by Claire Adams
“Well, Alfie, he’s not, but I loved him like he was my own brother. I’ll fill his place today, and hopefully we can figure this out together.”
I nodded. He was right. He wasn’t my dad, but he was a damn close second.
Chapter Eighteen
Molly
The smell of garlic and melted butter filled the entire kitchen. I inhaled the delicious fragrance as I finished peeling the last of the shrimp in the sink. Car lights filled the kitchen briefly as Alfie parked in front of the garage. I leaned over the kitchen sink to watch him slam his car door shut, his mood obviously sour as I had felt creeping in throughout the past few days.
I glanced over at the dining room table that I had set up with a nice garden salad and garlic bread. All I had left to do now was sauté the shrimp to put over the freshly boiled pasta. Nerves raced through me when the front door opened.
It was my last night in England, and while I didn’t want to be emotional, tears still burned my eyes and blurred my vision. Even if my wedding had been called off, I still found myself enjoying the remaining weeks in Alfie’s company.
The only problem was that I couldn’t interpret his strange moods either. Neither one of us ever directly discussed what we wanted from each other. I was never the type of woman to stress labels when it came to relationships, but I had a gut feeling that Alfie’s torn demeanor had something to do with the passion building between us. He looked at me with a mixture of fervor and passion before going cool and distant.
I took a gulp of wine to ease my nerves right as Alfie walked in through the kitchen door with a curious frown. His eyes swept across the dining room table to where I stood in front of the kitchen sink with a pile of uncooked shrimp on a cutting board. A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips, but I could see something there that was too fleeting for me to interpret.
“What are you doing?” Alfie asked and breathed in deeply.
“Cooking you dinner,” I said, and reached for the bottle of wine on the counter. I waved it questioningly at him. “I thought I could return the offer since you’ve let me stay here for free. I never really made you a real meal besides getting food around Devon. You’ve had all of that before. I figured I’d make you something homemade. A proper meal, if you will.”
He smiled and walked toward me, his presence causing my heart to swell. Fuck me. I was falling in love with him.
“It smells good, and I’m starving if I’m being honest. I forgot to eat lunch today with all the drama going on at the office.” He moved up beside me and touched the small of my back as he gazed down into the pan of butter. “I never can get this dish right. I always overcook the shrimp.”
“It takes a little bit of practice, but just relax tonight. I got this.” I gave him a cheeky grin, loving how quickly his mood seemed to settle just by being home. Or maybe it was because I was there? I didn’t know, but part of me wanted to pretend it was the latter for sure.
“Sounds good to me.” He nodded and slipped out of his jacket to drape it across the back of a chair. I poured him a hefty glass of wine while I watched him loosen his tie with a weary sigh.
“Thank you,” he said, accepting the glass with a relieved smile. “I didn’t realize you liked to cook, and you must really like it. Shrimp scampi has to be one of the hardest dishes ever.”
“It is a bit tricky, but it’s one of the dishes my grandmother taught me to cook. She always told me that it was the best dating dish I could make,” I admitted with a nervous laugh.
“Dating dishes?” He took a long drink from his wine and smiled.
“Yeah. You know…if you wanted to impress someone who you were dating, you make this dish.” I shrugged and realized how badly the conversation was headed in a direction that neither of us wanted it to go. Shit. “I made it tonight because I know it well, and I thought you might like it.”
Alfie took a seat at one of the kitchen bar stools with a sigh. “I’ll hold my critiques until the end then.” He gave me a warm smile that let me know he wasn’t going to have a complaint. He was just happy to have dinner waiting on him. It would have been almost too easy to just stay in Europe and continue to play house with him.
“That might be wise, mister.” I wagged my eyebrows and turned back to the stove.
“What did you do today for your last day in London?” I could hear the weariness in his voice. Was entertaining me taking it out of him, or was it simply work related? Was he like this all of the time? Bone-tired?
“I went to town to look around,” I said. A pang of sadness went through me. “I just went around trying to remember everything.”
“I see.” His voice was no more than a whisper. “Well, I do believe that your day might have been better than mine. I showed my ass about ten times and finally left. I just got so pissed thanks to this marketing issue.”
“You know that I could help with that, Alfie.” I glanced over my shoulder before turning back and dumping the shrimp into the pan. I coated them in the butter as we sat in silence and waited until they were a nice pink to plate them. I turned and carried the plate to the table as he eyed me.
“I know. I just don’t want to burden you, Mol. You’re leaving tomorrow, and you have plenty to worry about. Let’s talk about something else. My company has been around forever, and the same people who worked out the last brilliant launch will figure this one out too.” He ran his fingers through his dark hair. “I just pray they do it before I kill them all.”
I chuckled and reached for his plate, dishing up a little bit of everything before doing the same for myself and sitting down. I let out a content sigh and picked up my fork. “Bon appétit!”
“Yes.” He breathed in deeply and set his wine down. “This smells so damn good. Knowing you made it has me a little turned on, if I’m being honest.”
“Only a little?” I laughed and took a bite. The warm goodness of the butter filled my mouth, and I let out a soft moan.
