Wow, Elias, so perceptive.
“Lilly,” Keller warns under his breath, trying to compose me.
Ha, nice try, pal. You should have taken a second to talk to me.
“We seem to be having some miscommunication today,” I say to Elias as I take a seat on the couch and cross one leg over the other while folding my arms across my chest.
“Oh, about what?” Elias asks as Keller angrily sits next to me, but instead of placing his hand on my thigh, he leaves at least a few inches between us.
Could he not be more obvious?
“We went to look at wedding venues today. The Norse Temple and Frigga’s Sanctuary.”
“Both beautiful,” Elias says.
“I thought so, but I fell in love with the sanctuary. It was more intimate and smaller, but the wedding planner said she could make it work. When I spoke with Keller about it privately, he said he was putting his foot down and we were having the wedding at Norse Temple.” He stiffly shifts next to me, and with that slight move, I can taste the anger simmering inside him. But that doesn’t stop me from talking. “And then to my surprise, Queen Katla says something to him about his parents being there, something he never told me. So, you know, that’s been our fun today.”
“I see.” Elias directs his attention to Keller. “What did Queen Katla mean by your parents being at Norse Temple?”
“Not something I want to talk about,” Keller responds.
Shocking!
“Is it because you don’t trust Lilly with that information?”
“Is it?” I ask, turning toward him.
“No.” His brow turns down. “It’s because I told her we would talk about it in private later. It’s not something I’m going to talk about here.”
“Why didn’t you tell her while looking at the venues?”
Great question.
“Because she would have asked a million questions, and the wedding planner was there. I wasn’t about to get into it. She doesn’t understand that when I say I’m going to talk about it later, I mean it.”
“You could have just told me quickly.”
“Nothing is ever quick with you,” Keller says in a frustrated tone.
Elias clasps his hands together. “You know, I think we need to loosen up a bit. Why don’t we do a little exercise? It seems like tensions are high, and we could use a bout of fun to ease everyone into our meeting today.”
“Sure, whatever you think is best,” I say.
“Great. Let’s stand. Keller, please remove your suit jacket.”
Reluctantly, Keller stands and takes off his navy-blue suit jacket, revealing his tight-fitted white button-up shirt. And even though I’m mad at him right now, irritated . . . confused, it doesn’t change the fact that my eyes eat him up every chance I get.
The white of his shirt is crisp and clean cut, framing his muscular build by clinging to his boulder-like arms and pronounced chest, stretching the buttons so you can almost see skin when he takes a deep breath. Not to mention the way his shirt tucks into his narrowed waistline. It reminds me that it’s been over a week since I’ve been intimate with this man and how much I miss it.
Snapping me out of my ogling, Elias says, “Lilly, stand in front of Keller, but with your back to him.”
I do as I’m told and wait for his next direction.
“Now, look me in the eyes. Do you trust the man behind you?”
“Yes,” I say without even skipping a beat. There is no doubt that I trust him with my whole life. He’s done nothing but protect me. Love me. How could I not trust him?
“So if you were to take two steps forward and then fall backward, do you believe he would catch you?”
