Lily's Mirage (Hell Yeah! )

by Sable Hunter

  “Even with my big nose?” he teased.

  “Even with your big nose,” she affirmed with the greatest affection.

  After the lighthouse, they rented a catamaran and took it out among the barrier reefs. Lily wanted to go swimming, but Blade said no. “I didn’t tell you this earlier, I didn’t want to worry you, but I saw a huge shark when that little one got entangled in my trap.” He held his arms out in a huge circle. “Her mouth was this big. Came right up out of the water like the movie Jaws. I thought I was a goner.”

  Lily’s eyes grew wide and she launched herself into his arms, almost upsetting the boat. “God, I’m glad you’re okay.” Then, she whacked him hard on the chest. “Don’t you dare put yourself in danger anymore.” She glanced out into the waters. “Let’s go back. I’m afraid.”

  He held her hand. “It’s okay, this isn’t a movie. I don’t think it will attack our boat.”

  She wasn’t convinced and she didn’t want him to take any risks with his life at all. Blade brought her to the very center of the catamaran, the safest point. “We’ll keep an eye out, if I see any fins, we’ll head back.”

  “Okay.” Gradually she was able to relax and take more shots of the incredible scenery. After a while, she forgot about the shark and just enjoyed the sunshine and the man. This was good for her, she thought. Just what she needed to forget her worries.

  When they’d sailed all they wanted, their next stop was to zip line through a wooded area, where the views of the ocean reigned supreme. Of all the things they did during the day, this was Lily’s favorite so far. Flying through the air was exhilarating and she loved to hear Blade’s laugh as he whizzed by. He seemed to have quit worrying about people recognizing him, even signing some autographs at one point for another couple who were riding the zip line behind them.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked, once they completed the circuitous route.

  “Famished,” she told him. “I could eat a whole shark.”

  “Seafood, it is.” He laughed and guided her to the Jeep. On the way to a recommended restaurant, Lily spotted the art gallery. “There’s the place I saw Thandie’s paintings of the Gullah people.”

  When he pulled into the parking lot, she was surprised. “What are we doing?”

  “Buying you a painting.” Blade didn’t know how to tell her that his heart was so full, his joy so complete, that he wanted to give her anything and everything she desired. The thing he wanted to give her most was…time.

  Mesu was surprised to see Lily again, but very glad to make a sale. Blade studied the paintings with her, marveling at their intense colors and the evocative feelings they produced of another time, another place. “Which one do you want, beautiful?” he asked her, standing near with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

  “This one, I think.” She pointed to one where the women were looking out over the marsh with buckets in hand. “I don’t know if they’ve been crabbing or not, but look at the little girl, she looks real enough to be alive.” The curly headed tyke made her smile. “Yes, I know exactly where I’ll hang it. Right over the buffet where I make my morning cup of coffee.”

  “Good, I’ll help you enjoy it while we’re having coffee together.”

  Lily smiled, he seemed absolutely positive they’d be spending more time together. The more he mentioned it, the more she began to believe it might happen.

  Their last stop of the day was a seaside restaurant. They chose a table closest to the water, sitting on a pier extending out into the ocean. The sun was just beginning to set and the images Lily was able to capture through the lens of the camera entranced her. “This is magical, Blade. I can’t imagine missing out on this time with you.”

  He kissed her cheek, letting his lips linger on her velvet skin. “Hold onto this feeling, Lily, get used to it. I plan on spending many more days with you, just like this.” They talked and laughed through the evening, sharing stories and dreams. Their food was fresh and fabulous, blackened redfish and new potatoes. Asparagus and cheese grits. Peach cobbler and coconut cream pie for dessert.

  “I’m so stuffed, you may have to roll me out of here.” Lily leaned on Blade as he walked her to the Jeep. “Thank you for today, I loved it.” She held her face up for a kiss.

  “Today was great, I agree.” He bent to whisper in her ear, “But…tonight’s going to be better. I promise”

  7

  The man did not lie.

