"No clothes, huh? How convenient," Sarah said to Honor, grinning.

The store had a decent bistro within sight of the till. They were sitting at a table, nursing coffees while Marq was standing in a queue, a basket of new clothes in hand.

Honor grinned back. "That's what I said." She giggled as she looked in his direction, lips parting. "I have no idea why he needs them anyway ..."

She had made full selfish use of all two days of getting 'reacquainted', refusing to let him out of the apartment, much to his amusement. She had a spare toothbrush, and she had ordered his preferred toiletries as she remembered them from Bangkok, delivered from the nearest store that first night. A focused online search found 'Fresh Morning' packs in a Thai-owned store across the city and she had ordered that too.

Rick, looking abashed, had broken protocol and delivered the packages, and her bright red suitcase, right up to her apartment, knocking and quickly leaving before she could open the door, decently enwrapped in her long bathrobe.

She took her deliveries, went back in, and slipped off the bathrobe so she could continue fucking Marq Haydn.

She went downstairs to collect her ordered food though, in a summery wrap dress, no bra or panties, smiling brightly at a blushing Tony as she took her delivery.

Then she had gone back upstairs and unwrapped the dress even before entering her apartment, entering nude so she could continue fucking Marq Haydn.

He had swiftly figured out that the room they were using was not her bedroom, and she had been forced to describe witnessing David and Jillian on her bed just before he had shown up from Zurich, of their trysts happening for months in both her apartment and the apartment Jillian had shared with her husband.

Naturally, Marq had not faulted her decision to get rid of every set of bed clothes and flip the mattress over before getting it steam cleaned.

Then he had fucked her in the room anyway.

Ignoring her perfunctory protests, bending her in front of her dressing mirror, he'd entered her from behind and ridden her slowly while instructing her to watch herself, to see how beautiful she was as her breasts dangled and shook in front of her with every stroke into her body.

"Let's make a new, better memory, for this room," he said, licking and biting into her shoulder, making her squeal as he squeezed a swollen pointing nipple.

She had begun to cream out again, thick wads of lubrication oozing out of her opening, when he paused and told her to touch her clit so she could come and he could watch with his hardness inside her.

Honor had exploded, liquid gushing out of her as he held her on his cock, sternly ordering her to keep her eyes open. She struggled to obey, but she mostly failed.

Then he had exited from her as she was still shuddering, still bent, hands braced on the mirror, and he'd knelt in front of her open and exposed cunt, grasping her thighs as he shared a deep exploring kiss with her nether lips.

He ordered her to watch herself as he pleasured her, his head moving between her legs, his fingers joining his tongue in her wetness until she screamed helplessly again, falling, unable to hold herself up.

He caught her, as she had instinctively known he would, bringing her gently down to the carpet. Instinct also told her to spread herself open for him, and she had whimpered her welcome and then licked her liquid off his face as he rode her till he came, carrying her over the edge with him.

"Oh ... @#&%!" she gasped afterward, hyperventilating and spread eagled on her bedroom carpet, cum lying in streaks from her thatch to her belly button, staring up at him, her room suddenly a welcome untainted space again.

She would still get rid of the bed linens though. Not knowing which other ones had hosted David and Jillian meant all of them had to go. 

She 'sat-still' on him both nights, talking to him, making plans, almost babbling as she sheathed and held him for as long as she could, both times after extended ministrations to his cock with her mouth: being his odalisque, his 'Ramya.'

Which had led to the revelation that apart from his passport, wallet and phone, he had traveled with one more thing, which he had placed in his pocket in a spare glasses case.

He'd put the chain back on her body that first night, when he had woken up, and she had cried and asked for his forgiveness for leaving him again. He had held her in his lap for a long time after that, just kissing her and playing with her chain, letting her know no such thing was necessary.

She had gone to sleep wearing it, cocooned in his arms, feeling safe, loved, pampered, and had not taken it off since.

She only allowed them to leave the apartment after two days because he had brought no clothes except what he had worn from Switzerland. She had liked that, but even she agreed that was untenable.

Getting rid of the bedclothes at the nearest charity shop, mailing David's left behind clothes, shoes and other items back to him, and making a necessary visit to her workplace were other good reasons.

The mutually bought knick-knacks and souvenirs also went to the charity shop. The pictures, she had thrown in the trash.

Sarah stared at her friend, astounded at the difference after just two days. "Oh my @#&%, Hon. You're just ... glowing. Do you know that?"

Honor blushed, but she was unabashed. "I didn't know I could feel like this, Sarah."

"I'm so happy for you," Sarah said, reaching out and holding her hand. "Have you told your parents? Family? What about the wedding? Your patisserie? Zurich? Your job?"

Honor smiled. "You sound like me."

