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Beautiful Stranger
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Dedicated to all the Bond/MM fans! Enjoy xxxx
To Liv (Mwahs) and Charlie (Congrats for the play, sis): love and hugs girls!
Karola and Gemma: get ready for a minx, a teaser and the danger *winks* you know… EVERYTHING! (That´s for you too Shanice… singing "I want your everything as long as it´s free" to you know who, lol). Love and only love :D
Love to you all 333
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Chapter 1: I have a taste for danger.
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If I am smart I´ll run away.
But I´m not so, I guess I´ll stay.
Heaven forbid!
Looking around her, nothing seemed alright for the mocking brunette. It never was. Some days… the world is not enough. For some reason, since she´ve been to Kalokairi a year ago just to see her best friend getting married when she thought it was going to be the daughter, things had changed in ways she never imagined could be possible.
In the first place, she never thought she would live to see Donna Sheridan sighing for a man again. Not since Sam Carmichael left her, not till he came back for her 21 years after.
"George, can you hand me that fucking phone?" Tanya shrieked, once she had heard her cell phone ringing for the third time.
Once she saw who was calling, she rushed to pick up.
"Mrs. Carmichael" she chuckled "Are you a happy mother of two now?"
After she burst out laughing, Donna answered between quiet giggles.
"I wish so, I wish so, this huge bump is about to kill me, you know?"
"There´s a reason why I had three husbands and no children, honey. There is a reason. Seems the lover boy turned out to be dangerous…
"You´re a minx woman. Let me and my two boys alone"
"I still can´t get over the fact you found about it here, when you were here for your five-months- very- delayed honeymoon, then called me to ask for my physician's number and never told me about it, until I went for my regular check up and he asked how was my friend´s pregnancy going"
"Tanya, grow up. I wanted the dad to find out first. I was afraid. I´m not twenty anymore, you know?"
"Well… no one who had been there during your wedding night would say so"
Donna blushed, remembering how embarrassing it have been to be caught by her friends walking out of the bathroom wrapped in her husband´s arms the next morning, clearly seeing in their face´s and the laughter bursting after that they have heard everything.
Since then, she´ve learnt to lock the door, and saved Sophie some scenes that she would have truly regret to see.
"Oh, stop it" she blurted, after all remembering how much she enjoyed those showers and for how many years she had missed them without a reason "I´ve just call to thank you for your invitation and your offer of hosting a party for our first wedding anniversary next weekend. But as you well know, I´m a little swollen… way to fat for pictures"
"Saved for next year, darling, don´t you worry. I´m visiting you the day after tomorrow tough, so you´ll have your party anyway"
"Yeah, but save all the drinks for you Cleopatra"
"I have no complaints on that one as long as you give me a good martini"
"Shaken, non stirred"
"By the way, have you heard of the hermit lately?"
"That teaser… She must be somewhere with you know who writing her next book"
"Yes, I forgot she became quite adventurous…"
They both laughed, before Donna replied.
"I guess you forgot"
"I´ll see you then dynamo. Bye"
"Bye Tan. Love ya"
"You too"
*
Flashing a smile to her own image on the twinkling mirror across the Hall, Tanya straightened her dress, contented with that fabulous air of queen she always build around herself and kept going with her typical quick steady steps. The same impossibly height Prada heels. The same sound. She haven´t wear a short dress in a while, but that night she got that strange something for showing her legs and in fact she was happy with the way the red strapless piece fitted her.
I´m coming up, so you better get this party started.
Suddenly, she felt the delicious fire of someone eyeing her, and, poise in every move, the brunette locked gazes with a handsome man she found staring at her. She smiled seductively, looking away and softly shaking her head to fix her hair, as she took a martini from the tray a waiter was offering to her, downing the welcomed content in once. Confidence was a secret she knew too well.
Five…four…three…two…one.
Instantly, she felt a manly hand sliding across her waist and turning her to face him, his steely blue stars inches apart from her very well delineated hazel eyes.
