Prosecco & Paparazzi (The Passport Series Book 1) (15 page)

“You were sitting in there over-analyzing everything! I have just one question.”

“Just one?” I asked, surprised. I set about eating part of an apple. “He’s unbelievable. He does this thing where he holds your hands behind your back to keep balance while you’re…”

Putting her hand up and looking at me with a very stern face, Taylor interrupted me mid-sentence. “Stop! I don’t want to know the details. Besides, Marcus knows that trick, everyone does. No, what I want to know is did you tell him about Des?”

“Oh! The answer is no, I didn’t. But not for the reasons you think. We just had a great night. We chatted about all kinds of wonderful things, drank wine, and ate great food. It was perfect, and the whole Des Bannerman thing just slipped my mind.” Picking at some apple stuck between my front teeth, I said, “If you must know, I was thinking about Liam and whether it was truly possible to fall for someone after just a few dates.”

“Really? Wow, things are moving along. That’s wonderful. About the Des thing, I wouldn’t keep putting it off,” she said sagely. “The longer you do, the harder it will be.”

I nodded at her then went to my room to get my bag and placed it next to hers. She had gone into the bathroom to check her makeup one last time. I joined her to brush my teeth, primp my hair, and apply lipstick. Looking at her in the mirror, I added, “He really is spectacular, you know!”

Her reflection smiled at me. “He really is.”

The drive to the Hamptons was great fun. The combination of completely inappropriate jokes about Americans and Irish, Liam’s hand resting on my thigh, and the springtime scenery caused the time to fly by.

“Charlotte, do you think Faith Clarkson is going to allow us to share a room?” Liam asked quietly in my ear.

A pleasant tingling surged through my body and a flush rose to my cheeks when Taylor answered, “She’s rather straight-laced, but, if you were to explain to her that you’re a horny bastard who has finally found someone who’ll have sex with you, I’m sure she’ll understand!”

Liam flushed just a bit. “Well, I may be a horny bastard, but, from what Marcus tells me, he has to put something in your mouth to drown out the screaming!”

Things went downhill from there.

As we approached East Hampton, Liam asked if anyone minded hitting the shops on Main Street for a bit. Taylor turned around and looked at him. “Are you sure you aren’t gay?”

Before Liam could respond, I looked Taylor in the eye. “I can assure you, he isn’t.” Looking at him, I said, “She does have a point, though. Since when does a manly Irishman want to hit the shops of East Hampton?”

While stroking my knee with his thumb, he explained, “I did a little research knowing we were coming here, and I want to drop in on a few shops. Not shopping, business. Sorry to mix work with pleasure! I can probably do everything I need in an hour.”

“Take all the time you need. I’ve never wandered through the shops out here and would love to. Do you two mind?”

“Not me. Marcus?” Taylor asked.

“I’m sure I can find something to do while you three go on your shopping spree,” Marcus relented, infamous for his lack of fondness for shopping.

“Maybe you can find something to stifle Taylor’s screams!” I offered.

“Well, now, that could be fun. Do they have sex shops in the Hamptons?” Marcus asked. Impersonating a wealthy, matronly woman entering a sex shop, Marcus kept us in stitches the rest of the ride.

We managed to find a parking spot near a lovely looking restaurant named Matto. The inside was beautiful, a romantic beach scene. My stomach started to growl like a wild beast at the sight of it.

“I need to feed her!” Liam announced to the hostess at the front door. “She needs to keep her energy up for tonight!” Her dark brown, perfectly groomed eyebrows shot up, and she said in a very monotone voice, “Follow me, please.” While she walked ahead of us, I followed, burning with embarrassment.

Once we were comfortably seated and the menus had been dispersed, Liam quietly said to me, “You Americans are certainly a puritanical lot. You turned bright red, and that woman never looked at us again. You could just as easily be performing ballet this evening as giving a blow job.” I was no longer bright red, I was now crimson. Liam sniggered and leaned over to give me a kiss on my forehead. “Don’t worry, no one heard that.”

Lunch proceeded in a respectful and dignified manner. Somewhere along the way, I became preoccupied with my thoughts.
What did Liam think? Were we just having sex? Had this just been some entertainment for the few months he was in New York? Did he have any of the feelings I did? Was it ridiculous to let myself get involved with him? Should I keep a tighter rein on my emotions? How do you ask these questions after two dates? (Granted, one ended with us having sex.)

