Victoria The Billionaires Maid

Ally’s [POV]

Dear Lord, I was sounding as woo-woo as Sage.

I shook my head and aimed for the door. I needed to run down the street to our loft and get cleaned up. Then I’d come back and eat my hamburger oh God, so hungry and read a book on my day off, instead of panic-working. I could handle all of this.

Maybe I’d take that meal to go and eat on a bench near the lake. A picnic for one. Yay.

Not.

Half an hour later, I was freshly showered and changed into a pair of Capri jeans and a tank top. I felt like me again. Dresses were fun, but I’d always be jeans and T-shirt sort of woman. Reason twelve-hundred-fifty I’d assumed Seth could never see me as more than a friend. He preferred the uber-feminine type. Or at least he had.

I wasn’t sure what he preferred anymore.

The bell dinged as I stepped into the diner, and this time, I didn’t hunch my shoulders. I wasn’t running away from anyone or anything. I was…taking a paused. There. That sounded better. Mature.

Of course, that maturity fell away the instant I glimpsed dark hair shot through with silver and a twin version of the man I’d just had sex with seated at the booth beside the one I always selected. Awesome.

I plastered on a smile and went right up to their table. This was Seth’s family, after all. I’d just say hello and escape to my booth while clinging to my gratitude that they hopefully hadn’t overheard Sexathon 2017.

“Alison,” Mr. Hamilton said before I could speak. “You’re not working today?” he asked, taking in my attire.

I was probably imagining the faint sneer in his voice. Had to be. He’d never been warm to me, but he usually wasn’t rude either. Militantly civil was a more accurate description.

“Nope, day off,” I said as cheerfully as I could manage. “Nice to see you’re back in town. Successful trip?”

“Of course.” He went back to his menu, signaling our brief exchange was over.

Okay then.

I shifted to glance at Seth’s twin. As always, their similarities nearly knocked me off my feet, especially when I could still smell Seth’s scent on my skin no matter how much soap I’d used. “Hi, Oliver.”

“Al,” he said, smiling thinly. “Haven’t seen much of you lately.”

“Oh, I’ve been around.” I gripped Sage’s lanyard hanging out of my jeans pocket. “Well, I won’t disrupt your lunch”

“Did you and Seth have a falling out?”

I frowned, unsure if I’d heard Oliver correctly. “What?”

“Are you and Seth beefing?” His lips twitched and for a second, I almost smiled too. Seth was the lighthearted twin, but occasionally, the normally uptight Oliver let loose with a sarcastic remark or a joke.

“No.” I tucked my hair behind my ear and hoped my embarrassment didn’t show on my face. The inferno inflaming my cheeks didn’t give me much hope. “I’m fine. We’re fine. Why would you ask?”

“Just haven’t seen you two together lately.” Oliver smoothed a manicured hand over the laminated menu he had to have memorized by now. The diner wasn’t his typical hangout as it was Seth’s and it wasn’t Mr. Hamilton’s but it was almost impossible to live in Crescent Cove without patronizing it now and then. “You’re usually glued at the hip. The only other time you weren’t was when he was married, and even that was a brief interruption. Marjorie couldn’t compete with you.” The corner of his mouth ticked up. “Not sure any woman can.”

The hum of conversation around us had nothing on the buzz in my brain. “What are you talking about?”

He adjusted his tie, stroking it as if he was already bored with the conversation. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

“Why, Alison, you didn’t know Oliver introduced Marjorie to Seth? He thought she was just the sort of woman his brother was” Mr. Hamilton fell silent, and when the heavy beat of approaching footsteps cut through the chaos in my head, I understood why.

“Oliver was as dense then as he is now. Hey, Dad. Good trip?” Before his father could answer, Seth rested his hand on my lower back. Even without looking at him, the weight of his stare seared the side of my neck. “Hey, you.”

“And the natural world order is restored,” Oliver said, glancing pointedly between me and Seth before flashing me an I-told-you-so smile. “I was afraid you must’ve been dead in a gutter somewhere if Al was left alone for more than a moment or two. Oh, and love your new accessory. It’s so you.”

I glanced down and bit my lip at the sight of my bright red patent leather dressy purse in Seth’s big hand. He didn’t relinquish it, and I didn’t ask.