"Someone has to be sensible," Sarah snorted. "And you're on a dick high."

Honor laughed, not bothering to deny the obvious. "Is that what they call it?"

"Who the hell is 'they?'" Sarah sniffed. "'Dick high' is my invention, patent pending." She squeezed Honor's hand. "Seriously though, Hon, what next?"

Honor smiled. "Wedding's off..."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Obviously ... I'm talking about the bookings, deposits and stuff."

"I'll deal with all that ..."

"Promise you'll let me help." Sarah raised her eyebrows and gestured at Marq speaking to a shop attendant. "Because with that man around, I don't think you'd even remember to eat. Unless it's him."

Honor giggled, then frowned at the young woman smiling a little too coquettishly at Marq as she pointed at something. She relaxed as he nodded politely and walked in the indicated direction, and frowned again as the woman kept watching him, a smile on her face, playing with her hair.

Sarah noticed it all. "Goodness! You're so territorial!"

Honor looked at her, remembering sitting on his lap and feeding him on a restaurant balcony, naked. All because another woman had looked at him. "You have no idea how 'territorial' I am about that man," she said, bluntly.

Sarah raised her hands in surrender. "Wow. Okay."

Honor shrugged, grinning. Unashamed.

"So?" Sarah continued. "Parents? Patisserie? Bank? Zurich? Job?"

Honor sighed. "In no particular order, I'm quitting today. And I'm following him to Zurich in a few weeks." She saw her friend's face fall slightly at that and she smiled. "But I'll be opening my patisserie here. And in Zurich."

"What?" Sarah started.

"And we're going to see my parents at the weekend," Honor finished.

"Okay," Sarah said, raising a hand and making a U-turning motion. "Let's go back to opening your patisserie both here and in Zurich."

"His idea," Honor said, watching her love return to the till with another item of clothing. He looked in her direction and she smiled.

He smiled back, and Honor let out a quiet hum, lips parting, visibly reacting.

"Goodness!" Sarah exclaimed. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you're this close to fucking him in the dressing room!"

Honor turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Now that sounds very very ... interesting, Miss Fernandez."

Sarah's mouth dropped open. "Oh ... shit!"

Honor grinned and licked her lips lasciviously. "Thank you for that idea, Sarah. I am getting a little ... antsy."

"Are you serious?"

Honor met her eyes, her grin turning wicked. "Very. I think it's called nymphomania."

Sarah backtracked quickly, to a safer topic. "Okay. patisserie here and in Zurich? How? How can you do both?"

Honor kept her eyes on Marq, watching him line up again, happily watching him not notice the shop attendant who had assisted him eyeing him from the nearest aisle. "He said I should start here first, at Carlisle, get things working and standardized, then maybe expand to Bowen, then to Zurich."

Sarah frowned. "Why not just Zurich? With him?"

Honor turned to her and smiled. "Because I told him, back in Thailand, that I wanted to do it on my own. And he said, purely businesswise, since I've done my research and I know the market here, I should start here."

She had showed him both of the closer street locations to her apartment on their walk to the mall; Carlisle and Jameson. Her least preferred location, Bowen, was a much farther walk, but he had immediately identified it as serving a complementary pedestrian population.

"But what about the two of you being together?" Sarah asked. "What about his work?"

Honor shook her head, looking wonderingly toward Marq again. He was paying at the till. "He's taking a break from Ascent Kapital in Zurich. He'll be working from here, he said. To stay with me while I get started."

"That's ... that's awesome!" Sarah looked at Marq as he picked up his newly bought clothes and started walking over, with the same wondering look as Honor. "He's ... fucking awesome!"

Honor looked at Marq, happily nodding in agreement as he approached, and looked back at her friend, her eyes tearing up as she smiled and simply said. "I love him."

Sarah leaned forward, grasped Honor's hand and said, seriously. "Forget what I said. Go fuck him in the dressing room."

________________________

Jeremy Kane, her boss, had always spoken to her in short clipped sentences. And he always called her 'Ms. Banet' even after four years, even when praising her work. In return, she called him 'Chef Kane.'

He had worked in multiple Michelin starred restaurants as a younger man and had won a number of other awards himself.

He had intimidated her at first when she joined his kitchen, but she had learned soon that he, like most chefs at his level, was simply a man who had high standards that he expected to be upheld at all times.

Sensible, disciplined Honor Banet appreciated that, and she had enjoyed working for him despite his imperious and curtly impersonal style.

Appearing in his office, after two days of an unexplained absence, to tell him she was quitting, was therefore not something she was looking forward to.

"I thought you were in an accident, Ms. Banet," he had said at first when he saw her, frowning over his glasses. "I don't know whether to be angry or relieved that you are alive and well."

