Risk Taker by Sonia Stanizzo
Chapter 13
The lights were on at Victoria’s house. Ethan had sent a text he was on his way. Pressing the bell by the front door, he waited for the answering buzz to let him inside. He stood on the veranda and a wind had picked up, chilling him. The smell of rain blew through the air. A few moments later, the door clicked unlocked, and he pushed open the double timber doors.
The marble entry with an elaborate chandelier was empty. There was no point searching for her in the living rooms or kitchen, he knew exactly where she was.
Ethan climbed the spiral staircase. He knew his way around the house, especially to Victoria’s bedroom. That’s where he found her. Candles cast a soft glow through the room and over Victoria, who was sitting propped up by pillows on the four-poster bed. She had swept her auburn hair over one shoulder, and her pale skin looked golden under the candlelight.
Damn she was beautiful.
“I’ve missed you,” she said. Dressed in white lacey underwear, she slid off the bed and walked over to him. “It feels like it’s been ages since we’ve been together.” Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed against him.
Her body, warm and willing, should turn him on in an instant. Instead, it felt wrong. She didn’t fit against him. Not like Holly—her body fit perfectly.
Unhooking her arms from around his neck, he took a step back. “We need to talk.”
Victoria gave a frustrated huff, “I didn’t let you in my house to ‘talk’”.
“I’m sorry, this arrangement we have has to end.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “Why? We both get to sleep around with whoever we want when we want. It’s perfect.”
“Not anymore—not for me.”
She tilted her head to the side and stared at him for a moment. “Does this have anything to do with the new hairdresser you can’t keep her eyes off?”
“She’s a makeup artist, and yeah it does.”
Victoria laughed with surprise. “You want to give this up,” she waved her hands up and down her body like she was a game show model, “for a makeup artist? You can’t be serious.”
If he wanted Holly, he needed to stop seeing Victoria. Even though there was no future with Holly, they could at least enjoy the time they had together. That was, if she wanted the same thing?
“I hope we can still be friends.” He liked Victoria. Always had a great time with her, even out of the bedroom.
She tossed her head back and gave a mirthless laugh, “Are you also going to add the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ typical breakup line? Oh, we’re only casual, so it’s not really a breakup.”
Ethan was a little taken aback by Victoria’s reaction. She had never cared about whom he’d slept with before. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Oh please, I’d have to have feelings for you for that to happen.” She averted her eyes for a second, and he could have sworn he saw a flash of hurt.
“Victoria—” She cut him off before he could tell her the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her.
“You know where the door is.” He’d been dismissed, so began to walk out.
“Wait,” she called. “We need to do this properly. The ‘breakup’ could be good publicity for our movie. We need to have photos leaked of us not getting along, looking tense around each other, you know, start the breakup rumour. Then the media will be eager to see how we interact on the red carpet.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. The last thing he wanted to do was play up more to the press. He had to do it enough as it was.
“Okay, fine.” It was the least he could do for her.
“Great, now get the fuck out of my house.”