Moments of Julian (10 page)

I’ve been dying to dance the rumba
with Julian ever since I saw the first steps. I wanted his hands on
my body again and I wanted to hold that intensity in his eyes with
every excuse to be doing so.

But then he disappeared.

“
I do hope you were able
to find a room to stay in in Toronto,” I say, still not looking up
from the magazine. I turn the page absentmindedly. “Apparently
there is a big conference going on. Gretch had to spend an
astronomical amount of the company’s money on a room for
me.”

“
Actually,” Julian says,
crossing his ankle over the opposite knee. “When I looked, there
were no rooms available. Everywhere I looked was booked or over a
thousand dollars a night.”

“
You apparently had the
money to book a last minute first class ticket,” I counter. “Surely
you could afford a room.”

“
Call me
frugal.”

“
So where are you planning
to stay Mr. Dohring?” I ask, looking over at him and raising an
eyebrow. “The park benches will be getting a little wet with all
the expected rain.”

“
I suppose I’ll be left to
the streets,” he whispers, leaning in closer. “If some kind soul
doesn’t offer me refuge.”

“
Are you asking me to
scandalously invite a man into my hotel room on a business
vacation?” I say, now only inches away from those devilish lips of
his.

“
I’ll tell the world my
only intent is the couch,” his voice drops even lower and I can
feel his breath on my jawline.

“
And we’ll all know you’re
a liar,” I breathe.

“
May I get the two of you
a Chardonnay?” the attendant interrupts.

Julian sits back in his seat relaxed
and unembarrassed so I try to do the same thing. But my skin
tingles and my chest feels warm. “I’ll take one, thank
you.”

“
And you Maam?”

I shake my head. “I’ll just have a
Diet Coke.”

The attendant nods her head and leaves
to get what we asked for.

“
That’s twice now that
you’ve declined a drink while I’ve been around,” Julian
observes.

“
I like to have a clear
head,” I say, holding his eyes and daring him to question
further.

Julian eventually gives a nod. “Fair
enough.”

We get our drinks and while the
conversation dies down and is quiet, I contemplate the fact that I
know I will let Julian stay in my room with me and what that will
mean. How am I going to handle this situation in less than three
hours?

I haven’t slept with someone in over
ten years, and I will not change that. But can I trust my body to
agree with my head when the door closes, there are no prying eyes
around, and no events pressing on our time?

I hope so.

But I tend to transform into a
different person when it comes to Julian and his wicked lips and
savage hands.

Two and a half hours later, the tires
touch down in Toronto. Julian once again takes my bag and we are
let off the plane.

“
I’m assuming you have at
least one other bag?” Julian asks as we walk into the main
terminal. He’s teasing as usual, I can barely imagine the sound of
his voice without it, but he isn’t being disrespectful.

“
I thought I was doing
pretty good, only having to check one bag,” I say as I adjust the
strap of my briefcase over my shoulder.

“
I am impressed,” Julian
says as a full smile breaks over his gorgeous face.

When Julian smiles, I can’t help but
smile too.

We reach the baggage claim and my
robin’s egg blue suitcase that matches my carryon comes rolling
out. Julian grabs it and clips my two bags together. When he turns
to leave the airport, I realize he isn’t waiting for any more bags
for himself. He’s got his duffle bag and that is all.

For some reason, this makes me
smile.

“
So,” Julian says as we
near the exit. “Taxi or rental car?”

“
Taxi,” I reply without
hesitation. “There is no way I’m driving myself around an
unfamiliar city of this size.”

Julian lets out a huge breath and a
chuckle at the same time. “I am so glad you said that. Not that I
don’t trust your driving. So far you’ve been an excellent
taxi.”

“
What do you mean?” I
question as we step out onto the sidewalk and I raise my arm for a
taxi. One instantly spots us and makes its way over.

“
Confession time, if
you’re ready for it,” he says with raised eyebrows. A smile curls
on my lips and I shrug one shoulder. “Traveling to big cities
seriously stresses me out. If I have to drive, I’m an anxious train
wreck.”

“
See,” I say as the driver
stashes our bags in the trunk and we climb in. I quickly rattle off
the address of the hotel and he takes off. “I’m once again
beginning to wonder if you really do have your own car. You
obviously don’t like to drive.”

“
Oh, I don’t mind
driving,” he says as he looks out into the evening light. “But not
when I don’t really know where I’m going. I have an irrational fear
of getting lost on the roads.”

“
That’s an interesting
fear,” I say, starting to feel uncomfortable. This is starting to
sink into the personal and so far I’ve managed to avoid
this.

No man has wanted to get too personal
with me once they’ve spent a few minutes in my presence. After so
many years, I’ve convinced myself that I don’t want to get too
personal anyway.

Don’t let people see the real you and
they can’t ever hurt you.

I’m questioning my ability to cling to
that doctrine through this weekend.

“
Mazeophobia,” Julian
says. I give him a quizzical look and he continues. “That’s what
it’s called.”

My instinct reaction is to say
something sarcastic and snarky about it, but I’m really not that
cruel. “It’s understandable,” I say, not entirely sure what to say.
“I don’t like driving in unfamiliar places either.”

“
So we thank you for your
services, sir,” Julian says, his tone instantly light
again.

The driver chuckles and waves a hand
at us.

Just seven minutes later, he pulls up
to the front doors of the hotel. I pay the man with the company
credit card, and he leaves Julian and I there with our
luggage.

The lobby of the hotel is huge with at
least twenty foot ceilings. Giant wooden pillars with metal inlaid
in them stretch high above us. Every so often, an abstract
sculpture hangs from the ceiling. The space is intimidating and
reeks of successful residents.

