Eternally Seduced(56)

Staffan smirked. "Don't mind me."

Yanna glared in response. When she tried to get up, Constantijin pulled  her back and murmured, "Stay, schat." She sank back onto him after that,  never able to resist his tender commands.

Something in Staffan twisted at the tenderness in his friend's voice. He  didn't like hearing it, didn't like to remember that once he had been  like that with a woman, too. But unlike Yanna, that woman had ended  throwing him under the bus and running Staffan over as many times as she  could get away with it.

He said abruptly, "I want to go over the list of raffle draw winners for  the tickets one last time." When the operational head of his fan club  filed for sick leave, Yanna had volunteered to step in, thus becoming in  charge of all promotions meant to increase funding for the club.

Yanna gasped, scrambling off Constantijin's lap as she exclaimed, "I  forgot the list! I think it's in the car. Constantijin had it with him  but I don't remember him taking it out."

Knowing that Staffan's words were only an alibi to get Yanna out of the  room, Constantijin shot him a dark look before offering, "Let me get it,  Yanna."

But Yanna had already fished out the car key from his pocket. "No, it's  okay. Let me get it while you stay here and catch up with Staffan." She  sent him a teasing smile. "I know you miss your friends."

Constantijin scowled. "I do not."

"Yes," Yanna sang over her shoulder as she skipped to the doorway, "you totally do!"

This constant teasing had at first bothered Staffan. In the years he had  been going out with Chloe, they had only ever teased each other about  sex. His history with Chloe had made him think that the other couple was  unlikely to stay together for long.

Constantijin was an overtly sexual man, his appetite for women known by  the entire world, while Yanna had obviously led a sheltered life. But  after spending more time with the two, Staffan had realized that somehow  the love-hate chemistry between the pair worked, and it did so in a way  that he and Chloe had never experienced, no matter how intensely  passionate things had always been between them.

The moment the door closed behind Yanna, Constantijin said, "Next time  use another alibi. I don't want Yanna tired for no reason---"

"She's only going to tell your head of security to get stuff from your car," he said exasperatedly. "How hard can that be?"

Constantijin shook his head. "Wait until that girl on Facebook has her hooks in you and you'll know---"

"Just tell me if it's done," he growled, hating how the two made it  appear as if he was stalking Saffi March. And he wasn't. He just … liked  checking out what she was doing online because she was too amusing for  words. And unique.

She was unlike any girl he had known. Through his near-constant digging  online, Staffan had learned that Saffi was taking up some kind of  deep-as-hell post-graduate degree that had to do something with fish.

A smile almost cracked on his lips as he remembered how she would post  gushing thoughts about her paper on subjects like Ocean Law and Advanced  Ichthyology. And between those posts, he remembered her comments on  every fucking photo of him that made it to the social networking site.

God he's so … YUMMY.lol, she had commented on a photo taken of Staffan  wearing nothing but a skimpy pair of black swimming shorts while he had  been vacationing in Hawaii. The comment had aroused him  –  he very much  liked the idea of Saffi thinking his body was "yummy" - but it also  completely bemused Staffan how someone so obviously smart and proper  like Saffi was also a diehard fangirl of his.

Constantijin's chuckle made him snap defensively, "What?"

His friend looked at him pointedly. "Apparently, there's no need to  wait. You haven't even seen her in person and she already has you  wrapped around her finger. That's so sweet."

"Shut up." He pulled on his collar, feeling like the air-conditioning in  his room had stopped working. "Just tell me if you sent the tickets or  not!"

Constantijin laughed. "It's done. Stop worrying."

Staffan's chest eased, and only then did he realize that he had been  partially holding his breath. He had cared that much about the outcome,  and the knowledge didn't sit well with him at all. "You're sure?"

"I got her signature on the acknowledgment receipt. She got the ticket."

"But do you know if she'll use it?"

Constantijin's smirk mirrored his own, making Staffan realize how  fucking arrogant he could look when he was the one doing it.  Irritatingly arrogant, he thought as Constantijin continued to smirk.

