AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Food first.” Ryan was already dialling room service.
“You coming?” Joe held a hand out to Julia.
“I can’t.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he told her. “You know where to find me.”
With one last, wicked smile, he turned towards the room they should have shared. Julia’s heart actually hurt to watch him go.
As he passed Elle, Joe stopped. “Before I forget, I have a present for you.” He dug around in his pockets and came out with a tiny Ziploc bag. “It’s from David. He said to give it your best shot.”
Elle grabbed the clear plastic bag. She was bouncing in place with delight. “Is that what I think it is? It is! It’s a hair. With the root attached. DNA, here we come.” She gave Joe a hopeful look. “I don’t suppose he gave me a fingerprint.”
“Not this time, crazy girl.” With a shake of his head, Joe headed into his room—but not before casting one last challenging glance over his shoulder to Julia.
Chapter 29
Julia lasted a whole hour before she gave in and crawled into bed with Joe. His scent and warmth engulfed her as she snuggled up to his side. She was weak. Plus, she was giving him mixed messages—telling him she didn’t want him one minute, getting into bed with him the next. Julia knew that made her a terrible person, but she honestly wasn’t playing with him. She was confused. She knew she should run from Joe, but she wanted him so very badly. It was an impossible situation. One with which he wasn’t helping at all.
“Hey, gorgeous.” The sleepy huskiness in his tone was perfection.
He rolled them to the side and pulled her back into him, spooning her—his front to her back. A heavy leg was thrown over her thighs and his arm fed around her waist. He nuzzled at the crook of her neck. She was surrounded by him. Trapped in his embrace. And she’d never felt safer.
“Now this is the way I want to wake up every morning.”
“It’s afternoon.” She didn’t even want to get into the thought of forever. It was too big, too scary, too risky.
“Still feels like you belong here. There’s only one thing wrong. Why are you dressed?”
“Because you need to get out of bed and I don’t need to get into it.”
“Ah, but you’re already here.” He nudged her hair out of the way and nibbled at her shoulder. “Too many clothes, but I can work around it.”
Julia got the impression he was talking more to himself than her. His hand slid under her t-shirt, up her stomach, to cup her breast. That was all it took for her to forget her objections to their relationship.
He rubbed his thumb back and forth over her nipple as he made his way up her neck to her ear. The feeling of his breath against it sent her desire for him soaring. He teased her earlobe with his teeth.
“You getting hot, baby? Something you need?” Oh, that seductive voice in her ear.
Julia moaned her answer and pressed her hips back into him, feeling his hard length against the seam of her behind.
“You know this can’t work between us.” Her voice was hoarse.
There was amusement in his. “Seems to me it’s working just fine.”
“You know what I mean. We have no future.”
“Then this is what? Goodbye sex?”
She couldn’t think straight. Her mind was overloaded with the messages coming from her body.
“Yes,” she gasped, and he chuckled against her skin.
“Tell me what you want.”
The arm her head rested on moved, curving around her to play with the breast his other hand vacated. That hand moved slowly down her body to her jeans. He undid the button and pulled down the zip.
“Please,” Julia said.
