Lily's Mirage (Hell Yeah! )

by Sable Hunter

  “What is it, baby?”

  “When things get too bad…”

  “Don’t.” He covered her lips with his. “Don’t ask me for something I can’t give you.”

  Lily let out a long breath. “So, I hope you like Creole and Cajun food.”

  “I love it.” He led her out on the porch to sit and look at the garden. “I look forward to spending time with you and when you can, we can visit my ranch. How does that sound?”

  “I’d love to see your home. I’ve only driven through the Texas Hill Country, I’ve never really spent any time there.”

  He sat down in the swing and stopped it with his feet so she could join him. “Next spring I’ll take you on a wildflower tour.”

  “I would love to do that.” She took his hand in hers and kissed it, knowing the likelihood of her being able to make the trip was slim.

  “So, tell me about this friend of your sister, the one who is searching for a way to help you.”

  As butterflies flitted through the flower garden and birds sang in the trees, while the sound of the surf pounded in the distance, Lily poured out all her hopes and frustrations about the possibility of a cure. “Jay Kimmel is known and sought after all over the world for his work in neurosurgery. He has a tremendous network of colleagues, one of them saved my friend Glory Bee’s life.”

  “What was wrong with Glory?”

  “She suffered with pulmonary arterial hypertension, the result of medication she took as a child for leukemia. Jay was able to help Glory and T find a doctor who was willing to operate on her and give her a new heart. She was also able to have a successful pregnancy and a healthy baby in the doctor’s care.”

  Blade ran his hand up under her hair. “What leads does he have for you? Do you think I could be of some help? I could throw my considerable weight around.”

  “Considerable weight.” She laughed, his willingness to put himself out there for her made her smile. “Grease some wheels?” She smiled and leaned her head back in his palm, loving his touch. “I’m not sure it works that way.”

  “It should,” Blade grumbled. If he couldn’t use his fame and celebrity to help someone he loved, what use was it?

  “Let’s not think about that now. Okay?” Her mind was already full of thoughts about his visit to New Orleans. “If you want to, we can take a steamboat down the river or go on a swamp tour.”

  “Sure, sounds like fun.” Pulling his knee into the seat, he edged around her to face her. “Tell me something you’d love to do, something you’ve dreamed of doing, but never took the time.”

  Lily lifted her hand to caress his cheek. “After meeting you and enjoying the time we’ve shared, everything else pales in comparison.”

  “No, seriously, tell me.” He turned his head to kiss her palm. “There must be something.”

  “Hmmm.” She let him pull her into his arms as she thought back to the things she’d written in her Wish Book. “Well, I’ve never been dancing.”

  “Really? You’ve never been dancing?” Blade was stunned. “We’ll remedy that travesty immediately. I bet there’s somewhere on Hilton Head we could go. What else?”

  “I don’t think I have anything to wear.” She was still hung up on the dancing.

  “We’ll go early and buy you something, we can stay at one of the resorts. Now, what else?” he pressed. “Let your imagination run wild.”

  Lily gave him a radiant smile and he couldn’t help but smile back. “Someday, I’d love to go to Australia and see the Outback.”

  “Oh, I could be your personal tour guide.” He patted the hat on his head. “That’s where I got this hat. Amazing scenery, nothing like it anywhere on earth. I’ve always been fascinated by how many dangerous reptiles they have there.”

  She giggled. “Well, I’m from South Louisiana, land of alligators and cottonmouths. I can relate.”

  “Just say the word and we’re there.” He couldn’t help but be excited. “Anything else? Tell me one more thing you’d do if you got the chance.”

  Lily knew she shouldn’t say it, putting these thoughts into words didn’t do anything but remind her of what she didn’t have, what she’d never have. “A baby,” she whispered, “I’d love to have a baby.”

  Blade felt as if someone punched him in the solar plexus. “A baby?” He’d never even considered having another child, not after losing Katy. But now…now he could picture a little boy with Lily’s dark hair and big doe eyes.

  “Silly, I’m being silly.” She rose from the swing, pulling away from him when he reached for her.

