Honor's Folly Ch. 02

From a distance, Honor heard the four men either raise or fold. She had no idea who was winning at that point, so lost in her own thoughts. There was only one man at that table with whom she had sex. With the others, she just acted like herself. No sex involved. Nothing like this had happened to her back home. It must be the crazy energy of Vegas that helped put her in this predicament. Maybe the city had a different effect on different people.

Honor sat back on the hotel couch, eyeing the poker table in the middle of the room. The immense concentration of the players did not waver, all were intent on winning the pot and her as well. The dealer did his job like a robot, calling out who won the hand, telling them to place their bets, and asking them how many cards they wanted.

She was free to go at anytime. There were no guards at the door and the four men were so intent on their game, that they would not notice her departure. She could leave right that instant, pack her bags, and be home before they ever finished their game. Instead she stayed, curious to see who would win. She would leave after.

In the meantime, she continued to think over the events of the past few days. Maybe it was not Vegas that did it. Her situation could have been entirely of her own doing. She must have misjudged her charm having not realized it's full extent.

--~~--

Four days ago...

Honor woke up with the rising of the sun. Her limbs felt like lead weights, she could barely move them. She managed to roll over and looked at the man sleeping beside her. When he was not awake, he really did look like the angel he was named after instead of the dark man he presented to the world.

With a sigh, she tried to muster enough energy to get out of bed; she was almost there when a hand came from nowhere and dragged her back. She was pressed firmly to him and could feel his mammoth hard-on against her bottom. His hand gently played with the nipple of her right breast.

"Where do you think you're going?" His voice was husky, a mixture of sleep and arousal. Honoria momentarily thought it was a crime for a man to have a darkly sensual voice to go with his dark good looks.

He would not let her turn to face him, so she just answered him. "It's getting light out. Cinderella turned into a pumpkin a long time ago."

His hand traveled from her breast down to her mound. "You don't feel like a pumpkin. Maybe I should make sure." He hitched her right leg over his own and entered her from behind.

She gasped at the sudden feel of him inside of her. He filled her to the brim, hitting her cervix, and started a slow leisurely tempo while his nimble fingers found her hardened clit.

"Not a pumpkin. I doubt they are as soft, warm, and welcoming as you are." Her pussy contracted around his cock at his words. "A pumpkin definitely can't massage my cock as you can." He started to speed up, his fingers furiously working her clit.

After all the sex they had the other night, Honor did not think she had another orgasm in her. She did not think he had anything else left in him either. Apparently she was wrong on both counts. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind she exploded around him, spasming in ecstasy. Gabe followed her into the abyss, filling her with his seed until she could not take anymore and it started to leak out.

As soon as his cock went flaccid and slipped from her, Honor turned in his arms and gave him a passionate kiss in thanks. He was sure that she would not go anywhere after their bout of morning sex, but he was mistaken. Gabe frowned as he felt her leave the bed.

"Why don't we spend all day in bed, order room service, and service each other? Is it so important that you leave?" He rolled over onto his back, placed his hands behind his head as he watched her go about the room trying to find her dress and shoes.

"I'm busy today, starting with a business meeting at nine this morning. It's bad enough I didn't get any sleep, but I don't regret it for a moment." She turned to him after putting her dress on and winked at him.

He sat up, a little desperate at the thought of never seeing her again. "Then see me tonight."

Honor looked over at him. Gabe painted a wicked picture with his hair disheveled, the remnants of sleep haunting his eyes, and the sheet pooled in his lap exposing every delicious detail of his upper body. "I don't think so, angel. This was only supposed to be a one night deal."

He darted off the bed and trapped her in a tight embrace. "You're right, but we're good together. May was well milk it for all it's worth, don't you think? How long are you in Vegas?"

"Two weeks. A very busy two weeks."

His hands slid down her back to grab her butt. "Then do whatever you need to do in the daytime, and give me your nights."

