“I hope it wasn’t deliberate Elijah. I love this place, if Blue’s burned down I would be heartbroken.”
“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,” Elijah said.
Elijah replied, 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 reasonably 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 when this building was built and on to the 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.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Elijah looked up to see Lilly gazing out of the window, they’d 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 significant 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’m going to ignore what you just did and erase it from my memory,” she said and shuddered. “I want to draw you, and I was thinking about how, in which position and your clothing.”
“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 she wanted him to pose naked. It showed how his thoughts went when he was with Lilly. Usually he would hope that any woman he was with didn’t want him naked in the light. The daylight shone brightly 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 skill he’d perfected.
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 disappointment. That was the main reason why he’d not shown them before. Revealing his scars meant that he’d have to tell his story. It was easier to talk about the tattoos that covered them. Not having many women 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.
Elijah pulled himself into an upright position on the sofa. He made a mental note that he would reveal all if she wished and would answer questions she had. Elijah 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 she would, because he loved her and couldn’t care what she told him. Elijah 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, sheswung 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.
“Will you strip naked for me?” Lilly asked. “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 wouldn’t help to sit 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, tracing a line down her legs.
“You first, sweetheart. I’ll pose in anything you want but you have to match what I’m wearing.”
He watched her eyes widen and then squint at him. Lilly played him at his own game, whipping off her t-shirt. She was completely naked underneath. 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, tapping 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 erection deflating. It solved the problem of her drawing him with araging hard-on. Elijah was frozen 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. Lilly reached out slowly with her hands, 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 tiny crease between his eyebrows appeared and disappeared as he relived the scene.
“Will you tell me?” Lilly asked.
