“Go on.”
He stood back, looking me up and down. For every step I took towards him, he took a step back.
“I came back to you. I want to be with you. I showed up at the Parc and everyone told me you would be here, in Ireland, so I drove all day and got here last night.”
“I see.” He was staring at me, examining my face. I could tell that he was trying to gauge my level of desperation.
“Please, Alec. Let’s start over.”
“I can’t just start over. You broke me.” And with that, he began to close his door.
“Dammit, Alec! For God’s sake, what do I have to say? What do I have to do? I will beg you for forgiveness every day if I have to. I’ll do anything. Just tell me what I have to do.”
He stopped mid-motion, and opened the door fully again. He had a mischievous smile on his face. I could tell he was still mad, but his bemused face was relieving to see.
“Actually… that’s not a bad idea.”
Oh, crap.
“What?”
“I mean… maybe I should make you work for it. Maybe you should beg for my forgiveness every day.” He walked over to me, and stopped just an inch away. He leaned in closer, and brushed his finger against my jaw. “Maybe I should punish you a little bit.” I felt my whole body quiver in response.
What had been dead inside of me for the last three months had suddenly awakened. It took every fiber in my body to keep myself calm and composed. If I tried to kiss him too soon, it would ruin everything. I had to get him to forgive me first. This would be hard. He knew how to manipulate my body. He would use it against me.
“Seriously? You’re only taking advantage of me right now because you know I’ll do it.”
I waited for him to say something, but he just stood there. Then he shrugged his shoulders, as if asking why the hell not? He was serious.
“I was going to take you back, Charlotte. I will forgive you eventually. Of course I’m happy that you’re here. Of course I still want you,” he said, growling a little bit as he appraised my appearance. “But… this will be fun. This is too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
I knew Alec was using this against me, and yet, I didn’t care. My heart was singing to his words.
I was going to take you back.
I’m happy you’re here.
I still want you.
If this was what it was going to take to win him back, I would do it. I would do anything. I’d lived my life long enough without him. A few days of doting on him wouldn’t be that hard. I just had to play along. We were treading deep water here. This could make or break us.
“Fine. Use me. I don’t mind.” I looked over my shoulder, making sure Ennis wasn’t around. “But just because I’m being punished and begging for your forgiveness doesn’t mean I have to do it with clothes on.”
And with that, I quickly took the hair band out of my hair and tossed my long, red hair from side to side. Before he knew what was happening, I pulled my shirt over my head and stood there, topless. His eyes turned into saucers, and I noticed a dark gleam take over his pupils. He stood completely still. Not happy with the reaction I was getting, I took it one step further, and removed my pants. Now I was completely naked, and my pajamas stood in a pile at my feet.
“Fuck, Charlotte. You make it really hard to be mad at you,” he rasped slowly and, with clearly a lot of reluctance, he shut the door slowly, never taking his eyes off of my bare skin.
I heard the door click and, with a huge grin on my face, I frantically grabbed my pajamas and dashed to my room. The last thing I needed was for Alec’s mom to see me standing buck naked in front of her son’s bedroom. I was still smiling as I went to go take a cold shower. I needed to cool off. I was on fire. As the cool water hit me and ran down the entire length of my body, I tried not to call out in shock. I hated cold showers, but they really did the trick in emergencies like this.
As I stepped out of the shower, I yelped in surprise. Alec sat on the edge of my bed, watching me.
“Did you just watch me shower?” I asked, my breath catching somewhere between my lungs and my throat.
“Why, do you have a problem with that?”
“It’s polite to knock,” I said, dropping the towel as I went to put clothes on. I heard Alec suck in a breath of air.
“I figured we should lay out some ground rules.”
“For what?”
“For your redemption.”
“Oh, right. That.” I put on a sheer, super sexy lavender lingerie set. I turned around and bent over, pretending to pick something off the ground. “Is this against the rules?”
Before I could turn around and see his reaction to my thong-clad ass, he jumped up and pushed me against the wall, so that both hands were on my waist. I cried out, not in surprise or pain but in desire. I saw him move his hands lower and lower, and he exhaled loudly. I looked up at him. We were both breathing heavily. Oh, my god. I was about five seconds away from banging the shit out of him.
“That is so against the rules,” he snarled, as his hands moved up my body. “Because when you’re here, right in front of me, wearing… that…”
“Or nothing,” I countered, making him remember my naked body just a few minutes ago.
“Right. Or nothing. You have to be fully clothed at all times.”
“Fine. As you wish.” Why was I doing this? I slowly brushed against him as I slid away, and I pulled on a pair of distressed jeans and a baggy, black sweater. “Better?”
“Not really,” he answered, appraising my body.
“Well, it’ll have to do.”
“Fine. No kissing.”
“Fine.”
“No hugging.”
“Got it.”
“No sex.”
“I think I can live with that,” I smiled, playfully. “Alec, anything you throw at me, I will do. I will honor your stupid rules if it means we can be together.”
“Good.”
“How long are you planning on torturing me?”
“Until you’re redeemed.” He backed away, and I almost fainted at the sight of his erect penis through his jeans. I remembered how it felt to have him inside me. I had to get a grip. I cleared my throat and looked down.
