8 страница

When the ride was over, we walked around the pier a little more and came across an ice cream cart. We looked at each other and broke out into wide grins. We got some ice cream and sat down on a bench and enjoyed our dessert. After awhile, the crowds started to thin out as the shops began to close up for the night. We walked back to the car and she drove me home. She walked me to the door and stood beside me as I unlocked it.

"Do you want to come in?" I asked, hoping she would say yes.

"Aunt Grace will probably be home soon if she isn't already," she answered. If I hadn't seen the look of regret in her eyes, I would've guessed that a second date was probably not in the cards.

I leaned on the door and looked into her beautiful green eyes, wanting so much to reach up and touch her face, wondering what her skin would feel like under my fingertips. "I really had a lovely time tonight."

"Me too," she said and smiled that signature smile of hers. Then, she looked as if she was pondering her next action.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

"How beautiful you look tonight," she answered, blushing. "Can I call you tomorrow?"

"I'd be offended if you didn't," I half teased her. Before I could say anything more, she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. It was quick but soft, and my senses were quickly overwhelmed by the softness of her lips and the scent of her perfume. I inhaled deeply and soon she was pulling back.

"Goodnight, Alex," she said quietly and smiled shyly.

"Goodnight, Riley," I told her and she backed down the steps and headed towards her car. I opened the door and took a step inside. I looked back out at her car and saw her wave. I waved back and closed the door behind me, my back and head resting against the door. I closed my eyes and sighed. She had smelled so good and I had to admit that I had wanted her to initiate contact during our date. Was she not interested? Of course she was - she asked if she could call me. Was she waiting for me to initiate things between us? Or was she playing games and holding back in order to make me want her more? Thoughts began to nag my mind about whether or not I had made a mistake allowing myself to become attracted to Riley Carson. She was, after all, a Casanova, a player. She had admitted herself that she was not the monogamous type. I mentally shook my head and exhaled. If I got hurt, I'd have no one to blame but myself so I'd have to tread carefully.

"Nice flowers," I heard Grace's voice. I opened my eyes and saw her walking down the staircase. "You've been out with that writer fellow again?"

I shook my head and lifted myself off the door. I followed her into the kitchen and perched myself up onto one of the stools at the counter, admiring the flowers. They stood tall, the stems a vibrant green and strong and the virginal white flowers were flawless.

"So then who is he?" Grace asked.

"No one you'd know," I lied.

"Where did you go?" she continued.

"A place called 'Fresh', out in Santa Monica," I answered. I didn't see the need to lie to my sister completely.

"I've heard great things about that place," she commented. "That's very thoughtful of him to take you to a vegetarian place."

"I thought so," I agreed.

"Did he treat you well?" Grace asked, and I could tell that her maternal instincts were kicking in again.

"Very gallant and chivalrous," I answered. She was very much the 'gentleman' I thought. Maybe too much of a gentleman.

"Oh dear, is he married?" Grace asked, completely serious.

"No," I answered, hoping she'd stop interrogating me.

"Well, if you do end up liking him, do bring him around so I can meet him," she said and I was glad that our conversation was hopefully drawing to a close.

I nodded and hopped off the stool and gave my sister a goodnight kiss on the cheek. As I was leaving the kitchen, I heard her call out to me. "Alex - I'm glad to see you dating again, love."

I nodded and smiled and headed up the stairs to my room. I checked the time. It would be just after seven in the morning over in London and I knew that Jules wasn't a morning person. 'She'll understand,' I told myself and I picked up the phone.

Riley

I opened the door to the house from the garage and was greeted with a view straight into the family room where my roommate and best friend was buck naked with her back to me, sitting on top of her girlfriend and obviously riding her. "Holy shit, do I have to disinfect the couch now?" I called out to them.

Lenny stopped dead in her motions and turned her head around with Gabriella peering out from behind her. "You actually think this is the first time we've fucked on the couch?" Lenny asked, completely uninhibited by the fact that I had just walked in on them.

I turned to the closet by the door and went to hang up my jacket. I could smell the faint scent of Alex's musky perfume on it. I held it up to my nose and inhaled deeply. She had smelled incredible all night and I had to fight so hard with myself to not touch her.

"Why are you smelling your jacket?" Lenny's voice called out to me. I opened my eyes and turned to her. She had gotten off the couch and was pulling on her underwear as was Gabriella.

"Please, don't let me interrupt your mounting," I told them while I hung the jacket up on a hanger. Lenny came over and buried her nose in the jacket. When she came up for air, she grinned a shit eating grin.

