Lunch: A Novel of Erotic Obsession

Nick Muncie, superstar, is bored. As he lunches in a trendy restaurant in London, accompanied by his shadowy bodyguard known only as M, his eyes alight on the woman at the next table, artist Olivia Morgan. She rebuffs him. To Nick, accustomed to the pleasures the power of his fame and potent sexual charisma assure him, it is an extraordinary rejection. And so, with M's complicity, a cunning pursuit is devised: . Nick commissions a portrait, and during the emotionally charged sittings in Olivia's studio the seductive games begin. Talented and self-possessed, Olivia has wrongly thought herself impervious to the flattering attentions of a man like Nick. Intrigued by Nick's power to give pleasure and easily deny it, Olivia is drawn to him against her will, but the intoxicating fantasies of their lunchtime trysts too quickly evolve into a destructive cycle of passionate sex and submission. In the heat of their relationship, the balance of power shifts. Olivia finds herself physically enthralled as she is emotionally appalled at her surrender, while Nick is slowly consumed by his own desire. For both Nick and Olivia, as well as the silently watching M, lunch releases dangerous appetites.