Chapter 11 #2
Once at church, I started prepping the tables in the courtyard for the bake sale.
Being here always reminded me of my childhood.
Every bake sale was always on a blistering hot day every year.
The only difference was that now, as an adult, I could dress myself.
When I attended these events as a kid, my mom would dress me in pantyhose and velvet dresses, regardless of the weather.
I shuddered at the thought and purposefully wore my most breathable dress.
It was a pretty yellow and had thin spaghetti straps tied at the tops of my shoulders with a flowy skirt that wouldn’t restrict my movements.
Elspeth should be by to help any minute. Our church congregation was notorious for being intense. Last year, there was an all-out brawl between two old ladies over the last loaf of sweet bread. I shuddered at the thought of wigs flying.
I was setting everything in place when a tall, dark figure cast a shadow across the table. William was staring down at me with his aviators on. He looked damn sexy, and I hated him for it.
“What are you doing here?”
“Elspeth had to take care of some things at the pub. I’m subbing in.”
“No, that’s okay. I can handle this on my own.”
William crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Nairie, I’m just here to help.”
“Well, I’d rather do this alone. Be gone.”
William continued staring at me and silently joined my side, bringing more baked goods to the forefront of the table.
“Seriously, dude, leave.”
“I think you need all the help you can get, dude.” He emphasized the last word with disdain.
Just then, a barrage of ladies in frilly frocks exited the church and flocked toward our table.
I panicked. “Oh, god, okay, fine. It’s one baklava tray per person. They’re going to try and take more. Don’t let them. They can get a little rowdy.”
William chuckled. “You realize I’ve been in combat multiple times.”
“Nothing can prepare you for the church bake sale.”
“I think we should try to sell these while we’re at it.”
William dug into the satchel he’d put down and lifted out prints of my illustrations. It was a series I did about sea animals.
“Where did you get these?!”
I reached for them, but William pulled them away. “I scanned some of the sketches lying around your bedroom.”
“Well, that’s a serious invasion of privacy.”
“Hey, they weren’t locked up, and you left them scattered all over the place. It was like you were asking for them to be seen.”
I reached for them again, but William held them higher.
“William, seriously, put those away. I don’t want anybody seeing them.”
“Anybody or just your parents?”
I was losing my patience. “Both! People are starting to come over.”
“How about we see if they sell? And your parents won’t know they’re yours. Your signature is just your initials.”
The crowd was inching closer, and I didn’t have time to argue.
Through gritted teeth, I said, “Fine!”
William smiled victoriously and set the prints out, jotting down prices for them on note cards.
The next couple of hours were a whirlwind.
I had to help William multiple times; a few women tried to take advantage of the fact that he was new to the table and attempted to talk their way into taking more baked goods than the allotted amount.
I even had to translate for him a few times as some patrons didn’t speak English.
I ignored his impressed looks, like he was surprised I took control of the situation with ease.
Mom approached near the end and looked pleased with the number of baked goods sold but also surprised to see William. “William, what are you doing here?”
“I heard Nairie needed help with the bake sale, so I offered.”
Mom nodded suspiciously. “Nairie, I wanted to introduce you to David before your date tonight.”
I took in a deep breath. “Okay.”
My mother’s curly hair bounced with every step in her high stilettos as she disappeared into one of the church halls.
I busied myself with organizing the remaining desserts but felt William’s gaze burning into me.
I looked up and saw him glaring down at me. His aviators hung on his button-down shirt so I could see the intense green of his eyes. “Date, huh?”
“Yeah, should be fun.”
I squirmed and twirled a lock of hair between my fingers. “What are you staring at?”
“Are you going to wear that?” He looked down at my sundress and my tasteful amount of cleavage.
“What’s it to you?”
“Don’t want him to get the wrong idea.”
I was about to lay into him when Mom reappeared with a man following close behind.
I was shocked to see that David wasn’t actually bad looking.
He wore dress pants and a button-down with expensive shoes and a big watch to match.
He was clean shaven with a strong square-cut jaw and brown eyes.
His black hair was short and slicked back in a coif without a hair out of place.
Overall, he gave the impression that he knew how to dress and enjoyed it.
I preferred a man with a bit more crust to him, but if he made William jealous, so be it.
David’s uncle was friends with my uncle. In our small community, everybody knew everybody. Luckily, he wasn’t remotely related to me, unlike the last guy, who was a distant cousin.
As Mom and David approached, William instinctively drew closer to me.
“David, this is my daughter, Nairie.” My mom motioned toward me.
David’s eyebrows lifted, and he looked me up and down, lingering for a millisecond on my breasts.
It made me uncomfortable, but I ignored it and tried to feign interest. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Yes, I can’t believe we haven’t met before.”
My mom bubbled with excitement. “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.”
David’s veneered smile didn’t reach his eyes, and I absentmindedly wiped my hand after shaking his. My pinkie brushed against William’s knuckle in the process.
“This is William, an old friend. He was helping me with the bake sale.”
William stuck out his hand and gripped David’s. They entered into some weird unspoken glaring contest.
“Daniel, was it?” William bit out.
“David, actually. I detect an accent. Where are you from?”
“Scotland.”
“How quaint.”
William scowled, his eyes burning holes into David. His thick arms were crossed in front of his chest, and his forearm muscles ticked like he was holding back from hitting somebody.
His energy was positively murderous. “What do you do?”
“I’m a lawyer.”
“Well versed in lying, I take it?”
I balked at William’s blatant rudeness, but David chuckled and pointed to his large Rolex. “Very well versed.” David turned to me. “Nairie, I’m excited for our date tonight. We’ll be going to Crave, it’s the newest Michelin star restaurant on Sunset.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “Sounds good.”
“I’ll pick you up at eight.” David leaned in and grabbed my fingers to kiss the top of my hand. He side-eyed William while he did it and smirked. “It was nice meeting you, Willy.”
William continued to grip his biceps across his chest and watched David until he turned the corner out of sight. “I don’t like him, Nairie.”
“You’re the one who told me to date other people.”
William angrily spat out, “Not people like that.”
I pulled William into a corner of the courtyard so we wouldn’t make a scene and whisper yelled, “You can’t dictate who I date!”
William looked down at me with a fiery intensity, and we stared at each other for an indefinite amount of time.
The days after hooking up had left us both riled, and the sexual tension was palpable any time we were in the same room.
And right now, it was close to bursting.
I could feel William’s aggressive energy and his jealousy and couldn’t help but feel my body being drawn closer to him.
It was like animal magnetism, and I wasn’t strong enough to fight it.
William was always handsome, but seeing him volatile was a huge turn-on. My chest nearly touched his now, and our breaths came faster. I desperately wanted him to kiss me, to do something to expel this sexual frustration.
But William only grunted and closed his eyes, collecting his thoughts. “Don’t worry, your parents will never know about your artwork. All your prints sold.”
He handed me a wad of bills, then turned and left.
I looked after him, dazed and confused. If he was so jealous, then why didn’t he give in? I didn’t really want to go out with David. He was a typical stuck-up prick, but the man I was in love with clearly didn’t want to be with me. So I’d go on the date tonight, even if it was doomed to fail.