Chapter 56
Fifty-Six
A s the sun was beginning to set, I found myself sitting on the broken steps leading into the Evergarden.
My feet were still a little damp from where I’d waded in the lake, and blades of grass stuck to me.
My hair was loose and tangled from the sharp spring breeze.
I felt like I was exactly as I should be, wild and untamed, except for the grey dress of course which reminded me that I was not as free as I thought.
I wondered what it would be like to own a place as beautiful as this, to be in Alfie’s world forever. It wasn’t all bad. Exploring beautiful properties was definitely something I could get used to.
“Miss?” The steady voice nudged me out of my imagination and I looked up to find Elliot standing behind me holding a box of take out with a Chinese logo on the side.
“Hey, Elliot. Dinnertime?” I stood, smoothing out my dress.
“Yes, if you’re ready to eat. Mr Tell instructed me to fetch you as soon as I returned.”
“Yeah, I’m starving. Thanks.” I hopped up the steps and we headed back towards the house. Elliot was quiet as usual but I was filled with the urge to purge him of every piece of Alfie information he had. I decided to start off small and play it as cool as possible.
“So, how long have you worked for Alfie?” I asked as we walked.
“Are you trying to wheedle information out of me?” My mouth fell open but Elliot didn’t look angry, merely gave me a humouring smile and kept on walking.
“Ten years, Miss. I worked for his father first and before that I was in the military.” We approached the patio and I noticed that the workmen had all gone.
“What was his father like?”
Elliot paused, clearly choosing his words very carefully. “He was an excellent business man, Miss.”
Oh yeah, there was a whole lot left out of that answer.
“You didn’t like him much, huh?” I was trying to keep our conversation light but Elliot didn’t return my levity. Instead his face took on the same dark shadow that haunted Alfie whenever the past came up.
We fell into silence as we climbed the stairs to the first floor.
I tried to make sense of Elliot. The calloused knuckles, the scars, the still, silent way he assessed every situation.
Why did Alfie need someone around like that?
This conversation was supposed to be answering questions, not raising even more.
“Elliot, why does Alfie need someone with your…uh…skills?”
“As I said, Miss, I worked for his father first. He was the one who hired me and the reasons for that aren’t ones I’m willing to share.
I suggest you leave it be.” He was firm but his eyes were gentle and I nodded.
I’d definitely pushed on that enough and resolved to throw that topic in the Do Not Disturb box along with the rest of Alfie’s shit.
“Hey, Elliot?”
“Yes, Miss?” he answered, sounding a little wary.
“Do you have a gun?” I asked in a hushed whisper even though there was no one else in the deserted halls.
“Yes, I have a gun.”
“Can I see it?”
“Absolutely not,” he replied and I huffed in annoyance. This conversation had been a complete waste of time.
I followed Elliot through the sprawling manor house to a room in the far reaches of the west wing.
He knocked on a heavy wooden door, the dull thud echoing eerily along the corridor.
Outside, the sun was quickly setting and here in the deep recesses of this gargantuan house, it felt almost ghostly.
I was glad I wasn’t wandering around this place by myself.
Alfie called for us to enter and Elliot opened the door, allowing me through first.
The makeshift office was sparse and not yet fully decorated, but thick cream drapes hung from the bay window behind Alfie and to my left was a deep brown leather couch with a low oak coffee table before it.
I found Alfie sitting at a bespoke oak desk and frowning at his laptop.
He looked up, his gaze immediately dropping to my feet.
“Where are your shoes?” he asked and I followed his gaze to my bare feet. I’d forgotten about the ridiculous heels.
“I just took them off to explore and I guess I left them in the garden…Sorry.” I left out the part where I’d flipped off his instructions not to go out of sight of the house.
“You left a pair of Louboutins in the garden?” I just shrugged, not really knowing what else to do, and his steely gaze shifted to Elliot who was standing beside me, holding the box of take out. “You didn’t think to ask her why she was bare footed?”
“With all due respect, Sir, it didn’t seem to be that out of character.”
Alfie paused for a moment before nodding.
“Fair point.” I knew I should have been insulted, but I was just glad I’d dodged that bullet.
After today, I didn’t need Alfie finding out I’d broken another rule.
Elliot placed the box on the coffee table and began unpacking the food but Alfie waved a dismissive hand at him, his eyes still fixed firmly on me. “We can manage it, Elliot. Thank you.”
