Honey

Chapter One

August 2015

We were in Saint Tropez, and even though the weather was beautiful, and I could hear my family having fun down by the pool, I couldn’t bring myself to join them. It was bad enough that yesterday we’d gone out for a meal to celebrate my eighteenth birthday, which had been the previous Thursday, and the fact I’d passed all my A’levels and would be going to Oxford. I couldn’t take another day with them, so I chose to remain on the balcony of my room, reading War of the Worlds by HG Wells for the sixth time – it was my favourite book, what can I say? I liked escapism.

I sound very antisocial don’t I? But my family weren’t typical by any means. My mum was Bella Le Grand, the beautiful film director famous for making raunchy movies starring hot guys. She was called a pioneer of the ‘female gaze’ because she always filmed men how women saw them. My dad was Marcel Tennant, lead singer of Bad Girl, one of the biggest bands in the world, and even though he was in his forties now, he still often topped polls of the sexiest men.

He wasn’t my biological dad – I didn’t know who he was, and I didn’t care – but he was all I’d ever known and he’d adopted me as soon as him and mum got married when was two. I loved him like he was my own dad. But it was pretty embarrassing when my schoolfriends would go on and on about how handsome he was, and they’d want to come home to meet him.

Then there were Maria and Claudia, my sisters who were twins. They were fifteen and blossoming. They were an exquisite mix of Mum and Dad, and they would never know what it was like to feel ugly. They were loud and attention seeing, and if I spent any more than a couple of hours with them, I wanted to scream.

I was an introvert. I liked science and reading, and up until I was thirteen, I was the chess champion of my school. I wasn’t good looking like the rest of my family, and I always guessed my real dad must have been pretty ugly. I was even more olive-skinned than my mum, and this made me hairy. My eyebrows always met in the middle, and I’d have to shave them every week; and from the age of twelve, I’d had to buy hair remover cream to put on my top lip to stop me having a moustache. I was five feet ten, twelve stone and a size fourteen. My mum and sister were petite size eights. Despite all this, I knew my family loved me a lot, but sometimes I just felt like an outsider looking in.

Another reason for hiding in my room was that I was summoning up the courage to tell Mum and Dad that I was deferring my place at Oxford for a year. Like everyone had expected, I’d sailed through my A’levels and had won a place at Jesus College to study Chemistry. But I didn’t want to go yet. I’d had enough of studying for a while. I knew what would happen when I got there. It would be an extension of school. I’d be known for who my dad was, and people would latch onto me, wanting to be my friend, just so they could meet Marcel Tennant. Well, I dreamed of maybe getting a job, or volunteering and calling myself something else. Patti Wells, after my favourite author or something like that. I could pretend to be from an ordinary family, and find out once and for all what people really thought of me.

We spent most of our summers at the villa just outside Saint Tropez, unless Dad was touring or Mum was making a film. Now they were older, the twins were allowed to wear bikinis for the first time, and they were posing by the pool, taking pictures to put on SnapChat. Dad was sitting on a lounger, looking cool with his perfect hair and perfect body, writing songs on his acoustic guitar. I couldn’t see Mum anywhere, and it was only when I realised I could hear footsteps on the stairs, that I guessed she was coming up to see me.

There was a knock on the door.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

She came in, and out onto the balcony, looking perfect in her orange bikini, her dark shiny hair tied up into a messy bun. It wasn’t good when your forty six year old mum was ten times more attractive than you. She leaned against the balcony and looked at me, reaching out and pushing my fringe from my eyes.

“Why are you hiding up here?” she asked. “Perhaps you could come down and persuade your sisters to stop taking so many selfies.”

“They won’t listen to me. They think I’m a nerd.”

“I wish you’d realise how pretty you are, Patti. What can I do to boost your confidence?”

“I’m fine as I am, Mum. I’m just not like the rest of you.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “Well, you will come down to dinner tonight, won’t you? I want Christopher to meet my whole family. Not just your dad and your sisters.”

“Okay. Do I have to get dressed up?”

“Wear whatever makes you comfortable. We just want your company.”

That night we had a man called Christopher Bloom coming to dinner. He was some wealthy businessman who lived nearby and Mum wanted him to invest in her latest film. I had no interest in spending an evening listening to them talking business, but I loved my mum, and it was what she wanted, so I’d make an effort, just for tonight.

I didn’t really have a very nice dress to wear – I didn’t think anything suited me. So I just put on a pair of baggy jeans and a white shirt. Everyone had always told me white looked good on me because I was so dark, so it was the best I could do. I didn’t know what to do with my hair, it was so thick and shaggy, the easiest thing I could do was put it in a ponytail. I knew Maria and Claudia would be looking uber-glamourous, so it didn’t really matter what I looked like, anyway.

We were dining down on the patio, by the swimming pool. We had a lady called Ann who came in to help us out with things, and she was doing the cooking and serving tonight, so Mum could entertain Christopher. In some ways, I wished I could stay in the house and help Ann. Instead I had to sit in the evening sun, looking at my beautiful family, wishing someone could sprinkle me with magic dust and make me like them.

Maria and Claudia had decided to wear matching strapless bandage dresses which I doubt Mum and Dad would have allowed them to wear if they were going out. But they looked great, and of course they kept taking pictures on their iPhones.

“Will you two please put your phones away?” Dad sighed. “I think I should make a no phone rule at the table.”

“That’s not fair,” Claudia whined. “Our followers are expecting us to document every part of our holiday. I bet Patti’s got her phone with her.”

