Page 10 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)

ALFIE

I’m the first to admit I had made some near-catastrophic mistakes with Lily when I first met her. But thankfully, she forgave me, and we finally committed to each other. My life has been thoroughly blessed since then.

The last thing I’d intended to do was upset her the moment she’d arrived home. In hindsight, I should have considered the timing of my visit to the home where Gary and I had spent most of our time as kids.

As we entered the house, I noted that our housekeeper, Hazel, had arranged the five large bouquets of calla lilies I’d ordered to be delivered to our vaulted great room, along with a beautiful bunch of fifty red roses.

The roses had been placed on the accent table in our master suite to welcome Lily home.

“Aww, Alfie these are beautiful,” Lily gushed, regarding the roses in the bedroom as she bent to smell them.

“You spoil me,” she mumbled. The reflection of the small lights around her dressing table made her green eyes twinkle as she sat down and began to take pins out of her hair, that held her updo in place.

The moment her wild curls cascaded over her shoulders and down her back, I wandered over behind her and teased my fingers through the silky locks.

Lily’s long, dark hair was the second thing I’d noticed about her…

after her pert ass, once she’d straightened up from inside that old PT cruiser car she had rented.

“What?” she mused, pulling cotton pads from a container, then began to remove her eye makeup.

“Just thinking about us… I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately.

Maybe because this is the first time in four years that Crakt Soundzz hasn’t been touring,” I admitted.

When our eyes met in the mirror, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and clasped my hands above her chest. Dipping my knees, I pressed a kiss to her temple and leaned my chin on her head.

I hadn’t told Lily about the band’s plans to take a year off because I thought it would be better to tell her face-to-face.

Once a break had been decided, I realized the pace of our lives without one, might have been unsustainable in the future.

Lily stopped what she’d been doing, held my gaze and frowned. “What about us?” she asked, breaking into my thoughts

I shrugged. “Where are XrAid at?”

“As in?”

“What are your plans with the band?” I probed.

“You’re not going to expect me to take time off, are you?” she asked, instantly on guard.

“I am… a little wherever possible. It would be nice to spend at least some of it with my wife,” I admitted.

I’d always been extremely careful about treating Lily’s career with the equality it deserved.

Even though XrAid weren’t quite on Crakt Soundzz’ level of success, they were still much in demand.

“Funny, have you been talking to Drew about this?” she asked, as she poured cream on a fresh cotton pad and continued to take her makeup off.

“Drew?” I asked, of my best friend and lead guitarist of Crakt Soundzz.

“Just something he said to Lennie,” Lily admitted, swiping the pad over one eye and then the other.

“Which was?”

Lily dropped the pad to the dressing table, moved out of my arms and turned to look at me.

“Drew told Lennie that he thought you and I needed some time away from the limelight.”

I frowned. “He did?” I was surprised Drew had done that without my knowledge. “He never had a conversation with me about that,” I said, disappointed with him. “What did Lennie say?”

“He thought Drew was hinting that XrAid should take a break at the same time as your band.”

“Well, you know I would be ecstatic about that. However, I have no idea why Drew would push for that. I mean, I’ve said I missed you, but I’d never interfere with your commitments.

If you took time off with me, that would be your choice, not Drew’s or anyone else’s for that matter.

You need to do what’s right for you and your band. ”

Lily nodded, a look of relief on her face. “I was surprised when Lennie told me that because what he said, it didn’t sound like you at all.”

“Thanks, although if you could manage to wrangle some time off, I’d be super-stoked, but I’d never demand that of you.”

Standing, Lily lifted her foot onto the dressing table stool and began unfastening the ankle strap of her stiletto.

“Fuck, baby, how do we have a serious conversation when you’re bent over, flashing a gorgeous pale thigh, dressed in a sexy lace garter and unfastening a fuck-me heel?”

Lily chuckled. “That might be how you see it. All I know is that my feet are killing me, so I’m taking my shoes off.”

“Come here.” I dipped and swept her off her feet, strode over to the bed and sat her on the end of the mattress. Dropping to my knees, I lifted the second, still shod foot onto my lap and unfastened the strap.

Gently, I peeled it from her foot, then slid both hands across her foot, up her ankle, over her knee until I reached the top of her garter. Lily watched me intently and I heard a soft gasp when my fingertips skimmed over her creamy flesh.

She flashed me a seductive smile as I slowly peeled the stocking down her leg and plucked it from her foot. Lily’s breath hitched in her throat when I rose up on my knees, leaned over her and wrapped it around her eyes.

After tying it securely behind her head, partly blindfolding her, I lowered her onto her back and took off the other stocking.

“You might have let me bathe first,” Lily muttered, scrunching her cute little nose up in disgust.

“Why? You smell delectable to me,” I admitted, wrapping the other stocking around her left wrist then the right, binding them both together, then tied the loose ends into a bow.

Lily sat up, jumped to her feet, cupped her bound hands to her mouth, and ran into the bathroom. By the time I’d caught up with her, she had missed the toilet bowl and vomited twice. She dropped to her knees and felt for the rim of the toilet.

“Oh, God,” she complained, the sound of her voice echoing inside the porcelain toilet.