"May I have this dance?" he asked with a charm-filled smile.
And she instantly knew she had fallen too fast.
"In fact, Mr…" Tanya trailed off, raising an eyebrow.
"Bond, James Bond" he replied, pulling the woman against him to sway her around.
"In fact, Mr. Bond, I would fancy another martini" she smirked, handing him the empty glass.
"That´s no problem, beautiful"
He took the glass from her hand and she leaned forward to whisper on his ear.
"Shaken, not stirred"
"You know, I think we will get along quite well"
Tightening his hold on his partner, he kissed her briefly, with one of those kisses that will leave a cruel dissatisfaction lingering inside of her. She moved to capture his lips again when he broke apart, but mysterious Mr. Bond was gone.
"Certainly, I think so"
*
"Hello, darling" Stellan said, looking her up and down, approvingly.
"You should have given up calling me like that when we got divorced" she replied scornfully.
"Or not getting divorced at all" he said, wrapping his arms around her.
"Too late" she added softly, smiling sarcastically and pushing him away.
"I always loved that feisty side of you" he replied, as his eyes lit up and a lop-sided smile crept to hir face while he pulled her closer "And I´ve always known how to break you"
"Once again, too late" the woman said, rolling her eyes.
"Then why are you here?" he whispered, grabbing her chin and staring into her eyes, whilst drawing his face dangerously close.
And not knowing why, for the first time that night, she flinched.
"If you expect a quick lay down, you can get that idea out of your trousers"
"You´ll change your mind soon enough, baby"
He kissed her briefly and let her go from his grip, fading, like a ghost in the crowd…
She kept staring at him, narrowing her eyes as rage washed over her shuddering body.
"Bastard! I still don´t get why the fuck does he make me so nervous" the woman mumbled to herself, shaking her head.
"There are a couple of reasons. Do you know him?"
"Yes, he was my first husband"
"First?"
"Been married three times and counting" she smiled, taking a sip from the drink he handed to her and wrapping her arms around his neck, moving along with the music again.
"That´s… interesting" he said in a low voice – more to himself than as an answer-, soon lost in his thoughts.
The music slowly faded away and the lights became brighter. It was a celebration.
It was time for the speech.
James took Tanya´s hand and dragged her through the glass doors to the garden. She followed quite unwillingly, her stilettos plunging in a neat line of tiny holes across the damp grass and her body slightly shivering under the cold night air. She took a deep breath for that new refreshing fragrance to calm her down and cool her mind. She always flaunted about her cold mind and having her nerves getting the best of it was highly unusual. He came to a sudden stop next to a window when he heard movement ahead of them, deeply afraid to get caught and looking around carefully, yet unable to reach through the shadows anything able to disturb them. The man pinned her up against the wall and looked back at her, trying to soften the sudden harshness crossing his expression and the line on his forehead.
"I need your help"
She tilted her head back, laughing all her nerves out and her feeble body quickly steadied again.
"Help?" She repeated whispering "You mean...?"
Looking at the silver reflection of the moon on his hair and the devilishly handsome glow of his steel blue eyes, Tanya thought that he was certainly the most attractive man she have ever been close with. Running her hand through his chest, she forcefully covered his mouth with a firey touch of her lips.
The woman was surprisingly unaware he felt exactly the same about her.
He responded fully, urging for further access, pressing her even more against the wall and sliding his hands down her body, and she deepened the kiss with a slight gasp, wrapping her legs around his waist and adjusting her body against his. He drew apart slowly, trailing light kisses down her neck, along with her hollow breathing.
"Despite the fact I would love it, beautiful" he said, staring into her dark hazel eyes again and stroking her thigh under her dress "It will have to wait. That´s not what I meant"
Deep inside, her confusion and frustration were soul-shaking. Just when I started to get excited over the perspective! But she remained impassive and delicately pushed him away, graciously standing on her stilettos again.
