Ellison looked down at his empty drink glass and shook his head. “I can’t afford it. I took a huge pay cut and need to sell my apartment in the city to even be able to afford to buy a car,” he said with an embarrassed huff of laughter. “Until then, I’m using Gigi’s bike to get to and from work.”
That shocked me, but I tried not to show my surprise. If we were actually dating seriously, I’d know all of this already. And it wouldn’t be happening in the first place since his finances would be tied to mine and I’d never let him want for anything.
The subject changed again to the kind of car he was going to get, and before we knew it, the bartender came by to let us know the formal dinner party would be starting in a half hour.
Cate yelped and raced off to get ready while Ellison and I took our time making our way up to the room and dressing. Ellison was in a talkative mood and told me all of his thoughts about Cate and her rocky relationship history.
“I kind of feel sorry for Drake, honestly. Cate is married to her career. In fact, that’s probably why she’s dating Drake in the first place. She’s a financial attorney on Wall Street. She works for the SEC. I’d bet a hundred bucks she’s only into him because of his in-depth knowledge of financial policy.” He held up a hand to stop the comment I wasn’t going to make. “Now, I know what you’re going to say. That’s pessimistic and unfair of me, and maybe it is. Maybe this time is different. But consider this. The last guy she dated was a hedge fund manager. The guy before that was a futures trader. And the guy before that was her boss at the SEC. Don’t ask. Anyway, you tell me how it looks.”
As Ells talked my ears off, I watched him strip down to his boxer briefs and rifle through the armoire for his suit. His body was tight and fit. Just watching his slim waist nip in before swelling to a fantastic ass made me hot for him again. I sat down on the foot of the bed and enjoyed the show. When he finally turned around and caught me staring at him, he froze. A pink flush started on his chest and climbed up his neck.
“Why are you just sitting there?”
I leaned back on my hands. “Because most men would pay big money for this strip show, and I get it completely free.”
He walked over and climbed onto my lap, straddling me until he could push me down onto the bed by my shoulders. “Want more than a strip show?” he asked before leaning in to kiss me. He still had the casual, easy smile on his face, and I was taken aback by how relaxed he was around me and how comfortable he seemed to be with this shift in his sexuality.
“You’re not nervous about being with a guy anymore?”
His forehead crinkled. “I wasn’t ever nervous about being with a guy as much as I was nervous about being with you. I don’t care what a random guy thinks of me.”
It was implied he did care what I thought about him, and that made me stop and think through his behavior to see if it lined up with what he was saying. It seemed to.
I ran my hands down his back to his ass and squeezed. He smiled again and thrust his covered dick against mine. “I think we should be late to dinner,” he said with mischief clear in his face.
“No way,” I said, gently nudging him back so I could sit back up. “We need to stay focused on our goal. I need to make a good impression on Ian tonight.”
Ellison let out a breath of frustration but climbed off and returned to the armoire. I didn’t miss the little butt jiggle he did as he adjusted himself.
I rubbed my face and stood up. Eye on the prize, Blackwood. You’re here for Duckworth, not a romance.
I forced myself to focus on getting dressed and making a good show at dinner. When we entered a wing of the house I hadn’t seen yet, I couldn’t hide my shock.
“Why do they have a room made up to look like the dining car on a luxury train?” I whispered to Ellison.
His eyes brightened. “Binnie is obsessed with the Orient Express. This is amazing!”
“So, it’s not usually like this?”
“No way. It’s actually a ballroom. They’ve hosted weddings and charity galas here before with dancing and an orchestra. Ian must have done this as a surprise for their anniversary. He loves indulging her.”
I looked down at Ellison’s bright smile and realized I understood for the first time how that might work. How seeing pure delight on the face of the person you cared about would bring you more joy than any amount of money ever could.
Sure enough, the surprise of the night was Ian’s indulgence of his wife’s love affair with all things Orient Express. He made a heartfelt toast to her at the beginning of the evening and thanked her for fifty years of happiness. Even though I didn’t know them well, the love between Ian and Binnie was obvious.
I was glad Marcel wasn’t there to point out the stark contrast between the Duckworths’ happiness and my own.
I stayed quiet most of the night, choosing instead to listen. I learned more about Ellison and gradually began to realize how unfair I’d been to expect him to be the same spoiled kid I’d known back at the country club. He wasn’t that guy anymore, if he ever was.
I’d made many assumptions about him, I realized now, based on the lifestyle he’d been born into and my opinions about the country club kids in general. I also made assumptions based on who Ellison’s father was.
It hadn’t made any sense that a selfish, conceited prick like Warren York would be able to raise a warm, caring man, but he had. I was ashamed to think I’d judged Ellison as harshly as all those country club men had judged me based on things he couldn’t control.
Ellison stayed close to me all evening. When he’d done it the night before, I’d assumed he’d wanted to keep an eye on me, but now I wondered if it wasn’t something less nefarious.
“He likes you a lot,” Binnie said, nodding her head toward Ellison where I’d left him talking to a group of other attorneys about corporate contracts. I stood at the bar waiting for two glasses of ice water. We were expected to get up early for croquet followed by a sailing excursion, and I didn’t want either one of us to run the risk of being hungover.
“The feeling is mutual,” I murmured, moving so she could access the bar ahead of me. She shook her head.
“I don’t need a drink. I came over to talk to you. I can see you really care about him.”
I felt my back teeth tighten. I wasn’t used to talking to people about my feelings, and I didn’t intend to start now. “Ellison York is a good man,” I said instead. It was the truth.
She nodded and gave me a knowing smile. “So you know all about Warrington Academy? That project has been close to his heart for so long. Thank god he’s finally getting a chance to pursue it full-time.”
I felt like an idiot. Of course I didn’t know much about the academy, other than the fact he worked there and it was a private high school in rural Vermont. I’d done a little research on it last week, but it seemed fairly standard as private boarding schools went. But he’d mentioned recently half the kids were there on scholarships.
“I know he’s been waiting a long time to focus on it,” I said.
“How are you two going to manage the distance? Even if you have a plane at Teterboro, it’ll take you at least a couple of hours to get out to his place for a visit.”