“You never are.” He smiled warmly at me. “Not that I blame you. You ready for another beer?”
“No.” I yawned loudly. “I know it’s only six in the afternoon at home, but I’m beyond beat.” I stood and stretched. “I’m going to call it a night.”
“You sure?” He stood and smiled. “You puss.”
“Sticks and stones…” I winked and took my plate to the sink before thanking him again for dinner and walking to the small guest bedroom he had prepared for me.
I stripped my clothes off and got into the bed, the sheets nice and cold. A shiver ran down my spine, and my thoughts quickly turned to Molly. How good it would have felt to have her roll over and press her hot, little body against mine.
She could have me sweating and kicking off the covers within minutes.
“Speaking of Molly.” I leaned over and reached for my phone. It was a little after midnight. “What are the chances you’re up, lass?”
The phone rang three times, and I was ready to hang up as her sweet voice filled the line. She sounded like she’d been asleep.
“Alfie?”
My body hardened almost immediately. “Hey. Did I wake you, love?”
“Yeah, but it’s okay.” She cleared her throat. “Are you okay? Did you get to Logan’s?”
“Yes. We just finished up a big dinner, and I’m in bed.”
A soft moan filled my ear. “I want to be in bed with you.”
“You’ve no idea, lass.” I closed my eyes as my cock throbbed painfully. Why the fuck hadn’t we decided to just stay together at Logan’s? Right. I didn’t want to be judged by the one person who accepted me. Knowing that he wouldn’t have judged me left me feeling like a fool. I’d given up the chance to hold Molly at night. Stupid.
“Well, check in with me later this weekend, maybe? I’d really love to see you a few more times before you head home.”
“All right. Sweet dreams, okay?” I rolled onto my side and coveted the sound of her voice.
“You too. Night, handsome.”
“Night, love.” I dropped the call and tossed my phone toward a pile of clothes on the floor. There was no way I was going to sleep with a rock-hard erection. I slid my hand under the sheets and lifted my hips, fucking myself until I exploded.
With nothing left to give, I finally passed out.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Molly
It was two days after landing back in New York that I woke to finally feeling relieved from jet lag and the time change. I had no idea how Alfie, or Harry for that matter, managed to travel all the time the way they did. The trip back over had me sleeping irregularly for the past two days along with constant bouts of headache and fatigue.
I stretched in relief as I sat up in bed. It was good timing too. I had to talk to two realtors about selling the flat in London later that day. A task, which should have been Harry’s doing, but instead, he asked me to do it. Harry had made it obvious he wanted his own place away from the memory of what we could have been. Just thinking about selling the flat and finding a new apartment made my head hurt. The familiar heartache of having to explain things for the hundredth time to people that the wedding had been called off rose sharply inside of me.
I needed to call my old boss, Gary, before I got too involved with apartment hunting throughout the afternoon.
&nbs
p; A gentle knock filled the guest room before Peyton opened the door to peek her head through cautiously. A smile graced her face. “I’m glad to see you awake,” she said and pushed the door open. “I brought you some coffee just in case you were up already.”
“Thanks,” I said, smiling. I took the mug with a grateful sigh as Peyton arranged herself on the edge of the bed. “I needed this boost of energy before I called the realtor this morning along with Gary.”
“Does Gary know what happened?” Peyton asked, curiously.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t want to explain it in an email either since I had upped and left at Harry’s command without much warning. He’s going to give me a big ass, ‘I told you so.’ He was totally against Harry, but you knew that.”
Anger tore through me.