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That’s how Verity and I end up art directing and co-ordinating the whole shoot.

Verity’s been on so many shoots she knows exactly what to do, but the hardest part for me is being convincing with Sebastian, pretending I’m in love with him, when the cameras flash.

Every time the camera is off us my smile falters.

I’m just praying for this day to be over. But then, on a break, I check my phone.

Don’t forget, limo comes for you at 6. Photo-op at Giovanni’s. F x

Fuck! I had forgotten. This was something I’d set up as well.

I’ve known the owners of Giovanni’s, my favourite Italian restaurant, for years.

I figured if I was going to have to fake this relationship for column inches I could, at the very least, help out a few of my friends along the way.

I knew that if I was papped with Sebastian at Giovanni’s, that could promote his business.

If it wasn’t for Gio, and the dreamy look in his eye when he speaks wistfully of his retirement and how hard he’s worked all his life, I would definitely sack the whole thing off.

But Gio’s been kind to me since I was a kid, he deserves to make as much money as he possibly can before he goes off to live his beachside hut dream.

I can do this. The shoot rounds off around 4p.m., and Verity and I give each other a victory hug as Sebastian buggers off with the art director for a pint down the road.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you sooner,” Verity says.

“I clocked what was happening straight away and went hunting for Tom, for back-up. That lazy stylist had already packed her cases, so he was my only option and there he was, useless sod, getting stoned! Still,” she pulls me in for a hug.

“You should be so proud of what we achieved today – it’s going to look incredible in print.

” She massages the knots in her shoulder.

“I’m going to have the best night tonight when I get home!

Glass of wine, deep bath, pop on a Real Housewives … bliss.”

“You deserve it. You truly had my back,” I say. “I should have stood up to him sooner, I just hate not looking professional.”

“Something that dickhead clearly never worries about. Now, here, you’re tired, the studio is booked til six, have a nap and chill for a bit. You should recharge your batteries before tonight.”

“I’m so tired!” I smile, as she tucks a blanket she found under my chin.

“I’m sure it’s very tiring pretending to shag that fine specimen of a man,” Verity says.

“Don’t forget his personality,” I mutter, my eyes already closing.

“You’re right, you savour that rest. You deserve an Oscar.”

With that, she’s gone, and I drift into the deepest of naps.

When I come to, with creases from the sofa cushions all over my face, I feel Sebastian gently shaking me awake while whispering my name.

“Angelica, the limo’s outside, come on, gorgeous, it’ll only be a few hours.

” He’s back to nice Sebastian again but I am not falling for it.

“Where were you when that pervy photographer was being creepy earlier. Does all that crawling around on all fours do it for you? It’s the only explanation I can come up with as to why you were so far up his ass.”

“I’m sorry you felt that way, I thought we were all just kidding around,” he says.

“Everyone knows ‘sorry you felt that way’ is a shitty apology,” I say, standing up and pulling my dress down. I catch sight of myself in the mirror, not bad actually. That setting spray Verity uses must be like super glue.

Waiting for us outside the studio is the biggest limo I’ve ever seen.

I told Giovanni that I’d transform the photo op into every little girl’s dream of the perfect date: limo, flowers, shoes I can’t walk more than two metres in.

I even requested the company send their hottest driver and they delivered, a guy called Ravi with the cheekiest grin.

He opens the door for me, and I step inside.

“It’s like a flat in here!” I say, looking up at the ceiling, which is covered in twinkling fairy-lights.

There’s enough floor space to move around, there’s even a strippers’ pole in the centre.

Plus, a giant cooler full of drinks. It’s not even that long a journey so even though I don’t want to spend even one more second with Sebastian, I ask Ravi if he can stretch out the journey, just so I can get stuck into the drinks.

I may as well enjoy some of tonight, even if the company is dreadful.

At first, we don’t speak at all. What’s the point if he’s just going to say it was all a joke?

Sebastian might not know me but anyone who does, knows that’s my sore spot, that I value being funny – you’ve got to laugh to survive this harsh world.