“Are we talking… days? Weeks? Years?”
“You’ll know when I forgive you.”
“Are we really going to do this?”
“Like I said, it never even crossed my mind until you mentioned it. But this could be fun,” he said, gleefully. “Aside from everything… I’m really glad you’re here.” He looked at me sincerely, his eyes glowering. In fact… he looked a bit shy. “I think we should take some time, that’s all. As much as I want to…” his eyes glazed over and he looked away. “We should get to know each other better.”
“OK,” I said, simply. “I’m here to stay. So you better get used to me. Well, actually, that’s not true. I do have to go back at some point, but I’m hoping you’ll come with me.”
“To L.A.?”
“Yeah. I’m going to need a hand with all the moving boxes,” I quipped, hoping he would get the point.
He smiled and came over to me, pulling me into a tight embrace. I felt myself cave into him. I inhaled his scent. This was the best feeling in the world, being hugged by Alec. His strong arms hugged me tighter, and in that moment, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever been happier.
“I thought hugging was against the rules?”
“I’m making an exception this one time,” he explained. “But just this one time. Don’t go getting any ideas,” he said, sternly.
***
After Alec left, I sat down on my bed and sighed. It felt so good to be near him again, even if he was mad at me. When I had finished getting ready and gone downstairs, I realized Alec was nowhere to be seen. According to Ennis, he’d gone out to run a few errands.
“He seems happier already,” she said, smiling. She was gathering ingredients from the fridge.
“Well, he’s sti
ll mad at me. He’s going to torture me for a while,” I countered, smiling sheepishly. “I have to redeem myself.”
“Ahh, I see. That’s understandable, I suppose. Well, while he’s out, you can help me prepare breakfast,” she said, pulling a carton of eggs out. “Do you like French toast?”
“Who doesn’t like French toast?” I smiled, and began to help her set everything up.
“So, where did you grow up, Charlotte?”
“Outside of Portland, in Oregon. I lived there until after I graduated college, and then my ex-husband and I—” I looked up suddenly, turning bright red. Did I really just bring up Harry?!
“Oh, it’s OK. Alec told me you were previously married.”
“He did?” I was gripping an egg so hard that I thought it might break. The last thing I wanted Ennis to know was that I had been technically still married when I met and fell in love with her son. You know, first impressions and all.
“It’s fine. There’s a reason the divorce rate is so high. Did you know that second marriages have an 88% success rate?”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Sometimes, we marry people that we’re not actually supposed to spend our lives with. But everything always ends up working out in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, I guess you're right.” I dropped a couple of eggs into a bowl and whisked them around with a fork.
“Alec was married.”
I made an audible disgusted sound. It sounded something like “UGH”. I slapped my hand over my mouth.
“I’m sorry, I have nothing against Natasha. She’s lovely, but—”
“Charlotte, it’s OK. Don’t be afraid to be honest with me. I like you. I see what you’ve brought out in Alec. There’s nothing you could say that would change my mind.” I smiled, and gave her arm a small squeeze, thanking her. “And besides, Natasha is a whore.”
I snorted coffee all over the counter and my sweater.
“I’m sorry, I’ll help clean up,” I said, in between fits of laughter, and grabbed a rag. “Natasha is… I don’t really know her, but she seemed… nice…”
“No, Natasha is pushy and she used Alec to get a green card. She’s manipulative, and I never trusted her. Yes, she’s a refugee and everything, something I understand deeply, but she never treated Alec nicely. Even though they always remained friends, she was never nice to him. That’s why he divorced her last month. They divorced amicably, of course, so she gets to keep her green card, but I’ll bet she’ll trap another poor soul soon.”
I felt myself perk up at that. I didn’t know that Alec and Natasha had gotten divorced. I had assumed they would get divorced eventually, but now Mary’s proposal theory seemed much more plausible.
“So, Alec said you were in politics?” I didn’t hate the fact that Alec’s mother was bashing Natasha (in fact, I relished in it), but I had to change the subject.
“I worked for the U.N.,” she said.
“Wow, that’s incredible.”
“It was a pretty fantastic job. Alec’s father, Aedan, also worked for the U.N. That’s how we met, actually.” I saw a warm, misty glow take over her face.
“Do you miss him?”
“Every day.” She squeezed my arm lovingly, and flipped the toast in the pan. The cinnamony, eggy smell was intoxicating.
“What was Aedan like?”
“He was serious... much more serious than me—stern, but loving. He took care of the boys most days. I called them my three little bears. They were so close, Aedan and the boys. He had a wicked sense of humor. Alec reminds me of him a bit. Alec’s brother, Stephen, lives just up the road. I’m sure you’ll get to meet him at some point. They both remind me so much of Aedan in different ways. So while I do miss him, I was blessed with two wonderful reflections of him.”
“That’s nice. I’m an only child. I wish I’d had siblings. My parents were loving parents, but they were hippies, so they weren’t very attentive. I had to grow up quickly. I spent the majority of my childhood in the midst of their hazy parties, cleaning cigarette ash off of my stuffed animals,” I said, babbling.