She had felt herself flush as her mind replayed exactly what she had been too occupied with to even call as a matter of courtesy to say she was not coming in to work.

She felt embarrassed as a professional, but thinking of Marq, who was waiting for her in the hotel's lobby, recovering from a quickly and enthusiastically administered blowjob, she knew she would probably do no different if she could relive it all over again.

But then the meeting took a markedly different and unexpected turn when she told Kane that she was leaving his employ.

Instead of being angry at her, at the lack of notice, he took a deep breath and looked away from her, then he looked back with a strained, sad smile. "I have to say, as the Executive Chef here, I am not happy you are leaving my kitchen."

"But," he added, "as a chef, as someone who loves food, I am glad you're leaving. You're starting your own establishment, I hope?"

Honor nodded, non-plussed at his reaction. "Yes, a bistro-patisserie."

He nodded. "Good. It's about time. Working under someone else is not where you will really shine, Honor."

Honor looked up sharply; he had not called her by her first name since her first week.

He noticed her surprise and smiled again. "Yes, I called you by your name. There is another reason I am glad you are leaving. As a man."

He laughed softly at her look of confusion. "I have been a happily married man for over twenty years now. You're the first woman in years to make me wish I had a reason to not be faithful to my wife."

Honor's mouth dropped open.

He looked into her eyes. "That's why I stopped calling you by your first name after the first week you started. That's why I refused to allow us work alone together on anything. By design, there were always two other people with us. And I only listened to your ideas with the other chefs present ... so I wouldn't be biased."

"But," Honor stammered, "you were never ..."

"So 'friendly' to you?" Kane suggested.

Honor decided that was the best way to put it. "Yes."

"Believe it or not," Kane said. "I used to be much more ... personable. Then you came along."

"You are smart, kind, driven, talented, creative and an amazingly beautiful woman, Ms. Banet." Kane shook his head. "I'm more than twenty years older than you, but it would have been so easy for me to fall in love with you, and up-end my entire life as I knew it. As it was, I still obsessed over you for weeks. And I wasn't the only one. I suspect I lost a good sous chef and a chef de partie because of you."

"I ... I didn't know," Honor said, flustered. "I would never have ..."

"I know," he said. "And I don't know if that would have made a difference. I just knew that I needed to run away from temptation. And that was you. So I very carefully changed the way I did things. Turned into this cold guy to everyone instead of just letting you go."

She stared at him. "You wanted to ... fire me?"

"Yes. For my own entirely selfish and personal reasons. I was going to find you another good place to work and palm you off to them. To avoid temptation. To remove a threat to my marriage." Kane confessed. "But that would have been unfair. To you, to my kitchen, and to the folks here who would have learned from you. And that would include me." He raised an eyebrow. "But mostly, unfair to you, because it wasn't your problem, it was mine."

Honor did not know what to say to that.

"Besides," Kane continued, "I dare say there was stuff for you to learn from here too."

Honor nodded and said, sincerely. "Yes, I did learn a lot here. From you."

Kane looked pleased.

"So," Kane carried on, leaning back again in his chair, "on balance, I'm glad you're leaving. And even more so, I'm glad that it's on to better things." He smiled broadly. "And if I'm not mistaken, there's a new man in the picture? Not that other guy, David something?"

She blushed. "How can you tell?"

Kane snorted. "I know what a woman in love looks like."

"But I was in love before ..."

"Not like this. I can tell this is something else." Kane said, smiling fondly at her. "I know what heartbreak looks like too. Ever since you came back, you were so sad, and we actually lost you in here for a minute, which really surprised me. Then you're gone for three days and now you are an entirely different and very happy woman."

Honor felt herself flushing deeper.

"So, new man, right?"

Honor nodded shyly.

"I'm glad," he said. He looked uncomfortable at her curious look. "I saw your former fiancee," he nodded at her bare left hand, "more than once, with other women, different women, in other places ... and I'm afraid I was too cowardly, too worried I'd want to comfort you and end up crossing a line that shouldn't be crossed."

Honor was quiet, looking down. Then she looked up. "I guess I can appreciate that."

Kane looked ashamed. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she said, thinking of Marq.

He nodded, and smiled. "Well, then ... your resignation is accepted, and in lieu of notice, you'll give me and my staff five days of lessons on your techniques that we haven't yet picked up."

She grinned. "Okay. But not for a few weeks."

"Oh?"

"The new man," she said, raising her eyebrows.

He laughed and stood up, offering his hand. "Deal." He clasped her hand with both of his. "Good luck. And I'm sure I'll be a customer at your patisserie. I'll even see if I can throw you some business."

"Thank you so much, Chef Kane."

"Call me Jerry, Honor." He smiled as he released her hand. "And no pun intended, but it's been an honor working with you."

