Chapter 18

Starlet could not fully immerse herself into her date with Lucien when she got back from the bathroom. She wanted to ask him about his relationship with the hostess but he had too much pride. Lucien noticed the shift in her mood and asked her several times what was wrong with her. She told him it was nothing and tried to sink back into their loving mood.

They sat next to each other in the theatre and Star clung to Lucien. She wanted to fold him around her like a blanket. She was grateful he seemed to tolerate her unusual clinginess and didn't needle her about her mood.

In the dark, with her head on his shoulder, and his arm around her, she could pretend he loved her. She could tell herself they were perfect. She could hope. She could dream and she could pretend they were ideal.

Starlet was glad when the movie was over. She wanted to be alone. She wanted to go back to that restaurant and ask who that woman was. She needed to ask her husband who the hell that woman was. She had to wait until they got home.

She studied her husband knowing that she was going to block off the tranquillity of the past few days. But she had to learn somewhere. She had buried her head in the sand for the past two and a half years and now she needed to be strong again. Loving Lucien was like holding a double-edged sword without experience. It cut both ways. It hurt to love him and it hurt to not love him. It hurt her and if he fell in love with someone else, it would hurt him.

She was selfish because she didn't think she could ever let him go if he came to her asking. She was not strong enough to let someone else have him. If he couldn't love her… she would live with it. As long as he didn't love anyone else. That could destroy her.

***

"You seem familiar with that woman in the restaurant," Starlet said when they were in the car on their way home.

She was tucked in Lucien's side and he had an arm around her. She had wanted to hold it in until they were alone but she couldn't hold it in anymore.

Lucien looked at her and asked "Who? Eden?"

Star didn't want her name on his lips. But she held it in and nodded.

"The hostess, yes." She said her voice careful to hide the jealous emotion.

"We went to university together," Lucien said his eyes looking into the distant past. "We had the same classes together and she was the girlfriend of one of my friends. I also dated her friend."

Star wanted to know why the woman had so much animosity with her. Why did she seem to know the inner workings of her marriage when her father had made sure few people knew? 

"Why did you ask?" Lucien asked her and she kept mum. She didn't want to discuss what had happened in the bathroom. She pressed her face to his neck.

"You have been odd since we got out of the restaurant," Lucien drew her back by the shoulders and looked at her face searching, "What happened?"

She didn't want to talk about it. It was ridiculous anyway. What if he didn't believe her? She would deal with this herself. Of all the nonsense she had dealt with, this seemed like nonsense.

At most, Eden had a secret crush on Lucien and wanted to separate them so that she could move in. Star would not be stupid enough to let her have a chance. There would be people who would come in to sow discord. She would be wise enough to not let them. She would ignore this and pretend it never happened.

"Hey," Lucien brought her back from her mental haze. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Star made her voice nonchalant, "You seemed to know each other I just got curious and wanted to know."

Lucien smiled down at her, "Are you sure Mrs Blade?" he teased.

"I know my own thought process," his wife threw at him defensively.

The car stopped in front of their house and they got out. Starlet walked into the house ahead of her husband and shook off the brief chill of the air outside.

"Do you want me to warm you up?" Lucien asked and she laughed and turned to him.

"I wouldn't mind my husband getting me hot and bothered," Starlet said with a cheeky grin as she played with the lapels of his open coat. 

Lucien grasped her hands and imprisoned them at the small of her back. This drew flat her against him. He lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers.

"Are you warm yet?" he asked when he came up for air.

"No," Star said breathlessly, "your methods are mediocre Mr Blade," she said as she half-heartedly struggled against his hold.

"Mediocre?" Lucien exclaimed with humour in his voice.

"I have half the mind to go find a fire elsewhere," Star teased and placed a playful kiss on his jaw.

"I'll show you mediocre," he said as he released her hands.

He bent down and picked her up over his shoulder. She laughed uncontrollably. 

"Settle down woman, or I might drop you," Lucien said as he slapped his free hand over her bottom.