Not changing her expression or allowing herself to flinch, she took a hand mirror out of her bag to check on her make-up.
"What is it, then?" she asked, resting against the wall and hiding all her interest with a flick of her hand to light a cigarette.
"Is about your ex-husband" he answered, looking deeply into her eyes and resting one hand at the side of her head on the wall.
"Careful... last time you were that close, we ended up... tangled"
He laughed and grinned at her, grabbing her chin.
"I know how you feel, but I am serious about this. I need you to distract him"
"Distract him?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows "You mean...?"
"I mean whatever it takes you to do so"
She laughed again and dropped her cigarette to the floor, exhaling the last bit of the smoke.
"Yeah, now one about cowboys, please"
"Tanya, do you see me laughing?"
"No. But I´m trying"
He grabbed her arm firmly and then, for the first time that evening, she felt scared. Fear drilled into her bones with no warning and, quite shocked, she stared again into the icy ocean of his eyes. But there was something piercing her very heart, deeper than uncertainty, or anything she could be afraid of.
Pride.
"I should have known from the beginning this wasn´t about me. The funny thing is... I don´t know why in hell do I care..."
"You have my word, I had no idea who you are. But I found you. So, listen... you crossed that door with me. Your life is just as compromised as mine at this moment in time. So... will you do it?"
"My... life?" Tanya whispered to herself, as he grabbed her hand and tugged her back in.
"But... WHAT is going on here? WHO are you?"
"It´s too long to try and explain now"
She firmly stopped herself and got her arm free from his grip, giving him one of those creepy frozen stares only her eyes could shoot.
"You´re telling me now or I´m not going back in there. I´m not a fucking puppet"
"Fine. It just seems your lovely ex husband wants to have a bit of fun, and become rich in the way, by selling nuclear power to our best friends, the russian, and I´m not very fond of SPECTRE, just as they are not very fond of me"
"And where do I step in? Where do you step in? THE RUSSIANS?!"
"God, you just have to keep him away while I slid into his office and steal the plans he´s suppose to deliver tonight. And, you know, save the world from a nuclear war too"
"And you know all this because...?"
He pulled her close and buried a forceful kiss on her lips, breaking apart with seductive slowness, until she shook her head stunned, looking at him again.
"Because I am a 00 MI:6 agent beautiful. Will you never shut?"
"I think... that´s enough for now" she replied with a smirk, slowly walking again and melting into the crowd in a second.
"Definitely, I´ll have to go for her later" he mumbled, grinning to himself as his eyes still following the gorgeous brunette that have just disappeared from his view. And remembering that seconds before she was in his arms and was his, he looked back to the stars, whishing the bloody mess will end up soon. And if he touches her, I´ll kill the fucking bastard.
*
Biting her lower lip, Tanya swallowed the hurtful knot on her throat, forcing herself to smile. And a strange call of intuition told her she could indeed end up dead.
Well and truly dead.
And I don´t want to die yet, she thought, as she delicately placed a hand on Stellan´s wide shoulder, still feigning a joy and self-confidence that have been gone for a long while by then. But that was, after all, an art she mastered very well.
"Hi gorgeous" Tanya whispered, trying to draw a seductive lop-sided smile on her perfectly conserved lips, despite the fact her gaze was shaking and she could feel the unsteady rhythm of her footsteps, because her feet won´t reach the floor. As soon as she met his eyes her heart stopped dead catching her breath. Oh, my God, I do hope he didn´t see me with James or I´m certainly dead.
For a while – an eternity for the woman with a rope around her neck -, the man gave his ex-wife a suspicious look, as she wrapped her hands around his neck to sway along with the music. That soft voice and timid manners wasn´t hers. That way of coming suddenly back to him, wasn´t hers. But he knew she would surrender and decided to make the most out of it, not twirling his thoughts around her reasons. Surrender was more than just an option and they both knew that. He wrapped his arms around her too and started moving along with the song, exactly like she just did.