________________________

Jaya Banet's reaction when she first saw them on her doorstep was worth the two-day trip by itself.

"H... Ho... Honor? Wh... what's ... going on?" she stammered, mouth dropping open, blinking confusedly at her daughter clutching a strange man's arm. "Who is this? Where's David?"

Marq's gray eyes blinked behind his glasses, and he turned an exasperated look at Honor, comprehension dawning as he saw her smirk. It wasn't far off his usual calm neutral expression, but to Honor, who knew and loved every part of it, his face spoke volumes.

"I'm not with David anymore, Mom," Honor said. "This is Marq." She giggled. "And you should see both your faces!"

The rest of her family reacted in much the same vein. Alain Banet's head whipped around while his son started out of his chair. "What the ...? Who are you?"

Honor's older sister, Grace, four months pregnant, let out a sharp squeal of shock, which brought her younger sister, Faith, out of the kitchen with both a rolling pin and a knife, who had then frozen at seeing Honor holding the stranger's hand.

Honor enjoyed it all immensely.

Alain recovered first by noting the obvious to Marq. "You are not David Brenner."

Marq took a deep breath, and Honor squeezed his hand, breasts pressed against his arm, heart wrenching as she realized that he, calm, competent, accomplished, confident, was nervous. "No, I am not David Brenner, sir. I ... I apologize for us meeting this way for the first time. My name is Marquin Haydn."

He was taking the responsibility for her trick, instinctively trying to protect her, and Honor loved him so much she wanted to cry. "No. It's my fault, Dad. I wanted to surprise you."

"Congratulations," Valor said. "You did."

Her father looked from one to the other, at his wife looking confused and hovering behind them. "I think I need an explanation."

"I think I know you," Valor said, tilting his head, looking closely. "You're that Phoenyx Capital car guy, right?"

"Ascent Kapital," Honor corrected.

"I think I want that explanation right now," Alain Banet said.

Jaya Banet echoed the sentiment, sounding stern. "So do I."

"I'd say we all do," Faith said, to concurring nods from Grace and Valor, putting her two weapons on the table.

Marq looked at her, and Honor swallowed, wanting to kiss him. Then she just did, a quick press of her lips on his before turning to her family. "I'll tell it."

Before she did, she looked at Faith, frowning. "Faith, take the knife back, please."

Everyone sighed with relief, the tension lessening considerably as Faith rolled her eyes and hurried to return the knife and come back.

"Still my daughter." Alain chuckled, but he looked seriously at her. "Go ahead. What's happening here? Who is this man, Honor Marina?"

Honor sat with Marq, holding his hand. "I met him in Bangkok."

"When you went to surprise ... David?" her mother gasped.

Honor smiled bitterly. "Actually, David surprised me. He was there with another woman. As his wife."

Everyone's mouth dropped open.

"That's ... that's crazy," Grace whispered.

"I thought so too," Honor said. "Then I saw them. At the hotel. Together. Dancing. Kissing. She was my married neighbor in my apartment building. He flew her over there. She was staying in his room. As Mrs. Brenner."

Her mother's hand was over her mouth as she stared at her, horrified.

Valor took a deep shaking breath and rubbed his face. Then he restated what he had just heard, sounding almost like Sarah as her friend had driven her back from the airport. "So your fiancee flew your married neighbor to Thailand and checked her into his hotel room as his wife. And then you found out when you flew over there, on your own dime, to surprise him. And you saw them together."

She nodded at her brother. "Yes. You pretty much nailed it."

"Oh my @#&%!" Grace gasped.

"That ... fuck," Valor swore.

It took a lot for Valor to use profanity in front of their mother, and even more so for Jaya to ignore it. In this case, she actually nodded in agreement.

"What ... what did he have to say for himself?" Jaya asked, voice shaking. "How could he do something like that?"

"He never saw me," Honor admitted. "I just ran."

Alain Banet's face had turned grave, and he looked ill and gray as he looked at his daughter. "I'm so sorry, my darling. You must have been in so much pain. And you were alone."

Her mother got on the couch and hugged her tightly, tears cascading down her cheeks as she just held her daughter. Honor began to cry as she hugged her back.

Grace and Faith joined in, crying as well, as the men sat quietly, both of the Banet men visibly seething, Marq wearing his inscrutable mask, his eyes never leaving her.

The women parted after a while. That was when Alain stood up and walked up to Honor. He opened his arms. She stood and fell into them as he hugged her, kissing her hair, silent as she cried again.

After a while, he released her and sat back down. "Where is he now? Is he back?"

"Yes," Honor said, sitting back beside Marq, holding his hand.

"Does he know you saw him and the other woman?"

"Yes. He does now."