It’s a bit cold and manly feeling for
my taste, but I like it well enough.

We walk to the huge check in
desk.

“
Welcome to the Four
Seasons,” the man greets us with a warm smile. “How may I be of
service?”

“
I have a reservation
under Digit Securities,” I tell him.

The man takes ten seconds to look it
up. “Miss Sage McCain?” I nod. “And I see you’ve brought a guest
with you.” There’s suggestion in the man’s voice that both makes my
face warm, my skin prickle, and my blood race. “Your name, sir? I
just need it for emergency reasons. We like to know who’s staying
with us.”

“
Julian Dohring,” he
replies. I can hear a smile in his voice and know he didn’t miss
the desk man’s suggestive tone either.

“
Okay,” he says as he
types that in. “You two will be staying in the Bellaire Suite on
the fifteenth floor.” He slides two room keys into a sleeve and
lets it rest on the counter. “I just need you to sign here, and
here.”

I sign the papers and take the room
keys. I turn and don’t look at Julian as we walk toward the
elevators.

There is an ancient looking man
hobbling his way in our direction. I catch his eye and he smiles at
Julian and I.

“
You two look like you’re
just starting out a honeymoon,” he says with a wink. “You make a
lovely couple.”

“
Oh, uh…” I stutter, about
to correct the man.

“
Why thank you sir,”
Julian says as he puts an arm over my shoulders and hugs me close.
He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “We are very happy and it
was a lovely wedding.”

The man beams and gives us another
wink as he starts on his way again. “You two kids have fun
tonight.”

My face is frozen in horror as Julian
walks forward, his arm still around my shoulder and presses the
button for the elevator. It immediately dings and we walk
inside.

“
That was…” I struggle for
words.

“
Fun,” Julian says. He
sees my still frozen in disbelief face and gives me a lopsided
smile. “You know we just made that old man’s day. Come on, it was
cute for him and hilarious for me.”

Suddenly my face unfreezes and forms
into a scowl. “Maybe I should just let you go ahead and spend the
thousand dollars for your own room tonight.”

“
I don’t think so,” Julian
says back. “I’m already on the room. They took my name down and
everything.”

“
Hmm,” I say, still
scowling. “A couch for you tonight may be too generous. I’m
thinking the floor maybe and you can use that jacket as a
blanket.”

Julian’s eyes darken and his face
drops into the come-hither realms. He takes a slow step forward. He
puts a hand on the wall behind me on either side of my face and
lowers his own to the side of my ear. “I think I might be able to
change your mind about that.” His breath traces its way down my
neck and down the front of my shirt. Every cell in my body becomes
electric. He barely brushes his lips against the hollow at the base
of my ear.

The door slides open.

“
Ew!” a shrill voice calls
out. Julian backs away instantly and my eyes widen in shame when I
see the mother with two young children staring. The woman glares
fire darts at us.

I lower my head and walk straight past
them, leaving Julian to the luggage.

My fingers are trembling and it takes
me three tries to get the door open. I push through it just as
Julian catches up with me.

The room is huge with a designated
bedroom area, a sitting area with a couch, two oversized chairs,
and a television, and an enormous bathroom. Everything is
beautifully modern and sleek. There is an overall white and sea
foam green coloring to the place that makes it feel light and
airy.

“
Nice place,” Julian
observes as he lets the door close quietly behind him. He wheels my
bags in and parks them next to the bed. “King size.” He raises an
eyebrow, but seems to know better than to look at me.

“
Let’s find somewhere to
eat, shall we?” I say, trying my best not to panic.

I am not prepared for this. I play
tough and unaffected and I banter and tease. But having that door
close and having this bed here and having no other eyes around
makes this very real. There is only Julian and there is only me
here and I am not fool enough to deny that I am ridiculously
attracted to him.

But the past makes us who we are and I
just cannot go there.

“
Hey,” Julian says and
when I catch the genuine concern in his voice, I turn. His brows
are furrowed and he’s looking right at me. “I’m…I’m sorry. I’m just
playing around. Sometimes I get a little carried away. I’m not
trying to be an assuming dick.”

I bite my lower lip and I should say
something snarky so he doesn’t see how upset I am, but I just don’t
have it in me. So instead, I just nod and pull my phone out to
start looking for somewhere to have a late meal.

CHAPTER SEVEN

In the morning, I wake to find Julian
gone. For a moment I panic. I’d wanted him to back off last night,
but the last thing I wanted him to do was leave. But then I see
that his bag is still at the foot of the couch and there is a note
lying on the coffee table.

Went for a
swim.

My pulse slowly works its way back
toward normal. Taking advantage of the alone time, I lock the
bathroom door and strip down. The shower is complicated and modern
and it takes me a minute to figure out how to use it, but soon hot
water cascades from the rain shower head.

I do my hair in a French braid across
the top of my head before knotting the rest of it in a complicated
twist just below my left ear. Makeup kept simple yet effective, I
hook a pair of simple earrings in and pull on a grey pencil skirt.
I adorn the detailed white sleeveless top and top it off with a
red, three-quarters length, blazer. A simple pair of black pumps
completes the not too intimidating, but still confident
outfit.

I open the door and step out to find
Julian digging through his bag.

“
You look nice,” he says,
his voice sincere.

“
Like I’m ready to conquer
the Canadian banking world?” I ask, doing a slow turn for
him.

“
Something like that,” he
says. He smiles, but there is something sad to it. But before I can
observe it too closely, he looks back down at his bag and pulls out
different clothing items. “You done with the shower?”