Page 39 of The Secret Stalker
“We promise to make up for it, if you’ll let us?” says Rory sincerely.
“Well if you can make up for it, I will let you off. And you Rory, you don’t have a woman in every state?” That makes me smile. If only she knew how wild he was for her.
“I wish you were in every state with me. But no, I always craved you, you’re like a drug Sophie, you’ve spoilt me for anyone else. I just want you.” That seems to startle Sophie.
“Are you saying neither of you play, other than at the Clarendon?” she asks.
“Only with you. And we’re the lucky guys. You didn’t take Tye’s jobs and Mack took the job as your driver to be closer to you. We are a lovesick bag of misfits pining for a redheaded goddess.”
Before Sophie has a chance to ask her next question our driver stops. I look up to see we have arrived. “We’re here.” I open the door and climb out, helping Sophie climb out next, holding her hand and not letting it go. Rory climbs out andwaves off the driver and we all walk to the back door which I test and find unlocked as planned. Pulling it open, I lead Sophie and Rory in and straight up to the top of the stairs and to the end of the corridor where we walk into a small room that has fairy lights twinkling around the window overlooking the high street. There is a square table pushed up against the window with three chairs set ready for us and soft music playing in the background.
Sophie stops and looks around at us, “Guys, this is perfect. Thank you for arranging this for us.” She squeezes my hand and I feel a hint of pride in my chest that I’ve pleased our girl.
I pull out the chair in the middle of the table, opposite the window, for Sophie to sit in. Rory takes a seat to her right and easily starts talking about the restaurant we are in and telling her about the food we have pre-ordered, seeing as we’re an unusual private booking. I walk over to the ice bucket and pluck the bottle of champagne out and quickly have the cork popping. I fill up three waiting flutes and walk them all over to the table.
Rory
“Cheers,” I say as we tap our glasses together over the centre of the table. “To getting to know each other,” I say and Sophie and Bear say the same.
Sophie wastes no time on her quest for knowledge about us as she asks, “How did you all meet?” and I wonder if she is running through a list in her head.
“Whilst it makes sense where we met—playing a round of golf, it took us 18 holes to realise we were all lost to the same woman.”
“Is that when you hatched this unusual online plan?” she asks.
I look over at Bear who rubs the back of his neck as I reply, “I wish it was recently. But no, it was a year ago when Bear joined. We all happened to be playing on the same day at the same tournament and were paired up. I’m sorry to say you had a boyfriend and we thought we could just be infatuated with you from afar. It’s not as if we could all have you. And we know the Clarendon rules.”
“So what triggered Mack’s plan?”
“He said, a bit over a month ago, that you looked lost and not yourself. He wanted to make things better for you, and then, well, it grew into a plan and the rest is history,” I shrug.
“Mack was the catalyst?”
“You were the catalyst. None of us needed to be persuaded. It was now or never. He worried you’d move interstate to be closer to your parents. We couldn’t lose you. So here we are, trying to win you over, asking if you’ll consider all four of us instead of choosing one of us.”
Just then the door opens and a young lady and man walk in with small plates of food that has my mouth watering immediately. They place the dishes down politely, top up our glasses with champagne and leave us again.
“You know I adored each of you on your own?” she says.
“You always applied for our jobs so me and Bear knew you didn’tnotlike us.”
“You ever played with your kink in the real world, with anyone before the Clarendon?”
“Never,” I say instantly.
“And you Flynn?” she asks.
“I learnt Shibari at my club, we offered lessons in a variety of things, I learnt on models. But never on anyone outside of the club.”
“I don’t know what to say. I wish I’d have known sooner.”
“It sounds like a lot to consider out of the blue. I can’t evenimagine how we’d ask.Oh hey Sophie, there is a bunch of us men from the Clarendon who are head over heels for you, would you mind dating us all?”
Sophie throws her head back and laughs as she tucks into the starters. “Yeah, I guess that is a bit unusual,” she concedes.
“Plus, we didn’t even think of it. We never considered that all four of us together might stand a chance. I guess we were all hoping individually. But then there were the club rules and the guys’ dad being an owner, you just seemed so far out of reach, we had to make the most of the jobs we had with you.”
“But you didn’t kiss me.”
