The Geary Series Boxed Set (35 page)

Lilly broke the kiss and stepped backwards to her front door, Elijah followed and pressed her against the glass and kissed her again.

“Elijah” Lilly said breathless.

“Ok, ok, I’m going, I’ll see you tomorrow beautiful, at Blue’s to make a start on the wall.” Elijah said.

“Ok handsome, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Lilly replied.

Lilly was thrilled that she was going to be doing the painting at Blue’s, it was like a dream come true. Standing at the wall, she looked at what had already been done and it wasn’t much to look at after the fire damage. The first thing she would do would be to paint the wall a single colour and start again. Then Lilly would decide what would go in its place, she needed to do some research into the building. She had an idea along the lines of Elaine’s but wanted to make it more of a Scottish feel.

Stepping forward to the wall she traced the outline of the dancer that had been sketched faintly on the wall in the corner untouched by the smoke. Lilly daydreamed about dancing in the arms of a man who knew how to dance. She loved to dance but had yet to find a man who could dance well too. If only she could find another who could dance the tango, her dancing dreams would come true.

She wondered if Elijah could dance, she hoped that he could, if she were going to Jack and Olivia’s wedding, she would want to be able to have the first dance with the best man. She hummed a song aloud as she continued to trace the lines of the dancer.

“What are you thinking about Lilly?” Elijah asked.

Lilly jumped and stopped humming immediately, Elijah’s low voice sent a shiver through her. She adored the feeling, the fission of excitement. It was like being at school when the boy she crushed on spoke to her. She felt giddy and happy.

“Dancing, can you dance Elijah?” Lilly asked.

“No, not a step” Elijah said.

Lilly’s heart plummeted, her disappointment must’ve shown because, Elijah took her right hand and spun her in a circle and pulled her tight to his body. Swivelling his hips into hers, he dropped her back and pulled her left leg up high while holding her tight. She was breathing hard as she looked up into his eyes and grinned.

Slapping his chest, she tried to contain her blushing.

“You can dance, you rascal.” Lilly said.

“I can dance a little, you can find out if you will be my date at the wedding.” Elijah asked.

“Holy smoke, are you actually asking me?” she said and added “I shall think about it.”

Lilly let Elijah lift her back up after he pecked her check with a quick kiss. She beamed in response to his affection and kissed his cheek in return.

“Do you know who caused the damage to the wall yet?” Lilly asked to change the subject.

“Will you come to the wedding with me Lillian Harrison?” Elijah asked and then pouted.

“Oh for goodness sake, yes, I will come to the wedding with you.” Lilly said.

“Great.” Elijah said and grinned his trademark smile. “I’ve heard nothing from the police, the lit bottle of alcohol that was thrown through the window hit the turpentine for washing the brushes and that was what caused it. As to who is to blame I don’t think we’ll ever know.” Elijah added.

“Oh, well I hope it wasn’t deliberate Elijah, I love this place, if Blue’s burned down I would be heartbroken.” Lilly said.

“Me too babe.” Elijah said and hugged Lilly and kissed the top of her head.

“Go and get back to tidying that office of yours and let me get back to planning this wall of decadence.” Lilly said to lighten the mood, she had only just remembered that Elijah lived there too and that it would be his home that went up in smoke as well.

“Yes ma’am.” Elijah said.

Elijah replied and saluted her and walked away. She giggled to herself and turned back to her canvas. She needed to visit Edinburgh Castle to get some ideas. She was fairly sure what she was going to paint and needed to check some details. She wanted to get all the eras correct.

The sweeping dance scene from left to right would start at the time this building was built and on to present day. The attire of the dancers depicting the era and decade as time moved on. They would all be dancing the same dance and that would be the waltz.

She was thrilled at what she was going to do and now research was going to be that much easier. The tricky part would be to hide it from Elijah until it was done.

If she told him to stay away, she was sure he would, if he didn’t she would find a way to punish him.

Elijah looked up to see Lilly gazing out of the window, they had spent the morning at Lilly’s place. Elijah had arrived early morning to make her breakfast and had spent the rest of the time in her studio while she worked on the painting. Lilly was sitting on her stool making great progress with Elizabeth’s portrait, the pendant that lay across the edge of the canvas twinkled in the sunlight. Elijah was amusing himself with reading Little Women, his own copy. He didn’t want to be on the receiving end of Lilly’s wrath should he mark her copy.

