Chapter 15 #2
He gets into the car and I close the door behind him.
Another day, another country….
ALORA
Market night is always crazy, but this one is intense.
“My god,” Helene whispers as I wrap a vase. “Why are they all drinking so much, we’re going to run out of wine at this rate.”
“There’s three more boxes in my office.”
“They’re hot.”
“So go put them on ice.” I fake a smile to the customer. “Thank you so much for coming.” I pass her the paper bag. “Enjoy your vase.”
“Oh, I will.” She smiles.
In true market night fashion, this has been a sell-out event. We have every casual staff member working and still we can’t keep up.
Helene begins hauling wine out of the office and dumping it in ice buckets. “We’re nearly out of cheese as well,” she whispers. “This isn’t a restaurant, fuckers.”
“Pigs,” I mouth. “Hi.” I smile to the next customer. “How can I help you?”
“I’d like the pair of Ming lamps please?”
“Oh, they’re divine.” I walk over and put a sold sticker on them. “I’ll just run out the back and grab the boxes.” I walk out to the back room and begin hunting down the boxes, Helene is on her hands and knees emptying wine bottles.
Jonty comes around the doorway. “Those idiots are here but don’t worry, I told them tickets are sold out.”
“Who?” I put my hands on my hips. “Have you seen the boxes for the Ming lamps?”
“Prescott and his stupid friends.”
“He’s here?” My eyes widen.
“With whom?” Helene snaps.
“The prince and whatnot. I told them to leave but Prescott refused, told me to go get Alora.”
“Jonty.” Helene slaps him hard on the arm. “Are you fucking insane.” She marches to the front door. “Hello,” I hear her over-the-top gush. “How lovely to see you again, Edward. Come in. Come in.”
“She’s pathetic.” Jonty rolls his eyes.
Boom, boom…boom goes my heart.
What is he doing here?
I take my time as I try to find the boxes for the Ming lamps, which have somehow miraculously vanished into thin air. I hold my fingers to my temples as I inwardly freak out.
Calm down…it’s fine. Everything is fucking fine.
“Hello.” Edward walks into the back room. He’s wearing a perfectly fitted navy suit and a cream shirt; his hair is just-fucked perfection and can we have a moment of silence for the scent of his aftershave, it’s dancing around me naked.
Dear lord.
“Hi.” I force a smile, suddenly the store feels way too small for his energy. His presence penetrates every inch of space.
“What are you doing here?” I act casual as I concentrate on the shelving.
Where are these fucking boxes?
“I came to say hello.” He leans against the shelving with his shoulder, his hands in his suit pant pockets.
“Hello.”
“Thought I might pick up one of those mystery boxes.”
I glance over at him and he gives me the best come-fuck-me look of all time.
How does he know about them…wait a minute, does he watch my morning videos?
“You don’t need to buy a mystery box.” I keep looking for another troublesome box, true to its name its designation is a complete fucking mystery.
“You’re going to give it to me for free then?” He raises an eyebrow as his eyes hold mine, and the air crackles between us.
Okay, stop.
Everything that comes out of his mouth sounds so sexual…. Or maybe it’s just that I really, really want to have sex with this bastard.
“Edward, I’m very busy tonight.” I find a pair of boxes, too small for the lamps but who cares at this point, I’ll stuff them in if it kills me.
“Too busy for me?”
I look back over to him; his dark eyes hold mine as he leans against the shelving.
Never.
“Umm.” I hesitate as his closeness causes every cell in my brain to misfire, not a single coherent thought.
“Well?” He reaches over and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “Is there anything I can do to…. Help?”
Tear my clothes off.
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Umm.” Again…. No words. Nothing. Just complete and utter deer-in-the-headlights dumbass.
He breaks into a broad smile; the bastard knows he has me flustered.
“I’ll go look around the store.” With a last long smolder, he walks out the front and I drop my head into my hands.
Fuck.
How is this man so ridiculously hot? It’s criminal, no woman on earth could find a box in these conditions.
“Oh my god, oh my god.” Helene comes around the corner like a hornet, she peeks through the blinds. “His hot guard is with him.”
“Which one?”
“The one that looks like Jason Statham.”
“That’s Philippe.” I pass her the boxes.
“Well, Philippe is delicious and I am totally screwing his brains out.” She shoves them back. “I have my own boxes to look for.”
“No you are not,” I whisper angrily. “Nobody is screwing anybody.”
“What is wrong with you?” she whispers.
“What is wrong with you?” I fire back.
“Where are the boxes?” Jonty sticks his head around the corner and widens his eyes. “What the hell are you two doing? There’s a thousand people out here waiting for boxes at the cash register, you know?”
