Chapter Twenty-Eight
Molly
We decided on sex before the meal, which was a much better choice than what I’d planned on doing. Alfie took my hand and held it tightly as we got out of the car and made our way to the elevator. The minute it closed, he pressed me up against the back wall and ground against me, his voice low and filled with masculine dominance.
“God, you turn me on, Mol.” He licked up the side of my neck as he squeezed my hips. “Let’s just have a quickie and then dinner. After that, I have a lovely garden tub I want to get you into.”
“I want it all.” I held him closely and kissed his face and neck, and he leaned in for a hot probing kiss.
The sound of someone gasping caused him to pull away from me. My face burned with embarrassment as several elderly couples walked on, the women looking quite appalled. The older men were chuckling like they totally understood the situation. Either way, I was mortified.
The door opened on our floor, and Alfie took my hand and led me to our room. “You okay?” he asked as he worked on the door.
“Yeah.” I brushed my hands down the front of my dress. “I just always feel bad about getting caught in things.”
“You make out with guys in the elevator often?” He laughed and opened the door.
“No.” I shook my head and walked in, losing my breath. The place was magnificent, enormous, way too much. The floor to ceiling windows ran around the entire room, and the New York skyline lit up the view. I was in awe as I walked toward the window nearest me. “Wow. This is incredible.”
“Good. I was hoping you’d like it.” He moved in behind me, pressing his strong chest to my back as he cupped my breasts and leaned down to kiss at the soft skin just beneath my ear. “I want you so much more than I can ever remember wanting anyone else.”
“Then take me.” I rubbed my ass against his erection and pressed my hands to the window. “Hard and fast. We’ll slow down later tonight.”
“You got it, love. Anything you want.” He tugged my skirt up over my hips, leaving my lacy red panties on display. “Fuck, Molly. These are beautiful.”
I watched his reflection in the mirror as he moved to his knees and dragged them down my thighs. “Good. I had hoped you might like them.”
“I love them.” He pressed a hand into the middle of my back. “Lean over a little, baby.”
I did as he said and moaned loudly as he ran his tongue through my folds, sucking and licking as I pressed my forehead against the glass. The moment was almost too much. The pressure of orgasm building in my stomach and the view just beyond the thick glass sang of the same beautiful release.
He gripped my ass and worked my pussy until I clenched and cried out in ecstasy. He didn’t stop licking at my slit until I pulled away from him and pressed myself against the glass.
“Fuck, you taste good.” He stood and pulled a condom from his pocket. “You want me from behind or what, lass?”
“Please?” I slid my hands up the glass and wagged my ass at him, feeling like a siren in the deep of the ocean. It was silly, and I was beyond turned on namely because there was love mixed into the lust, but it was what it was. I was drowning in it, and I was glad for it.
“Molly. You don’t have to say please. Not ever.” He ran his hands over my ass and locked eyes with me in my reflection. “I’d give you the world if I knew that’s what you wanted.”
“I only want you.” I pressed back as he probed my entrance with the thick head of his cock.
“Then you have me.” He pressed in, and we both groaned in tandem, the pressure of him spreading me open almost too much. He slipped his hand into my hair and gripped it tightly as he used his hold on my hip to fuck me deep and fast, pushing both of us over the edge into orgasm much faster than I’d ever experienced.
“So good,” I whimpered and pressed myself against the glass, his cock still trapped inside of me.
He flattened himself against me and kissed the side of my face softly as he nestled my neck. “I’ll spend some time worshipping every inch of you later tonight. Let’s get cleaned up and make our dinner reservation. You’re going to love this place.”
“Okay.” I let out a sigh of relief when he pulled back and walked to the bathroom. Was he like this with all of the women he slept with?
I couldn’t force myself to believe it. I had to be special. Different. Unique.
After cleaning up in the bathroom, I walked out to find him talking with a bellman at the door. They were delivering my bag.
I let out a soft laugh. “Shit. I hadn’t even realized we didn’t have it with us.”
“No bother, love.” He moved the bag to the side and extended his hand to me. “Come on. I’m starving and need more stamina for later. My lover likes it a little rough.”
I have him a look and popped his sexy butt as I moved out into the hallway. “Is that what I am? Your lover?”
“Among other things? Yes.” He closed the door and wrapped a possessive arm around my waist.
*
Dinner was going so incredibly well, and I knew I shouldn’t have, but I needed to get the burning question off my chest.
