Chapter Twenty-Six
Molly
The way mine and Alfie’s date ended the night before had my heart aching. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to feel, or much less do about everything swirling around me. I was a hot mess and didn’t have anything lined up for my future.
Nothing other than spending that night with Alfie. Funny enough, that seemed like a huge win. I had to force myself to stop thinking about everything and finally go to sleep. We would work it all out. We had to. I was already smitten with him, and I wasn’t losing another chance at love. Not with it sitting so close that I felt like I could reach out and grab it.
The next morning, I stared helplessly at my suitcase at the end of my bed with all my clothes torn out of it. I hadn’t brought more than a few outfits with me from London. A majority of my clothes were either in Harry’s flat in boxes still, or sitting at the London post office. I didn’t put it past Harry for them to send the boxes back because he knew it would take longer for them to reach the United States again.
I had nothing fancy to wear for tomorrow night with Alfie. The only reasonable thing I could think of was a simple black pencil skirt with a modest blouse and ballerina flats. I didn’t even have matching bras or panties.
Not that Alfie took notice of that before.
The center of my cheeks flared hotly at the thought. It’d been too long too since I had felt Alfie’s hands on me. My body was strung tightly with anticipation of having an entire night alone with him after a week of nothing but lingering touches and a kiss every once and a while.
I scooped up all the clothes with a resigned sigh before dumping them back into my suitcase. I’d have to ask Peyton if I could borrow a dress later. I was only an inch taller than her, so her dresses wouldn’t be uncomfortably short on me.
I busied myself with making breakfast and coffee while I waited for Peyton to wake up. She had vowed to take the day off for us to spend together, but also promised that sleeping in was high on her priority list.
The smell of bacon wafted through the kitchen. As I expected, Peyton appeared in a robe with bleary eyes as she took a seat at the breakfast bar with a groan. I grinned innocently as she shot me a dirty look.
“You know me too well,” she said. “That’s a dirty trick to get me out of bed—the smell of bacon and coffee.”
I scooped up a piece of crispy bacon to set it on a paper towel in front of her. “Eat up. You’re the one that wanted to spend the day shopping. You know I’m broke as can be.”
“Broke is relative. We’ll go in a few hours. I said I wanted to sleep in, too.” She picked up the bacon and grumbled, “More.”
“I know,” I said, and poured her a cup of coffee before dropping a few more pieces of bacon in front of her. “I have a huge favor to ask of you besides everything else you have done to help me.”
“What’s that?” Peyton asked.
“I need to borrow a dress for tomorrow night,” I said. “Something simple, but sexy that goes with ballerina flats.”
Peyton’s lips curled up into a small smile. “Ah, that’s right. You’re spending the night with Alfie tomorrow night.”
“And Harry has all my clothes,” I added, bitterly. “I wouldn’t put it past him to be holding my boxes of clothes hostage at the flat in London.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it either. No worries. I can find something for you to wear that’ll make an impression on Alfie.” She winked roguishly. “Count on that. We’re still going out though to do some shopping.”
“Window shopping for me,” I corrected, sipping at my coffee. “I don’t have much money left in my account, other than that what I have to live off for a moment, so I need to save up. Besides, I figure I’ll just borrow something of yours, and with any hope, it won’t be on me too long anyway.”
She snorted and stood. “All right. I’ll go get ready, and we’ll leave right after we eat.”
“You sure?” Excitement bubbled through me as I nibbled on a piece of bacon and leaned against the counter nearest the stove. I didn’t want to mess up her only sleep-in day, but I was a bundle of nerves. Being left with my thoughts wasn’t doing anyone any favors, least of all me.
“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s been a while since you’ve been free thanks to Harry eating up all of your time with various errands and business event bullshit. I need to take advantage of it.” She snatched another piece of bacon and walked to her room.
“Awww… You love me,” I called after her as a smile spread across my face.
“You knew this. Why else would I put up with you?”
“Because I’m the only one that puts up with you?”
Her laugh caused the day to seem a little bit brighter. She was like the sister I never had. I’d just finished plating up our breakfast when she walked out and dropped down at the kitchen table in front of hers.
“Does Alfie know that you can cook this good?” She picked up her fork and took a bite of the eggs I scrambled for her.
