Lily's Story, A Bentley Sisters Novel

by Lauren Beaumont

  Blushing furiously, Lily scrambled to get her shoes and coat on and made her way to the door hearing Tom’s soft chuckle behind her.

  * * *

  The restaurant Tom had chosen was a small Italian place, known locally for its great food. The original owners had moved to London from Italy about thirty years ago and had opened up the restaurant serving home cooked food that they’d grown up with in their hometown in Southern Italy. Now, their children were mainly running the restaurant but they still stopped by to make sure that the food was as good as ever, which it certainly was.

  After they’d ordered and the waiter had poured them their wine, Tom picked up his glass and raised it to her.

  “Happy Friday, Lily,” he said, smiling. “And thank you for having dinner with me.”

  Lily sipped her wine and blushed – a reaction she was learning was a normal state when he was around.

  “Seriously, Lily, I’ve been looking forward to this all week. And,” he added, “I don’t think I’ve told you yet how beautiful you look tonight.”

  Lily blushed even more.

  “Really, you do,” he said again, “but I know you’re not good at taking compliments.”

  “None of us are,” Lily laughed, “that is, none of my sisters are any good at compliments. It must run in the family.”

  “Fair enough,” he remarked, and then asked, “so I’ve met Megan, and you’ve told me about Elise. What about Isabelle?”

  “Isabelle’s wonderful, but she’s probably the one of us I worry about the most,” Lily replied, a bit glumly.

  Tom frowned, “Really? Why?”

  “Well,” Lily tried to explain, “Bel’s always been a party girl, and there was a while, years ago now, when mum and dad were worried she wouldn’t make it through university she was partying so much and ignoring everything else. Now, she’s a writer and is doing really well. She writes romance and is making a real name for herself. She’s calmed down a bit but when she’s having a tough time for any reason, she goes through what Meg calls one of her “phases” and hits the bars and the parties in a big way again. Lately,” Lily paused, “I’m not quite sure what’s going on with her. She seems really down, and none of us know why.”

  From across the table, Tom took Lily’s hand, clearly concerned at hearing the unhappiness in Lily’s voice and the anxiety she had over her sister.

  “She won’t talk to any of you over it?” he asked.

  Lily shook her head, “No. We’ve asked, but she’s not talking. If I had to guess,” she added, “I’d say it’s to do with a man, or maybe the lack of one.”

  Tom raised an eyebrow at her quizzically and so, Lily went on to explain, “Isabelle’s always gone for the same sort of guy,” she said, “the kind who she can get her own way with and who doesn’t question what she wants or when she wants it, and she admits that. In fact,” Lily smiled, “she’s kind of proud of it! But recently, I get the impression that she’s looking for something else, but that she doesn’t quite know what.”

  “Maybe she sees Megan with Luke and it’s made her think more about the kind of men she dates,” Tom commented, perceptively, “I can’t see Luke as the kind of man who would let Megan run circles round him. Although, from what I’ve seen of Megan, she seems the kind of woman who would try.”

  Lily laughed. “Don’t be fooled. Megan’s got a temper on her when she wants, but you’re right, Luke doesn’t really tolerate that kind of thing, and Megan’s been so much calmer, less stressed, since she started seeing Luke. They’re so happy together.”

  “They certainly seem so.” Luke squeezed Lily’s hand.

  “But,” Lily went on, “I can’t see Isabelle wanting that kind of a man. You and Luke, well, you seem similar in a lot of ways. You’re both wonderful,” she added hurriedly, “but you’re both quite... well... bossy.”

  Tom laughed outright at that, “Bossy?” he asked, teasing her.

  “Well... a bit, you’ve got to admit!” Lily said defensively. “You’re both quite domineering... not that that’s a bad thing, but I just don’t think it's Isabelle’s thing. Besides, although she gets on really well with Luke, she’s said that she doesn’t know how Megan copes with his over-protectiveness, that she would feel smothered if it was her.”

