Moments of Julian (15 page)

The door opens and that annoying young
girl is laughing and talking nonstop.

I look up to see her blabbing at
Julian.

His lips curl when he sees me, and I
know I’m smiling too. I stand and watch him walk to the front of
the room to talk to Beth.

My cheeks are flushed and my chest and
neck feel hot. My blood is rising and racing. Every move Julian
makes I am acutely aware of.

It’s been eleven days
since I’ve actually seen him and I am Julian
starved
.

“
Let’s get started!” Beth
yells and claps her hands together. “Everyone in a line and we will
start off with our cha-cha runs!”

All the women line up behind Beth, the
men behind Julian. I stay to one end of the women so I am closest
to Julian.

For the first time in a long time, I
make a very big effort to give my hips the movement Beth has
perfected. I use my knees to get rotation, I use rise and fall to
form my lines and flow.

It seems to be working. Julian can’t
stop looking over his shoulder at me.

We go over the footwork for spot turns
and individually go over underarm turns. And finally, finally, it
is time for partners.

Julian makes no hesitation in placing
a hand on my back and taking my hand up in the other.

My entire body leaps to flames at his
touch. My eyes slide closed for a moment and I take a deep breath
of his oh so familiar scent.

It feels like it’s been months since I
was last in his arms in Toronto, not weeks.

I open my eyes as Beth starts the
music and Julian effortlessly leads us into the basic. He holds me
tighter than he needs to, but I will be the last person on Earth to
complain.

“
The last two weeks have
been killing me,” Julian breathes low into my ear.

“
You said that yesterday,”
I tease as he leads me into the underarm turn.

“
It’s bad,” he says as we
come together again. We start forward and back in a run. “I should
be wrapping up this project by the middle of next week and then I
have a business trip the beginning of next. But every second you
can spare in between those times I plan to occupy.”

“
And what if I am
otherwise occupied?” I tease. It’s instinct reaction. If Julian
wants to occupy my time, I will make myself incredibly
available.

“
Then I will have to con
Gretchen into telling me where you live and I will sneak into your
bed to get what little time I can with you.” He has dropped his
face low to my ear and his lips tickle my skin.

“
My place has an extensive
security system,” I say as we start another basic. “Perhaps I will
have to start forgetting to set it at night.”

“
Problem is, I seem to
remember you saying you have a brother who lives with you though.
I’d rather not get shot trying to sneak into your bed.”

“
Kale doesn’t own a gun,”
I smile. “But yes, he might be a problem for you.”

“
Okay!” Beth interrupts.
“Switch partners, please!”

Switching is the very last thing I
want to do. I’ve only just gotten Julian back within reach, I don’t
want to let him go again so soon. Touching him is quickly becoming
addictive. But regretfully, I watch him switch to that stupid young
girl.

I’m really not jealous. But I am
annoyed by the way she flirts with him.

Since we are now almost done with the
fifth week of class, everyone has gotten pretty familiar with the
steps. None of us move the wrong direction very often, and we no
longer trod on each other’s toes. There are starting to be definite
people who are better dancers than others. I’m somewhere between
the better ones and the middle. Except with Julian. Then I know I’m
the best.

When class ends, I gather my things
and am very aware of Julian’s eyes on my rear end when I am bent
over. A smile curls on my lips.

My phone starts ringing and I check
the caller ID.

“
Lake,” I say
excitedly.

“
Hey,” he says in his
gruff voice. “Wanna grab some dinner tonight? I know it’s late, but
thought I’d ask.”

“
Uh,” I say, glancing back
at Julian who is talking to Beth. I’m a terrible sister for the
fact that I’m torn between his offer and spending time with Julian.
“Yeah,” I say with a wistful sign. “I’ll meet you at my place in
ten minutes.”

Someday
I’ll get more than a few stolen moments of
Julian.

——

Friday Digit is only open half the day
in celebration of Independence Day. As soon as I get off work at
eleven thirty, I dart to my car and am lucky I don’t get a speeding
ticket as I race to Woodinville. I pull up to Mom and Dad’s curb
just as they are walking out of the house.

“
You barely made it in
time, young lady,” Dad says with a smile as he puts his armload of
blankets and chairs in the back of Mom’s minivan. We’ve all been
out of the house for a year or more, but she still loves driving
one. “Climb on in. Drake and Kaylee are meeting us
there.”

Just then Kale and Lake dart out of
the house, laughing loudly about something.

“
Boys!” Mom yells. “Get
in, we’re not going to get anywhere to sit if we don’t go
now!”

A ridiculous smile is spread on my
face when we’re all loaded and Dad backs out of the driveway. “Wow,
flashback to childhood. If Drake were here I’d feel like I was ten
years old again on my way to a soccer game.”

“
I miss those days,” Mom
says with hints of happiness and sadness in her voice.

“
How’d your appointment
go, by the way dad?” Lake says.

“
Uncomfortable,” Dad says
and squirms in his seat. “But fine.”

“
So everything was okay?”
I ask. For a second, my heartbeat kicks up and dread fills my
stomach.

“
Things look good,” Dad
says as he turns toward the parade. “I’m healthy as a
horse.”

“
Glad to hear it,” I say
with a smile.

As we near State Street, Dad finds
somewhere to park and we all climb out. Each of us takes either a
chair, a blanket, or a cooler filled with ice, drinks, and
popsicles.

As we start down the sidewalk looking
for a place that isn’t occupied, a contented smile crosses my
lips.

My life is complicated and intense. I
spend my days stressing about clients and positions and
money.

