Tiger Lily: Part Three (17 page)

“You’re just as miserable as Mathias. Why did I think you would be different? After all the years of friendship, you can just brush off me and my family like that? Good luck,” he said, shaking Jonas’s hand, despite the sour look on his face.

“You keep trying to make this personal,” Jonas admonished. “Fine. You knew the stakes. I went against my instincts investing in you in the first place. Good luck to you.”

Phil pulled out a card and looked at me. “I’d offer you triple whatever he’s paying.”

I looked at his hands on the table. “No. Thank you, Mr. Keane,” I said quietly.

“Tell Dottie and Holly it was good to see them,” Jonas said.

“Fuck you, Jonas. And I mean that sincerely,” Phil said.

My skin was burning as I followed Jonas out of the room and kept his leisurely pace, though I would have left faster if I was on my own. A crowd gathered through the building and Jonas stopped to shake hands and chat all the way out.

Once we got into the car, I turned to him. “That was brutal.”

“That was business,” Jonas said and folded his arms.

My stomach sank. “You flew us down and listened to everything, but still planned to close the company. Will they all lose their jobs immediately?”

“Sixty-five percent in the first wave but, ultimately, yes. That is unless Phil finds new backers. But honestly, once I pull, no one will touched KeanexTech,” he said bluntly.

“What about your friendship?” I asked.

Jonas lidded his gaze. “Phil and I are friends, but if we are no longer, I accept that. He knows my coming down was an act of friendship. He’s upset. He’s good, but he’s not one to run the helm, and a good last quarter and projections are meaningless at this point.”

I tried my best to mask my disappointment. “How could you be so kind and do that to them? It seems so cruel.”

He set his jaw. “Because that’s how things work. It’s what’s best. I don’t have anything against the people there, Lily. This is business. I have a reputation for excellence. I can’t keep afloat a sunken ship, even if that partnership came from friendship. Many companies show what they can do, but most, like this company, had their chance to prove it, and failed at every turn. I don’t continue to invest in what doesn’t profit. Phil’s far from destitute, and he knows I don’t play fools games.”

I didn’t know how to answer him, so I stared out the window at the cheery, brightly colored buildings. I was searching for the words that would help ease my troubled lover, as well as my conscience, as we drove onto the road to the terminal entrance that housed his private plane.

But I could come up with none.

THE SMELL OF TIGER
lilies filled my nostrils the second we returned to the plane. Looking around, I didn’t see any. Our flight attendant stepped forward. “Your room is ready for later.”

I eyed Jonas questioningly.

“We won’t be needing it after all,” he said and handed her his briefcase. “Scotch neat, please. What would you like to drink?”

I stared at him, but he still wouldn’t look at me.

I crossed my arms. “Vodka with ice, please.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jonas’s lip twitch, though his eyes were dull. “She’s joking. A glass of wine for her.” He removed his blazer and David took it to place on a hook. He then sat down in his previous window seat.

Frowning, I sat next to him. “What’s in back?”

He took out his phone and started going through his messages. “A mistake.”

My pulse increased as I stared and waited for him to talk to me. A few minutes passed and the flight attendant returned with our drinks. Jonas took a sip, while I drained my glass. That got me a pause, but still nothing from him.

“Can we go back there and talk?” I asked, my voice loud over the hum of the jets heating up for takeoff.

He rubbed his brows. “I’m tired. Let’s wait until we land.” I clipped myself in and stared down at my hands as the plane started to taxi and lift. Jonas reached over and took my hand, though this time I didn’t get the kisses and cuddles I’d received on our earlier flight.

What had changed?

My reaction to what happened at KeanexTech.
I didn’t understand or agree with all that occurred there. Truthfully, I didn’t think I had to. But as I stared at him and willed him to look at me, I realized he had shut down, and thus shut me out. What I wanted was for us to be right again. I needed to find a way back in.

My heart pounded as I formulated a plan and waited impatiently for the emergency light to go off. The second it did, I unbuckled my seatbelt and took off at a quick, though jagged, pace for the back of the plane.

I could hear Jonas curse behind me, but still I went, finding the door marked ‘suite’ and opening it.

The bedroom had the same modern décor of grey and wood as the rest of the plane, with a large bed complete with a matching decorative bedspread and sheets turned down. But what had my heart singing were the bouquets of tiger lilies on every surface. My eyes watered at his thoughtfulness and their beauty.

Slipping off my shoes, I fell back on the bed and sighed as its contours encompassed me. The sound of the door clicking closed behind me had me up on my elbows, and my heart skipped a beat as Jonas walked up, his face raw with emotion, his gaze intent.

“I had misjudged...I’m sorry that I took you with me today. I never let Dani come to one. Oh, she knew everything, but I knew it would break something in her to see the truth. And you, so innocent and loving. But I couldn’t spare you. I wanted to be the philosopher, lover, artist, man of your dreams, but this is me. And I needed you to know me as I truly am. I don’t expect you to understand everything, and I understand if what happened today makes you love me less. Or perhaps not love me at all. I understand.” His eyes clouded over, as pain closed around his body.

Pain that I was a part of and desperately didn’t want to be.

My heart constricted and tears welled in my eyes. He was so unlike the confident leader that I, and others, knew him to be. His self-loathing was there. I knew it well, because I suffered from it myself. But I loved him. All of him. He bared a piece of his soul, and as the woman that he loved, I gave back my own.

