Lucien stroked the tender skin at the back of her knee.

"It's my pleasure. And yours too, if I’m not mistaken."

She sipped her chocolate, the brandy in it strong and fortifying.

"I've never known pleasure like this."

"Good." He nodded. "As it should be." His eyes didn't meet hers as he massaged her knee absently, and for a few quiet minutes he seemed a world away. "Drink up. There's something you should see."

Sophie stood on the deck overlooking the fjord, her head tipped back to the skies in wonder. Wrapped in the fur blanket to protect her from the cold air, the only thing she noticed was the astral majesty overhead.

The dark night sky was alive with magical streaks of colour. Ethereal white wisps sprinkled with pink glitter swirled around luminous green ghost dancers, great streaks of light that bubbled and rolled as if being stirred from above by an invisible witch. It was easily the most stunning thing Sophie had ever seen.

"Wow," she whispered. It was inadequate, but the sight left her almost speechless. "Wow."

"Pretty special, huh?"

Sophie wanted to answer him, but found she couldn't. Standing there beneath nature's glorious slideshow, words failed her. This world was so far from her own, a bigger, better place where unfaithful husbands and broken marriages didn't matter. These vast, rolling skies reached out and touched her heart, performing their graceful dance just for her. She didn't realise that there were tears on her face until she tasted salt on her lips. Finally, she turned to Lucien behind her.

"Is it always like this?"

He shook his head. "This is quite early in the year for us. The nights are drawing in fast here now, we only see the Aurora in the colder months."

Sophie looked up again, eager to see more, then looked back down as a whirring noise started up behind her. The previously still waters of the jacuzzi had fizzed into life, the warm, steaming bubbles lit by underwater illuminations reminiscent of the skies above. Lucien stood beside it, a bottle of champagne and two glasses in his spread hands.

It was an invitation that no woman could refuse. A beautiful man, and a warm jacuzzi beneath skies painted with an ever-changing palette by Mother Nature’s paintbrush. Already bathed in a heady sense of liberation, Sophie let the fur blanket fall to the floor and walked across the deck towards him.

Lucien watched Sophie cross towards him, naked and free, perfectly framed by the mountains and the neon-flashed skies behind her. She reminded him of a mystical nymph, as if she'd just walked out of the waters of the fjord and onto his deck. A living fantasy.

She had no inkling of how glorious she was - and how much more so now that she had shaken off the grey shroud of unhappiness that she'd worn around her shoulders like an invisible cloak the first time she'd walked into his office.

He had her for one more day, and he was going to make every second count.

Sophie sank into the heavenly bubbles as Lucien stripped off his jeans. He looked so perfectly at home in the nude, it was his default setting. She settled onto the dipped seat beneath the water, reminded again of the butt plug’s presence as it moved a little deeper inside her. She fidgeted, enjoying the dark new sensation of fullness, the way it pressed against the back of her vagina. It was no-hands foreplay, made all the more sexy by the fact that the look in Lucien’s perceptive eyes told her that he knew exactly what she was feeling. As the tingle of sexual excitement began again, Sophie marvelled at how her body continually craved more of this man. He made her insatiable.

“So, tell me. What do you think of the acorn?”

His fingers slid lightly over the back of Sophie’s neck as he settled into the warmth of the water alongside her.

Sophie wriggled in her seat, hyper-aware of his touch and the warm jets of water bubbling underneath her. When she moved, it sprayed directly between her thighs, and she couldn’t help but spread her legs a little. It felt so damn good, like a secret, intimate massage. She moved again and the water pummelled her clitoris. Lucien licked her ear, his fingers playing idly with her stiff nipples.

His open mouth slid down her neck. “Just let it happen.”

Sophie closed her eyes as Lucien stretched behind her and powered up the intensity of the jets. Jesus. The anticipation of her climax tightened her body. She dropped her head back on Lucien’s arm, enjoying his hands over her breasts as she built towards the release only an orgasm could give her.

She rocked her body in the seat, restlessly searching for enough intensity to push her over the edge. The butt plug moved inside her, a sexy fullness that was all the more delicious for still being unfamiliar.

Lucien met her gaze and held it, then ran his tongue over his slightly parted lips. It was all it took. Sophie moaned softly as she came hard and fast, ecstasy all the more intense for sharing it eye to eye with Lucien. He moved in close and kissed her, slow and open mouthed as her body softened from taut to relaxed in his arms.

Sophie closed her eyes and surrendered to the sensations. The ripples and bubbles of the warm water. The stroke of Lucien’s tongue in her mouth, and the rhythmic pressure of his thumb, back and forth over her ribcage. The feeling of her hammering heart slowing in her chest as her body settled against his. The kaleidoscope skies that would be there when she opened her eyes and looked up. It was a fairy tale, albeit a very grown up one. A fantasy, maybe. Not real life, anyway. Sophie couldn’t imagine how her old life could possibly still be waiting for her in the UK, a comfortable pair of slippers compared to the sexy stiletto lifestyle she’d led at Lucien’s side this past week.

Much as she didn’t want them to, the bony fingers of reality poked at her, sharp digs that made her sigh heavily. She opened her eyes and found him watching her.

“What am I doing here, Lucien? I don’t recognise my own life any more.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Sophie twisted her damp hair into a rope over one shoulder. “This week has been…” She cast around for the words to sum up what a cataclysmic shift the past week had been for her. “It’s been amazing, but I have to go home and face reality on Sunday.”

Lucien twirled the coil of her hair around his own hand.

“You do. But at least you know that there are other options now.”

“Are there, really?” She searched his open expression for answers. “How can I carry on working for you after this?” She gazed around at the celestial beauty overhead, and the shadowy mountain ranges. “This is your world, Lucien. It’s real to you. For me, it’s a one week fantasy.”