Home Is Where the Heart Is (4 page)

“
I can’t…I’m
sorry but….I just can’t,” she stuttered before she
quickly ran out of the room.

“
We still have another property
to get to,” Steven called out after her. “Julie,”
he called out again as he walked out trying to catch up with her. He
knew that he had no chance of catching up with her when he heard her
car speeding off. He smiled and shook his head. He’d met a
number of women, but this one was different. He didn’t know
why, but he felt like they could be so much more than just
professional. He smiled and looked around the room before he walked
out. He decided he would give her a few hours and then make his move
again. He needed to have her, he had to have her.

1. Chapter
   3
   

“
You made out with your
client?” Meg Tyler, Julie’s best friend asked in
surprise. The two were at Julie’s place catching up after what
seemed like forever. Julie had just told Meg what happened between
her and Steven when she was showing a house to him and Meg was
ecstatic to say the least. In her opinion, Julie’s life could
have used a little sprucing up since she seemed to ‘zombie’
through her life. It was a day after the kiss with Steven and Julie
felt that she needed to vent.

“
Don’t judge me,”
Julie groaned as she took a carton of milk from her fridge. Meg
smiled and shook her head.

“
Oh sweetie, what I’m
doing is so much more than judging,” she replied honestly.

“
What are you talking about?”
Julie asked as she looked up at her friend.

“
Really, you don’t know?
You, a person who has a rule worse than the 90 day rule kissed
someone she had only known for an hour?” She then raised her
hand and laughed. “Wait, the right term is made out,” she
added, mischief in her eyes.

“
Now how is that not
judgmental?” Julie asked.

“
Well, like I said, it is
worse. It is what I like to call hypocritical,” Meg told her as
she helped Julie transfer the freshly baked cookies onto a platter.
Julie looked at her and shrugged.

“
One lump or two?” she
asked as she poured coffee in two cups.

“
Honey, you’ve known me
forever and I always take two lumps with my coffee. You are just
trying to change the subject,” Meg said.

“
No, I’m not,”
Julie argued, rolling her eyes as the two walked to the living room.

“
I am so glad your dad isn’t
here right now. Because if he was, he would have taken my side of the
argument,” Meg chuckled. Julie rolled her eyes again as she sat
down.

“
Fine, let’s just assume
for a minute that you are right. What would your argument be?”
she asked before taking a sip of her coffee.

“
Oh my God…you just gave
me so much leeway,” Meg said laughing.

“
What do you mean leeway? I
haven’t….” Julie started to say before Meg put a
finger on her lips and began to speak.

“
Let me make it easy. I will
let you have three names. Names of guys you may have had a chance
with but bailed before you even hugged.”

Julie shrugged and shook her head.

“
Really?” Julie asked.

“
I’m being serious,”
Meg exclaimed.

“
Okay…Paul,” Julie
admitted in defeat. She knew that once Meg had set her mind on
something, she was like a dog with a bone.

“
Paul, interesting choice. You
met for coffee and then breakfast and then dinner but you never got
through the dinner,” Meg said.

“
Yeah, what really happened?”
Julie asked as she took another sip of her coffee.

“
Well, you went to the bathroom
and when you came back he was sitting with his ex and you went back
home,” Meg said before she bit into a cookie.

“
Well I cannot be blamed for
bailing on a guy that had attachment issues with his ex, now can I?”
Julie objected.

“
Well, the point is that you
bailed before you even knew why the ex was there and yet you were
locking lips with a man you hardly knew anything about,” Meg
reminded her.

Julie nodded and shrugged.

“
Fine I get it,” Julie
reasoned.

“
No way, you started this and
you are ending it. There are two more guys on the list and you have
to give me the names,” Meg insisted looking more excited than
ever.

“
Fine. There was that guy Dean
a few months ago,” Julie told her.

“
Yeah Dean…did you ever
call him back?” By this time Meg was trying real hard to stifle
a laugh.

“
No. He was kind of…lame.
You can’t blame me. The guy had a body of a god but the brain
of a…I don’t know, rat?” Julie claimed.

“
And this you based on how many
minutes of knowing him?” Meg asked.

“
It had been a while…maybe
a few hours, but even you wouldn’t compare him to Steven,”
Julie said. Meg bit into another cookie and raised an eyebrow at
Julie.

“
Steven? We are on first name
basis now?” she teased. Julie looked at her and shrugged.

“
That was his idea not mine and
this game is over by the way. The guys I have met in the past cannot
compare to Steven, not in the very least.”

“
And this is because of what
exactly?” Meg asked.

“
Calling him Mr. Davenport
every time was…” her words trailed off when she realized
how ridiculous she sounded. “Look, it doesn’t matter. I
call him Steven and he calls me Julie. That’s just how it is,”
she snapped as she took a cookie from the plate.

“
And you are going to have two
beautiful babies and name them Ashley and Alec Davenport,” Meg
said laughing.

“
Stop that,” Julie barked
staring daggers at her.

“
Okay fine,” Meg sighed
before continuing. “So what happened next?”

“
What do you think? I bolted
out of there. I didn’t even show him the second house and I
have been waiting for an angry call from Dana but there’s been
nothing so far. It’s almost as if she doesn’t know about
the whole thing,” Julie cried.

“
Isn’t that a good
thing?” Meg asked.

