When I woke up, he was no longer by my side. I wasn’t sure where he was as we hadn’t done a tour of the house, so I was unsure of where to go. I got up, brushed my teeth, put on some clothes, and decided to find my way downstairs. When I made it down to the first floor from the third, a lilting piano tune drifted across the room. At first, I thought it might be a recording, but as I followed the sound, I was shocked to discover Alec sitting at a grand piano with a view of the lake playing a slow-moving piece I’d never heard before.
I didn’t want to disrupt him, so I quietly took a seat at the picture window and watched the stillness of the lake as he played. He must have known I was there but didn’t acknowledge me, only continued to play. The music intoxicated my senses. Everything felt peaceful and right. I let my head lilt to the cold glass window as the song filtered through my soul. I couldn’t remember the last time I just sat and was still. When the song ended, I looked over to him, hoping he’d play some more.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, ignoring my discovery of his virtuosity.
“A little. You play beautifully. I’d like to hear more.”
“I haven’t played for years, I’m really rusty.”
“You don’t sound rusty to me.”
“One more, then breakfast.” I was delighted to enjoy a few more minutes of tranquility.
This was a side of him I’d never seen and wanted to know more about, but I didn’t dare ask him questions, so I listened as he played a little livelier tune that woke me up from my reverie. When he finished, he flourished his arms in the air.
“Voila!” He stood and bowed.
I clapped enthusiastically, playing along. “Bravo!” I added for fun.
“So,” he plopped down in the seat across from mine, “do you want the bad news now or after breakfast?”
My stomach catapulted.
“Someone saw us at the lake?” I completely panicked, even my breathing became erratic.
“Kinda, yeah …” Alec turned his phone to me and showed me the picture, which was going viral. It was distant and a bit grainy. We were on the boat. My leg was bare to the mid-thigh, and Alec was definitely enjoying himself. “I’d say this one was more on me than you. I mean clearly, I’m having some naughty kind of fun, look at the expression on my face.” He laughed to make this easier on me. “But you are the one showing skin. In all fairness, it’s just about as much skin as you usually show, but with that look on my face, we are not out for a picnic.”
I dropped my head into my hands and tried to hide from everything. “This is not happening…”
Chapter 28
Alec
The situation wasn’t ideal, but I didn’t quite see it the way Kylie did. In my eyes all press was good press, so we may or may not have been fucking on a boat nestled into an inlet. I seriously thought we were alone and yet, I realized we must have had people following us, possibly from as far back as New York.
“The way I see it, we have two choices. We can either stay here, watch more movies, eat Edwin’s food, and have sex in my hot tub or the bed. I don’t recommend having sex again outdoors. Then we’ll go back to New York later this afternoon as we have a huge day tomorrow. Or we can make a grand show of things and have fun. It’s all up to you.”
“I don’t know, Alec.”
“Do you trust me to make the decision?” I doubted she did, but I had a marvelous plan.
“Not exactly.” She peeked out from behind her hands. “But I will trust you.”
We ate a light breakfast, and she started searching for her phone, getting a little frustrated that she couldn’t find it, thinking she’d left it downstairs after not seeing it in the bedroom.
“Did you see where I put my phone?” she asked looking very worried.
“I have it,” I confessed.
“Why?” She looked at me shifty-eyed.
“Because that picture really got around, and maybe some people have been trying to get a hold of you all morning. So, here’s the deal. I’ll give you your phone back at 5:00 this evening after you’ve spent the afternoon with me. You can use the car ride back home to deal with all that drama, but I don’t want anything to ruin our time together.” I hoped she saw the tremendous effort I was making to give us a fighting chance at this.
“You are horrible. What if I get an important call or Maddy and Avery need me?” She seemed so panicked.
“I’ve already texted them telling them you were fine; you didn’t know about the pic yet, but that I would be showing it to you. I bought us time, even from your bodyguards so … now? We good?”