Clay nodded. “I have a feeling she’s working out more than she lets on. She likes to study while she exercises, so she can kill two birds with one stone. She’s way ahead with her classes and she’s doing a great job at work.”
“I recall that your employee had a crush on you a few years ago. How does Tabitha treat her?”
Clay rolled his eyes. “I’ve hardly ever had any trouble from Tabitha. Now suddenly she’s moody and insecure. She was really embarrassed after throwing herself at me. I think she thought I’d fire her. Lily and I never do anything inappropriate at work but I’m sure Tabitha suspects there’s something between us.”
“She’s had you all to herself up until now.”
“That’s what Lily said. I hope she simmers down.”
“So, have you had any hint of what she plans to do with the tattoo?”
“No. But I’m looking for a way to encourage her, in whatever way she decides to handle it. Did you decide if you want to come to the hog hunt in January?”
“Yes. I might as well. A break will be nice.”
Lily walked into the living room in mid-yawn, and Del noted the big smile that lit Clay’s face. Clay patted his knee from where he sat in the gigantic padded rocker-recliner near the lit fireplace. Lily gave Del a hesitant smile and then looked questioningly at Clay. He patted his lap again and waited. “You look sleepy. I’m not getting up anytime soon, and there’s plenty of room in this thing.”
“I’ll cut off your circulation.”
Del hated hearing her say things like that and couldn’t stop himself when he said, “What a load of horse shit, Lily. The size and shape you are is perfect. If I was in that chair I’d want you in my lap as well. Go to him.”
He didn’t mean to sound quite so bossy, but was floored when her eyes widened and she blushed as she looked at him and climbed into his brother’s lap. Del suppressed a groan at the sight, feeling like a pervert as his cock responded to her immediate obedience.
He thought of what she’d feel like, settling her soft, rounded bottom over his lap and wondered at why he didn’t feel jealous of Clay, but instead just wished for his “turn.” What Clay had told him about Grace and her men and their other friends must’ve planted the seed in his mind. Clay’s words a few minutes ago had also found fertile ground because the idea had begun to germinate.
What would it be like if we were both there for her, and she didn’t have to choose?
Suddenly, Del was on board with Clay’s plan to allow her to leave her options open. What would she do if the obstacle of that tattoo was removed? Would she consider both of them? Del watched with hooded eyes as Lily settled cautiously into Clay’s arms with her head resting on his shoulder. Clay stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head, murmuring to her. The black, high-heeled pumps she wore made her shapely legs look even more sexy as she draped them over Clay’s knees.
Del thought she was gorgeous like that. A goddess. His cock hardened to full mast as he pictured her naked in that chair with his brother or him. He knew exactly how he’d position her on his lap, facing his brother so he could see her beautiful body.
He’d place her long, sexy legs outside of his and then spread them wide so Clay could see every gorgeous inch of her. He’d slide his fingertips through her hot, slippery lips, zeroing in on her clit, and delight in her needy cries. Then he’d delve into her heated, swollen entrance and whisper sweet, dirty things to her as he rimmed her tight, quivering cunt before sliding a finger into her. When she was soaked with need, he’d lower her onto his cock, slipping into her silky softness a bit at a time until she was seated fully on his lap. He’d strum her clit until she was tense as a bowstring pulled taut and then he’d—
Del shuddered lightly and felt the orgasm tingling at the head of his leaking cock. It was either leave or make a fool of himself if he kept on with thoughts like that. “I have to go, guys. I can probably get a few more hours of work done on the barn.”
Lily’s brows drew together. “I’m sorry if I interrupted your conversation. You don’t have to go.”
Del held up his hand, and he gingerly rose from the couch, mindful of the painful erection stretching toward his hipbone, which she could probably see once he stood. “Not at all, Lily. I just feel…restless. I need to get more done on the ranch while the good weather holds.” I need to get out of here before I embarrass myself. He was blown away by how much his fantasies and the sight of Clay holding and caressing her had turned him on.
