by Claire Adams
I turned the hot water off with a sigh before stepping out of the shower to enter the bedroom suite. I dressed quickly when I glanced at the clock on the bedside table. A text message alert on my phone buzzed. Heart sinking, I picked it up to read Molly’s quick and positive message: Good luck with the meeting today. Let me know how it goes! I can’t wait to see you later.
Prick. That’s all I could think as I tucked my phone into the front pocket of my shirt without bothering with a reply. I was a selfish prick for taking Molly’s marketing idea to the investors, but she hadn’t asked for credit. She was well aware of how complicated these types of matters were, but it didn’t ease up the guilt in my stomach. She had lost her job and gave up her apartment in the city for Harry. I knew, even if she didn’t mention it, that she needed a foot in the door again for her career.
I’d spent the night in the city at a fancy ass hotel just to be near downtown the next morning. It wasn’t as cozy as staying at Logan’s place, but I made due for the night.
I took the elevator down to the hotel lobby after I texted my driver to meet me out front in five minutes while I got coffee from the hotel’s tiny coffee shop. Cradling a cup, I stepped outside to greet the warm and busy morning as people streamed by me in their down directions of work. My driver pulled up in an SUV a minute later, and I hopped in the back passenger seat while I mentally ran the marketing idea over again.
The investors were already waiting in the conference room when I arrived twenty minutes later. It was tempting then to text Molly, to go over the idea one last time in her words, but I forced that thought away. This was my business. I needed to do something to protect it there in the States.
“Alfie. Good to see you.” One of the other gentlemen stood, the ring leader of the pack.
“You as well, Richard. Thanks to all of you for coming by.” I extended my hand and shook all of theirs, taking the time to look them each in the face. They needed to know that they could trust me, and they could.
My father had started our company when I was a baby, and I’d done everything in my power to not only maintain the name of it but to grow it into a developing, forward-thinking corporation. My father would have been proud. Hell, I was proud.
“Of course.” Douglas shook my hand last. “We want to make sure that you’re prepared to launch this next product as well as you launched the last.”
“I’m only as good as my last miracle, hm?” I chuckled, and they joined me. After walking to the front, I took a few seconds to set everything up and then launched into the marketing presentation without missing a beat. I was in my element, and I had full confidence in Molly’s idea. It was brilliant, as was she.
By the end, a room full of grey heads were bobbing back and forth in agreement. I got a quick round of applause as I wrapped up questions on the plan and bid the guys goodbye. Douglas Marx met me at the door.
“Excellent job.” He smiled broadly and shook my hand. “I have to say that it is exceedingly rare to find an innovative entrepreneurial type that can also sell the hell out of something, but you seem to be doing it.”
Guilt raced through me. Where I understood marketing, it wasn’t at all my strong suit. The marketing idea hadn’t belonged to me, and though I owned it during the presentation, the truth sat on the tip of my tongue. It was Molly.
It’s not that I wanted credit for the plan. I didn’t. I just didn’t want to ruffle any features by talking about an outsider. It would have been different if it were Bill or one of his team members. That would have been an easy thing to deal with. I’d just have given them credit. Always.
“Thank you, sir. I do believe this next product is going to take the company to a new level. You should see some forward momentum by Friday this week.” I shook his hand once more before releasing it and walking out of the building. I reached up and tugged my tie loose as I let out a long sigh.
For such a great turn out and response to the plan…I sure felt like shit.
*
“So? How did it go?” Logan met me at the door as I walked in with a small suitcase in my hand.
“Good.” I nodded and walked down the hall to the bedroom to deposit the thing. “They love it. The product is being well received, and Molly’s marketing plan was a huge hit.”
“That’s great news, man. I know that has to remove some weight from your shoulders, right?” He stood behind me in the doorway, his hands up on either side of the door as he leaned in, stretching.
“Yeah, but I feel like shit about not giving Mol credit. I just couldn’t. Those guys are so sensitive about bringing in anyone that isn’t part of the company or the shareholder family. Talking about a product to anyone outside of that tight-knit group is a big no-no.” I let out a sigh and walked toward him.
He backed up. “Damn. I can understand that from both sides.”
“Right? I’m picking her up for dinner in an hour or so, and I feel like I should apologize the minute I see her.” I walked to the kitchen with him and took the beer he handed me as he moved to the fridge and pulled a few out.
“No, don’t do that.” He took a sip of his beer. “She’s not trying to get a job with you guys, right?”
“I don’t think so, though having her join me wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.” I shrugged. “It’s something I might bring up to her, but no. She’s applying to get her old position back, I do believe.”
“Then leave it alone. You didn’t do it for nefarious reasons. It’s all good.” He sat down at the table. “Come on. Take off a load.”
I walked over and dropped down, letting out a long sigh. “You’re right. I need to just let it go.”
“There you go, buddy. Finally listening to a wise man’s advice.”
I glanced around and smiled. “I don’t see a wise man. I see a wise ass. Same thing?”
He laughed and launched into telling me about his day. The next hour flew by with us shooting the shit, and I found myself rushing around like crazy, trying to get ready for my date with Molly, which I should have had plenty of time to do.
