Chapter 25
Molly
It’s hard to sit coyly in Nora and Theo’s beautiful, festive drawing room, and make conversation with the girls, and not stand on the coffee table and shout out loud that I had hours of sex last night.
An entire evening of wanton fucking. Of greedy exploration.
Of dragging my nose and lips and tongue and teeth over every inch of Max Rutherford’s hard body before he scooped me up and carried me up to my room and refused to leave.
We’re sitting in a vague square on two facing sofas and several armchairs, getting stuck into the white wine and the abundance of canapes Nora has arranged over the enormous coffee table, because she’s the consummate hostess.
She and Theo got together when they were supposed to be fake-dating each other, and she was always adamant that she wanted a secure future with a sensible guy in a Georgian rectory.
So, to prove to her that he could be a stable life partner, Theo surprised her with a Georgian rectory.
Obviously.
And it really is stunning. This is their first Christmas in their home, and although they’ve only been in the place a few months, they’ve both worked hard at turning it into a beautiful retreat.
Tonight, a massive tree twinkles in the corner of the drawing room, the sculptural Georgian fireplace is bedecked with what I recognise as Sorrel Farm garlands, and a perfectly tasteful olive and eucalyptus wreath with an outsize winter-white velvet bow adorns every one of the four glass doors that overlook the now-dark gardens.
The sheer size of this place suggests they have serious plans for a family.
It turns out I don’t need to use my words this evening, because wanton sex goddess is apparently written all over my face.
As far as Sadie’s concerned, anyway. She turns to me as I laughingly thank the delicious Theo for my wine refill.
He really is gorgeous, with those Mediterranean looks and a grin so dirty he makes Max look like a choir boy.
‘Welcome,’ he says as he winks at me. Nora rolls her eyes.
‘What’s up with her?’ Sadie asks, pointing at me with narrowed eyes.
‘What? Me?’ I ask innocently.
‘Yes, you. You’re usually all quiet and coy when we have these things, but you. Are. Glowing.’
Theo grins down at me, one shapely eyebrow raised. ‘Affirmative. You getting some, Molly?’
‘Oh my God.’ I sit ramrod straight, clutching my wine glass like Theo might take it away. ‘Is it that obvious?’
‘Yep,’ Sadie announces. ‘It really is. Did you shag Paul?’
Clara, already sitting next to me, scoots even further towards me. ‘Bloody hell. Did you?’
‘No,’ I say, deflating for a second. ‘Sorry, ladies. That’s not happening. Even though he’s perfect.’
‘Soooo…’ Sadie prompts.
I sigh and glance at Theo. ‘I do have some news, but it’s not suitable for Theo.’
Pretty much everyone around the room snorts in amused disagreement.
Theo’s snort is the loudest of all. ‘My beautiful fiancée will tell you that not only am I unshockable, but I’m also the kinkiest fucker she’s ever encountered.
’ He puts the wine bottle on the coffee table and sits down on the sofa next to me, so close I have to practically climb onto Clara’s lap.
He pats my jean-clad knee paternally. ‘So spill it, Molly. Tell Uncle Theo all about your hot, filthy sex. If a guy is lucky enough to be fucking you, I want to hear about it.’
‘You are literally the creepiest person I’ve ever met,’ Nora says in mock-disgust. These two make me laugh so much.
According to Nora, Theo’s loosened her up a lot, but she still seems to find his behaviour outrageous most of the time.
Even if a small part of me suspects she plays up her moral outrage just to encourage him.
‘Oh my God,’ Evelyn says. ‘You slept with Max. Didn’t you?’
‘Um.’ I look around the cluster of sofas at the dear faces of my friends. Evelyn looks horrified. Everyone else’s face is rapt. I risk a glance to my left. Theo’s gorgeous face is lit up, his grin Cheshire-Cat wide. I’ve been bursting to share my news, and now I feel self-conscious.
‘It was Max,’ I admit.
There’s a chorus of oohs and ahhs and sharp, shocked intakes of breath.
‘I bloody well warned him,’ Evelyn says, more to herself than anyone else. ‘I distinctly remember telling him not to shag you.’
This is news to me. ‘Are you serious?’
‘Deadly serious.’
Zoe puts a hand on Evelyn’s knee. ‘It’s okay, as long as Molly is happy? Not upset about it?’
I shake my head slowly as I try unsuccessfully to suppress a smirk. ‘Nope. Definitely not upset about it. More like in some kind of sex-fuelled coma that has me floating around like a teenager.’ I sneak a look at Theo. ‘Sorry, Theo.’
‘Don’t apologise. Nothing better than a sex-fuelled coma,’ he says, shooting his fiancée a grin so dirty that her pants must melt right off under that pretty black dress of hers. I’d say she’s going to get it tonight.
‘This is just excellent, excellent news,’ Sadie says, bottom-shuffling forward on the sofa opposite me so she can reach the bottle of wine.
It seems our appointed wine waiter has given up on providing a refill service in favour of gossiping like an old woman.
‘Now, please proceed with full details.’
‘Yeah,’ Jess says. ‘How did it happen? Did he jump on you while you were watching TV together?’
‘Or did he just come out with it and say he still had feelings for you?’ Clara asks. ‘Or, you know, that he wanted to jump your bones, at any rate?’
I cock my head, considering. ‘Probably more like how Clara said it.’
‘Ooooh,’ they gasp collectively.
‘Run down, please.’ Jess’ voice is firm as she grabs the wine bottle.
‘Theo, you’re doing a shite job of filling us up.
No.’ She holds out her hand as he opens his mouth.
‘I did not mean that the way it came out, so don’t even go there, Montague.