Her delectable lips parted on a faint, disappointed sounding syllable. “Oh.”
Clay seemed let down but hid it well as Lily rose from his lap. If she saw Del’s hard-on, she didn’t reveal that knowledge to him. He put his coat on and buttoned it, glad for the extra layer before hugging her. The fragrance of her shampoo and her own natural, womanly scent wafted into his nostrils when he buried his nose in her hair as he returned the hug.
“I’ll bring you some real groceries and some more meals next week,” she said as she gazed up at him. Was it his imagination when he saw a hint of some deeper emotion in her eyes? She seemed to want him to stay, but he didn’t want to hang around torturing himself with the mental images that had paraded through his mind earlier. Thoughts of her shapely thighs spread wide as he fucked her in the recliner, her hair thrown back in wild disarray all about them.
“Sure thing, Lily Bell.”
“I have leftovers all packaged up for you in the refrigerator. Let me get them.”
She hurried to the kitchen and Clay looked at him with sympathy. “I know, Del. I know how you feel. I think about her all the time now. How she sees herself is so fucked up, but we’re going to get past it. I’m glad you’re considering what I said earlier.”
That embarrassed him ever further thinking about how fast his cock had run up the white flag of surrender and gotten on board with Clay’s suggestion.
Del nodded and took the opportunity to adjust his cock to a slightly less painful position, eliciting a chuckle from Clay as he did the same. “We’re a pair, aren’t we? How can this end well, bro? With both of us wanting her.” Surely jealousy would catch up with them eventually. Balance between them would be impossible.
Clay smiled and laughed. “I think your mindset may change after the hog hunt, Del. I’m not too worried about that.”
Lily entered the living room with a bag full of plastic food containers. “Here you go, Del. I filled one with pumpkin pie and another with pecan pie for you, since you can’t stay for dessert.”
Del smiled and kissed Lily’s cheek. “Thank you, Lily Bell. You’re very good to me.”
Lily blushed and replied, “I’ll bring the other stuff next week. And thank you for my new purse.”
Del had been so relieved when she had a happy hissy fit over the tooled leather handbag he’d given her for Christmas.
The weather might’ve been nice outside, and he would probably get a lot done this afternoon at the ranch, but he wished now that he’d kept his stupid mouth shut and let the afternoon play out the way it was intended. Not that it would’ve been more than just mental torture. He knew things wouldn’t have gone beyond fantasizing about her because of the tattoo situation. A plan started to formulate in his mind as he thought of her mark. He’d intended to get some ink work done once he got back to the States and it might make the whole subject more approachable to her if she knew of his intentions.
Chapter Fifteen
Clay put his key in the lock at six o’clock the following Tuesday evening. Lily had left the shop midmorning after telling him she needed to go grocery shopping and get some cooking done for Del.
As he removed the key and pushed open the door, the scent of a chicken casserole and other culinary delights filled his nostrils and made his mouth water. He put his keys on the kitchen counter and smiled to see all the individual foil-wrapped packages that were lined up on dishcloths. She’d made enough food to feed an army and had obviously gone to a lot of trouble. There were also freshl
y made pecan pralines lined up in neat rows on wax paper on one counter.
“Lily?”
The house was quiet, so he went to the first place he thought he’d find her.
“Lily?” he said softly, not wanting to disturb her if she was resting. She’d looked tired the last couple of days, preparing for tests along with everything else she had on her plate.
When he caught sight of her, he wanted to growl. No, of course she wasn’t napping. She was on the elliptical. He wished he’d never left the piece of equipment in her room. He had a bad feeling as he approached her. She was engrossed in her book and she had her earbuds in, no doubt listening to a lecture as well, all while working out, bathed in sweat. Soaked, in fact. Her hair was even damp.
“Lily!”
“Aaaaah!” she screamed, startled from her deep concentration. Her sweat-soaked hand slipped on the rail she was holding on to, and she lost her balance.
