Gilded Lily (9 page)

Why did Adam have to be the one to find the paintings? God, what could he be thinking? Why did she even care?

She nestled farther into the blankets. He wasn’t anyone to her, so it shouldn’t concern her if he was horrified. Lily shifted again, then sat up. Adam’s feelings were important. The way he looked at the paintings and the marks on her back touched something deep inside that she hadn’t felt in a very long time. A nauseating wave rumbled through her stomach.

She leaped from the bed and ran to the bathroom to kneel at the toilet. The cramp in her gut was going to do a reverse-engines on the wonderful meal Adam had made for her. Fortunately, the feeling began to subside, and she was able to stand up.

The well of tears threatening to fall cascaded over her cheeks. She turned her hand over. The sensation of Adam’s strong hand holding hers eased a sense of calm over her tense body.
His scarred hand.
Lily cared deeply for Adam. The tender sensation made her more nervous than ever. Tony had been the only man in her life since Keith. Not for lack of trying on Tony’s part. Over the last year he’d brought several men to the house in an attempt to get Lily to reengage with other men.

She knew Tony was busy. He didn’t have enough hours in the day to keep his practice going, Renee happy, and his needy sub satisfied. It was too much. The canyon she felt growing between them made her want to curl up in bed and hug a pillow. She never imagined her life going in this direction. After Keith forced her to leave, the idea of a life where she’d be able to be open and truthful with not only herself but a partner who was willing to accept her was a dream.

Tony had made that wish a reality, letting her explore her needs and learn how to control them and find pleasure in the truth. He was a wise and loving trainer, but that time was slowly passing, and Lily wasn’t quite sure how to let him go. The need to hold on to her safety net was being overshadowed by the desire to test her new independence. As the days floated by, work was starting to lose its spark, food seemed blander, and the evenings lasted forever, finally giving way to restless sleep. Decisions had to be made. A precipice was being crossed, and she had to figure out this journey on her own. The fear had to be put aside to give way to growth. Tony’s instruction was absolute. He always looked out for her best interests, and she trusted him above all others. He had become not just a teacher, but a cherished part of her life. The time was approaching to use the lessons he’d so passionately made sure she understood.

Lily crawled back into bed, trying not to look over at the empty window seat. After a while, her lids grew heavy, and she drifted asleep to dream of the whip.

A deliciously sinful strap—wielded by Adam.

ADAM ROLLED OVER and kicked the sheet off the bed. He turned on the bedside lamp. The dim light hit the wall where the paintings were still lined up. Why had Nick painted Lily like that?
Why the hell in blue?
He liked all the canvases, but found the one with her tied to the tree his favorite. What had Nick been thinking about when he painted?
Had he seen her like that?

Adam stirred his legs and flipped over onto his stomach. He scrunched the pillow, punched it to make a dent for his head, and he lay on his side so he could see the paintings. He needed to see her face.

Didn’t work. His groin still felt tight. Restrained. He cocked his knee to the side and pressed his hips into the mattress. Damn, he needed something soft underneath him. He pressed again and focused on the brush strokes that created Lily’s pretty face. Full, pouty lips. Big tits…okay, so he wanted to fuck those tits more than anything right now.

The pressure building in his dick was downright painful. He flipped back over with an
umph.

No sooner had he gotten the white boxer briefs tugged down to his thighs than the shaft bobbed against his abdomen, leaving a smear of precum. He gripped his cock tighter than usual. He looked to the painting with Lily in the outside bathtub.

Nick had painted her as if he were looking straight at her, her legs spread on either side of the tub and her hands gripping the edges. Adam stroked his shaft, taking no time to feel the veins popping out along the length. He analyzed the painting and remembered what he’d seen earlier in the afternoon. Had Nick ever seen Lily in the garden the way he had? Fuck, what a sight.

Soon, the frantic need, the tightening pull, took over, and he stroked faster. Keeping his eyes on the painting and on the tortured expression on Lily’s face, he wondered what she could be thinking. Did she long to be touched by a secret lover? Were those marks on her shoulders made out of anger or lust? He recalled a few scenes he’d watched at the club where the dom had flogged his sub until he left similar marks. Were Lily’s etched into her soft skin from scene play?

