Page 34 of Enough Isn’t Everything (Everything Trilogy #1)

Lips curving upward at the edges, Alfie wore the slightest hint of humor on his face. It was as if he was in on my secret. I think he thought I was looking at his bulging jeans. Truly, I wasn’t.

My first thought was to just walk away. Not to give him the satisfaction of ignoring me in public again, and I was planning to do just that, but he turned to face Will, gesturing toward me by jutting his chin in my direction.

“Are you going to introduce me?” Will looked like he’d been asked to undress me, his mouth gaping, because he’d tried to do just that, on more than one occasion, but Alfie had shut him down.

Clearing his throat, Will stuttered awkwardly, “This is my… eh, my…” He struggled for what to introduce me as. I thought it was funny and was going to wait it out and let him label me as his ‘something’, but he was my friend, and as a nice person, I couldn’t let him suffer like that.

“Hey,” I said, putting my hand out. “Lily… I’m Will’s colleague.” I gestured with my index finger and pointed down the length of me, just as we had both done the first day we met.

Seeing Alfie’s eyes reflect on that action, for a moment he smiled. Will shot me a glance, as if to say sorry. Smiling again, I wrinkled my nose at him as a sign of affection and saw him relax again.

Alfie took my hand in his, and I melted. My legs trembled and my skin flushed. Smiling, his eyes widened as he watched the effect his touch on my skin had on me. It was like an electric current passing through me, making my body buzz in anticipation.

No one else had this effect on me. Goose bumps sprung up all over me, and I shivered. He noted this by running his thumb over the goose bumps with a slow sensual smile. “Hi, Lily, pleased to make your acquaintance,” he muttered in his sexy, low, velvety tone.

Lifting my hand to his mouth, Alfie’s eyes continued to lock into my stare, and he grazed his lips sensually over my knuckles. His tongue left the slightest wet-hot trail as he did this, which looked like nothing to an outsider.

An expert in seduction, Alfie’s technique stole my breath briefly, making it hitch in my lungs and his effect panged at my core. My eyes fluttered closed briefly.

Luckily, the room was noisy, and there was a lot going on so no one appeared to notice what he was doing to me. No one apart from Alfie, that is. His eyes sparkled, the hue far greener, which told me he still wanted me.

Recognizing the look he gave me, it was the same one he always had, right before he entered me. He raised his eyebrow, almost as a question, before dropping my hand. At the same time, he drew his bottom lip in between his teeth, and let it spring free, wetting it with a flick of his tongue.

The sight was such a sensual experience on such a perfect mouth, and I was mesmerized. I wanted nothing more than to crush my mouth onto his and explore inside with my tongue as I had before.

Slick juices pooled even more at my core, and the small strip of material between my legs was drenched. I was so turned on by his attention, I didn’t trust myself to speak.

Mandy interjected again, asking for the dates of the gigs Alfie had mentioned to her. I broke his gaze and walked past him. Suddenly, before I was out of earshot, he was giving an open invite to his house for drinks.

Saffy and Holly were keen to go. Alfie was a charmer. Will had some split loyalties and wondered how I felt about it, given Alfie’s previous treatment of me.

Initially, I complained that I was tired and was going to head home, but from the response from our group, I didn’t feel I could object anymore, so I went along with it.

Sitting quietly in Will’s car on the way over, I was dreading having to spend time in the same space and not touch him.

When we got to Alfie’s place, Will squeezed my hand in support, because he kind of knew I didn’t want to be there.

“Are you okay with this?” I nodded, albeit too quickly, as a reassurance to him, while I still tried to convince myself that I was okay.

I had to keep reminding myself to act as if I hadn’t been in his house before.

Strange, hurt feelings and a rush of memories hit me as I walked through the door that Alfie had pressed me into so playfully.

Glancing at the stairs, heat stirred in my core again and my folds pulsed, as I became overwhelmed by the memory of him carrying me up to his bedroom.

Remembering all the things we did together in his room directly above this one, I longed to have that with him again.

Blushing, still affected by those memories, I caught him smirking into his beer bottle, when his eyes caught mine for a second. His eyes flicked to the stairs and rolled up toward the ceiling, as if he was reading my mind again.

Alfie didn’t pay attention to me. Well, that’s not entirely true, his attention was demanded by everyone else in the group, once they arrived. Especially when they found out how popular his band was becoming, as they supported major artists in the States.

When I was listening to him, I was genuinely pleased, because he was extremely talented from what I’d heard. Alfie was an exceptional singer, so I could only imagine how great he’d be with a band backing him.

Already a fan of his lyric writing, I’d since heard a few more of his songs, and they stacked up. As a fellow musician, I couldn’t deny that he was truly gifted.

Will brought me a white wine spritzer, but my quirk had always been to have crushed ice in it.

“Sorry, is there any ice?” Still holding his beer bottle, Alfie motioned toward the kitchen with his index finger.

“Sure, there’s a dispenser in the fridge.”

I blushed again because this was a pretense and I knew that.

I wandered into the kitchen. It was beyond weird, being here, being familiar with all his things and pretending not to know anything. I just had to keep telling myself over and over that I could do this.

This was a normal gathering of a group of friends, nothing crazy about it.

We would just drink, chat, and go home. What made it different was that I had been here before.

No one else in the room was aware that we knew each other intimately or that we had a history of mind-blowing sex together.

Wild sex with the amazing-looking guy who hosted this little get-together, and he was acting as if he didn’t really know me.

My concentration was gone again, lost in reflections of those times, when the crushed ice spattered out of the dispenser, spilling over my blouse at breast level and missing my glass. Shit! The ice immediately melted, leaving a see-though area in the front, with my lacy bra showing through.