The Geary Series Boxed Set (28 page)

“You were turned on by my yelling? I shall remember that in the future.”

“So you see a future for us?” Elijah said and then softly pressed his lips to hers.

She didn’t make an attempt to argue with him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him back. It didn’t take too long before the kiss grew heated and she was just about to part his lips with her tongue when she heard that cough again.

“Forever interrupted.” Elijah muttered more to himself than anyone else.

“I have to go again, will I see you later?” Elijah asked his voice full of hope.

“Maybe, give me a call when you have five minutes and we’ll talk.”

Elijah kissed her quickly and walked away leaving her standing alone in the middle of the bar. The collective stares slowly drifted away back to their conversations and she stood wondering what to do next. Being at a loss of what to do she looked around the bar and thought fondly of poached eggs and real coffee. Just as Lilly was about to signal for a waiter she felt her hand being pulled and her handbag being shoved onto her shoulder.

“Come with me.” Lilly heard the deep voice quietly say as he pulled on her hand.

“Come with you where Jack?” Lilly asked.

“I need you to help my future wife, to calm her the fuck down and focus on one thing and that is to stay well until the wedding so she doesn’t give herself a heart attack. She has to think of two people now and she needs help. Her best friend is overseas and is unable to come and help her, so I am nominating you to be her new best friend. You seem to have a strong will and time on your hands.” Jack said all business tone and no room for asking just telling.

Lilly pulled her hand from his and stopped just before they were about to walk through the door, Jack was holding the door open waiting for her to walk through but instead she folded her arms and stood there not moving.

“Firstly, have you begged for forgiveness at not making it clear she can tell you anything and it will be ok? Secondly,” Lilly whispered this part and leaned forward “who the fuck do you think I am that you think you can order me about.” Straightening back up she carried on “and thirdly, I know nothing of weddings, I hate them, I don’t even want to go to yours and now you want me to help her?” Lilly finished.

Jack was taken aback slightly at being questioned on what he wanted, he thought that Olivia was the only person that was going to answer him back but now Lilly was too. He must be losing his cold edge that made most people jump to his tune.

“Firstly, not that it is any of your business but yes, I have made it abundantly clear that she can tell me anything, especially if she is carrying our child in her belly. Secondly, I apologise, it wasn’t my intention to order you to do anything, she needs help, and you clearly care about her so I thought you would help her. Lastly, you don’t like weddings? Who doesn’t like weddings, you’re a female to start with and you’re not divorced, so why be so cynical about weddings.” Jack asked.

“Firstly, I am glad you apologised, secondly I’m sorry for being so brash, of course, I will help, thirdly, I don’t like weddings, get over it and lastly, how do you know I’m not divorced?” Lilly asked.

Jack’s eyes widened at his omission and he quickly recovered his composure.  He had asked Mickey to check out Lilly and her history.  At the hospital he had asked his PA to start the ball rolling.  If Elijah had fallen in love he wanted to make sure it was with someone worthy of his love.

“I can read people and I guessed that you weren’t married before.” Jack said, he could have kicked himself again at his choice of words. He hadn’t mentioned anything to Elijah, but he had done a full background check on Lilly when she was in the hospital as he wanted to know who Elijah had got himself mixed up in. He knew that she hadn’t been married based on the information that had been fed back to him yesterday.

“Are you two going to bicker all day in the doorway or are we going to organise this damned wedding before I grow to be the size of a house?” Olivia asked the two of them, standing between them with her hands on her hips.

Lilly and Jack broke their staring competition and turned their gazes on Olivia, she was wearing a satisfied smile on her face. Standing on tiptoe, she kissed Jack’s cheek and grabbed Lilly’s hand.

“We are off to Evelyn’s to look for a dress for Lilly now that she has agreed to come, we’ll see you later for dinner.” Olivia announced as she backed away, she had a gleam in her eye, she knew what was coming next but Lilly didn’t.

