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“Using flattery to distract me from my anger?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t mean what I said.”
I sat quietly, trying to process this new invasion of my privacy. It infuriated me, and yet I felt helpless to do anything about it. Clearly, arguing with him would get me nowhere. I would deal with the trackers later when I’d had time to think. It was hard to think clearly with his hand squeezing my thigh.
We pulled into Rosie's car park, the tires of the Aston Martin crunching over the gravel.
"Thank you. I appreciate the lift, even if you are a batshit crazy," I muttered. I opened my door but his grip returned from the gear stick to my thigh, immobilising me. The car park was busy and people milled around, staring curiously at us. I pushed the fabric of my dress down, trying to cover his invasive hand. "People are looking at us," I hissed, but the look on his face told me he didn't give a damn.
"Have dinner with me tonight."
"Mr Tell, please." I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing.
"Alfie,” he corrected. “What's stopping you?" His thumb rubbed slow circles on my thigh and I bit my lip.
"It's not appropriate. I know we already crossed the line the other night, but we shouldn't have. I work for you. It’s got to be breaking some sort of moral code."
"Fuck moral code," he said and I burst out laughing, the sound breaking the tension a little.
"That's the spirit."
"Seriously, why do you give a damn what anyone else thinks?" He didn't understand and he didn't really look like he cared. He had the luxury of not needing anyone's good opinion.
"It's not just that. I…well, I Googled you yesterday," I admitted, deciding it was time to bite the bullet.
He raised an amused eyebrow. "You Googled me?"
I nodded. "Yes, and there was an article from maybe ten years ago…"
"And?" He waited and I scrambled, trying to find the right words.
"And you're everything I hate. You were so rude in that article, and the way you talked about women…your maid had her mouth taped shut and what exactly is the Never Tell Club anyway?"
"The Never Tell Club is none of your concern.” He shut me down. Clearly that wasn’t a place he wanted to go. I opened my mouth to push but he carried on. “I won't apologise for my past, O'Connell. I am not ashamed of it. But are you the same person that you were ten years ago?"
"At my core, yes." I was a good person ten years ago and I was a good person now. Simple.
"Well, at my core I've always been the same, too, but my behaviour is not always a true representative of that core."
"And your behaviour now? Is that a true representative of yourself?" I asked, curious.
"What do you think?"
I looked him over, appraising the man that had been awful in that article, a charmer to my best friend, and to me could be aloof one moment and heated the next.
"I think you're a big faker," I said finally. He looked momentarily stunned before amusement lit up his eyes. I realised in that moment something that I hadn’t before. Alfie Telllikedme. This might all be just a game to him, it might be all about the chase, but helikedme. The problem, though, was that despite how attracted I was to him, I wasn’t sure I likedhim.
"But you're interested in me."
"Yes," I admitted, his eyes flashing. What was I doing?
"Then have dinner with me," he said forcefully, easy going Alfie disappearing as quickly as he had come. "It's going to happen, Lola, one way or the other. All you're doing is just dragging out the fight."
Dragging out the fight. Was that what I was doing? Fighting him for no reason? This man raised so many red flags, but I couldn’t deny the pull I felt. It was dinner. Just dinner. I could do that. I sagged against the seat, feeling defeated.
He must have seen the exact moment when I caved because a look of triumph crossed his features suddenly, making them younger, more vibrant somehow. Who was this man? I wanted to crawl inside him and absorb him. I wanted to know every part of him and, scarier than that, I wanted him to know every part of me. But, for now, I’d stick with the simple stuff.
"How old are you, by the way?"