"What are you thinking about?” Elijah asked placing the book face down on his chest, and breaking the spine in the process. He saw Lilly wince and he grinned. To exacerbate the situation he bent the corner of the page he was reading to save the page he was on and dropped it onto the floor.

“I am going to ignore what you just did and erase it from my memory,” she said and shivered, "I want to draw you, and I was thinking about how I would draw you, in which position and your clothing.” Lilly said.

"Oh, I wasn't expecting that answer but am intrigued as to what you would like to do with me, do tell, my sweet.” Elijah said and grinned over at Lilly.

As he waited for Lilly to answer, he assumed that she wanted him to pose naked. It showed how his thoughts went when he was with Lilly. Normally he would hope that any woman he was with didn't want him naked in the light. The daylight shone bright through her windows and he knew he wouldn’t be able to use the usual tricks to be able to get away with hiding his chest. For the first time in a while he felt nervous, avoiding showing himself naked in the light had been a feat of mastership on his part.

Elijah had successfully shielded his burns from everyone but Lilly was the first woman he wanted to show. He had no shame in showing them to her in theory but if the look of pity came over her face he wouldn't be able to contain his anger. That was the main reason why he’d not shown them before. He didn’t want to tell his story behind the scars and found it easier to talk about the tattoos that covered them. Not having too many physically close to him was perfect. He was known as a cold fish but he didn’t care. He preferred to be known as that rather than spill his story and have pity thrown at him.

He didn't need anyone to feel sorry for him, it just made him angry. It was his choice at the time and he had lived with that decision. He was ok with that but he was not ok with justifying it to another person.

Elijah pulled himself into an upright position on the sofa and made a mental note that he would reveal all if she wished and would answer any questions she had. He trusted her and wanted to share everything about him. He wanted to tell her the worst about him and hoped she would still love him.

He prayed that she would, because he loved her and couldn't care what she told him, he would take her any way he could get her.

Lilly had her back to Elijah so he didn't see the mischievous grin playing on her lips, as he stood up she swung around on her seat and winked at him. He knew what she wanted and he felt a thrill of excitement run through his body. His cock twitched at the thought of getting naked in front of her without having sex with her.

"Strip now,” she said "I want you naked apart from your tie"

The tone in her voice made him hard, he had to calm his thoughts. Stripping with a raging hard on would not help sitting still for her to draw him. He gazed at her face and slowly dragged his eyes down her body, over her breasts, down to her hips and tracing a line down her legs.

"You first sweetheart, I will pose in anything you want but you have to match what I am wearing.”

He watched her eyes widen and then squint at him, she was game and pulled her t-shirt off. She was completely naked underneath, she had called his bluff. Walking over to a chest of drawers, she opened up the top drawer and pulled out a tie. Keeping her back to Elijah he watched as she tied the tie expertly around her neck. Lilly turned around and spread her arms out and then onto her hips and tapped her foot gently. Elijah couldn't concentrate, the gentle tapping made her breasts jiggle and that was all he could focus on.

"Focus Geary, I’m an impatient woman, strip off your clothes, now.” Lilly demanded.

Like a man possessed he stripped in seconds, completely forgetting his torso of scars and stood immobile looking at the beautiful creature before him.

“You’re beautiful Elijah, can I come closer?” she asked.

Elijah froze, fear gripped him, he wanted her to come closer desperately, and he wanted to kiss every inch of her body. He had an attack of stage fright, his cock went limp. It solved the problem of her drawing him with a raging hard on. Elijah was stuck to the spot but nodded his head to let Lilly know she could come closer.

She tentatively stepped forward until she was only inches from him, her eyes round as she looked over his face and then his chest. She reached out slowly with her hands and placed her palms over his shoulders and smoothed her way down his arms and then held his hands.

She pulled her head up and looked him square in the eyes.

“Did you have an accident when you were in the Navy, Elijah?” Lilly asked.

“Yes” he answered quietly, he didn’t return her look as he had closed his eyes. The small crease between his eyebrows appeared and disappeared as he relived the scene.

“Can you tell me?” Lilly asked.

“There was a fire in one of the kitchens on board the ship I was serving on. I was nearest and first on the scene, I had no experience of fighting a fire. I could hear a man screaming in pain and I instinctively opened the door to the room. I was thrown back a few feet from the impact of opening the door and the flames were in full force. The fire had taken hold and according to the report had been burning for some time. My t-shirt caught fire and stuck to my chest. I was unable to save the man, he died very soon after a blanket was thrown over me to dampen the flames. I’d been thinking for a while to have a tattoo to cover it over and took the plunge a month ago to have it done.” Elijah said.

