Enough Isn't Everything (Everything Trilogy) (21 page)

“I’m going to shower, I’m sticky again.”

He grinned, moving toward me. “Oh! I 
love 
when you’re sticky.” I shook my head and took his face in my hands, kissing him softly.

I quickly showered and dressed to go shopping. Max sat on my bed Indian style playing my guitar
while I got dressed. Saffy was still asleep when we left the apartment for the store.

When we arrived and entered the store, Max smiled down at me. “Would it be okay for me to cook dinner instead of going out tonight?” He slid his arm around my
waist and waited for my reply.

“Sure, I would prefer it actually
. I like cooking as well.”

Max smirked. “Did I mention that I cook naked? I’m a messy chef.” He winked and pulled me in for a hug.

Max wanted Italian food for dinner, pasta specifically. “You’re not one of those girls that doesn’t eat carbs are you?” I shook my head, and he piled Italian sauce, and the ingredients for a meatball dish into the cart.

He wasn’t a very controlled shopper. We had more in the shopping cart than we could possibly eat and would have bought more if I hadn’t called a halt and headed for the checkout.

I stacked our food on the checkout conveyer belt and waited in line. Max was behind me, so when I was done, he wrapped his arms around me pulling me back into him. I felt him stir at the small of my back, and the bulge in his pants grew to full arousal as he wiggled himself into place.

It turned me on
; the effect I was having on him. I turned my head back to look up at him, raised my eyebrow, and gave him a half smile. He grinned mischievously as his eyes filled with lust. Max placed a hand flat across my belly, drawing me closer.

His mouth curled into a smile as he dipped his head. “You see what you do to me?” he whispered seductively into my ear, as he continued making small movements to create friction between the bulge in his jeans and my butt. I could have moved away if I’d wanted to, wild horses wouldn’t have made me though.

As we stood waiting patiently, he bent to kiss my neck before he kissed the top of my head and left his mouth there to linger.
 
I was pleased that I could have this effect on him fully clothed.

I melded into his firm body, feeling happy to have his strong arms envelope me like this. I kept reminding myself I was in a grocery store and fought the urge to turn and kiss him deeply.

Glancing back toward the checkout operator, my heart flopped inside, and I inhaled sharply as the smile on my face froze. Alfie was walking toward us, groceries under his arm. From the moment I saw him, his eyes locked onto mine.

I suddenly felt I had
 betrayed him, being there with Max. It was as if I’d been caught cheating. It was a weird reaction to have, considering what we had been to each other.

Max felt me tense and held me tighter, whispering in my
 ear. “What’s wrong babe?” Briefly reassured by the fact that Alfie always ignored me in public. At most Alfie may nod as he walked past. I glanced around and up at Max, managing a small smile.

“Sorry almost lost my balance.” I was glad I was facing away from Max and could turn my head before I let slip that I wasn’t being honest.

When my eyes reconnected with Alfie’s I could tell that this wasn’t the usual cool guy that would ignore me in public. He was staring directly at me and headed toward us, a slight sneer on his face and his jaw twitching.

My heart was pumping so fast
, and my mouth was dry. I started to panic. Max must have sensed something because his arms held me tighter.

“Hey
,” Alfie cooed. “Lily honey, how’re you doing?” Alfie leaned in and placed a small kiss on my cheek. His touch was electric. Max’s arms tightened their grip again as I struggled to control my breathing and sound calm.

“Hi Alfie,” I said as calmly as I could, but swallowed hard.

He wasn’t perturbed at all by the fact I was in Max’s arms. He leaned in and brushed my hair away from my face, and I almost screamed out loud, because I knew my body would react. Alfie’s touch buzzed through me, and pooled at my core.

I
 had fought my body’s natural instinct to stiffen when his lips touched my cheek. I didn’t want it to betray me while I was in Max’s arms. “Alfie’s studying music as well, he’s partly the reason Will and I perform together,” I explained to Max.

