Starr Fated (31 page)

Then I headed
to the kitchen. A quick inspection revealed that the cupboards and
fridge had been stocked with all the basics, so I didn't need to go
out shopping for food supplies immediately, although I’d read in
the information folder that there was a supermarket nearby –
naturally it was an upmarket Waitrose rather than anything more
basic. Just as I'd figured out the kettle and started making myself
a cup of tea, the iPhone startled me as a I got a text message. Of
course I knew it had to be Liam – no one else had the number
yet.

Sign into
Skype on the Mac
.

“Short and
sweet as ever,” I muttered as I made my way to the desk where it
was located. “Yes sir, Mr. Starr, your wish is my command.”

I’d no sooner
signed in than there was an incoming video call from Liam, so I
answered it.

“Hi, Liam.” I
suddenly felt rather shy and self conscious as the picture came
into focus and I could suddenly see him, looking every inch the
efficient businessman in a charcoal coloured suit, white shirt and
a blue tie. I felt my heart literally swooning at the sight of him.
How could he have this effect on me even from the other side of the
Atlantic?

“Hello,
Seraphina. Good to be able to finally communicate with you
properly,” he smiled, as he leaned forward and adjusted the screen
of his laptop. “Is everything okay with the apartment? I know it’s
quite small, but do you think you’ll be able to settle in there
alright?”

“Liam, it’s
more than okay, and certainly not too small. This apartment is…well
I don’t really know what to say. It’s amazing, and once I start
working of course I’ll start paying rent for it…”

“You obviously
haven’t read through all the finer details of your contract of
employment properly yet, have you? Because if you had, you’d know
that accommodation is included as part of your package,” he
informed me.

“What? I can't
possibly…that’s far too generous…”

“Please tell
me you aren’t going spend the first chance we've had in days to
talk arguing with me?” he interrupted, ignoring the slight time
delay.

“No, okay, but
there is something I need to ask you. Why didn't you tell me you
lived here too, in the same complex? I felt stupid learning it from
Greg,” I frowned at him.

“I didn't keep
it from you; I just didn't think it was particularly relevant. And
don’t frown like that; it spoils your beauty.”

“It would have
been nice to know, that’s all. It just shows how little we know
about each other, don’t you think?”

“Yes, but
we’re going to be rectifying that soon, aren’t we? Don’t forget,
our first date is on Friday evening,” he reminded me.

“Won’t you be
jet lagged if you only get back Friday morning? Maybe you'd rather
wait until Saturday,” I suggested.

“Seraphina, I
take steps to ensure I don’t suffer from jet lag and as it is, I’m
already strongly resisting the urge to come and see you the minute
I get back, so I do
not
want to wait until Saturday. I don’t
think you have any idea how much I'm missing you, how much I need
to see you.” He was staring intensely at the screen.

“Really?” I
smiled shyly at him. It seemed so strange to hear Liam talking like
this to me.

“Yes, really.
I suppose you’ve been far too occupied to give me any thought or
miss me?”

“I wouldn’t
say that. I’ve missed you too, and…”

We were
interrupted by an American voice calling out.

“Mr. Starr?
Are you ready to resume our meeting?”

Liam turned
away and called back to the person off screen.

“I’ll just be
two minutes, then I’ll be right with you.”

“Were you in a
meeting when I texted you? You didn’t interrupt things just to
Skype me, did you?” I asked, horrified.

“I said I had
an important conference call to take, which was true,” he smiled
back at me. “But I’d better get back I suppose. We’ll talk again
soon, yes?”

“Sure…and…I’m
really looking forward to our date on Friday,” I smiled at him.
“Where were you thinking of going?”

“I have
somewhere in mind for dinner, but I’ll keep it as a surprise. I
think you’ll like it though. I really have to go, so bye for now,
Seraphina.”

“Bye
Liam.”

~*~

“Oh. My. God.
Sera, this place is seriously cool,” Abbey exclaimed as I showed
her round my new apartment. I’d given her the access codes to get
into the underground car park, and then gone down to help her to
carry my things up.

“I know. I
feel kind of guilty, having this place all to myself, courtesy of
Mr. Liam Starr,” I confessed. Secretly though, I already absolutely
loved the place, and relished having it all to myself. I was also
looking forward to exploring the local area.

