Valentine in paradise ma.., p.1
Valentine in Paradise: (Masters of Paradise Book 4) (Be My Valentine 1), page 1
Valentine in Paradise
POPPY FLYNN
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Be My Valentine
About the Author
Also by Poppy Flynn
Chapter One
“Why on earth do you need a bucket list?”
Beth’s best friend, Ansley King, was nothing if not forthright.
“I mean it’s not like you’re dying, or anything… you’re not dying, are you, Bethy? Is there something you haven’t told me?”
Beth shook her head. “Of course not,” she scoffed. “But I’m about to turn thirty years old and I might as well be sixty. Nothing exciting happens in my life. I have the most boring job imaginable…”
“I thought you said accounting was a decent job to be in?” Ansley interrupted. As an heiress to a fortune, worrying about a decent paid job wasn’t something that was high on the list of things Ansley needed to know. In stark contrast to the dull, day to day stuff that occupied Beth’s time, for Ansley it was all ‘what was this seasons designer color, where were the most up and coming holiday destinations, and who were the people to be seen with’.
Not that Ansley was fickle by any means. She cared deeply about a lot of things, did a massive amount of fundraising, and championed the underdog. She’d simply never had to concern herself with the more humdrum things in life. Like having a job that paid the rent and still provided enough to treat yourself to a Chinese takeaway at the end of the week.
Beth sighed. “It is, but I do sums or stare at figures all day. It’s not exactly scintillating,” she replied. “Believe me, there’s nothing glamorous about accounts. It’s geeky and uncool and pretty damn boring.”
Ansley tipped her head to one side and looked at Beth through narrowed eyes. “Okay, so what’s on this list of yours then?”
Beth looked from her friend to the sheet of paper in front of her, but before she could reply, Ansley had whisked it away and was reading from it as she marched across the room.
“‘Swim with dolphins.’ Do you really want to do that or is it just one of those things everyone thinks should be added to this kind of list?” she asked, looking at Beth over her shoulder.
Beth got up out of her chair and tried to swipe the paper back, but Ansley held it up out of her reach and carried on reading. “Lose sixty pounds.”
She stopped walking and whirled around to look at Beth with a scowl. “You can’t put that on your bucket list!” she exclaimed in genuine horror, her expression one of comical disbelief.
“Why not?” Beth asked, defensively. “It’s my list.”
“Because bucket lists are supposed to be made up of fun things; dreams.”
“I’d say that qualifies as a dream,” Beth muttered under her breath. Her curves had curves, her boobs were way more than a handful, or even two, and if she sat on someone, there was a good chance her ass would probably be considered a lethal weapon.
Ansley just glared at her before going back to the handwritten list.
“A menage?” she queried, throwing Beth a ‘look.’ “I take it we’re not talking horse riding here.”
Beth rolled her eyes. “That’s a manège, it’s spelled differently.”
“Which one?” Ansley deadpanned, arching an elegant brow.
Beth opened her mouth to reply but her friend raised a hand. “No, don’t say it. Since I know damn well you can’t ride a horse, we’ll stick with the threesome or more-some,” she finished with a wicked chuckle. “So, you want to experience the delights of extra totty all at once, eh? Now that’s the kind of bucket list item I can get behind.”
Beth made a rude snorting noise, then stuffed her hand over her mouth.
“What?” Ansley demanded, cocking her hip, and jamming a beautifully manicured hand on it.
“You’re a virgin, Ansley. One man’s never managed to get into your panties, never mind three!”
“Ah, so it’s three you want, is it? One for each hole,” her friend cackled, wiggling her eyebrows, and Beth felt her cheeks color.
“Oh my God! It is, isn’t it,” Ansley crowed when she saw Beth’s reaction before doubling over in laughter.
“Give that here!” Beth swiped the paper out of Ansley’s hand, crumpling it at the same time. “You’re right, okay. It’s a stupid idea. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Ansley raised one, delicate eyebrow. “Well, by all accounts you were thinking about getting plowed from all directions at once,” she snickered.
Beth shook her head and tossed the ball of paper into the waste bin.
Ansley was irreverent, impetuous, and outrageous.
Everything Beth wasn’t.
It was one of the reasons they were friends; so she could live her life vicariously through her best girl’s antics.
But for once in her life, it would be nice to live a little. With her thirtieth birthday looming, Beth was feeling that sentiment acutely.
Ansley was right about one thing, though; they were all just dreams. She’d never do any of them, and that likely included losing the sixty pounds of extra padding she carried.
