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 just 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.”
“I understand.” I lifted up and kissed him once more before pulling back. “I know you’re staying with Logan, so I’ll not ask to come with you.” I glanced over my shoulder at the door as a longing rose within me. “And I’m with Peyton. It would be rude to—”
“Molly.”
I turned back to face him as his expression grew serious. “What?”
“Everything is fine, okay? I’m just a little stressed.” He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly. “I’ll get us a hotel Friday night, and we can spend the night together. That sound good?”
“Absolutely.” I pressed my hands to his thick chest and looked up into his eyes. My guy was still there. Maybe it was pressure. “Good luck on everything. I’ll be thinking about you.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” He leaned down and kissed me so passionately, it almost knocked me off my feet.
I pulled back breathlessly. “Friday, then.”
“Yeah, and get a nap that day if you can. I plan on keeping you up all night long.” He nipped at my lips and pulled back. “Enjoy the rest of your week and call if you need me.”
“Thanks,” I said and turned to walk into the house.
Peyton jerked back from the living room window. “I wasn’t watching. Promise.”
I snorted. “Liar.”
“All right. Forgive me. I need to vicariously live through someone.” She let out a girly sigh and walked to the kitchen. “I just finished baking an apple pie. You want a slice?”
“Do you have vanilla ice cream?” I followed her, not quite sure of how I felt about everything.
“Do bears shit in the woods?” she opened the freezer, pulled out a half-gallon, and tossed it my way.
“No clue. I’ve never seen a bear or its shit.” I caught it and grabbed a few spoons before sitting down at her dining room table.
“You’re so practical.” She laughed and sat down across from me with the pie and plates. “So? How was the dinner?”
“It was good.” I started to dish up the dessert as if it were my house. I had always been the bossier of the two of us. “I fucked it up by asking about the marketing stuff, but who knew he would be sensitive about it?”
She lifted an eyebrow. “What? How did that fuck up the date? Did he use your idea in his meeting?”
“Yeah. I think so.” I shrugged. “He got really weird about it when I asked.”
“That’s weird.” She pulled her plate close and picked up her spoon. “Did he give you credit for the idea with the investors?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.” I dipped my spoon in the sugary glaze that leaked from the pie and licked at it. “It doesn’t really matter if he did, right?”
She huffed. “Are you kidding me? Of course it matters. If he has any ethics at all, he would have given you credit.”
“Maybe he did.” I took a bite of the pie and nodded. “This is amazing. I need the recipe.”
“It’s easy.” She tilted her head to the side as her eyes narrowed a little. “Maybe he didn’t give you credit, and you asking about it had him feeling like shit about it.”
“Peyton. Drop it. Please. I just want to enjoy my delicious dessert and go to bed.”
“All right. All right.” She lifted her free hand in a sign of surrender. “I’ll drop it, but guys don’t just act strange for no reason.”
“I know…that’s our lot in life.”
We shared a laugh and ate more pie than should have been legal. I laid in bed a little while later with the same thought running through my head.
Did I care if he gave me credit or not?
No. Yes. Maybe.
Fuck. I did care.