Jilly shook her head and went on with her packing. An hour later, she was completely done and she joined William on the bed, kicking off her boots on the way.
“Mmm, it feels so nice to just lay here with you,” she purred.
“I know. It seems like we’ve been too busy to relax for a while,” he replied.
She smiled seductively and turned on her side to look at him. “Want to play pretend?”
He smiled back. “How do I play?”
“Well, we pretend that nothing exists outside of this room for tonight. Everyone and everything can take care of themselves for a night, don’t you think?” William made a noise and pounced on Jilly. She squealed in delight. “Wait, wait give me a second,” she said and closed her eyes for a moment.
“What was that?” he asked.
“I made us a Do Not Disturb Until Morning sign for the door,” she said triumphantly. “Now, where were we?”
“Mmm, here, I think,” William said as he kissed her neck.
“Why do you have so many clothes on?” she asked him as she pulled his shirt off.
“I could ask you the same question,” he shot back as he stripped off her shirt and bra. He sighed as he looked at her. “Jilly, you are so amazingly beautiful. I could probably stare at your naked body for the rest of my life and be happy.”
Jilly laughed. “That is such a man thing to say; but thank you. You’re not hard on the eyes either, my love. Now, lose the pants, will you?”
He complied and pulled off his pants, leaving him standing completely naked in front of her. He motioned for her to do the same and then swept her off her feet onto the bed, relishing the feel of her skin against his own. He trailed his way down her body with his mouth until he came to the spot that made her grab the sheets and scream.
He looked up at her, enjoying the flush that appeared with her pleasure. “I can’t be gentle, tonight,” he growled into her ear as he moved on top of her.
“Who said anything about gentle?” she growled as she wrapped her legs around his hips.
The next morning at breakfast, Katya gave Jilly a knowing smile. “We saw your little sign on the door. Did you guys enjoy yourselves?”
“William helped me with my packing,” Jilly joked.
“Packing? Is that what the kids are calling it now?” Katya said with a laugh. Hannah came down the stairs into the kitchen a few moments later.
“Hush your mouth,” Jilly hissed at Katya.
“Morning,” Hannah said, as she grabbed a glass of juice and a bagel.
“Good morning, darling. How did you sleep?” Katya asked her.
“I had a few weird dreams, but okay, I guess.”
Jilly’s brow furrowed with worry. “What did you dream about?”
“Mostly about a man with dark hair and dark eyes. I don’t know what he wanted, but he was in all of my dreams; just watching me and waiting for something to happen.”
“Hm, I guess that would be Valdus, then?” Jilly looked at William.
“I have never met Valdus. I only know him by reputation,” William said carefully.
Jilly was not fond of the tone in his voice when he said reputation. He shook his head almost imperceptibly, signaling her to talk about it later. She nodded and turned her attention back to Hannah. “Try not to worry about him, honey.”
Hannah shrugged. “I never really worry too much about my dreams, anymore. They happen whether I do or not.”
Katya smiled. “That’s a wonderful attitude to have.” Hannah smiled and bit into her bagel. Nikolai came down the stairs a few minutes later and he and Katya left to run some errands before the flight that evening.
“What are you going to do today, Jill?” William asked.
“I think I’m having an uncomfortable conversation with Caroline,” Jilly said with a groan.
William laughed, spitting out his coffee. “Well, enjoy that. I need to run to the mall and to my apartment. Hannah, do you want to come with me?”
Hannah looked extremely excited to be asked to go. “Yeah, that sounds cool,” she said.
“Wonderful, we’ll leave in an hour or so, okay?”
“Okay, I’m going to go and get ready then. Jilly, can I use your blow dryer?” Hannah asked as she got up from the table.
“Yeah, it’s in the middle drawer in my bathroom. Buy yourself one today while you’re out, along with anything else you need for your hair.”
Hannah’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’s so awesome.”
“Yes, really. I told you yesterday, you’re family now; so anything you need, you’ll get,” Jilly replied. “Now scoot upstairs and get ready.” She shooed Hannah out of the kitchen with her hands. “Thanks for taking her with you, today. I kind of get the feeling she’s starving for a father figure in her life.”
“I got that feeling, too. This is a weird situation because she already has a father.”
“I know, but the father she has may not be the one she wants. Just be there for her when she needs you,” Jilly said, and then kissed him on the cheek. “I’m going to go up and call my sister, then jump in the shower. If you need me, that’s where I’ll be.”
“Okay, love. I’ll be, well, I don’t know what I’m going to do; but I’ll be around the house, somewhere. Enjoy your shower.” He kissed her gently on the lips and smacked her butt as she walked past him.
“William!” Jilly squealed and ran up the stairs. She snatched her phone off the nightstand and called her sister.
“Caroline?” Jilly asked, when her sister picked up.
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s up?” Caroline replied.
“Do you want to come over and talk for a bit? William and Hannah are going to run some errands and Nik and Kat left a while ago for the day.”
“Um, yeah, we probably should try and clear the air a bit before this trip. I’ll be over in like forty minutes; I need to jump in the shower.”