Right. Molly. You’re up. Everyone else—shut the fuck up and let her speak. ’
I smile. Jess is a foul-mouthed mother hen, but her tone does indeed shut everyone up. It seems I have the floor. Thank goodness, in a way, Theo’s here. His presence will stop me from spitting out too many indiscreet details.
‘The whole thing was quite cool, actually.’ I take a fortifying sip of wine.
Now, with the benefit of hindsight and three orgasms, I can enjoy the Cassandra part of the story far more than I did after she and Caspian left last night.
‘A mum from school came to pick her kid up from ours last night—she’s one of those impossibly manicured blondes with a superiority complex—and she was lecturing me on how I needed to make more of an effort if I wanted to find a new husband.’
‘Bitch,’ Jess offers. ‘That is all. Please proceed.’
‘Anyway—you cannot make this shit up—at that very moment, Max walked into the kitchen. Topless and wet. Daisy had soaked him when he was giving her a bath, and he’d stripped his shirt off.’
There are theatrical gasps all around. ‘Noooo,’ pretty much everyone hisses.
‘So you jumped him, there and then, in front of her?’ Theo guesses.
‘Romeo, keep your mouth shut or piss off to your porn den,’ Nora tells him in a tone that brooks no argument. I assume she means his study, but you never quite know with those two.
‘Not exactly,’ I tell him in a kinder tone. ‘But I wanted to. And let’s just say Cassandra was feeling it as much as I was. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for better timing. But when he’d disappeared back upstairs, she asked me if he and I were involved. And I said yes.’
Sadie wrinkles her sweet little button nose in sympathy as she smooths her suede mini-skirt over her thighs.
‘Exactly,’ I tell her. ‘And I felt like shit all evening. I don’t know; it just made me feel so pathetic, that I’d had to lie about a relationship with a gorgeous guy to make myself feel better in front of someone whose opinion shouldn’t matter, anyway.’
‘We’ve all been there, honey.’ Clara nods sagely.
‘Yeah,’ Sadie concurs. ‘And that was too good an opportunity to turn down. I would love to have seen her face.’
‘It was pretty priceless,’ I say. ‘But I was in a weird mood for the rest of the evening, and after I’d put the kids down, Max confronted me about it.
He thought I was pissed off with him. I kind of admitted that faking it with him had made me feel shitty and pathetic.
And then he was all like’—I fake a gruff voice—‘you think it’s not real?
It’s fucking real. It’s never stopped being real.
And then we kind of grabbed each other, and everything went up in flames. ’
‘Dear, sweet mother of Christ,’ Sadie says in an awed whisper.
‘Oh my God. It’s like you were in The Notebook, or something!’ Nora squeals. ‘That’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard!’
‘Yeah, because you’ve always been so good at knowing when things go from fake to real, Belle,’ Theo says to her with heat in his eyes.
Evelyn sighs. ‘I mean, even I can’t argue with that. It’s fucking real? The man deserved to get laid, just for that.’
‘And for showing up half-naked when bitch-face was giving her a hard time,’ Jess points out.
Evelyn inclines her head with characteristic graciousness. ‘That too,’ she concedes.
‘Er, we’re not finished yet. Then he took you off to bed?’ Clara asks.
‘Um.’ I chance a self-conscious glance at Theo. ‘The living room, actually. It has a perfectly good rug.’
‘Nice.’ Sadie nods approvingly. ‘That’s seriously hot.’
‘Okay, so here’s what I want to know.’ Clara leans forward and picks up a tiny quiche, her hand poised to pop it into her mouth.
‘Was it, like, better than you remembered? More intense? Did it feel like coming home? Because the first time I slept with Alex, second time around…’ She shakes her head.
‘It was more everything. It was like I’d only been half alive for the previous twenty years. ’
I stare at her as she eats the quiche. She and Alex had it tough. Torn apart when he was imprisoned without warning, and kept apart for two decades. My and Max’s break-up was more civilised. On the surface, it was voluntary. Even though it felt anything but.
I attempt to put into words the maelstrom of emotions that last night stirred up.
‘It was this overwhelming sense of relief. We talked about it, actually. Afterwards. We’d both wanted it so badly, and neither of us was brave enough to make a move.
When we were together, years ago, it was incredible, but last night felt like a dam breaking.
You know? Like we’d denied ourselves for so bloody long, and there was so much passion, and history, and crazy amounts of lust and frustration.
We’ve both been through a lot. It felt like a reward. ’
‘Like closure?’ Evelyn asks, wincing slightly, and I shake my head.
‘No. I know that’s not what you want to hear, because I know you feel protective of me, but I’m afraid not. It feels more like…’
I pause. I know the gorgeous humans seated around me want what’s best for me.
I know they’re tickled and thrilled and excited that I’ve finally got myself some action. Got a boost from a gorgeous man about whom they know I once cared deeply.
I know no one is judging me for seizing my happiness, for giving into physical temptation and availing of the considerable charms of my ex-slash-houseguest-slash-manny.
I suspect they’re all wondering whether anything has truly changed between us. Whether Max’s views on having a family have changed at all. Whether there is any hope for us beyond a few weeks of excellent orgasms.
And, although I have no intel for them, no crystal ball, no right to think any further out than the coming days and weeks, I finish my sentence.
I verbalise the small seed of hope that’s beginning to germinate in my heart.
‘…It feels more like a new beginning.’
As the wine flows, and the questions keep coming, and Evelyn tries her best to look excited for me instead of concerned, my phone pings with a message.
Max.
I hold it close to me so Theo can’t peek, and open it.
He’s taken a selfie in my bed. He’s topless, hopefully naked, and grinning at me. He has his reading glasses on. They weren’t a necessity twelve years ago, but I seriously dig them. He makes them look pretty damn sexy. An open book rests against those abs whose lines I licked last night.
Kids are tucked up. So am I. See you later, gorgeous xxx
I can’t get home fast enough.