“Yes, but I’m not glued to it, am I?” I snapped.

Mum told us all to shush and she made a point of listening to what was going on in the house and we all fell silent – Mum was the scary parent…

Ann came out into the patio.

“Mr Bloom is here,” she said.

When Christopher walked out of the house and onto the patio, I thought I was dreaming. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen. I’d been expecting some old, stuffy businessman, but he looked younger than my parents. He had shaggy dark blonde hair, that was flopping onto his beautiful well-boned face. He was tanned and tall and wearing a fitted white shirt with quite a few buttons undone, and his dark trousers emphasised his long legs. I couldn’t stop staring at him.

“Christopher, this is my family,” Mum said, getting up and kissing him on both cheeks. She introduced him to us all, and when it came to me, all I could do was blush and look down.

“Nice to meet you, Patti,” he said. He was American. I mumbled something in reply, and could have died when he sat beside me. He smelt wonderful. I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know much about aftershave, except that my dad wore VanCleef and Arpels because that’s what I always bought him for his birthday.

“I’m such a fan,” he said to Dad. “My sister is still in love with you and she’s forty and married with two kids.”

He was so beautiful, with his big brown eyes, and, like my dad, he had a big nose, but it was sexy and suited his face. His cheekbones were high and he had a gorgeous pouty mouth that I could only think about kissing. Not that I’d ever kissed anyone….

They spoke about business, while I pushed my food around my plate. It seemed Christopher owned several different companies, and now wanted to move into film production. All I could concentrate on was how attractive he was. I’d had little experience with men. I’d been around them all my life, going on tour with Dad and the band, or being on set with Mum. But personally, I’d met very few boys. I went to a girl’s school and hung around with the nerds and the geeks. We didn’t mix with boys like some of the other girls did.

Maria got her phone out again, and Mum and Dad started moaning at her. Christopher her looked at me and smiled, his dark eyes twinkling. I blushed and looked down at my lap.

“You look like you’d rather be anywhere by here,” he said quietly.

“My family are very loud,” I replied, finding it hard to speak. Being near him made it hard to breathe.

“I come from a family of ten, and I’m in the middle, so I’m used to loud families. Sometimes I would just wander off into the Hollywood Hills and be by myself.”

I dared to look at him, blushing deeply.

“You’re from Hollywood?”

“Yeah, my dad’s Morey Bloom, the movie director. Kind of why I want to get involved in your mom’s film.”

“Did hear you want to get involved?” Mum asked.

“Yeah, why not? Listen, why don’t you guys come over to my place tomorrow? I’ll return the hospitality. And I’ve got horses. Do any of you ride?”

“We do!” Maria and Claudia did that thing of speaking in unison and putting their hands up, like they were about eleven.

“What about you, Patti?” he asked me.

“A bit, but I never got the hang of it.”

“Well I’m sure we can find other stuff for you to do.”

Christopher stayed until gone midnight, and I was sad when he left. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow when I would see him again. I’d met lots of gorgeous famous people in my lifetime, but he was something else. It was hard to explain, but it was like he was golden. There was a glow around him that made him stand out from everyone else. I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

I went to bed, but I found it hard to sleep. I could still smell Christopher’s aftershave, and hear his lovely soft, deep soothing voice. When he spoke to me and the light evening breeze had slightly blown his hair back. His hair….that gorgeous shaggy blonde hair…

I couldn’t stop myself imagining what it would be like to stroke his hair and kiss his lovely lips. Even though I was alone, I blushed when I allowed myself to wonder what he looked like naked. When he’d not been looking at me, I’d slyly glance at him. His shirt had been so close fitting, I’d been able to see the outline of his muscles.

I tried to stop thinking about him but I couldn’t stop. Without me even touching them, my nipples got hard and were tingling. I ran my hands over them, and found myself imagining it was Christopher caressing them. I pulled my t-shirt up so my breasts were bare. One thing I had inherited from my mum were big boobs. They embarrassed me a lot of the time – being womanly was difficult to cope with. But right now, as I stroked them and squeezed them, feeling their fullness, and imagining it was Christopher’s big, strong hands, the feelings were exquisite.

I ached between my legs and I could feel I was wet. This had only happened a few times before - usually if I’d seen a hot guy in a film or something, but I was usually too scared to do anything about it. Only once, after a girl at my school called Gigi had boasted about what she did to herself while thinking about her favourite popstar, I had tried it. But nothing had happened. I’d just made myself sore.

But tonight was different. The ache was unbearable. I wished Christopher had been here to touch me and cure me, but I could only use my own hand.

Keeping one hand on my breast, squeezing my nipple, I put the other hand between my legs and began to rub that most sensitive spot. The faster my fingers moved the more I imagined it was Christopher. Thinking what it would be like to have him here beside me, and it was his long fingers rubbing me.

Something switched inside me. All I could concentrate on was how my body felt. Waves of pleasure seemed to rip through my body in increasing frequency. A tension was building that I couldn’t stop. Suddenly the jolt of the most intense pleasure hit me, causing me to give a little cry. My hips were moving my themselves and, like I was having a convulsion, my body twisted to one side.

Gradually the sensations faded and I regained my senses. I felt embarrassed at what I’d done….and crying out like that. What if someone had heard?

I realised I’d just had my first orgasm. I could see what all the fuss was about. But how would I look Christopher in the face tomorrow, knowing I’d thought about him in my most intimate moment? But I knew that wouldn’t stop me going…I was desperate to see him.