Having a heart attack, if you really must know.
“Sorry.” I rush back into the store, crap…
he’s right. People are everywhere, and from the corner of my eye I catch sight of Edward’s friends walking through the aisles as they look around, Theodore, Nicholas, and that other friend of theirs, I forget his name.
They are all wearing suits, chatting away while looking all orgasmic.
He brought his friends to my store; do they know anything about me or our history, has he told them…what the hell does this mean?
I feel the blood begin to drain from my body as I realize something. The Prince of Monaco is here… and we have no fucking cheese.
Argh!
“Hello.” I smile calmly to the next customer at the front desk. “How can I help you?”
“Hi, I’m interested in the grand piano,” a man asks.
“Of course,” I reply, my eyes flick over his shoulder to the smolder squad, loitering around like God’s gift to women. Not an analogy, these men are literally God’s gift to women.
“This way.” I briskly walk to the other end of the store with the man trailing behind me. I open the lid. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“May I?” He gestures to it.
“Be my guest.” I discreetly wipe the perspiration from my brow, this night is a pressure cooker and I am the meat.
He sits down and starts playing a classical tune and the store collectively stops and listens.
He’s good….
I look up to the other end of the store to see Edward mutter something under his breath to his friends and they all chuckle, seemingly unimpressed.
Smart-asses.
I’d like to see you play better…actually, these tossers probably all play harps and shit. I don’t even know what rich people play, but I’m sure it’s not the recorder like normal people learned at school.
I see Jonty hold up wineglasses to Edward and his friends and they nod.
Oh, hell on a cracker…. For the love of god, do not drink that wine!
It’s average at best. I widen my eyes to Helene.
Help!
Mr. Piano Man keeps playing and playing and playing and from my peripheral vision I can see Helene’s shoulders bouncing up and down as she giggles.
That bitch can read my mind, and this isn’t a concert, you giant dickhead.
I don’t have time for this.
“Would you like some cheese and crackers?” Jonty calls to them.
Shut up, Jonty. Please. Just shut the hell up.
“Yes, why not,” Edward replies.
I discreetly wipe my brow again, it’s so fucking hot in here.
Combustible.
Helene ducks into an aisle and loses it, laughing hard as she leans her hands on her knees.
But Mr. Piano Man keeps playing…. On and on and fucking on.
“Excuse me.” I fake a smile. I march into the aisle that Helene is hiding in. “Oh my god,” I whisper as I pull her farther away out of sight. “That fuckwit won’t stop playing the piano and Jonty is poisoning Edward with cheap wine and bad cheese. Do something.”
She throws her head back and laughs harder. “That wine is really bad.”
I hold my temples. “Get rid of them.”
“Who?”
“All of them, especially Piano Man.”
“Go talk to them and then they’ll leave. I’ll handle Piano Man.”
“Good thinking.” I fan my face. “Are you hot?”
“No, are you?”
“Fucking volcanic.” I wipe my forehead with my sleeve and walk out of the aisle, I make my way over to Edward and his friends. “Hello.” I act calm. “How are you?”
“Hello, Alora,” Prince Theodore says, he leans in and kisses my cheek. “Your store is incredible.”
Eeep!
“Thank you.”
Nicholas and the other man both kiss my cheek. “Hello.”
“Thanks for coming.” I smile.
Edward hangs back watching, why he didn’t kiss my cheek is what I want to know.
“What brought you all out tonight?” I act interested. “Do you like antiques or…?”
“We had dinner with Prescott around the corner and he wanted to call in on the way home.”
“Oh.” I smile. I glance between them just to catch Edward bite his lip to stop himself from smiling.
That was a lie.
“We’re going soon, though,” Theo says. “I’m buying this painting on my way out.”
“Okay.” This is so awkward. “Thanks for coming, it was nice to see you again.”
“You too.”
What’s the etiquette here, do princes pay full price for stuff or is there a royal discount I don’t know about?
Jonty rings up the painting and I serve another customer, though my mind is in overdrive. Why did he bring his friends here?
He seems different tonight, perhaps a little better behaved, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking. I mean, coming to my market night is kind of an effort.
Nearly….
I serve a few more people and they wave. “Bye,” they call as they leave.
I let out a sigh of relief and turn to see Edward still here, he disappears into an aisle.
What is he doing?
I finish serving and go off in search of him, I find him in the taxidermy aisle. “Hello,” I say.
“Hi.” He smiles, he picks up a stuffed rat and studies it. “What interesting things you have here.”
“Uh-huh.” I nod with my hands on my hips.
“I always wanted one of these.” His eyes dance with mischief. “Said no one ever.”
“I thought your friends left.”