Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 64506 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64506 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
He smiles. ‘Have you got your betting money ready?’
I lift up my pink purse. ‘Yup.’
He smiles. ‘It’s going to be very difficult for me to keep my hands from sliding up your dress today.’
I laugh.
We go outside and there is a spanking new, astoundingly beautiful Aston Martin DB11 waiting outside. Noah opens the passenger door for me and I slip into it feeling like a movie star. The seat is snug, deep and form fitting. It doesn’t smell of masculinity like Noah’s car, this one just smells like something very, very expensive. Practically every surface – including the headliner and rear deck has been finished in luxurious leather or some other exotic material.
I touch the smooth leather as Zane slides into the driver’s seat.
‘That’s handcrafted raccoon,’ he says.
‘You shouldn’t have told me that. I like raccoons.’
‘Yeah, well, when I die Aston Martin is welcome to my skin if it’s going to end up in a car like this.’
‘You’re one crazy Russian,’ I tell him.
Zane grins and guns the car. Raucous doesn’t describe the full glory of a V12 engine’s menacing roar. There is no point screaming over the noise so Zane switches on a Bang and Olufsen stereo system that is powerful enough to counteract the thunder of the engine, and the car fills with lively violin music. An hour and a half later and we are at Cheltenham Racecourse.
As Zane drives up I see Noah and another member of Zane’s security team, I think his name is Boris, are already there. We get out of the car, and Boris gets into it and goes off to park it.
I look around us in wonder. Everyone is colorfully dressed, which is rather unusual in Britain, and there is an air of festivity and excitement about them as they mill about talking and laughing.
The three of us make our way to one of the private boxes. Zane’s friends and acquaintances are already there. Rose champagne and canapés are served by smiling staff. For the first time I get to see Zane interact with other people and I am shocked to see how different he is with other people. He hardly speaks and allows the other person to make most of the conversation while he inclines his head politely and listens and gives the occasional nod. There is almost an invisible force field around him that discourages anybody to get too familiar or close.
After about fifteen minutes Shane and Snow arrive and I smile happily at them. They are such a beautiful couple everyone turns to watch them. They come up to us.
‘Hey Dahlia,’ Shane says.
Snow kisses me on my cheek. ‘You look absolutely wonderful,’ she says with a lovely smile.
‘So do you,’ I say, sincerely looking at her long sleeved powder blue dress. It has little birds embroidered on it.
As we are making plans to have dinner together, Lenny comes through the door, and Snow pales. Shane puts his arm around her waist and she looks up at him. He smiles down at her and in that look he gives her there’s everything I would love to see in Zane’s face. There’s love, there’s protection, there’s reassurance, there’s lust, and there’s permanence. I’m here forever.
My eyes slide to Zane and he is looking at Lenny. Lenny is talking to some other people.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t leave your side and he will never approach us,’ Shane tells his wife.
‘It’s OK. I’m prepared. It’s not like I didn’t know he’d be here,’ she says with a shaky laugh.
‘We’re going down to the paddock. Want to come with us?’ Zane invites them.
‘Shall we go see the horses,’ Shane asks Snow.
‘No, I want to do this. I want him to know I’m not afraid of him,’ Snow says.
‘OK, sweetheart.’
‘We’ll see you guys later then,’ Zane says, and leads me away. I look sideways up at Zane. ‘What was that all about?’
‘Snow used to be with Lenny.’
‘What?’ Even the idea that someone as beautiful as Snow could be with a man as repulsive and slimy as Lenny is unthinkable.
‘It’s a long story.’
‘I don’t like Lenny.’
He frowns at me. ‘I told you to stay out of it.’
‘I’m not interfering. I’m just stating my opinion.’
‘Just stay as far away from him as you can, Dahlia,’ he says softly.
‘Don’t worry I plan to.’
Here we are. This is where one comes to see how a horse is behaving before the race starts.
I have never been to a racecourse before and Zane explains me that horses are like people. They have good days and bad days and the paddock was the place to see if they are nervous and sweating a lot (the ones with big dark splotches on their coat) or even ill if the sweat patch is near its kidneys. He shows me the difference between a preppy horse eager to race, and a jittery one, biting, rearing and turning in circles. That horse he tells me has spunk but is wasting its energy before the race and should be avoided.