“Guilty? Why
on earth should you? If your new boyfriend is happy for you to have
it, what’s wrong with that?”

“It’s still
very early days, Abbey, so I'm not sure he is actually my boyfriend
yet,” I argued.

“Of course he
is. He goes chasing after you all the way to Ireland to persuade
you to come back and give him a chance to work things out – I’d say
that’s pretty much an indication that he very much wants to be your
boyfriend, wouldn’t you?”

“I suppose so.
Anyway, why did you tell Liam where I’d gone?” I asked her
accusingly.

“I didn't tell
him much, just that I’d dropped you at the airport to fly to Cork.
The rest he figured out for himself,” she said, as she avoided my
eye and took a sip of her coffee.

“No doubt with
some help from you.”

“Well, I
thought you two needed to talk. You have a terrible habit of
shutting yourself off from things, Sera, so I just gave you two a
little shove in the right direction. And see how well it’s working
out.” She waved her hand at the apartment.

“That remains
to be seen,” I muttered.

“So, what
happened when Liam just turned up in Ireland out of the blue?”

“I nearly died
of shock. My cousins’ brother-in-law nearly decked him. And then my
Gran, Aunty and cousin practically had us married before he left,”
I sighed, as I shook my head.

“Really? They
approve of him?”

“Oh yeah, you
could say that. Turns out Liam’s mother was from some Irish family
that’s linked to ours, and they all believe there’s some special
connection between us. I tell you, that lot over there are all
totally barmy,” I said.

“You and Liam
aren’t distant cousins or something, are you?” Abbey queried.

“Not as far as
I know, but I suppose it’s possible.”

“But you were
pleased to see him?” Abbey pressed me.

“Yes, I
suppose I was, so thank you. But it’s all so awkward – with Jamie
and everything, you know? I feel bad about how things were left
between us…”

“I wouldn’t
feel bad about him,” Abbey snorted. She’d managed to wheedle out of
me most of the details about had happened the night of the Spring
Ball, and had been pretty scathing in her opinion of Jamie’s
behaviour.

“Why? Have you
seen him? Was he there when you collected my things?” She’d
insisted it would be easier for her to collect the rest of my
things from the student house on her way over, and that there was
no need for me to go with her. And now her reaction about Jamie was
very similar to Liam’s.

“Yeah, he was
there.”

“Was he okay?
How did he seem?”

“Trust me,
Sera, Jamie is just fine,” she huffed disapprovingly.

“What am I
missing here? What’s going on?”

“I suppose
you’ll find out sooner or later. Let’s just say he’s already moved
on.” She pressed her lips together firmly and frowned.

“Moved on?
Well, that’s good I suppose,” I said slowly, as I let this news
sink in.

“Hmm. Look,
you’ll hear all the gory details eventually, so maybe it’s best you
hear them from me. I heard whispers, but I couldn’t be sure they
were true, so I asked Toby, and when I pressed him, he filled me
in. You know Adam’s girlfriend, Chloe?”

“The bitchy
one. Yeah, I met her a couple of times, but we never exactly hit it
off.” Adam was hardly ever in the student house because he was
always over at Chloe’s.

“Well, it
turns out her friend Poppy has always had a thing for Jamie, so
Chloe told her that he’d be at the ball so she should go, even
though she knew he was taking you, and gave her his mobile number.
Apparently, some of his rugby mates had placed bets on whether
you'd actually go through with things, and some had placed bets on
Poppy having a better chance. So Poppy went along to the ball, she
spent most of the evening giving Jamie the come on, sending him
suggestive texts and making it perfectly plain she’d be up for
anything he cared to suggest. So guess what? As soon as you walked
out, Jamie texted her, and Poppy wasted no time moving in on him.
They spent that night together, and have been busily shagging for
England ever since. I know this is the case, because when I went
round earlier, they were just coming out of his bedroom, barely
decent.”

“Oh. So all
this time I’ve been worried about upsetting him…after all the
things he told me…but none of it was true. He managed to move on
from me barely five minutes after I left without so much as a
backward glance. I feel like such a fool, Abbey,” I whispered, as I
sat with my head in my hands. I’d thought Jamie was a decent guy,
but now?

