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I first met Max at a flashy chocolate-tasting party, held at my friend Plum’s house. Plum is the kind of socialite who always has to over-do everything, but this habit of hers does make for decadent and memorable nights. As well as inviting a professional chocolatier to host the evening, Plum had upped the glamour quotient by giving the party a Roaring Twenties theme. It wasn’t quite historically accurate, but heck, mixing chocolate luxuries and flapper outfits was fine in my book.

As for my outfit, my creamy colouring looked great in black and I figured nobody would care if my twenties dress wasn’t quite as loose and flappy as the genuine versions were. I didn’t want to hide my killer curves, after all. I was recently single and very ready to have some fun with Plum’s upper-crust set. I usually like a working-class man, rough and ready with his hands, but a little amuse-bouche would have been fine that night, I remembered thinking.

Dressing up was a lark. I loved any excuse to put on an outfit and embody a character; having a role to hide behind made me bolder and more likely to take a risk. Like the one I’d eventually taken that day to flirtatiously seduce Max, the innocent chocolatier, who had probably only been expecting to be dipping his fingers in liquid chocolate that evening…

I’d arrived fashionably late to the party of course, and made a grand entrance as Max was finishing up his introduction to the origin of chocolate in a strong French accent. I tried not to make too much of a kerfuffle as I divested myself of my furs, just as he was setting up his first demo of truffle-making. Catching my eye, Max had asked for a volunteer before I’d even sat down—it just seemed serendipitous to go and join him on the ‘stage’ in Plum’s large parlour.

“Put me to work, Chef,” I said to him with a wink. I took a tiny curtsy as my already-tipsy friends around the room cackled at my flirtatious tone. As Max described the truffle ingredients to the crowd, I took a moment to drink him in; he was a chiselled hunk of man, his soft dark hair contrasted with his icy blue eyes and drew me in. I even let my gaze drift down to check out his pert butt. Perfect.