Moments of Julian (29 page)

“
Sorry, Mom,” I say as I
give her a hug. “Your sons are being immature.”

“
Boys,” she scolds them,
but she’s fighting a smile. “You be nice to your
sister.”

“
Only if Julian promises
to be nice to her tonight,” Drake keeps it up.

“
We’re leaving!” I bellow
as I grab Julian’s hand once again and drag him to the door. He
awkwardly turns and waves goodbye.

“
Goodnight Mr. and Mrs.
Dohring!” they all call just as the door slams closed.

“
Let’s just go back to
Tahiti,” I say as we walk to the Land Rover. I lean against the
passenger door and grab a fistful of Julian’s jacket and pull him
toward me. “Just until they all chill out and stop pestering us and
being stupid about all this.”

“
Mrs. Dohring, is your
family getting to you?” Julian says with a smug smile. “Not many
people affect you, you normally think you’re above them, but your
family has you using words like stupid and chill.”

“
Shut up,” I say with a
chuckle as I pull him closer to me and press my lips to
his.

“
I feel like I’m slipping
back into middle school,” he continues to tease and smiles through
my kiss. “She’s telling me to shut up now.”

“
You won’t be thinking
about middle school in about twenty minutes when we get home,” I
growl into his throat and nip at his skin with my teeth.

“
Get in the car, now
Sage,” he says, suddenly all business. He holds the door open and
starts shooing me inside. I give a victorious
ha
as I climb in and
buckle.

Julian traces patterns on my leg as we
drive back home. We are quiet and the air is full of the events of
the past, present, and future.

We were married at Thornewood Castle,
a mansion of a house turned event venue in Lakewood. It was classic
and elegant. There was family, all except Lake, who was unable to
get leave. There were friends, new and old. And there was half of
Digit.

Avia was my maid of honor, Mic of
course was Julian’s best man. It was sad, the fact that his parents
weren’t there, and that he had no other family. But that was part
of what marriage was about, gaining more family. He was getting
more than he could chew with mine.

I looked fantastic in my dress. It had
an open back and tight fitting lace that hugged my hips and fanned
out in a mermaid cut. But I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face
when I saw Julian in his dark grey suit. His eyes blazed as I
walked down the aisle toward him and then there was not a second’s
hesitation when we both said “I do.”

We danced that night. Julian and I
practiced our rumba routine for weeks. It was intimate and sensual,
and I couldn’t help but grin like a fool. I didn’t care that all
our family and friends were watching us. When I was being led by
Julian, held firmly in his arms, I knew he would never lead me
wrong.

I think Julian and I were the most
stressed out about us leaving for two weeks. We’ve done incredible
things with the company ever since the Red Door was launched. With
us and Mr. Maxwell working together as an invested team, we’ve
taken over the financial security industry worldwide.

It was difficult for us to take two
weeks off from our gigantic child.

But then we were in Tahiti, and Digit
was the furthest from my mind.

I had known Julian was nervous leading
up to the wedding. Neither of us had forgotten how I’d reacted in
Toronto that first night when things got too serious, and then the
night I told him my reasons for my abstinence pledge. I knew it was
in the back of his mind, the fear that I wouldn’t be able to
overcome the past once we were married.

He had nothing to worry
about.

We had fourteen wild, blissful, crazy
days and nights.

The best days of my life.

Now we are home and
everything in me thrills at the thought of it being
ours
.
Together.

It was hard to sell my condo. After
being on the market for two weeks, a nice couple made me a full
price offer. The deal closed while we were on our honeymoon. Kale
found some roommates to move in with.

The night before the wedding, I
wandered through the condo quietly on my own, recalling all the
happy memories that had been made there.

But I smile even more thinking about
all the ones Julian and I are about to make in his
house.

Avia agreed to make
it
our
house
while we were on our honeymoon. I had a very long meeting with her
before the wedding and then handed the keys to the house over to
her.

I’m both nervous and excited to see
what she’s done with the place since we’ve been gone.

The security guard lets us through the
community gate and Julian pulls forward into the neighborhood. We
wind between trees and houses and eventually the road drops down
toward the water.

We pass three, four, five houses, and
then there is the gate.

Julian enters the code and the metal
gate rolls back into the bushes. He pulls forward and parks the
Land Rover in the driveway.

For a second, I am about to ask him
why he didn’t park in the garage. But then I remember that this is
the first time we have been home since the wedding.

A smile spreads on my face as Julian
climbs out and walks around to my door. My heart starts racing and
heat pools in certain places of my body. Julian pulls the door open
and before he can wait for me to climb out, I grab his jacket again
and tug him toward me.

He wedges himself between my legs and
molds himself to the shape of my body. His eyes dance with fire and
a smile curls on his lips before they meet mine.

I let my hands slide under his shirt
and my fingers work their way up over his abs first and then to his
chest. I let my fingers stop generally where that intricate lock is
forever tattooed to his skin.

Reciprocating the move, Julian’s hands
slide up my own shirt. His palms are warm as they slide up my
sides. And then one hand sneaks under my bra. His fingers and palm
slide over my breast and he lets his fingers rest on my
key.

We both have rings on our fingers.
They were expensive and they’re glitzy and glamorous. But to the
both of us, our tattoos will always be the real symbol of our
commitment to each other. A ring is easy to take off or lose, but
the ink on our skin will never be removed.

Julian slides his arms underneath me
and hauls me out of the car and I give a delighted squeal. In a
dramatic move, he literally runs to the front door and stands in
front of it for a long moment.

He looks down at me and I tell myself
not to think about what is going to happen in about sixty seconds.
For right now, I want to savor this moment, because I will never
get to experience it again.

Each moment of Julian has led to the
next. This won’t be the best one, I know that. And I hope that I
never get to a point where I can define what the best one
was.

Every moment of Julian is a moment of
joy.

“
I love you,” I say as I
place a hand on his cheek. “Thanks for being a little crazy with
me.”

“
There was never anything
crazy about this,” he breathes back, his eyes burning with
intensity. “You and me make perfect sense.”

I push my lips to his, letting them
linger, barely touching, and breathe him in. Even after all this
time, his scent still reminds me of that first night at the banquet
when I fell with him into the back of my car for a crazy night of
hands and lips and lustful sighs. He still smells crisp, and clean,
and sophisticated.

Julian reaches a hand out and twists
the door knob.

“
Welcome home, Mrs.
Dohring,” he says.

ACKWNOLEDGEMENTS

In all honesty, this book came about
when I decided to let go of all the stress that comes with trying
to write a book with readers and sales and all the outside forces.
I just plain and simply wrote it the way I wanted to write it and
decided not to care about anything. At least in the first
draft.

But I wouldn’t be able to do this
without some amazing readers and some amazing friends.

Thank you to David, Valarie, and Rose
for combing through this and pointing out its flaws and the things
that were working. Beta readers are a unique gem that you really
can’t have an appreciation for until you need some. You are all
awesome and I am in your debt.

And thank you to YOU for continuing to
support me in living my dream.

KEARY TAYLOR
grew up
along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where she started
creating imaginary worlds and daring characters who always fell in
love. She now splits her time between a tiny island in the Pacific
Northwest and Utah with her husband and their two children. She
continues to have an overactive imagination that frequently keeps
her up at night.

Please visit
www.KearyTaylor.com
to
learn more about her and her writing process.