Free Lara and the City of Angels by Elle Chardou Page B

possibly fathom. He’s always been selfish. Everything revolves around him and his career. Well, I am sick of the bullshit.”
    Kristian gazed in her direction with those seductive blue eyes of his that contained more gray than blue at that moment. “This is the most relaxed I have seen you since you have been here. So, tell me about this husband of yours and why you are divorcing him. I don’t want to hear all the superlatives about how talented and amazing he is, rather I want to hear why he can’t seem to make you happy.”
    Lara downed her glass of Pinot Grigio as if it had been a cheap glass of wine and she studied her empty glass before she set it on the coaster in front of her on the magazine table. “Well our sex life is a huge issue. I don’t mean to sound like a raging nymphomaniac but I do believe four years is too long of a time to go without sex.”
    His priceless expression said it all. “Four years ? You haven’t made love to your husband in that length of time? How are you still sane?”
    “I do believe you mentioned something earlier about swinger’s parties for the rich and famous? Meet one of the members of that ultra-secret club. That’s why I didn’t want to discuss it when you brought it up today—well, technically, yesterday as we are already on a new day.”
    “So it’s true.” Kristian finished his wine before he poured the remainder of what was in the bottle by dividing it between the two of them.
    “Excuse me? You mean you already knew?”
    “Dominic mentioned Sean was part of it but I couldn’t believe it and thought he was joking. I mean, everyone in the industry knows your husband likes to play for both teams but I assumed he was a bit more…discrete.”
    “What do you mean when you say everyone in the industry?” Lara’s heart began to pound so hard, she heard it thundering in her ears. She suddenly felt like she was in a wind tunnel she could never escape.
    Would this information get back to her parents and what would they say? Sure they did it but they wouldn’t exactly want to know about what their daughter was up to in such a sordid, sleazy manner. No matter how cut and dried the situation seemed, it wasn’t a controversy they had any wish to handle.
    “Calm down,” Kristian said as he reached out and touched her crimson-colored face. “I don’t mean everyone, I merely meant the people in our circle. They would never tell, not if they want to keep their careers. I certainly didn’t mean the old fogies in the industry or the vapid youth who are so-called actors with little to no talent, barely attractive and are nothing but drunks and drug addicts. The ‘Lindsay Lohan crowd’—as I refer to them—are firmly in the ‘not knowing’ camp.”
    “Uh oh, don’t let Ms. Lohan hear that or she might sue you the way she did Pitbull,” Lara responded before she laughed out loud. “In all seriousness, it was Sean’s idea and I was so sex-starved at the time, I was willing to do anything to at least ensure I got laid every now and then. It’s a small group of us and we are now intimately familiar with one another but it still felt like empty sex. I suppose the other couples have active, healthy relationships with their spouses so it was a bit of fun on the side for them.
    “I mean, let’s face it. Forever is a long time with one person but what if you love that person and you don’t want to divorce? It was the perfect way to have your cake and eat it too. Unfortunately for me, it was the only time I ever really experienced intimacy but it wasn’t very fulfilling. I didn’t want anyone but Sean’s touch and he denied me because he could. He knew there was nothing I could do. My parents love him and think he is the best thing since the invention of pre-sliced hamburger buns. He can be highly manipulative but that just comes from his upbringing. You don’t survive a place like Charlestown without becoming highly cunning and manipulative.”
    Kristian sat up