  Again, Tom frowned. “Well, I suppose people are different, but I want you to know now, just in case you were worried, that I would never want to smother you, and I doubt from what I’ve seen that Luke smothers Megan. It seemed to me like he just looks out for her to make sure she stays safe.”

  Lily nodded. “I know, and you’re right. He, that is Luke, doesn’t smother Megan at all, and I’m not worried that you’re like that either. But, well, when Meg told Isabelle about how she has to let Luke know if she’s running late at night, Isabelle had a fit and told Meg that was medieval, and then when Isabelle found out that Luke‑” Lily broke off, knowing that she’d been about to blurt out that spanking featured in her sister’s relationship as well, and that that wasn’t something Megan would necessarily want shared.

  But, Lily needn’t have worried, as Tom just smiled softly and said, “I got a pretty good impression the other night of how Luke and Megan’s relationship works, so you don’t need to worry about spilling secrets. For what it’s worth, I thought they seemed like a really solid couple, and if Isabelle doesn’t agree with some of the dynamics of that relationship, then that’s her choice, but she doesn’t have the right to inflict those views on Megan, or,” he added, “on you.”

  Lily’s eyes shot up to meet his and she realised that he had guessed Isabelle would have reservations about the dynamic between her and Tom as much as she did about Luke and Megan.

  “Don’t think badly of Isabelle,” she pleaded with him.

  “I don’t,” he reassured her, “not at all. I’d love to meet her and I’m sure she’s a wonderful person and sister, but at the same time I don’t want you worried about what she may or may not think about our relationship.”

  “It’s okay,” Lily said, now reassuring him, “as sisters, we don’t have that many secrets from each other, but we’re used to differences of opinion, and we don’t take it personally!”

  “Good.” He smiled back at her just as the waiter brought their food.

  While they ate, Tom told her about the conversations he’d had with Sam Rawlins and his colleagues at the police headquarters. They’d spoken to some of the pupils whom they thought had been involved, but they hadn’t managed to make much progress. The Collins twins had said very little, other than to ask whether Lily was okay and to tell Tom that he should keep her away from fights.

  “You seem to have a bit of a fan club there,” Tom commented, his eyes twinkling, as he told her about his chat with the twins.

  Lily sighed. “They’re good kids, really. They’ve just got a screwed up home life. I really do hope they’re not getting drawn into the local gangs. They could do so much with their lives if they can just keep out of that world.”

  “I agree. You know, I wasn’t always with the police. I started out in the military, in the Special Forces, and was there for over ten years. I saw so many kids come into the forces from those sorts of backgrounds, just running to get away from their home life, and they were the ones that actually managed to pull their way out of their home situation and join up. The majority weren’t so lucky.”

  Something in his tone made Lily ask, “Is that why you got involved with the liaison project?”

  He nodded. “There was one guy in my unit, we were like brothers. He had a younger brother, a lot younger, he’d left back home. We went off to the Middle East. Before we left, Jeff knew that his kid brother was getting mixed up with the wrong crowd, but he didn’t know how far it had gone, and then we were too far away to make a difference. It wasn’t long after we got back that Jeff had a call to say his kid brother, Dean, had been killed, stabbed in an alleyway by a rival gang somewhere in the east end. Jeff was never the same again; it ripped his world apart, and
I couldn’t help but wonder how I would have coped had it been Jamie.”

  Lily drew in a deep breath and reached over to touch his arm, wanting to offer him comfort for his friend’s loss that had clearly affected him deeply.

  “Its fine,” he said, the cloud disappearing from his eyes, “it was a long time ago now, but it did make me think that when I finally left the forces, I wanted to do something to make a difference to kids like Dean. So, I have my normal job as a detective, but I also helped start up the liaison programme and, so far, we’re not doing too badly.”

  “I think you’re doing really well,” Lily said fiercely. “Last week Sam was saying how some of the kids’ attitudes have definitely changed. A few months ago, some of them wouldn’t have even stayed in the same room as someone from the local police. This week, they actually drew you into a discussion in class.”

