“Was he angry?”
She hurried to keep up with his longer stride, but he realized that he was walking too fast and slowed down.
“No. He um…well, I…”
George stopped abruptly and looked down at her. “What happened Lillian?” he asked. When she still hesitated, his anger increased. “I’m not letting you go, Lillian. If he said or did anything to hurt you, just give me the word.”
Quickly, she put a hand to his chest to reassure him. “No. He wasn’t angry at all. In fact…” still, she hesitated to explain.
“Lillian,” he groaned in warning.
“Fine! I asked him to kiss me!” she admitted. Sure enough, fury lit up his eyes and she gently pressed against his chest. “He couldn’t do it,” she said before he could get too worked up. She stared up at him, almost laughing at the confusion in his eyes. “He couldn’t kiss me.”
There was a long silence while he absorbed that information. Lillian saw the exact moment when he fully grasped what she’d just said. It was as if a storm cloud darkened his features. “Why the hell not?” he demanded.
Lillian rolled her eyes. “George, first you were angry when I said that he was going to kiss me. Now, you’re angry because he couldn’t do it?”
“You’re definitely kissable, Lillian,” he growled low enough so only she could hear. They were standing in the middle of the sidewalk, people having to walk around them. He realized that and looked around, frustrated by their lack of privacy. “Come with me,” he said and took her hand, leading her across the street.
When they were hidden from the others by a copse of trees, he pulled her into his arms, his hands resting on her back as he glared down at her again. “Okay, now explain. Why did you ask him to kiss you and why the hell couldn’t he do it?”
She laughed, standing up on her toes to briefly kiss him. He wasn’t allowing a brief caress though, holding her against him as he deepened the gesture. When he finally lifted his head, she was more than slightly breathless.
But she blinked in order to focus. She saw the lingering fury in his eyes and spoke quickly, not wanting him to be angry or hurt now that they’d finally realized how they felt about each other. “I asked Phillip to kiss me to prove a point to him. I’d just told him that we needed to cancel the wedding, but he tried to convince me that it was just wedding jitters.”
“Why didn’t you tell him that you were in love with me?” he argued.
She smiled up at him, her heart melting for this stubborn man. “Because he hadn’t figured it out yet.”
“Figured what out?”
“That he and I are like brother and sister. Not lovers. Every time I’d tried to talk to him about my concerns regarding our wedding over the past few months, he’d argue that we were right for each other, that a marriage between us made sense. So this time, I went at him with a different argument. It took me challenging him to kiss me, really kiss me, before he acknowledged the truth.” She smiled up at him, but she could tell that he didn’t understand. “Phillip couldn’t kiss me.”
“He’s kissed you over the past few months, Lillian,” he growled, adding a glare in for good measure. “I’ve seen him do it.”
Her smile turned challenging. “And wanted to punch him, I suppose?”
“I wanted to bash his teeth in,” George growled out, his arms tightening around her. “But you seemed happy so…” he shrugged, trying to come to grips with how he felt.
Her heart melted a bit more for this man who was willing to give up his own happiness if he thought she’d be happier with another man. Wow! “I never loved Phillip the way…” she hesitated again, still unable to admit everything. But the raised eyebrow challenged her. “I never loved Phillip the way I love you. Okay? I said it! Are you happy now?” She ended with a slight punch to his shoulder, irritated that he was dragging this out.
He laughed, and shook his head as he lowered his mouth. “Not yet,” he said and kissed her. Because they were behind the trees, George didn’t hold anything back. He kissed her with all of the passion and desire he was feeling at the moment.
When he lifted his mouth, she was clinging to him, her fingers gripping his shoulders as if he were the only thing keep her upright. And in truth, that was accurate. His powerful hands against her back were pressing her against his strong body and keeping her from toppling over.
“Wow,” she whispered. “I thoroughly approve of your merger ideas,” she teased, more than a little breathless now.
He groaned and put his hands on her waist, setting her away from him. She wasn’t sure what he was doing, but there was something about his demeanor that told her he was waging an internal battle. “What’s wrong, George?” she asked.
He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I need to ask you something, but I need to…” he paced away from her, then came right back. “I just need to know if…” he dropped her hand and walked away again. Staring up at the leaves above him, he sighed, then looked down at the ground. “Sorry, I’m completely flubbing this up, aren’t I?”
She smiled gently at him as she lowered herself onto a nearby bench. “I’m not sure. Is your goal to make me weak in the knees?” She wanted to take his hand, but he was pacing too much at the moment. “Mission accomplished.”
He looked down at her with that admission and she knew that he was continuing the weak-in-the-knees mission. But at the last minute, he stopped and started his odd pacing once again.
“George, you’re making me nervous. Why are you pacing like this?”
He stopped and turned to face her and it struck her then. He was nervous! George… the man who was always confident, always in control and always had an answer to everything…was nervous!
Standing up, she took his hand and forced him to stop so that she could look up into his eyes. “What’s going on? Are you…are you leaving me? Is that what this is about?”
“Leaving you?” he growled. “Why the hell would you suggest such a thing?”
