by Sienna Skye
“I have total faith in you.” After we finished the second shot, he grabbed my hand and brought me to the dance floor.
After a number of fast songs and line dances, the DJ had slowed things down a bit. We had just started dancing to the second slow song, when Hunter walked over.
“Hey, knucklehead, have you monopolized enough of my sister’s time yet? She promised me a dance.”
“Yeah, yeah. But, you better give her right back. I need to give her another Screaming Orgasm.”
Hunter mock scowled. “You are really looking for me to kick your ass, aren’t you?”
Kyle laughed as he slapped Hunter on the back and walked off.
I stepped into Hunter’s arms, instinctively pressing my head onto his shoulder. This was home too, but in a much different way than with Morgan. Hunter was my protector, my adviser, my big brother who always stood by my side. He made me feel safe. In his strength, I found my own.
“Today is the happiest day of my life.” He took a deep breath and then paused as if he were choosing his words carefully. “It pains me that two of the people I love most in the world are hurting.”
I tensed briefly, but I was sure he felt it. I really didn’t want to admit to anything in case I was way off base, but I doubted I was. Instead, I pulled back and looked at him, letting my eyes ask the question.
He smirked ever so slightly. “Yes, I know that you and Morgan were together.”
“When did you find out?”
“Morgan finally admitted it to me when he found out you were coming here tonight. I had suspected something after you left. He was a bear to live with. Completely torn up. Hell bent on self-destruction for a while. I gotta tell you, I feel like a dumbass that I didn’t figure it out when it was happening.”
“He is the one who ended things, Hunter. I felt like my heart was torn right out of my chest. Whatever he was going through, I doubt it had anything to do with me. He made the choice. I didn’t break it off with him.” My voice came out harsher than I had intended. I didn’t want to dump all over Hunter.
He blew out a long breath. “You need to talk to him. There is a lot more to the story, Julia. Trust me on this. It’s not my story to tell. Just hear him out. Can you do that…for me?”
I nodded. Even if I hadn’t been planning on talking to Morgan, if I hadn’t had so much of my own to say, I would have done it for Hunter.
“Do you need me to be there? We can all sit down together if that makes you feel better.”
“Thank you, but I think I need to be a big girl and handle this myself. Besides, it’s not fair to stick you in the middle.”
“Fair enough. But, if you need me…. I love you as much as I love him. Remember that.”
I smiled at that. “I know. I love you, too.”
After my dance with Hunter, I headed over to the dessert table. There was the typical dessert fare, but they also had things you would expect to find on a boardwalk down the shore. There was frozen custard, popcorn, and one of my favorites, funnel cake. I was standing at one of the tables, trying to decide which morsel to choose, when someone walked up beside me. I knew who it was. I could tell by the smell of her perfume and the sound of her fingernail tapping against the table. I had done a damn good job of avoiding her up until that point.
“Julia.”
“Mother.” Two could play at this game.
“So nice of you to bother to show up for your brother’s wedding.”
“I would do anything for Hunter. It wasn’t even a question.”
“Well, you certainly don’t care about how this looks for the rest of the family.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“How do you think it looks that you didn’t come and greet me and Parker?”
“Do you really want to go there, Mother? I don’t give a crap how it looks. You have always been all about you. Don’t think that has escaped me. I have zero interest in putting on some kind of charade in order to make you look good.”
She stepped in closer, her eyes turning even harder than usual. Who would have thought that would be possible? She spoke in a low, harsh whisper. “You listen here…”
“No. You. Listen. To. Me. Walk away. Now. You have ignored me for years. Continue the trend.”
I think I surprised her. I was counting on the fact that she would not want to tarnish her image by causing a scene. I should have placed money on that because she turned and walked away.
I went back to making my selection when I felt his hand on my arm. What did a girl have to do to get a cream puff?
“Jules.” Oh look, cannoli too.
