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Lilah’s eyes go wide and she covers his mouth with her hand. “Hush, those are state secrets. You’re so dirty.”
Ben pulls her between his legs, whispering something in her ear that makes her giggle. I swear to God, Lilah never giggled once in her entire pre-Ben life, but somehow he makes her do it.
She pushes away from him, reclaiming her ice water from my grasp. Her eyes scrunch up, focusing on my shoulder as she cocks her head to the side.
“What?” I look down, momentarily panicked that there’s a bug on me, but she reaches out and pulls something from my hair, untangling it, and snagging a hair.
“Ow! What are you—?”
She holds up a flake of dry red paint, nearly the size of my thumb. The same red paint, which I know from personal experience, is peeling off the exterior walls of the building.
“You’ve got paint chips in your hair…” she says, arching an eyebrow at me.
“Huh.” I take the chip and drop it on the floor. “That’s weird.”
I don’t even remember my hair catching on the paint, although I have to admit, I was wildly distracted.
Lilah looks me up and down, smirking. “So weird.”
24
Mateo
When I wake up on Friday morning, the sheets on Julia’s side are thrown back and the bed is cold. I know it’s early. My alarm hasn’t gone off yet, and we set them for 7 AM, so we’d have plenty of time for coffee and breakfast before the deposition today.
I pat the nightstand, looking for my phone. When I find it and see the time, I know something must be wrong. You don’t get out of bed before 5:47 AM just for fun.
Climbing out of bed, I find my pajama pants and pull them on, tying the strings as I get to the living room. Julia’s in the kitchen, a veritable tornado of anxious energy. She sprays the counter with cleaner and wipes it with a rag, her t-shirt lifting and giving me a breathtaking view of her ass and panties as she does.
My presence unnoticed, I lean on the door frame and cross my arms, watching as she moves over to another section, clearly stuck in her own head and consumed by whatever is eating at her.
“What’s going on, Jules?”
She shrieks, turning the spray bottle in my direction like a weapon.
“I will give you a million dollars if I can put a cat bell on your sneaky ass,” she says through gasping breaths.
I chuckle, crossing the room and taking the bottle and rag from her hands and setting it on the counter.
“Hard pass.” I pull her against my chest.
She lets me wrap her up, but her body is tense, her muscles tight as she puts her arms around my waist.
“It doesn’t have to be a collar,” she argues. “It could be an anklet. I think it would suit you really well actually—”
“Double hard pass,” I say, kissing the top of her head. “What’s up? Why in God’s name are you cleaning before 6 AM?”
Julia rests her cheek against my chest, her shoulders shrugging. “I just couldn’t sleep. I want this deposition over with. I miss my patients.”
I stroke her hair, my heart wrenching for her. Not for the first time, I’m hit with the unfairness of her situation. Talk about punishing the messenger.
“I know… I love you, Jules.”
“I love you too,” she sighs, her breath warming my bare chest.
I hold her tight for a long time. Long enough that her muscles relax against me. “I think you need to come take a shower with me.”
She laughs, letting me pull her back to her bathroom. She watches me affectionately as I get the water going and lift the t-shirt over her head. I wash her hair, scrubbing her down and handing her a big fluffy towel after I shut the water off.
