Taboo: Ties and Sins
"No, ma'am. It's already paid for. Have a good day."
The courier left, leaving her in the doorway with the two packages. She brought them inside, closing the door with her foot. She placed them on the coffee table in the living room, in front of the white sofa.
First, the bouquet. It looked like no arrangement she had ever seen. There were no roses, lilies, or obvious flowers. It was a selection of exotic, almost fierce blooms. Blood-red anthuriums with a lacquered surface and phallic shapes; huge, architectural proteas that looked more like prehistoric creatures than flowers; and thorns. Real thorns, black and sharp, intertwined among the dark petals and foliage. It was a dangerous bouquet,