Chapter 24

~~ MICHAEL ~~

It had been twelve days and eleven hours since I’d dropped Lily at her apartment building after the day we’d spent together at my parent’s ranch house.  Twelve days since I’d touched her.  Twelve days since I’d brought her to orgasm.  Twelve days of several cold showers.

The first day back in the office had felt odd. Lily, basically went out of her way to avoid any contact with me which only served to make me try harder. My attempts were short-lived when Lily ended up in tears.  I’d felt like the world’s biggest bastard.

I was unable to cope with the sight of my Lily being in tears, so I’d jumped up from my chair and pulled her into my arms, half-afraid she would reject the contact. But she came willingly. I just held her while she wrapped her arms around me and cried. I whispered apologies to her over and over again until we both felt better.

Once she calmed down, she’d admitted to me that she was keeping her distance because it was safer that way.  She really wanted to be with me, but she had some things to work out with David first and she thought it best to keep her distance, but I was making it difficult.

I was angry, not with Lily, but the bastard she called a boyfriend.  He was still cheating on her behind her back and yet, still had some sort of hold over her.

It had felt good, too good, to hold Lily in my arms that day.  Although it was only brief, I loved every minute of it.  I just wish there had been no tears involved.

I placed a soft kiss to her lips and promised to keep my distance until she said otherwise. I also admitted that it was going to kill me and cause me a lot of cold showers.  She assured me she wasn’t having sex with David. I surprised myself when I actually believed her.  A relationship was built on trust, which was why I was trying to trust her completely.

Lily really got under my skin and the thought of her having sex with anyone but me made me want to hurt someone. Badly. As far as I was concerned she was mine and I had no intention of letting her go.

It was damn frustrating, having the woman who was warming my frozen heart living with someone else.  The amount of times over the past twelve days that I’d nearly asked her to move in with me was in the triple digits.  Keeping my mouth closed was proving very difficult for me, but for Lily, I would try.

Being a mere two days away from the McKenzie picnic at my parents ranch, I had no meetings planned. We had some last minute preparations to finalize and I was really looking forward to spending the day with Lily with no interruptions. It was crazy to crave something as simple as being in the same space with her.  I knew my body would flare to life being so close to her, but I survived the last twelve days, so one more wouldn’t kill me. I hoped.

I stood from the kitchen table where I’d just eaten a bagel and drank my third cup of coffee of the day, before I washed the cup in the sink, leaving it to dry.

George would be outside waiting for me for the first time in three days.  He’d been sick.  I had to call the doctor out to his cabin because the stubborn ass refused to go to the doctor’s office.  He was never sick and insisted he was fine, but he coughed as though he’d been smoking for years.  He never smoked.  Turned out he had a rather nasty chest infection and I threatened to get Ruben to stay with him if he refused to rest.

So after three days of recuperating, he was on the phone at five in the morning, begging me to let him work today.  He told me he was fine and would go crazy if he had to spend one more day in the cabin.  He sounded much better so I agreed. Walking out of the front door I saw him resting on the hood of the car looking a damn sight better than he had.

“Good morning George. I hope you’re really feeling better today,” I said, stopping in front of him.  On closer inspection he still looked a bit pale.

“I’m nearly back to rights, Mr. McKenzie.  I really need to work.  A guy can only sit around so long before going out of his mind with boredom.”

“How on earth can you be bored with all those DVD’s and books you have stashed in that cabin?”

“I’ve already watched them all and read all the books, but I was more restless than anything, especially after I started feeling better.”

“Okay George, but if you start to feel ill again, you tell me this time.  Do not suffer in silence.  You with me?”

“Yes.  Are you going to get in the car or stand here giving me instructions all day, because I’m sure there is a little lady who is going to be mighty disappointed if you don’t get downtown.”  He grinned.

I let out a groan and climbed into the car, my thoughts drifting straight to Lily.  They didn’t last long when George pulled out of the drive with a bit of a jolt.  It smoothed out after a few minutes and soon he started  whistling a tune from the front seat.

“Someone’s in a good mood today,” I commented.

He cleared his throat.  “Janet is working today.”

“Ah, it must be love,” I replied, grinning when I saw George blush through the mirror.

“Not yet, but she’s growing on me.  What about Lily?”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.  “What about Lily?”

“Why isn’t she with you?”  In all the years George had been working for me, it was the first time he’d asked me anything personal. It surprised me.

I frowned.  “It’s complicated,” I replied and moved my attention to the window, effectively cutting his inquisition short.

I shut my eyes, thinking about Lily and how easily she disarmed me with a single look.  Once or twice I’d caught her lost in space while staring at me.  I would grin at her until she came back to reality and she would blush, acting all embarrassed.  It was cute.

Outside the car, I heard a car horn, so I sat up in my seat just in time to watch an SUV smash into the side of our car.  My heart pounded as metal crunched against metal.  I heard glass break while I was thrown into the car door, smashing my head against the window.