“Jules, you promised me a dance.” I looked up at the sky and sighed. Morgan ran his hand down my arm until his fingers intertwined with mine. He tugged me along. “Or do I need to get you a shot first?”
“It sure wouldn’t hurt,” I muttered.
“Come on, woman. Dance with me.”
He pulled me out onto the terrace. The sun was setting out over the bay and it was breathtaking. In another time, I would have eaten up the romanticism of it.
Morgan pulled me into his embrace, one hand low on my back, pulling me close. He could feel how stiff and tense I was. “Relax, Jules. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Too late.” This time it was his turn to tense.
“Just…just dance with me, Jules. Please.” He leaned in and I could have sworn he sniffed my hair. The thumb on the small of my back drew lazy circles. Then he kissed the top of my head. I relaxed into him. I didn’t want to, but God help me, it felt so good.
Three times it seemed like he was about to say something but changed his mind. I wondered what he was thinking.
“Jackie is a lesbian.” I don’t know what I was expecting to come out of his mouth, but it sure as heck wasn’t that.
I pulled back and looked at him. “What?”
“Jackie. She is a lesbian.”
“Okay, so Jackie came to a personal realization that she is gay.”
“She’s always known she was gay. She was a lesbian when you found us together.”
I couldn’t process all that information. I didn’t know if I even wanted to.
“Why are you telling me this, Morgan? You want to let me know that you wanted to get away from me so badly that you seduced a woman you knew was a lesbian? You said you weren’t going to hurt me. This is hurting me.”
He stopped dancing then and looked at me. Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me across the dance floor and into the restaurant, back to an empty room. He closed the door behind us, locking it.
He ran his hand through his hair while those green eyes bore through me, intense and hot. Morgan removed his tux jacket and rolled up the sleeves to his shirt. He had taken off the tie and unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt some time earlier. Still silent, he paced back and forth. He reminded me of a jungle cat. Strong, wild, and predatory. I was afraid to say anything. I insanely thought if I stayed quiet, he might just forget I was there.
He fisted his hands at his side. “There is so much we need to talk about. But, Christ Jules, there was never a time I didn’t want you.”
I raised and dropped my hands in frustration. “How can you say that to me? I was there, remember? You told me you didn’t want me. That it was too much trouble to be with me.”
“Fuck. FUCK!!! If you could only understand. When we talk…I just ask that you hear me out. I swear to you, I have always wanted you. Always. Do you know how hard it was to see you today? To look at you? To smell your scent? All the while just wanting to…. Screw it!”
Without warning, he made three long quick strides toward me, backing me up against the wall. My eyes went wide. His hands came up, cupping my face, his thumbs tracing over my cheekbones. I tried to breathe, but it seemed I had forgotten how. He leaned in close, gently brushing his nose over mine, his mouth just a whisper away from touching my lips.
“Morgan, we can’t…” My words came out in a rush of breath. We couldn
’t. Not before the truth was told.
“I heard you say there was nobody in your life. There is nobody in mine. There hasn’t been anyone since you. So yes, we can.”
He leaned in close and started to press gentle hot kisses down the side of my neck. He remembered every spot that made me melt, made me unable to resist him, and I felt myself getting lost in his touch. He brought his mouth up to my ear, gently sucking on the lobe before speaking.
“Tell me your body doesn’t remember this, Jules. That it doesn’t remember us. How good we fit together, how much pleasure we brought each other. Tell me you don’t feel it. Don’t want it.”
“I can’t.” The words were barely a whisper, but I knew he heard them. I could feel a smile light his lips as he continued to kiss down my neck, to my collar bone, the top of my chest.
The truth was it had been quite some time since I had felt a man’s touch and even longer since I had felt Morgan’s. No other man had moved me, given me the raw, intense pleasure he had. My body craved it. Craved him. It was pointless to try to resist.
I felt fingers trailing up my thigh, under my dress, moving aside the already soaked fabric of my panties. He slid one finger between my folds until it slipped inside me. My breath caught and then I felt a second and a third enter me.