“Hold on a second, no one has asked me to the wedding, so I haven’t agreed to anything.” Lilly said.

Lilly stood immobile watching as no one acknowledged what she said and carried on as if she had not uttered a word. It seemed a done deal that she was going and had no choice. She was thrilled that she was accepted into this group of people so openly, but she still hated weddings.

Jack grabbed Olivia by the waist and pulled her flush with his body and kissed her soundly, Olivia was still holding onto Lilly’s hand which meant Lilly had a closer view of their passion that she would have liked. Lilly dropped her head to avoid watching their tongues duel and fight for supremacy. She had already been witness to the session in the hospital room and flushed at the memory.

“Have you ever watched two people fuck Lilly?” Jack whispered into her ear. “I think you’d like it.”

Lilly drew in her breath at the shocking question that he proposed to her. Did he think she wanted to watch them have sex?

“Stop teasing her, Jack, she clearly is not into that kind of kinky lifestyle, stop trying to shock her. I need Lilly to help me attend this monstrosity of a wedding you have planned for me.”

“Oh, Olivia I am wounded, monstrosity of a wedding, anyone would think that we had five hundred guests coming.”

“We do, Jack, it is far too many, until I met Lilly I only knew you, Evelyn, Cecily and Elijah, so don’t make fun or I will insist on sausage and mash for the main course at the local pub and those who can’t fit in will have to stand outside.”

“Now, that’s my kind of wedding, you should do it that way.” Lilly said.

“Ok, fine, I shall stop making fun because I need you to turn up, you’re kind of crucial to the whole day.  We are not having sausage and mash Lilly, it is going to be a grand affair.” Jack told them.

“Charming Jack, charming. We’re going, so get back to work and sell some knickers.” Olivia said and linked her arm with Lilly’s and walked away from her future husband. The wedding was back on schedule.

"It will be fine sweetheart, I'll make it up to you, I promise.” Jack said.

"You'd better, get to work.” Olivia ordered.

"Yes ma'am.” Jack answered with a grin.

Jack kissed both of their cheeks and walked away whistling.

"He is such a rascal, I’m so sorry he asked you the sex question. He is very open about sex and doesn't consider other people may not be.” Olivia said,

"It's not a problem, I quite like his directness, it’s quite refreshing.”

"Good, because I get the feeling we will see a lot more of each other after seeing Elijah gaze upon you earlier.”

Those words made Lilly smile, she liked the thought of Elijah gazing at her. She liked the thought of Elijah in her life. One single kiss in Blue’s and things had accelerated and now she was going to his brother’s wedding. Not that she had been asked, but that was just semantics.

“Come on Lilly, you need to try on the copious amount of dresses while I quiz you about your life to see if you can cope with Elijah.” Olivia said, “and you’ll get to meet my best friend Cecily.”

Lilly groaned at the prospect of being grilled, she had nothing to reveal or to boast about. Jack and Olivia were besotted with each other and that feeling was intoxicating to be around. It was becoming addictive, she had seen them in the hospital room and now in the bar. She knew, of course, that was the couple Elijah was yelling at the first time she met him. Their passion didn’t seem to have dwindled over the last six months.

“How long have you two been together Olivia?” Lilly asked as she was pulled in the direction of a steep hill. She was thankful she was wearing decent shoes to be walking around Edinburgh. She’d not heard of Evelyn’s shop but assumed based on Jack and his clothing tastes that it was an out of the way shop. She had plenty of dresses she could wear to the wedding, Olivia didn’t need to buy her another one.

“Well, that’s a long story but I shall entertain you with it as we walk, do you want to get a coffee first?” Olivia asked.

“Sure, we can go in here, I love this coffee shop, I can’t resist their giant jam tarts.”

“Excellent, I love this shop too, I have only recently discovered it.”

Olivia and Lilly ordered their coffee and pastries to go so they could make the most of the morning sunshine and walk to Evelyn’s place. It was at the top of the hill in a quiet street not far from Edinburgh Castle.