  “Maybe.” Tom nodded, acknowledging that she could be right. “But I want you to make sure that you’re still very careful around the school grounds, Lily. It’s not the best of areas and you shouldn’t be wandering round when it’s dark.”

  “I know you’re right,” she said, “and I promise to be careful.”

  “Good! Now how about dessert?”

  * * *

  As they walked back from the restaurant to Lily’s apartment, Tom wrapped his arm round her shoulders, keeping her warm by pulling her into his side. It was unbelievable just how right it felt to be with him, laughing and chatting as they made their way home.

  “So... you’ll come in, then?” she asked when they reached her apartment. Her eyes sparkled.

  Ever so slowly, he bent his head and claimed her mouth in a long, deep kiss that had Lily’s senses reeling and she moaned when his lips pulled at hers.

  Releasing her mouth from his possession, he stared back down at her and tenderly stroked her cheek. “Are you sure you want this?” he whispered.

  When she nodded, he smiled broadly. “Okay, but if you want to stop at any time, we stop. Got that?”

  Mutely, she nodded again. He took the keys from her hand, unlocked the door and they made their way up to her apartment.

  Once inside, Lily could feel her nerves jangling. She wanted this so much, but she couldn’t help the nervousness that she knew was borne from her inexperience.

  “Relax,” he said, and helped her out of her coat. He led her into the bedroom where she sat on the bed as he disappeared into the kitchen, returning quickly with the rest of the wine they had started earlier that evening.

  “I thought we could share.” He grinned at her wickedly. Pouring a glass, he pressed it to her lips for her to sip before setting the glass on the table near the bed. Slowly, kneeling in front of the bed by her feet, he caught one of her ankles in his hands. Kissing her instep, he carefully undid the strap of her shoe and cast it to one side, swiftly followed by the other. He pressed kisses, as light as a butterfly, past her ankles and up to her knees, pushing aside the black silk on her dress as he went.

  Giggling as Tom found one of her ticklish spots at the back of her knee, Lily bat his hands away in protest.

  “No!” she laughed, her hips beginning to squirm, “stop that, it tickles!”

  With a growl, he rose to his feet. Picking her up from the edge of the bed, he tossed her further onto the pillows.

  He kicked off his own shoes and socks and came to lie down beside her, propping up his head on one hand and casually letting his other hand continue its exploration, running slowly down the length of Lily’s legs.

  Tentatively, Lily moved onto her side to face him and stretched out her hands to touch him, stroking one hand from his chest down to his hip, wanting to reciprocate the gesture and grinning with triumph when she saw his eyes flare at her touch and heard him suck in his breath.

  With a deep chuckle he rolled her onto her back again, this time lodging himself above her, resting his weight on one elbow so as not to squash her and clasping her wrists together in his other hand, securing them loosely above her head.

  “Enough of that, Miss Bentley,” he growled playfully. “There’ll be time for you to explore later, but for now all you have to do is enjoy and tell me what you do and don’t like, okay?”

  “I’m not a teenager, you know!” she teased, rolling her eyes at him.

  “I’m well aware of that, Lily.” He nipped at her lower lip, effectively silencing her. “But what I said still goes... you tell me if you don’t like anything I do.”

  And with that he returned to her lower lip, pulling on it gently with his teeth and then stroking slowly over the spot with his tongue. Slowly he kissed his way down to her collarbone, tracing the straps of the black silk dress with his lips and letting the evening shadow of his chin rasp against her neck.

  In a silent plea, she raised her upper body to his mouth, just fractionally, pressing her breasts up towards him, imploring him towards some goal she couldn’t identify.

  “Hm....” a deep, throaty chuckle was his only response, but his tongue slowly swept under the neckline of her dress, laving the sensitive skin and then, with one hand he playfully circled one nipple, coaxing it to attention, pressing it, stroking it until it was a hard pebble pressing insistently at the thin silk. Too late, Lily realised the dangers of having discarded a bra for the evening – it gave her no protection against his knowing touch, no means of hiding the extent of her reaction to him.