Starlet squealed and held on to the back of his coat.

As soon as they reached Lucien's bedroom, he threw her onto his bed and began shrugging off his coat. Starlet did the same with hers. She felt brazen as she pulled her top over her head and threw it away. She didn't care. She took off her shoes and tossed them somewhere on the floor. She leaned back onto her elbows and began tugging down her skirt. Lucien suddenly grasped her hands.

He was Shirtless and he had managed to open the front of his pants.

"Leave something for me," he told her wickedly and lowered himself so that he was over her torso and began laying kisses over her belly as he removed her skirt. His kisses were dangerously close to her panties and he nipped at the skin above the waistband playfully and then moved up so that he was over Star looking down at her face.

She nudged him playfully in the chest and he kissed her on the lips. Whatever conscious movement the two had been holding on to went out the window as passion took them on a blind ride of touch and crude sensations.

***

Starlet woke up sometime in the early morning to her husband covering her face with gentle kisses.

She lazily placed her arms over his shoulders and squinted at him. The light was too bright. She closed her eyes and groaned. Lucien smiled and kissed her nose.

"I'm going to take a shower," he whispered to her, "Do you want to join me?" he asked.

"I don't want to," Starlet grumbled as she let gravity drop her arms back to the bed and rolled to her side. "Let me sleep."

She tried to pull the blanket over her face but he was pinning it with his body.

"Go away!" she said and buried her face into the pillow.

Lucien kissed her forehead and got off the bed. Starlet let the sound of the shower draw her back to sleep.

***

Starlet woke up with the sun shining into the room. Lucien was at the office by now. She was just about to get up when her phone rand on the side table. She picked it up and sank back into bed.

"Hello," she answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Mrs Blade," the sobber voice on the other end of the call surprised her.

"Jillian?!" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, I am sorry to intrude ma'am but Mr Blade told me to ask you."

"What is it, Jillian?" Star asked suppressing a sigh.

"Mr Blade asked if you could send someone over with a file he left on his desk."

Starlet got up from the bed, wrapped a bedsheet around herself and rushed over to Lucien's office as Jillian explained what it was supposed to look like and how to identify it.

She found the file and told Jillian who told her when and where the file was needed and hung up.

Star glanced at the digital clock on the desk and decided if she hurried, she could send the file.

It would be a chance to see her husband before the end of the day.

Starlet got into the bathroom and took a quick shower. She hurried out and dressed into white heavy business slacks and a white wool top. She applied some lip gloss and went out. She drove herself to the hotel where the meeting was being held and looked at the time. She sighed with relief when she realised that she was a little early. Starlet took out her phone to dial her husband. Her finger was a hair's breadth away from the call icon when she looked up and saw her husband. He was walking with another woman talking and smiling. She knew they could just be work acquittances. However, something about the easy manner they walked together made her know they knew each other. Starlet dialled tapped on the call icon and his phone began to ring.

She watched him reach into his phone and he picked up the call immediately. 

"I got your file," she said as she put her hand on the car horn and his head followed the sound.

"I'm coming over," Lucien said and hung up.

He smiled at her and walked to her car. Starlet lowered the car window. When Lucien got to the car, he bent over at the waist so that his eyes were level with her. Starlet leaned out of the car and kissed him on the lips.

"Not that I'm complaining," Lucien said with a grin, "But you could have sent the file with the driver."

"And Miss having a little looksie at you?" Star teased as she got the file from her passenger seat and gave it to him.

"Is the look worth the trip, Mrs Blade?" Lucien asked.

"I'll give a detailed review later," Star said and started her car, "I'll see you at Lunch."

Lucien straightened up and began to walk away. Star got her phone out and called his cell.

"Yeah?" he raised his eyebrow at her as he answered.

"You got a nice butt, Mr Blade. End of review." Star said and hung up then drove off.

Lucien chuckled at his wife's antics. Their life seemed joyful and perfect. Too bad his past sins were about to catch up with him.