The Geary Series Boxed Set (22 page)

Elijah fingered the card in his hand, turning it over and over. It was a wedding invitation from Jack and Olivia. He was happy for his brother finding love again with such an incredible person. He thought the world of Olivia and already considered her as his sister. His dilemma was that he had no one to take to the wedding. Ever since he met Olivia and saw the relationship she had with Jack he wanted the same with Lilly. He had dated many women over the last few years, but they all ended up saying the same thing. He was married to his job.

He told himself that the jealousy was a motivator but in reality women didn’t like to see him flirt with other women, especially when they were at the beginning of the relationship. They seemed perfectly ok with it when he flirted with them when they came into Blue’s but as soon as he started dating them they demanded that he didn’t flirt with anyone. Being the owner of the bar it was difficult not to flirt a little, he couldn’t help himself. It was just words, he never touched them or asked them out it was just words. The women he dated didn’t understand this and made life very difficult. They didn’t want a relationship where he got home at three in the morning.

He wanted a relationship with a woman who understood that he had a business to run and being friendly with the customers was part of the deal. He was never one to have one night stands, he wanted fulfilling relationships. He wanted to settle down and have a family but had given up trying to find the right woman.

When Olivia entered his bar, he knew he wanted a woman like her but knew his brother was in love with her. He had no one to take to the wedding, and he didn’t relish the thought of going on his own. Being stuck on the top table with his single great aunt was going to be tedious. He needed to find a date.

Sliding the invitation into his inside pocket of his suit jacket, Elijah looked around the bar. He was proud of his success, but it was hard work, putting in long hours and being the perfect host. He loved it most of the time. Looking towards the door, he watched as Lilly walked in, smiling widely at him.  She was early, hours earlier than she normally came in.  He had not seen her smile this wide, he hoped that she had quit.

Striding down the length of the bar, and rounding the corner he stood in front of her matching her grin. Lilly raised her shoulders and grinned wider.

“I did it.” Lilly declared and let out a nervous laugh.

He couldn’t help himself he picked her up in a hug and swung her around in a circle and put her back down. He didn’t know what possessed him, but he cupped both of her cheeks in his hands and planted a chaste kiss on her soft lips. He left them there for a few heartbeats and pulled away.

He watched as her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes sparkled, he felt his lips tingle at her touch and stared at Lilly for a few more seconds. He couldn’t believe he had just kissed her.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I got carried away, please forgive me.” Elijah said, still with his hands on her cheeks.

“Please don’t apologise, you have beautiful soft lips.” Lilly told him. She reached up and smoothed her thumb over his bottom lip.

Elijah stood there motionless as he felt her thumb trace his lip, he wanted to suck on it. The pull he felt towards her was magnetic. She had done a brave thing and quit her job, and he was so proud of her. He took her hand away from his face and wrapped it around his waist and leaned in and kissed her again. He pressed his lips to hers, allowing her to back off if she didn’t want this. Lilly didn’t move, she sank into his arms and melted her lips into his.

Elijah tilted his head to the side to deepen the kiss, he wanted to taste her, touch the tip of her tongue and hold her tight. He pulled his head away from her mouth for a second and parted his lips in the hope Lilly would do the same. She did. As their open mouths touched again, their tongues crashed together, swirling around and fighting for dominance. They both opened their mouths wider and kissed, long and slow, moving in sync, exploring and devouring. Their chests were rising and falling as they dragged air into their lungs through their noses. Neither cared that they were standing in the middle of the bar for all to see.

Lilly broke away first, flushed and breathing heavily, staring at Elijah, searching his eyes for any regret. When she didn’t see any she spoke to him.

“I don’t know what came over me, your kisses are amazing, and I’ve wondered what it would be like to kiss you for a long time.” Lilly confessed in a rush of words.

“I was caught up in the excitement of your bravery and it was our kiss sweetheart not my kiss. It took two of us to make that kiss amazing. I’m flattered that you thought of me at all let alone in a passionate way. I hope that it won’t put you off working here?” Elijah said.

Elijah was still holding onto her tight and was acutely aware that the whole of the bar watched him kiss a beautiful woman. The gossip mongers would be out in full force with this gem of a show. He needed to nip this in the bud straight away. If Lilly was going to work here, he didn’t want her to get any unfair treatment because she had kissed the boss.

“Lilly, sweetheart, do you still want to work here?” Elijah spoke quietly to her.