His hand slipped faster up and down the pulsing muscle until he found the right rhythm. He thought about her in the bathtub, how quickly her fingers had worked to make her body come. The sliver of a thought raced through his head.
Who is Tony, and what does he want with Lily?
He filed the thought and let the fantasy of Lily wrap around his body like a soft, wet cocoon.

As his eyes squeezed shut, he imagined her stepping out of the painting to straddle his waist and slip her warm pussy around his cock. With one more hard thrust, he gave in to the release, semen spraying in hot jets over his abdomen. His ragged breath caught as he closed his eyes.

Lily Flower.

Chapter Five

Tony hadn’t kept office hours on Wednesdays since he’d met Lily. He threw the bag into the backseat of the black Mercedes and checked his watch. It was only ten o’clock. Would she be up yet? He fought the urge to call her and tell her he was going to be early. His stomach tightened at the thought of surprising her. Maybe he could catch her being naughty and punish her extra hard today. She’d enjoy that, he thought, as he stuck the key into the ignition.

The trip took only an hour but seemed like a lifetime when he was driving to see her. Looking into the rearview mirror, he caught his reflection. The dark circles under his eyes were fading. The argument Renee had started last night had something to do with them not making love in over three weeks, but after the first ten minutes of her stomping around, he’d tuned her out and began making a mental packing list for his trip today.

Zoning out the passing cars, he thought about Lily’s voice. She’d been so nervous on the phone when she told him about Nicholas’s brother. He hoped this man could accept Lily for who she was. The other prospects Tony had thought might bring her some happiness turned out to have weak stomachs when it came down to the task. He couldn’t risk letting her get hurt again.

He’d been elated when Nicholas moved into the stable house. Lily finally had a playmate she was comfortable with, and that gave Tony more time to get things under control at the office. The hours were brutal between call time and the operating room. He was tired and bored. At least having Nicholas around was a good for him and Lily. The visits at the plantation were always more relaxed when Nicholas was there to make them laugh.

Tony had needed that reprieve. Hell, he needed it now. The responsibilities between his career, Renee, and his sub were a scheduling nightmare. A good trainer could stand back and be objective, be in control, and make it work. A good trainer would not be stressed and bored.
A good trainer could find a sub a responsible dom.

Tony knew his purpose. It’d been clear since that day he attended Lily’s lecture at LSU three years ago. Hell, his sister had given him one of Lily’s books as a birthday gift, and the urge to meet the author had been overwhelming. He had to have her.

And now, she was his student, almost ready for a steady dominant, but just not quite there. At least she seemed to think she wasn’t ready. And she needed more than he could ever give. She needed a man to love her. A whole man. A man who could love her back the way she deserved. He loved her. The ache in his heart every time he drove home told him that. But it wasn’t enough, for either of them. He’d trained many subs. Brought them to their knees with tear-drenching pleasure, opened their hearts and minds to the real reasons they needed to submit. His other subs had revelations and personal growth.

With Lily, she had made that transformation, and it wasn’t enough. She simply craved more than the pleasure he could give her. Tony felt lost. Lily was a true submissive, only existing to please her dominant and in turn find comfort. Lily needed stability, a dom who could be present every day. Tony couldn’t be that for her—that was never his intention. He saw a need in a beautiful woman and knew his special skills would make her life more fulfilled.

Unfortunately, his life had taken a sharp curve on a straight road. A growing medical practice, keeping up his relationship with Renee, and trying to continue to see Lily once a week were eating any moment of peace he tried to find. The time to slow down, make sure everyone was taken care of without losing his mind, was fast approaching. Hell, his life had already freight-trained over his ass, and he was too tired to get off the tracks.

It was time to move on, find a man who was willing to take more than just his place with Lily, someone who would love the woman he’d watched blossom into the perfect submissive. When Nicholas had moved in, Tony had hoped Lily would gradually come to rely on his discipline less and less. He needed her to see there was more to life than hiding in that big house and settling for a relationship that could never have a future.