  Once they returned to their private paradise, Blade took her in his arms. Gently he laid aside the painting and her camera, then clasped her head in his hand, lowering his lips to brush them over hers, licking and sipping at the seam. When she let out this satisfied little sigh and opened to him, something inside his soul came unmoored.

  He was fast becoming addicted to her, dependent. Dependent on her warmth and her ability to make him laugh, dependent on the way she gave him hope that his life could be more than a mix of memories and meaningless days. “Today, while you were taking photos and admiring the countryside, I was admiring you. You’re a delight, Lily.” He placed a hand behind her knees and lifted her into his arms. “I’ve been hard for you all day.”

  Lily smiled, looping her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder. He carried her to the canopied bed on the screened-in porch, where the sounds of the waves could be distinctly heard. As he passed into the room, he flipped on the light. “I want to see you. I want to memorize every facet of your beautiful face.”

  As he placed her on the covers, she could see a fiery hunger in his eyes. Lowering his body to cover hers, he caught her lips with his. Like a spark dropped in a pool of gasoline, the passion between them flared to life.

  Blade felt an irrational need to imprint himself on her, to make sure the thought of giving herself to another man never crossed Lily’s mind. Possessiveness rose in his heart like a cresting river. The chance that he might not have decades to learn her every thought, her every dream was unthinkable. The unfairness of the possibility ate at his soul like acid. As her kiss fed him, as he consumed her lips with desperate greed, he knew he would fight any enemy who might threaten her, slay any dragon that imperiled her.

  “You’re mine, aren’t you, Lily?” he growled against her lips as his hands tightened on her hips. “Say it, Lily. Say it.”

  “Yes, yours. Tonight, I’m yours,” she spoke softly.

  “Not just tonight. Always.” He stroked the inside of her mouth with his tongue, an electric tension throbbing between them.

  His declaration sent a shaft of sorrow through Lily. “No,” she whispered, struggling in his embrace. “Don’t do this. Don’t make me hope. Don’t make me crazy for what I can’t have.”

  Jerking his head back, Blade stared into her face, his gaze caressing every exquisite feature. “Don’t lose hope. Don’t give up on us.”

  Lily’s chest rose and fell with each harsh breath as she tried to control her emotions. “You’re setting us up for a fall, Jensen.”

  Levering himself up over her body, he locked his eyes with hers. “Have faith, my love, just a little faith. I didn’t believe in magic until I met you.” With near reverence, he began removing her clothing. With trembling hands, he loosened her dress, the tiny buttons that ran from top to bottom gave his big fingers a fit. When he fanned it open, his breath got hung in his throat. She wore a barely-there bra and tiny panties. Her legs were open for him, her thighs shimmering like satin. “You’re so perfect.” He let his palm glide down the creamy flesh from her knee to near her mound, fascinated by how she shivered in response to his touch.

  “Not even close.” She knew her faults better than anyone.

  Her husky little denial only made him want to prove her wrong. Blade continued to pet her thighs, drawing closer and closer to the place his cock craved like a drug. “Look at me, I’m hopelessly under your spell.” He slid one hand beneath her and unclasped her bra, then hooked his thumbs in her panties and pulled them off her legs. “Sit up, love,” he directe
d as he tugged off the open dress and the bra and laid them aside. As he held her up in his arms, her mouth found his chest, licking, kissing, and soothing with her lips. He moaned and bit his lip, lust causing his balls to ache. “You’re dangerous, aren’t you?”

  When he eased her back down, he couldn’t look away from her luscious breasts. Blade could tell she was aroused, there was no hiding the hard, peaked nipples, or the flushed, swollen orbs. Bending close, he closed his mouth over one tight tip, swirling his tongue around and around until she whimpered, “I’m not dangerous, I’m excited.”

  He smiled around her nipple, then pursed his lips and kissed one puffy areola with a soft, suckling rhythm. She gasped and stiffened her body, bowing her back to push her breasts into his face.

  Blade moved to straddle her thighs, his body needing more contact with hers. “Shall I keep going?” He wanted to suck her nipples so hard and deep that she came from just that alone.

