Bancroft and Ford: Alpha Male Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (7 page)

Julia stood in the kitchen the next morning, trying to forget what had taken place there last night. She fell into the chair at the table, her throat burning, her head swimming, and the agony in her heart sharp.

When Dylan joined her in the kitchen, her body tensed. They said nothing and she refused to look at him.

“I think I’m sick,” he finally said after a long, awkward silence.

“Me too.” She stared down at her hands.

“Julia.” He waited until she glanced up at him with weary eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“Don’t apologize. I kissed you back.”

“I know, but I shouldn’t have. You have a boyfriend.”

“I know.” She rubbed at her forehead. All morning she’d been trying to decide if it was better to keep this a secret or tell Evan what had happened. “I think maybe it’s time you found a place of your own.”

“You’re right. It is time. We’ve been here long enough and done enough damage.”

“Don’t say that.” She let her hand fall to the table. Between being exhausted and sick and overwhelmed by emotions, she could not contain the tears that filled her eyes. “You haven’t done anything wrong. It’s me. I’m horrible. I have no right to have feelings for you. Not when I’m practically engaged and you’ve barely started dating again. I just wanted to help, and all I did was make things worse. I never meant to bring you into some complicated mess.”

She got up and snatched the box of tissues from the counter. She sat back down with it and went through two before she’d managed to control her weeping some.

Dylan hadn’t said a thing. When she dared to meet his eyes again, he was watching her with a sad expression.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she said.

“I’m so sorry.”

He eyes filled with fresh tears and she dashed from the room to return to her bedroom. Alyssa was still asleep, but woke after a few minutes of Julia’s sobbing.

“Hey,” Alyssa said from her bed. “What’s wrong?” Her voice was gravely. She sat up and pulled the covers back.

“I kissed Dylan,” Julia mumbled into her pillow.

“When?”

“Last night.” Julia turned her head to face her sister. “We were up late taking care of Kylee and then we went down to the kitchen and we kissed. For a while.”

“Julia…”

“I know! I wanted to sleep with him, Lyss. I wanted him so bad. I still do.”

“What about Evan?”

“I don’t know. He was the perfect boyfriend for so long. How could I do this to him? I feel like the worst girlfriend on the planet.”

Alyssa laughed. “Nah, lots of girlfriends cheat, you’re not the first.”

“Thanks. That helps a lot,” she said sarcastically. “Cheat. It sounds so dirty and awful.”

“It kind of is.”

Julia groaned and shoved her face back into her pillow. “Do I tell him?”

“Noooo. Definitely not. Not unless you want to break his heart.”

“Don’t you think lying is worse?”

“Worse than cheating? No. It’s up to you, though. If you want Dylan, tell Evan what happened. If you want Evan, don’t tell him. He’ll never trust you again.”

“I shouldn’t be trusted,” Julia mumbled.

“It happened. All you can do now is move forward. Have you talked to Dylan yet?”

“Yes, just now. We both thought it’d be best if they moved out.”

“I guess that makes sense. Sucks it has to be like this, though.”

“Everything about this sucks.”

A week later, Julia stood on the front porch, watching the last of Dylan’s boxes get loaded into the truck. He’d decided to rent a place so that they could move out as quickly as possible.

The last week had been a stressful combination of avoiding each other and trying to be the best girlfriend possible to Evan. He was, of course, thrilled that Dylan was moving out. It seemed like things were going well with them again.

Dylan walked over to her and handed her his key. “Thanks again for everything.”

She nodded and stared at the key so he wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes. Kylee ran over and threw her arms around Julia’s waist.

“Can I come over tomorrow to do yoga?” she asked.

Julia and Dylan exchanged a sorrowful look.

“You’ll be in your new house tomorrow,” Julia said. “And you know what that means?”

Kylee shook her head.

“You’ll get to pick out your very own yoga spot. Pick a good one and you can practice there every day.”

“But I can’t do it by myself. You have to help me.”

Julia’s lip quivered and she swallowed hard.

“I’ll help you,” Dylan said. “We’ll get some videos and we can start doing it together, okay?”

“Okay.” Kylee let her arms drop. “But when do I get to play with Julia again?”

“I don’t know,” Dylan said. “We’ll plan something later, okay?”

“For tomorrow?” Kylee asked.

“We’ll see.”

