“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 awayfrom his face, 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 to. 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. 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 passionately. I hope 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 worked here, he didn’t want her to get any unfair treatment because she had kissed the boss.
“Lilly, 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 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’m 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 tell her he just wanted to give her a fair chance behind the bar. The bar’s female clientele could be bitchy at the best of times, let alone to anyone he dated. He was at a loss forwords 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 for 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.
Chapter Six
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. Lilly 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.
Lilly was in a 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. She moved her eyes 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 tofind herself in the middle of a busy intersection being held by Elijah.
“You nearly got yourself killed. 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, 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, buttoned up her coat and tied her belt. Resting his hands on her upper arms, he looked into her eyes and said nothing.