And there was no way she was playing out that kind of polyamorous scenario on her doorstep. She needed her job, and her employers were not the type of people who would tolerate such behavior if it ever leaked out, so that meant traveling to live out those particular fantasies and that wasn’t an expense she could afford very often. Especially not the decent kinds of establishment that she was willing to trust that kind of scene to.
If you gave up the weekly takeout you could start losing the sixty pounds and save some money for the trip at the same time, the obnoxious side of her self-esteem whispered. Fuck that mouthy bitch, Beth thought, shoving the hurtful words away. Her self-confidence was hard won, there was no way she was losing sight of her self-worth again.
Been there. Done that. Got the tee-shirt.
And the damned counseling bill!
Beth sucked in a breath and blew it out in a slow, audible sigh to re-center herself.
Then she mentally stuffed her dreams back into a corner of her mind where they could gather a few more cobwebs.
Chapter Two
“Happy Birthday!”
Ansley’s high-pitched squeal of excitement was considerably more enthusiastic than Beth was herself. It was also decidedly out of place for the classy, upmarket restaurant she’d just walked into. Still, while the other patrons might look down their noses at her friend’s cheerful outburst, the staff just looked on in tolerant amusement. Ansley was pretty infectious. She also had very deep pockets.
Beth hadn’t really wanted to come, but this was Ansley’s birthday treat, so it would have been rude to turn her down, even if she would rather sweep this particular birthday under the carpet.
The big three-oh. Thirty. What was there to celebrate apart from getting older?
What did she have to show for all those years?
She had a decent job, but it was nothing special. She had a decent apartment, in a decent neighborhood, with decent furniture; again, nothing special. It was all just…okay.
And she worked her ass off for it. She was all too aware that everything could change in the blink of an eye. She was a tiny cog in a huge machine. If she got sick or sloppy, she was easily replaceable. If that happened or the company she worked for decided to downsize and she was made redundant, everything she currently had, everything she’d worked for - continued to work for - would be gone. Her work situation wasn’t so lucrative that she’d managed to save very much. Living in New York City was damned expensive, although what she had was in good, solid investments for her future.
But sometimes - at times like these - she couldn’t help wondering what that future might hold. Was this all there was ever going to be in her life?
Her job held no real upward prospects now that she’d made accounts supervisor and been allocated a minuscule office, instead of an impersonal cubby. She had no romantic interest in her life. The clock was ticking on her chance to have children. That door hadn’t quite closed… yet. But without a man in her life, it was a moot point anyway.
Most of the time she just felt like she was treading water.
Not that she wasn’t grateful for what she did have; she just couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t something more.
She struggled just to find the time and the money to visit her favorite BDSM club three or four times a year; her one indulgence and a closely guarded secret. She travelled out of state for the brief visits, so she didn’t bump into anyone she knew, and she kept her activities strictly non-sexual. As much as she’d like to indulge a little more
And it seemed like every birthday which came around brought a bigger reminder of all those things.
Ansley wasn’t going to allow Beth to brood for long though. She’d pulled out all the stops.
“Champagne?” The posh waiter in his penguin suit offered it as soon as he’d shown her to her seat and held the chair for her. But it wasn’t really a question since he was already pouring.
She glanced at the label. It was a brand which cost more, per bottle, than Beth earned for an entire day of work and even though Beth wasn’t feeling it, it would be churlish to refuse.
Ansley had wanted to throw a party for her, but Beth had already nixed that idea, pointing out it would still just be the two of them, and maybe her parents, since her work environment wasn’t one that encouraged fraternity. Preferring to keep their staff on their toes by pitting them against each other didn’t make for workplace friendships and if anyone did make that kind of overture it was generally met with suspicion and the kind of thoughts that led you to wonder exactly when you were going to get thrown under the bus.
There was Lisa, the two of them were cordial, but not so close as to give and receive any kind of invitation.
And although she loved her parents dearly, and didn’t see them nearly often enough, she’d already endured her mother bemoaning Beth’s single status and lack of children, which essentially just poured salt on her wounds. Especially hot on the tail of the news that her brother, two years her junior, was about to indulge their parents with their fifth grandchild. A reminder that her older sister already had three children by the time she was Beth’s age.
You’d think with her siblings having provided so many, she’d be off the hook. But apparently it just shone a light on her single, childless status.
Like she needed the reminder.
Ansley raised her champagne flute as soon as the waiter finished pouring and fluttered her hand in a ‘come along’ motion for Beth to do the same.
Then, much to Beth’s dismay, she stood up and announced her advancing years to the entire clientele.
“Happy thirtieth birthday, Bethy. I hope this is the year when all your dreams come true.”
