The Secrets of Seduction - Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,31

blinds last night. But for long moments, she couldn’t remember why. Once her synapses kicked into gear, forming thoughts and recognizing the world, she opened her eyes enough to look around. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, but she couldn’t think hard enough to figure it out.

Blanket…check. Her own bed…check. No headache. But her body…ached. There was a tightness in her inner thigh muscles, a tightness she’d never experienced before. What…?

That’s when memories of the previous night came back to her. Sex. No, what she’d done with Malcolm couldn’t ever be defined as mere sex. It had been…shocking! Amazing! Ella had been with two other men before, and the sex had been…fine. Nothing exciting. That’s why she didn’t want to define last night with Malcolm as just a sexual encounter.

Nothing that mind-blowing, world-jarring, and body-altering could be defined with such a mediocre word.

Lifting her head, Ella looked around, listening. Nothing. That’s what was wrong! Wrapping the sheet around her, she looked around her bedroom. Malcolm wasn’t here. And by the silence, she knew that he wasn’t in the other room either. Nor was he in the bathroom.

He’d left! After the most amazing night of her life, he’d left her alone this morning? For some reason, his absence cheapened the whole night, made her feel…wrong.

She thought about lying back down and wallowing in self-pity, but that wasn’t really Ella’s way of handling things. Instead, she threw back the covers and stomped into the bathroom. She’d meant to take a quick shower, but the short walk to the bathroom showed her that her muscles were much more tense than she’d anticipated. So instead, she lingered under the warm water, trying to soothe the ache in her body as well as in her mind.

The water helped her legs, but didn’t do much to slow her thoughts. Finally, she shut off the water and dried off, pulling on clean underwear…but not one of the pretty pieces that Malcolm had bought for her. Nope, those might just get shredded. The actions she took against the pretty pieces would be determined later, once she confronted him and found out why he’d snuck out last night. Or this morning. It had been after midnight when they’d come back from that horrible party. So everything that had occurred last night had happened today.

“You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do, you jerk!” she grumbled to the empty apartment as she pulled a sweater over her head. A pair of jeans and sneakers were the rest of her ensemble…could it really be considered an ensemble? Didn’t one need to accessorize before it could be considered an ensemble? Probably. So she pulled her hair up into a messy bun and plopped a hat on her head. “There!” she growled as she pulled her wallet from the evening bag she’d carried the previous evening and dumped it into her bag. As she walked out of her apartment, she grabbed her keys. “I have an ensemble.” She stomped out of her apartment.

She climbed into her car and started the engine but as she waited for the car to warm up, Ella realized she wasn’t exactly sure where she was going. It was Saturday morning at…she looked at her clock. Wow, it was almost noon. Ella never slept that late! She was usually up before the sun rose but also, she preferred to be in bed early. Ella was definitely a morning dove, not a night owl.

Okay, so…where did one go when one needed to vent about a night of hot, passionate sex? Cassy wasn’t even in the country and Naya…well, Ella had no idea where Naya was. “I miss them,” she whispered and laid her head on the steering wheel.

Ella allowed herself to wallow in self-pity for perhaps three minutes. “Enough!” she snapped and lifted her head. “This isn’t doing any good. So he left me this morning. I can deal with that. I’m not some pathetic gold digger who needs a man in her life to be happy!”

Her stomach growled and she nodded. “Food!” With a goal in mind, she backed out of the parking spot and headed towards…? “I want a muffin,” she decided out loud. “Okay, actually, I want a cupcake, but since I haven’t had any breakfast, a muffin will work.” She nodded and turned right to head towards the bakery. She lived outside of London, very close to Malcolm’s, or rather, his father’s estate. Which brought Malcolm’s father to mind. Where was the old