She could feel herself cave, thinking she could easily revise her plans around him. It left her free to roam the city and do everything on her list during the day, while having a little extra fun at night. If the next two weeks were going to be anything like last night, she had a feeling that she was never going to get any sleep.

Her sigh was heavy and resigned, but only for his benefit. There was no need for him to know that she desired to spend her nights with him. "It sounds reasonable. Where shall I meet you tonight?"

"Here in my room. Just phone from the lobby and I'll come escort you up in the elevator." Gabe felt the heady thrill of victory course through his veins. This fiery red-head was going to be his. Two weeks was plenty of time to tie her to him with sex. After the unpredictable night they had, he knew that she was the woman he wanted to settle down with. They would have passionate nights and companionable days. Maybe a few kids if they decided to have them.

Honor kissed his cheek and then started down the stairs for the elevator carrying her shoes in one hand. He closely followed. "That'll be fine; I should be done with everything around six. Expect my phone call from the lobby around seven." The elevator doors slid open and she stepped in.

"Any requests for dinner?" He asked quickly.

"Surprise me." She replied. As the elevator doors closed, She blew him a kiss. That was his last glimpse of her until later.

--~~--

At ten minutes to nine, it was a very different Honoria that poked her head in the doorway of the conference room. She was in a conservative grey suit that only barely hinted at her curves and her hair was in a loose bun with a few escaped tendrils framing her glasses.

Matt, seeming to sense Honor's presence, rose from his chair, and indicated for her to come in with an eager gesture. His hair looked as if he had just got out of bed, yet his business suit looked impeccable. He sat at the head of a long rectangular table in a room that sported a huge screen built into the wall at the other end. On both sides of the table, sat at least ten men each.

Honor was introduced to everyone, and hoped they did not desire to converse with her. There was no way that she would remember everyone's name and did not wish to embarrass herself. Matt had the attending guard pull up a chair at the corner of the table between him and another guy. The guard waited dutifully as Honor claimed the seat before slightly pushing it closer to the table.

Everyone helped walk Honor through the purpose of the meeting they would soon have with the Germans. Basically, the Germans were interested in buying their product; they just needed to agree on a suitable price.

At precisely nine in the morning, the screen on the wall lit up to show a trio of dour faced Germans. Everything started off on a tense note, but Honor's charisma and talent with the foreign language had everyone relaxing. Since Honor was the translator, she found out that the product for sale was called a "cybernetic eyeball." Other than thinking that the name of the product was odd, she had no interest in the details.

Two hours later, a price was finally agreed upon. Honor stumbled over translating the sum of money into English since the money had seemed to be an exorbitant amount to her. Matt did not look impressed with the sum being use to buying and selling at such prices daily.

The people were happy with the agreed upon price, they all said "Auf Wiedersehen," and the screen went blank. It took only a few more minutes for the board members to leave the room. Matt and Honor found themselves alone. He handed her an envelope, her fee for being his translator for the meeting.

"I must admit that I had my doubts about you. Normally, I don't go around asking strangers for help, especially with something as important as this. There was just something about you. I've never had good instincts when it came to people, I leave that to my secretary and other trustworthy associates, but I had a feeling about you." He seemed a little confused by his own actions. Yet shook off the strange feeling crawling up his spine.

Honor did not blink at his admission. It was something that she heard a million times before. Her mother use to tell her that she had the family charm, the ability to put people at ease and to gain their trust easily. The charm skipped a generation, her grandmother had it, and her mom wished she had it.

She shrugged her shoulders and tucked the envelope into her purse. "I'm happy that it happened. It turned out that I didn't have anything mandatory planned for this morning. Besides, it was an easy way to gain money to see more shows and maybe to upgrade some of the meals I eat during the rest of my time here."

Matt laughed a hearty sound. It was something he had not done since he invented the cybernetic eyeball and built his company around it. He was comfortable being a nerd, but his new status would not allow him to wear the clothes he was use too or act the way he wanted to act. His hair was his only defiance, refusing to tame it into an acceptable hairstyle. Unfortunately his company left him very little free time to be himself, have fun, and laugh.

