“I will,” he replied, seriously. That was the good thing about people like George in Devon. They didn’t press for information but would do favors without question.
I reached my estate right before lunch. True to his word, William had given Molly privacy. None of my staff’s cars were parked in the driveway per my request. I wanted some time to myself too.
Grabbing the bags from the trunk of the car, I walked to the front door to twist at the handle to find it locked. Out of habit, I patted my pockets for my keys when I remembered I had given Molly my set of keys.
Locked out of my own house. I chuckled in amusement at the situation as I knocked loudly on the front door. Footsteps approached the front door. I got a brief glimpse of someone looking through the window next to the door before I heard the slide of the lock. The door opened to reveal Molly standing in one of my robes. Her dark hair tumbled about her shoulders, tangled from sleep, while her face was still painted with makeup from yesterday. It took all my self-control to not imagine if Molly was naked underneath the robe that hung off her petite frame easily.
She looked just as beautiful dressed in a simple robe as she did in her wedding dress.
Molly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously as the silence stretched on between us. “I didn’t think you’d be here so early.”
“It’s lunch time,” I commented and watched the color in Molly’s cheeks drain. “I forgot that I gave you my set of keys, but I brought your bag that Peyton had given me.”
“Oh, right,” Molly said. She took a step back while opening the door up. “I’m sorry. I normally don’t sleep in.”
I set Molly’s bag on the floor next to her. I tried not to stare into her eyes or stare at all. I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, but damn… She was beautiful.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You needed the sleep after what happened yesterday. I got us some groceries.”
“Groceries?” She blinked at me in confusion.
“Yes, groceries,” I clarified with a grin. “I wasn’t planning on letting you starve here as a guest in my house.”
“You didn?
?t have to do that,” Molly said, chewing on her bottom lip nervously. “I shouldn’t have slept in. I told myself that I was going to be up before you came back.”
I reached forwards to gently clasp her small shoulder. I ignored the jolt that went up my arm from the contact.
“You can stay as long as you want,” I said, seriously. “I have no ulterior motives. Stay as long as you want.”
Molly nodded mutely as I forced myself to let go of her shoulder.
“I have to get the groceries,” I said. “Would you care for something to eat?”
“I’m starving actually.” She offered a small smile before turning in the direction of the stair with her bag in hand. “Thank you for getting my bag. I’ll be down in just a minute.”
“Right,” I said, watching her move up the stairs with graceful steps. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.”
I retrieved the rest of the grocery bags from the trunk of the car before shutting the front door. After punching in the code to the gate to close it, I headed straight to the kitchen to brew us some coffee and start on some sandwiches.
Footsteps pattered on the floor above me as Molly moved about in the guest room. I debated on calling William to talk a few details over to pass the time, but decided against it. He didn’t need to know any more information than what he already knew.
I rubbed at the back of my neck as I sat down on one of the kitchen stools while I waited for the coffee to finish brewing. What now? The weekend had not gone the way I had expected. I had expected Harry’s wedding to go smoothly. I never once thought Harry could ever turn into an older version of myself from years ago during our Uni days. Now, he was a pretentious prick, and I somehow had ended up with his ex-fiancée in my house.
The tempting thought crept across my mind. It’d been way too long since I had enjoyed a female’s company in bed. I needed that sort of release given it’d been a stressful couple of months with work with little time to enjoy anything.
Still, this was Harry’s ex-fiancée. I couldn’t cross that line even if Harry had crossed a different line on his own accord. I also had a feeling that Molly wouldn’t want to fully trust me either. I wasn’t sure what Harry had told her about me, but none of that mattered anymore. I had changed over the years while Harry also changed into something different.
I couldn’t cross that line even if I wanted to. It was a complicated situation—a painful one for Molly in particular. I had that much respect for Molly, but it was going to be hard. I could feel myself already gravitating toward her beauty.
I had to be careful, lest we end up lovers.
Chapter Six
Molly
I rushed into the bathroom a few minutes later. Heart pounding, I listened to the sound of Alfie moving about the kitchen as he prepared lunch. Of all the damn times I decided to sleep in, it was the one time that Alfie showed up when he said that he would. That was very much unlike Harry who always showed up at least two hours late to everything.