“Such a comedian.” With his free hand, Seth brushed my hair away from my cheek and I bristled. We were affectionate in public, but not to this level. “Did you eat?” he asked in a way that, didn’t befit a guy who’d just been ditched post-sex for the second time or b, my purely platonic friend.

Rather than reply, I jerked my chin at the burger at the next table. My stomach promptly grumbled, making Seth laugh and steer me in that direction. “Lunchtime. See you later.”

“You don’t want to eat with your family?” I asked out of the side of my mouth.

“I work with them every day. I don’t have to eat every lunch with them too.” So much for being polite.

“Nice to see you, Mr. Hamilton.” No matter what Seth did, I never forgot my manners.

“What, not nice to see me?” Oliver smirked and wiggled his fingers.

“No,” Seth responded before I could, guiding me to one side of the booth.

I pried out the well-worn paperback I’d shoved in the back pocket of my capris before sitting down. Seth dropped into the bench on the other side. I frowned at him, well aware we couldn’t have anything resembling a semblance of a normal conversation. He simply slid my purse across the table and lifted a brow at the book I still clutched.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“The Sun Also Rises?”

“So? I enjoy the classics.” I picked up my burger and bit in, letting out a moan. Sage had made the burger just the way I loved them medium rare, extra mushrooms and pickles, light on the ketchup and mayo, heavy on the cheese. I was so into it that I didn’t glance at Seth again until I’d taken another bite, chewed, and swallowed.

He seemed to be short on air. He was breathing too fast, and he’d grabbed hold of one of the stacks of napkins to lay across his lap.

Not because he was afraid of flying pickle either, I was willing to bet.

I giggled. Honest to God giggled like a high school girl. And risked his family overhearing me as I leaned forward and whispered, “You can’t be.”

He nodded frantically and I laughed harder.

“You think it’s funny.”

“What was your first clue?” I bit in again and deliberately did a Meg Ryan-style eyes-rolling-back expression just to make him lose his mind.

“Payback is a bitch.” His low, intimidating tone had me wiping my mouth with my napkin and reaching for my nonexistent glass of water. Guess Sage hadn’t thought of everything.

“Hey Jean,” he said to my passing coworker before I could find my voice. “Mind getting the lady a glass of water? She seems parched.”

“Seth. Didn’t see you sneak in here.” Jean smiled so widely that I was amazed Seth didn’t get sunstroke. She was sixty if she was a day, but he had that effect on women. All women.

Even me.

Especially me.

“Jean, it’s okay. I can go get it myself.” I started to rise from the booth, but Seth held out a hand, stopping me.

“Day off. Sit.”

I was too surprised by his authoritative tone to argue. More dominance from him, this time outside the bedroom. Just like that night he’d ordered for both of us at the Sherman Inn. It wasn’t as if I didn’t want my voice to be heard, but something about him occasionally taking charge worked for me.

Lord, I was fucked.

“It’s no trouble. Be right back.” Jean bustled toward the kitchen.

A moment later, Sage returned with my water, not Jean. She made a big production of setting it on the table and smiling at both of us, making enough small talk to set my teeth on edge.

“And look at that, didn’t realize y’all had come in too,” she said to Oliver and Mr. Hamilton at the next table. “Is Jean taking good care of you?”

“Not as good of care as you would, I’m sure.” I wasn’t positive, but I got the feeling Oliver winked at her because she blushed twenty shades of red.

“Hamilton men are charmers. Why they’d charm the panties off a woman before she knew otherwise.”

“You don’t wear panties. C’mon now.”

Mr. Hamilton cleared his throat and lifted his menu like a shield as he leaned forward to talk to Oliver. His smile dimmed, but only slightly.

Sage was still beet-red. “I do so wear panties. Not thongs either. Thongs ride up your crack. Ask Ally.”

Mid-picking off a slice of pickle to eat, I paused. I did not look at Seth. “Sage.”

“Just saying. Anyway, I gotta get back. Call me if you need anything.”

“Not fucking likely,” I said under my breath.

The moment she was gone, Seth leaned forward and mouthed, “You wear thongs?” Then he cocked his head as if he was imagining what I had on under my denim capris.