“Yeah, I’m about to do the same. I’ll see you soon,” Jilly said and hung up the phone. She went in the bathroom and turned the water on in the shower. Once it was sufficiently warm, Jilly stripped off her clothes and hopped in. She let the water wash away all of her worries and concerns. She felt all of her muscles begin to relax, and she grabbed her shampoo and began to lather her hair up. She rinsed out the suds and slathered conditioner on her hair before grabbing her razor to shave. As soon as she was nice and smooth, she rinsed the conditioner out and lathered herself up with body wash.
“Something smells nice in here,” William said, somewhere in the steamy bathroom.
“That would be me,” Jilly said with a laugh.
“I figured as much. Are you almost done?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Hannah needs the blow-dryer. She wasn’t sure if you were going to use it, too.”
“Just grab it. I’m not going to dry my hair,” Jilly said as she stepped out of the shower.
William took one look at her glistening body and shook his head. “You are not making it easy for me to be fully clothed over here.”
“No one told you to come in here while I was showering,” Jilly shot back as she wrapped her hair up in a towel. “Now, be a lamb and hand me my robe, please.”
He grabbed it off the hook on the door and very dramatically closed his eyes while he handed it to her. “You are such a dork,” she said, as she put her robe on.
“Yeah, I may be a dork, but you love me, anyway,” William said and walked out of the room with the blow dryer. Jilly shook her head with a laugh and went to pick out her clothes.
Caroline was drying her hair when Patrick came in the room.
“What are your plans for the day, my darling?” he asked her as he sat down on the bed.
“I’m going over to my sister’s house in a few minutes to talk. After that, I think just packing. What are you going to do?”
“I have to brief Drew on what’s going to be happening. He’ll need to make his own travel arrangements, as I can assume my brother will no
t allow him to go on his plane.”
Caroline made a face. “Why is it exactly that we need him? We’ll have Nik and Will; we don’t need Drew as well.”
Patrick frowned. “Why is it that you hate him so much?”
“He just gives me a bad feeling. I don’t trust him and I don’t want him to come,” Caroline all but shouted.
Patrick laughed. “If it means that much to you, I’ll keep him on standby. He doesn’t have to come with us.”
“It does mean that much to me. Thank you for understanding,” she said and kissed him.
“I don’t understand but I’m doing it, anyway. The female mind will always be a mystery to me.”
“What’s wrong with a little mystery in your life, baby?” Caroline asked in a silky smooth voice.
“Keep talking like that and you’re going to need another shower,” Patrick growled as he swept her into his arms.
“No, okay, I give,” Caroline squealed. “I need to go; but I promise you, we’ll pick this up later.” She kissed him, sucking his lip in between her own.
“Go now or you’ll never get out of this house fully clothed,” Patrick said as he shoved her toward the door.
“Okay, I’m leaving now. See you in a bit,” she said as she blew him a kiss. She was laughing as she got into her car.
Jilly and Caroline sat outside on the back porch drinking mugs of hot chocolate.
“So,” Jilly said, unsure of how to start the conversation.
“Yeah,” Caroline said.
“Okay, this is really weird,” Jilly said.
“I know and I really don’t want it to be. Can’t we just go back to how things were?” Caroline asked.
Jilly sighed. “I want nothing more than that, but a lot happened. I felt like you lied to me, Car. You snuck around behind my back. I understand why you’re with him, that’s not the issue anymore. It’s everything that led up to it that bothers me.”
Caroline was quiet for a minute. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I know I handled things terribly, but I can’t do anything about that now. This whole thing was so weird and amazing and crazy all at the same time. Do you remember the beginning with William? How you felt that zapping of electricity every time you touched? The excitement you felt when you knew you were going to see him? I remember that because you shared all of it with me. I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I knew you and William would never understand.”
“I do understand.”
“You understand now, yeah, now that everything is out in the open about Hannah. But before that, you thought Patrick was a monster who was controlling my mind. You refused to see that there is a decent person inside of him. You never even tried to see things from my perspective; you were so quick to judge me.”
“I never judged you,” Jilly shot back.
“Didn’t you? You asked me how I could love a man like Patrick. I can love him because he’s not a monster. He’s a loving, caring person with feelings like you and I have,” Caroline trailed off, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, too, Car. I never meant to make you feel like Patrick wasn’t worth loving. I can see now that he is. There is a side of him that he really only shows to you. I got a glimpse of it a few nights ago; he told me a few things. He loves you and he loves Hannah. That is enough for me. I’ll never question you about him, again.” Jilly wiped the tears from her own eyes.
“Thank you,” Caroline said softly.
“Let’s not talk about it anymore. I’m tired of crying,” Jilly said.
Caroline nodded enthusiastically. “How is Hannah doing with all of this?”
“She’s doing pretty well actually. I think it’s still weird for her to be around Patrick, though. I can see how much he loves her, but I think he scares her a little bit. She hasn’t said anything, but I can just tell by the look on her face.”
Caroline nodded. “It’s hard for him. He loves her so much. Plus, he’s been out of her life for pretty much the whole time and he doesn’t want to miss anything else. I’ve told him he needs to give her time and space, though.”