I waved at Logan and walked out of the house as my heart fluttered. Had I done wrong by her? It wouldn’t have mattered so much if I weren’t falling for her. I didn’t want anything to come between us just in case we had a real chance at something.
I must have gotten good and lost in my thoughts because I looked up a few minutes later, and I was sitting in front of Peyton’s townhouse. My phone had directed me the whole way, and luckily enough, the voice on it hadn’t been a cheeky bitch and landed me in the middle of the field.
It had happened many times before.
I got out of the car and jogged to the front door as all thoughts and worries dissipated. Nothing mattered but spending the evening with Molly.
“Hi, Alfie. Good to see you again.” Peyton opened the door and gave me a quick, formal hug before moving back. “Come on in. Molly is still getting ready.”
“Good to see you too.” I walked in and breathed in deeply. The scent of Molly’s perfume filled the place. “I hate that the last time we saw each other, we were running around Ashburton looking for Molly.”
“Right? Fucking Harry,” she mumbled and walked toward the kitchen. “Come on in here and talk to me. I’m making some brownies. She’ll be right down.”
“Nope. No sitting down. I’m ready.” Molly walked through the other opening in the kitchen, stealing my breath. Her dark hair was half down and half up, and the cream-colored sundress she wore accented her heavy breasts and thick hips.
My whole body locked up as the blood from every extremity raced to my cock. Fuck. She was everything I’d ever dreamt of having in my life. How could I tell her that I wanted her forever when we barely knew each other? She’d just been through hell too. There was no way around it. I was just going to have to win her over slowly.
“Wow,” I whispered and moved over to stand in front of her. The heat between us was almost too much as I glanced down at her. “Don’t you look beautiful?”
“You like it?” She turned around and giggled softly. “Peyton made me buy it for our date.”
I glanced over my shoulder as my heart tried to beat its way out of my chest. “Thank you, Peyton.”
She glanced up and laughed. “Don’t mention it. Now, get out of here. I don’t have a date, and I’m getting jealous already!”
I turned back to Molly and leaned down, brushing my lips against hers as I pulled her close. “Where are we going, love?”
“Let’s grab sandwiches and go to my favorite spot in all of New York.”
“Which is?” I lifted an eyebrow and smirked.
“I’m not telling you. You’ll just have to wait and find out.” She lifted to her toes and pulled me down for another kiss.
Peyton clearing her throat behind us had us chuckling and leaving.
“You kids have fun!” Peyton called out as she stood at the front door.
“We will.” Molly slipped her hand into mine. “I’ve missed you.”
“You’ve no idea, lass. You’ve no idea.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Molly
After stopping by my favorite deli, we made our way to the outskirts of downtown loaded with sandwiches, chips, sodas, and cookies for our evening meal. It felt so damn right being with him. I could have lived in a shack and eaten hotdogs for the rest of my days if it meant that the two of us would be together and we’d have the courage to confess our feelings for each other.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he felt the same as I did. Maybe he held back because of all I’d been through with Harry. Hell, all we’d both been through.
Or maybe he didn’t feel the same. It hadn’t been more than a few weeks. Maybe I was jumping to Alfie because I was in rebound mode. I’d done that a few times in my life and lived to regret those types of decisions. I tried to think through whether that was where I was as he pulled up to the address I’d typed into his phone.
“Now, where are we again?” he smiled over at me in the car.
“I’ll show you. Just grab the food, and let’s go. I think you’ll love it.”
“You lead, pretty woman. I’ll follow.” He got out of the car and took all of the bags, refusing me when I asked for one to carry. He was far too much of a gentleman, and I was one lucky girl.
The feeling of Alfie’s warm fingers threading around mine made my stomach flutter as I led him to the back-patio stairs. He followed behind me without question, not even phased by the fact that we were literally twenty-four floors above the ground as we climbed up the rickety, metal stairs to the balcony right before the roof.
I wasn’t disappointed in Alfie’s reaction when we reached the patio that jutted out from the building. He gazed out across the sparkling New York City skyline with the stars twinkling above us with an awe-struck expression. The warm wind nipped at our clothes as we stood on the balcony that overlooked the crowded streets.
“This is beautiful,” Alfie said. “How did you know about this place?”
“I used to come out here all the time when I was a college student,” I said, smiling. Wrapping an arm through his, we stepped closer to the balcony railing. “Whenever I needed to clear my head, this is where I would go to do it.”
“I don’t blame you. This would be the place to do it.”
He squeezed my hand that rested in the crook of his elbow tenderly. We took a seat at one of the metal tables near a window that was bolted shut.
After setting the food down, Alfie glanced at the dark window curiously. “What was in this building before? Do you know?”
“Business suites,” I said, and glanced at the window as well with a nostalgic pang. “It was where my old boss’ business used to be. When I worked with him as an intern while going to college, I found this place because all the smokers would crawl out that window to take a break.”
“Much better than taking the elevator I assume.” He winked at me.