Right now, the only thing Beth was dreaming about was the chance that the floor would open up and swallow her, as everyone looked her way. And while there were a few indulgent smiles and nods, there were just as many cross looks and a little bit of tut-tutting, which her friend seemed to be oblivious to. Especially when, the next moment, an adjoining door opened and three scantily clad hunks, with well-oiled muscles, came strutting and hip thrusting towards her singing ‘happy birthday.’
This was so not the place.
It was probably a good job that none of the people she worked with could afford to frequent this establishment because this was the type of spectacle which would, without a doubt, lead to her getting a disciplinary and maybe even losing her job for ‘bringing the image of the company into disrepute.’
Beth’s eyes widened as the three of them surrounded her, still with the hip thrusting which was now dangerously close to her face, and she tried not to look at how the other patrons were reacting to the kind of show that would be more suited to a bar or a nightclub. Though Ansley had undoubtedly paid a premium to get the restaurant to agree to this, she could be kind of impetuous and often didn’t think things through before she did them.
Right now felt like one of those times.
Finally, they finished singing and two of the guys took a knee on either side of her, while the third loomed over the back of her chair.
In any other scenario, Beth might have thought she’d died and gone to heaven and would certainly have made the most of the situation. But a snooty, upper-class restaurant where they all stuck out like a sore thumb was not the place to be doing that.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, another, far more disturbing one replaced it. Oh god! They weren’t those ‘stripper with benefits’ type of guys, were they? Ansley had seen her bucket list and Beth wouldn’t put it past her to pull that kind of stunt.
She would legitimately die of humiliation if her friend tried something like that here, of all places, though.
Her cheeks were flaming, and Beth didn’t know where to rest her eyes. Her fingers tightened around the delicate stem of the champagne flute, and she downed the crisp bubbly in a couple of gulps.
One of the guys reached down his pants and Beth thought she might fall off the chair. Surely he wasn’t going to…
Would it be bad taste - worse taste - to pick up the champagne and just swig it from the bottle?
She breathed a sigh of relief when all he did was pluck out a small, red envelope and present it to her with a flourish.
She thanked him effusively, overcome with relief, that his clothes had stayed on. What few of them there were. And the very fact that she was thinking that and not dancing on the table encouraging him to get naked, just highlighted how boring her life had become.
Or more likely it was simply the environment. Nevertheless, she breathed a bit easier when they got to their feet, bent to kiss her - on the cheek - and retraced their steps back out again without an ounce of discomfort at the disapproving looks that were cast their way.
Easy for them since they were leaving.
Beth had yet to order. She had to tolerate this crowd for at least another hour.
“Open it then!” Ansley’s voice snapped Beth out of her dismay and preoccupation with the other diners and she was glad of the distraction.
Ansley was almost bouncing on her seat. Beth expected her to start clapping at any moment, she was so excited. It made her wary of what was coming next.
With a sigh, Beth picked up a knife from her place setting and slipped it under the seal, slicing it open carefully.
Fishing inside the envelope she pulled out several pieces of paper. The first one that caught her eye was an elegant antique gold colored ticket. She glanced at that first, trying to make sense of the gift while across the table from her Ansley looked like she was going to explode.
All access pass to Iniquity.
Well, that made her none the wiser. What was this place? Some kind of club?
She put the ticket down on the table and checked out another ticket. First class flights to the Caribbean. What the heck?
Her mouth opened on a small gasp. “What is this Ansley?” she asked.
“Open the final part!” Ansley exclaimed in a very unrestrained whisper.
Beth did as she was told, a slight tremor in her fingers as she unfolded the heavy piece of quality paper.
Scanning the contents, she slapped her hand over her mouth in disbelief and her eyes grew wide before she slowly raised them to look at her friend.
“Do you like it?” Ansley screeched, and this time Beth was so shocked that not even the low muttering of the other diners as they turned to look their way - again - fazed her.
“I… I,” Beth stuttered. “I don’t know what to say. This is…”
Apparently saying anything was unnecessary.
“I knew you’d love it!” Ansley trilled. “As soon as my good friend, Saul Stephens, mentioned this place I knew it would be perfect, so I went and set everything up for you. Plus, I’ve booked it over Valentine’s Day as I know how blue you always get then, so this will kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Isn’t it the best gift ever? And now you can cross something off your bucket list.”
Ansley talked nineteen to the dozen and Beth was glad that her friend was filling what might otherwise have been a very awkward silence. Because she really was lost for words, and Beth didn’t want to appear ungrateful.
Ansley chattered on, while Beth struggled to regain her equilibrium. She grabbed the champagne bottle and refilled her glass without waiting for a waiter to come and do it for her.