I don’t often take time to appreciate
simple moments like this. Moments of sitting under a tree on a hot
day. Moments of snuggling my niece and nephew and chatting with my
sister-in-law about baby clothes. Moments of watching a hometown
Fourth of July parade.

“
You look happy, sweetie,”
Mom says quietly to me as the parade nears the end. She wraps an
arm around my shoulder and squeezes me into her side.

“
I am, Mom,” I say with a
smile as I hug her back.

The house is quiet and dark. Kale is
out on a date, enjoying some post-firework’s party. He hasn’t been
home much at all in the last few days. Between spending time with
Lake and whatever this high paying shoot is, it’s keeping him
busy.

Not that I mind. It’s nice to have my
house to myself sometimes.

I sit down at the desk in my room and
boot my laptop up. I’ve completely forgotten about my bonus until
now. I log into my bank account and pull up my mortgage.

I paid over forty percent down when I
bought the place. Between investment money and what I made off of
the sale of my old apartment it was enough to pay down that huge
chunk. I pay nearly double my mortgage every month and I’ve put
twenty percent of every bonus I’ve gotten toward paying the
mortgage down.

I transfer every penny of this bonus.
I give a satisfied smile as I see the amount owed drop nearly in
half.

I should be able to pay the rest off
within two years. And my home will be mine, free and
clear.

I quickly look over all my recent bank
charges. Keeping a close eye on my finances is something I tend to
be terrible about. When you always know you have plenty in the
bank, you don’t worry about it so often.

There are two deposits into my account
in the last two weeks, both coming in on the same day. One is my
bonus. The other is a smaller deposit, still a huge sum.

It’s roughly twenty percent more than
my bonus last year. I assume this is the addition Mr. Maxwell
talked about. Odd they came from two different sources.

The clock reads twelve thirty when I
log off and close the laptop. I brush my teeth and change into
silky pajama pants and a cotton tank top. I slip into the sheets
and turn the lamp off. I grab my phone, hoping to find a message
from Julian, but there is none.

Just as I lay the phone face down on
the nightstand, I hear something out of place. The slider onto the
deck that overlooks the lake is quiet, but I absolutely recognize
it when I hear it. For a second, I am terrified. Kale would never
come back in through that door. And no one else ever comes
here.

The alarm cuts through the
silence.

I leap out of bed, my heart hammering
in my throat. What to use as a weapon? I can’t find anything to use
except for the seven hundred dollar lamp beside the bed.

“
It’s just me!”

I ball my fist and am about to swing
it just as Julian’s face appears in the dark.

“
It’s just me,” he
repeats.

My breathing comes in sharp, quick
pulls and I am frozen.

My phone starts ringing.

I swear as I pull out of my shocked
state. I grab my phone and answer it as I pass Julian and start
disengaging the alarm system.

Someone introduces themselves from the
security company but I can’t hear them over the sound of the alarm.
Finally, I turn it off.

“
No, I’m fine,” I say,
glaring at Julian who is standing in the hallway with his arms
crossed over his chest. “A friend just came over, I forgot he was
coming.”

“
Have a nice night then,”
the voice on the other end says. I hang up the phone. I fix Julian
with intense eyes as I walk past him and climb back into
bed.

“
You’re in luck,” I say as
I adjust the covers over me. “My brother is out with a girl right
now. If he’d been home and someone broke into the
house…”

Julian crosses the room and climbs
onto my bed. He kneels with a leg on either side of my body and
supports himself with his hands placed to either side of my head.
“I have a deadline to meet Wednesday morning,” he says as he looks
intently into my eyes. “But I will go into a catatonic state if I
don’t take at least a few hours off. And I needed to see
you.”

“
Good to know you follow
up on your threats,” I say, trying to suppress a smile.

“
Always,” he says. He
rolls to the edge and stands to the side of the bed. I hear him
kick his shoes off and I can see his form slightly silhouetted
against the window with a few lights across the lake to highlight
his better features. Meaning all of him. He pulls his shirt over
his head and lets it drop to the floor. My heart somehow does not
explode when he next takes his pants off.

He pulls up the blankets and slips in
next to me. Instead of immediately snuggling up to me, he props his
head up on one hand and looks at me.

“
What?” I ask, feeling
suddenly self-conscious.

“
Nothing,” he says with a
smile. “I just…”

When he doesn’t continue, I urge him.
“You just what?”

“
I just get so damn tired
of not being with you.”

I’m grateful for the nearly full dark
when moisture surprisingly springs to my eyes. I bite my lower lip.
The urge to kiss Julian is killing me. This is what? Our fourth
perfect moment, at least, to share a world rocking kiss?

But I know I cannot trust myself with
him in my bed.

So instead, I scoot closer and tuck
myself into his side. He wraps an arm around my shoulders and I
rest my head on his chest. I let my other hand rest on his stomach,
and his other hand covers mine.

As Julian’s breathing quickly slows
and he drifts off to sleep, I realize that what I feel when Julian
is around is more than like or enjoyment. And grasping that both
thrills and terrifies me.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

“
Auntie Sage!”

A high pitched voice cuts through the
Saturday morning quiet.

I jerk upright in the bed, only to be
weighed down by the arm that is lying across my stomach.

I remember that Julian is in my bed at
the same time Paisley bursts into my bedroom. I feel Julian twitch
awake.

“
EW!” Pay screams when she
sees Julian. “Sage has a BOY in her bed!” She then turns and runs
from the room.

I swear. I’m about to scramble from
bed and slam the door closed when I hear heavy boots walking my
way. And then Lake is standing in the door.