Two weeks before, I hadn’t known this man, and now I was talking fellatio with him in public. Without realizing it, I finished my pasta and merlot, and the mood had changed from flirtatious and light to something more serious.

“Well, I say we get this shopping expedition underway!” Taylor announced after we had turned down the offer of dessert. “Where do you want to go, Charlotte?” Her tone seemed to evoke the earlier mood of the day.

“I don’t really know. I just thought I’d wander and have a look. I’d like to get a bottle of wine or two for dinner this evening. I think we drove past a wine shop,” I answered, hoping my lighthearted tone didn’t seem forced.

“I saw a bookstore that I think I’ll go hang out in until you’re ready,” Marcus remarked.

“Oh, so is bookstore the code word for sex shop in the Hamptons?” I asked Marcus.

“I don’t know. You could ask Martha Stewart when you run into her at the wine store.” He seemed relaxed enough.

“How much time do you want, Liam?” I asked without looking him in the eyes.

“How about we wander down the street and see if anything looks promising? I’ll need an hour at most. I could give you a call on your cells and let you know…” When he answered, his tone was carefully neutral.

In front of the restaurant, Marcus and Taylor went their separate ways, leaving Liam and me alone. He reached out and took my hand. I looked down at his and felt its warmth. “Let’s walk this way,” he suggested. We walked the short distance to a wooden bench nestled between two arching trees. When we sat down, I sat farther away from him than he wanted, so he slid closer to me, putting his arm on the back of the bench and resting his hand on my shoulder.

While twiddling with the silk fabric of my dress, he gazed at the bustle on the street. “This reminds me a bit of shopping on High Street in Dublin, where I grew up. Saturday is always a busy day. I love the energy of the weekend. Saturday is electric and then Sunday is so lazy.” I found myself relaxing as I listened to the lilt of his voice and the description of his home. He told me about his parents and three brothers, and I found myself laughing at his stories.

“Your poor mother. The four of you must have been horrible!” I remarked after a particularly outrageous story involving a soccer ball, a muddy field, and a group of girls.

“Don’t feel sorry for her. One slap from her and you’d never doubt who was in charge!” The twinkle in his eye suggested that he respected his mother and found it all amusing. It was endearing.

Without warning, those laughing eyes turned serious; his look became quite intense and his hands held mine a little tighter. “You don’t know, Charlotte, but I’m thirty-six years old. Not to be bragging, but I’ve had enough relationships to know when a woman is questioning something. I’m not entirely certain what I said or did to make you go all quiet and sit as far away from me as you could. But I hope this helps.” He looked at me more intensely, without any nerves. “I really like you. I think that after we get to know each other a bit better, I could more than really like you. I want to hold your hand, talk to you for hours, and see if we want the same things out of life. I’m not going to attempt to deny that when the image of your bare skin next to mine flashed across my brain, the blood left my head, and I said idiotic things.” In humor, he added, “By the way, it’s likely to happen again!” Back to being more serious, he added, “The only question I have is, what do you want?”

As he began, I’d felt awkward but by the time he was finished, I was mesmerized. Of course I wanted someone who knew me, loved me, and couldn’t keep his hands off me. Giving way to brutal honesty, I said, “I want the same things. I was sitting in the restaurant wondering all kinds of things. Truth is, I just haven’t had that many relationships, and I still find certain conversations awkward. Thanks for being so honest! It really makes me more comfortable.” I put my hand to his cheek. He lowered his head, giving me another heart-stopping kiss.

Through the warmth that infused me, I suddenly realized that a large part of what was bothering me was that I was busy falling for someone and hadn’t told my closest friends. Why was that? Tiziana hadn’t been able to tell me about falling in love with Ted, all because of Des. My excuse was that I’d been behaving like a six-year-old. I finally absorbed that Tiziana had been trying to spare my feelings.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I only came back to the present when he unfurled his arm from around me and tilted my head so that he could look at me. One look at his beautiful green eyes and I was a puddle. Tears gushed from my eyes, and I felt awful. I was pulled into the safe embrace of Liam’s arms, and my face burrowed into his chest. He murmured words of comfort and rested his cheek against my hair. When my tears had been shed, I stayed there breathing in his warmth, aftershave, laundry detergent, and deodorant until I’d regained complete control of myself. I dug a tissue from my purse, mopped my face and blew my nose.

