This chapter is a little racy, guys. So fair warning, though there is no actual sex described (I can't write any actual smut due to the rating, but also, do you really think I'd be THAT cruel? Tony even giving another woman any attention, of ANY kind, is torture enough, right?)

Thanks for all of your reviews! Keep 'em coming! I love to hear from you all! :D

We left the restaurant shortly after that, both of us worked into a hormonal frenzy and anxious to get somewhere more private. I'd picked her up at her hotel that night for our date in the Bugatti, but on our way from the restaurant to my place, I'd found that, for once in my life, I was regretting driving anything, and wished I'd left it to Happy. Trying to concentrate on the road with a smoking hot vixen doing everything in her power to distract me and further provoke my desires during what felt like the longest drive home in history wasn't exactly my idea of a good time. Plus, she was practically spilling out of that dress, and I prayed the seams would hold just long enough for me to get her in my front door at least.

We finally made it back to my place, and I screeched the car to a halt in my driveway shamelessly. She laughed at me. "Anxious, are we?" she purred.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," I replied back in a low sultry rumble. I shoved my door open, climbed out of the car, and ran to her side. I opened her door, and she extended a hand for me to help her out of her seat, giving me a coy smile. I took it, and watched as her long legs exited first. She smirked at me as she stood up, her body in very close proximity to mine. "A little something to stoke the fire?" she murmured. Then she kissed me, deeply and with as much desire as any one person could pack into a solitary kiss. I couldn't help it. I returned the kiss with a growl, pressing her against the car, and devouring her mouth with my own. A surprised squeak left her lips, and she smirked as we kissed. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and pulled me into her body tightly. Then she slowly broke away to murmur in my ear. "Unless you plan to ravish me in the driveway, love, then perhaps we should take this inside?" she said.

I chuckled, my sex-drenched mind considering for a moment the "outside ravishing" idea. But I relented, and pulled back to grasp her hand. "Of course. Right this way, " I purred smoothly, as I led her toward the front door.

I heard JARVIS click open the lock, and I led her inside, saying a silent thanks for having an AI to open doors for me when I, ahem, have my hands full. Once inside, she began nibbling my ear as I closed the door behind us, her hot wanton breath on my neck. I smirked at her advances and turned my eyes to hers. She bit her lip, and smiled coyly at me again. But this time, she led me by the hand, pulling me into the living room. We made our way to the sofa, and she gently pushed me down to a seated position, while she remained standing in front of me. I stayed silent, watching her every move as she smirked devilishly at me.

"You know, darling? There is a reason why I chose this particular dress this evening," she purred. She raised her arms behind her, and began to slowly pull her zipper down. I could hear the tick tick of each individual set of teeth loosening, and I swore my head was going to explode with anticipation. But I kept my cool, and just continued to watch her.

Soon, the top of the dress was loose, and she slid it down over her breasts and stomach to her waist, revealing a very lacy, very see-through red bustier she had been wearing underneath. I whimpered helplessly, mumbling "God,have mercy" under my breath, which I know she heard, because she gave me an amused smile in reply. She proceeded to straddle my hips, and once again those juicy red lips were on mine, her tongue flicking in and out of my mouth, just as mine was in her's.

I wrapped my arms around her body, and I felt her run her fingers through my hair on the back of my neck in return. She moaned into my mouth, and then slowly broke the kiss, looking deeply into my eyes. "Tony? Can I ask you something?" she whispered. I could feel her hot, steamy breath on my lips, my skin prickling with the sensation.

I numbly nodded. "Yes. Anything," I whispered back.

She smiled, and flicked her tongue over my lips, kissing me one more time, just for a moment, before continuing. "Is there anywhere, in this house, that you've..." she said, trailing off as her cheeks blushed, and she smiled to herself.

I furrowed my brow and smirked at her bashfulness, so ironic given our current situation she'd put us in. "That I've..." I coaxed expectantly.

"That you've...fantasized...about making love to a woman before? Is there anywhere that you've kept from all of the others?" she asked, somewhat innocently, and trying to sound purely curious.

I chuckled softly, in surprise at her question. "Um," I say, swallowing hard, and looking away to think for a moment, trying to decide if I really wanted to reveal this to her. There was one place I'd thought about, I had to admit. I'd thought about it a lot, actually. And there was only one person that truly deserved, in my opinion, to be with me in that way, in that place. However, I've never held the belief that Pep...I mean, that one person, would even give that notion a second thought. So, I'd dismissed it long ago.

But with Vanessa in front of me, looking as delicious as she was, and ready and willing to be that person, I guess I just...transferred all of that to her, instead. I let my guard down, you could say, and she could see this on my face, I suppose. Because she smiled devilishly at me.

"There is such a place, isn't there?" she cooed, her eyes alight, giddy with the discovery.

I smiled at her sheepishly, suddenly embarrassed that I was so easy to read.

"Then, Tony, my darling," she murmured, tracing the tip of her pointer finger across my lips. She bit her bottom lip, and smiled coyly again, and then slowly climbed off of my lap to come back to a standing position in front of me. I was paralyzed at that point, as I'd practically melted into my seat. But what she did next rendered me completely helpless in every sense of the word.

