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I was panting by the end and stopped pacing while I was across the room from Julian. He was blushing like he was embarrassed that I’d called him out, but I didn’t really care. My anger was gone, but the righteous fire still burned in its path, and I’d meant what I’d said. I couldn’t live in limbo anymore.
“You love me?” he asked, stepping forward.
“Well, obviously,” I scoffed.
“Evelyn Stearns,” he said slowly, stepping forward again, “I have loved you since the day I met you. I have fought with myself over it, I have tried to forget my feelings, I have contemplated moving just to get away from your intoxicating presence. If you feel the same, if the only thing in our path is my daughter, then we will figure it out. I will speak to her, orwewill speak together, but I am not wasting another day without you by my side.”
I was the one blushing now, even as he reached me, and pulled me into a hug.
“I will never do anything to make you feel emotionally manipulated again, and if you ever feel like I have done so, you need to tell me.”
I nodded, those words meaning almost more to me than his profession of love.
“I will,” I promised to the shoulder I was pressed into.
“And I will not kiss you this time. When you feel ready, you will kiss me. It will be on your terms, and this time, I promise, I will not run away.”
I lunged forward, sealing my lips on his.
This kiss wasn’t filled with heated passion, but still very needy. It was slow and perfect, tasting of rainy days and a lifetime of waiting.
Neither of us moved, barely breathing into the kiss for fear of ruining whatever tentative thing we were discovering.
The anger I felt towards him was gone completely, replaced by something new, and tender, and very, very breakable. I knew when he kissed me back that I was in real trouble. This man could easily be the death of me, and I wouldn’t even hold it against him. As the thought occurred to me, I knew that I was in deep trouble.
“Julian,” I breathed into him, “Please.”
“What would you like?”
“Take me to bed,” I whispered.
Chapter Thirteen
Julian
Istudied her face to make sure she was serious.
I saw no sign of doubt there, but my brain was still telling me that this couldn’t possibly be real. I wasn’t sure how anyone could go from yelling, to asking me to take her to bed, in the space of twenty minutes.
I growled and pulled her back into me. There was still the sweet heartache of months spent pining, but now there was the urgency we’d been missing. I craved the knowledge of what was under her clothes, what she would look like as she fell apart around me. I pushed her up against a wall, and she felt like she was melting under me. Everything she was, was everything I hadn’t known I’d needed. I took her in like she and I were the last living souls and she held the secret to my survival. Every point of contact was pure electricity, sizzling where we connected; her fingers on my back, my hands on her hips, our chests flush, and our lips. Where we met, time and again, it made everything feel like it was falling into place. Her eyes were closed when I opened my own, and she looked stunning.
Long dark lashes were casting shadows on tan cheeks, with freckles scattered across them. Her lips were full and pink where I had kissed them, parted slightly. Her breath was coming out in needy gasps, and when I didn’t immediately kiss her again, she opened those eyes. Oh, those eyes. I could fall into them forever. I could drown in their depths and be grateful that I at least got the chance to see them. This close, I could see they weren’t simply brown. They were a dark, dark brown, but had flecks of gold and green throughout. It created constellations in her eyes, and I tried to trace them, but then she was speaking, and her words were velvet, slipping across the small distance. I breathed them in and wondered how I got so damn lucky.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“Just looking at you,” I muttered.
I kissed her again, and those eyes fluttered closed as she pulled me closer to her, and I was pretty sure that Belinda Carlisle was right?—heaven was a place on earth. One of her legs slotted between my own and the action caused an immediate response. If I was a lesser man, I would have taken her there, over my desk. Instead, I knew that I had to make things perfect. It wasn’t about roses and candlelit dinners with Evelyn, despite the fact that one day, I wanted to do all that and more for her. No, Evelyn just wanted to know that I cared. I had finally gotten that much through my head, and I was never going to let her go again. I was never going to let her think that she was anything less than one of the most important things in my life.
She hitched one of her legs over my waist, and I pulled the other one up until they were locked behind my back. She was surprisingly light, even considering her slight frame. My hands gripped under her legs, feeling the slight give of her, and I couldn’t wait anymore. I hefted her fully onto me, and took up all the slack from the wall she leaned against. Still kissing her, I opened the door to my office and pushed into the hallway.
I was suddenly very grateful for both the privacy of having my own floor and the discretion of my staff. I took the steps to my room, and let myself in, still carrying Evelyn. I stopped kissing her to set her down, and for a moment, everything slowed down. Her eyes were wide with awe, and I turned to see what she was looking at. I knew she hadn’t ever seen my room, but it wasn’t anything special to me. To her though, maybe it was. One end of the room was taken up by my personal belongings, which weren’t very personal. There was a California King Bed, which I had originally believed was overkill for one person, but had found surprisingly useful for laying out plans or clothes for packing. I had one bedside table with a singular book on it, and that was about it.
Staring at it, I thought that maybe I should have made more of an effort. There was a door on the walls either side of my bed, one leading to my bathroom and one leading to my closet. The other end of the room was what had captured Evelyn’s attention though. There was a drawing board, currently clear of any work, along with a large Mac Pro setup, a graphics tablet, and a large notebook scattered with pens. I stalked over to the desk and shut the book, concerned that she might see what I’d drawn. She wasn’t looking at that though. She was looking at the sketches I’d stuck to the walls with something akin to admiration.
“I’m sorry they’re so messy, this isn’t really where I do business work…” I murmured, rubbing the back of my neck.
She shook her head and looked at me.