  “No, you’re not. Never.” He hurried to follow her out into the yard, knocking against one of the bottles in the bottle tree as he went by. “Lily, wait. Wait.”

  She ran, flitting through the trees, tears obscuring her vision. Lily felt like the ghost who haunted this shore. No matter how hard she ran or how fast, she’d never outrun the reality of her fate.

  “Lily!”

  Lily could hear Blade running behind her and it only made her speed up all the more. She dashed from the wooded path and out on the beach, heading to the damp part of the sand where the tide swept in. As she fled, Lily glanced back and saw the footprints she was leaving in the sand. A little farther back, Blade came after her, his face a mask of worry. A sob was wrenched from her throat as Lily looked back one more time, realizing that her footprints were gone now, washed away by the tide. The symbolism was not lost on her, any mark she was leaving on this world would soon fade away, as she was fading away.

  “Lily!”

  As Blade caught up with her and took a hold of her arm, a wave of nausea and dizziness overtook her as sure and certain as if a tidal wave had crashed over her. Lily bent double, not knowing if she was going to be sick or not. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” was all she could think to say.

  “Don’t be sorry, it’s never wrong to hope and dream.” He gathered her against him, noticing that she trembled and her breathing was hard. “Are you all right?”

  “I feel weak and dizzy,” she confessed with a bit of shame. “Headache.”

  Blade didn’t ask permission, he just picked her up and cradled her in his arms, turning back toward the cottage. He found himself trembling, knowing that her symptoms could be more than the sum of their parts. “Let’s get you to a doctor.”

  Lily shook her head. “No, there’s no need.”

  Blade wanted to scream that there was every need, but he refrained. “I ought to just throw you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carry you to the hospital,” he grumbled, wishing with everything in him that he could do something, anything to help her.

  “This is just part of it.” She placed her head on his shoulder. “It will pass, it always has.” Before. Of course, the time would come… “Will you take me dancing later?”

  “If you feel up to it, I would love to take you dancing. Nothing would give me more pleasure than holding you in my arms.” Blade closed his eyes as a wave of pain washed over him as surely as if high tide had overtaken him. “We’ll work on your first wish now and the other two later.”

  “You’re funny. But cute.”

  “I aim to please.” Holding her close, Blade carried her back to the house. By the time he settled down on the couch with her, Lily was feeling better.

  “See, it was nothing. I just need a couple of Tylenol.”

  “All right, coming right up.” He went to fetch the pills and a glass of water.

  Lily ran a hand over her eyes, she was troubled by her own behavior. “I’m losing sight of my situation. He’s making me as crazy as he is.” She smiled indulgently, thinking Blade Jensen was just about perfect in her estimation.

  “Here you go, love.” He eased back down beside her, holding the medicine out in the palm of his hand. Lily took the pills and he gave her the water to drink.

  “Thank you.” She took a few more sips before placing the glass on the coffee table in front of her. “So, tell me. If we hadn’t met, what would be next
on your agenda?”

  He took his hat off and sat it on the arm of the couch. “Wow, I don’t want to think about what I would’ve missed not meeting you.” He gave her a winning smile. “Life is funny, isn’t it? I think I’m content and satisfied as possible, then WHAM! I meet you and you turn my life completely around.”

  “I feel the same way.” Lily realized how true her statement was. “I never expected you, not in a million years. So, what would you be doing, if there was no me?”

  If there was no Lily? An ache in his heart stole his breath. This was a mere foretaste of how he would feel if he was called upon to live in a world without Lily. He gave her a weak smile, trying to force his brain to consider her question. “Well, I’d be worrying my contractor to finish the wall so I could feel halfway protected in my own home and I’d be contacting the PI to see if he had any leads on the woman who killed my Katy.”

  Lily clasped his arm, offering comfort. “I hope you find her. I hope she pays for what she did.”

  “Me too.” He let out a long breath. “For so long, I’ve lived with that one moment in mind. I’ve focused on it with such intensity that everything else in life has passed me by.” He reached over to lay the back of his hand on her cheek. “I’d forgotten how to dream, how to live. Until you.”