“No. This isn’t all of you. As I said before, you employ thousands of people around the world, and do a lot of good outside of business. I’m shocked and saddened by what happened today, and would like to understand more about your work. But I do know I couldn’t make those decisions, and I respect the fact that you have to. My therapist asked me to imagine a life without you, but even a second is too much for me to take. Love isn’t something waiting for perfection. My love isn’t dependent on you being perfect, Jonas. I love you. Nothing will ever make me not love you,” I said. My speech didn’t have the finesse or eloquence of his, but my passion for him was there. I moved to the end of the bed and took his hands and stared into his eyes. “You don’t have to quote Shakespeare or poems. You don’t have to be anything. I want you as you are,” I said.

He gave me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Even though I’m a greedy, selfish businessman who’s taken over your life?” Jonas said, half-joking. Words weren’t going to be enough right now. He needed me to show him.

I kissed his lips and unbuttoned his shirt, pulling the end out of his trousers and down his strong arms, finally easing it off while Jonas sat there and watched me. I scanned the room and decided to drape it across one of the built-in seats. I then unzipped the back of my dress and stepped out of it, removing my bra and panties until I was naked. I quickly moved over to the cabin door and locked it.

A low chuckle filled the space and I turned back to find Jonas laughing at me. I lowered my brow as I walked back over to him. A dip in the plane had me losing my footing and he reached out and pulled me on him and the bed.

He cupped my face as his eyes roved over it and said, “You have worked your way in and I don’t know how to defend myself against you. The love I have for you is chaotic, I can’t control it.”

My bottom lip quivered as the center of my chest ached. He captured the lip between his and sucked, then kissed me more, his hands caressing me down my back to my buttocks, where he lingered. My body heated and tightened at his touch, knowing the ecstasy he could give me. But this wasn’t all about me. This was about my Jonas. He was mine as much as I was his, and I needed to show him that.

I turned my head to the side, breaking the kiss and catching my breath. “Let me.” I wanted to take over. He stilled his hands, his eyes glimmering as they met mine. A bit of uncertainty was there, as well as curiosity, but he let me know without a word he was handing himself over to me.

I pressed a kiss to his mouth and tugged off his t-shirt, tossing it toward the chair as I moved my body down between his thighs and unbelted his trousers and tugged. He lifted for me as I worked them off his body and put them aside.

Climbing back up his body and pressing mine against him, I took his lips again, then kissed down his neck and to his chest, brushing against his smooth chest hair and to his nipples. And like he often did to me, I licked around one and lightly pinched the other one. He tensed under me, letting out a short breath as he touched my head. I could feel his cock twitch as I moved between his thighs, then kissed and caressed my hands down the cut plains of his chest and abs. He truly was a beauty. I moved my body between his thighs as he widened them for me without my asking, and I looked up at him.

His look back was dark and carnal. “This is how I want you, open and ready for me,” he said, sending a tremor through me. Stroking over his toned thighs, I kissed and licked along the soft trimmed hair just above his cock as my hands closed around his shaft. Running my tongue over the weeping head, I closed my lips over the top and sucked the tip, then slid my tongue down the underside as I placed my hand on his balls and fondled them in my hand. Jonas let out the sexiest moan, which went straight to my clit. His hands gripped the sheets and I moved my head down and licked over the seam and around the sack as I worked his swollen cock that had grown fuller in my hand.

“Suck my cock, Lily,” Jonas commanded, his voice rough and his patience gone. I gave him a wicked smiled as I licked and kissed around his shaft on my way back up, then drew his length between my lips. His hands were on my head, willing me to take more, and I swallowed around him as I sought to take him to the back of my throat.

“Oh. Fuck. Yes,” he growled, tightening his grip on my hair and lifting up his hips a little, seeking more. Easing up, I sucked him down to the back of my throat again and again. Jonas held my head in place and I knew he was there. He let out what sounded like a grunt and a hiss as he came. His cock rippled and I gagged as his cum filled my mouth. I swallowed over again, knowing he loved when I drained him to the last drop. He released my head and I slipped him out of my mouth, pressing my face against his stomach that was covered in sweat. Hell, I was covered in sweat, and breathing just as heavy as Jonas, who smoothed my hair. I didn’t care. Jonas was my heart and I wanted him happy.

He pulled me up his body and kissed my swollen mouth. “That’s my Tiger. I like you taking over,” he said.

I let out a snort. “You still took over in the end,” I said, but I really didn’t care. We laid together for a while, listening to his heartbeat in his chest. His hand started moving down and turned me over on my side. “I want this time to be about you,” I said.

“It can be about the both of us,” he said, pushing my hip down flat on the bed and trying to get a hand between my thighs, which I had now locked together.

“No. I’m fine. You always take care of me. I want this to be about you. It would please me if this was about you,” I explained and kissed over the sulk that was forming on his face.

“But what if I want you?” he said.

“Then take me. However you want to, but later. I’m hungry,” I replied, knowing that was the magic word that would stop a determined Jonas.

“Fine, but this ends when we get back,” he partially relented. I let out a breath.

He sat up and pressed a call button. “Please bring lunch and refill our drinks. Thank you.” I slipped under the sheets as Jonas got up and moved toward a door on the opposite end. He came back a few minutes later with a towel around his waist and went to the door and waited there. I got up and went to where he had come out of, only to find a full bathroom. I washed my hands and opened a cabinet, discovering toiletries and creams as well as extra towels. I tucked a towel around me. The sound of the cart and Jonas talking had me pause, waiting for the flight attendant to leave before I re-entered the room.

Once it was quiet, I slipped out and found Jonas was seated before a table with our lunch of steak and new potatoes and mixed vegetables. I took the seat across from him and we both started eating the food. The steak was tender and the potatoes melted in my mouth. “Oh, thanks for inviting Mary. I know I said I wanted to wait until later, but I’m really happy she’s coming,” I said between bites.

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Jonas said.