Uncovering You: The Complete Series (Mega Box Set) (153 page)

Jeremy stood with me at every single moment.

There were trying times in the immediate aftermath. Times when I felt frail, disoriented, confused. Times when it felt like I would go weeks without taking a solid step forward. Times when, even though I was alive and with Jeremy, my life felt dark.

But Dr. Telfair and his team set up a recovery program for me, and I stayed at it diligently, even when I wanted to give up, even when I wanted to throw everything down and cry from my lack of progress.

Yet progress did come. I was released from the hospital in three months. Jeremy and I stayed at his nearby apartment. The second stage of my recovery happened there. Then we returned to California, to his mansion, where I continued to progress. I took up painting to fill the time, something I could do without feeling physically exhausted, and something I had an unexplored affinity for thanks to my late father.

And now, months and months after that, I’m finally strong enough to begin feeling like myself.

My greatest fear through the process was that Jeremy would give up. That his loyalty to me would waver, that he would find the strong woman he fell in love with missing, and that we would drift apart.

So far, every one of my worries has proved unfounded.

I’m still not one hundred percent. There are days I feel weak. Days where the slightest activity drains me of all my energy. There’s sudden-onset fatigue, which comes and goes at random…but even that has been improving.

Sometimes, I get vertigo. My vision spins, and I feel dizzy. Bright lights can over-stimulate me, as can loud noises. It’s worse when emotions run high, coupled with any other type of sensory overload.

But I’m progressing, in all of those areas.

“Another hour and we’ll be there,” he says. “I asked Manuela to have the house ready for our arrival. We won’t be disturbed tonight. I’m going to have you all to myself.”

I smile into his eyes. “I can’t wait.”

***

The next morning I wake up with Jeremy lapping at my sex.

I open my eyes and see him down there, licking me, running his tongue over my folds, sending slow waves of pleasure cascading through my body.

“Mmm, baby, don’t stop,” I murmur. I take a pillow and bring it over my head. I press it to my eyes so that I’m shrouded by darkness. All I want to focus on, all I want to feel, is the glorious man with his tongue on my clit.

He licks me and his hands extend up to run over my body. I love the strength and power of his touch. I love how firm it is, how secure it is, and how desired it makes me feel. I love when his hands close over my breasts, when his fingers pinch my nipples.

A particularly strong wave washes through me. I gasp, then arch my back, then moan in appreciation.

Jeremy lifts his head. His fingers start rubbing me. “Come for me,” he purrs. “Come for me, my sweet Lilly-Flower.”

He lowers his head again. The moment his tongue hits my core, I’m lost. I’m overcome by the greatest orgasm I’ve had in weeks. I come against his mouth, ripping the pillow from my head and moan, arching up as I do.

Then I collapse, languid, spent, and totally satisfied.

Jeremy climbs over me and gently presses his body to mine. His hard arousal presses into my tummy, but he knows I can’t go again so soon. In fact, it might be hours until I’m ready—all because of the after-effects of the coma.

That’s one thing I very much hate.

He nibbles my earlobe and whispers in a rustling breath, “I love waking you up like this.”

I smile, but not without sadness. I’d have him fuck me hard if my body could sustain it. Alas, it can’t.

One hand goes to the back of Jeremy’s head. I stroke his hair and pull him down to rest on my shoulder. “And I love being woken up like this, Mr. Stonehart.”

He growls, and immediately the mood shifts. He grabs me by the waist, rolls over and sits me up on his hard abdominals, his cock pressing against my back. “What did you call me?” he asks softly. His eyes search mine. There’s a dangerous edge reflected there.

But far from cowering from his tone, I fight back. “
Mr. Stonehart
,” I say, sending a challenge in my gaze. “That’s your name, is it not?”

“Not until
you
become Mrs
.
Stonehart,” he says, then grabs my hair by the roots, forces my head down, and kisses me fast and hard.

***

The rest of the morning passes with heated foreplay, drugging kisses, and unyielding, ceaseless passion.