“See you tomorrow!” Kylee hugged Julia again and hopped off to the truck.

She met Dylan’s eyes and held them for the first time all week. “See you at work, I guess.”

“Yeah, sure.” He ran his fingers through his hair and opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. “I’ll see you.”

He stepped off the porch and she went inside so she wouldn’t have to watch them drive away.

Her dinner with Evan that night was the perfect thing to take her mind off Dylan. She had almost forgotten the date, but today was the one-year anniversary of their first date. She wondered if, since he had planned to take her to a nicer than normal restaurant, he was planning to propose after all. Only now she wasn’t sure she should say yes. How could she marry him knowing what she’d done?

He picked her up right at seven and they drove in pleasant conversation until they reached the restaurant. He didn’t seem nervous and wasn’t acting strange. Maybe she’d get lucky and he wouldn’t propose. At least not until she knew what her answer would be.

They ordered their food and he smiled at her when the waitress walked away. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think I’m still just a little tired from being sick.” It wasn’t a full lie, but it seemed like such a little lie that it wouldn’t matter.

“Dylan moved out today?”

“He did.”

“Good.”

“It’ll be good for him to have his own place again, I’m sure. Now that his life is starting to get back to normal.”

“I’m just glad he won’t be seeing you in your underwear anymore.”

“What?!” She couldn’t help but blush. The last time Dylan had been anywhere near her underwear, he’d been kissing her and touching her.  “He never saw me in my underwear.”

“Right.”

“Evan. He never did.”

“And now he never will.”

“Why would you even think that?”

“You lived with the guy. It was bound to happen. I’m sure he peaked on a few occasions. It’s what guys do.”

“I’m sure he didn’t.”

Evan chuckled. “Jules. What single, straight man moves in with two young women and doesn’t hope to catch them naked by ‘accident?’” He made air quotes around the word.

“I really don’t think he’s like that. He only moved in because he was desperate.”

“Don’t remind me.” Evan shook his head. “Really. He was out of work for months? In all that time, he couldn’t manage to get some kind of job? What loser can’t get a decent job in a matter of weeks? There are always places hiring.”

“Evan, stop. You’re being a jerk. He’s a surgeon. It’s not like there are a ton of jobs out there for his position.”

“Then he should have thought of that before he got himself fired.”

Julia clenched her jaw and looked away.

“Oh sorry,” Evan said. “I know how much he means to you. Guess I shouldn’t insult him.”

“What is wrong with you?” she hissed. “Obviously you’re jealous, but you really need to stop. He moved out. You have nothing to worry about.”

“You still see him at work every day.”

“So?”

“So, I wish he would just go away.”

“You know what? Right now, I wish you would go away.”

They glared at each other and, in the tense silence between them, the waitress brought their food. Julia started eating, using it as an excuse to keep up the silence. But Evan raised his hand and snapped his fingers at the waitress.

“This isn’t right,” he said to her. “I clearly said
no
tomatoes, and what are these?”

“I’m very sorry. I’ll have it fixed for you.” The waitress picked up the plate and smiled apologetically.

Evan shook his head. “How hard is this job? And you can’t even manage to do it well.”

“Evan!” Julia set her fork down and turned to the waitress. “I am so sorry.”

“I’ll get it fixed right away.” She hurried away with his plate.

“That was completely uncalled for,” Julia said.

“Yes, it was. The way you defended her and made me look like a fool? Not something a wife should do.”

“Good thing I’m not your wife then.”

He harrumphed. Then he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small box. He set it on the table. “Guess I won’t need this.”

Julia stared at the black velvet box. So he was going to propose. She thought of all the times they’d dreamed of their future, the things they wanted, their two kids and house in the suburbs. She was no longer hungry. His behavior in the last weeks had not only worried and scared her, but had made her doubt him so fully that when she thought of their future now, the picture changed.

What happened when something broke in their house and the repairman didn’t fix it right? Would he lash out like he had at the waitress? Or the next time someone came along that he grew jealous over? Did she really want a life like that?

“Evan. It’s been a great year. If you would have asked me a month ago, I would have been thrilled to marry you. But I can’t do this. Your jealousy and anger are too much. And I should tell you that I have feelings for Dylan. And I kissed him. I’m sorry. I can’t marry you.”

