Chapter 33
Thirty-Three
I awoke in a bed of plush cotton sheets, the sun warming me. I stretched. Last night was one of the best of my life.
Alfie…
As always he was my first waking thought but for once, it didn’t hurt. Is this how it could be all the time? I could wake feeling happy and light?
I hadn’t lied last night when I’d told him I was close to letting him back in.
I was there, poised right on the precipice of falling back into his arms, but not into our old bubble, but into the new world he’d built for us.
I was so close, I just had to trust my instincts that I would know when I was ready.
I slid out of bed and headed for the ensuite bathroom. I relieved myself and brushed my teeth and pulled my hair into a ponytail. I dressed in last night's clothes, my heels and halter dress feeling out of place in the daylight.
I stepped out of my room and knocked on Alfie’s bedroom door but got no answer. I was about to head to his office when a strange sound caught my ears, a breathy moan, a grunt of exertion.
Of course.
After last night’s sexual frustration I should have known he’d need to beat the hell out of a punching bag today.
I followed the sounds down the hall until I found the room they were coming from.
I threw the door open, but instead of finding Alfie in a gym, I found a naked Damien Marx, handcuffed to a bed, struggling to get free.
He stopped when he saw me, a wide grin on his face.
“Good morning, Lola. Help a guy out would you?” He rattled the cuffs at me.
“Uh…” I stammered, averting my eyes from his impressively large…
“The key is on the window ledge. If you wouldn’t mind, I’ve been here a while and I’m starving.”
Before I could move, another door opened and Keira appeared from the bathroom looking hotter than I’d ever seen her in black lingerie, stockings and the highest of heels. She glanced at me for a moment with a ‘what?’ like you’re surprised? look on her face before turning back at her victim.
“On second thoughts, you can leave me here.” Damien grinned, settling back into the bed as Keira straddled him, ignoring me entirely.
“Come on, Nine. Let’s see if you can get up to double figures.”
I didn’t know what Keira meant by that and I didn’t want to know. I ducked out of there just as Keira reached between them and I closed the door on their breathy moans. I stared at the door in shock as I tried to process what I’d just witnessed.
“I didn’t know you were into voyeurism, O’Connell.” Alfie’s voice echoed down the hall and I yelped, jumping out of my skin. I turned to him, glaring.
“I’m not, I was looking for you!” I hissed, his muffled laughter my only response. After a second I broke too, laughing at myself. I stepped away from the door, not wanting to be too close to whatever was going on in that room. “Why didn’t you tell me Keira was here? Is Maia here too?”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know and Maia is still with Eli. I don’t know where but I can find out if you’re worried.”
I was a little worried but I’d already burned myself once stepping into my friends’ business, so I shook my head. “That’s okay, I’m sure she’s fine.”
Alfie smiled as he approached, wrapping an arm around me he pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Morning, Lo.”
“Morning, yourself,” I breathed, my head spinning.
“Is this breaking the rules? My approaching you first, touching you first?”
“I don’t know but I don’t mind it right now.”
His handsome face broke out into a smile, his steel greys shining. “Good, so what now? It’s your move, baby.”
“Oh, uh…” I hesitated, unsure what to do next. Before I could make up my mind, my stomach grumbled. “Breakfast?”
“Come.” His hand slipped into mine as he led me downstairs where, of course, a breakfast was already neatly laid out. I was about to sit and gorge myself on all kinds of pastries when I spotted a rack of clothes hanging in one corner.
“I had those brought up in case you needed a change of clothes. No pressure.” He gave my waist a squeeze, letting me know he wouldn’t be offended if I didn’t wear any of them.
I believed him, but I also knew Alfie, just as well as he knew me and for once, I was going to give back a little.
He’d been pulling out all the stops for me, for us, ever since he’d come back into my life. I needed to try and do that too.
“Which one would you like me to wear?”
He paused, a wary look on his face. “They aren’t mandatory, Lola. You don’t have to?—”
“This isn’t a trick question. It’s just fun. I know you like dressing me. So, dress me.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t play with me, woman.”
“I’m not.” I would have laughed if he hadn’t looked so uncertain, like a starving man offered an apple that might be snatched away at any moment. After a beat, he turned to the rack, immediately selecting a green sun dress of light cotton. I should have known he’d already have a favourite.
I stepped forward, taking it from him. “Turn your back while I change?”
“No.” His refusal surprised both of us and he quickly corrected himself. “Compromise?”
Before I could ask what that meant, he hung the dress back up and turned me around. Alfie Tell had changed so much in the last two years, but he was still a man who would move me where he wanted me rather than move himself, forcing me to orbit him at his will.