  “I might get dangerous if you don’t.”

  With a chuckle, Blade committed himself to his task. He wanted to tease her, please her, make her so hot and so wet that she was wild with wanting, then give her an orgasm so mind-blowing that she would never consider spending a moment away from his side. “I think I’d like to see that.” He lowered his head again, licking a path from globe to globe, placing sucking kisses beneath each heavy mound. Using his teeth, he grazed the areolas, nipping and playing until she was writhing and pleading for more. When he raised his mouth, there was a tiny red spot and he felt pride at the mark he’d left on her. His brand.

  “My turn, please, Blade. I need to touch you.” Flames of fire raged inside her as he ravished her breasts, his scruff rasping deliciously against her flesh.

  “Soon. Soon. Let me have my fill first.”

  “Greedy,” she grumbled, but her tune changed quickly as he moved down her body to find her most intimate place. “Blade!”

  “You like me greedy now, don’t you?” he whispered against her skin, licking and sucking at her silky pink folds. He didn’t hurry, he palmed her hips and buried his face between her thighs, loving how she spread wide and bucked her hips.

  Lily screamed as his lips covered her clit and he began to suck. Her womb convulsed in delight as an orgasm washed over her. “Now, now, now, I want you. I want my mouth on you.” Her hands were the ones that were greedy now as she pulled him up to her, touching his shoulders, his back, reaching down between them for his cock.

  Heeding her erotic demand, he sat up to loosen his belt, tearing his jeans open, and his underwear down. By the time he freed himself, she was up and on her knees, eager to give him as much pleasure as he’d bestowed on her. When the wide head of his cock was between her lips, he groaned as she began to suck him hungrily.

  Blade couldn’t take his eyes from her, she was so beautiful with her lips stretched around his cock. As he stroked her hair, Lily took him deeper. She swallowed around the head of his erection, tonguing the slit, laving the underside with laps of her tongue. While she hummed and moaned her satisfaction, Blade praised her with whispers of, “God, you’re good baby. You’re so sweet.” Loving his dick in her mouth, he wound her hair around his fist and slid in and back out, filling her mouth time and time again.

  The liquid hot suction and the lashing of her tongue was pushing him closer and closer. Needing desperately to be inside of her, he pulled out of her mouth and balanced a knee on the edge of the bed, catching himself above her. Cradled between her legs, he loved how she twined her arms around his neck and tucked herself around him, opening her legs wide. With cock in hand, he lined the crest to the well of her femininity and pushed in a bare inch or two. She was so fucking wet, clasping him tight. Throwing his head back, a sigh hissed from his lips.

  Lifting against him, her breasts pressed against him, her nipples burying themselves in the golden hair on his chest. She loved the feeling, she loved everything about Blade Jensen. As he braced his knees for leverage, she planted kisses on his skin, kneading his strong shoulders as he thrust home with one deep stroke. The instant ecstasy of his possession made her gasp, twist, and arch in his embrace.

  Blade closed his eyes in ecstasy as he pumped his hips slowly, totally enveloped in her tight heat. The only thing better than the incredible sensations he was feeling was the joy of watching Lily’s reaction. She tossed her head, neck arching. Every emotion, every drop of pleasure she experienced was reflected on her beautiful face.

  Lily felt like she was drowning in bliss, she almost fainted from pleasure as he worked the thick shaft deeper with every pump of his hips. Her channel stretched and stretched, the burn was exquisite, even better was when he rode high on her body and his pubic bone created perfect friction on her clitoris. She cried out, clutching at his shoulder, digging her nails into his skin.

  Blade held her gaze as he burrowed deep, slamming into her over and over again. Feeling an overwhelming need to be closer, to be part of him, Lily hugged Blade with every part of her body. She could feel the muscles of her sheathe squeezing him, milking him. “I can’t believe how good this feels,” she whimpered.