Did I really just dump my depressing childhood onto Ennis? Something about her made me want to open up.
“Oh dear. I’m sorry, Charlotte.”
“It’s fine. I was happy. It wasn’t a bad childhood, just an unsupervised one. I was surprisingly obedient for someone who didn’t ever have a curfew and always had the house to myself at nights.” I laughed, brushing it off, but to be honest, it was hard to talk about.
My childhood hadn’t been lacking anything, really. I had had it good compared to others. I just wish I’d had more time to be a kid.
“I understand.”
All of a sudden, the front door slammed, and I heard Alec’s boots echo on the marble. I braced myself. I wasn’t sure what kind of mood he’d be in. I averted my eyes and pretended to be engrossed in the art of making French toast.
“That smells delicious,” he said, standing next to one of the island stools.
“I know it’s your favorite.” I saw Ennis walk over to Alec and put her arms around his waist. “I’m so glad you’re home,” she said quietly, and I smiled down at the pan when I saw Alec kiss her on the forehead out of the corner of my eye.
Men who loved their mothers; there was nothing quite like the feeling it gave me. It turned me into a puddle of mush.
“Charlotte and I were just getting to know each other,” she said, coming over to me. “And I must say, she’s doing a fantastic job tending to the French toast.”
I looked up. Alec just smiled thinly and took a seat. I scooped up two fat pieces of toast and poured some maple syrup over them. I handed the plate to Alec without meeting his eyes. Like I said, two could play this game.
“Charlotte, we’re not religious or anything, so feel free to sleep in Alec’s room tonight,” Ennis said, patting my arm before exiting the kitchen. “I have to go fold some laundry.”
“Don’t you want some French toast?” I asked, hopefully. I really just wanted a buffer between Alec and I.
“Save some for me?” She winked, with no apology in her eyes. She was leaving on purpose, and before I could protest, she was gone. Suddenly, Alec and I were alone.
I sighed, avoiding Alec, and began to clean up the breakfast dishes. I realized halfway through that Alec had been staring at my ass the entire time. To make it hurt a little, I stuck it out further, and swayed my hips to some imaginary music.
“Aren’t you eating?” I saw something glimmer in his eyes as he asked me. Annoyance.
“Maybe later, after you’re done,” I said.
“Come on, you have to eat. You’ve gotten too skinny,” he joked. “I liked it when you were fat and happy.”
“Excuse me? I was never fat,” I said incredulously, glaring at him.
“You know what I mean. Have a seat,” he said, pulling out the stool next to him. I gave in.
“Fine.” I scooped up a couple of pieces for myself and doused them in syrup before joining him.
Just being close to him felt right. Even if we were bickering, I felt at home. I was comfortable. I felt whole again. My other half was here. I smiled at him as I wolfed down my toast in about thirty seconds.
“Can I get you more?” He looked impressed.
“No, I’m good,” I said, pushing my plate away. “Ah, that was delicious.”
“What were you and my mum talking about?”
“Well, she called Natasha a whore, so I like her automatically,” I said, giggling.
“Did she? Well, Natasha is out of the picture. We officially got divorced last month.
“Yeah, your mom told me. Harry and I officially got divorced last month, too.”
“Yeah, Mary told me.”
“I forgot. There are no secrets at the Parc.”
I hopped up and went to do the rest of the dishes. I liked having Alec here. Even if we could only be friends for now, even if he
wasn’t letting me all the way in. I loved him. I loved being around him.
“I’m going to the library,” Alec said, getting up.
“There’s a library?”
“Yeah. And an indoor pool, and two wine cellars.”
“Wow. Oh, I read your book, by the way. Helen put me up in your room the other night, and I finished Love in the Time of Cholera. It was good.”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
“I didn’t realize you were such an avid reader,” I said, trying to hide the interest in my voice. Men who loved their mothers were irresistible. Men who read regularly made me drop my panties.
“I’ve always been an avid reader.”
“There’s a lot we don’t know about each other, huh?” I asked, shyly.
It was true. I hadn’t even known his mother’s name until last night. I’d never really told him about my childhood. I had no idea if he had grown up with pets, what his favorite color was (though I suspected it was red), or who his past girlfriends were.
“You’re welcome to join me,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets.
“OK.”
He walked beside me as we climbed the stairs to the third story. I gasped when he threw open the door. The library looked like the one in Beauty and the Beast, without the winding staircases. Towering shelves with ladders lined every wall, and a second story lined with a thin balcony towered over us. Every single shelf was filled with books. Plush couches stood in the middle, waiting to be laid down upon with a good book in hand. Small reading lamps stood on tiny tea trays, and the Persian carpet made for a very “busy” room. It was an eyegasm.
“Oh… my… God…” I said, looking around. “You grew up here?!”
“Now you know why I read all the time.”
“I would, too, if…” I said, gesturing to the multitudes of shelves. My mouth was gaping open at the lovely sight of books everywhere. Alec laughed. I walked along a row of books, choosing a title I recognized:The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. I’d never read it—might as well get started now.
The Redemption (Charlotte Bloom Book 2) Page 7