“Oh no!” I rushed to reassure her. “I wouldn't expect to be invited at all and I'm not at all offended. I'm glad he's happy.”
She spent some time telling me about where he'd gone on his honeymoon and how lovely the wedding was. I truly was happy for him. Bradley had been kind to me, probably kinder to me than I deserved. In another life, where I hadn't met Alfie first, Bradley would likely have been a man who would have made me very happy, but Alfie Tell had left an irrevocable mark on me from the moment that we'd met.
Eventually, with reluctance, I let Rosie go. I asked a girl behind the counter to put another sandwich together for me and I took it out to the van for Maia to eat on the drive back to Harrington. She seemed surprised.
“What? Do your clients usually forget you need to eat or something?”
“No, but my clients don’t usually hate me.”
“I don’t hate you,” I told her, “I just trust you.”
“Fair enough. Thanks.” She bit into the sandwich, maybe to keep from saying something else, and we traveled back to Harrington in silence.
Seven
By Friday afternoon, the sculpture was practically finished. The Regency woman, dancing a solitary dance, stood at ten feet high. Her peony ballgown moved with her in an eternal swish of her skirt.
Sid let out a low whistle. “She looks great, darlin’. You do good work.”
“Yeah, I do, don’t I?” I was dirty, my knees and knuckles scraped, and I was covered in the kind of sweat you only get from working under the sun all day. I was in heaven. “You didn’t do too bad yourself. Are you sure you're happy to keep an eye on her over the weekend?” I didn’t want to leave him with more responsibility than he could handle, but I was also desperate to get back to Alfie.
“It’s cool. I’ve got nothing better to do in this tiny town.” He gave me an easy smile. “What do you have planned?”
“Nothing crazy. Seeing my boyfriend.” I left out the fact that said boyfriend was taking me to a sex club tomorrow.
“That hotel mogul guy? He owns this place, doesn’t he?”
“Alfie Tell. Yeah. How did you know?”
“Googled you.” He shrugged again. I tried not to show my embarrassment. I’d forgotten there were paparazzi shots of us out there in the world. “He's gorgeous.”
“That's an understatement,” I muttered.
“He got any brothers?”
I almost choked but managed to stifle it. I cleared my throat. Charles might be dead and buried but I wouldn't wish even his ghost on anybody. “No. He does have a sister but I think she's taken.”
“Shame.”
I gave him my commiserations then left him alone to pack up our work for the day.
Up in my room I threw my essentials together in a bag and twenty minutes later, I slid into the backseat of the Bentley. I tried to relax as Maia sped us back to London but I couldn’t sit still.
Alfie…
I’d been yearning for him all week. My stomach did happy somersaults as I thought about him. I wanted his hands on me, his scent on my skin. I yearned for the security that came from being in the arms of a man who loved me more than his own life.
All week, I had waited for Alfie to show up. To arrive uninvited and interfere as he had done so many times before. But he didn't. He'd kept his distance, only contacting me for our nightly facetime dinner dates. He was exactly what I needed him to be; supportive without being controlling. Yet I felt uneasy. Like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. For him to go back to his old ways. I was being paranoid, I knew that, but he’d given me good reason to be.
My feet tapped with the giddy excitement of a child at Disneyland as we drove through the oak gates. His house – our house now, I reminded myself – finally came into view. I had my hand on the door handle before Maia had stopped the car. I leaptout, ran up the steps and burst through the front door, almost flattening Elliot on the way.
“He’s in the swimming pool, Miss!”
“Thanks, Elliot!” I called over my shoulder. I heard him chuckle as I ran down the hall to the back stairs. I ran down, the air changing as I went, becoming humid and tinged with chlorine.
I found Alfie swimming laps. The muscular lines of his body made my mouth water. Too eager to even take off my shoes, I cannon-balled into the water. By the time I came up for air, his incredulous face was there to greet me.
“You scared the shit out of me, Lola!”
