She didn’t want to tell him she had no plans. She led a solitary life and up until she’d met Elijah she thought it was enough. The truth was, she felt instantly lonely, the moment she left his company. Elijah had a large circle of friends, a family he spent a lot of time with and a social life within his work. All she had was her job and her art and that was it. Her brother only wanted to see her when he needed something and at the moment her parents weren’t even speaking to her. She felt lost and alone and didn’t know how she was going to get around this problem. Looking over her shoulder she looked up at Elijah.
“I don’t have much planned, are you working here tonight?”
“Yes, it’ll probably be busy and we’re still short staffed.”
“I could work if you want? I don’t mind doing a shift. I’d need to go home and change but would be happy to,” Lilly said.
“Really? Would you do that?” Elijah asked and beamed.
“Of course, what time would you want me here? Is 6pm too early?”
“That would be perfect but you don’t have to, I am sure we’ll cope,” Elijah said.
“I’ll be here. See you later on, I’m going to get.”
“I’ll see you at six,” Elijah said feeling disappointed she was leaving so soon.
Elijah wanted to talk more to Lilly but couldn’t think of a thing to say, he wasn’t ready to let her go. His mind went blank, and he blurted out the first thing he thought about.
“On second thoughts, I don’t need you tonight, I’ve just remembered we have a small private party and won’t need as many staff,” Elijah said. He watched the disappointment wash over her face. She really did want to work tonight, but he had a better idea.
“Will you come with me to dinner tonight?” Elijah said. “Since Olivia came into Jack’s life she insists on dinner every Thursday evening. Will you come with me? You’ve met her now and it will be just the four of us.”
“Ok, that sounds great, where shall I meet you and what time?” Lilly said, relieved that she didn’t have to work at Blue’s, she was still so tired.
“I’ll pick you up at seven. We can walk around to their place, you two don’t live that far away from each other,” Elijah offered.
“Great.”
She lifted herself off the stool and left Elijah to it.
Even though he would have to make do with not seeing her for the next few hours, he was content that she accepted his dinner date with no hesitation. Jack and Olivia could be full on at the best of times but bringing a date with him would be headline news. He would have to let them know that there would be one extra for dinner. Elijah opted for text message and then he could avoid the grilling that would more than likely follow.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Elijah’s day was getting worse and worse. He loved running the bar, and it was only now that it irritated him that all of his time was taken up with problem-solving. He wanted to take Lilly to lunch, or better still make lunch for her.
The temptation was to dump all these problems onto Pete but that would be unfair and inappropriate. He had gotten himself into this mess and he would get himself out of it too. Elijah offered Elaine the job of the artwork in his bar and he wanted to keep his word. He hadn’t thought through what he would do when it became awkward.
Remaining friends while she continued to paint the mural on his bar wall may turn out to be too much drama for him. He assumed she liked him enough to remain friendly and professional while she completed her job.
One evening after he and Elaine had already had a few meetings to throw around some ideas, they shared a bottle of wine after the bar had closed. He hadn’t remembered who had kissed who first, but they ended up in his apartment. Half undressed on his sofa when Elaine had askedhim to wrap his hands around her throat when he was deep inside her. It had freaked him out. He’d never done that kind of thing before and had no idea what he was doing. She had a kink that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with. That night on the sofa ended quite quickly when she revealed what she wanted. Elijah pretended that the alcohol had made him sleepy and called her a taxi to take her home. He hadn’t intended to have sex with her that night and when she revealed what she wanted, he knew he never would have sex with her.
Getting a woman to orgasm without having to resort to kink was something he craved. He desired that type of connection with a woman to read the signs and build her up to a frenzy until she begged for release. Just the touch of his hand or a thrust of his cock would set her off, that is what he wanted most.
Leaning back in his leather chair he thought about ways he could get out of the arrangement. She could be difficult and he wanted out. Searching through the mountain of paperwork he smiled at the conversation he had with Lilly about the state of his office. It was chaotic, but he knew where everything was, except now, he needed to take a look at the contract before she got there to see if there was something he could do.
Flicking through the papers on the right-hand side of the desk, he lifted out her agreement and read through it again. It was halfway down on page four that he saw some hope, he had found his get out jail free card and he was going to exploit it. He no longer wanted to work with her and now he had a chance to end it.
“Elijah, Elaine is here to see you, shall I send her through?” Pete said.
He was filling the door frame and smirking at him.Pete knew exactly how thrilled he would be to see her but knew not let her come back to his office to chat.
“I’ll come out Pete, get her a drink while she waits, I won’t be long.”
“Ok, but don’t keep her waiting too long, she doesn’t look pleased about the fire damage. I couldn’t stop her from seeing it. She’ll probably chew your balls off as soon as she sees you.”
“Fucking marvellous, hopefully after this meeting I won’t have to see her again.” Elijah picked up the contract. “I need to make a quick call and I’ll be out.”