“Have you been to Evelyn’s before? Your tone changes when you talk about the shop, it’s full of fondness.” Lilly asked.

“Yes, I’ve been there a couple of times, it’s like going into an adult sweetshop, the ring of the door chime as you walk in and then the wonder that sweeps across your mind as you look around at all the decadence. You’ll love it I’m sure of it, you have a lovely sense of style.”

“Thank you Olivia, you’re a gracious woman, you and Jack are a beautiful couple. Tell me how you met? I love a good love story.”

“We met online.” Olivia said and smirked as she took a sip of her coffee.

“No way, you met on a dating site?”

“No, not a dating site, I reviewed a corset his company made and I was a little sarcastic. He read one of my books and was a little sarcastic in his review and we starting talking online. He talked me into meeting him and he spent the entire time trying to seduce me. Here we are getting married and a baby on the way.” Olivia said and stroked her flat stomach fondly.

“I love to hear how people meet, it gives me hope that I will find the right man to sweep me off my feet.” Lilly mused.

“You already have. I thought you and Elijah were an item, surely you must know he is completely head over heels for you. He doesn’t stop talking about you, our weekly dinners start off with updates on your lunchtime meetings. We are so happy to finally meet you, it’s a shame that it was while my husband to be fondled my breast.”

“Yes, that was a hell of an introduction but Elijah had already told me about how affectionate you two were so I wasn’t so surprised. I think you’re wrong though, Elijah is an affectionate person and has plenty of women on his arm.”

“Name two women he has mentioned in the last six months, and not Elaine.” Olivia mock shuddered at the mention of the women’s name. “Come on Lillian Harrison, name the string of women Elijah has been with.”

Lilly was stuck for words, she couldn’t think of any, she saw him talk with plenty of women at Blue’s when she was there but nothing more than conversation. She couldn’t recall a time when he touched any of them, not even in greeting. Perhaps the rumours about him were not all that true.

“See you can’t you, and that would be because he has only dated that God awful woman Elaine in the last six months. He continued dating her, keeping her at arm’s length just so that it kept other women away. The thing is though it kept you away too and he hadn’t planned on that.”

Sipping on the latte in her hand Lilly slowed her pace and until she was at a standstill. She was thoroughly confused with how she felt. It was overwhelming to find out that someone she had lusted over for quite some time had stronger feelings for her than she had for him. How can he be so sure that he felt that way? Lilly was attracted to Elijah, she craved his company and looked forward to seeing him. When they kissed she felt excitement throughout her body, which had not been felt with another. Perhaps she too was head over heels.

“Are you having an epiphany there Lilly, have you realised that you, adore him as well?” Olivia said and laughed as she tugged on Lilly’s arm to get her moving.

“I don’t know, I think I’m a bit stunned to be honest, the three of you are a breath of fresh air. I am surrounded with bitter and miserable people and have not known anything different. I’ve always preferred to be a loner but perhaps I want to be something else.”

“So, yes, to the epiphany question then.” Olivia concluded on Lilly’s behalf.

“Maybe, it’s a lot to take in, one day fantasy and the next reality. Let’s change the subject, what shall we talk about next?” Lilly suggested.

“Not so fast sweetheart, how do you feel about Elijah because if you don’t feel the same then you need to back away now?” Olivia said.

“I feel the same,” Lilly said in almost a whisper “I just didn’t think he did too.”

“Excellent news, we are here and we need to choose a fabulous dress to wow him. The last time I was here, she had an amazing purple silk dress and it made me feel like a million pounds.” Olivia confessed.

Lilly decided that she should live a little and enjoy the dress up session. She didn’t have girlfriends and had not gone on a shopping trip before. Now was a good a time as any and she got the impression that Olivia wasn’t going to give her any option out. Following Olivia into the shop, she gave herself a pep talk for ten seconds and decided not to be a grump about choosing a dress. This shopping trip was about Olivia’s wedding day and if buying a new dress made her happy then so be it.