"She smells good," Lenny said, looking at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked, self-conscious.

"Why are you home already?" Lenny asked, handing the jacket back to me. "Shouldn't you be lying between her legs and making her scream out for a deity?"

I fixed her a look and she held her hands up in mock surrender. "Apparently I've hit a nerve."

I hung up the jacket and followed her into the kitchen where Gabriella was pouring herself a glass of wine. I went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer and plopped myself down in the arm chair in the family room.

"So, what happened?" Lenny asked as they joined me. "How'd it go?"

"Dinner was fantastic," I said and took a drink. "Then we went for a walk on the pier, went for a ride on the ferris wheel, had ice cream. It went well. I think."

"You think?" Lenny questioned.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I haven't been on a date since I was nineteen," I barked.

"Wow, someone's a bit touchy," Gabriella commented.

"I wish," I blurted out before I could stop myself. Seeing their raised eyebrows, I added, "I didn't touch her all night. Except to kiss her goodnight on the cheek."

"Tell me you're not going hetero on us. Did you want to touch her?" Lenny asked, concern in her voice. She probably thought I had gone and lost my mind.

"Oh God yes," I answered.

"Then why didn't you?" Gabriella tag teamed in the interrogation.

"Because this is her first time ever out with a woman," I answered. "I didn't know if she quite fully realized that we were two women on a date, you know?"

They both nodded. "So I didn't wanna put any pressure on her or put her in an awkward position," I continued. "I wanted her to be comfortable. Besides, we talked a lot and I got to know her a bit more."

Lenny was staring at me and Gabriella had this look on her face that I even knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

"Aww, that is so sweet!" my roommate's girlfriend said, practically clapping her hands together. "You were being such a gentleman!"

"Must've been painful," Lenny finally chimed in. "Being that close to her all night, with her smelling they way she did. Was she wearing something sexy?"

I nodded.

"Man, you must've been ready to explode," Lenny continued to rib me.

"You have no idea," I told her. "The entire date, I forced myself to not look at her chest. I've got the female equivalent of blue balls."

"So is there going to be a second date?" Lenny asked.

I nodded and took another sip of beer. "I asked if I could call her tomorrow."

"You asked if you could call her tomorrow?" Gabriella repeated my answer. "Where is all this chivalry coming from? Are you not well?"

"I'm very capable of being chivalrous, thank you very much," I said indignantly.

"And yet you're an ass most of the time," Lenny added.

"It's easier," I replied matter-of-factly.

We sat and watched TV in a companionable silence for awhile and then Gabriella headed upstairs to go to bed. Lenny and I went outside onto the patio where she proceeded to light up a skinny joint, after making sure I was okay with it. Despite the abundance of marijuana that was smoked at the restaurant after closing every night, I never partook in any of it. Smoking, drinking and drugs were common vices among the restaurant crowd and I knew them all too well. One of the reasons I came back to Los Angeles was for a fresh start and where I had the support of my family. I had gotten into too much trouble in New York on my own where I'd work until two, sometimes three in the morning, go hit an after hours bar or party where there would always be a variety of drugs available. One day, I had done a couple of lines of coke in the back office during a dinner shift. I returned to the kitchen and a Beef Wellington was called for. I reached into the oven and grabbed the pan with my bare hand. Of course I burnt my hand quite badly and it hurt like a sonofabitch later on. Being a chef, we've all had burns and lacerations so that was not a big deal. The big deal was that I was so high, I hadn't even realized what I had done because I hadn't felt the pain. That was when I decided it was time to sober up before I hurt myself any worse.

I moved back to L.A., went into rehab and sobered up. Being in the food industry, drugs and alcohol are plentiful and always available and present. It wasn't easy to stay sober but I stayed on track. I still allowed myself to indulge every once in a while with the beer and wine, to the dismay and concern of my parents, however I felt that I was always a responsible drinker. After three years of sobriety, my father showed his support for me by investing in Claire de Lune. Because my father was always a businessman who only invested in things he knew could make him money, I knew that he believed in me and that I couldn't let him down. So I kept my nose clean and worked hard at the restaurant. My only rule with the staff was that they could get stoned on their own time or after closing. If any of them were high or drunk during a shift, they were tossed out on their asses, even if it meant we'd be short staffed for a full house.

Lenny knew of my past and had always checked to make sure I was okay before anyone around me lit up, She took a couple of puffs on the joint as we sat out on the patio in the abnormally warm November night.

"Are you going to see her again?" Lenny asked after exhaling away from me.

