The Next Best Thing: Part II

Forty-One

He arrived shortly after, armed with a bottle of exquisite red wine, albeit expensive.

"Oh, Eoin. You didn't have to," I began. I couldn't accept it.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Zoe." He put his goodies down on the counter, picking me up into his sweater clad arms and wrapping my sandal clad legs around his waist. I was supposed to be submissive now. I was supposed to give into him and just shut up.

"I missed you so much," he whispered. "I missed this so much." He kissed me enthusiastically, and I forgot why I even protested. His unique scent pleasantly greeted me, the way he tasted making my head spin around all over again.

I drowned out the chatter in the other room, focusing on the now, what was happening between me and Eoin. I wanted to kiss him every day if I could, to let him bite my lower lip and arouse my neck, just the way he liked it.

"I missed you too," I said inbetween breathes. "Thanks for coming. And thank you for the gift. Now put me down so that I can introduce you to everyone and we eat."

"Okay. I'm starving," he grumbled.

Intertwining our fingers, I led him into the dining room. "Excuse me, everyone. I'd like you to meet my date tonight, Eoin Macken," I introduced him, tugging on his sweater sleeve. "Eoin, meet Kai, Penelope and Carla. And you already know Min, Lil, Aid and Lyle."

Kai and Lyle were seated next to each, with two empty seats next to them with Eoin and I's names written on the placards in front of them.

Opposite Lyle was Aidan, sitting next to Lily. Adjacent to her was Penelope, with her mom right beside her and Min at the head of the table.

Carla winked at me, mouthing a He's very handsome. I blushed up at him; his chiseled jaw, his plump, pouty lips and his dark eyelashes slightly grazing his lower eyelids each time he blinked. He met my gaze for a few seconds and he held it, ascertaining his claim over me. Just for a fleeting moment, I was his spaniel.

They all echoed pleasantries as the wait staff began to serve the traditional spicy butternut squash soup.

Kai was first up for questioning, with Lily commencing the interrogations. She made a complete background check on the innocent country girl, taking care to sound as nice as possible.

"I really love your accent. Are you from Texas?" she began.

"No ma'am. I'm a 'Bama girl. But we all sound the same," Kai laughed.

"How'd you guys meet?" Penelope chipped in.

I could tell that she had to understand just what was going on. Penelope couldn't understand this odd coupling, and by the interested looks around the table, most everyone didn't either.

"I met her in the airport about a month ago," Lyle replied this one, taking Kai's free hand and kissing it. "She accidentally took my bag and almost got attacked."

"I wouldn't exactly call it attacked. More like ambushed. Anyways, he saved me and apologised. I didn't know who he was although his name sounded vaguely familiar and he waited with me until I got my bag."

Kai was radiating her love for him - her eyes never left him when he spoke and plastered on her lips was a big I'm-in-love grin. It was all happening so fast; she seemed very happy though, and so did Lyle. I could only be happy for the both of them.

"You're such a pretty girl," Carla complimented her. "What brings you to New York?"

"Well, basically I moved here to go to pastry school. I want to be a pastry chef and there aren't many of those in my small hometown," Kai answered truthfully. "And here I am, at my first fancy party in this fancy city with all of you lovely people. Thank you again, Min, Zoe, for having me here. This is very nice."