  “I don’t think I ever knew how, not really.” She looked deep into his beautiful blue eyes. “I just went through the motions. My life was so…dysfunctional as a child – what with the acting and my flamboyant, self-absorbed parents. And then I was struck ill with this…” She touched her head. “This parasite that commandeered my existence. Every waking moment since then has been preoccupied with it, how to beat it, how to live with it, and how to die from it.” Lily laid her head back and sighed. “I’m tired of it all, Blade.” Her eyes met his again. “Meeting you has been the highlight of my life, the very best thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t understand why you’d want to get involved with someone who has no future, but if you do…”

  “I do.”

  Lily imagined Blade saying those words to her and Lily smiled at him again, this time with true joy on her face. “We’ll enjoy what time I have left.”

  “Good.” Blade sealed her offer with a kiss. Hopefully, she’d outlive him. “If you think you’ll feel like it, I’m going to use the satellite phone to call Seba and arrange for him to come get us so we can go out on the town and dance the night away.”

  “Perfect. I’ll go get pretty.” She stood to her feet, grateful to find that the dizziness was gone. “Wear your cowboy boots, I’ll probably step on your toes. I’m not very good.”

  “I’m not worried.” Blade caught her around the waist and kissed her. “I’m going to show you such a good time, you’ll be walking on air.”

  “You look beautiful tonight.” Blade held her in his arms as they slow-danced in the moonlight. “And you severely down-played your dancing skills.”

  “I’m faking it,” she whispered in his ear. “Like I do my orgasms.”

  Her joke made him shake with laughter. “I know better, I’ve felt you fluttering and clamping around me, no woman can fake that.”

  She rested happily in his arms. “You’re right.” She gazed out at the ocean. “This is a fabulous resort. Thank you for bringing me and for the gorgeous red dress. You have wonderful taste.”

  “Yes, I do.” He rubbed his mouth along her hairline. “I picked you, didn’t I?”

  Lily giggled. “No, you didn’t. Fate, destiny, or ill-luck threw us together.” She giggled again as he tightened his arms around her when she called their chance meeting ill-luck. “Okay, good fortune.” She kissed him on the cheek. “For me.”

  Blade swept her across the deck, closer to the waterfront railing. The evening had been enchanting. Good food. Great music. And the most beautiful woman in the world to hold in his arms. “I booked us a room overlooking the ocean. We’ll be able to watch the sunrise over the waves.”

  “Sounds lovely.” As the music stopped, she leaned on the railing with him, looking out over the magnificent Atlantic.

  “Excuse me, are you Blade Jensen?” An excited female voice sounded behind them. When Blade turned, the woman screamed, “Oh, my God! It is you! Francis, I told you it was him!”

  Lily hung back as three women came forward to fawn over Blade. Funny, there were times when she would forget who he was, how famous and beloved. The adulation wasn’t something alien to her, she’d experienced a bit of it when Princess had been a big hit. Her personal appearances had been strictly supervised, so she hadn’t dealt with the public very often. Her parents, however, had relished their fans and the attention. As she watched Blade, she could tell that he merely tolerated the attention. At least he wasn’t as rude to these women as he’d been the first time he’d met her at the ferry. The thought made her smile. Perhaps, she’d mellowed him a bit.

  “Lily, Lily…” His voice broke through her reverie. “Come here.”

  She allowed him to pull her forward. “What? Oh, I’m not sure…”

  He interrupted her protest. “Ladies, you’ll be the first to meet my beautiful lady. This is Lily Bastien, the woman who stole my heart.”

  His announcement shocked Lily down to her toes. She shook one of the women’s proffered hands and posed with a jovial Blade for selfies with the women. His openness was a shock to her and his declaration of their relationship made her head spin. Soon, the trio surrounding them became a crowd and it was a good half hour later before they could make their escape to the suite he’d reserved for the night.