"I'm going to fucking kill him," Valor growled.

Again, Jaya Banet thought her son's language was entirely appropriate.

"No, Val," Honor said. "That's done." She smiled. "It doesn't matter anymore. He doesn't matter anymore. I'm actually happy." She looked at Marq. "Because I'm completely, utterly, desperately, in love with this man."

Marq was embarrassed, she could tell. But she didn't care. Because it was true.

Her father was silent, his hands clenched into angry fists even as his face remained calm. Then he looked at Marq. "How did 'this man' come into the picture?"

"I got into his taxi by accident," Honor said.

"His taxi?" Grace questioned.

"I didn't know it was occupied. I just wanted to go to the airport and fly back home," Honor explained. "So he told the driver to take me there."

She took a deep breath. "I got to the airport, and I just ... collapsed. I passed out ... and he sort of, rescued me. He took care of me." She leaned into Marq, looking at him with unabashed adoration. "And I fell in love with him."

Valor stared at them both. "Honor. That was so dangerous."

"That is true." Marq finally spoke. "I could see she was jetlagged, sleep deprived, and she had suffered a major emotional shock. It would have been the smart thing to walk away, but she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen." He met her father's gaze. "And I just could not. All I wanted was to make sure she was safe. That was why I took her in my taxi. That was why I followed her into the terminal. I had just found her when she collapsed in front of me."

Another long silence. Then Jaya went to Marq's side of the couch, sat beside him, and hugged him with all her strength. "Thank you. Thank you for being there for her, Mr. Marquin Haydn. Thank you so much. Welcome to our home."

________________________

Her sisters dragged her to Valor's old room, where they knew they could not be eavesdropped on by a curious mother.

"Alright now, dish!" Grace commanded, "Who is this guy? What really happened in Bangkok?"

Faith narrowed her eyes. "And how exactly did he 'take care' of you?"

Honor looked at them both, took a deep breath, and said, honestly, "He took me to his suite ... and then he offered me ten thousand dollars to sleep with me."

They both froze, staring blankly at her.

"And I said 'yes.'" She shrugged, smiling at their shocked faces, so much like her own. "And then we had sex. Lots and lots of sex."

"Oh my @#&%!" Faith gasped.

Then she told them the rest of the story, finding herself repeating much of what she had already told Sarah, again keeping the same special memories to herself.

In her jeans and off-shoulder top, she crossed her legs on the bed as her sisters listened to her, feeling the chain wrapped around and grasping her body, her own erotic little secret.

The warmth coiled in her abdomen as she remembered the new memories she and Marq had made on the drive over, aroused by the fact that she was decently dressed for the first time in days.

It had taken two days because she had worn a mid-thigh length sarong over a pair of skimpy boyshorts for the trip. The combination let her leave the car without risking arrest at rest stops and to get into their hotel that first day and night. But once they were in the car, she simply shimmied off the panties, claiming she needed to be 'aired out' and loudly complaining that men simply didn't understand such things.

She also, somehow, always seemed to loosen the wrap in the process of removing the boyshorts, leaving it hanging precariously off her body as she read a book, ate, drank or used her phone, directing an innocent questioning look at him every time she caught him stealing a glance at her.

"You're looking for trouble, Miss Banet," he had said, as she fanned herself with the wrap's edge, revealing everything from her belly to her feet with every flap, revealing that she was only wearing her chain.

"Whatever do you mean, Mr. Haydn?" she had gasped, eyes wide.

She found herself bent over the hood in a small copse of trees soon after, only partly hidden from the road.

"Marq?" She was completely naked, the sarong and her panties in the car, breathing harshly as she saw a car slow down near where he had turned them off the road. "Maybe you should hurry up?"

"No, Miss Banet," he said cruelly, slowly plunging back inside her pussy, making her hiss and arch as he pulled on her chain. "I don't think I will."

Luckily, the car moved on, but he still rode her at the same pace, the harsh slam at the end of every slow thrust making her squeal until he reached between her legs and found the button of flesh protruding out of its hood.

She screamed then, gushing out until he finally grunted and stiffened and then exited to release himself on her bum and thighs.

They continued their journey after that, Honor wearing her sarong and pouting at him for no reason at all.

Three hours later, Honor had yelled at him with full feminist fervor that they were her boobs and if she wanted to let them out for some air, she would do so with or without his permission, thank you very much.

Then came her insistence that it was none of his business if she wanted to masturbate; it was her pussy and she had every right to touch herself whenever and wherever she chose.

Of course, she quickly let him know, as an aside, he was also free to touch her if he wanted ...

She was his odalisque, after all.

They had stopped at the nearest motel with good online reviews for cleanliness after that; being ridiculously in love with him and constantly horny didn't mean she was not still fastidious Honor Banet, after all.