"I hope so," I answered.

"You've never really told me why you never dated before," she stated her question. "I know you play the role of the monogamy-challenged heart breaker, but I don't buy it. I've known you too long."

I smiled. Of all my friends, Lenny knew me the longest and the best.

"Maybe I'm trying to beat my old man's record," I joked.

"Have you?" she asked, smirking.

"I doubt it," I answered. "Besides, I really don't want to know how many women my father has slept with."

"Seriously, though," Lenny asked after taking a drag on her joint. She exhaled and then continued. "Have you just never met anyone you liked enough to date, or did someone..."

"Break my heart in the past?" I finished for her. "That would be pretty typical and cliché wouldn't it?"

She shrugged and nodded.

"My first year in New York, I met a girl," I explained for the first time. "I really liked her and we dated. Typical lesbian pace, I brought her back to L.A. with me on Spring Break even though we'd only been together for about three weeks. At any rate, she spent the week trying to get my dad to listen to her demo tape."

"How hard was she trying?" Lenny asked, putting out the last of the joint.

"She was willing to get down on her knees," I answered.

"How did you find out?"

"My dad told me," I answered. "I sent her packing after that."

"You were in love with her after three weeks?" Lenny asked skeptically.

"Who said anything about love?" I asked in reply. "She didn't break my heart, if that's what you're thinking. She just reminded me that people will use me to get to my dad. I just learned to stop trusting, because I'll never know if a woman is with me because she wants to be with me, or because she wants something from my dad."

"Like not knowing if people are your friends because they like you or because of your name," Lenny added and I nodded in agreement. "So what about Alex?"

"I do like her," I confessed. "I can't stop thinking about her. And when she talks, I don't ever want her to stop."

"And it's not like she needs the fame or fortune, more like she's shied away from the spotlight," Lenny pointed out. She looked at me pointedly. "I hope things work out for you and Alex. I like her. I like what she's done to you too."

"Shut up," I told her, feeling the blush creep across my cheeks.

"Did you quit smoking for her?" Lenny asked, knowing me all too well.

"I quit smoking because Kris got busted smoking at school," I said, omitting the other half of the truth, but I couldn't avoid the smirk on her face. "And Alex thinks it's a disgusting habit."

Lenny busted out laughing. "I knew it!" she said, pointing at me. I fixed her a look.

"Seriously," Lenny continued. "I know the Riley that the others don't, but I've never seen you...smitten."

"Yeah, seriously, shut up before I hurt you," I warned her, half jokingly.

"You're cute when you're smitten," she added, ignoring my warning. "I won't tell anyone that you have a soft spot."

"You and Jason," I said, shaking my head. "You're both enjoying this too much."

"I just want you to be happy," she said and stood up from her chair. She came over and gave me a kiss on my cheek. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I said to her retreating back.

Despite the rule about not calling your date the next day because you don't want to seem eager or desperate, the first thing I wanted to do as soon as I woke up was call Alex. However, my father beat me to the punch by calling me and inviting me over for dinner Sunday night because as he had put it, "there's someone who's going to want to see me." After agreeing to his demand so I could get him off the phone, I called Alex. I didn't care if I was coming across as needy. I missed hearing the sound of her voice, and then to find out that she was still lying in bed when I had called her, it took everything in me to not talk dirty to her or touch myself while talking to her.

If my day hadn't already been booked up with meetings with Jason and the rest of the restaurant staff, I would've asked her out again. She was being accosted by Grace to go shopping while the girls were spending the rest of the weekend with their father. Reluctantly, I had hung up the call with Alex as I needed to shower before heading to the restaurant.

We spent the afternoon brainstorming for menu ideas and I finally got Jason to agree to a couple of vegetarian dishes for the upcoming week's menu. We cooked up a few of the dishes we had never made before to decide whether or not the flavors worked like we had hoped and by evening, we had settled on a menu for the next couple of weeks. By then, the rest of the staff had arrived and tried out the new dishes as well as the wine samples that our vendor had brought by earlier in the week.

When I got home that night, I had to will myself to not call her again. I didn't want her to think I was a lost little puppy without her after just one date.

"Who are you kidding?" I asked myself and picked up my phone. But before I could dial her number, my phone rang. It was Alex. I smiled.

"You know, I should be on a date right now," I told my father as I walked into his house.

"You? On a date? Did I hear that right?" he asked, completely surprised.

"Yes, me, on a date," I replied in the affirmative.

