15
ELOISE
For the past month, I’ve been heading on down to the markets in Kensington, the ones where Alistair found me that day. And every weekend, like clockwork, he’s come down to check in and help me with the stall. Every week is the same …
“I’ve come to be of service.” Alistair grinned as he walked around the stall and began helping me package the treats as if he’d done it a thousand times before.
And then, as soon as I’ve packed up for the day, he gave me a wave and continued on with his day. Never pushing for more. Come the next weekend, he was there again with a big smile on his face and a boiling hot cup of coffee for me, and we started the dance all over again.
Each passing week I’m becoming reliant on him to help me through this mad holiday season. I don’t think I have baked so much in my entire life. There have been so many orders that I’ve had to take some time off from The Paradise Club to fulfill them all. Otherwise, I was working all through the night and not getting any sleep. Lauren’s been helping me in the kitchen and at the markets but takes a break when Alistair is around giving us time to‘flirt over the icing’as she says before coming back and helping again.
Lauren thinks it’s fantastic that he’s helping me.
“He’s a busy guy, Elle. I know you haven’t googled him, but the guy is a big deal. He owns some of the best clubs around the world. His family is rich too. They own some financing company, but he doesn’t work there with them. Seems he bucked the family tradition and created his own way in the world, a bit like someone else I know.” Lauren chuckled as I glared at her over a bucket of frosting. “What I’m getting at is he must like you if he’s coming down to the markets every Sunday in this shitty winter weather to help you out. Men don’t do that kind of shit when they have pussy on tap as he does,” she said, arching a brow at me.
“Doesn’t matter, he’s a client of the club, and that’s the end of the story,” I tell her.
“Quit then! You’re making good money from your stall, yes? It’s not like the money you’re making at the club, but it’s still good. I know you have this figure in your head, but there’s more to life than numbers, babe,” Lauren explained to me.
“I can’t. I’m not willing to risk everything on him,” I told her.
Lauren let out an exhausted sigh as it’s the same fight we’d been having since Alistair started helping me out at the markets.
“I think he is worth the risk, babe,” she said sadly.
“Doesn’t matter, we’re moving halfway across the world next month, so this is all a moot point.”
“Don’t go. Stay here and have little cupcake babies with that delicious man. What I would give to have a man give a shit about me like he does you.” Lauren moaned out the words.
“Nothing is deviating me from my goal. No matter how gorgeous, kind, helpful Alistair is … he is still a client.”
“He sure hasn’t been acting like a client. The guy hardly frequents the club now you’re not there. You see him more outside of it than inside,” Lauren stated.
“Like you said, he’s a busy guy …”
“Or maybe he’s more interested in you than the hot sex you give him.” Lauren grinned.
And I ignored her because her words were giving me hope that there might be something more between us, and I’d been trying to push down the feelings I got when I was around him, but it was hard.
“Thanks for helping again,” I say, running my cold hands down my pants to warm them up as the winter chill bites into them.
“Any time! As long as you keep paying me with your baked goods, I’m all in,” he says with a grin. “You’ve got me addicted to them, and like a junkie, I need my fix every Sunday.”
“Now it all makes sense. Should I be calling for an intervention regarding your baked goods addiction?” I chuckle as I cup my hands in front of me and blow hot air on them.
Alistair frowns as he watches me before reaching out and taking my ice-cold fingers and rubbing them between his warm ones.
How is he so hot when I’m so cold?He then brings them up to his lips and blows hot air across my skin, and I feel it radiate through my entire body. I look up into his hazel eyes, and I’m drawn into the deep pools of molten heat as his lips touch my fingers, sending bolts of electricity through every nerve ending. My tongue runs along my bottom lip as my eyes fall to his, and everything around us falls away. His lips press together as he blows warm air across my skin again, and I swear I’m about to combust until he drops my hands suddenly.
“Oi, come back, fucking asshole,” he bellows as he takes off through the market.
What the hell just happened?
Everyone standing around my booth looks over at me wondering too. I look around my stall, trying to work out what on earth happened, and then I look down and notice my pink money tin is gone.No. Oh no.As I rush out into the market to see if I can see where Alistair is, tears well in my eyes at the realization that everything I’ve worked for today has gone. Some asshole has stolen all my hard-earned cash. I sink down on my chair and stare at the empty dessert table, knowing this was the last weekend before Christmas and was my biggest yet.
Alistair walks back into the stall looking out of breath. “I tried to chase him, but I lost him in the crowd,” he says, sucking in deep breaths before he rushes toward me. “I’m sorry, Elle, I tried to catch him,” he says with a scowl on his face.
I’m unable to hold back the tears, thanks to my exhaustion, so they freely fall down my cheeks.