CHAPTER 14

 
 
Where is he? Clarice wondered about
Max, standing alone on the balcony of the Night Love Hotel room,
with only the moonlight to light the darkened room. Max had told
her specifically to wait in his friend’s bedroom with the lights
off for a few minutes while he and his Korean friends went to get
some midnight snacks, promising her they would then all go to the
Gondola together to view the beauty of Queenstown at night from the
high mountain above.
But why must she turn off the lights? He
said she should take this time to view the immaculate beauty of the
city during the dark. And it was true. Here on the sixth floor, the
view of Queenstown was so enchanting it literally took her breath
away.
Queenstown was a little town in Central
Otago of the South Island of New Zealand. The town lay embraced by
many majestic mountains, shrouded with forests from all sides, most
of it pine trees. Then nestling right in the middle of their arms
was their very own exotic jewel, Lake Wakatipu, a fresh, crystal
clear lake where one could see the freshwater fish swimming around,
if one were to look close enough.
These forests hid their most prized jewel,
their lake, as if waiting and teasing for the world to find it. And
the world did find their precious jewel, as hundreds of thousands
of tourists from around the world flocked to this little town each
year, just to feast their eyes on their exotic lake and the serene
beauty that seemed to enchant the eyes, be it in summer when the
flowers all bloomed to their full beauty like a maiden ready for
her lover to come and pluck her, winter when the whole town
transformed into a winter wonderland, including the peaks of the
mountains with a casting of white icing sugar, spring when the buds
of plants called out to the bees to collect their nectar, or autumn
with the golden-yellow leaves carpeting the entire floor, making
the whole town look like the land of gold glitter in the autumn
sun.
Their prime season, though, would be winter
when the snowflakes were still fresh atop the peaks of the many
mountains that entertained the tourists with their many extreme
sports like skiing on these, buggy jumping, and skydiving.
The strong wind sent a little chill up her
spine, but she didn’t want to go back inside the room yet. This
town was too enchanting to let go. She wanted to marvel over it a
bit longer.
Perching herself on the edge of the railing,
she saw the many tourists milling around Torque, the high-class
nightclub next door. They reminded her of tiny ants waiting in line
to deposit the food they found during their search.
In the faint distance, she could hear the
disco music floating up to her level and the sounds of people
laughing. They seemed to have so much fun, unlike her with her
uncooked soup of dilemmas, what with being thirty and wanting a
baby, but more specifically, wanting Anton’s sperm.
Someday she knew she would have her baby…
and that sperm. Yes, she made it her mission when she got back to
Auckland to get that sperm. Maybe ask for him to sell it to her.
She had enough funds. If that didn’t work out, she could always go
back to the fertility clinic and ask for a consultation again. So
there. She didn’t have to be down. Like Max said: Always be
positive. This was Queenstown after all, the land of freedom,
of inspiration, and of revitalization. She was alive, she was
breathing, and that’s all that mattered. Anything else could be
dealt with tomorrow. Tonight, no more baby thoughts. Tonight they
would be going to the Gondola.
Yes, the Gondola. She couldn’t wait to see
the full town from above. She had been up there once, but it was
during the day. So to view the sight at night would be a different
story. She’d been told by others that the small tourist town of
Queenstown looked like little wee fireflies lighting up at night,
creating a spectacular view due to the nightlife. Yes, she was
happy once more as she breathed in the fresh pine scent around her.
She loved it. She loved this scent. She loved her life.
Clarice felt a little yawn escape her lips
and lit up her cell phone to check the time, wondering why Max was
taking so long.. If he didn’t come in another minute, she would
phone him. That was when she realized she’d missed three calls from
Anton.
What could Anton want with her at this time
of night? The calls were lodged at about seven p.m. There was
another text message from Anton as well. She opened the message and
read: Can I see you tonight?
Dear heaven, Anton wanted to see her. She
checked the time on her phone again. It was now past eleven p.m.
Should she call him back to apologize at this hour? He would be
asleep by now; if not, then he might be out sightseeing, like she
would if Max were to turn up of course.
Clarice’s subconscious mind heard a tiny
crack of a door opening, followed by muttering under breath inside
the room, but her thoughts were so consumed with Anton and the text
that she simply missed it. Then her phone buzzed again indicating
there was another message. This time it was from Max. That
rascal, she thought. Where had he been? Then she read the
message: Hey, cuz. Cupid has brought you Anton. Get that
sperm.
“Max?” she whispered, when she felt strong
arms embrace her from behind, enveloping her within a muscular
body, and a soft whisper that almost made her knees go weak. “My
mysterious goddess. Were you waiting for me?”
 