That had had added more than three hours of travel time to their journey. Forty five minutes of being kissed, licked, sucked and then fucked put her in desperate need of a nap. The clock said she had slept for a little more one hour when she awoke.

Marq had been awake for more than ten minutes by then, and the naked sleeping woman unconsciously cuddling and nuzzling up to him had reawoken other parts of him as well.

In that moment, as she had woken up, and reached behind her to grasp a hold of him, he didn't believe in saving up for later. And feeling him hard against her, in her hand, she didn't believe in it either.

He had taken her slowly, entering her as she lifted her knees up so he could go as deep inside her body as possible.

"We are really behind schedule," he gasped as she tightened around him. He bent to lave a tongue over a hardened nipple.

"Take. Your. Time. Enjoy me," she said, running her hand over his scalp and cupping his face, lifting her head to lick his lips. "I love you," she added, for no other reason than she did.

She was his odalisque.

He took his time, enjoying her, arousing her as he manhandled and repositioned her for his pleasure, making her gasp and scream. She still had his cum dribbling out of her when they left the motel, three hours and eleven minutes after checking in.

Another memory to cherish.

The next day she had worn a lace-up tube top and another sarong when they left the hotel in which they had spent the night, this time around her hips, letting him see the pattern and chain draped around her naked belly. She did not bother with any underwear, as he found out as soon as they entered the car.

She had kissed him and gone out early to pack a picnic basket and get a padded blanket at the supermarket, just three minutes from the hotel. Two hours later, she directed him to turn off the road, to the lake she had visited as a teenage girl when she had won her first bakery competition.

It was still beautiful, serene and private, especially on a weekday. She had led him by the hand to her remembered spot under a tree by the water. Like then, the lake had been blue and visible from where she laid the blanket and basket.

They ate there; and afterwards she sat on his lap to feed him her self-assembled combination of cherries, lychees and mangoes, and then she had let him feed her, writhing and cooing as his tongue found drops of juice that had fallen on her body.

And then she had removed the sarong, her tube top pulled down so he could see and enjoy her breasts, and she had taken him into her mouth until he was hard and straining against her bobbing head. Then she 'sat-still' on his cock until they were both shaking, breathing hard and labored.

He made love to her on the blanket when they finally surrendered to the inevitable, fucking her slowly again, taking his time to enjoy her as she kept her eyes on his, letting him know all of her belonged to him, telling him she loved him with every thrust into her soaking warmth.

She played with her clit to take herself to the edge so she could come when he released inside her, her arms tight around him, her lips locked on his own to swallow his cry of pleasure.

She remembered the look of wonder in his eyes as he regarded her afterward, as she led him by the hand back to the car.

She was not sharing that memory either.

"Hey!" Faith called. "Earth to Honor?"

She came back to herself.

"Where were you?"

'On a dick high.' She thought amusedly. "Just remembered something."

"Well? Are you going to tell us what it is?" Faith asked, after Honor said nothing else.

Honor smiled wider at her sisters. "No."

She continued her story, ignoring their rolling eyes.

"He paid a hundred thousand dollars without telling you?" Grace had interrupted, aghast.

Honor nodded, grinning. "So I went back to give him his ten nights. That's when I called Mom."

"You must be a really awesome lay!" Faith said.

Honor grinned.

"And he must be seriously loaded!" Grace said, bringing out her phone. "How do you spell his name? M-A-R-K-W-I-N?"

"Q-U-I-N" Faith corrected. "It's French."

"Don't search him, please ..." Honor protested. "That stuff is not important ..."

"Oh, please!" Grace retorted. "How do you spell his last name? H-A-Y-D-E-N?"

Honor gave in. "No E."

Grace looked up. "Like the composer?"

Honor nodded.

Grace raised an eyebrow. "Any relation?"

Honor shrugged. "Don't know. Don't care."

Grace gave her an exasperated look, entered the correction, and up popped multiple news items.

"'Ascent Kapital GmbH of Zurich has made three hundred and twenty one miIllion and rising in the last one month just on the Nomi Helios merger.'" Faith read a recent entry in a finance blog. "'Already owning an eight point two five percent share of the firm, the deal's point man, Mr. Marquin E. Haydn gets a further post-tax incentive bonus of five percent of all profits ...'"

Grace did the math. "That's like twenty five million before any bonuses in just one month!"

Faith smirked. "You could have gotten a lot more for those kids, Honor."

Honor shook her head and shrugged. "I had no idea."

She continued her tale, from where it carried on after her return from Bangkok. About the ocean of misery she had found herself in after leaving him, after she came back when he had pled for her to stay.

She told them about her loan pitch and they had screamed with joy at the result, gasping at Marq getting Phillipe Dufour and Somsak Kurusarttra to write in for her.