But, eventually, the silence becomes unbearable and I have to say something.

“You were a real prick back there, you know that?” I start, before launching into a tirade about how he only cares what a certain type of man thinks, how he should have had my back in there and that if it were the other way round and he was a woman forced to crawl around a photo studio on his knees I’d have called it out.

“Do you think it’s fair, all of this?” I’m demanding. “Do you? Do you?”

“No, no I don’t,” he’s saying, in a pathetic whimper.

It’s then that I notice something: he has a hard on again.

Of course. This is his kink. What do I do?

Do I carry on, knowing that he’s getting off on this?

Or just return to the stony silence? The partition between us and Ravi is firmly closed, he’d told us that he can’t hear a thing, so if we need him we’re just to press a button.

In a split-second decision, I decide that I’m enjoying this too. I have total freedom to let loose.

“You’re just like so many men, thinking you’re all macho and powerful when underneath it all, you’re just spineless, aren’t you?”

He nods. I’ve never done anything like this before but he’s smiling.

“Look me in the eye while you address me!”

Oooh this is fun. He looks at me. He’s got this glazed, grateful but sorry look in his eyes. I carry on.

“You think that you’ve got what it takes to impress a woman, don’t you?”

“I do,” he says.

I laugh. Louder than I usually would, seeing his erection growing. “You don’t, you think that’s going to impress me? I’ve had so, so much bigger.”

I have absolutely no idea if I’m doing this right.

After all, I know this is what he’s into and I am aware of the shift, from me just naturally telling him off, to becoming this character.

His mistress. The boss. We probably should have set a safe word or something, or I should have got more guidance on what he likes and doesn’t like.

I may not respect Sebastian but, at the same time, I don’t want to hurt him.

I’m just enjoying this release. For so long, so many men have held power over me.

They’ve told me to jump and I’ve asked how high.

I’ve seen myself as weaker, as not hot enough…

I’ve felt as if I need their attention in order to feel good about myself.

As I sit here, in my stiletto heels, a man hanging off my every word in the seat beside me, I realise I have never needed them.

I’ve always been hot and funny and enough, I just needed to see it myself.

Still, for one second, I break out of it, give Sebastian a tiny nod, and he nods back, he’s OK.

Plus, I can still see from his pants that he’s enjoying this. A lot.

I decide to take it further. “Get on your knees.” There’s plenty of space in the limo, so Sebastian does as I say.

It’s at this point I realise that this isn’t just turning him on, I’m aroused too.

At first, it was just fun, a little like when I do boxercise and release all the pent-up aggression.

But, as I look at him on the floor, I realise how sexy it is to feel this wanted, this worshipped. He will do anything I say.

“You want me, don’t you?”

He nods.

“Look at me.”

He looks up.

I open my legs. “Kiss my feet,” I instruct.

He does as I say, slowly kissing from my ankles all the way up my thighs, until I’m desperate for him to take it further and put his tongue where it counts.

The soft vibration of the car moving through traffic, knowing there’s people outside of these blacked-out windows that we can’t see, that have no idea what’s going on, makes the whole thing so much hotter.

“Now…Lick it.”

He does as I say and I feel the tingling all over, he really knows what he’s doing.

Damon barely ever went down on me – wait, why am I thinking about Damon in this moment?

Concentrate Angelica! So I do, and even while knowing that Ravi could hear, that actually I have no idea how soundproof the doors are and if the people walking by on the street can hear, I find I am gasping, moaning and yelling.

Finally, fireworks! And Sebastian looks up at me, a devilish grin on his face.

I pull him up to face me, I can feel his hard cock pressing against my thigh and I’m desperate to feel him inside of me but it’s then that the car stops, and we hear Ravi’s voice over the speaker.

“Giovanni’s, we’re here.”

Sebastian and I look at each other and laugh, we begin to vaguely sort ourselves out so that we look presentable for the paps that I know are waiting just beyond the limo door. Still, emerging from the vehicle looking freshly shagged can’t be a bad thing, can it?

* * *