He smoothed a hand into my hair, fingers stroking the nape of my neck, soothing me. “You take this at your pace, no one else's. Just because you step forward doesn’t mean you can’t step back.”
“You’re wise, you know that?”
“I’m introspective. Especially when it comes to you. I spend an unhealthy amount of time thinking about you.”
“Right back at you.” We shared a smile. I snuggled up to him, relishing in his closeness.
“Speaking of introspection, how’s your backside?”
“How was that a segway?” I laughed. I loved his playful side. “My backside is off limits for a while. Speaking of off limits, how’s your mother?”
Alfie snorted. “She’s confirming our lunch date. We’re meeting at the restaurant at the Carlton.” I raised an eyebrow. The Carlton Hotel. That would be a trip down memory lane.
“You sure you don’t want to go somewhere less public?”
“No.”
Okay, I guess that was the end of that topic.
“Hey, can I ask you a favour, first?” I said, changing the subject.
“First? First before what?”
“Before you let me spend the rest of the day worshipping you. With the amount of time you’ve spent with your head between my thighs, I’ve got some catching up to do.”
He shook his head. “There’s no catching up.”
“Yes there is. You’ve spent years denying me the chance to pleasure you, you don’t think that hurt me? How would you have felt if I would only give and never take?”
He frowned at the thought. “Alright. Ask your favour.”
“Natalie and Riley want to marry soon but everything is all booked up until next year. I know Natalie would make do with the bare minimum but I want her to have the perfect wedding, exactly how she wants it. The fairytale. She deserves it. Do you think you could…I don’t know…wave your Alfie Tell wand and pull some strings?”
Alfie bit back a smile. “Lola O’Connell, are you asking me to bribe a priest?”
“No, just like a hotel manager or something, for the reception. Do you mind? Is it taking advantage?”
“No, I’m glad you asked. I care about Natalie and Riley too, remember? I’ll call Riley, offer him my services.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Gross. You didn’t need to phrase it like that.”
“And telling me to wave my Alfie Tell wand was better?”
“Fair point.”
He threw back the covers and scooped me up. “Come on, baby. You’ve got some catching up to do apparently.”
I took my time with him, learning the pace that he liked, when he wanted it rougher or gentler. He coached me through opening my throat for him. It was going to take practice but I was determined to become as skilled at pleasuring him as he was in pleasuring me. I learned his favourite position was to have me on my knees but I loved it when he was lying down and I got to watch him writhe. There was something intensely erotic about watching such a powerful man come apart at my command.
As we spent the day exploring each other and testing the new limits we’d discovered the night before, the world fell away and for a little while, I forgot that I was a woman with old ghosts nipping at her heels.
Twenty-One
The next week the world came back with a bang and brought my old ghosts with it.
John O’Connell sat across from me, his frame filling the dainty, white chair he sat in. His pale complexion reddened under the summer sun, I’m sure my own looked the same. His hands fidgeted until he placed them out of sight under the table, where I was sure they continued to twist.
I sat across from him in silence. I wouldn’t speak first. There was a kind of pleasure in letting him sweat. My hands clenched into fists in my own lap. My jaw tightened.