She slowly worked that stunning red dress down over her hips, and let it pool at her ankles on the floor, to reveal that that red bustier, and her spiky stiletto heels were the only things left clinging to her body. Her womanhood was fully exposed, and practically eye level with me, and all could do was flick my eyes from it to hers over and over, my heart thundering in my ears in reaction to how quickly, even for me, things between us has had progressed.

"Let me be your fantasy," she finished in a sultry purr.

I suddenly snapped to, realizing that if I continued to just sit there drooling, I'd look like the world's biggest moron and ruin the moment. So I slowly stood up in front of her, regaining my swagger, and gave her a cocky smirk. "You sure you're up to the challenge, Matthews?" I rumbled in a gravely murmur. "The depravity of my fantasies knows no bounds."

She met my smirk with a sex-kitten smile, and wrapped her fingers around my tie. She slowly pulled my head down so that her lips were with level with my ear. "Do your dirtiest. I dare you," she whispered back.

I closed my eyes, and inhaled sharply, straightening back up abruptly to meet her searing hot gaze. I nodded emphatically, working my jaw like a thoroughbred chopping at the bit to be released from the chute at the Kentucky Derby. "Then, let's go," I said, my tone firm and expectant. I pull her by the hand, leading her down to the shop, my insides burning with the thought that I was letting Vanessa into my world tonight, and there was no going back now.

XxXxXxXxXx

I'd left the mansion that evening, as Tony had instructed, but I didn't go directly home. I don't have to tell you that the shock that he'd actually agreed to go on a date with her made me feel sick, so I decided to go for a drive to try to clear my head. After a while, I'd stopped at a little bistro to pick up something light for dinner, as my appetite was virtually non-existent at the moment, and then I'd gone to a park to eat it, and get some fresh air. It provided some nice respite for a few hours. But then, when the sun had begun to set, and I got back into my car to go home, the pit in my stomach that had made itself known from the first moment I'd met Miss Vanessa Matthews reminded me of its existence with that familiar dull ache once again. I reached for some antacids in my purse, finding the flip-cap bottle and dumping a few into my mouth, chewing them bitterly. "Damn her and her perfect breasts, and her perfect little English accent, with her perfectly tanned long legs, and that ridiculous mop of...long, wavy blond..." I grumbled. And then I stopped myself, as I realized that I was making myself feel worse by inadvertently pointing out her strong suits. She was a blond bombshell, what could I say? It wasn't any wonder why Tony had fallen for her so easily. She was just his type. And, once again, I was hit in the face with the fact that I wasn't.

I don't consider myself inferior, don't get me wrong. I had turned many a head in my lifetime. But the difference was I was natural. And natural wasn't what Tony had ever truly expressed interest in. I had determined long ago that I lacked a significant amount of silicone implants, collagen injections, and false eyelashes to make it into his book. So, I'd instead played the indifference card time and again, batting away his volleys of sexual innuendo like I was batting away some kind of annoying flying insect.

But, in all of this volleying and swatting, nothing had changed what I knew I felt for him, deep down, in the core of my soul. I loved him. More than I had ever loved anyone ever in my entire life. I even loved all of his flaws and short-comings, as heartbreaking as they were to watch, and to occasionally be the victim of, time and again. Underneath all of that cocky, larger-than-life bravado was a hurting, fragile man, struggling to make sense of the world that had so often kicked him in the teeth. I knew he wanted to be a good person, and, in private, he was. But, to protect himself, he gave the world what they expected of him- the playboy billionaire jackass whose mission in life was seemingly to lavishly spend his money, party with the best and the worst of the other beautiful people alike, and to try to find satisfaction in the arms of any random one-night-stand who would have him. And he'd do this until it killed him, I was convinced. That was the most heartbreaking thing of all. That I had to just watch him do this to himself, in silence.

I pulled into my condo's parking lot quite a while later, and turned off my engine. I took a deep breath, my stomach only partly settled from the antacids. I grabbed the handle of my laptop case that was sitting in the seat next to me, but I didn't move. I still couldn't get everything that had happened out of my mind. The shock that he'd gone on a date with Vanessa tonight cut me to core every time I thought about it. She was sinking her claws into him, and I could do nothing to stop it.

Out of cruelty, my mind imagined them at dinner, her tinkling, wood sprite-like laugh making him smile as she laughed at one of his many lame jokes. I imagined her flipping her golden locks over her shoulder and smirking at him flirtatiously. I bet she wore something low cut, because Tony had made it no secret that he appreciated her particular set of...endowments. I knew it was quite unlikely, but I prayed to the heavens that by some miracle, their dinner date would end with dinner, and not anything else. However, I knew I had to brace myself for having to discover the worst in the morning. It was unavoidable.

With that, I mustered up my resolve, and shoved my car door open. I decided I'd devoted enough mental real estate to that man for one day, and there was no sense in continuing to torture myself with thoughts of him until I absolutely had to face whatever there was to face the next day. It was time for me to take care of me, now. A hot bubble bath, a glass of wine, and a good night's sleep was definitely the remedy for my broken heart tonight, and I wasted no more time walking inside and shutting myself away from the world for a while.