  As she arched her back in response, his mouth swooped down and, through the silk, captured her nipple in his mouth, raking his teeth lightly over the sensitive nub and sucking it deeply into his mouth, drawing an audible gasp from Lily.

  She hadn’t realised that he had released her wrists until she felt his fingers deftly locate the hidden zipper of the dress at her side and carefully tug it down. Quickly, before her head could process what he was doing, he pushed the dress over her head and past her arms that were still lying above her head, even though he had released them, so that she was lying naked under him, except for her lacy panties.

  Instinctively, she lowered her arms to bring them protectively across her breasts, shielding herself from his gaze but, just as quickly, he caught her wrists in his hand and placed them back above her head.

  “Don’t....” he whispered, his voice hoarse with ill-concealed passion and his eyes filled with possessive longing as he drank in his fill of her pale beauty. “Let me look at you,” he pleaded. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her deeply until he felt her arms relax again and the rest of her body subtly shifted in acceptance and hunger.

  As he released her mouth she opened her eyes and stared up at him and saw that he’d also removed his shirt and undone the top button of his pants.

  “Okay?” he asked softly.

  Mutely, she nodded and pressed her breasts upwards into his chest again in a silent plea for him to continue the path he had begun.

  Again, he chuckled.

  “If the lady insists...” he murmured and lowered his head to take her other breast in his mouth, paying it the same attention as he had paid to its twin so recently, whilst his hand came down to tweak her other nipple, ensuring that it stayed hard and alert against his palm.

  Gradually, Lily’s soft gasps had turned to moans as she twisted and turned under him, trying to force him to increase the pressure.

  “No Lily...” he admonished her gently, “I don’t want to hurt you. Another time, we can see if you like it harder...”

  She flushed, unaware that she’d been asking for him to increase the bite as he rolled one nipple between his fingers and the other between his teeth, knowing only that the dull ache between her thighs had become an insistent throbbing and seemed to be tied inextricably to the sensations he was inducing in her breasts.

  “Don’t be embarrassed,” he teased her, “you’re so sensitive here we could see if you could come just through this, but not tonight. Tonight is for other things.”

  “Please,” she implored, her innate embarrassment at his words giving way to her body
’s demands and the yearning building up inside.

  Through her fuzzy senses, she felt his fingers gently run over the flat planes of her stomach and then, with a shock, felt his tongue delve into her navel and instinctively she jerk upwards until the palm of his hand on her rib cage softly pressed her back down and his other hand delved under the line of her panties, stroking the soft outer lips of her sex while his mouth still rained kisses over her stomach.

  “Oh,” she gasped, unable to form the words to express the tumble of emotions filling her, unable to quell the desire flooding through her body but knowing that her release would be, literally as well as metaphorically, in his hands.

  She felt him pause. “Good?” he asked, “Or too much? Tell me, Lily.”

  “Good,” she gasped, “so good,” and then, fearful that he would deny her what her body most craved, “don’t stop, please don’t stop”.

  “Shhh...” he soothed her, his hands and mouth renewing their assault. “It’s okay. We’ll only stop if you say so, I promise.”

  And then, wickedly, she felt his breath blowing gently across her sex, over the lace of her panties, whilst his fingers continued to trace her outer lips but refusing to delve any deeper.

  As she writhed in anticipation, her hands fell from where he had left them above her head to her sides and she felt his fingers still.

  “Give me your hands, Lily,” he growled at her, hunger and need evident in the huskiness of his voice.

  As she moved her hands towards him, he took them in his hands and raised them to her breasts, placing one on each breast.

  Shocked, her eyes flew open to meet his and she gulped in the sight of his passion filled gaze staring down at her.

  “You said yourself you weren’t a teenager anymore, Lily, and you admitted yourself that you knew your own body. So, go on.” He manipulated the fingers of one of her hands so that they were stroking her own nipples, rolling them gently as he had done. “Show me. Touch yourself while I touch you, feel how your body reacts to the pleasure.”