“That’s good advice. He’ll only push her further away if he moves too fast. She’s been through so much in the past year, she’s very fragile.”
“Where did she and William go, today?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Probably the mall and then to his apartment to pack. One of us needs to go into the shop today to tell the girls we’ll be gone for a while. I’m thinking of putting Tanya in charge while we’re both gone. What do you think?” Jilly asked.
“I think Tanya is your best bet. She knows everything about running the place. I can stop by on my way home today, if you want.”
“Oh, that would be perfect. Tell her she can call me tonight if she’s got any questions. You know, on second thought, I’ll just call her later and talk to her about everything. That way, she can ask me any questions she might have.”
“Are you sure?”
“Totally sure. Now, do you want to help me decide which of my coats to bring with us on the trip?”
“Lead the way,” Caroline said as they went inside.
Jilly was just hanging up with Tanya when William and Hannah came in. “Hey, guys, how was your day?” she asked them. Hannah was beaming and William looked happy, as well.
“We had a very nice day. We went to the mall and bought this one some more shoes and a new coat,” William said.
“That’s great,” Jilly said with a smile. “Hannah, are you all packed up and ready to go?”
“Almost. I’m going to go finish, now,” Hannah replied and went upstairs.
“Thanks for taking her out, today. She looks like she had a lot of fun.” William came around the counter and pulled Jilly in for a kiss. She smiled against his lips. “What was that for?” she asked, still smiling.
“It was because I love you, and your lips looked very kissable.” To prove his point, he kissed her again. She let herself melt into him for a moment. The sound of someone clearing his throat jarred them from their moment.
“Are we interrupting?” Nikolai asked, as he and Katya walked in.
Jilly laughed. “If I said yes, would you leave?”
Katya smiled, “If you guys wanted privacy, the kitchen is hardly the place for it. Are you almost ready to leave?”
“Not really. Well, sort of. I have my bags packed, if that counts for anything,” Jilly said with a sheepish smile. “I can probably be ready in an hour.” She scurried up the stairs to her room. Once there, she grabbed all of her bags and set them by the door. She picked up her laptop and sat on the bed to do the ordering for the salon. This was the part of owning her own business that Jilly hated; she was the one who was responsible for everything. If she didn’t do the ordering, they’d have nothing to sell or use. As she was finishing up, she made a mental note to teach Tanya how to do more on the management side of the shop. She powered down her laptop and put it into its case before heading into the bathroom to retrieve her toiletries bag. When she came out of the bathroom, William was sitting on the bed.
“Are you almost ready?” he asked her.
“Yeah, I think so. Is Hannah all set to go?”
“Yeah, she’s already downstairs. We’re all just waiting on you.” There was a hint of impatience in his voice that Jilly chose to ignore.
“Want to help me with my bags?” Jilly asked sweetly. He nodded and shooed her out the door. Scooping up as many bags as he could carry, he followed her down to the kitchen to meet everyone else.
William opened the door of the SUV for Jilly to get in and was surprised to see Sabine sitting in the back seat.
“Hello cherie, I’m so looking forward to our trip,” she purred. William frowned and let Jilly climb in first before sliding in next to her and shutting the door.
“Why so quiet, William?” Sabine taunted.
Jilly put her hand on his leg to still him and then turned around to face Sabine. “Let’s get one thing straight, here. Just because we ha
ve to bring you, does not mean we have to converse with you. So you should just shut your mouth and be thankful no one has put a silencing spell on you.” Jilly turned back around and caught William’s smile before he masked it.
“Well put, darling, I couldn’t have said it better myself,” William said as the SUV took off for the airport. The drive was uneventful and full of unspoken words. They pulled onto the tarmac and everyone hopped out of their cars and began to unload the luggage. They decided to take both Nikolai and William’s planes since they were travelling with such a large group. Nikolai said he would take Sabine with him to avoid any unnecessary problems she might try to cause between William and Jilly. Caroline and Patrick would fly with Jilly and William, and Hannah would as well. Jilly took Hannah on board to get her situated, while they waited for Caroline and Patrick to arrive. They watched from the window as Nikolai’s plane took off for Germany. Finally, twenty minutes later, Patrick and Caroline drove up in a cab.
“Sorry, I know we’re late,” Caroline said, as she climbed out of the car. William helped Patrick with the bags and they all filed on board to get ready for takeoff. They all sat in the rows of chairs that were toward the front of the plane. Jilly and William sat in front and Hannah sat directly behind them. Patrick and Caroline chose seats in the very last row. Everyone buckled up for takeoff and the plane started rolling down the tarmac.
Once they were in the air, everyone went their separate ways. Hannah grabbed her Kindle and snuggled up on the couch to read. Jilly and William went to watch a movie in one of the rooms and Caroline and Patrick went to do the same in another room.
A few hours later, Patrick wandered out to stretch his legs and came across Hannah sitting on the couch.
“I’m sorry,” he said when she looked up. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. You aren’t bothering me.”
Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) Page 20