With her tongue laving over his balls when they were getting 'reacquainted' in her apartment, she had easily gotten him to confess.

"This guy sounds amazing!" Faith exclaimed.

Then had come her returning home from the pitch, after deciding to leave for Zurich, to discover that David had gone up to her apartment to 'surprise' her, and decided to invite Jillian Blake.

"He was fucking her in your apartment?!" Faith had nearly shrieked. "In your room?! On your bed?!"

"Yes," Honor said, pressing her lips together.

"That sick bastard!" Grace had said.

Then she told them of hearing Marq's voice behind her as she was getting a ticket to fly over to Zurich, to find him and tell him she loved him and that she belonged with him.

Her sisters were in tears because she had started crying as she remembered the joy she had felt, the mending of her heart as she flew into his arms, when he had kissed her and she had known he was real.

Then had come the confrontation with David, and Marq flooring David with one punch.

"I know he was in the Swiss Air Force. And I think he did something with the ... Grenaders?" Honor said, unsure of the pronunciation. "They're like the Swiss Special Forces?"

"So he has the alpha three Fs?" Faith grinned naughtily. "Fuck, fight and finance?"

Honor grinned back at her and added one more. "And he can fly planes. That's four Fs."

The sisters all laughed.

________________________

"I'm sure you can appreciate my position as a father, Mr. Haydn," Alain Banet said. "Beginning of the month, my most sensible, level-headed daughter was all excited about marrying David Brenner. Now she's quote, 'desperately', in love with you."

Alain Banet's jaw was still clenching as the four men sat on the patio. The women, Valor's newly arrived wife Cynthia included, with Honor and her mother in the lead, were working in the kitchen, talking and laughing loudly.

Dr. Colin Payne, Grace's husband, had also arrived at the Banet household after his shift at the hospital. He had also been stunned at the story his wife had relayed to him about her sister in Bangkok, with the additional detail of Honor coming back from her successful pitch for a bank loan to find her former fiancee in her bed with his married lover.

Alain, Jaya, Valor and Cynthia now knew it too, and Honor's big brother had raged and sworn for a while, their mother, again too enraged to admonish him for his language. Her father's own rage was quieter and cold. And laced with guilt.

"Right now, I don't know what to make of you," Alain confessed. "The truth is that, now, I don't trust my own judgment. I gave my blessing when Brenner came here with my daughter. I thought he was a good man. I failed her."

"That's not true. We all thought he was a good guy." Colin objected.

"I do not believe so, either," Marq said, frowning. "You did not 'fail' anyone, sir."

"I still want to kill him," Valor said. He looked at Marq. "Faith says you knocked the bastard out?"

Marq averted his eyes from the admiring look, embarrassed. "I did not 'knock him out'."

"But you put him on the ground, right?" Valor pressed. "With one hit?"

Marq nodded, resignedly. "Yes."

"That's good," Valor said. "That's very good."

Colin gave him an appreciative nod. "Wish you'd hit him a second time."

"I did not want to hit him at all," Marq confessed. His voice went cold. "But he touched Honor. Or tried to."

"Again," Alain sighed, "you protected my daughter when I couldn't."

"To be fair, sir," Marq said, "It was me more than her that he was going for."

"Nonetheless," Alain said, "I again owe you my gratitude for being there when I was not."

"Dad, you need to stop beating yourself up," Valor protested. "You cannot possibly be there to protect her everywhere. She was in Bangkok, for goodness sake!"

Alain looked over at him. "It's not a logical thing, son. Wait till you have a daughter. Or," he conceded, "a son."

Valor grinned. "I love you too, Dad."

Alain gave a derisive snort and turned his attention back to Marq. "I know I can't protect her everywhere, or from everyone. I cannot see the future and predict who will hurt any of my children. But I still have to make every effort. Even when I know it's out of my control." He leaned forward. "So I must ask, Mr. Marquin Haydn, what are your intentions toward my daughter?"

"To love her," Marq said, with no hesitation. "To be with her. To take care of her. To make her happy for the rest of my life."

No one said anything after that as the other men looked at each other.

Then Valor Banet laughed. "I have to admit, that's a good answer."

Colin smiled and gave Marq a thumbs up. "I agree. A very good answer."

Alain Banet smiled, and agreed with his son and son-in-law. "A very very good answer, indeed."

A while later, the women came out of the kitchen and loaded the patio table, calling on the men to come sit down.

Valor pointedly gestured at Marq with his eyes and gave Honor an approving thumbs up, making her blush as she sat next to him, holding his hand, keeping it warm between her thighs.

"So ..." Jaya said to Marq, "Honor tells me you're going to stay with her while she starts her patisserie?"