Lillian shrugged, relaxing ever so slightly with his assurance. “I just…I don’t know. You’re acting strangely and it is making me think of all the horrible things you might be trying to tell me.”
He took both of her hands, his nervousness gone in the face of her own anxiety. “Lillian, would it bother you if I left?”
She wanted to lie, to brush off the possibility. But there was an honestly, a sincerity in his eyes that beckoned to her own sense of truth. “Yes,” she admitted. “It would bother me a great deal, George. You know how I feel about you. How I have felt about you for a long time now. Just because I’ve finally realized it, doesn’t mean…anything.” She was flustered, nervous about what he was trying to say. “Please, what’s going on?”
“I’m not going anywhere, Lillian. I told you that last night.”
“Yes, but…” she sat down, her knees shaking for another reason now. “Well, you might have changed your mind.”
He sat down beside her. “Would you go back to Phillip if I had changed my mind?”
Lillian looked at him as if he’d just lost his mind. “Why in the world would I go back to Phillip?”
He shrugged, squeezing her hand slightly. “Just checking. I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Say that I’m genuinely in love with you? Or that my feelings are just a fluke or that you’re the consolation prize?” She rolled her eyes once again. “I thought we’d already established that I’m honestly in love with you, George.”
“You did,” he sighed and leaned his head back. “And I’m still messing this up, aren’t I?”
She scooted closer, tucking her arm under his. “I’m not sure. Because I have no idea what you’re doing. What are you mucking up?”
He stood up and paced again, back and forth, his hand running through his short, dark hair. Finally, he stopped in front of her, determination in those dark eyes. “Here’s the thing, Lillian. I waited the last time, thinking that we were building on something. I felt something for you months before your eng
agement, but…well, you were just so tentative and delicate and…” He sighed and ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Lillian, you’re unlike any woman I’ve ever known.
“I am?”
“Yes!” He rubbed his neck. “Several months ago, I’m walking into your office to ask you to go to dinner with me, thinking you were ready to take things to the next level and I suddenly realized that you’ve got a giant rock on your finger and are laughing with some lame ass who didn’t even propose to you, but you’re suddenly engaged. So, I’m trying to state my intentions very clearly this time and I’m not going to wait around for some other idiot to take my place.”
“Your place?” she asked, starting to figure out what he was trying to say, although he was saying it in a very roundabout way. Even so, she was thrilled. George was one of those rough and tumble men who just took charge. But here he was, declaring himself, and he was nervous. She loved it! She loved him!
“Yes!” he growled, then started pacing again.
Lillian decided to take things into her own hands. He was right about their timing. She’d felt something for George months ago, but hadn’t understood what she was feeling. So she’d waited, enjoying the flirtation and ended up accidentally engaged to a man she didn’t love. That couldn’t happen again. No way was she just going to drift through life with others pulling her strings. Not that she’d realized she’d been doing that before, but now that she did, she wasn’t going to stand for it again.
Standing up, she intercepted George on his next pace back to her, grabbing his hands. “George, stop. I have a question for you.”
He stopped and looked down at her. “Just a minute, Lillian. I need to get through this.”
She wasn’t fooling around this time. Lifting a hand, she put a finger to his lips, stopping whatever he was going to flub up next. “George, will you marry me?” she asked softly, then moved her finger away, quivering with shock and suspense as she waited for him to answer her. “I know it’s embarrassingly soon since breaking off my last engagement, but that wasn’t really an engagement.”
“Yes,” he said.
She blinked, trying to determine what he was saying. “Yes, you know it wasn’t an engagement? Or yes, it’s too soon after breaking off my other engagement?”
He laughed and pulled her into his arms. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Lillian.” And with that, he kissed her, putting all of his laughter and love into the kiss. When he lifted his head this time, he took her hand in his and pulled her back towards the office building. “Come with me,” he commanded.
Lillian happily followed, wondering if they were now officially engaged. She’d proposed. He’d accepted. Did that mean they were going to get married?
“Wait! What’s going on?” she asked, needing to fully understand. She’d found herself accidentally engaged the last time. Now she wanted to be fully aware of what was happening. No confusion, no miscommunication. Everything was going to be perfectly clear.
George stopped his forward momentum and looked back at her. Something occurred to him and he muttered under his breath. He stuffed his hand into his pocket and pulled something out. “Here,” he slid a diamond ring down her finger. “Now, it’s official. You’re my fiancée. No other man is going to get in my way this time, Lillian.”
She stared down at the beautiful diamond ring, startled to find it there on her finger. “It’s lovely,” she said to him, fighting back tears once again. Her finger traced along the edges, admiring the sparkle even in the dim lights from the streets and buildings.
“You’re not taking it off,” he warned her, pulling her hands away.
She looked up into his eyes, smiling through the tears. “I love it,” she told him. “I won’t ever take it off.”
“Good,” he said and pulled her into his arms again to kiss her. When he lifted his head this time, his fingers had already dislodged the pins in her hair, creating the blonde mess that he loved. “Now can we head over to your place and pack a bag? I want you in my house, in my bed tonight. I don’t want any ambiguity about what we mean to each other. Not after the past few months.”