  “Believe it, I’ll always make you feel good.” He bent to kiss her, loving how she was so enraptured with what they were doing, she didn’t have very good aim with her sweet mouth. As he claimed her lips, his hips pistoned, thrusting forward and tugging back, filling her again and again. He felt a tingling at the base of his spine, a telltale signal that his climax was imminent.

  With eyes glazed with need, she watched his face go taut with passion. Each slamming thrust he made ground his body against her clit, pushing her higher and higher, spiraling upward until Lily exploded, crying out her pleasure. Lost in sublime rapture, she heard him bellow out her name.

  “Lily!” Blade relished her response as she went wild beneath him. The pleasure was almost agonizing, he lost all restraint, hammering into her again and again. When she tightened around him, he kissed her lips. “That’s right, come again for me.” He thrust hard once more and she jerked against him, clamping down, and keening out his name.

  “Oh, God, Blade!”

  His desire built and built as he plunged in, one stroke following another. Heat mounted until his whole body was on fire, then the explosion came and his release ripped up from his balls with a shudder that jolted his whole body. Unspeakable pleasure barreled through him as he filled her full of his cum with hot forceful pumps.

  For long moments, they floated as he gradually slowed his thrusts until they were still. Blade gathered her into his arms and eased over to the side. He never wanted to move, he wanted to stay with Lily forever. Propping himself up on one of the pillows, he gazed into her serene face. She looked supremely happy and satisfied. He smiled, allowing his memory to preserve this moment as if in amber. Pushing a lock of hair away from her face, he whispered, “Tomorrow, we’re making some decisions.”

  “What kind of decisions?” She buried her face in his throat, savoring the ecstasy of total peace.

  “About what we’re going to do when we leave here, that’s what.”

  “I want you to come to the ranch and I’ll start putting out feelers to find a doctor that can help you.”

  Lily stood on one side of the kitchen bar and Blade on the other. He was inhaling a cheddar and ham omelet she’d whipped up for breakfast. “You’re so sweet.” She gave him a grateful smile. “I can’t, I have an art gallery to run.”

  “Fine. I’ll come to New Orleans, I don’t have anything tying me down. I’m flexible. I just don’t intend to let you out of my sight.”

  Twin emotions of hope and despair rose within Lily’s breast. As much as she would love to prolong their time together, this wasn’t the plan. “Blade, I don’t know. Why would you do this? Why put yourself into a situation that you know is finite…” Her voice trailed off into nothingness.

  Blade rinsed his plate off in the sink. “Think about what you’re saying.” Picking up a dishtowel, he turned to face her. “Every situation is fini
te. Nothing is forever. If I’d known that Katy would be mine for only a few years, do you think I would’ve elected not to have her?”

  “Oh, no. Of course not.” Lily couldn’t imagine such a thing. “You enjoyed the time you had with her. I know you wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

  “Exactly.” He came to her, placing his palms on her upper arms and gliding them down to her hands. “I’m not willing to give up even one second with you. When you leave here, I want to go with you. I want you to show me your world.”

  Lily felt torn in two. On one hand, he was offering her everything she’d ever wanted. On the other, she would willingly be putting this wonderful man in the position of a hostage to fortune. She had no desire to cause him a moment’s pain and there would be no way she could avoid doing so. “Will you promise not to fall in love with me? I don’t want you to be hurt.”

  Blade’s hands tightened on hers. “Too late, beautiful. That ship has sailed.” He layered his mouth to hers and gave her a kiss. “I never thought I’d love again, but I love you so much. I love you too much to ever be able to walk away.”

  “You love me?” Lily melted, launching herself into his arms. “I love you too.” She kissed him hard on the lips. “I love you more than life.”

  “Love me enough to live, that’s what I want.” He cradled her close.

  Lily closed her eyes. She felt like she was drowning and someone was dangling a life preserver just over her head. All she had to do was reach out and grab it and she’d be saved.

  But there was no being saved from her fate. It was set in stone and sealed forever.

  She didn’t know how long she had – three months, six months, a year at the most.

  “I can’t make any promises,” she told him, her head lying on his shoulder. “But I want you to make me one.”