Everything I want: Will Alfie and Lily's love survive?... (12 page)

Nodding, I said, “Sure I do. That’s why I’m going to pull up my big girl panties and deal with Alfie and Luca being in the same
room.”

She smirked. “You’re definitely not the same meek little girl I sent out here to s
tudy.”

Mandy turned and smiled at me. “You were meek?” She giggled, but she knew exactly what Elle meant. Holly chuckled. “Yeah, Lily was a peach until she discovered being a bad ass American rock chic was much more fun than being a holier-than-thou virgin from Eng
land.

The girls and I spent the following three hours planning some amazing nights out. Afterwards, we sang loads of crap songs on the karaoke mac
hine.

Four jugs of margaritas later made our choices fun. We picked some really hick tunes to rock out to. I loved spending time with them and knew how important they were going to be for me in the future. Especially once I started to tour with X
rAid.

I was going to struggle for female company on the road. So I was depending on Mandy, Holly, and Elle to meet with me whenever we could. These were my friends before fame, and I planned on keeping
them.

They were the ones that would always keep me real in the future. I was lucky, as I also had my friends in London. So I had some people on both sides of the
pond.

Luca and I were getting closer by the day, and although it wasn’t love yet, he was becoming important to me. He came over in the afternoon on the first of our planned nights
out.

Chapter 12
– Stolen glances

I
was just about to shower when my doorbell rang. I had begun my pampering routine to prepare for the night out. Jack and Rosie were at the b
each.

I answered the door in my robe, and Luca pushed me back, playfully grabbing me by both lapels. “Non posso vivere senzate.” He smiled seductively at me. “Venti qui e baciami.” His lips met mine, and he dipped me, giving me a passionate kiss that left me breath
less.

“Wow! Now in English, I want the full effect.” I gig
gled.

“The first part I can’t live without you. Come here and kiss me… you already
know.”

I smiled. “That’s very romantic,
Luca.”

He shrugged his shoulders and laid on his thickest Italian accent. “Whata can ah saya…I’m a very romantic, Latino guy.” He smirked then chuckled but leaned forward and kissed me again more sl
owly.

Luca lay on my bed making phone calls while I took my shower, and when I came back into the bedroom, his eyes were focused on my t
owel.

“You want me to go somewhere while you get r
eady?”

Smirking, I said, “Oh, you want to run now?” I te
ased.

Scowling, Luca said, “Why would I run? You’re
here.”

Luca had been consistent and patient with me, waiting until I was ready. He hadn’t judged me or pushed me to do more than I was ready for. I shook my head. “I don’t mind getting dressed in front of you, but I don’t want you to feel like I’m teasing you ei
ther.”

Luca grinned. “Sure, I can handle you getting dressed in front of me; the fact that you’re willing to do that shows me we’re making prog
ress.”

I didn’t dress slowly or provocatively. I was already dry, so I pulled my underwear out of the drawer before I dropped the t
owel.

Used to dressing in front of the boys in the band now, I didn’t mind, but this was a little different. None of them had seen me fully naked, although, some of my undergarments left nothing to the imagina
tion.

Luca remained passive but didn’t take his eyes off of me until I was fully dressed. I was glad I had extended my boundaries today. It gave me the confidence I needed to face Alfie when we went out. I hoped dressing in front of him gave Luca the confidence to deal with him too. Luca was normally a very confident man, but I think he was a bit intimidated to be competing with a rock
star.

The only time I have ever seen any self- doubt from him has been around me. I had to be sure that whatever Alfie tried tonight, Luca would be able to ma
nage.

I was excited for tonight to come for another reason. Today was four days before Christmas. Jack had flown in from London, and although he had Rosie with him, Elle and I were so happy to have him wit
h us.

I was overwhelmed Jack was spending Christmas Day with me. In all the years we had known each other, we’d never woken up on Christmas morning toge
ther.

Both his parents and mine were in New York, but then planned on coming to Florida tomorrow, the day before Christmas Eve. My dad had rented a six bedroom villa so that we could all stay in one p
lace.

