thank God that my father had stolen his money!
Jared had become more and more elusive as his wealth had increased, until frustrated paparazzi had dubbed him ‘The Phantom Billionaire’. He travelled around the world only in his private plane, didn’t socialize and rarely ate in public—reputedly poaching world-class chefs from top restaurants and dining in rather than out. There had been a rumour circulating that he had suffered severe facial injuries when a truck had ploughed into his limousine on the M25 motorway a few years prior. My father had told me that the accident had occurred, but Jared had suffered only a few superficial cuts and bruises.
I hadn’t known what to expect. I knew that he was eleven years older and that he was tall, sandy haired and blue eyed. I’d known nothing else.
What I found when I had lifted my eyes to meet his was a man in the very prime of his life—a real life prince who looked almost exactly like the drawing of the prince who had kissed Sleeping Beauty awake in the fairytale.
For the last five years I have felt removed from life, experiencing it at a distance, shielding myself from pleasure, fearing the pain that too often accompanied it.
I often felt as though I’m asleep.
And now like Sleeping Beauty, I’d found a prince to awaken me.
***
She re-entered the room naked but for the sari draped across one shoulder and trailing behind her. Looking nervous, she stood a few metres away, her eyes not meeting his gaze. Through the material Jared could see that her breasts were every bit as magnificent as he had hoped.
“Let the sari go, sweetheart.” He was surprised at the huskiness of his voice.
Taking a deep breath, which pressed her nipples tantalizingly against the material for a brief second, she let go the end of the garment and let it slip to the floor. With a touch of defiance, she raised her head and gazed back at him.
Jared had prepared himself for the sight of her naked breasts. The material of the sari was almost translucent and the sides of them had peeped out tantalizingly, but naked they were simply magnificent. Proudly defying every law of gravity, they sat on her ribcage, firm and tip tilted, like offerings
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