His fingers reached for the halter fastening at the base of my neck. My breath hitched. “What are you doing?”
He stepped closer, whispering in my ear, “Trust me?”
Biting my lip, I nodded. I didn’t quite trust him, but I needed to try, I needed to try to trust myself too.
I held a breath as he undid the fastening, my hands coming up to clutch the bodice of my dress before it fell forwards, revealing me. His fingers traced a line down my spine and I shuddered.
“Beautiful,” he murmured. Almost against my will, my head tilted, giving him access to my neck. He bent, my heart stuttering in my chest as he pressed a soft kiss to my skin. I gasped as he nipped me with his teeth.
“Quiet, Lo.” His voice was harsh, a low warning. We weren’t alone in the suite and the thought that we might be caught exhilarated me in the most confusing way.
He found the zip of my dress and slowly lowered it, revealing me down to the base of my spine. His hands slipped inside my dress, gripping my waist as he held me to him, leaving a delicate chain of kisses from ear to shoulder, his day old stubble providing just the right amount of friction.
I clutched my dress to my body, if I let it go it would fall away, leaving me in underwear, my breasts free for him to touch. I couldn’t help but imagine it, one of his hands cupping a breast, pulling on my nipple till I cried out, his other hand slipping down to my?—
He pulled away suddenly, leaving me breathless.
He left a hand on my hip, steadying me as my head spun.
I glanced up at him, the glint in his eye telling me the sneaky bastard had done that on purpose.
He was teasing me, seducing me, but it didn’t feel wrong.
On the firm foundation he’d built, his toying with me felt safe.
He handed me the green dress. I took it and he turned around, giving me some privacy. I quickly stepped out of my white dress and lifted the green one over my head. I fiddled with the zip, my hands trembling.
“Stop,” he ordered and I froze as Alfie turned to face me again. “Compromise, remember?”
“How did you know I wasn’t naked?”
“I listened to the movement of the fabric.”
I shook my head. The man was crazy.
Once more, he turned me, fastening the zip. He tweaked the soft cotton until it sat just right on my curves.
“What do you think?”
His critical eye roamed over me. “I think you’re perfect.”
“I think you just broke the rules.” I raised my brows at him, still trying to slow the heavy beating in my chest. He didn’t look in the least bit remorseful.
“And I think that this time, you don’t give a shit.” He cupped my face, pulling me to him. “I’ll play by the rules but I’m still me. I can only change so much. I’m always going to enjoy exerting control over you at certain times. Can you accept that?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I can try, but you have to find the line.”
He gave me a short nod before he stepped away, gesturing at the luxury breakfast still waiting for us. “Eat with me.”
I tucked into breakfast like a starving woman, Alfie barely suppressing a grin as I gorged on a blueberry muffin.
As I ate, an idea began to percolate in my head.
Butterflies fluttered as I worked up the nerve to run it by Alfie.
This ‘being in charge’ thing was harder than I’d expected. What if he said no?
“What is it, Lo?” he asked and I looked up at him, startled. “I know every single one of your expressions and right now you’re wearing your ‘chewing on a problem’ face.”
“No problem. Just a thought.” I cleared my throat. “What are your plans for the day?”
“Work.”
“Can it wait?” I asked, not bothering to hide the hesitancy in my voice. “I know you have a lot to do so I understand if you can’t just?—”
“It can wait.” He tilted his head. “What do you have in mind?”
“You. Always.” A flirtatious smile crept over my lips and I popped another morsel of muffin into my mouth in an attempt to stifle it. “This trip was supposed to be about Keira but I have a feeling she’s going to be tied up all day…or rather, Damien is going to be tied up all day.”
Alfie snorted and I continued. “And Maia is with Eli…I wondered if you could spend the day with me.”
Alfie’s face didn’t alter a bit but I knew every one of his expressions too and his ‘frozen river’ one meant that there was a lot going on under the surface that he didn’t want me to see. Like hope, excitement and fear.
“What would you like to do?”
Taking a deep breath I pushed my words out. “I want to spend a day in your world, when you actually like your world, I mean. Not business meetings or monochrome mansions, I want to see your colour, Alfie.”
He stared at me, brows knotting slightly. “You’re my colour, Lo.”
My chest ached at his words and I wondered if he knew how much that meant to me. “But I can show you my world. It’s going to involve obscene wealth though. I know that’s not exactly your cup of tea.”
He was right, it wasn’t, but obscene wealth and Alfie Tell came hand in hand. “I can handle it.”
He broke into a shit-eating grin that had me narrowing my eyes in suspicion. “What?”
He began to laugh, the sound still music to my ears no matter how many times I heard it. “Baby, you should not have said that.”