“Oh yes, baby…you remember.” He plunged his fingers into me a few more times and then slid them out, spreading my wetness in circular motion over my clit. I didn’t think my legs would be able to hold me upright any more.
His other hand was braced against the wall right next to my head. He didn’t break eye contact as he lifted his fingers to his mouth, slowly sucking on them, tasting my juices. Damn that was fucking hot! I felt myself get instantly wetter, the inside of my thighs now dripping wet.
Morgan leaned in to kiss me, his tongue exploring my mouth. I felt his hand move from the wall and I could hear him fumble for his wallet, grabbing the condom, and opening it. I heard him unzip his pants and a moment later he grabbed both of my hands, holding them up over my head, pinned against the wall by one of his large hands. With his other hand, he hiked one of my legs around his waist. Then in one smooth quick move, he was inside me. He broke the kiss and whispered harshly against my lips. “Fuck, sweetheart. It’s even better than I remember.” My only response was a moan. I was too lust drunk to speak.
I was vaguely aware of the sound of voices outside. I could smell the salt air as it drifted through an open window. It mingled with his cologne and the scent I had grown to know as being purely Morgan. Both were now lingering on my skin as his body moved up against mine. The DJ was playing something by Lana Del Rey and Morgan’s body seemed to be moving in some kind of synchronicity with the beat of the music. My senses were on overload.
I couldn’t move with my hands pinned over my head and his body pressing mine against the wall. The tension coiled even tighter deep inside me. His free hand pulled the top of my dress aside as he dipped his head, tonguing my nipple before drawing it into his mouth and sucking deeply. My body was screaming for release and in that moment the rest of the world shut out. There was only me and him. I whimpered as I felt the climax building.
“Morgan!”
“Good baby? Just let go. Lose yourself to me. Mmmm…that’s it. Just like that.”
I couldn’t help the cry that tore from my lips as my orgasm broke. He brought his mouth to mine, kissing me to hush my cries. He plunged deeply into me one, two, three times and then I heard his deep groan. Felt it’s vibration against my mouth.
He released my hands and we stood there, foreheads touching, trying to catch our breath. I fisted my hands in his shirt. My emotions got the better of me. My world felt so right when I was with him. But, in reality, it was just an illusion. There was so much to tell him. So much I needed to hear from him. I shouldn’t have allowed that to happen. I had been hiding for years. Postponing the inevitable. The tears flowed from my eyes of their own accord. He tilted my chin up and studied me carefully.
“Jules? Ahhh, no honey, please don’t cry. God, I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
I shook my head.
“What’s wrong? Look, I know I fucked up all those years ago, but I NEVER stopped missing you. Never stopped missing us. I really want us to try again….”
I shook my head emphatically, stopping his declaration mid thought.
“No, Morgan. You don’t understand. How could you? You don’t know…” I let the words drift off, unable or maybe unwilling to say more in that moment. My eyes darted off to the side. I couldn’t bear to face him.
“What? What is it that I don’t understand? Tell me.”
“I can’t. I know I have to. But, not now. Not here. And not right after this.” I waved my hand in between us.
“You know that you can tell me anything. You do know that, don’t you? You forget, I know you Jules. I know how you worry so much that things can seem worse than they are. I doubt it’s as bad as you think.”
I laughed bitterly. I needed to leave. I was on overload. I gently pushed him back away from me.
“I need to go. I’ll come talk to you. I promise. Just not now.”
I started to walk away, but he grabbed my arm and held me there.
“Don’t go, Jules. I’m begging here. Don’t walk away from me again.”
“Please, Morgan. Let me go. For now. I promise I will come talk to you. ”
He let me go, but the look of confusion and hurt in his eyes sliced me open. And I knew it would only get worse.