Anxiously, she peered over his shoulder across the room, looking for any sign of James. But he wasn´t nowhere to be seen. He didn´t stepped back in. Minutes and hours slipping away, a feeling on dream and illusion fell over Tanya and everything she dreaded was suddenly gone. And she felt stupid dancing with someone she didn´t want to be close with. She grinned at her silly fears; she should have known it from the beginning and started to breathe again before pulling away.
Then, he grabbed her chin quite abruptly so she finally met his frozen grey eyes and hardened expression. She quickly understood again it wasn´t the joke she had lead herself to think of.
"Why are you so nervous, honey? How are you acquainted with Mr. Bond?"
She had to swallow hard to stop the words "Don´t call me honey" to leave her mouth.
"Well" she whispered softly, grinning and slowly stroking his jaw with her index "I haven´t seen you in a long while, don´t you think so?"
"Indeed, I have missed you. And what about Bond?" Stellan replied, running his hand up and down her back along the line of her zip. I got him. The touch was slight, but yet intimidating, and fighting the goosebumps climbing through her spine, she tried to gather an answer.
"He just offered me a drink. I´ve never seen him before"
Quite relieved, Tanya realized it was nothing but the truth.
"Trying to seduce you, huh? The bastard" she bit her lower lip to keep herself from risking a dangerous answer, as her whole body stiffened "So he has no idea who you are?"
As the rhythm of the music was changing and the lights started to flash, he spun his ex-wife around and pulled her back to him. His body so close and tight against her and his hardness pressed against leg made her sick, and suddenly her head was spinning. She was conscious of him stroking her arm and peering down her impressive cleavage.
Why do I wish now I was wearing something more plain and modest?
"Where did you get such a perfect tan?" he asked, now looking down her body and her long legs.
Her whole body was tense and her voice cracked the first time she tried to answer. Forcing a smile, she tried again.
"I´ve attend to my friend´s wedding on Greece. Do you remember Donna?"
"Yes, you told me a lot about her, and Rosie. I´ve never met them though. Maybe we can take another trip to Greece together. Greek air seems to suit you. You look beautiful tonight, Tanya"
With this words, he slid his hands down her back to rest on her rear. Beyond surprise, she jumped back and pulled apart, groaning under her breath and afraid he could hear the damned heart beating so madly inside her chest.
"I need air"
She saw again that suspicious look and most unwillingly frozen. "Where are you going?" She heard him mumbling, but she didn´t know. She hadn´t thought where. She just needed to walk away.
And yet, loosing self-control was never one of her weaknesses.
"The garden. I need air" she repeated, pursing into a renewed smile her perfectly lined red lips.
Stellan took her hand and quickly lead her outside through the crowd. Once they crossed the crystal door she gasped at the wonderful sight.
She didn´t noticed how big and beautiful it was the first time.
"There, air" he said, lighting a cigarette and blowing the smoke at one side "Will you tell what the hell is wrong with you now? And don´t dare say fucking crowds; they have never scared you before"
"No, is not crowds" she grinned, raising her hand to her chest, to soften the hitting of her heart, but pretending she was playing with her necklace. She sat beside him and extended herself to take the cigarette he was holding on his hand, making sure he would have a good view that will take his attention away from the suspicions and, at least, back to her body "I just got us to be alone out here"
She inhaled the cigarette, nearly shocking when a naughty smirk shot to his face.
Tanya didn´t imagine that the fact her careless comment brought a dangerous lustful spark to her ex-husband´s eyes could in fact feel worst than his outburst if he found out she was lying.
He stared deeply into her eyes and underneath the lust there was an earth-quacking menace in his gaze. Silently, Stellan took the cigarette back from Tanya´s unsure grip and inhaled a last time before throwing it to the grass and stepping on it rudely. Suddenly, her instincts told her to jump away from the bench, but before she could catch up with the feeling in her heart he leaned forward against her, wrapping an arm around her waist to held her close and sliding the other hand over the soft stocking on her leg and into her dress. She couldn´t help a moan of despair when his kisses wandered the way up her neck to her lips, misunderstanding her expression, and she pulled apart when he reached her lips.
