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Chapter 34
Troy pressed the button to ring the doorbell, Mila standing beside him and virtually vibrating with excitement. This was not only her very first grown-up dinner party, but it was her first time getting a look inside the house she’d been fascinated by for so long.
All in all, a pretty momentous night.
Alison answered the door wearing an understated but still stunning dress of flowing flowered fabric.
Mila’s eyes widened. “You look beautiful.”
Troy smiled. “She took the words right out of my mouth.”
Alison blushed and stepped back, gesturing for them to come inside. “Come on in. You’re the first to arrive.”
Troy handed her a bottle of wine as they stepped over the threshold. “A gift for our lovely hostess. Thank you so much for having us.”
She examined the bottle. “Oh, it’s wonderful. We should definitely uncork it.”
“Um, Alison?” Mila said, sounding a little bit nervous. Troy had a feeling he knew what she was about to ask.
“Yes, sweetie?”
“Do you think that we could, uh, have a tour? Of the house?”
“Mila’s always been fascinated by this house. She’s never gotten to see the inside before,” Troy jumped in to explain.
“Oh, well, then, I’ll do you one better,” Alison declared. “You can explore on your own if you’d like. The third floor is my bedroom and the guest bedroom that Caroline is using, so no need to go up there. But the first and second floors are just set up for rental. You can wander to your heart’s content.”
Mila looked at Troy for approval of the plan, her eyes wide and pleading. He smiled and touched her shoulder. “If Alison says it’s fine, then it’s fine with me.”
She breathed out, like the air itself was too electrically charged to hold in her lungs any longer. “I’ll be back!” she announced and headed down the hallway, looking wonderingly up at the crown molding and decorative ceiling.
Alison smiled at Troy. “Come on. Let’s head in the kitchen and pour this, shall we?”
He followed her into the kitchen, and he couldn’t tear his eyes from her as she walked ahead of him. Her ass, of course, was magnificent, but it was more than that. It was her entire body and the way that it swayed so gracefully as she moved. It was the ineffable quality of poise that she personified.
She was magnificent, plain and simple.
She uncorked the wine and pulled down two glasses. She poured them each a very generous serving and then they clinked glasses.
“To us,” she said, “and to Valentine Bay.”
They drank, and then he put his glass forward, proposing another toast. “To you,” he said, his voice low and husky, “and how happy you’ve made me since you’ve been here.”
Instead of clinking her glass to his, she put hers down on the counter and stepped toward him, close enough he could feel the heat of her body through his suit. He set his glass down as well, and leaned forward to kiss her.
Their lips had barely touched when a sardonic voice sounded from the bottom of the back kitchen staircase. “Well. I suddenly see the appeal of this little hamlet.”
Alison spun around, stunned, and Troy was glad they’d already put their wine glasses down. He’d seen the kind of havoc that she was capable of wreaking when she had something breakable in her hands when startled.
She flushed like a teenager caught making out in the backseat. “Oh, Caroline. Hello. I didn’t hear you come down. We’re just waiting on a few guests. Can I pour you a glass of wine?”
Caroline raised one eyebrow, clearly not buying Alison’s breezy I-don’t-care-that-you’re-here-I-wasn’t-doing-anything-anyway manner for one second, but she refrained from comment. She merely said, “Yes, please, dear. And then why don’t we all go out to the sitting room and wait on the remaining guests together?”
At that comment, even Troy felt a little chagrined. They were officially being chaperoned.