Jack and Rosie had a room, my parents and his parents in two others, leaving one each for Lennon and Cody, Holly and Brett, and me. Mandy and Neil, and Digs and Shawn were spending the day at their parents’ home but coming over in the evening. It was going to be ama
zing.

Jack and Rosie were staying with Holly and me until tomorrow. Rosie was still struggling with Jack’s relationship with me, but I think she took Mandy’s warning to heart and was trying not to let his flirty ways toward me affect
her.

I told him to tone it down, but Jack still felt that if Rosie couldn’t handle our relationship, then she shouldn’t stay with him. It made me wonder if he really loved her, because he wasn’t considering her feelings that
much.

Knowing, I didn’t love Luca yet either, but I wouldn’t like him to feel bad about Jack and me either. I was wondering how Luca would cope when Jack began his banter with me. I had spoken about him a lot to Luca, and I felt sure that Jack would put him to the test in the following
days.

We had decided to go to D’mond for the first of our planned nights out. Mainly so that we could all touch base with L
ouie.

We hadn’t seen him in weeks, and although the band had moved on, he was still a close friend. Being in familiar surroundings was important for me tonight
too.

I felt I was going to need my wits about me, especially socializing in the same place as A
lfie.

I dressed in a short clingy deep wine-colored satin dress with matching shoes. The weather was cold enough for me to wear silk thigh highs. I wore my hair down and applied a little mascara and lip gloss. When I walked into the sitting room, Jack and Luca’s heads turned in my direc
tion.

“Damn, Lily. You look so hot I might have to strip that dress off of you right now to cool you off.” Jack smirked wiggling his b
rows.

He rose off the chair and kissed the side of my cheek. Rosie looked ticked and stared down at her lap. “Behave yourself Jack. Everyone knows you’re all talk and no action,” I chided, feeling a little sorry for Rosie and
Luca.

Jack’s brow bunched, and I realized this was the first time I hadn’t gone along with his flirty role play. When I saw what I said had hurt him, I closed the space between us and cuddled him. He kissed the top of my
head.

“Sorry,” I mumbled not caring what we looked like to Luca and R
osie.

Jack flashed a grin. “You’re forgiven.” He smirked. When I broke away, I saw Luca’s face. It was passive, and if the exchange between Jack and I had affected him, he masked it well. Rosie, on the other hand, got up and headed into the bedroom mumbling she’d left her purse in t
here.

We had hired a mini bus for our night out, because we knew we’d all be drinking alcohol, and no one wanted to be the designated driver. With it being so near to Christmas, everyone wanted to have some
fun.

When we walked to our ride for the night, Luca clasped his hand in mine and lifted it to his lips. “You look so elegant,
Lily.”

I smiled at him. “I don’t believe anyone has ever said that to me be
fore.”

Luca placed his lips near my ear. “I would say a lot more, but I don’t want to make you blush in front of your friends.” He smirked at me, and I saw the briefest glimpse of his perfect teeth through his
lips.

Holly and Brett weren’t getting a ride to D’mond but would be traveling back with us at the end of the n
ight.

We picked up Cody, Lennon, and Digs on the way, and Cody disclosed that he’d actually invited a girl ton
ight.

Lennon mumbled something about having to use Digs as his wingman tonight, and how that might diminish the quality of the women he could hook up
with.

Giggling at Lennon’s comment, but I wasn’t sure if he was being serious, so I wanted to make sure that Digs wasn’t hurt by his lack of tact at the way Digs lo
oked.

“Digs, honey, don’t mind him. If you accept that you two are pairing up tonight, it would be the quality of women Lennon attracts, that
you
might be concerned about. I know I don’t mix business with pleasure, but just for the record, you’re my favorite.” Digs flashed me a grin and winked at Lennon, who scowled and shook his
head.

Jack muttered something about him getting relegated to the back benches with all these American guys demanding my attention. Luca smoothly interjected that I had been merely playing with them, and that now I’d discovered hot Latinos were a much better class of
man.

I grinned at Luca. His eyes twinkled as he laughed softly at the deadpan faces of my bandmates and my best fr
iend.