"Can't Honor just open something in Zurich?" Faith asked.

"Yes," Marq confirmed. "But she knows the market here. I think it makes the best sense to get started where she has done the research."

"What about your work?"

He smiled. "They can do without me in Zurich for a while. I can work from this country, and if I really do need to be somewhere, I can get on a plane."

"Your partners would be okay with you just up and going like that?" Cynthia asked.

He shrugged. "I led on our last deal, so they will be fine with me taking a break. " Marq looked at Honor, meaningfully. "I have already let them know my priorities have changed."

Honor felt the heat rush to her face again as her mother smiled her approval.

Then Jaya Banet's face fell. "Oh. Shit."

Everyone except Marq stared at her in shock.

"What is it, love?" Alain queried.

"I paid the deposit for The Grande Marquee two days ago!" Jaya exclaimed. "An opening came up, and you know how quickly they go!" She covered her face with her hand. "It's not refundable!"

Everyone winced, except Marq, who looked confused.

Jaya looked at Honor. "I knew you wanted to get married there, so I just went for it, Hon. I wanted to surprise you when you got here."

Honor's hand went to her lips. "Oh no! I'm so sorry, Mom!"

"What happened?" Marq asked.

Honor looked at him. "Mom made the deposit for the venue I originally wanted for the wedding. With David."

"Mom and Dad, and Grace got married there," Faith explained.

"Guess you should have told us about this David thing before ..."

"Shut up, Val!" Jaya snapped at her son. "Not having that fuck marry my daughter is worth ten, a hundred times as much! We dodged a bullet and got off cheap!"

"Language, Mom!" Valor gasped, hand on heart.

His mother threw a roll at him.

"I'll try and talk to them," Alain said after the laughter had died down. "I'm sure we can explain and get something back. Or even trade it to some other couple."

"Val's right, Mom. It's my fault," Honor said. "I'll pay you back ..."

Jaya snapped again. "Shut up, Honor Marina! I'll hear of no such thing!"

Marq's eyes took in the scene around him, at the chattering family sitting and eating around the table. His eyes fell at last on Honor beside him, who just smiled, holding his hand, happy.

'I love you,' she silently mouthed.

He cleared his throat.

"Hello," he said. "I have something to say."

Everyone fell silent.

"First of all; I want to thank you all so much for your kind welcome to me here, to your home. I am truly grateful and overwhelmed." He looked at Alain Banet, sitting at the head of the table. "Second; with your permission, sir?"

Honor's father inclined his head, comprehending. "Granted."

Marquin Eduardo Haydn pushed back from his chair and stood up next to Honor Marina Banet, his hand still in hers. Then, as she looked up at him, comprehension dawning, he reached into a pocket and then went down on one knee, holding up the small velvet box in his hand.

It turned out that he had come from Zurich with one other thing.

Honor froze, tears welling in her eyes before he said a word.

"Honor Marina Banet," Marq said, his lips quirking up. "I remember telling you that you took my breath away from the moment I met you. Even crying and distressed, you were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen."

He took a deep breath. "From that moment, protecting you, making you happy, making you smile, making you mine, became the principal focus of my life. You became the first thing I thought of when I woke up, the last thing before I went to sleep. That has not changed since Thailand. I know it never will."

His voice became rough, but no less strong. "I love you beyond words, Miss Banet. And I want to see that curl of your lip when you smile every day. I never want to go anywhere without knowing I will be returning home to you. I want to protect you, cherish you and take care of you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me, Honor Banet? Please?"

Honor said nothing for a long moment,as tears cascaded down her cheeks, whimpering. Then she knelt, and held out her left hand.

"Yes, Mr. Haydn," she said, quietly. "I'm yours already. Every part of me. Yes."

Marq smiled then, and it lit up his entire face. "Thank you, Miss Banet."

"I have to admit," Valor said, a while later, "that was good."

"It was very good," Colin agreed.

"Very, very good indeed," Alain Banet concurred.

He watched his most sensible, disciplined, level-headed daughter once again walk into her new fiancee's arms and bury her face in his neck, after her mother, sisters and sister-in-law had cried with joy with her, hugged her and admired the ring Marq Haydn had put on her finger.

Jaya came to stand next to her husband. "What a day!"

"Yes," he said, simply.

She looked at him expectantly. "What are you thinking?"

"That you haven't lost your deposit."

She pouted, lip furling up, so much like her daughters, and slapped him in the arm, then moved in to let him put it around her and kiss her on the temple.

"I think," Alain Banet said as his wife put her arms around him, seeing the fierce look in Marquin Haydn's eyes and the way his arms locked tight around his daughter, "he loves her more than he even comprehends." He smiled, eyes welling up. "What more can a father ask for?"