 
Golly God, what the hell is wrong with
that waiter kid? Hunter thought as he stumbled head first into
the room, only to mumble more curses under his breath when he
realized the room was completely shrouded in darkness.
Hunter fumbled around to find the light
switch on the wall, and that was when he saw her, the mysterious
woman who had asked him to come to this room. She was like a
mystical goddess of the night, out on the balcony, viewing the
late-night city below.
Shrouded in the beam of the moonlight, her
slender silhouette was displayed for his eyes to feast upon. By
golly, but she was so beautiful, so beautiful and so petite
standing there looking so serene it literally took his breath away.
But did she shrink in size? She looked awfully short compared to
when she was at the bar. But then again, she was sitting on the
barstool, so that must account for his lack of judgment. Then
again, he didn’t remember her being this beautiful at the bar
either. Maybe he did drink too much.
Hunter stalked closer, lured by the exotic
scene, a mixture of fresh pine scent and orange blossoms, his
footsteps absorbed by the soft carpet. She was so beautiful that he
didn’t even realize he was holding his breath until his arms were
wrapped around her.
“My mysterious goddess. Were you waiting for
me?” he whispered softly into her ears.
Dear heaven, it was Anton. Anton was here.
Anton was standing right here in the same room as she was. She just
couldn’t believe it. So Max had planned everything behind her back?
And then there was Anton. Was he a willing participant in Max’s
plan too, because he had texted her that he wanted to see her
tonight? Those two men, they were planning things behind her back
all along.
Did Anton like her? Was that why he’d agreed
to this charade with Max? But why was Anton hugging her from
behind. He’d even called her goddess. Oh, it’s all that little
rascal’s fault. She had to teach her dear cousin a lesson in
messing with people’s lives. For now though she needed to get out
of this predicament. But the more she struggled within his arms,
the tighter he held her.
“Is my little goddess pretending to struggle
to heighten our mood?” Hunter asked when he felt his mysterious
goddess struggle within his arms, his voice slurring a bit,
altering the resonance of his speech.
Why is Anton being like this? Clarice
thought. No, she didn’t want to sleep with Anton just for the sake
of getting his sperm. She was planning for him to donate via
artificial insemination, not through live sex. She simply couldn’t
imagine herself sleeping with anyone if not for love.
Hunter’s pupils were a black whirlpool
beneath the moonlight, heated with nothing but desire for her. God,
she looked so beautiful. He couldn’t help himself, but pinned her
to the wall, imprisoning her within his arms and kissing her
hungrily.
Clarice could feel those lips crushing onto
hers, tasting her, pulling her into a trance then sucking out her
entire soul. Her knees felt weak and her heart felt like it was
about to explode.
This kiss, it felt so familiar. Suddenly, an
image of that Casanova kissing her on that fateful night of her
date with Darcy popped into her head. Those lips, the way he moved
around her, felt so similar it scared her. Wanting to erase that
image from her mind, she clung to Hunter’s neck tighter, draping
her body closer and sealing her lips once more to him, allowing him
to indulge in his carnal pleasures.
Where was this intense desire coming from?
Hunter never acted like a crazed animal before. He was always the
one in control of their game, the one who was always leading, but
for this particular goddess, his mysterious goddess, he was at a
loss. And it wasn’t just his behavior that was affected. It was
also his body’s responses to her. She was so beautiful and
enchanting that he found it hard to take each breath.
Finally, he pulled away, watching her under
the thin light of the moon. Her long, dark hair played with the
night breeze, some even flirting with his face, as if to caress his
cheeks, wanting to know how he would react to its teasing.
It was very hard to distinguish her features
in the darkness, but with the low beam of moonlight providing just
a thin sheath of light, he was able to see her delicate swan neck
and succulent pouty lips he had just ravished. He so wanted to see
his mysterious goddess again. The image of the blonde in the bar
somehow didn’t do justice to this beauty of a goddess in his arms
right now. Suddenly, standing before him in his mind’s eye he could
see Clarice, the avocado, staring at him with her large midnight
eyes molten with desire, mirroring his.
No! No! No! His heart thumped faster, as if
in a desperate race to cross the finish line. It couldn’t be. His
mysterious goddess was most definitely, definitely not the avocado.
She was the blond woman from the nightclub. It was her. She had
planned and coerced him to come here so they could play their game
together. It was just his mind conjuring up images of that avocado
because she had been the constant subject that had plagued his mind
since the last time they met.
Hunter gave himself a mental shake to dispel
the image of the avocado. He wanted to fill all his memories with
this mysterious goddess. He didn’t want to think about someone
else. Then he felt this sudden overpowering need to caress her
cheek, to prove to himself that she was the real thing, that his
mysterious goddess was going to be all his for tonight.
“This isn’t how I want it.” Clarice
struggled to maintain her speech after that intoxicating kiss, but
it was very difficult, as Hunter’s hug was crushing her. And then
it hit her. His scent. “You’ve been drinking.”
“Yes, I have.” Hunter spoke with so much
passion while one of his hands moved to caress that soft, supple
cheek that shone so beautifully in the moonlight. “I thought you
didn’t want me, so I drank a bit too much,” he confessed. Then like
a moth to a flame, so attracted to that swanlike neck of hers, he
parted a few strands of her hair that cascaded to her neck and
sealed his lips onto that pulsating beat, making his goddess suck
in her breath. She was so alluring, so captivating that he was
going insane.
“Do you want me too?” Clarice heard Hunter
ask, his lips so close they nipped at the tip of her ear, one of
her most sensitive spots. She could feel the pounding of her heart.
Thump, thump, thump. She had to control herself.
So Anton wanted her. Why didn’t he say so in
the beginning? Was this her opportunity to ask him about his sperm?
It was now or never.
“But I do want you… well, your sp—” Clarice
was about to confess when Hunter cut her sentence short by
capturing her plump lips and indulging in his hunger for her once
again, drinking in her sweet nectar to sate his sweet craving. She
was intoxicating, all that sweetness, like a flower dripping with
syrup, and he was the bee.
“That’s all I need to hear,” Hunter
whispered huskily near her ear. And then he carried his mysterious
goddess like a bride to the bed. He promised himself he would make
it a night neither could ever forget.