I closed my eyes and swallowed for a brief second, and as they opened Alfie’s eyes penetrated mine again. I searched Alfie’s face, wanting to know why he would do this. I felt Max’s arms relax a little. He hadn’t noticed any reaction, and I was relieved.

“Is everyone in England this rude?” Alfie asked, deadpan. “I’m Alfie, a good… buddy of Lily’s,” he said unsmilingly but putting a hand out to Max. “And you are?” His eyes flicked between Max and I.
 

“
Max,” he said, curtly. “I’m a very close friend of Lily’s,” Max declared it like he was staking a bigger claim to me.

Max
 reached out to shake Alfie’s extended hand, but held me in place with his other arm. The tension between the two men made me feel uneasy. Fortunately, at that moment,
 
it was our turn at the checkout. I was relieved to focus on something other than this awkward situation.

I
 moved toward the checkout, and Max relaxed his grip on me, letting me place the shopping on the belt. I was praying that Alfie would just leave, scared that he may say something to humiliate me. Instead of leaving he became more vocal.

“I’m glad
 I ran into you actually, there’s an event that I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to know if you’d be interested in performing a couple of numbers with my band next month.” My jaw dropped, and he gave me his seductively sexy-dimple smile.

His
 focus was completely on me now. Max was forgotten in the exchange between us. Alfie was looking genuinely at me, and damn he was so fucking irresistible. “Some of 
our
 other friends are coming over for drinks tonight. Do you guys want to come, and we’ll talk about it then?”

I was still stuck on his use of the term
our friends
when Max looked at me before mumbling
,
 “Sorry buddy, thanks for the offer, but we’re going to have a more intimate party of our own tonight.”

Firstly, I was annoyed with Max almost staking a claim to me in front of Alfie in that way. Secondly, I was also confused to see a fleeting look of anger and something
– I couldn’t place – in Alfie’s eyes. I saw his jaw twitch, so I knew what Max had said had gotten to him.

Max
 seemed to have missed this as he had turned to pick up the bags. Alfie reached out and his fingers brushed up my thigh, stealing my breath briefly. He grinned wickedly, his eyes widening, as he ran his tongue over his bottom lip and bit it slowly, his eyes now raking over my body.

It was like the look he had when he was undressing me. Excitement coursed through my body at seeing him act this way, and I struggled to keep my breath even. He could feel my heat
, and I blushed. Alfie’s face was instantly passive as Max turned around to face us again.

I fought hard with
 the feelings that were coursing through my veins, and my thigh tingled and burned from where his fingers had traced moments before.

My panties were moist
, and I ached for him to touch me again. My thinking voice was screaming for him, but my face was a blank canvas. No way could I show him that I still wanted him. Besides, it was crazy, I was here with Max.

Max took the bags in one arm and pulled me close to him with the other. “
Okay, honey, we’re done, we got to get going.” He excused us and led me toward the exit. I couldn’t help thinking that Max kissing the top of my head, then nuzzling my neck on the way out was his way of marking his territory a little for Alfie’s benefit.

He didn’t follow us, rooted to the spot as
 he continued to watch us make our way out. We packed our shopping in the trunk, and I looked up as we were getting into the car.

Alfie was now leaning against his car door parked in the opposite row to ours, his gaze fixed on me. I noticed his fists were c
lenched as I got into the car.

Max stared him out and looked pissed when he got into the car, banging the door. His weight made the car seat huff as he landed heavily on it. His head whipped around to face me. “You need to watch th
at guy, babe.” He looked cross.

I said nothing.
 
“Christ!” He spat out, “Does he always look at you like that?”

I pretended not to know what he meant. “Like what? I don’t know what you mean?” I lied.

Max growled, his voice cracking, “Like he wants to fuck you hard Lily, like that look!”

I shook my head
. “That’s garbage!” I said trying to sound casual about him.

“Seriously, you don’t see that, Lily?” Max’s voice was so low with emotion he was almost growling at me. It was strange watching his reaction
, and I tried to make light of it.

“He’s just an intense guy
,” I quipped trying to laugh it off.