I love when I arouse this side of Jeremy, but I hate that my body is not yet strong enough to receive his punishment. Outside the bedroom, I want to be strong and confident. Inside, I crave for Jeremy to take control.

Still. Things are not so bad, and there are other… ways… of him getting pleasure. At the end, he pushes me to my knees and thrusts his hard length into my open mouth. I use my teeth a bit, scratching him, melding his pleasure with the lightest bit of pain, and showing him that even when he takes control, I don’t take it lying down.

And then we emerge from the bedroom and are greeted by Manuela and her family. The kids have grown so much since I last saw them. They absolutely shine when they meet me. Manuela admonishes Jeremy for staying away for so long, and for not bringing me to the island paradise more often.

Of course, they don’t know the true reason for our absence.

I lounge on the beach for most of the day with my head in Jeremy’s lap. He’s been engrossed in a book for hours. I ask him about it.

“I like the act more than the story,” he tells me. “It’s not often I get the chance to simply read. Not like this, not since I was still in school.”

“Do you miss it?” I ask. “Stonehart Industries? Running it, keeping it alive, watching it prosper?”

He shakes his head. “My life, Lilly, is only you.”

It’s a standard response, a variation of every single other he’s given in answer to such questions before.

But today, it doesn’t feel sufficient. I want to push the envelope.

I sit up. “But that can’t be enough,” I say. “Aren’t you bored? Don’t you get tired of doing nothing?”

“No.”

I wait for him to continue.

He does not.

I sigh. I reach up for his head and run my fingers through his hair. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on up here,” I say. “A man like you can’t go from running a multi-billion dollar company and then just do…” I look around, “…nothing.”

He takes my hand and brings it to his lips. He kisses my palm. “I’m not doing
nothing
, Lilly,” he stresses. “I am enjoying every minute I get to spend with you.”

Again, that sense of unease creeps up inside me. It wrinkles my skin and makes me feel flawed. That can’t be the truth. I know Jeremy better than that. But for the moment, it looks like it’s all the answer I’m going to get.

“I just don’t want me to take away from you…being you,” I confide in a small voice.

Jeremy smiles down at me. “That, sweet Lilly,” he assures me, “is never going to be a problem.”

***

A week later, at dinner, we have our first fight.

Jeremy’s been growing restless on the island. With nothing to occupy his time, he’s understandably more irritable.

I’ve stayed busy with my continuing physical therapy program, and painting.
Like father like daughter,
I think with a touch of sadness.

Still. It’s given
me
something to do. Mixing watercolors on an empty canvas is surprisingly calming. I can get absorbed for hours, focusing on the strokes of my brush and getting lost in replicating the things I see before me on paper. Jeremy’s island is a natural paradise, and the scenery is absolutely perfect for creating art.

Now, I don’t claim to be proficient by any stretch. But I’ve been getting better. And painting is one of the few things I can do without tiring myself out.

Jeremy, on the other hand? He has nothing. For a man who was so single-minded in his purpose since he hit his twenties, for a man who
always
had something that demanded his attention, the change has to be jarring.

He’s been getting back in shape, too. Swimming, jogging, doing bodyweight exercises on the beach and inland. Exercising take up a few of his hours each day. His body’s responding, and he’s looking more robust, and more like himself again—after the state he fell into when my fate was uncertain.

I enjoy watching him. There’s something very soothing about seeing such a masculine man train shirtless before me.

And since I can’t have sex more than once,
maybe
twice, a day, there’s a lot of downtime here.

“When can I see what you’re working on?” Jeremy asks, slicing into some type of fish that Manuela prepared for us.

“When it’s finished,” I tell him. Truth be told, I’d prefer not to show my art to anyone ever—I’m little more than a tyro at this point—but I
definitely
don’t feel comfortable showing paintings in progress.

He grunts in response.

It’s not a comforting sound.

“What about you?” I ask. “When are you going to tell me what you’re planning when all this,” I gesture around us, “is over?”

He shoots me a hard look. “Over? What do you mean, ‘over’?”

“We can’t stay here forever,” I tell him. “When we go back to America, what are you going to do?”