I laughed. “Gary is anti-smoking. He tried to get every single of his employees to quit by making them go all the way downstairs to smoke. It was a little too much effort even for a much-needed high.”
“That’s a genius way to get someone to stop smoking,” Alfie said, chuckling.
He leaned back with a sigh, interlacing his fingers behind his head. A serene expression crossed his face for the first time I noticed since landing in New York City.
“All right, mister. Let’s eat.” I reached for the bag and unpacked everything as he watched me closely, the look on his face one I’d seen several times before. I couldn’t help but notice the thick outline of an erection in his slacks, and he was doing nothing to hide it.
“You look so good, Mol.” He reached up and ran his fingertips down my forearm as his eyes moved around my face. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since we got here. Does that make me a creeper?”
I laughed and finished setting everything out before sliding into his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned down close to his face. “Not at all. I know the feeling all too well.”
He slid his hand into my hair and gripped the strands softly as he pulled me down to kiss me. The press of his wet lips against mine had my heart fluttering in my chest. I moaned, and he tilted his head, deepening the kiss. His tongue rolled past mine, and I sucked on it gently as his free hand slid down my back and cupped my ass. Any more and we weren’t going to be eating dinner.
We’d be eating each other. The thought had my head spinning, my heart racing.
“So hot,” I whispered against his lips sensually.
“Yes, you most certainly are, love.” He kissed me once more. “Hop off lest you have me stripping you down naked and devouring you in front of the whole city.”
“That is not a good way to get me off of your lap.” I laughed, and he joined me. After kissing him a few more times for good measure, I got up and moved to my side of the little, rickety table. “All right. So, prepare yourself for greatness.” I lifted my sandwich and smirked. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
“Really?” He picked his sandwich up and unwrapped it as I bit into mine and moaned loudly. His eyes widened a little. “Now you’re just being a tease.”
“Nope. I love these things,” I mumbled through a mouthful of sandwich. I hadn’t felt so free in all of my dating life. It was odd, as if we were made for one another. I wanted to blurt out a million things, including the fact that I was falling in love, but my heart wouldn’t let me.
The truth of Harry’s infidelities left my confidence limping. Where I’d never in a million years let anyone know the truth, it still was very much the truth.
He took a big bite, and his eyes lit up. “Damn. This is incredible.”
I laughed. “Told you. You should start listening more to me.”
“Speaking of listening to you,” he paused to pick up a napkin and wipe at the sauce dripping down the side of his mouth, “I had the meeting with the investors today. I told them about your marketing ideas. They loved it.”
“Oh, yeah?” My insides tightened. I was praying my idea would help him out. It sounded like it was a hit, and I wanted to push, but his tone wasn’t nearly as playful as it had been just a few seconds before. “Tell me more about it. Did you expect it to go well or—”
Alfie’s expression darkened slightly before it cleared into a neutral expression. He shrugged his shoulders slightly. “They went as good as I had hoped it would go. They all thought it was a good idea,” he said.
I frowned at the vague response. “That’s it? Nothing else happened?” It was weird that he wasn’t diving into it for me, seeing that it was my concept/idea. Maybe he was just tired. I’d been busy since we hit the ground in New York, but I knew my busy was nothing like his was.
“The only thing I can say is that we will see how it goes when the numbers come in on Friday,” Alfie said, a bit shortly. He looked at me then sharply. “I don’t want to talk about work tonight, if you don’t mind. It went well, but I jus
t want to enjoy the evening with you.”
“Of course,” I said, taken aback by the abrupt change in his behavior. “Work is out of the conversation for the rest of the night.” He hurt my feelings a little by his abrupt change in tone and mood, but maybe there was more to the story. Maybe there was something he wasn’t telling me.
Sure as fuck seemed like it.
“Okay, so talk about what you’ve been up to. You went to see your old boss?”
“I did.” I glanced down at my sandwich and picked at the lettuce sticking out of the sides. It was a little frightening to realize that he had the power to make me feel good or leave me feeling like shit. “It was fine. No work talk, right?”
He chuckled, but the sound fell flat. “Exactly. So what about the houses?”
“Nothing to report just yet, but it’s still early in the process.” I glanced up and forced myself to chill out. I was there to help and support him, just like he’d done for me when Harry turned my world upside down.
“I see.” He leaned back and glanced up at the sky. “The weather is holding up nicely here. I thought we might have rain, but it’s been beautiful.”
The weather? We were talking about the weather? Something I did or said shifted the mood drastically. Excellent. Date night ruined.
Fuck my life.
*
“That was fun.” Alfie ran his strong hands over my shoulders and down my exposed arms. “It was good just being with you.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry I ruined it by bringing up the meeting.” I shrugged and kept my tone neutral.
“What? No. You didn’t.” He cupped my face and leaned down to kiss me a few times. Just soft pecks on my lips. Nothing to write home about. “It’s me. I’m just weary after this long week, and the U.S. investors always make me feel like they’re just waiting for me to fall on my ass. My father was brilliant all the way around, and most of these guys are old friends of his from school or business. I don’t think they much enjoy having to work with a young buck like myself.”