“Don’t. It
just goes to prove your instincts not to sleep with him were
correct, doesn't it? He’s just a typical boy slut who thinks with
his dick rather than his brain – his sort don’t have enough blood
to use both organs at the same time.”

“But if I got
it all so wrong about Jamie, how can I be sure about Liam? Perhaps
I'm just going to make an even bigger mistake with the other
brother, and this time I’ve got a hell of a lot more to lose.” I
felt myself panicking.

“No, I don’t
think Liam’s like Jamie at all. He’s a man, not a boy, and I think
he's got all that out of his system, and is ready for something
more. Do you honestly think I'd be playing Fairy Godmother to the
pair of you if I had any doubts about his true intentions? And
anyway, the guy can't be a total arsehole because he wears Sevens,”
Abbey pronounced with great confidence.

“Sevens?”

“His jeans. I
noticed at the club he was wearing 7 For All Mankind jeans, which
are a pretty decent classic image for a guy like him. Not my scene
of course, but I can appreciate he has good taste, that’s all I'm
saying. Expensive, but good.”

“Trust you to
base your judgement of him on his fashion sense.”

“It’s not just
that. Don’t forget, I've got a lot more experience in these matters
than you,” Abbey pointed out.

“Well, that’s
another thing. Experience. How the hell am I going to be able to
keep up with Liam? And I’m really nervous about the first time
we…you know, in case it really hurts. What was your first time
like?”

“Me? Well, I
couldn’t wait to try out sex, and then afterwards I wondered what
on earth all the fuss was about, a real ‘is that it’ moment. I was
only fourteen, and the boy in question – Ian Haynes - was only
fifteen. Neither of us really had a clue what we were doing, and it
was a real let down. Somehow I don’t think that’ll be the case with
you and Liam. Of course it might hurt a little the first time, but
not much because he’ll know how to make it good for you.”

“Yes, but…” It
was awkward asking the next question, but I knew Abbey was really
the only person I could ask.

“What? Ask
away, because nothing you can say will shock me,” she winked.

“Well, Liam
and I are such different sizes. He’s so much bigger than me. I saw
the size of the thing in Jamie’s boxers when we nearly… and I can’t
imagine his brother being any less well endowed. How the hell that
can possibly fit into my lady bits is beyond me.” There, I’d
managed to say it, although I was bright red by now of course.

“Oh Sera!”
Abbey laughed. “Firstly, of course it’ll fit; you stretch,
especially when the guy has spent enough time on foreplay to relax
you. Don’t forget, your vajajay is designed to stretch enough to
let a baby out.”

“Yeah, but we
all know giving birth is excruciatingly painful,” I muttered.

“Secondly,
don’t assume Liam has large equipment just because he’s a big built
guy. It doesn't always work like that. In my experience, some tiny,
weedy blokes have an enormous willy, and some great big guys have a
tiny one.” She grinned and wiggled her little finger at me to
illustrate her point.

“Really?
Somehow I just know he’s going to be enormous.”

“As in ‘hung
like a stallion’ enormous? Well, I guess you're just going to have
to wait and see, aren’t you? Don’t get yourself all worked up over
this. At least you know Liam is very experienced and will know what
he’s doing – unlike my first time.”

“Yes, but
that’s another thing. He’s said we’ll take it slow, but I know
before long he’s going to want to do all sorts of things that I
don’t have a clue about. I tried doing some research on the web,
but I just ended up scaring myself when I saw what some people
consider ‘normal’. But that’s what Liam’s used to isn’t it?”

“More than
likely, yes. You’ll just have to be upfront and tell him what
you’re okay with and what you aren’t, and if he can't accept that,
then you’ll have to walk away. But my gut feeling about Liam is
that he’ll be cool about it. Having said that though, Sera, try not
to be too scared and inhibited, because you might surprise yourself
by what you find pleasurable. Just keep an open mind, is my
advice.”

“I’ll try,” I
said. “So have you tried…everything?”

“Pretty much
I'd say. Enough to be confident of what I do like and what I
don’t.”

“So, what’s a
no for you?” I asked curiously. If Abbey didn't like something, I
couldn’t imagine I would.