Hoping we would get to the club first, I was disappointed when I saw Alfie and Drew were sitting at a large table in the VIP area with
Zoe.

Elle was standing by the bar talking to Louie, and Des was dancing with some scantily-clad woman on the dance f
loor.

I hesitated when I caught sight of Alfie but pushed myself toward the table. I must have tensed because Luca’s arm tightened around my waist, compensating for
this.

Luca was amazingly smooth. He took charge of the situation, and I knew that he was anticipating how I must be feeling to have Alfie and him in the same s
pace.

“Luca.” His soft, low Italian accent cut into the quiet between songs, as his hand extended toward A
lfie.

Zoe stood up and thrust her hand at Luca. “Hi, I’m Zoe, Alfie’s girlfriend. You met Alfie the other day.” She said nodding in my direction and mentioning him like I wouldn’t have known who he was otherwise. The guy was world famous for crying out loud. Alfie stood there checking Luca out, a scowl on his face, his jaw ticked, but said not
hing.

Luca gave Zoe a warm smile and turned his full attention toward her. “Very nice to meet you, Zoe.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kisse
d it.

I felt he had some common respect for her; she was in the same position as he was, whether she knew it or
not.

Alfie and I loved each other deeply, and these were the two people who we were trying to make it with us as we tried to get on with our separate l
ives.

Not deterred by the fact that Alfie hadn’t spoken, Luca turned to him. “You have a very beautiful girlfriend, Alfie.” Cody interjected and asked Alfie when he thought that Andy would be arri
ving.

I took his distraction to move beside Luca and put my hand on his chest in support. He squeezed my waist, and I smiled up at him. Luca bent to kiss my fore
head.

Alfie muttered, “Fuck.” Turned his upper torso away from us, and looked at the bar behind him. My eyes flicked in his direction, but Luca caught my chin with his forefinger and turned my face back and up to his. He held my eyes with his in a beautiful sensual gaze. “Venti qui e baciami.” (My beautiful
girl.)

His lips stroked mine slowly back and forth. “Don’t worry, Lily, he’ll learn to deal with it,” he whispered, and I was impressed that he was being so mature about the whole situa
tion.

Gordon City blared out ‘Ready for your love,’ and the sound filled the room. Luca’s sexy smile widened. “Dance with me.” With that, he guided me toward the dance f
loor.

I was dancing with my back against Luca’s chest, and my eyes closed. He was stroking my belly, his strong hands skimming back and forth against the satin material of my dress as we swayed to the music. At first I was being careful not to provoke A
lfie.

When music changed to the next song I opened my eyes, and it was as if Alfie’s eyes were magnets for
mine.

Sitting forward on a bar stool with his legs apart, he had one elbow balancing on one of his thighs, and his beer bottle was just sitting against his lips. Watchin
g me.

Alfie was staring hard. Our eyes connected and once again, I was stuck. All the feelings I tried to suppress for him bubbled from deep inside me, rising up in my chest until they nearly choked me, as a lump formed in my th
roat.

I thought I was coping well, but when my eyes connected with his in that way, any hopes I had of being free and clear of him evapor
ated.

My eyes honed in on what he was doing with the neck of the bottle. As he stroked the tip of the bottle back and forth across his lips, his stare seemed to inten
sify.

I knew he was sending me a silent message. A very private one. He was reminding me of a time we went dancing in London. He had done something extremely erotic to me involving a beer bo
ttle.

No way, could I stop staring at him… staring a
t me.

I was transfixed, mesmerized. I couldn’t drag my eyes away and didn’t even feel bad that I was leaning against another man.
Luca.

Who was I kidding about my feelings for Alfie? The hold he had on my heart was so powerful, and at that moment I was afraid I would never be free of
him.

Knowing I needed to do something to push him away from me, I turned to Luca and placed my arms around his
neck.

Luca smiled seductively at me, his head bent towards me and he wet my lips with his tongue. He placed his mouth on mine, and I closed my eyes, wanting to scream. His tongue probed deep in my mouth, and my heart cracked, because I knew my action would hurt A
lfie.