Honoria made him feel normal again. He felt that he could lose the suit, go with his worn jeans and technical propaganda t-shirts. "You mind if I change into something less stuffy and escort you to lunch? We can talk about the other languages you can speak and see if I have any other meetings where I could use your linguistic skills."

Her stomach chose that instant to growl and realized that she did not have plans for another five hours. "I could go for lunch and enter into negotiations for more vacation spending money."

Matt smiled in triumph. His working vacation was turning out to be better than he had hoped.

--~~--

Jasper Mitchell stood in line to get tickets for a dinner theater which he had planned for today. Even though he had loads of money at his fingertips, he did not forget the simple upbringing he came from. His wise mother gave him advise before he became successful: Don't take the simple things for granted. Admittedly, he took her words to heart, finding a child like excitement to nearly everything he came across. It was only his job, Vice President of a successful dotcom, that he was a serious adult.

Standing at a very tall six foot five inches, he could easily see over the heads of the people in line. It was easy to spot the red-head that waited ahead of him, with only an amorous couple between them. He had been watching her since he entered the very long line, and it seemed that she was alone, deducing this because she talked to no one, not even on a cell phone.

He cleared his throat noisily, trying to catch her attention. Instead, he managed to gain a stern glare from the couple. They did not appreciate his loud throat clearing because it had interrupted their concentration when it came to the art of sucking face. Jasper blushed and stuttered an apology.

Being a successful business man had not improved his lack of social companionship nor his shyness. It had the opposite effect. The mention of his money made people like him in the hopes of gaining a monetary donation or a bauble for their troubles. Since he was a simple man, he wanted true friends, something that was very hard to find in his situation. Jasper attempted to use his yearly excursions to Vegas as a desperate way to gain friendship, maybe even a romantic interest.

The line moved up a few paces, urging him to try again. He leaned around the kissing couple to get a little closer to the woman without losing his place in line. "Excuse me, miss?"

The man and woman that were in front of him gave him a disgruntled look. The woman huffed her displeasure and rudely tapped the red-head on the shoulder. The red-head turned around with a curious look, the rude woman pointed to Jasper and began kissing her man again.

Jasper could feel his face turning red. "I'm sorry about all this, but I wanted to know if you were in line to get tickets for the dinner show."

A surprised look entered the woman's emerald green eyes. "Yes I am."

"If you're alone and all...and I'm alone and all...I was thinking that we could go together." He held his breath and silently prayed that she would accept.

Honoria watched as the man's face turned from red to an even darker shade, and he chewed his nails. They were the only signs of his nervousness. She found it all rather endearing. Instinctively, she was a good judge of character and knew that he meant her no harm. It would probably be more fun to experience the dinner theater with another person. She smiled at Jasper, "Sure."

He let out a breath with a mixture of triumph and relief. "Would you mind joining me?" He gave a pointed look at the kissing couple.

She rolled her eyes at the blatant display of affection. Personally, she was all for kissing the one she loved in public places, but there were times when you just had to come up for air. It was obvious that any further disturbances would only incur more hostility from the couple. Honoria gave up her place in line and joined Jasper.

Her eyes traveled up, judging him to be a whole head taller than her. His hair was a pleasant shade of blond, his eyes a subtle shade of hazel, and his body showing signs of slight indulgence tempered with a half-hearted effort to exercise it off.

She held out her hand for a shake. "I'm Honoria Balcolmbe. It's nice to meet you."

He shook her hand and smiled. "Jasper Mitchell. The pleasure is all mine. What brings you to Vegas?"

"A long overdue vacation. You?"

"Just a vacation. I'm here to relax and do a bit of gambling." Of course he did not mention that the "bit of gambling" he was there for involved a four million dollar jackpot for obvious reasons.

Honor smiled warmly at him. "Then we have things in common already. We're both here to relax, watch entertaining shows that involve a big dinner, and some gambling. I've set aside $20 for the gambling part. If a table or slot machine feels particularly lucky, then I'll wager it."

