Free Lose Yourself (The Desires Unlocked Trilogy Part Two) by Evie Blake

scurrying along the streets.
    Despite this city’s bleak aspect, her heart is pounding with excitement. She is here, in London. And so is Theo. He could be just around that corner right now. She imagines him walking in the rain, a large golfing umbrella held aloft and shielding him from the dismal weather, an English newspaper tucked under his arm. She knows it is a ridiculous thought. Millions live in London, and yet she can’t help hoping she will see his figure emerge out of the curtains of rain.
    ‘Oh, no, of course not,’ Antonella is saying. ‘He wants to take pictures of me in Russia. Naked.’
    ‘Why can’t he do that in Milan?’ She turns to her friend, giving her more attention. ‘And, besides, I didn’t know Mikhail was a photographer.’
    ‘It’s a new avenue for him. He says he is bored with painting,’ Antonella huffs. ‘I think it’s because of you, and your pictures. I think you have inspired him.’
    Valentina can’t help feeling a little pleased about this, despite the fact her friend is piqued. She glances at Antonella, appreciating how stunning she looks. She is in her best gear for the trip to London. Her lustrous red hair is piled on top of her head, tendrils spilling in all directions; her eyes are made up smokey; her lips a red to match her hair colour. She is wearing a black military-style coat, unbuttoned, her ample bosom accentuated by a red silk shirt. Her nails are no longer talons, but have been cut short and painted such a deep crimson they could be black.
    ‘OK,’ Valentina says, ‘but why Russia?’
    ‘He has this idea of having me naked in nature, near where he is from.’ She scratches her head. ‘Oh, where is it now? Not too far from Saint Petersburg, I think. There are lots of forests, he told me, and he has this little wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere. He wants me to pose outside the cabin, naked apart from a large axe in my hand.’ She grins mischievously. ‘He has lots of ideas. He wants me to straddle a sawhorse, my ass in the air, and ready for the taking!’ she giggles.
    ‘It sounds very sexy.’
    ‘It also sounds cold. I mean, I think it’s still snowy in parts of Russia at the moment.’ Antonella sighs. ‘But I do love him, the darling, so I guess I will do it for him.’
    Valentina looks at her friend thoughtfully. How easily she can say that she loves a man. She wonders whether Antonella really means it. Or does she say that about every man she ever sleeps with? The taxi pulls in beside a small, gated park. Valentina surveys the grand neoclassical houses that surround the park. Surely Antonella’s aunt can’t live in one of these buildings? They look like embassies, not domestic homes.
    ‘Oh, here we are, Valentina,’ she says squeezing Valentina’s arm. ‘Welcome to South Kensington.’
    ‘My God,’ she exclaims. ‘Is your aunt a millionairess, or something?’
    ‘I know; it’s pretty amazing, but Aunty is property rich and cash poor. I don’t quite know how she got this house, or even if she actually owns it. I think it belonged to one of her lovers once . . .’
    Valentina gets out of the cab, feeling disorientated. She has only been to London once before, with her mother, when she was about eleven and her mother was doing a shoot. That time they had stayed somewhere really central, but she can’t remember the name of the place. All she remembers is travelling around on the Tube, and how many people there were – so many more than Milan. And she remembers one wonderful afternoon in the British Museum, gazing at all the Egyptian mummies. She’d love to go back there.
    ‘Hey, let’s go to the British Museum while we’re here,’ she suggests as they drag their cases up the steps to the grand portico entrance of Antonella’s aunt’s house.
    Antonella scrunches up her nose in distaste. ‘No, thank you! I didn’t come all the way to London to go to some fusty old museum . . . Oh, no . . . What I want to do is go to