Everything She Needs (The Everything Trilogy) (38 page)

“Everything in America is bigger and better Jack.” I smirked when I thought about Jack’s comments earlier about Alfie’s package. We were having fun
, and it was like I was on an Alfie-high or something.

We finished eating and there was feedback on the mic. A screen came down from the ceiling over the bar and Elle shouted, “
Whoo Hoo! Karaoke”

Jack smirked at Elle
. “Duet!” they screamed at each other.

I rolled my eyes at Alfie
, and he chuckled. I explained that whenever we went to anywhere with a Karaoke machine Jack and Elle believed they were Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.

Jack rushed up and put all our names down. Alfie went over to the guy running the list and spoke to him for a few minutes.

There were some pretty talented people singing mainly country music in the bar. I didn’t know many of the songs, but their voices were great.

No Karaoke session would be complete
, though, without the out-of-tune howlers that seemed to have no confidence issues in putting themselves out there. Alfie leaned in to my ear, his mouth just brushing my earlobe.

Tingles ran over my scalp and I shivered. “
You having fun?”

I nodded and turned to look at him.
“Yeah, it’s a blast, thank you.” I smiled, my eyes gazed into his.

In a lower voice he murmured, “I love you smiling, and knowing it’s me that’s making you smile. Am I wooing you yet?” I chuckled
.

“Keep it
up, I thought I felt a twinge somewhere.” I grinned.

My name came up first
, and I was nervous as hell to get up there without my guitar or band, especially in front of Alfie. I sang ‘It’s Raining Men’ by Geri Halliwell with Elle, and boy was she getting carried away.

I kept giggling at her antics because she had obviously done a dance routine to this
, and I knew she’d watched Geri’s cover of the song before. Despite her attempts to rein herself in, she kept doing actions to the words. Alfie and Jack supported us by cheering loudly. We couldn’t have had a better audience.

Several other patrons got up after us.
Then Jack and Elle were up.  They did Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers proud singing, ‘Islands in The Stream’. Alfie sat close to me and observed, “I can see why you and Jack are friends.”

I turned to stare at him.
“You can?”

He nodded
. “It’s not something I can mess with, your friendship. The guy is totally on your wavelength, you just completely get each other.”

I smiled
. “Yeah, that and he always wants to spoon with me in bed.”

Aflie
scowled, “No fucking way.” His voice was serious, and he was almost growling.

I patted his knee
. “I’ll leave you to tell Jack that one.” I winked.

He smirked
, and I realized that he probably thought I wasn’t serious. Elle and Jack came back and Alfie told him that he wanted to chat before we went home. I giggled at Alfie’s protectiveness, it was cute, but he had nothing to worry about with Jack.

One more person sang
and then it was Alfie’s turn. He walked over and his hand swept through his hair. I swear he had the attention of every female in the room when he got up there.

I
realized he hadn’t shared his song choice with us. When his tune didn’t start immediately, I thought there was a technical problem. Alfie spoke into the mic.

“I just want to take a minute to dedicate what I’m singing to my lady over there.” He pointed at me
, and all the heads in the room snapped in my direction. I blushed.  Alfie went on, “To help you understand, I haven’t been a great boyfriend to Lily.”

There were boos from the audience
, and I could feel my face turn from pink to crimson red. “I hurt her badly, and I need to make it up to her. She agreed to give me a second chance yesterday, so I’m counting on this song to help me tell her some of what I want her to know. I was going to write a song for her, and I probably will, but right now, this song is perfect to help her listen to how I feel.” The intro to Dierks Bentley, ‘Come a little Closer’ began.

Alfie smiled and didn’t take his eyes off of me the whole time he sang. He stood stock still, his hand over his heart, and his sexy-as-all-hell voice crooned the words of the song.

As I heard the words echoing in the room, my heart stuttered at his courage to do this for me in front of all these people. He performed for thousands, but this was something quite different.

“Come a little closer baby, I feel like laying you down.

On a bed of sweet surrender, where we can work it all out.
 

There
ain’t nothing that love can’t fix,

Girl it’s right here at our fingertips...”

I was hypnotized by his song choice. It fit our situation perfectly
, and as the words rolled out of his sweet mouth, each line was more significant to us than the last.

I was in awe of his cheesy attempts at ‘hearts and flowers’
, but he had pitched it just right. When the song finished he replaced the mic on the stand and bent his head. “I love you Lily, today, tomorrow, always and forever.”

I had tears in my eyes, totally touched by his gesture. I looked over at Jack with a watery smile.
Jack, being Jack, put his two fingers at his mouth and pretended to throw up.

“There was enough cheese there to solve the world’s mice food shortage.” I giggled
, and Alfie grinned widely.

“Who doesn’t like a bit of cheese now and again?”
He smirked.

Alfie laced his fingers in mine as he sat down. He was staring at me
, and he tilted his head. He wet his lips and leaned in for a panty melting kiss. It curled my toes.

His hand came up and tangled in my hair
, and I moaned. He broke the kiss, and the room erupted in applause. I was mortified.  We were apparently still performing for the audience.

The tempo of the night became calmer and slower, with
soft, slow dance music, again mostly country. There were sad songs about romance and heartache. Alfie pulled me close. “One dance and we’re leaving. I’m not having the night ruined by songs about dead puppies on graves and orphans being abandoned and having no food.”

I giggled at his interpretations of what qualifies as
the Country genre. “Country music has moved on from that Alfie.”

He looked at the average age of the patrons
. “Not in here it hasn’t! I’m taking no chances tonight.”