“Sir.” Elliot nodded and left us.
“Come here, O’Connell,” Alfie ordered, his voice like silk. My insides did a little flip of excitement and I wasted no time crossing the room to get to him. He didn’t get up from his chair, merely manoeuvred me until I was standing between his legs.
“Turn around, baby.” I bit my lip and turned. Again there was a long, delicious pause where he kept me poised on the edge of seduction.
“Lift your dress.” My hands went to the skirt of my dress and I raised it until it bunched around my waist, baring me to him completely as he still had my underwear in his pocket.
“Bend over the desk.” My breath hitched in my throat but I did as he asked, laying myself out over a plethora of papers, leaving myself open to him. I waited...and waited.
“Did you have fun exploring the grounds?”
My stomach dropped. Oh crap. I heard his chair squeak behind me as he stood. His hands wrapped around my waist as he pressed himself up against me.
“Did you know that the tracker in your phone can tell me how far away you are, right down to the metre?” I shook my head and gasped as his hand found its way to my core, moaning as he slipped his thumb inside and pressed down, the angle hitting my G-Spot in an entirely new way.
The sensation sent shock waves through me, causing my legs to tremble.
“I told you not to go out of sight of the house because it’s getting dark and I didn’t want you wandering in the woods alone. ”
“I’m sorry. I just wanted?—”
“You gave me your word,” he said, all the while working me with his thumb, “and you broke it.” I bit my lip, writhing on his desk, my mind a whirring mass of contradictions. I shouldn’t like this and yet…
His thumb still inside me, he curled his fingers to work my aching clitoris.
I was so ready, so poised, that I groaned aloud.
My hands fisted, screwing up contracts and blueprints.
I gasped as my orgasm approached. I raised up on my toes, grinding back on him, ready to fall, when he suddenly stilled his hand, maintaining the pressure but refusing to elevate it.
“Alfie, please.” I begged, grinding back on him, desperate to find some sort of relief, but he held my hips firm and immovable.
“You lied to me, Lola. Do you really think you deserve pleasure?” He moved again, picking up where he left off, and I cried out in relief.
But his words echoed in my head. I had lied to him.
Guilt began to sour the pleasure, starting a war in my head.
But his fingers didn’t let up, merely continued their work of pushing me closer to oblivion.
“It’s your choice, Lola. Do you deserve pleasure or not?
” His voice was deathly calm and I whimpered in despair. I knew what I had to do.
“No,” I gasped, the word fighting me as I forced it from my lips.
“Then what should I do?”
“Stop. You should stop.” Immediately his hand fell away and I sagged with defeat. He held my hips, steadying me as I caught my breath. I felt light-headed but I pushed up off the table and turned to face him. “I’m sorry. I was being a brat. I’m sorry.” He cupped my face, eyeing me closely.
“I know that you find it difficult to do as I ask, since you think I’m demanding and unreasonable, but you can’t break your word to me.
Ever.” His words hung in the air. It had seemed like such a small, insignificant thing.
Step onto the grass, bend the rules just a little.
But he was right. I’d given him my word and I’d broken it.
With anyone else such a small infraction could be shrugged off, but with Alfie Tell’s fragile faith in human decency, I couldn’t afford to fuck up like this.
“I will endeavour to do better,” I said, echoing his earlier promise to me. His eyes softened and he nodded.
His gaze trailed to the lower half of my body that was still bare and with apparent reluctance he pulled my dress back into place, making me decent again. “Do you have any idea what I wanted to do to you? The ways I wanted to punish you for this?”
I shook my head, unsure how else to respond or what kinds of punishments he could be talking about. “Whatever you want to do, Alfie, I can take it.” The corner of his mouth lifted, his eyes taking on a wicked glint.
“I’d like to test that certainty.”
“Now?” I asked and he chuckled.
“No, baby. Not now.” He kissed me gently. “You aren’t ready for the kinds of games I want to play.” I shivered at his words and some old ones echoed through my mind. Everyone likes to play, I just play harder than everyone else.
Why did I feel like I was discovering yet another layer of Alfie Tell? I felt as though I’d barely scratched the surface and apparently, as far as sex went, there was still a whole lot more I needed to learn.
“So, am I forgiven?” I asked and he sighed, the tension seeming to evaporate as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.