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“What?” I sat up, outraged. “Why didn’t you tell him everything?”
“Because…” She cringed and then glared at me for pressing the issue. “Shaun insisted it was an accident, and it very well could have been. I didn’t want to falsely accuse him of anything.”
“That’s bullshit. You know it wasn’t an accident just as much as I do. He’s still keeping tabs on you, and he grabbed your arm, baby doll. Your instincts are not off. He’s violent. And what the hell, anyway? Why didn’t you tell your dad about the infidelity? Surely that would’ve made him never want to talk to his precious Shaun again.”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head, looking weary. “I was too embarrassed. I thought I should’ve done something better to keep his interest only on me.”
I took her chin and looked her straight in the eye. “You can’t get better than perfection. He fucked up, it’s that simple.”
She gave a flustered smile and rolled her eyes before kissing my lips and patting my chest. “Thank you, but…it still knocked down my confidence a couple sizes. And besides, he really wants that job with my dad after he graduates. I didn’t want him to lose his chance at his dream future just because I didn’t like him anymore. That seemed…awful of me.”
I blinked at her. “Jesus, you really are a bleeding heart softie under that tough shell, aren’t you?”
She rolled her eyes. “Am not.”
She was. And I loved that about her too. Grinning, I said, “Too bad your dad doesn’t have the same soft spot.”
As my smile dropped to worry, Julianna pressed her forehead to mine. “Baby, look at me.”
When I did, she smiled. “Don’t worry so much about him, okay? You and I are a team, remember. We can get through this together.”
I paused. She was absolutely right. So why was I worrying? We had this in the bag.
Relaxing, I laced our fingers together and squeezed her hand warmly. “I love you,” I said, not sure what I’d do without her.
Her grin turned playful. “Not as much as I love you.”
I laughed and kissed her full on the mouth before saying, “Not even possible.”
Her free hand crept between us and headed down. I liked where this was going and quirked an interested eyebrow, just as someone knocked on her bedroom door.
“JuJu?” Tyla called. “Can I borrow your black ankle boots?”
I met Julianna’s gaze and her shoulders fell as she removed her hand from my pants. “Yes,” she called back, quietly groaning and dropping her face to my shoulder. “Just a second.”
Dammit. With a sigh, I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling to control my hormones. “Rain check?” I guessed.
Juli stroked a couple fingers down my cheek. “Yes, I’m sorry. Tyla deserves some extra attention this morning. We kind of crashed her break-up party last night when my dad showed up.”
“Right.” I exhaled a bolstering breath. “To be continued, then.” I needed to get going to shower and change at home, anyway.
“Don’t worry, baby, I’ll see you soon enough again in philosophy class.” And then she proceeded to give me a very nice kiss goodbye.
When I made it home and slipped inside the back door, the smell of bacon greeted me. Instantly alert, I lifted my nose toward the source only to find Aspen at the stove, flipping fried eggs.
I stopped and stared at her, unable to move in fear she’d stop cooking if I did something wrong. I hadn’t seen her cook anything in nearly three months.
She grinned at me. “Good morning. Have you eaten breakfast yet? I can put some more bacon and eggs on for you.”
Oh, hell yes, please.
“Okay,” I said. “That’d be great. Thank you.”
Beau sat at the table, happily swinging his feet as he drank from a glass of orange juice. “Mama’s cooking breakfast,” he announced.
“So I see.” Pointing toward the opening of the hall, I said, “I’m just going to jump into the shower real quick. Be right back.”
“Okay,” Aspen answered, smiling congenially over her shoulder at me.