“Yes, if the offer is still there.” Lilly answered holding onto Elijah’s forearms, trying to move her hips away from Elijah’s. She was acutely aware of his excitement and didn’t want to embarrass him by making it obvious she knew.

“The offer is still there, so if you’re going to take me up on the offer, I should let you go and not kiss you again. It wouldn’t be fair or appropriate.”

“Oh, yes of course, absolutely.” Lilly spluttered and pulled out of Elijah’s hold.

She instinctively took a step back to get some distance from him, and the situation.  Lilly smoothed her hair and straightened her jacket. She felt stupid, for a moment for believing that his kiss was something more than it was.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Elijah said but to thin air.

Lilly had moved a few paces away, picked up her handbag she had dropped on the floor when Elijah had lifted her up. She started to move away.

“I totally understand, we were caught up at the moment, I should go. When should I start?” Lilly asked.

“Lilly, I didn’t mean it should never have happened.” Elijah tried to explain, but Lilly cut him off.

“Honestly it’s ok, I was high on my adrenaline from quitting, I am just as much to blame, and I didn’t have to kiss you back or confess I wanted to kiss you at all. Please forget it happened. Should I start tonight or tomorrow?” Lilly asked Elijah again.

Elijah didn’t know what to say to placate her or to let her know that he just wanted to give her a fair chance behind the bar. The female clientele in the bar could be bitchy at the best of times let alone to anyone he dated. He was at a loss for words and didn’t know what to say. So he switched to business mode.

“You can start tomorrow, come in at 10am and I can run through the basics with you.” Elijah said.

Elijah watched as Lilly’s face dropped for a second and then her mask appeared. He knew he had hurt her feelings, but he had learned a long time ago that at this moment whatever he said she wouldn’t be listening to it.

“See you tomorrow Elijah, thanks for the job.” Lilly said over her shoulder as she began walking out the bar.

Elijah’s eyes watched her retreating, grazing his eyes over her long, lean legs to her high heels. She was a beautiful woman, and his semi hard cock agreed with him. He may have his date to the wedding after all, he hadn’t felt anything for any woman in too long. He would ask her tonight if she would go with him.

Lilly walked out of the bar and glanced across the road at her old employment for a few seconds. She felt no regret in her decision, and it already felt like months since she last worked there. Smiling widely to herself, she walked down the pavement. Her broad smile and confident walk attracted a few admiring glances from passing men. She didn’t notice them as she thought about her new job at the bar and Elijah’s kiss. She knew it was a spur of the moment thing, but it still hurt that he didn’t want to kiss her again. She wanted to kiss him again, preferably naked, skin against skin.

She was in the world of her own when her arm was yanked back from behind, and she hit a hard wall of muscle. Dazed, she looked at the man’s chest her nose pressed against it, and she moved her eyes up and up until she met his face. Strong arms had her in a clutch so that she wasn’t moving, when she looked to his eyes, she smiled. It was Elijah’s face.

She heard the car horns blaring in her ears and wondered what all the noise was. Lilly looked around to find herself in the middle of a busy intersection being held by Elijah.

“You nearly got yourself killed sweetheart, what were you thinking about that made you walk out into the road without looking. It was a good job that I was here. Otherwise, I would be minus a new bartender.” Elijah said to her.

He let her go and grabbed her hand and led her to the pavement while she gathered herself. The cars carried on their journeys, and the spectators shrugged when there wasn’t any more to see. She searched for her coat to put on as she felt cold and realised that she didn’t have it. Looking back at Elijah, she could see he was holding it up and open for her to slide her arms into the sleeves. With her bag at her feet, she let him help her on with her coat. He spun her around and buttoned up her coat and tied her belt. Resting his hands on her upper arms, he looked into her eyes and said nothing.

“Thank you Elijah,” she said and waited for a reply, when he kept staring she continued. “I’m so glad you were here, I’d be in A&E otherwise.”

“It isn’t a problem, you left your coat behind at the bar, and I could see you down the street, so I came after you, and now I am glad I did. What did you think about?” Elijah managed to say, shaking himself out of his desire to kiss her again.

“I was thinking about our kiss, I was lost in my little world. I understand that it shouldn’t happen again, but it was good.” Lilly confessed.

“I want to explain about that Lilly, I didn’t mean it to sound like I didn’t like it, it’s just-.”

“You don’t have to explain,” Lilly interrupted him “I get it, you were in the moment, it didn’t mean anything to you.” Lilly finished for him.

