Chapter Thirty-Eight
Molly
We made love all night, taking turns teasing and toying with each other until we were mad with lust. It was like discovering sex all over again. Everything about Alfie left my heart racing, my body purring.
I woke up the next morning sore and yet feeling like I could do anything I wanted to with my life. I couldn’t help but lie beside him and watch him sleep for a little while. He was beyond handsome and had me completely captivated.
“And we almost lost it all,” I whispered and reached out to brush his hair back.
He didn’t move an inch. After lying there a little while longer, I finally got up and found something comfortable to wear. We needed a day of fun. The office would be there when we got back, but I wanted a day with just the two of us.
“Doing what?” I asked myself as I jogged down the stairs and into the kitchen. After making a pot of coffee, I realized what we could do: fish.
There was a pond on the left side of the road as you drove into Devon. I wasn’t sure there were actual fish in it, but it would make for a great day together. After making us each a cup of coffee, I walked back up the stairs and sat down on the side of the bed.
“Hey. Let’s go do something fun today. Want to?” I set the coffees down and reached over to run my fingers down Alfie’s back.
He groaned and turned over to face me, blinking slowly a few times. “Why are you dressed?”
I laughed. “Because my body isn’t going to take another round of sex with you for a few days.”
“Nope. I think it’s a lie.” He grabbed me, and I yelped as he playfully pulled me into the bed and rolled on top of me. “It smells like coffee in here.”
I pulled him down for a few short kisses. “I made us some for our fishing trip.”
“Fishing trip? Do you even know how to fish?” He gave me a quizzical look. “You grew up in New York. I mean, really, love, how much fishing do New Yorkers do?”
“Hey! I’m a great fisherman.” I kissed him and pushed at his chest. “Get off and let’s get going. I think a peaceful day at the lake would do both of us some good.”
He rolled onto his back and turned his face toward the clock. “Yikes. It’s nine o’clock? Why in the world did you let me sleep this long?”
“I’m not your alarm clock.” I got up and smiled at him over my shoulder. “Come on. I need someone to teach me how to bait my hook.”
“Yep! I knew it.” He got up and moved to sit on the side of the bed. “You are most certainly not a fisherman.”
“All right. You’re right.” I turned to face him and put my hands on my hips. “I’m not a fisherman.”
“Oh, I know.” He stood and walked toward me, his cock semi-erect as if he were thinking naughty thoughts. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were.
“I’m a fisherwoman. Hello.” I slid my hands up over his strong chest and around his neck, clasping my fingers together and pulling him close. “I’ll bet you the mother of all blow jobs that I’ll catch a fish before you.”
“You don’t even know this lake.” He lifted his eyebrow and gave me a quizzical stare. Little did he know, I loved the taste of his body.
“And? I’m that confident. So take the bet or don’t.” I released him and shrugged. “Man up or chicken out.”
“Psh. I’m going to enjoy watching you suck me off in every room of the house, pretty girl.”
I turned to walk to the closet only to get my butt popped. I laughed and walked into grab a pair of tennis shoes. “And if I do catch the fish?”
“You can have anything you want from me.” He leaned against the door frame, not at all shy as he stood there naked.
“Hmmm there are so many things I want.” I turned and walked toward him, leaning in to kiss his soft lips, and I ran my hand down the full length of him. “Would it be okay to tell you what I want after I get the first fish and win?”
“Sure. Why not?” He cupped my face and kissed me deeply until my knees threatened to give out. “You sure you want to catch stinky old fish? We could curl up under a blanket in the study and watch old movies together.”
“Naked?” I teased him, knowing good and damn well that he wanted to live life naked.
“Oh yeah.” He released me and walked into the closet to pull a few things from the hangers. “Life is better naked.”
“Even at the office?” I walked into the bedroom and breathed in deeply. His cologne mixed with lust, leaving the place to smell like heaven. My sense of heaven at least.
“Um, no.” He walked out, putting his shoes. “That my coffee?”
“Yes, sir, it is.” I picked up both cups and handed him one. “You ready to go down?”
“Now, wait a minute.” He lifted an eyebrow and turned his full attention on me. “Am I eating you out or are we going fishing?”
I laughed and popped him in the chest. “That’s a way to change the subject, loser.”
“We’ll see who loses today.” He followed me out. “And I don’t want to hear you whining about you deep throating me tonight.”
“Never.” I glanced over my shoulders and gave him a smoldering look. “I like the idea of you fucking yourself silly using any part of me.”
He groaned, and I laughed. Life was good, and it would seem that no matter who won, we were going to have a lot of fun.
*
“I’m not sure I ever thanked you for saving me.” I glanced over at Alfie as we sat on the dock near the edge of town. The fish hadn’t been biting too much that day, but we’d enjoyed the time to get to know each other better. The serenity of the lake caused both of us to open up a little about our pasts, our families, and our hopes for the future.