He stared at her, his mouth hanging open. Clearly, he’d expected a different reaction. Then his face hardened. “I guess my jealously was called for, wasn’t it? And I never asked you to marry me.” He snatched the box and shoved it in his jacket. Then he got up and walked away.

The waitress returned with a new plate. She looked relieved that Evan was missing and smiled at Julia, looking so worried and apologetic that Julia wanted to hug her.

“Thank you so much. And I’m sorry about him. He’s having a bad night.”

The waitress nodded and rushed away.

Julia waited. She thought maybe he went to the bathroom. But after fifteen minutes, she knew he wasn’t returning.

She got boxes for the food, paid with an enormous tip, and called Alyssa to come pick her up.

After she’d recounted the entire horrible evening, they curled up on the couch together with a carton of ice cream and watched
Gilmore Girls
episodes until Julia stopped crying.

She looked for him. Every day, she let her gaze fall from face to face, hoping she’d pass him in the hall. She watched her daily assignments, hoping he’d chose her for his team. But somehow, Dylan had all but vanished. She saw his name on the surgery lists, but she was never assigned to him. Was he purposefully avoiding her?

After three weeks, she was fed up. She missed him and was sick of crying over Evan. She checked the schedule for the day and waited outside the operating room where he was performing an emergency appendectomy. When he came out of the room, she called out to him. He saw her and waved, but kept walking.

“Dylan! Wait!” She caught up to him in a few steps and matched his fast pace.

“Hey,” he said, and kept his eyes forward as he walked.

“Are you avoiding me? I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Yeah, but we haven’t been on any surgeries together, and I haven’t even passed you in the hall.”

“I figured it’d be better that way.”

“Well, it’s not.”

He kept walking and not looking at her.

“Dylan, stop.”

He paused and turned to her. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

He walked away and she stood there, watching. The hall was deserted and the bright sunlight coming through the windows seemed to say this day was too cheerful to fail. She took a deep breath and called after him.

“I broke up with Evan. The night you moved out.”

He stopped. She held her breath, waiting. Finally, he turned, but he didn’t walk back to her. The fifty feet that parted them felt like miles.

“Why?” he asked.

“He’s a jerk. And I’m in love with you.”

He crossed his arms and pulled his lower lip into his mouth. She was dying to know what he was thinking in that moment. Maybe he didn’t want her after all.

What felt like hours later, he walked slowly to her and stopped several feet away.

“After Melanie died, I decided that I would never marry again. I would focus on Kylee and being her dad and that was it. I didn’t want to get over my wife. I’d vowed to love her forever and just because she’s gone, that didn’t mean I had to stop loving her.”

Julia nodded, but sorrow crept over her heart, threatening to suffocate it.

“Then I moved in with you. It was cramped and awful and I felt like we were in the way the whole time. It was obvious you didn’t want us there.”

“No, I just—”

He held up a hand to stop her. “But then one morning, you did yoga with Kylee. You didn’t know I was watching you, but I was. And I saw in your actions something I never thought I’d find again.”

Julia pulled her eyebrows together. She remembered that morning. She’d knocked over the lamp and been frustrated with Kylee falling into her, but watching the determination on the six-year-old’s face had softened her and made her want to help her succeed.

“Over the months, I saw someone who could treat my child like her own, who could care for her like her own mother had. And not only that, but someone who my daughter loves as much as I do.”

Julia’s breath caught at his words. The dark cloud over her heart vanished.

“When we left and didn’t have you around anymore, it was like someone dying all over again. Kylee has been miserable missing you, and I’ve been miserable, too. But you were with Evan, and I didn’t want to mess that up for you. But, if you’re saying it’s over, really over, then…”

She took a long step toward him. “It’s really over. It’s been over for weeks.”

He took two steps and was close enough to wrap her in his arms. They embraced, then let their mouths come together. When their lips finally parted, he whispered in her ear, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said. “And I’m kinda wishing you never moved out.”

“Our new place has plenty of room.” He laughed and pulled her into a tight hug. “We even got a few yoga mats and have enough room to do all the stretches in the living room. Though, to be honest, I’m terrible at it.”

She chuckled. “I guess the three of us will have to do it together, then.”

“I’d love that, and so would Kylee. She really does miss you.”

“And I miss her. It’s not the same without her giggles filling the house.”

“Julia.” He brushed the hair from her face and kissed her. “Thank you for showing me I could love again.”

“Thank you for letting me.”