It was Lilly’s turn to be interrupted and this time it was with warm lips kissing the life out of hers. Elijah wrapped his arms around her back and lifted her and her bag off the floor and walked her backwards to the wall of the building they were standing near. Once her back hit the wall, Elijah cradled her neck and deepened the kiss, probing her lips to open with his tongue. At the same time, he slid his thigh between hers and pressed his whole body against Lilly’s.

The moan that came from the back of Lilly’s throat turned Elijah on to a level he had yet to experience from just a kiss. Lilly moulded her mouth perfectly with his and gave gentle licks of her tongue to each side of his. She slid her arms into his jacket and clung onto the shirt on his back as she kissed him as ardently as he did her. This kiss was better than the last one, and she could feel the throb in her sex as she kept up the pace. It was agonisingly slow as they got to know each other’s mouths. He tasted of peppermint and smelt wonderful she wanted to lick every inch of him.

Elijah broke away and held the sides of her face firmly so that she couldn’t move and could listen to what he had to say to her.

“Lilly, you are a beautiful woman and I would quite happily kiss you all day and all night. I would kiss every inch of your body, moving each piece of clothing slowly away from your skin to explore new areas. I want nothing more but to kiss your soft folds and dip my tongue into the sweet nectar that I know is coating your inner walls. I want to kiss the soft slope of the surface that is at the side of your ankle and the inch of skin that is just inside your hip bone before it reaches your stomach. I want to see you squirm as I trail my fingers down your rib cage until they reach the dimples at the base of your back. So listen to me well, when I say that the kiss we had in Blue’s, did mean something to me, and you mean something to me. I have no idea where this is going, but I wanted to explain that if you are going to work for me, people can’t see us kissing because they will give you a hard time over it. I have no desire to see you upset or have to kick someone’s arse because they have been rude to you. I will do it however if it comes to it Lilly.” Elijah said.

Lilly was speechless, dumbfounded by Elijah’s speech, she had no idea that this gorgeous man was attracted to her. They had known each other for so long, and he had never given her any indication that he was attracted to her. He was caring and spent each lunch hour with her when she was at the bar, but she assumed he was a gentleman because she was on her own, and it was his bar. Maybe she had a shot with him.

“Wow Elijah, that was some speech, does this mean we’re going steady?” she joked. She felt nervous and under the spotlight with his stare. He made her forget her mind, and she loved that she could completely get lost in his kiss.

“Lilly, I would very much like the opportunity to date you, but I have no idea how we are going to achieve this.” He said.

“I have a lot going on at the moment, the first thing is to tell my parents that I have quit my job. They are going to be very unhappy about this, and I am not looking forward to the fallout over it. I need to concentrate on this situation first. Why don’t we take things slowly, not rush into anything.” Lilly suggested to Elijah as she watched his face fall.

“Ok, I can work with that. Do you want me to come with you to your parents? I can’t believe they are going to be anything less than supportive.” Elijah asked.

Elijah stroked her cheek with one finger and traced her full pink lips.

“The relationship between my parents and I is complex. William can do no wrong whilst I have to jump through hoops and have to be perfection at all times. My mother adores my brother and seemingly dislikes me. It is something I have never understood.”

“Let me come with you to hold your hand, and then we can go get a coffee and celebrate?” Elijah asked.

“No Elijah, I need to do this by myself, it will be humiliating enough as it is without an audience. I have just discovered that you and I might have a chance, I’m not going to ruin that by introducing you to the venom of my parents.” Lilly said.

“What about your dad? Undoubtedly he supports you?” Elijah asked.

“He does whatever mother says, he just wants a quiet life. Sometimes I see flashes of regret when he joins in with her biting comments but not often. Let’s not dwell on what I have to do. I’ll see you tomorrow for my first shift?” Lily told him.

“I am not happy about this you know, I want to protect you from anything that will cause you pain. Please let me come with you.” Elijah pleaded.

“No, Elijah, I need to do this myself, but thank you for offering. So, tomorrow, 10am?”

“Yes, tomorrow, 10am, come to Blue’s and I will fill out the paperwork and we can get you started serving the best pint in Edinburgh.”

Elijah kissed her cheek and then her forehead and watched as Lilly smiled shyly at him. He was besotted with her in that single moment and wanted to take her home and never leave. Reluctantly he dropped her hand that he hadn’t remembered taking and watched her walk away.