“Alfie?” I glanced up from my salmon and roasted potatoes.
“Yes, love?” He leaned back, having cleaned almost all of his plate.
“Can I ask you something without you getting upset?” I pulled my napkin to my mouth and dabbed at the corners carefully. I’m sure my lipstick was all but gone, but there was a part of me that wanted to look beautiful all night long. As if lipstick was the only way to do that. Idiot.
“Of course.” He reached out and took my hand. “And first, let me apologize for getting a little stiff the other night on our date. I shouldn’t have done that. I was processing a bit of guilt that was unfounded for sure.”
“Guilt over what?” I kept my hand in place, but my hair stood on edge.
“Over not telling the board that it was your marketing idea that we were going to implement.” He moved his hand and picked up his glass of wine. “I felt especially upset about keeping it to myself because Gary is on the board. How did your meeting go with him, anyway? I never got any word from you on that.”
Devastation rolled through me. Gary hadn’t found a position for me, but some of that had to be for lack of trying. After leaving in a hurry, I’d upset him and made myself look like an undependable ass. Alfie giving me credit for the strategy would have changed everything.
“Why didn’t you tell Gary it was my marketing idea?” I asked, trying to control the wavering in my voice.
Alfie didn’t say anything as his cheeks grew flushed. He adverted his eyes to his plate and remained quiet.
Fuck me. You have to be kidding. Did he think it didn’t matter? That I wouldn’t care about it?
With each second that ticked by, the anger steadily grew in me. I grabbed the edge of the table to keep myself motionless as possible while I waited for Alfie to speak. There was no way I was agreeing with what he had done. I’d sit there in a stony silence for the next few hours if need be.
“I just wasn’t sure if mentioning your name would’ve done anything,” he said, eventually. “These investors were focused on my business, not on anything else.”
I blinked in surprise at the chilly response. There was something else that Alfie wasn’t telling me, a reason to why he didn’t mention my name in that conference room with Gary around.
“I just had a meeting with Gary a few days before,” I said. “He said that my spot had been filled, but if he knew that marketing idea was mine to begin with, he would have carved out a new position for me.”
“He wouldn’t have fired someone to give you your old job back, Molly. That would be counterproductive for his business.” He shook his head and leaned back, finally looking me in the face. This wasn’t a big deal at all to him. It might have been on our date the Wednesday night before, but it sure as hell wasn’t now. He’d processed it and made himself feel okay about dicking me over.
It hit me hard then that Peyton had been right about Alfie all along—he was just as clever and cunning as Harry when it came to business. They only cared about themselves other than the people they screwed over in the process.
“You don’t understand,” I said, blinking back angry tears. “I could’ve gotten my old job back. I know how Gary is—better than you think you do.”
“Molly—” Alfie started, shaking his head at me.
“What?” I demanded, angrily. “What is it?”
“You don’t understand. I—”
“You’re right,” I said, coldly. “I don’t understand how you could just screw me over like that without giving me any credit of the marketing technique.” I threw my napkin down on my plate of food before grabbing a hold of my purse that was draped across the back of my chair. “You’re just as bad as Harry is. You’re actually worse because Harry never pretended to be a nice guy when he screwed people over. Send my shit back to Peyton’s and give me the bill. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you pay for a damn thing of mine.”
“Molly. Love—”
“Don’t say another goddamn word.” I pulled a fifty from my purse and tossed it down on the table as a sob left me. I’d just made love to this asshole. No. I’d fucked up. Making love required love.
I let my words sink in as I stood up from the chair. Striding through the crowded dining area, I stepped out into the warm night to suck in deep breaths to calm the anger burning in my chest. I paced around the front doors, half-expecting Alfie to emerge through the glass doors, but he never came outside. And for some unknown reason, that stung even worse than the entire situation.
I hailed a cab a few minutes later. Giving the driver Peyton’s address, I sat back in the passenger seat to look up at the blur of the city lights as it passed by the cab window. Why? That single question repeated in my head. I didn’t understand why Alfie never thought to credit me for the marketing idea. It seemed as though he had planned it out for a reason, but I didn’t want to think about it anymore.
I had to figure out what to do now that Alfie had dashed my previous hopes of working for Gary without thinking about me in the process.
Fine. I didn’t need him. I didn’t need Harry, and I sure as fuck didn’t need Gary.