“Baby!” He reached out reflexively and caught her as she fell backward and winced. Her whole body trembled with fatigue as he lifted her from the machine, noting as he did that she had indeed lost a lot of weight, and he regretted the fact.
This ends today, damn it!
“You scared me,” she gasped as she pulled the earbuds from her ears. She winced again as he set her on her feet and reached down to rub her right knee.
Cutting to the chase, before she could make excuses, Clay asked, “What time did you get on the elliptical?” She turned her head to squint at the digital clock on her bedside, but he gently grasped her chin and directed her gaze back at him. “What time?”
Lily gazed into his eyes, evidently studying his expression for anger. His grasp lessened, but he didn’t release her. She blinked, and unshed tears made her eyes glisten. “Um…I think I lost track of time.”
With firm tenderness, Clay repeated his question. “What time?”
She tried unsuccessfully to look at the clock once more then sighed and shrugged. “Three o’clock, right after I finished with the last casserole.” She cringed when she saw the shock that must have registered on his face. “Why? What time—”
“Three hours? Lily! Three hours!”
“I was studying for that test. I must’ve lost track of time.”
“Ya think?” he asked in exasperation. “Lily, honey—”
He caught her as she tried to take a step and her legs gave out like limp noodles, testifying to how long she’d been on the machine. She winced and grabbed her knee again. The elliptical provided a low-impact workout, but even then, three hours on it would be guaranteed to make it feel high-impact.
“Ow,” she whimpered as he lifted her easily into his arms.
“Is this what you wanted, honey? Is it this important?”
Frustration seemed to suddenly grip her, tightening her into a tense bundle in his arms. “Yes! I have to lose weight.”
Clay wanted to holler at her, raise hell over her belief that she needed to lose weight. He wanted to put her over his knee and spank her bare ass until it was bright pink. Instead, he simply cuddled her to him. None of that would help right now.
He was determined to get to the bottom of this belief she had. If she’d fallen while he was gone, she would’ve been more seriously injured. He carried her into the bathroom and sat her on the counter. After he had the tub filling with warm water, he threw in a handful of Epsom salts and poured some of her bodywash in for camouflaging bubbles.
He faced her with each hand braced on the counter so he bracketed her hips. “Honey, you’re going to hurt yourself if you keep going the way you are.”
Her hands knotted into defiant fists in her lap. “But I need—”
He put his fingertip over her lips. “Let me finish. I liked the way you looked. Your clothes fit you just the way I liked, Lily, especially these stretchy pants. You filled them out perfectly. Now…they’re almost falling off of you.”
“Just a little more, Clay.” Tears overflowed her eyes, and she put one hand on his chest and one up to wipe her cheeks. “Just a little—”
Clay grasped the hand pressing against his chest. “Honey, stop.”
“Clay, I just need…” Her eyes pleaded with him.
“Is this what you do pretty much every time you stay home studying?”
“Unless I’m doing written work, I’m usually on the machine.”
“You’re going to hurt your body, Lily. That’s too many hours. It’s not healthy. What are you running from?”
Her cheeks turned bright pink, and her amber eyes overflowed. “I…what do you mean?”
“Why do you think it’s necessary to work out this much?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I was pathetic. Weak. I want to be different. Better. Stronger. It’s why I have to do this. I need to be better than what I was. I need to get done with school and get on with my life—” She sobbed as if her heart was breaking, and he caught her as she fell toward him. “I ate like a pig at Christmas and I have to burn all that back off. I want to be different. Somebody else. You knew me when I was little, when it was called baby fat. You didn’t know me when I was growing up, and when I became an adult. I’ve always been huge. You didn’t hear…”
“Hear what?”
“Once, my doctor told me that I needed to do something about my obesity.” Shame was pervasive in her tone.
Whatever happened to ‘do no harm’? “A doctor told you that?”
“Yes. He did lots of blood work on me and said I’d need to be very careful because I was obese.” She gestured with her hands and puffed out her cheeks.