We had our one perfect dance with appropriate hands, and Alfie took us all home. He walked me to my door after telling Jack and Elle that I’d follow them up. “Thank you for coming on a date with me tonight.” He smiled.

“Thank you for asking me.” I smiled back.

He leaned his forehead on mine. “I love you, Lily Parnell.
” My heart felt like it was going to burst. This beautiful man had tried so hard from the moment my eyes opened this morning, and he had just made it even more perfect by telling me he loved me again.

He kissed me tenderly, his hands either side of my face. “Can we do this again?
A second date?” I grinned at his uncertainty.

“Can’t wait.”

Alfie gave me a half smile
, “You’re so beautiful, Lily. You’re amazingly hot, you know that?” I giggled again.

“Yeah.
If I was chocolate I’d eat myself.”

He shook his head. “Stop with the eating you, I need to leave now.”

He pulled away from me. “Call you tomorrow.”

I wanted to call out.
“No, stay!” But I couldn’t do that though. If we were doing this, we needed to get it right from the start this time.

The next morning I found a breakfast tray with pancakes, maple syrup and OJ, but with an Orange Lily. The meaning of which is passion.  Again, he sent a note, shorter this time.

My very own Lily,

Your passion is my passion. The wait to hold you in my arms is worth it. Alfie X

Every day for the next two weeks Alfie was the perfect boyfriend. He found thoughtful ways
to “woo” me, and I really began to believe that we would be able to do this. He came to the club and brought his band to see me.

I was as nervous as hell with
Crakt Soundzz  out front critiquing me. They were all very complimentary about XrAid. Cody and Drew barely tolerated one another. Both of them seemed to be keen on Elle. She seemed pretty into Drew though.

Alfie pulled me onto the dance floor and wrapped his arms around me. I draped my arms around his neck
and laid my head against his chest. I melded into him, and he held me tightly. “Happy?” I remembered the conflict I felt the last time he asked me that, but we were in a totally different place this time.

I pushed my head up and
nodded, a smile on my lips, right before his lips were on mine. Our kiss was pretty heated, and the feelings he evoked were indescribable. “Can we please get out of here?” I murmured into his ear.

His eyes shone with the same desire as I was feeling. “Are you sure?”

I gave him a seductive smile. “Never more.” His hand reached down for me, and he was quickly moving with purpose to get us out of the club. We never even said goodbye to anyone.

I knew Jack and Elle would be taken care of by everyone else, so I didn’t have to worry.  Alfie took me back to his place
, and it felt strange walking in his new condo, but I was glad that I didn’t have to go to his old house.  There were too many bad memories there.

He took a bottle of wine out of the fridge and poured two glasses of it,
handing me one as he sat down beside me.

He smiled at me and moved towards me, “
C’mere.” He slid his arm around my shoulder and tugged me in closer. Kissing my hair, he inhaled deeply, and shifted himself on the couch so that we were more comfortable.

“I love you, Lily
,” he cooed.

I lifted my head to look at him. “I love you too, Alfie.”

He smiled, but there was a fleeting worried look in his eyes. “Nothing is going to keep us from doing this, you understand, Lily?”

Before I could say anything he’d moved
, and his lips found mine. He began kissing me, and my body went into overdrive. I was so hungry for him. He broke the kiss and put his wine on the table beside the couch, and did the same with mine.  He pulled me over to sit astride him.

My hands skimmed up his body and immediately tangled in his hair. His hands slid up the back of my blouse, his thumbs stroking my back with his calloused fingers. He pinched my bra clasp
together, freeing it. His hands skimmed around to my belly, and he pushed me, arching my back away from him.

He cupped my
breasts, then put his mouth around one nipple and sucked it through the silk of my blouse. I moaned loudly, “Oh God.”

His eyes met mine
, and he pushed my blouse and my bra to my neck, focusing on my freed breasts this time. He flicked my nipples with his tongue, and moaned, whilst his hips gyrated below mine. He was very aroused.

“Bed
,” he grunted, his voice husky and low. He picked me up and wrapped his strong arms under my legs, his hands skimming over the bells of my ass, as he held me tightly to his chest, and carried me into his bedroom.

“Oh
God, Lily, I can’t believe I have you here.”  His body trembled with anticipation. He lay me down on his bed and the mattress sagged underneath me.

His knees pressed in close to my body when he gently crawled over me. “Fuck.” He shook his head.  “You’re so fucking beautiful
… my beautiful girl.” He wasn’t smiling, his eyes full of love and passion for me.

He crawled over me, his head leaning on my forehead as he stared into my eyes. His palms stroked my hair as he tentatively touched it, before cupping my face in his hands.

His index fingers stroked my jawline before his fingers ran over my cheeks. A thumb swept over my mouth, as his eyes sparkled and glinted when he stared at me.  “I still can’t believe you’re here,” he murmured again, before he licked his lips and lowered his head.

His breath
was warm and smelled slightly of tequila. He hadn’t drunk much tonight, only one shot to toast our performance.

He brushed his lips over mine muttering, “God, I want you so much. I’m scared to touch you.”

His arms slid up and down mine, then he clasped hands with me and deepened the kiss. His hot, wet tongue found mine, and I was lost.

His hands roamed over my body slowly and seductively as we kissed

My skin was covered in goose flesh on the outside, his external touch doing crazy things to me on the inside.

I was on fire, my nerve endings being stimulated to such an extent that I had involuntary spasms. They made me jump as he flitted over key zones around my body.