Chapter Twenty One
Morgan
I stood there like an idiot watching her run off. A few minutes earlier and I would have literally been standing there with my dick in my hands. For a few brief moments, my world had suddenly felt right. It wasn’t just the sex. I mean the sex was fucking fantastic, but I felt like I had found a piece of myself that had been missing. I had been in a daze enjoying my post sex high when she started to cry. I started to panic, afraid that I had hurt her. Look, I had some pent up frustration where Jules was concerned.
I still had so much to tell her. My brain was so clouded that the best I could come up with was blurting out that Jackie was a lesbian. In four years, not a day went by that I didn’t think of Jules. She was front and center in my fantasies when I would jerk off. I would see her face when I was fucking other women. Kind of an asshole thing, I know, but it wasn’t like these were women I was in a relationship with. We were both there for a good time. They knew it was only a night of fun and I made sure I provided them that much. But, it was Jules who was on my mind.
Seeing her did a number on my heart and my body. Throw my soul in there too, because I was pretty sure that was fucked up as well. The thought of other guys fucking her while we were apart pissed me off. So yeah, I was a little primal and rough. Marking my territory. But I would feel like shit if I hurt her.
I finally figured out that expression she wore when she first saw me. The one I hadn’t been able to identify. It had been on her face again. Guilt. Was there someone else? She didn’t wear any rings, so I doubted she was married or engaged. She wouldn’t hide that, would she? Back at dinner she said she didn’t have a boyfriend. Or did she say nobody was coming to visit? Didn’t matter if she did have a boyfriend. If she had one, he was in for the fight of his life. I would do anything to get her back. I’d pull out all the stops. He was going to have to be history. I couldn’t have it any other way.
And what did she mean that I didn’t understand? Maybe that was the boyfriend thing, too? I ran my hand over my face. There was a time when we had no secrets, now she was a total puzzle. Miss Jules and I were going to need to have a long talk. I’d tie her up if I had too. I smirked. She always seemed to like that in the past.
I had to leave in the morning to fly overseas. I would be in Europe for meetings for two weeks. Once I got back, I was going to get some answers.
Chapter Twenty Two
Julia
Monday morning, I drove up from the shore and
headed to Hunter and Morgan’s corporate offices at TechStone. I needed to talk to Morgan. And I needed to meet with one of Hunter’s interns, a woman named Calliope who was going to take me to Hunter’s old place so I could get settled in. I needed to get both of those things done before my aunt drove up.
I stopped at the security desk and gave the guard my name. I was directed to the floor where the executives had their offices. The building was quite impressive. The décor was sleek, with clean lines, and ultramodern looking. Perfect for a software company.
As I stepped off the elevator, I was greeted by a middle aged woman. Her hair was styled in a sleek grey bob and I’d bet money her business suit was high end designer.
“Julia, welcome!”
I scrambled for a moment trying to figure out who she was. I couldn’t place her at all. My face must have given away my confusion.
She laughed. “Don’t worry. We’ve never met. My name is Irene. I’m the boys’ secretary.” I got a kick out of how she referred to them as “the boys”.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Irene.”
“The pleasure is mine. By the way, that blue dress you wore to the wedding was absolutely stunning!”
“Thank you so much. So that is how you knew me, from the wedding.”
“Oh honey, I knew you long before then. Come, let me show you.” She led me over to Hunter’s office. I smiled when I saw his name and then “CEO”. Irene opened the door and we walked inside.
On a credenza there were multiple picture frames. One of the photos was of Sarah and a few were of the two of them together. Beyond that, there were multiple pictures of Hunter and Morgan, some of me and Hunter together, and there was even a candid shot of me laughing. Most of the photos, though, were of the three of us. They spanned years. I ran my fingers over one of the three of us taken the night of the gala. We were all so happy then. I looked at our smiling faces and bright eyes. I had no idea that night just how much my life was going to change.
“He speaks of you often.” Irene’s declaration pulled me out of my own thoughts.
