FOUR

 

ETHAN

 

 

I left Jason grumbling in the background. He could complain all he wanted. I knew from the minute I saw him that he'd bid on her. I could just tell.

I also knew he didn't have a brain enough beyond cunning. He'd bid the standard maximum of fifty thousand. There weren't many people willing to go that high and no one would on an unknown quantity like Alice.

How many of them would be ashamed even to be seen with a barmaid? Ten thousand for Jemima was high enough for most. It was a lot of money for one evening of company.

I hadn't cheated. The rules were simple. You could bid any amount you chose. Just because the perceived maximum was fifty didn't mean you couldn't go higher.

I had chosen seventy-five thousand because I knew no one would bid that high. It was simple really. Didn't stop me feeling nervous though when Tony made the announcement.

I had won. She looked shocked to see me. Did she know what she was getting into? What I had planned for her?

She pretty much fell off the stage, getting to her feet and brushing herself down as I took her hand. "Now what?" she asked as we walked to my table.

"Now I get you a drink. You look like you need it."

"Someone getting me a drink, well that's a novelty."

"What would you like?"

"A gallon of wine?"

"How about we start with a bottle and take it from there? The Lafite 65 all right with you?"

"Lafite? Of course, I drink it all the time. That's white, yeah?"

"Red."

"Oh, you drink the red Lafite. Well, all right, if there's no white."

I smiled. "Sit here, I'll be back."

I headed over to buy the drinks, leaving her sat at my table. She was glancing around nervously, like she thought someone was going to tell her to get back behind the bar where she belonged.

"I hope you're going to take good care of her," Rowena said as she brought out the bottle and a couple of glasses.

"Of course."

"I mean it, Ethan. She's a good kid and she's honest which is more than can be said for some of the people in here."

"Meaning?"

"Come on, her name just appears in the auction. Do you think I don't know how it happened? I can turn a blind eye but that doesn't mean other people will."

"Understood."

"Just don't use her and toss her aside like you do with everyone else."

"I've no idea what you're talking about," I said, taking the bottle from her and walking back to Alice.

"So," she said when I sat down. "So."

"So?"

"So I'm not great at small talk apparently."

"All right. Why not tell me something about yourself. What do you do when you're not serving drinks?"

"Well I just finished a long series of unemployment so I'm not in my pyjamas every day anymore which is nice."

"That's good."

"What about you? What do you do?"

"Not very much."

"Unemployed too?"

I laughed. "I own a couple of businesses but I have plenty of good people doing the hard work for me. Gives me more time to meet people like you."

"A couple of businesses. We've all got a couple of businesses. One not enough?"

"I got greedy, what can I say?"

"Can I ask a question?" She sounded nervous as she said it, as if she thought I might say no.

"Of course you can."

"Why did you bid on me?"

"Because I want to spend the night with you."

"I see." She picked up her glass and almost drained it in one gulp. "Hey, that's not bad," she said, grabbing the bottle and pouring another glassful.

"It's all right, isn't it?" I said, sipping at my own. "For a red Lafite."

She fell silent.

"Back in a moment," I said, leaving her alone. I went to the gents and when I came back, she was halfway through the bottle. Her nerves had faded, her shoulders less tense. "Welcome back," she said, holding up her glass to toast my return. "Come on, you need to catch up."

"Take it steady," I replied. "We've got a while to go yet."

"Where do you live?" she asked. "Is it a penthouse? I bet it's a penthouse."

"Just a house."

"I bet it's not. I bet it's at the top of The Shard with a butler at the door."

"It's a house, I promise you."

"Right, prove it."

"What?"

"Show me your house."

I stood up. "All right. Come on then."

She grabbed the bottle, bringing it with her as we weaved our way to the door. Outside she looked along the row of cars. "The Lamborghini, that's yours isn't it."

"Nope."

"The Rolls then. I bet that's it."

"Guess again."

"That one."

"That's a taxi."

"Oh, right. Sorry. All right, I give up. Which one's yours?"

"This one," I said, unlocking the Ford.

"This? This isn't a billionaire's car."

"No, but it is mine. Thinking about changing your mind? Want something more glamorous to travel in? Only I'm not sure the jet could land here."

"Is this really your car?"

I nodded. "It has one advantage over all these others."

"What?" she asked, shivering as the cold started to hit her despite the wine.

"Climb in and find out."

She got in and I started the engine, keeping my smile from my lips as I thought about what I was going to do. I was going to see what was under those clothes. I was going to do to her the things I'd wanted to from the moment I saw her. And she had no idea. She was just swigging from the bottle of wine and giggling. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she said as I pulled out of the car park. "My mother would kill me."

"What for? Drinking?"

"Going home with a strange man."

"Am I strange?"

"You know what I mean. I don't ever do this sort of thing."

I put on my most innocent voice. "We're just going so I can prove I live in an ordinary house. That's all."

"Of course," she said, putting a mock stern look on her face. "Absolutely."

As I drove, I couldn't help but think of Elora and the last auction I'd taken part in. She'd come home with me in much the same way. After it all went wrong, I had no desire for another relationship for a long time. Until Alice. Until she appeared with those twinkling eyes and that perfect smile, the one she was giving me as I turned the corner and put my foot down. "Go on then," she said. "Why is this car so good?"

"Because the heating gets going really quickly."

"What? Seriously?"

I nodded. "Would I lie to you?"

"You're pulling my leg."

"I'm really not. Aren't you feeling warm already."

"I suppose so. But surely there's heating in supercars."

"Nowhere near as good, trust me."

Silence for a minute before she spoke. "So what are you going to do to me when we get in?"

"I'm going to cook you something."

"You don't have a personal chef to do that for you?"

"Not at nearly midnight. I do like him to get some sleep sometimes."

"That's very magnanimous of you."

"I'm a generous guy. I'm even thinking of paying him one of these days."

"Stop it, you're breaking my heart."

She was grinning and I couldn't help smiling too. I thought of Elora, of the way things had gone, the way they'd ended. I thought of how empty the house had been since then, how lonely life could be without someone there by your side. I looked at Alice and tried to picture life with her. What would it be like?

I got the feeling there would be a lot of jokes. Quite a bit of sarcasm too. Plenty of cheek. If she got too cheeky, I could always spank the sass out of her. That thought got me thinking about her bare ass pointing towards me.

I glanced down at her chest, almost hitting a parked car as my eyes refused to look away. What would happen if I tore her clothes off her? Told her to strip for me maybe? I could watch her peel those things off until she was naked and then...well then I had a lot of things lined up, far too many for just one night.

We pulled into the driveway just as she finished the bottle and by then I needed a drink myself. One glass of wine was my limit when I was driving but now I was home, I could have more. I would need it if I was going to calm the rising need inside me. It made me want to take her before we even got out of the car.

Did she realise the risk she was in coming home with me? How I might not let her go? How I was planning to do things to her that would make her scream my name?

"Welcome to my home," I said, opening her car door and holding out my hand to help her out. "Told you it wasn't a penthouse."