His eyebrow lifted as he held his fork in midair. “Okay, a few more of those sweet moans, and it’ll be a lot.”
“I might let a few out just to tease you.” I spun my fork around and lifted it again as he closed his eyes and let out a moan of his own. The sound of it rushed across my skin and left me struggling to breathe. The man was everything I wanted in my bed and my life.
“So, tell me about you looking for a new job in New York.” He set his fork down and wiped his mouth with the napkin from his lap. “Are you hoping to go back to the same job, or try for something new?”
“I’m not sure.” I reached for my wine. “My old boss, Gary would probably be thrilled to see me come through the door, but it wouldn’t be to reinstate me as head of marketing for them. It would be to say, ‘I told you so.’ He was quite adamant that I was making a huge mistake chasing after an Englishman.” I gave him a cheeky smile.
He chuckled. “We are all a bit rubbish for sure.”
“I’m not sure I believe that anymore.” I took a sip of my wine and locked eyes with him. There was a neediness in his gaze that had my body on fire. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was the same desire echoed in my own eyes as he watched me ever so closely. “Anyway, he wouldn’t give me the position back. They’ve filled it for sure at this point.”
“So you’ll be looking for something new?”
“Yeah. I believe so.” I leaned back and nibbled on a piece of garlic bread.
“Have you thought about going into consulting instead of signing up to work with a big firm? It might present a better opportunity to you. It would allow you to do what you love doing, but give you some freedom to travel and set your own schedule.” He licked at his lips subtly. “I’d do it for sure if I didn’t own this big company.”
“I like the sound of that, though it does present a bit of uncertainty in my life. I’m thinking stability sounds better.” I smiled as he nodded.
“I get that too.” He leaned back and picked up his wine glass. “I have to say that this is, by far, the best shrim
p scampi that I’d ever had. You, my dear, are a world class chef. Maybe you should look at a second career instead of going back to the one you left.”
Heat raced up my neck and coated my cheeks. “Well, thank you very much, but chefs work nonstop. I’m not interested in that lifestyle either.”
“Then something in the middle, perhaps?” He stood and stretched, his bowl clean and plate empty.
“Yeah, like my old job.” I chuckled and got up as he started to clear the dishes from the table. “I am looking forward to seeing Peyton. We were pretty inseparable before I left to come over here. It’s weird having someone in your life every day and then not seeing them.”
“I understand that.” He moved to the sink and turned it on before rolling his sleeves up. Something about watching a billionaire wash dishes sat funny on me, but Alfie wasn’t pretentious at all. Or maybe, like me, he was just looking for something to keep him busy. It would be better than staring at each other and thinking about the fact that it was our last night together. “I told you about my friend, Logan. Our relationship sounds like yours and Peyton’s.”
“He’s in New York?” I scrapped some of the dishes and moved over beside him. I took a chance and pressed a kiss to the side of his shoulder, glancing up as he looked down at me.
“Yeah, he is.” He smiled. “Did I do something to deserve a kiss? I do believe you’re the one who cooked dinner.”
“I don’t believe in having to earn kisses.” I reached up and rubbed his chest. “I know we’re avoiding the subject of us, and I’m good with it, but I need you to know that I’m going to miss you so much.”
“Are we avoiding it?” He turned off the water and turned to face me, pulling me flush against him. His hands felt so fucking good gripping the top of my ass. “I think we should talk about it. There’s nothing I want to hide from you about how I feel.”
“No? Maybe I’m the one who wants to hide.” I pulled him down for a long, hot kiss. My insides melted, and I knew I was making a mistake in going back to the States. Happiness was in this relationship, and I was running away from one of the best ones I might ever have.
The doorbell rang, surprising us both. I moved back as he held up a finger.
“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” He winked and turned, walking into the foyer. I poked my head through the door to see an older man in a business suit. Someone he worked with?
Alfie welcomed the man and glanced over to me. “I’ll be a little while. Leave the dishes for the maid. Seriously.”
I nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, cleaning it as I thought through the marketing issue Alfie was dealing with. Where I didn’t know the exact details, I’d heard bits and pieces enough to think that I might have a solution.
After piddling for a while, I went upstairs and took a hot bath, imagining how good it was going to feel to have him pin me to the bed. Surely he was going to make love to me on our last planned night together.
I crawled into bed, my body hot and wet at the images racing through my head. The covers were chilled, and the room cold. Before too long, my eyelids fluttered closed, and my lusty needs were taken care of in my dreams.
Chapter Nineteen
Alfie
As much as I wanted to make love to Molly for our last night together, it didn’t happen. Bill showed up at the house just after dinner, and we spent a long time that night, talking through things. I still wasn’t happy with the marketing set, but we’d agreed to both take a breather from it and come back fresh.
It was Molly straddling my hips the next morning that woke me instead of the alarm. I had set my phone to get us up in time to get to the airport in London, but it obviously wasn’t needed. I couldn’t help the grin on my face as I blinked away sleep from my eyes to focus up at Molly.