Max became really pissed
 at my reaction. “It’s not fucking funny Lily. You are going to have to tread carefully around that guy. He’ll fuck you senseless if you look at him the wrong way.” He shifted in his seat and hit over at the wheel. “Damn!”

Max’s
 words put me off balance. Alfie was only after sex, as I had been.  The thing that was different about this was that he had engaged with me outside of the bedroom, and Max had seen his lust.

I thought Alfie’s reaction was due to not taking rejection well. I imagined his looks, bad-boy image
, and charm made him irresistible to most women, and I had just dented that image. Watching Max’s reaction, though, helped me understand why Alfie had ignored me in public.

I wondered if his reaction was just that he’d
recognized Alfie’s behavior because he was thinking the same thing about me. They both wanted to have sex with me.

I leaned toward his side of the
car, taking Max’s face in my hands. “Don’t worry about me Max, I’m a big girl, and right now, I want to spend time with you. Please let’s not argue about anything, least of all Alfie, he doesn’t figure. The guy barely knows me. Let it go Max, especially today.”

Max came
 closer and kissed me softly, before cupping his hand behind my head, pulling me in to deepen the kiss. I smiled at him when we broke free, but I hated knowing that Alfie was watching while Max had been kissing me.

I tried to shrug off Alfie’s stare when I looked out as I started the engine. It made me feel s
ick to do this in front of him.

As I drove
 past him, Max’s blood boiled again. “He so wants to fuck you, though. Look at the way he’s watching you,” he threw out there. I looked over at Alfie trying to figure out what his game was, and why he was doing this.

Max turned to face me
. “Are you truly not aware how that man feels about you, Lily?” I was stunned by the intensity of Max’s reaction to Alfie.

“Max, all the guys I’ve met that have wanted
me, have only wanted my body.”

My mother used to tell me that she saw beauty as a curse sometimes. I
often wondered what she meant by that, but I think I was beginning to better understand her now. I couldn’t help how I looked, but I could help how I felt. “Trust me, Max, Alfie isn’t interested in me.”

We sat in silence
 during the drive back. I think that I gave him something to think about with my self-righteous speech about men. I also noticed that Max never contradicted me on my point about men in relation to himself either.

As we neared the condo, Max reached over and took my hand, sprinkling small kisses over my knuckles. His hand then slid along the back of my seat and into my hair. He massaged
circles into my neck as I drove.

I peered at him over my sungl
asses. “Is this the female equivalent of a blow job at the wheel?” I teased trying to divert his thoughts. Max threw his head back with a loud chuckle, and his mood was instantly calmer.

Saffy
 was up and about when we burst through the door, weighed down from our shopping trip. “Where have you been? I’ve asked Will over and thought we could all go out on a boat this afternoon.”

Coming from the Midwest, Max and
 Saffy didn’t get much of a chance to see the ocean. Neither did I, come to think of it, until I arrived here. Max disappeared into Saffy’s room, and I went to change for the trip.

I pulled on a
 red bikini and black shorts and packed some soda and water in a cooler for us. As we headed downstairs to meet Will, Saffy linked arms with me. “Thank you so much for taking care of Max last night, honey. I owe you,” she said quietly to me.

Max heard her and snickered. “Yeah, it must have been a real chore for her.” He gave me a sly smile, and I blushed crimson.

Saffy caught it. “What was that look?” She pointed between Max and me, and he threw his hands open.

“What…what look?”

“The look you just gave her, like some secret smile or something. You’re sick Max.”

Max chewed the inside of his mouth, trying to keep in straight line. “Saffy, I’ve come a long way to see you!” He snorted. “You skipped out on me, leaving
poor Lily to keep me company.”

I looked at my feet, and pinched the underside of my thigh where my hands were, to stop myself laughing at the guilt trip he
was putting on his sister.

Max was relentless.
 “Then, when I was honest with you this morning, you freaked out, calling me a liar, and now this? Makes me wonder why I bothered to come. My trip would have been awful, except little Lily took me under her wing.”