Jasper laughed because she was refreshingly naïve. "Do you really think that you'll only be able to wager $20?"

She thought about his question. "Yeah, I'm sure. People, who come to Vegas expressly for gambling, will gamble above their personally set budget. I came here for the shows and spas. The gambling is just for the experience, to say that I've done it. Whether I win or lose makes no difference to me."

They were almost to the counter for the tickets. He turned to her again, "You have amazing self-control."

Her look was confused. "Not self-control. I don't have any of that. Believe me, I eat a little too much chocolate, I buy one too many DVD's, and I spend my money on a new laptop or some other electronic instead of saving it. The money I saved for this trip was purely selfish. I could have used it for an emergency fund or something. So my ability not to gamble over budget doesn't come from self-control, but from priorities. The experience of gambling just isn't as important to me as good food and being pampered at a spa."

He gazed at her in amazement, still mulling over his odd companion when they reached the ticket counter. "I'll buy your ticket for you. It's the least I can do for your company."

Honor shook her head no. "My ticket's already bought. It's included in my vacation package. Let's just see if they'll change our seats so we can sit together."

They were in luck, there were two seats available.

--~~--

Two hours later when the dinner theater let out, Honor and Jasper were laughing as if they were old friends. Both were quoting their favorite lines and comically reenacting their favorite moments. Out of idle curiosity, because she was enjoying herself too much, she took a brief glance at her watch. Then seriously glanced at her watch again.

It was five past six. She needed to get to her hotel room so she could get ready for her night with Gabriel. While the promise of a pleasurable night with Gabe made her wet, nearly soaking her panties where she stood just at the mere thought, she was a little reluctant to leave the fun and vivacious Jasper.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" She suddenly asked.

"I'm not sure. Right now, all I'm doing is going where the wind takes me and experiencing things that I take a fancy too." Excitement coursed through him. It sounded as if she was about to ask him on a date, or another date, he was not sure if they should classify the dinner theater as a date.

Honor started to fidget, the time weighing heavily on her mind. "There's this magic show at my hotel, doesn't look like it would be too hard to get a last minute ticket. The show's around four, we could meet at two in the lobby of my hotel and get a late lunch before we go."

He felt light as he listened to her invitation. She was asking him on a date, he thought. Since she was talking about things they could do around her hotel, he thought that she might be planning something special in the evening, after the show. He did not know if he was ready for anything intimate, but the possibility of there being more had his hopes up. "Sure thing."

Quickly, she told him the name of her hotel and the spot she would meet him at. Then she hurried into a cab to get herself ready for an intimately important engagement she had at seven.

--~~--

Gabe had a surprise waiting for her when she entered his hotel room. There was a silver trey full of plump strawberries, a silver bowl filled with chocolate sauce complete with spoon and another bowl with strawberry sauce. Honor was happy that she went to the dinner theater earlier because Gabe's version of dinner was sparse, but romantic.

She turned towards him, her new black dress shimmered in the candlelight, and her stance provided a provocative view of one long leg through the only slit in the dress. "Dessert instead of dinner?"

He gave a roguish smile, something that would make any dashing pirate proud of. "You could say that."

A shiver of anticipation ran up her spine. Gabriel was an exotic man, the type of man Honor had never had in her bed. From his jet black hair to his contrasting silver eyes to his vast experience when it came to the art of sex, he was a wholly unique creature in her eyes. If there had been someone like Gabe back home, interested in her, she would have hung onto him for as long as she could. The temptation was there to try and hang onto Gabe even after their two weeks were up. Unfortunately, Honor was nothing if not realistic.

She walked to the couch in the living room and sat down, demurely crossing her legs. "What do you have planned for this evening?"

He sat down on the couch, farther down than she would have liked. Bending at the waist, he brought up her feet onto his lap and removed her shoes. Gently, he started to massage her feet. "I loved our sexual introduction last night, but I couldn't help but notice your inexperience."