Free Killing Time: The Bonus Collection by Elle Chardou

food and drink?”
    “Mmm, yes. I’ve never had Cristal before. Grayson’s family refuses to buy it because it is too ‘ghetto’. They prefer Dom Perignon or Krug to Cristal so I had no idea it tasted so…”
    “Delicious,” he said though it was more of a statement than a question. “I find wealthy people like the Compstons’ tedious to deal with. To boycott a product that is highly superior to every other champagne on the market just because hip-hop artists have good taste in alcohol is plain stupid. Cristal didn’t get its reputation in the past twenty years—it has been around since 1876.”
    He leaned casually against the island and stared deeply into my eyes. “My family has bottles of Cristal going all the way back to World War II in their wine cellar at their estate just outside of Munich. It was the first alcohol beverage I tried when I was fourteen. Granted, I was curious because I’d heard it mentioned in so many hip-hop songs but once I tasted it, I fell in love with it. It’s the only alcohol I allow myself to indulge in hence the reason why there are bottles of it on tap at all the clubs we own.”
    “I’ve always been a vodka girl myself,” I replied in a soft tone before I began to eat a slice of pineapple.
    “Do you know how beautiful you are right now and how much I ache to tear your clothes off and fuck you right here?”
    I’d finished my champagne and between the fruit which did nothing to soak up the alcohol, I was feeling no pain. “When do the whips, chains and paddles come out?”
    Rory smiled at me in a devious fashion. “Oh, eventually, if that is what you want…but unlike my brother, I enjoy bondage though I don’t need it to get off.”
    My heart thundered in my chest so loudly I was sure he could hear it too. I bit my lip. “I don’t think I understand.”
    He smiled again and his teeth were brilliant, white and straight of course. “I love women and I respect them. Bondage is an itch I like to scratch but I can be as vanilla as the best of them. However, my vanilla is more of a French vanilla than just plain old vanilla per se. I prefer to explore a woman’s body and no part of her is off limits. I would like to fuck you every way there is to fuck a woman but I won’t ever force myself on you.”
    “Ah, I get it now.” I raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “You are more of the ‘kill them with kindness’ types? My God, I can see how Trésor fell for you. Unfortunately, I’m already in a relationship but if I wasn’t, I would definitely take you up on that offer.”
    Rory became serious again and his blue-green eyes turned cold, icy. “A relationship that makes you so incredibly unhappy and yet you stay. Is it the money?”
    It was my turn to grow distant because I wasn’t angry, not really. “Yes and no. My family is comfortable and I knew all the right people when we were growing up but we weren’t wealthy or even rich. Merely middle-class. My father certainly couldn’t afford the platinum Oyster Rolex you’re wearing on your wrist or a fifty thousand dollar cell phone.”
    “My model was slightly more as there were some adjustments made to it but yes, I can see your point. Is money your sole purpose for finding a mate in life? Is that what will make you happy?”
    I shook my head reluctantly. “No. I’m not sure I deserve to be happy. I was in love with a man and he wasn’t rich, merely middle-class, just like me. His name was—well, is , as he isn’t dead just located in France—Renaud and he’s a brilliant human being, extremely intelligent and we got along and understood one another, you know? Unfortunately, he did need money to make him happy. He left me for an heiress whose family has nothing but class and wealth. I couldn’t stay there, not after they married one another. I guess you can say I was forced to flee here back to my mother’s home country. I could have moved to a different region I suppose but I liked Paris and Versailles. I