  “Wow, I didn’t think you’d escape unscathed,” she teased him as he closed and locked the door. “You were great out there. Maybe you should reconsider retirement.”

  He removed his jacket and draped it over a chair. “I don’t think so. This time it didn’t upset me like before, but the reason for my new attitude isn’t a hunger for the limelight, it’s you.” Blade came to her and framed her face. “You have given me a new lease on life.”

  She pressed soft kisses to his mouth, then took him in her arms. She inhaled his scent, his clothes smelled of the sea. Their hearts beat together as one. To Lily, his body seemed like the other half of hers. “Let me love you.”

  Blade’s response to her whispered request was to help her undress, then to aid her in the removal of his own clothes. Once they were naked, he tossed the covers of the large king bed aside and sank down next to her. “You are so perfect,” he murmured to her. “So delicious.” He took a playful nip at one of her breasts. “I want you more now than I ever have before.”

  “I want you too.”

  He captured her words with his mouth and kissed her with all the pent-up need and tenderness in his heart until they were panting, their hands moving over one another hungrily. His fingers found their way between her thighs and she opened her legs in invitation and he accepted, exciting her with his slow, deep caress.

  She shuddered at his touch, riding his hand. “I love being with you like this, I never knew how wonderful it could be.”

  “Get used to it, Lily-mine, I’m going to love you every day for the rest of my life.” He pulled one of her long, sleek legs over his hips.

  “Oh, I like this. Up close and personal,” she whimpered. “I can touch you all I want.”

  He groaned his approval and they kissed, face to face. Sweet, deep caresses. Needing more, he captured her hand and guided it to his rock-hard, throbbing cock. “Take me inside you, love.”

  She took him deep, then they clung to one another, savoring their union. “This is almost too good,” she whimpered.

  “Perfect,” he groaned. Words served almost no purpose. Their souls were as connected as their bodies. For so long, he’d been solitary and alone, now he’d found home. Shook by a storm of emotion, he felt redeemed. The closeness he’d found with Lily was so wonderful, the sensual arousal so intense, he almost couldn’t comprehend the wonder of it all.

  His hands were palming her breasts and hi
s bent knee was beneath her. Lily felt her excitement rise and bloom. His passion was evident by the long, steady rhythm of his possession, of his body’s most intimate caress. Fire coursed through her, scorching her where his fingers brushed and stroked. The heat flared as he loved her, she’d never known aching desire like this. “I want you.” She kissed his lips. “I’ll always want you.”

  Blade could feel himself swelling inside her. He’d never felt such uncontrollable need. Easing her to her back, he came over her, bending so he could take one breast in his mouth while his fingers tweaked and milked at the other. Lily’s head fell back and her mouth opened to emit a soft, keening moan. He knew she was about to come. As a man, he’d always valued his control, his ability to give and give pleasure and hold back his own. This was not one of those times. With Lily, he had little control.

  “I love you, baby. I love you so much.” Between whispered words of praise and adoration, he bestowed hungry, devouring kisses to her face, neck, and shoulders. He could feel himself about to fall, hovering near the brink of ecstasy. “Look at me, Lily. Give me your eyes.”

  She did as he asked, opened eyes heavy with pleasure. Their focus was unrefined, she gazed at him with a look of awe on her face. “Blade, oh Blade,” she cried.

  He held her fast, so fascinated by the beauty of her surrender that his body was moving only by instinct. She shuddered in his arms, the sounds of her rapture calling forth his own. He accepted the inevitable, a deep endless release. Pure joy, exquisite sensations, shimmered over his body, taking away his breath. And when it was over, Blade held her in his arms and closed his eyes in complete, satisfied peace.

  Early, early the next morning, something awoke Lily. She listened for a second to try and tell what she was hearing.

  “Is that your phone?” Blade asked, aroused from his own slumber by the unexpected racket.

  “Yea, I think it is.” She rose, grabbed a robe, and hurried to the dresser to find her purse. “I turned it on today, this was the first time I’ve had a signal in a while.”

  While she was fumbling for it in her purse, Blade turned on the bedside lamp so she could see.