“What were the lab results?”
She licked her lips and thought about it for a second. “I can’t remember. I have them in one of my boxes with some other papers. But he told me that I had to buckle down and lose weight.”
“You said you want to be different. Who else do you want to be, Lily?”
Lily looked him in the eyes, and he could see the desperation there. She really was going for broke. “Someone good for you, someone who’s strong and whole, that you could really want and be proud of.”
He could feel her trembling as he held her. She’d never been prone to histrionics, but he could tell she was serious and not just being a drama queen. “Baby, if you’re changing for me, then you’re changing what I already really wanted.” She sucked in a breath and looked up at him. “I am proud of you, proud to be seen with you, too. I didn’t need you to lose weight. I told you that you could exercise on that machine if it made you happy. I was perfectly content with how you were. If you continue, I’m afraid it’s going to become an obsession.”
“It makes study time go faster. And study time makes the workout less tiresome. I…I was really on there for three hours?”
He wasn’t sure if she marveled at that fact or was burdened by it. “Lily, if you have those test results, I’d like to see them, later. Now let’s get you undressed and in the tub.” He pulled her gently from the counter and reached behind her to lift the hem on her T-shirt.
She put her elbows out obstinately, and he nearly smiled at her slight pout. “I can do it.”
“I know you can but I want to look at your knee.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Bullshit. It’s been acting up for weeks. I’ve seen you rubbing it.”
“It’s just a little catch every now and then.”
Crossing his arms over his chest when it was obvious she wasn’t going to cooperate, he pulled out the big guns. “What does your counselor say about your weight loss?”
Lily scrunched up her nose like she didn’t want to answer his question and probably didn’t appreciate him asking. He hooked her waistband and yanked down her now loose stretchy pants, leaving her briefs hiding the tattoo in place.
She caught her undies to her in shock. “Hey!” For a split second he thought she was going to sock him.
“Come on. Off with them,” he murmured, suppressing a grin when she showed some of the Lily spirit he loved. She toed
off her sneakers and slipped the pants from her legs. He squatted down and gently stroked her knee. Compared to the other one it was a bit swollen. “Tell me what your counselor says, Lily.”
He couldn’t help his chuckle when she growled softly at him for persisting. “She said I needed to slow down, see Doctor Guthrie, and examine my reasons for losing weight,” she listed off in quick, monotonous succession.
“She did, did she? I wonder why?” He stood and looked into her eyes, relieved that she was showing a little spirit and not looking quite so defeated. But she still looked exhausted. “I’m taking the elliptical out of your room.” She scowled at him, and a thought occurred to him. “Have you been working out when you can’t sleep at night?” When the furrow between her eyebrows deepened, he had his answer. “Lily! No wonder you can’t sleep! That’s it. Not only am I taking it out of your room, I’m selling it on eBay!”
Grace’s words came to his mind as she grumbled and stripped, almost angrily, and unselfconsciously. Lily needed to feel in control of something. The very fact that she was in control of her weight loss was a mirage because it controlled her. She got down to her bra and panties and, knowing it would do her more harm if he turned away from her, he waited with a big grin on his face. No way was he going to give her the impression his earlier words weren’t true. He wasn’t repulsed by her body at all.
“Do you mind?” Her indignation was adorable as her eyes shot sparks. That’s my girl!
“You’ll need help lowering yourself into the tub.”
He could almost hear the wheels turning in her head as she examined her alternatives. “Fine. Then close your eyes.”
Dutifully, he did as she asked, and he listened as she slid the undergarments from her body. “You know, this is a lot harder when I’m blind. I could drop you or trip and fall in the tub with you. Besides, why can’t I see you nekkid? I’m going to be able to feel you’re nekkid.” He took a tiny bit of enjoyment from giving her a hard time, even though he already knew the reason, just to know the gold sparks were probably firing in her eyes.
The Divine Creek Ranch Collection Volume 4 Page 35