"Stop teasing us, you know your old man's got a weak heart," a deep voice with a British accent which I hadn't heard in a long time said. I turned around to see one of my father's oldest friends, James Miller, or Uncle Jim as he's always been known to me. My dad and Uncle Jim had been friends long before I was ever born and despite being a famous television and film star in the UK, his true passion was music, and so he would spend most of his spare time with his band. They were a cover band and did a lot of covers of my father's band's stuff. He and my father would get together one or twice a year to collaborate on set lists that Uncle Jim's band would play at their shows. They mostly played in smaller venues like jazz clubs and at fund raisers, and most of the proceeds they ever raised were for charity. Uncle Jim was successful enough as an actor, he certainly didn't need the money from playing music. He played music because he loved it.

I went over to him and gave him a big hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you had a new girlfriend so I had to come and see for myself," he said, straight faced. A few seconds later, he busted out laughing. "Oh you should have seen the look on your face. It was like I had just caught you going down on the Queen or something."

I closed my eyes and exhaled. "I'm glad I can amuse you," I said to the two men who were laughing at my expense.

We headed into the kitchen where my mother and sister were busy cooking. With the strict promise that I was only to help and do as I was told, as this was not my kitchen, I was allowed to assist them. Once dinner was ready, we settled in the dining room and visited with Uncle Jim. As it turns out, he was here for a few weeks to play a few gigs for charity.

"I have a friend who would love to see one of your shows," I told him. "She's a big fan. Think you can score your favorite chef a couple of tickets to one of your shows?"

"Cat Cora's here?" he asked, looking around.

"Funny!" I told him, not laughing.

"Come by the beach house next Saturday. I'm having a little get together after our first show," he told me. "And bring your friend," he added waggling his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes at his suggestion.

"You do realize that I do have a condition for these tickets," he said, putting an arm around me.

Alex

I was beginning to see why Lenny's girlfriend was so upset that night that we had gone out to the bar after the restaurant had closed. I had only been on one date with Riley, well, two dates, but after a long week of not seeing her, I was getting pretty antsy and couldn't wait for Saturday night to come fast enough. Despite my own warnings, her daily phone calls had wedged her into my heart and I was missing her terribly.

The second date wasn't really a date, but it was just the two of us spending some time together. It was more of a working date for Riley than anything. Apparently she and her sous chef had come up with some vegetarian dishes and she wanted me to try some, so on the Monday when they were closed, she had taken me to her restaurant and prepared the new dishes for me to try. I felt quite privileged and honored to be her sole audience and the fact that whenever I would taste a dish, she had this adorable look while waiting for my approval. The whole experience made me feel important to her and her world. Despite having had a wonderful time with Riley and watching her in her element, I think that day only added to my frustrations as we barely made any physical contact and like our first date, she left me with a kiss on the cheek and disappeared before I had a chance to pull her back for a proper kiss. Yes, I was getting frustrated because I was finding myself craving for her touch.

I finished putting on my makeup and gave myself a last look in the mirror. I had bought a new dress when Grace had dragged me out shopping with her and was now glad I had gone. Just as I grabbed the cashmere sweater off the bed, the doorbell rang and I headed downstairs. Riley, who was wearing dark jeans that rode low on her hips and a green satin halter top, had refused to tell me where we were going, just that it was a house party. Again, she was very chivalrous and held the car door for me as I got in and as I watched her walk around to her side of the car, I don't know if it was because I hadn't seen her in a few days or because of the lighting or what, but I suddenly noticed how sexy her lean and muscular arms were. My mind, by it's own volition, began to wonder what it would feel like to have those strong arms wrapped around me, or how her long slender fingers would navigate my body. Suddenly my mouth went dry and I felt a very distinct warmth growing inside me.

We drove down towards the coast and I managed to get my mind off her sexy bare arms and form coherent sentences, mostly to pester her about where we were going and who would be there. Eventually we pulled up to a beach house in Malibu and the driveway and street were already lined with cars. She opened the car door for me and we walked up the front steps to the brick mansion. She opened the door without even knocking and held it for me. As I walked through the threshold, I felt her hand on my lower back and that warmth that was inside me that had started in the car began to resurface. She guided me through the house and people and finally out to the back of the house by the pool. We walked up to a tall man in a black t-shirt and jeans and she reached out and put a hand on his arm. He turned around and reflexively, my eyes widened and a grin began to grow on my lips. The man was more handsome in person than I had remembered him on screen.

"Uncle Jim," Riley said after he excused himself from the other guests he had been conversing with and gave her a hug and kiss. "This is Alex McGovern. Alex, James Miller."