"You´re full of yourself today, Mr. We´re still on a public space"
When his hand stroked her leg again and went further over the dress to reach her hand she knew she had totally screwed it. It was to end up dead or let him screw her over.
And before he finally take hold of her hand, she made her choice.
I would rather be dead.
He lead her across the garden and around the house, never releasing of the tight grip of her hand or bothering looking back. Climbing an outside stair and walking inside through the wide balcony, Tanya thought she remembered enough to have a fair idea of where were they heading. The soft blue-cotton curtains, the aquamarine bright walls, even the lamp on the nightstand. Ant the dresser... she remember that one fairly well to have been her dresser. Once Stellan told her to fuck off- and those were his words-, she didn´t bother coming back, until he heard of her lawyers. Just with this divorce, she made more money than she would on the two following next, together.
Her eyes wandered from the DeGas ballerina on the wall, to the luxurious marble wardrobe and the wrought iron elegant dresser again. From a deep corner of her soul she never knew she had, Tanya smiled and sat on the chair that soon enough was all familiar again, taking the jewelry box in her hands. The piece was beautiful itself, and she caressed the borders with her finger before opening it. She knew full well she would only find her diamond necklace inside of it. Clipping it around her neck, she smiled wider at the image on the mirror. It was beautiful.
Her first anniversary gift.
An unwanted sigh escaped her crimson toned lips. As soon as a lonely tear rolled down her cheek, she wiped it and closed the box abruptly, walking slowly to sit on the bed. Life had surely taught her she shouldn´t let the world see she wasn´t the cold-hearted bitch she pretended to be.
Totally distracted from the situation she was in, Tanya took of her shoes and sank her tense body into the soft welcoming mattress beneath her.
"What are you thinking?" Stellan asked, leaning against the light colored wall.
"Just that once, a long time ago, I was indeed happy here"
He shook his head, smiling in silence.
"Why did you keep all these?" she asked, somehow smiling as he immediately burst out laughing.
"I thought... you might come and claim it someday. I don´t use to sleep here tough"
"Still, you said you missed me"
What the hell am I doing here? James, where are you? I´ve fallen. In a mousetrap.
He approached the bed and slowly lead his body to rest over hers. His shirt was off and his buckle was undone. To her surprise, the brunette found herself thinking of how good all this felt, back then, when things were alright and wondering if it could ever be the same again. But she was rational enough to know it wasn´t the same and it never would. Still, she was too mesmerized to move or breath, inhaling the well-known sweet scent of his perfume, and feeling the brush of his fingers on her skin. It just felt... so natural again.
Why did you ever wanted to divorce me?
He kissed her roughly and passionately, trying to rush all there was to come and adjusting his body against hers, while his hands shot far under her dress and started pulling her stocking away. She even answered his alluring kiss and softened her quiet moans in his breath, until his touch tangled on her underwear and something burning inside forced her to try and break apart. That tobacco and brandy flavor of his lips where the utter reminder of how everything was so wrong and how nothing will never be again as back then.
But despite the frantic effort of her arms and her legs he wouldn´t let her go.
"Leave... me... alone" she whispered, as tears of powerless anger flooded her face when he pinned her arms over her head and struggled to free her from her dress with the other, breaking it to her hip on one side. The sharp sound of her stocking tearing apart along her legs pierced her ear hurtfully, and she bended her leg under his weight to push harder, but nothing was hard enough. He was too big and too heavy. Surrendering to the soul-wrenching helplessness, she allowed her body to get buried on the mattress and flinched as nausea kicked her stomach when the clear feeling of her thong being slid down her legs reached her senses.
Then, something flashed in her mind and she played her last card.