“Yeah. I made him my famous shrimp scampi.” I wagged my eyebrows, sat down, and started to work on my breakfast too.
“Oh, no. He’ll be popping the question soon.” She buttered her toast and glanced back at me as I stayed silent. “Too soon?”
“For the question, or you teasing me about it?” I took a drink of my orange juice and tried to decide what my answer would be to either.
“Both?” She took a big bite, sprinkling toast crumbs all over her blouse.
“I don’t know. You teasing me is whatever.” I waved my hand around as if it were no big deal, because it wasn’t. She didn’t mean any harm. “I really thought things would somehow straighten out with me and Harry.”
“Do you miss him?” she asked me earnestly.
“No. Not in the slightest.” I used my fork to push a few eggs into my toast before folding it over and eating it like a sandwich while I thought.
“Do you miss Alfie?”
“Yeah.” I chewed and sat back, nodding. “A lot. I keep thinking that things between us are moving too fast, but I don’t have a doubt at all about how I feel. It just seems like I feel it way too soon. Especially considering the situation.”
“Right, but he saved you.” She shrugged and glanced down to her food. “It makes sense. You were in need and having one of the most horrible times of your adult life, and he stepped in and offered you sanctuary. He’s a bit of a hero.”
“I hadn’t thought about it like that, but honestly, you’re right. He is a hero to me.” I finished eating and stood. “You ready to get this show on the road?”
“Yep, and we’re going to look for a dress.” She held up her hand as I started to protest. “I’m paying. I didn’t get to get you a birthday present a few months back, remember?”
“You were switching jobs, Peyton.”
“I don’t care. You’re my best friend, and I have some money finally tucked away. We’ll just find something on a good sale.”
“Fine, but I’m paying for our nails then.” I lifted my hands and studied mine. “I need to do something about these, and honestly, a manicure sounds heavenly.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” She stood. “I’ll get the kitchen cleaned up while you get ready. We’re going to get you dolled up nicely for your date with your British Billionaire. God, that’s hot. Does he have a brother?” She laughed.
“Nope, but he does have a best friend.” I smiled.
“Is he hot?”
“No clue, but for you, I’d be willing to find out.”
“Deal. Do it, and we can score two hot Brits.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I thought Logan was American. Even though he was born and grew up in England, he had left after high school. Meaning he had lived in America for just as long as he lived in England. Either way, the day would be fun, relaxing, and hopefully get me in the right mood for my night to come with Alfie.
*
We spent the day going in and out of what felt like every shop on Fifth Avenue. I finally found a dress that fit me perfectly and was on a great sale. We picked it up and turned to look at each other.
“Panties and a bra!” We exclaimed at the same time, only to get a warning ‘shhh’ from an older woman at the checkout counter.
We laughed and walked out into the sunny afternoon.
“All right. Victoria’s Secret is just up here.” Peyton glanced over at me as we walked down the busy sidewalk. “You need to get something super sexy for you and your boy to enjoy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please tell me that your rhyming is by accident.”
She flipped her hair and gave me a playfully demeaning look. “Nothing I do is by accident, darling.”
“Oh, Lord.” I reached out and held the door open for her to go into Victoria’s Secret first before joining her. Something about the place left me feeling pretty and girlie. “All right. I think I want black.”
“Nope. White for sure. You need to give him a false sense of innocence.” She wagged her eyebrows and looked around the store. She knew me well enough to know that innocence was not one of my virtues. I was pretty sure I’d already told her about us having sex several times, but obviously, I needed to remind her again.
Or maybe this was one of those times she was vicariously living through me.
I laughed. “Really? We’ve already had sex several times. I don’t think he’ll believe that there is an innocent bone in my body.”
“Hmmm…that’s even better. If he already knows that you’re a sex kitten, then let’s put you in red. That’ll turn him on good.”
“You think?” I gave her a quizzical look.
“Yep. Read it in Cosmo. You know everything in there has got to be true!”
We chuckled and walked around until we found several cute sets. I tried them on and fell in love with the last one, turning myself on a little by the thoughts running through my head. Alfie would like it a lot…even if it would only be on me for a few minutes.
It was the thought of him tearing it off that left me wet and aching with need.