"Please, call me Jim," he said and took my hand and gave it a chaste and gentlemanly kiss.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I managed to tell him through my excitement. "I'm a big fan of your work."

"As am I of your work, Ms. McGovern," he said and I gave him an inquiring look. "You're a very talented writer. I never expected Nicholas McGovern to have produced such a beautiful and smart daughter with his demon seed. You must take after your mother."

"You know my father?" I asked.

"Of course," he answered. "The bastard made me audition for one of his films. I told him to sod off."

"He was a fool," I told him and smiled and received a deep throaty laugh in return. I turned to Riley who was watching us with an amused expression. "How do you know each other?"

"Her father and I go back a ways," Jim replied and put an arm around Riley. "I've known this one since she was still wearing nappies."

Riley blushed slightly and shrugged her shoulders. "Do you want a drink?"

"Sure," I answered, nodding and gave her a grateful smile. I had mentioned in our conversations that I had grown up watching James Miller films and knew most of them by heart but never did I realize that she knew him, much less take me to meet him. I found it ironic that despite having a film director and producer for a father and that Jim Miller and I came from the same country, I finally got to meet the man in a foreign country through someone completely new in my life.

While Riley went to get us some drinks, I asked Jim what he was doing here, whether he was filming or vacationing and found out that he was doing some benefit concerts for a few weeks. We chatted quite amicably about my move to L.A. and some differences we have found between the U.K. and America.

As I was telling him about how it's still taking me time to get used to driving in L.A., I realized he was looking at me quite intently. "What is it?" I asked hesitantly.

"You are absolutely, amazingly, beautiful," he said. Had those words come from any other man, they would've sounded like a lame come on, but from James Miller, it only made me blush.

"Ms. McGovern, would you indulge an old git and have dinner with me sometime?" he asked. Again, any other man asking a woman out after only meeting her for several minutes would have been called stupidly ambitious, however with my fellow countryman it was simply charming.

At that moment, Riley returned with two drinks and handed one to me. Jim was still looking at me expectantly and so I reached out and took Riley's free hand in mine. "Thank you and I'm extremely flattered, however, I am seeing someone."

An eyebrow rose slowly on Riley's brow as she turned to look at me.

"Blimey!" Jim exclaimed and shook his head. He reached out and put his arm around Riley's shoulder. "I do apologize, lass. Had I known she was with you I would have refrained from behaving like a smarmy git. I do have to ask though, what in the hell were you doing having dinner with us last week when you could have been spending time with this lovely lady?"

"My dad told me someone wanted to see me," Riley answered, placing the stress on the word 'someone'.

"I'd have told him to piss off," Jim answered with a jovial laugh. Someone came up to him and told him something in his ear and he turned back to us. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go and make a fool of myself with some visitors. I'll see you in a bit." With a wink and a kiss on our cheeks, he left us.

"Did he just do what I think he did?" Riley asked uncertainly looking at his retreating back and then back at me. I smiled and nodded while she shook her head.

"You never told me you knew James Miller," I said to Riley in a half joking, half accusingly.

She turned to face me completely, her hand still in mine and arched an eyebrow. "You never told me you were seeing someone."

I couldn't help the smile that was growing on my face. "Thank you for bringing me here."

She smiled shyly. "You're welcome. You wanna take a tour of the place?"

I nodded rapidly and she led me by the hand back into the house. She took me to tour through the upstairs, the gourmet kitchen, family room, entertainment room and the home music studio where Jim and his band would play. It took us a while to navigate through the house as there were people everywhere. Lastly, we headed back out to the pool house in the back. When we opened the door to the pool house, not surprisingly, there were about five or six people in there already, sitting around a coffee table smoking. It only took a couple of seconds to know that what they were smoking wasn't a regular tobacco cigarette. One of them leaned forward and lowered his face to the coffee table upon which I saw a few white lines of powder. He quickly snorted and a line of the powder disappeared. he sat back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"You girls wanna party?" The guy beside him held out the rolled cigarette to us.

"We're good, thanks," Riley told him and we backed out the door and closed it behind us. She turned to me and hesitantly asked, "I didn't mean to speak for you...did you want to...?"

I shook my head. We headed back into the house and I don't know if it was because I hadn't noticed it before or if it was just that time of night at a party, but there were people in the kitchen, snorting up more white lines on the kitchen island counter and in the living room, people sitting around, passing joints between them. I felt Riley lean into me and whisper in my ear, "Do you wanna get outta here?"

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16