"Is that what you have fallen into? You´ll RAPE your ex-wife? I thought there was a reason for me being an ex"
There are some things that never change in a man. And Tanya knew this one was used to get what he wanted. So the only thing she could do, was become something he didn´t want anymore. He wasn´t used to be rejected by women and even if men could find it exciting sometimes, there were also ways for it to become unbearably insulting.
Soon, he started to slowly relieve her from his weight. She crawled as a bullet away from under his body and rested against the headboard, without opening her eyes and listening to her heartbeats lingering on that scary deafening silence that had wrapped around them. She heard a drawer running but didn´t bother checking. She was shocking at the pressure on her chest and her head was running wild too.
"I didn´t want to divorce you in the first place" he said, and she opened her eyes to look at him.
Her racing heart came to a sudden stop.
Tanya´s stiffened body was so tense she couldn´t utter a word when she saw the gun inches away from her eyes and gasped at the icy sensation of the metal against the soft skin of her cheek. Her fingers contorted around the sheets and her body flinched when she tried to swallow the air she was unable to breathe.
She could say she´ve been afraid the whole night until then, when she was absolutely beyond fear itself. Knowing full well she was dead, her unresponsive body seemed to come to terms with the fact, before her spirit actually left, drowning her with the strange sensation she was slowly exhaling her life with every breath and so petrified she hasn´t even move to replace her underwear.
Her big dark hazel eyes stared into his bullet-grey holes deeply, expressionless. She could have been lifeless if it wasn´t for her waving chest under the crimson dress.
A contemptuous grin blooming on his face, he slid the gun down her neck and her cleavage to place it on her heart. The cold fall across her skin was creepy enough to make her flinch and shiver, a blast of air finally rushing into her lungs. Her quivering lips were now soft and pink on her ghostly face. As soon as he pressed it against her through the fabric, she was petrified again.
"Now will you tell me why did Bond send you here and what do you pretend?"
Tanya gasped, knowing her life was hanging from her next words. She needed to convince him that, as she wished, she had never seen James Bond.
She grinned, delicately pressing her finger against the cannon of the threatening weapon and pulling it away from her body.
"You send me the invite" she whispered, still quite seductively, placing her hands on her legs to pull her underwear back on. She took the ruined stockings off and dropped them to the floor, avoiding to start mentally whining about them. Her fingers got tangled on her chocolate hair to smooth it and after a sigh of veiled relief, she could drive herself to smile again and look back at him.
All the way long, he was staring her up and down, his gaze following the lines of her body from her toes, to the quite discreet jewelry on her ears. Tanya had succeeded in bottling up every groove of fear or emotion, and he was starting to think she was terribly fierce and courageous. I should have known it, just the kind of woman that bastard 007 will choose.
And he aimed the gun at her again, shattering the smile on her face.
"I never thought you would show up"
Opening her mouth to answer, for the first time that night she almost stuttered, but she laughed at the brilliant answer she came up with.
"As if I could ever refuse a drink!"
He seemed to consider her answer, and her gaze fixed on the gun in front of her.
"Oh, yes, but you took the drink from him, right? And you let him fuck you in the garden before you came back to me"
If only! What would Rosie said if she knew I´ve been seducing a stranger? And, Oh My God! What would Donna think? I guess she would understand, he´s her type of guy after all... Shit, woman, he´s pointing a gun at you! Hold yourself!
"So this is all about a quite inappropriate jealousy? Jesus, I´ve never seen him before and there was no understanding between us. Despite the fact I don´t owe you anything anymore. This is hideous"
Finding his eyes, there was a sudden kick on her stomach. Wrong. Shivering visibly, tears washed down her face as she shook it forcefully, trying her thoughts to catch up with the facts. A soft scream of despair escaped her when his fingers tensed over the trigger while she covered her face with her hands.
"You don´t want to speak then, whore?"
"No, please"
And then, as she screamed, she clearly heard the gunshot.
*
So that´s it... next chapter, Bad Romance, to be on if you review! Loves! xxxxxxxx