Lillian laughed, delighted with his plan. “I think that would be a great idea.”
“And we’re flying to Las Vegas to get married.” He stopped and turned back to her. “Unless you want a big wedding. You had it all planned out and I’ll understand if you were looking forward to a big party.”
“No way!” she gasped, shaking her head to emphasize her words. “No, the big wedding was all my mother’s idea. I never wanted any of it. Just another aspect of all of this craziness that I went along with, not stopping to consider what I’d agreed to.”
“Good,” he said and kissed her quickly.
“George!” she snapped when he started to walk away again.
He turned back around and realized she was irritated with him. “Not very romantic, right?”
She relaxed. “You’re getting it, aren’t you?” she said and stepped closer. “Just take a moment and realize that we’re getting married.” She lifted a hand to his cheek, her fingers closing around his as the idea hit her as well. “Are you sure?” she whispered.
He stopped trying to tug her out of the park and stood in the cone of light cast by one of the ornate park lights. Looking down into her beautiful eyes and sparkling hair, he smiled. “Yeah. I’m very sure,” he told her. And this time when he kissed her, it wasn’t short. It wasn’t gentle. It was his way of showing her that he meant every word. Every promise. Every day of their future would be together.
George and Lillian’s Wedding
Stepping out onto the balcony in her tea length wedding dress, Lillian sighed at the sight in front of her. The Eiffel Tower sparkled in the distance and the lights of Paris were everywhere, laid out amidst the trees as if they were twinkling stars. The soft violin quartet played off to the side and, right at the end of the balcony was George in a dark suit and white tie, waiting for her.
She stepped closer, her blush roses clutched in her hand as she walked across the centuries old balcony of Le Meurice, a gorgeous hotel in Paris. It wasn’t Las Vegas and it hadn’t been fast, but it was beautiful and wonderful.
Twelve hours ago, she hadn’t known why George had told her to meet him at the airport. But now she understood. He was making up for the lack of romance during his proposal, or more accurately, her proposal, and had arranged for one of the most romantic weddings she could have imagined. In Paris! Second only to New Orleans, Paris was a beautiful city, and she sighed with happiness as she took George’s hand.
The minister began the ceremony and she stared up at him, love for this man shining in her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“I love you,” he replied back.
“I love you too!” she vowed.
Excerpt from Phillip and Marie’s story: Making her Smile
Available Everywhere December 16, 2017
Click here for Links
(Phillip’s story begins when Lillian first tries to break off her wedding with Phillip – so there’s a bit of a build up before this scene.)
Phillip stared at the lovely brunette for a long moment. Her hazel eyes blinked at him from across the room and he knew that he was acting out of character. But Lillian had just walked out after breaking things off with him and he felt…free! Damn, he hadn’t even realized how much he’d been dreading the wedding until it was no longer looming in his future.
And now that he was once again a single man, he could allow his mind to consider alternatives. Marie was definitely the woman that his mind wanted to focus on. But he acknowledged that she had never been an alternative. She’d been the focus of too many dreams to be an alternative.
Damn, how had he been so blind? How had he let things with Lillian get out of hand? “Did you know that my mother is actually how I ended up engaged to Lillian?” he started off, wanting Marie to understand.
She blinked again, staring at him with those huge, hazel eyes. Eyes that he loved. Eyes
that he wanted to see when she was…
Clearing his throat, he focused on his plan. One step at a time, he told himself.
“Your mother?” she asked, her voice sounding strangled. A giggle burst from her and she quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. “Phillip, tell me you’re teasing me.”
He shook his head, laughing himself. “Nope. My mother and Lillian’s mother have been friends for…well, as long as I’ve been around. They sort of collaborated and worked things out.”
Another laugh and he could see her eyes twinkling with her amusement. “Did she get down on one knee to propose for you as well?”
His head tilted slightly and he tried to give her a punishing look, but he was just too happy at the moment. He couldn’t let her get away with that though.
“Ah, now you are maligning my masculinity,” he replied. He walked towards her until he was less than a foot away. “I can’t have you thinking I’m not a strong man, now, can I?” he asked softly. He kept his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t reach out and touch her. The temptation was too strong. “What could I do to prove my manliness?” he teased right back.
She giggled again, shaking her head, and causing the wisps of hair to float around her face. “Now that I know your mother got you engaged, I believe your manliness is no longer in question,” she replied right back.
“Ah, you think it has been blighted forever, huh?”
Marie felt almost dizzy! He was no longer engaged? He wasn’t going to marry the lovely Lillian? This was…amazing! Shocking! Hard to take in! For months, she’d been mentally preparing for this Saturday, for the day when he would be married. And now…it felt as if she’d been given the key to prison. She’d escaped!
Standing there, so close to Phillip, closer than she’d ever been before, she was shocked by the power of him. He was…awesome! So powerfully built, tall and…just overwhelming!
“Um…Phillip, could you just…” she walked away, placing the files on his desk because…well, it was either put them down or drop them on the floor. She preferred order over chaos. Turning back to face him, she opened her mouth to ask him something else but found he was, again, incredibly close.
Doing the Right Thing Page 7