“Saving you from what, lass?” He smiled and reached over to run his hand down the back of my hair. Something about his touch felt so comforting, so right.
“Saving me from the situation with Harry.” I shrugged and turned to watch my bobber go under. “Hey! I think I’ve got something.”
I scrambled to my feet and started to reel the line in as fast as I could. Alfie laughed and jolted up beside me, his hands in a readied position as if I might get tired of reeling in the fish. I wasn’t sure what was more comical—me or him.
“Faster, Mol. Real it in faster. These fish out here are old and smart!” He laughed and reached for the line as I pulled up a fish. A small fish, but it was still our first catch of the day. “Great job.”
I gave him a sweet look. “Anyway, you’ll take it off the line for me? I hate the thought of touching it.” I crinkled up my nose and made a sound of disgust.
He laughed heartily. “Of course, love. You want to keep it? Fry it up for dinner?”
It was my turn to laugh. “There wouldn’t be enough for us to have an appetizer out of.”
“This is true.” He worked to get the fish off the hook before wiping his hands on his pants. “It’s a good damn thing you’re not in charge of rounding up our dinner.”
I put a hand on my hip and lifted my eyebrow. “That so? Because I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one who’s caught anything today.”
“Touché.” He leaned over and picked up his pole and started to reel it in. “Let’s go grab some dinner over at Albert’s, hmm? He’s got the best fish and chips in town.”
“I’m down for not having to cook tonight. I’d rather spend my time washing this really hot guy I know. Then maybe taking some time to make him squirm?”
He glanced over at me, face a mask of indifference. “Do I know this guy?”
I giggled before wrapping my free arm around him and kissing the back of his shoulder. I pressed my cheek to his back and rested against him, letting the sexiness of his muscles flexing against me throw me into a horny lust. It wasn’t hard to do around him.
“You do know him.” I kissed his back once more before turning and walking away. “You know what I think?”
“Do tell.” He joined me in a slow, languid walk back toward the car.
“I think we should set up Logan and Peyton.” I stopped at the trunk and moved back as he put everything up for us. “She’s my best friend, and he’s yours. I think they would really like each other.”
He nodded. “I think you might be right. From what little I know of Peyton, she seems like the kind of woman that Logan would be thrilled to take out for a bite to eat.”
“Wait…are we talking food or him biting her?” I reached for him, pulling him close to me as he encircled me with his strong arms.
“Food for them, nibbling on flesh for me.” He leaned in and ran his nose by mine. “We could just wait for the two of them to meet.”
“Where in the world would that ever happen?” My stomach tightened at his nearness, and my pulse spiked.
“It could happen anywhere, I suppose, but it will most certainly happen at our wedding.” He leaned in and kissed me softly. “That’s assuming you’ll marry a chap like me.”
I smiled. “I can’t see myself with anyone but you. I don’t think you have much to worry about.”
“And you’re good with working at the company with me? I know it’s a little—”
I cut him off by pressing my lips to his. I was good with anything he wanted to do, and however he wanted to do it. I’d spent my life looking for love in the wrong places and never really feeling like I belonged.
He made my world different. Better. He completed me, and I still couldn’t believe we got our start the day I left my fiancé, and his best University friend, at the altar. Speaking of Harry…
“What happened with you and Harry the other day? You didn’t really tell me the story.” I slid my hands up his chest and around his neck as the wind blew around us.
“He just came up and apologized.” He shrugged. “I think he fell in love with his company and found his importance in that. It fucks up your love life when you do.”
“Yeah, I understand that. Every relationship starts to become an interview for what that person can do for you in your career.”
“Even your outlook on marriage.” He shook his head. “My mother and father got married because they loved each other, and my father took on his company as a mistress. It fucked things up. I’m so much like him that it scares me that I might accidentally do that too. Promise me that you’ll let me know if I ever start to neglect you in lieu of the business. Please?”
I smiled. “Of course, Alfie. There’s going to be times when the business has to be more important, for both of us, but we’ll pull through. I love you so much already. I can’t imagine where our future is headed.”
“Me either, but I’m looking forward to it for the first time since my father died.” He leaned down and kissed me, deepening it and stealing my breath. “That’s all thanks to you, so maybe I should be thanking you, hmmm?”
“For what?” I snuggled against him, finding home in his arms. Wherever he was, I would be too. There was no way in the world I was walking away from what he had together. It seemed almost fairytale-like, as if it had been in existence the whole time, and yet I was just discovering it for myself.
“For saving me.” He closed the small gap between us and kissed me until my knees grew weak. It was a theme in our relationship, and I had no doubt that it always would be.