“
Well, yeah…but I have
been getting on her nerves of late…you know arriving late and
everything but maybe he didn’t tell on me.”

“
Well, you need to figure out
something soon because you will be at that office in a few hours,”
Meg said as she looked at her watch. “Damn it, look at the
time. I forgot I had to drop off mum’s dry cleaning,” she
told Julie as she stood up. “This was great. And as best
friends, we need to hook up more often. Skype just doesn’t work
anymore,” she added as she picked up her purse.

“
Want some for the road?”
Julie offered as she pointed at the plate of cookies.

“
Read my mind,” Meg
laughed before Julie walked to the kitchen and put a few cookies in a
container. She walked back and handed them to Meg before walking her
out.

“
Lunch on Sunday?” Julie
asked.

“
One on one, not on Skype,”
Meg ordered. Julie laughed. For almost a month now, their standing
lunch date had been almost non-existent. Julie gave her a hug and
nodded.

“
If Dana hasn't killed me by
then, I most definitely will,” she joked before pulling away.
“Drive safe,” she shouted, as she watched Meg pulling out
of the driveway. She stood there for some time before she walked back
into the house, just in time to hear her phone ring. She rushed to
the kitchen where she had left her phone and looked at the screen.
“No caller
ID,”
she
thought as she looked at the screen. “Hello, Julie Parker,”
she answered as she picked up the phone.

“
Julie, hi. It’s Steven
Davenport.” Julie froze when she heard his voice. She ran her
fingers through her hair and sighed.

“
Steven…hi,” she
managed to say.

“
Hi, I just wanted to check on
you. See if you’re okay seeing as we never finished the house
tour yesterday,” he replied.

“
I know and I’m sorry
about that,” Julie said as she sat down. “It’s just
that…I…I really don’t know what to say,”
she stuttered as she tried as hard as she could to get the right
words to express herself to no avail. Steven laughed.

“
It’s perfectly fine,
Julie,” he stated .

“
I am not that kind of person
you know,” Julie said quickly.

“
And what kind is that?”
Steven asked.

“
Well the kind that kisses
every Tom, Dick and Harry without even thinking of the consequences,”
she whispered.

“
For starters Julie, I am no
tom, Dick or Harry and two I find you intriguing. That is why I
kissed you and the reason as to why you kissed me back…”
Julie cleared her throat loudly cutting him short. Steven laughed. He
knew that he was making her uncomfortable and he liked it. “We
can have a do over if you’d like. How about dinner?” he
offered. Julie was quiet for a while as she considered whether she
could handle sitting across from him for a couple of hours, not
forgetting the uncomfortable ride back home. “Are you still
there?” he asked when she didn’t answer.

“
Yes…yeah…I’m
just…dinner? Why would you want to have dinner with me?”
she replied confused.

“
Because, I just told you, I
find you intriguing,” he told her.

“
Just dinner?” she asked.

“
Just dinner,” Steven
confirmed.

“
Okay,” she promised
sighing.

“
So, what do you think, is
tonight alright?” he asked in that sexy British accent that
made her melt. She looked at her watch and gasped.

“
Right now? It’s seven
thirty,” she said.

“
So?” he asked as if that
was no big deal. “Are you having an early night?”

“
No, it’s just that by
the time you get here it will be at around eight then we have to
drive to a restaurant and then…” “…just
leave that to me,” Steven demanded cutting her short. She
sighed and shook her head, a smile playing on the corners of her
lips. She had no idea why she was smiling, but there was something
about Steven, his persistence, his zeal, that made her
strangely…interested in him. She shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“
Fine. I’ll text you my
address,” she said before hanging up. After sending him the
text, she couldn’t help but feel like this was a bad decision
that she would regret the next morning, but somehow, she didn’t
think she had a reason to stop and think about what she was about to
do. She walked to her bedroom and sighed as she thought of taking a
whore bath. That was the only way she was going to be dressed and
ready by the time Steven came for her. She then chose a short white
sleeveless dress that showed all her curves. She coupled the dress
with a green jacket and a matching pair of shoes before she went on
to put on her make up. When she inspected her reflection in the
mirror, she felt a little stupid for getting so glammed up. She
looked spectacular and she had no idea how Steven would react when he
saw her or what he would think. Would he think that she was trying
too hard or that she was maybe trying to throw herself at him? She
shrugged and pushed the thought to the back of her mind. At exactly
eight, she heard the doorbell. She walked to the door slowly, her
heart pounding so loud she could almost hear it in her ears. When she
got to the door, she opened it slowly and tried to smile as she
looked at the dashingly handsome Steven standing on her doorstep
holding a small paper gift bag.

“
You clean up real nice,”
Steven complimented with a smile as he looked at her. She smiled at
him and shrugged.

“
You don’t look so bad
yourself,” she flirted. Steven handed her the bag.

“
I wanted to get you flowers,
but I wasn’t sure what you liked or if you were allergic. So, I
got you chocolate,” he confessed with a smile. The smile
suddenly turned into a frown. “Wait, I am not sure if you are
allergic to that too,” he fretted with a worried look in his
eyes. Julie looked in the back.

“
Tulips and amaryllis, those
are my favorite flowers and no, I am not allergic to chocolate,”
she told him as she pulled the pack out of the bag. She looked up at
him and grinned. “Swiss chocolate is especially perfect,”
she added.