With what had to be a blotchy face and a red nose, I peeked at him with a wavering smile. His hand was holding mine, and his thumb slid across the skin on the back of my hand. I took a deep breath to calm myself and confessed, “I really like you. You’ve been nothing but very kind and… real… with me. I’ve had so much going on with work that I’ve been ignoring other areas of my life altogether. I need to sort out a few things, and then I’ll feel much better.”

With a squeeze of his hand, Liam let mine go. His smile was warm and polite.
Wait
!
Polite wasn’t good
. I didn’t like looking at him and not seeing affection for me in his eyes.
Indifference wasn’t good
. Before my brain could put words and action together, he stood up and took a step away. “I’ll give you time to think, to try to sort things out. I’ll just go pop in to a few shops and see if there’s anyone I can talk to. I’ll give a call in a bit and see if you’re ready to leave.” Then he walked away.

I sat on the bench for a few more minutes, realizing that I should have talked to him. Taylor was right. If I had told him about Des, I could have told him about being angry at Tiziana. My guess was that what I said had been horribly misunderstood. Fortunately, I had two days to try to undo the confusion. I scanned the street and saw people peering into storefronts, looking for inspiration.

“Well, it isn’t every day a gorgeous, available, successful Irishman offers himself up. Do something!” I muttered to myself.

WE MET BACK
at the car close to an hour later. Loaded down with bags, Taylor was quickly the brunt of much teasing by Marcus. “Just Easter goodies!” she said, defending herself.

“You’re pathetic,” Marcus said as he turned his attention to me. “You only have two bags! What kind of woman are you?”

“The kind who uses discretion!” I replied in defense of my honor. I looked at Liam, hoping for some kind of taunt, but only saw polite neutrality. Hoping to draw him in, I immediately teased Marcus about his search for Martha Stewart and sex toys. The distraction only lasted as long as it took us all to pile back into the car.

If during the remaining drive to the Clarkson Estate, Marcus and Taylor noticed that Liam and I were subdued and sitting farther apart, neither of them let on. It was a relief to see the gate to the drive and an even greater relief to get out of the car.

At the massive forest green front door, we were met by the friendly man I’d met the last time I’d come to the Hamptons with Taylor. “Hello, Jeff, how are you? You look great!” Taylor said, greeting him as she gave him a hug. Marcus shook Jeff’s hand.

“Who’s Jeff?” Liam asked me quietly.

“Jeff runs the house for the Clarksons. I wouldn’t call him a butler. I’m not sure that would be politically correct. He’s great. He makes everything run like clockwork.”

Taylor reintroduced me to Jeff, and Liam stepped forward and introduced himself as a friend of Marcus’s. The lack of communication earlier was making itself known. I was becoming more and more insignificant to Liam by the minute. Taylor shot me a confused look, and I replied with a small shake of my head. “Later,” I mouthed.

Liam’s eyebrows shot heavenward when Jeff’s very southern drawl became more evident. “Won’t you all have a cocktail on the back veranda? I have the bar stocked and some appetizers waiting. Your mother called to let you know that they’ll be arriving just before dinner,” he said as he led us into the house. “Now, don’t worry about your bags. I’ll take them up for you,” Jeff added over his shoulder as we walked through the foyer and down the wide hallway to the rear of the house.

Having provided us with our beverages and something to munch on, Jeff was off in a flash.

“I need to get me a Jeff!” Marcus announced. “Wouldn’t it be great to show up at home, have a drink waiting, house cleaned, dinner cooking, and laundry done? How do you make that happen?”

The three of them debated which was the best path to take to end up in the Clarksons’ enviable position.  I quietly listened to the friendly exchange while I sipped my glass of icy-cold white wine. When I’d finished, I excused myself.

I went to the kitchen to find Jeff, who was preparing dinner. “Jeff, I hate to trouble you, but I need to make a long-distance call to Europe. Is there somewhere private I can go?”