“Jesus, are you okay?” I asked, eyeing her with concern as I slid the stocking from over her eyes and scooped her hair behind her back. I untied the stockings from around her wrists and she immediately hugged the toilet. “Where did that come from?” I asked, scooping her hair to one side.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, like she had been sick on purpose.

“Why are you apologizing? You should have said you were feeling nauseous.”

“I wasn’t, it just… happened.”

“And now?”

“I feel better,” she mumbled, shrugging. I grabbed a hairband from a small bowl next to her vanity and tied her hair back in a ponytail.

“Let me run you that bath,” I offered, immediately forgetting the sexy scene I’d been creating and focusing on Lily’s welfare.

Leaving her side, I turned on the faucet, then filled a small glass full of water. “Here, just take sips to clean your mouth out,” I ordered.

Lily took two sips from the glass, then vomited again.

“Damn,” she grumbled in frustration. She grabbed some toilet tissue off the roll and wiped her mouth. “It must have been that chicken wrap I ate on the plane,” she suggested.

“That would do it,” I agreed, frowning, but oddly relieved to think it was only a little food poisoning and nothing more serious. “Are you sure you want to get into a hot tub?”

“Yeah, I think I’m fine now.” She climbed to her feet, flushed the toilet and sat on the closed toilet seat.

I readied the bath and picked the stockings off the floor while she watched me.

“Come on, strip,” I ordered, grabbing the hem of her tank top and pulling it off over her head. After taking off her skirt, bra and panties, Lily climbed into our large clawfoot tub and sighed in contentment as she lay back.

“Feeling better?” I asked, watching her carefully.

She nodded and flashed me a sweet, thankful smile. “Much. How weird was that?” I must have looked concerned because her eyes softened when they met mine. “Come on then, get your clothes off and get in here. I’ve missed that hard body against mine.”

Hearing her offer had me naked in a heartbeat. I climbed in behind her, and after moving her wet hair over her shoulder, I curled it into a messy bun on top of her head. I eased her shoulders until her back met my front, and a sigh of satisfaction left my lungs.

“You sure you’re, okay?” I probed again, stroking the silky skin on her upper arms.

“Yeah, it’s strange because I feel fine now,” she admitted.

“You vomiting wasn’t exactly the response I was expecting when I tied you up,” I muttered, chuckling.

Lily laughed and palmed her face with a hand like she was embarrassed. “I know, and just when I had begun to feel wanted.”

“Baby, I’ll always want you. Vomit or no vomit. Hell, you even look sexy with your face buried in the toilet bowl.”

She chuckled. “Liar.”

“Maybe,” I replied. I ran my hands over her silky, wet arms and over her shoulders. “Although, I don’t think there’s much that could ever turn me off you.”

Lily’s hand dipped under the water, reached back and slid her hand between us. She palmed my erection trapped between our bodies. “How can you be hard after watching me vomit?”

“That was a good five minutes ago now. A lot can happen in five minutes,” I argued, tongue in cheek. “We used to have quickies in five minutes regularly whenever we were pushed for time.”

“Yeah, what happened to us?” she questioned, a note of nostalgia in her tone. She glanced over her shoulder to meet my gaze. “When was the last time we had sex that wasn’t in a bed or on the sofa?”

I considered her point, and it had been over a year since we’d fucked on the tour bus, but even that was a bed. We used to get off on having sex in random places… the more public the better.

“If you think about it, our lives became more structured the moment we had to plan to spend time together. I’ll admit that took some of the excitement and spontaneity out of our love life.”

“Maybe we should try to recreate some of those times,” she mumbled.

“Are you getting bored of me, Lily?” I asked, fearing the answer.

Her back straightened sharply, making some of the water slosh over the side of the tub and onto the floor.

“Never. But I don’t want you to get bored of us either. There’s a lot of temptation out there on the road.”

“Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?”

“No, but we can’t see into the future,” Lily insisted.

“What’s brought this on? You’re acting like you’re insecure.”

“No, not insecure, Alfie. But not complacent either.”

“So, what do you suggest?”

“Wouldn’t it be great to date again. To go places where we have sneaky sex while the world goes on all around us?”

“Like?” I asked, trying to focus on her serious discussion while my mind had already begun to conjure up some fantasies about us.

“Let me ask you this. What are the most memorable times we’ve had sex?”

“You know that vanilla ice-cream romp we had back in college is still right up there,” I replied.

“For me… probably the nightclub in London,” she mumbled.

“But we didn’t have sex then,” I argued.

“No, but the anticipation was off the charts for me. That beer bottle stunt you pulled had to be one of the hottest, most spontaneous and ingenious ideas you’ve ever had to taste me.”

My eyes narrowed. “So you want me to fuck you with a beer bottle?” I teased.

“That wasn’t the point. I put some restrictions in place, and you rose to the challenge,” she admitted.

“Right. That might have been a turn on for you, but my cock almost burst out of its skin in frustration with my little antic. I’d regard that as one of the most frustrating nights I ever had with you,” I confessed.

“But it was probably the one that taught me the lengths you had been willing to go to in order to prove to me you were serious about us,” she replied.