He cared about her enough to know she deserved better, more than an instructor. Hell, he wasn’t even that anymore with how far she’d come along. He was there more often than not to correct any destructive behavior and to keep her somewhat satisfied. Between him and Renee, Lily was never going to test her wings.

Teaching her to love herself—that she wasn’t some depraved pervert like her ex had drilled into her psyche—took time and patience. In trying to keep his control, he’d managed to push her away. The way she looked at him told him she knew it was time. He was failing miserably as her protector. Fuck, he was falling flat on his face in the relationship department as well. Renee wanted more. Lily needed more. He wanted to fly to someplace warm, tune out the voices, and drink a ton of Scotch.

He flicked the turn signal and merged onto the off-ramp. His thoughts drifted to Nicholas. Tony had liked Nicholas. They’d sit for hours, talking and smoking cigars, watching Lily and Renee fuck. Tony hadn’t minded when Nicholas leaned over and stroked his cock. The artist had more talents than just painting. He knew how to get a guy off, and it always felt amazing. The look on Lily’s face while Renee was sucking her pussy always made him come in Nicholas’s hand.

He was going to miss their lazy afternoons in the sun, watching Lily do her gardening naked. Nicholas would hose her down with cold water to watch her dance around. Tony sighed. He’d come to enjoy his time at Lily’s, not just for the dom-sub play but for the intimate moments he got to share with Nicholas too.

Tony shook his head. He needed to focus. No more sulking over what he couldn’t change. He had no control over Nicholas being buried six feet under, but he sure as hell could control how he felt about it.

He had a special plan for Lily this afternoon. She’d always been particularly excited about receiving her punishment outside. He thought she might like being tied to the tree today. Surely the welts had healed well enough by now and she’d be ready to receive more. The urge to slide the tip of his cock into her warm body was becoming harder and harder to fight. He knew she hadn’t been penetrated in a long time. The trouble was going to be finding the right man to do it. She wouldn’t be open to the idea, but he knew she longed for the feel of a real cock—to feel a man behind her, loving her while he pushed the most intimate part of his body into hers.

It wasn’t going to be easy. He’d hoped Nicholas would be the man for her, but Nicholas had admired Lily for her simple beauty, not for her feminine attributes for pleasure. Nicholas had different tastes. The men in his life had come and gone briefly. His heart belonged to Lily, but his body craved a man’s touch.

Tony pulled the car into the circular front drive. He took the leather bag from the backseat and walked onto the front veranda. The door was unlocked, as usual. The smell of something sweet lingered in the foyer. Filling his lungs with the intoxicating scent, he walked into the kitchen.

He stood silent in the doorway, watching the woman he’d come to love in so many ways. Her back was to him as she sat, typing away, at the center island. Her round bottom looked simply gorgeous as she sat on the stool, clicking on the keys. After that first week of trying to get her sleeping pattern under control and learn her daily routine, he knew something had to be done. She was writing at two in the morning, eating dinner at nine at night, and fighting through hours of insomnia.

He developed a daily schedule for writing, eating, sleeping, and relaxing. Over time the rhythm of her life became natural and manageable. Her sleeping pattern seemed to be the last barrier to break down and they were working on that together. Overall, the training was working. After a while, the mornings he showed up unexpectedly, he’d find her working on a research project or toiling over a new manuscript, smiling at the creative flow she’d developed. For the last two months she’d created a schedule without his help. The routine was working well for her, and it was another example of how she was slowly finding her independence. He rapped on the door frame.

“Tony!” Lily stood and leaned into his arms, planting a hungry kiss on his cheek. “You’re early. I was making you a surprise.”

He dropped the bag and wrapped his arms around her soft waist. “What is that smell? It’s so sweet.”

“It’s a peach pie. I thought you’d like it with some ice cream.”

He kissed her on the forehead before reluctantly releasing his grip. “I’d like you better if you were naked. Now, get these things off.”

A giddy coo caressed his ears as she slipped out of her cotton tank dress.