“It’s very clever the way it has been done, you wouldn’t really see them at first glance. I understand now why you didn’t want to talk about it on the way to Blue’s when you thought it was on fire.” Lilly said.

“Yeah, that was bad timing, I’m sorry I snapped at you, I wasn’t ready to tell you before. I am ready to tell you everything now, I want you to know the worst thing about me and hope that you feel the same way about me that I feel about you.” Elijah said.

“Elijah, what is the worst thing about you?” Lilly asked as she gently placed kisses on his chest.

She continued to graze her teeth over his nipples and then licked and sucked them until they were hard and proud. Elijah shifted nervously on the spot while he controlled his lust to throw her onto the sofa and push straight into her in one movement. This wasn’t the place for their first time together, he wasn’t ready yet. The longer he left it, he wondered if he would ever be ready. He needed to know how she felt about him and then perhaps he would tell her the worst thing about him.

He kissed her face all over as he waited for his heartbeat to slow down, he was in love with this woman and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. The only thing now was to find out if she wanted him too.

"Lilly, marry me please?” Elijah asked.

He watched as her expression turned from disbelief to confusion and then to joy. Elijah then became concerned when she burst into tears. This reaction was not what he was expecting.

"What's the matter?” Elijah asked.

"Why on earth do you want to marry me? You hardly know me Elijah.” She said.

"I know all there is to know about you, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, everything else we can work out.” Elijah said.

"This is crazy talk Elijah, I’ve no clue what I want to do with my life and you want to marry me, what if I want to be a struggling artist?” Lilly asked.

"I don't care if you never earn another penny, I’ve enough savings for us both. I can support us on the takings from the bar. What is your next stumbling block?” Elijah asked.

"I don't have anything really.” Lilly said.

Lilly pushed him away so she could look at him in the eye, she wanted this, he knew it but she was reluctant.

"Lilly, tell me what is it?” Elijah cajoled.

"I don't know anything about you apart from I’ve been in love with you for what seems like forever. It doesn't make sense that you feel the same way too. I know very little about you but I don't care and that scares the hell out of me.” Lilly confessed.

"You love me?” Elijah asked.

“Yes” Lilly answered.

“Then marry me Lilly, take a leap of faith.” Elijah pleaded.

"Ok." Lilly said.

"Ok?” he asked.

"Yeah, yes, I’ll marry you" Lilly said.

Elijah hugged Lilly so tight she burst into fits of giggles until she couldn't breathe, she hugged him back fiercely. They both fell onto the sofa, arms and legs wrapped around each other. He'd asked her and she’d said yes, his heart soared and he’d never known a moment when he’d felt happier.

"Come on, get up so I can sketch you, it’ll be a reminder of the day you proposed to me.” Lilly said.

Elijah didn't let go of her and squeezed tighter, it made her giggles turn into laughter. He was so happy that she had said yes that he didn't want to let her go. He felt that if he let Lilly go she would change her mind and his happiness would be short lived.

"Let me go Elijah so I can get comfy and sketch you.” Lilly repeated.

"Ok, I'll let you get up, where do you want me?” Elijah asked.

Lilly untangled herself from Elijah and stood up from the sofa.

"Lie back down on the sofa and stretch out on your back with your hands behind your head and close your eyes.” Lilly said.

"Yes ma'am," Elijah said and saluted his future wife, as he thought of those words he grinned.

"What are you smiling about and why aren’t you lying down?” Lilly said.

"I’m thinking that you’re now my future wife and I couldn't be happier" Elijah said.

"You are such a softie Elijah, lie down, now.” Lilly instructed.

Elijah smirked and lay horizontal on the sofa in the position she had asked for, adjusting the tie so it fell over his shoulder. Smiling to himself he thought about where they were going to get married and when. Being Jack’s best man had given him an unwelcome insight to the preparations involved with weddings. Olivia didn’t have any living family and Jack had gone to every effort to make it big as possible to feel like a celebration.

Elijah was going to marry Lilly and he couldn’t wait, he would do everything he could to give her the wedding she wanted. Drifting off to sleep he kept the smug smile on his lips.