Free Wicked Forest by V.C. Andrews

just met or something, or we check our troubles at the door the way cowboys had to check their guns. This is a special night, a reunion, a renewal and new beginning for us. Willow," he said, reaching for my hand again. Then he poured us both a glass of champagne. "Let's start with the toast. To us." he said.
    "To our health and success and love. Let them rise above everything and everyone."
    We tapped our glasses and sipped, fixing our eyes on each other over the tops of the glasses.
    "These garlic rolls are homemade." he said, offering me one. "Wait until you taste the food here.
    It's like being in someone's home and not a restaurant."
    "That's what it looks like from the highway. It's certainly a good hideaway. Why do I have the suspicion you've used it before?" I teased.
    "I will bring you to special places only. and after you and I are there together. they will become off-limits to me unless you are with me. I couldn't imagine ever having a business meeting here again."
    he said.
    "I wasn't speaking of those."
    He laughed.
    "You make me sound like a Palm Springs walker. like some international gigolo hovering around wealthy available women whether it be in Paris, on the Cote d'Azur, or on Rodeo Drive."
    You speak French. Italian, Spanish. You know wines, and you've traveled all over the world. You're like someone trained to escort sophisticated women.
    Thatcher. It would be a waste to have you sitting at home. I can't imagine you ever becoming a couch potato."
    He laughed.
    "Well, from now on. you're the only woman I've been trained to escort. Willow De Beers."
    We tapped glasses again and sipped our
    champagne. He poured us each some more. Then the music became a little louder and we ordered our food and nearly finished the bottle of champagne before starting on a bottle of wine. Thatcher was right about it all. The food was delicious. and very soon I felt as if we were in some private place. The rest of the world drifted away. The music was just for us.
    Afterward. he talked me into leaving my car in the restaurant's parking lot and going with him to his friend's beach house.
    "I don't want you picked up for DUI. I would have to defend you, and the judge would quickly see I have a personal interest in my client." he told me.
    We kissed in his car and held each other closely before we drove off. I felt like someone being swept away, but I was allowing it to happen. I was caught in the wind of our passion. Resistance was futile. I hadn't realized how much I wanted to surrender to its power.
    but I did, I certainly did.
    .
    The beach house seemed closer than he had described. I closed my eyes and sat back, and in what seemed to be only a few minutes, we were turning down a gravel and dirt road and pulling up to a beautiful home with a large screened-in pool. The house itself was only a few hundred yards from the beach. It was done in a very modem decor and looked almost brand-new.
    "Was it just built?" I asked. and Thatcher laughed.

    "No, but like many of my clients, he has more money than he can use and would be better off staying in one of the finer hotels than actually owning a property he gets to live in only about two or three weeks a year. Some people collect houses the \vay people used to collect stamps."
    "You mean some people you know, not people I know." I said, and continued my tour of the place.
    There was a large living room with a big-screen television set, and two bedrooms, one with a patio overlooking the water.
    Not too shabby. huh?" Thatcher said, coming up behind me and kissing the back of my neck.
    As if his lips were magnets. I felt myself leaning back into him, holding on to the warmth of his kiss. He held me at the elbows and for a while we stayed just like that, planted against each other, listening to the surf and staring out at the starlight dancing on the water.
    Special moments like this were as rare as precious jewels, I thought, So much of our lives were spent on one level, coping, attending