“You’re a much better alarm clock,” I said, rubbing the top of her bare thighs. I could feel the heat of her pressing up against me intimately. “How much time do we have?”
“Maybe a few minutes before your phone goes off,” Molly replied, a smile still tugging at her lips. “Plenty of time for a little bit of fun.”
I laughed when she wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.
“Maybe,” I said, and reluctantly calmed myself at the prospect of one last time with Molly. “We should get showered and ready to go though. It’s not going to be a good thing if we keep the pilot waiting for our flight to New York.”
Molly pouted down at me. “Eight hours of flying back to the States doesn’t sound as pleasant as staying in this bed with you.”
I gritted my teeth when she ground down against me with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. This was a side of Molly that I was starting to really crave—the lighthearted, but seductive and sassy bedroom behavior. I’d have given just about anything to turn her over and press her to the bed aggressively, but it would cause us to be late. My plane was being used by some other high-level executives later that day to get back from New York. I was responsible if nothing else.
Almost to a fault.
“While I agree with you, I do have a meeting to attend to. It might be hard to explain to my co-workers in the city why I missed my flight.”
“It’d make a hilarious story,” Molly said and rolled her sweet hips, grinding her softness down the thick length of my cock. “You’re right though. I have to go see my boss after we get to the city.”
She started to rise from my waist, but I grasped her hips before she could rise all the way. I stared up at Molly while an array of emotions went through me. I had no idea what to expect once we said goodbye in the airport at New York City. All I knew was that Molly planned to see Peyton as soon as we landed while I planned on visiting Logan before my meeting.
I owed Molly for her marketing strategy, but it was hard to read what she exactly wanted for me. She kept her emotions and thoughts well-guarded at all times despite her light-hearted nature.
“What is it?” Molly asked, a puzzled frown on her face. “Is everything okay?”
I nodded as I let go of her thighs. “Everything’s fine. I was just thinking about something is all.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“Just my schedule in New York is all,” I said as Molly reluctantly crawled off of me. I caught sight of a glimmer of nervousness in her eyes before she turned to slide off the bed in the opposite direction. “What are you planning to do besides seeing Peyton and going back to work?”
“I suppose I better find a place to stay,” Molly said, rising from the bed with a sigh. “Not that I want to do that, but that’s unfortunately high on the priority list. Peyton is open to letting me stay with her as long as I need to, but you know how hard roommates are.”
I chuckled. “You and I have done pretty well, I think.”
“I agree.” She stood and walked to the bathroom, pulling off her t-shirt and shaking her pretty ass seductively. “You know… We could wash each other’s backs in the shower.”
“You’re going to be the death of me. Get done, and let’s get going. We’ll find time while I’m still in New York to get together. I need at least one more night before you walk out of my life.” I sat up and hated the sadness that tainted her expression.
She nodded and closed the door behind her, leaving me hard and aching in the bed. I should have just moved the fucking flight.
*
“So, is this your private plane or the company’s?” Molly glanced over her shoulder to find me checking out her ass, no doubt. The stairs to the plane had her in the perfect position for me to get eye level with it.
I swallowed hard and gave her a sexy smirk. “You look so damn good in these jeans. Did you know that?”
“Stop it.” She blushed and hurried into the plane.
“It’s the company’s, but I’m the majority shareholder at this point.” I moved in behind her and sat down in the big leather seat beside her. “
“Well, I honestly love it.” She gave me a big grin, and I could almost sense the
merriment coming off of her. I’d almost forgotten what it must be like for someone else who didn’t have wealth hanging all around them from the time of birth. Her excitement actually excited me a little. I’d started to take things for granted, but having her there to truly enjoy the beauty of what life could offer was exhilarating and yet humbling all at the same moment.
It would have been so damn easy to reach out and pull her close to me. To tell her that I loved her even though it was too damn early to be falling for each other. Making love changed that. So did both of us giving deeply to each other outside of the bedroom. Her cleaning up and cooking dinner, as well as offering me marketing advice here and there.
I knew she was grateful for me sharing my home and my body, as well as putting Harry’s sorry ass in his place several times. It was a beautiful relationship in the making, and here we both were, headed into the unknown together without a plan to solidify ‘us.’
It was sickening.
“All right folks,” the pilot spoke over the intercom above us, and Molly yelped. I laughed and reached out to take her hand. “It’s going to be an 8-hour flight today. Please let us know if you need anything.”
The flight attendant walked up and smiled. “Can I get either of you something to drink?”
I turned my attention to Molly. “You want something?”
“Sure. Bourbon and Coke.” She leaned back in her seat and let out a soft sigh. I had a hard time taking my eyes off of her. Should have made love to her while I had the chance. Fuck.
“And for you, sir?” The attendant smiled down at me.
“I’ll have a glass of red wine. Thank you.” I leaned back, reclining my chair a little.
“I really hate flying.” Molly reached out and took my hand as the door to the plane closed, and it started to move backward.
“Well, don’t. This plane is made for high class, and the pilots are the best in the world. Just lay back and relax. We’ll be there before we know it.”