"Well?" Staffan demanded.

"That's what FB stalking is for." Constantijin's bark of laughter echoed  throughout the suite when Staffan answered him with a one-fingered  response.

His friend gestured towards his laptop. "Just fucking do it while Yanna's not here to tease you."

"Go to hell." But Staffan was already opening his laptop and indulging  in his secret hobby for the past three months. By using the Facebook  account of his fan club, he was instantly connected to Saffi's. And her  page was very illuminating.

Staffan's eyes widened when he read the topmost conversation thread at her wall.

Seeing his expression, Constantijin swiftly crossed the room, standing behind his friend to read what was on the screen.         

     



 

"Goddammit, Kastein. When did you turn into a fucking gossip?" He tried  to close his laptop again, but Constantijin quickly swiped his laptop  out of the table.

Helene: So you're all set to go to LA?

Saffi: Yep! I've got the concert and plane tickets already. *Sigh* What  can I say? He loves me so much that he can't bear to go on stage without  me watching from the front row.

Helene: ROFL

Saffi: No, really. He totally texted me that. He even said he's going to die if he doesn't see me!

Helene: Yeah, sure, sure. Enjoy the concert! So happy for you!

Saffi: lol I will. Thanks, Helene! Will post pics as soon as I can.

When Yanna came back, Constantijin was still in the throes of laughter  and completely impervious to Staffan's scowls. Yanna frowned. "What did I  miss?"

"Kastein," he growled in warning.

But his friend was suddenly selectively deaf. He said very seriously,  "Let's just say I found out from an extremely reliable source that our  good friend here will apparently die---"

As Yanna gasped, Staffan gritted out, "Shut the fuck up."

Constantijin laughed harder.

~~~

"L.A." Saffi's mother, Pearl, sounded shell shocked as she repeated the  name of her youngest child and only daughter's destination. "And without  the bodyguards?"

Saffi answered firmly, "Yes, Mom. Without any of the bodyguards."

A part of the five-way-call that Saffi had initiated, Senator Samuel  March  –  who also happened to be Saffi's dad  –  answered darkly, "It's too  dangerous."

"No, it's not. I bought first class. I'm checked in at a five-star  hotel, and I've had the hotel hire my own driver and car while I'm here.  You guys always tell me first class is enough to---"

"But L.A."

In spite of her resolve to stand firm, Saffi found herself smiling at  the note of real distress in her mother's voice. There were several  coughs from the other ends of the line, and she guessed that her other  siblings, Steel and Silver, were doing their best not to laugh out loud.

Pearl Beaufort March was a lady's lady, a woman who could trace her  lineage all the way back to its Mayfair legacy. She had been educated in  an all girls' school and a ladies' college, and she had never taken the  Lord's name in vain.

Saffi was honest enough to admit that she wasn't the most street smart  person in the world, but Pearl was even worse, a throwback from  centuries past, the kind who thought women were quite "brazen" to say  ‘hi' to a man without a proper introduction.

"I'm going to be okay, Mom. I promise."

"But what about your fishies, sis?" This one was from Silver, who was  three years older than Saffi. "Can you bear to leave them for the  weekend?"

She rolled her eyes. "Hmph! As if you really care." Even so, she made a  mental note to herself to call Mary, the undergrad student living across  from her room. Saffi had to make sure Mary would indeed look after her  aquatic pets.

Steel, five years older and the more serious minded of her brothers,  asked quietly, "Can't you reconsider, Saffi? At least keep one bodyguard  with you."

"No." She obeyed them all the time, and had no problems doing so. But  this was different. This was … not for them to know about her. "You all  know you can trust me, right? I'm not the type to go wild. You know  that." She crossed her fingers as she spoke, hoping God wouldn't strike  her dead for saying such a big whopping fat lie.

All for the love of Staffan Aehrenthal, she reminded herself.

"Fine," the senator said in a heavy tone. "You win. But only because you asked it as your birthday gift."