“Why do you think we’re going back to America?” he grumbles. “This is what you want, isn’t it? Peace. Happiness.” He looks up at the clear blue sky, a hint of a smirk on his lips. “Limitless sunshine.”

“This isn’t real, Jeremy,” I tell him softly. I look down at my food. “We’re living in a fantasy. What happens when the clock strikes twelve?”

“There is no clock, Lilly,” he says. “This isn’t fantasy. It’s real life. It’s what I wanted. To be here, like this…” he reaches across the table and touches my hand, “with you.”

I pull away. “It’s not enough,” I mutter.

His voice turns icy. “What?”

“It can’t be enough!” I tell him, glaring across the table. “Why do you always keep me in the dark, Jeremy? Why don’t you tell me what you’re really thinking?”

“You know what I’m thinking, dammit,” he snaps. “Why must you accuse me of keeping secrets? I have none, from you. I gave up everything for you!”

“Yeah, well I never asked you to!” I holler back. I don’t know where my irritation is coming from, but it’s there now, in full force. “I never told you to give up your company, to give away everything, just to be with me!”

“
Enough
!” Jeremy roars. He slams his fist on the table, making the dishware jump. “Enough, Lilly. What’s gotten into you, dammit? It’s like you’re saying you don’t want me.”

“Of course I want you,” I begin, but Jeremy cuts me off with a scathing look.

“Just don’t,” he warns. He takes a deep breath. I can see him fighting the rage that tries to consume him. I see him fighting the
Stonehart
persona that threatens to emerge. “Don’t—test me, Lilly. Not now. it would not—“ he takes another deep breath, “—be an intelligent thing to do.”

“Just tell me what you’re thinking!” I plead. “Just share something with me, Jeremy, please. I want to know what goes on behind those brilliant eyes of yours.”

“
Nothing
!” he barks, and the single word feels like a reprimand.

He gets up. “This is not—we should not—share the same roof tonight.” He turns away.

“Jeremy, wait—“

“No.” He does not look back. “Leave me be, Lilly, for your own sake.”

And with that, he stalks out into the evening air.

***

I find Jeremy sitting alone on the beach late at night, staring out into the sea.

I come up quietly behind him and put my arms around his neck. He stiffens.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. I nuzzle my face into the space between his shoulder and his neck. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

He places his hands over mine but doesn’t speak. We stay like that, together, for a very long time. The only sound aside from our steady breathing comes from the calm waves breaking against the shore.

Finally, Jeremy stirs.

“Of course I miss it,” he says in a hushed, scratchy voice. “I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t. I think about Stonehart Industries every day. I read the news, I stay up to date. I see acquisitions I would make, companies I would love to take over and turn around to make a miraculous profit. I can’t just shut that part of my brain off, Lilly. Before you…” he kisses my hand, “…that’s all I knew.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “That you gave it up for me.”

“
Don’t
say that,” he rumbles. His grip tightens over mine. “I am not. You are the most important piece of my life. I love you, Lilly. The other things…they’re all a distant second compared to you.”

“I know,” I whisper. “And I love you for it. I just don’t want to be the cause of you becoming lost. You were—you are—so driven. I can’t imagine a man like you without a purpose.”

“
You
are my purpose,” he whispers.

I smile into him. “Thank you. But Jeremy, please—don’t make me your single one.”

He nods, deep in thought. I unwrap my arms and let him be.

***

Jeremy comes to me in the early morning and we make love.

***

Another week passes. Then two. Then three.

Life is slow here. Nothing is hurried. It’s the best type of place to recover.

Jeremy and I have no more flare-ups. We spend time tranquilly.

I continue painting. Every time I do, a little niggling bit of doubt tries to come to the forefront. It’s there every time I think of my father. It’s something I haven’t told Jeremy, but that has been perpetually bothering me:

Paul’s innocence.

Jeremy and I don’t speak of what happened when I was kidnapped by Hugh. It’s all in the past, it’s all forgotten. None of those demons can touch us. And I don’t want to hearken back to it, and yet…