by J. S. Scott
Julian grinned for the first time since Kristin had seen him tonight. “So you won’t kick a guy when he’s down?”
She took in his massive, toned body dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, his black wool jacket open and flapping in the cold breeze.
“I’d like to. But no, I can’t.” She was too concerned with whether or not he was even in his right mind.
He motioned toward a black SUV parked at the curb. “Get in.”
“You shouldn’t be driving,” she admonished.
“I’m fine,” he answered huskily. “But I’m still recovering from seeing you on a date with another guy. What in the hell did you think you were doing?”
He hit the button on the keys to unlock the doors of the vehicle and held open the passenger door.
She scrambled into the seat, the cold wind starting to become uncomfortable.
When Julian got settled in the driver’s seat, she asked again, “Should you be driving? You looked almost serious about believing what you said.”
Reaching into the pocket of his jacket, Julian pulled out a folded piece of paper and dropped it into her lap. “I’m dead serious, Scarlet. We are married. I don’t like seeing you with another guy while I’m off working, and I knew exactly what I was saying.”
Reaching up, she flipped on the reading light as Julian started the vehicle.
It was a marriage certificate, with her and Julian’s names as the bride and groom. Her eyes searched for her signature, noticing it looked familiar but was pretty mangled. “I couldn’t have signed this. When did it happen?”
“Sometime after the champagne breakfast and before I left. I remember bits and pieces of the ceremony now, but I couldn’t recall much before I left.”
“Oh, God.” Kristin just stared at the paper, her body tense as she thought about the fact that she’d actually gotten married in Vegas. “Why would we do that?”
He shook his head. “What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay there. Sometimes you do something that will affect the rest of your life.”
“We couldn’t have, Julian. This has to be a joke.”
“Does it look like a fake marriage certificate to you? I started to remember more and more, so I ordered a copy. It’s legitimate, Kristin. We did get married while we were both trashed.”
“We can get it annulled, right?” She was panicking now.
“Probably not legally. We did have sex, and I remember that part extremely well,” he drawled lazily. “Best night of my life. Although I’m a little hazy on what happened after we got hitched, but I’m pretty sure we consummated the marriage when we got back to the hotel. That might not have been my best performance, because we were both pretty drunk.”
“Be serious!” she answered testily. “This is a problem we have to fix. I don’t remember any of it.”
“What’s the last thing you remember? I’ll try to fill in the blanks.”
Kristin searched her mind for information. “I remember saying we were going to get some breakfast. After that, all I know is I woke up with a hangover from hell. It was enough to make me never want to drink again.” She hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol since that morning.
“At least you remember the hot sex part,” he said, shooting her a grin.
“It wasn’t that hot,” she lied.
“Bullshit,” he answered with humor in his voice. “You told me. It was perfect.”
“I don’t remember,” she lied again. “I thought we couldn’t leave the building again.”
“Security helped us make a quick exit out the back, and I was wearing my cap and sunglasses. I remember how happy you were, especially after finishing a hell of a lot of complimentary champagne when we stopped to eat. After that, I vaguely recall us filling out the papers for a marriage license and the quick ceremony with strangers for witnesses. You said you didn’t want pictures because you’d always remember those moments in detail for the rest of your life. Guess that was the alcohol talking, since you don’t remember anything,” he finished drily.
She turned off the overhead light to make it easier for Julian to drive, then shoved the paper into her purse. “If we can’t get an annulment, I’m sure we could get a divorce.”
“We could,” he agreed amiably. “But I don’t think we will.”
“What’s that mean? Of course we need to clear this up and get divorced. Neither one of us knew what we were doing. I don’t want any of your money. I just want to be free.”
“So you can date Rob?” Julian rasped.
“So I can get married to somebody who loves me, someday, and so can you. We can’t just let this go, Julian. Someday, it will bite one of us in the ass.” Most likely, it would be him, because she certainly had no marriage prospects in sight.
“What about the slick salesman?”
“How did you know he was in sales?”
“Because he acted like he was trying to sell something.”
“He’s not the guy for me,” Kristin admitted with a sigh. “But there might be someone in the future. Before you so rudely interrupted, I was going to turn Rob down.”
“Good,” Julian replied in a smug voice.
Kristin leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes in horror. “I can’t believe I married you. We don’t even like each other.”
“That’s where you’re deluding yourself, Kristin. I’ve never disliked you.”
“We fight.”
“Foreplay,” he stated in a mischievous voice.
“Marriage is a lot more than just sex,” Kristin argued. “You have to have loyalty. You have to be best friends.”
“I haven’t had sex with anybody else. And I’ve told you things I don’t normally discuss,” Julian pointed out as he turned on a two-lane highway leading out of town.
Her heart raced faster. “You haven’t been with anyone else?”
“Of course not. I knew I was married.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Julian leaned back in his seat, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel. “We really did have bad cell service. That was the last way I wanted to tell you if you didn’t know already.”
“Where are you going? You missed my apartment.”
“My house is done. It’s nice. We can go there.”
“I don’t even have a change of clothes. I need to go home, Julian.”
“We are going home. And I had my assistant stock my place with new clothes for you.”
“I can’t live with you.” Jesus! Kristin pondered once again if he was completely coherent. He was driving fine, and he seemed to be oriented.
“You’re forgetting something very important,” he mentioned in a concerned tone.
“What? That we got married and I don’t even know if it was Elvis who tied our knot or a quickie Vegas minister?”
“No,” he denied calmly. “But we did have hot, sweaty sex without birth control. That’s probably why I couldn’t help coming so fast. That and the fact that I’d been wanting to nail you since the minute you opened your sassy mouth.”
“I know we did. I remember the sex part.”
“Then you realize that there is every possibility that you could be pregnant?”
Kristin was silent and put her hand on her abdomen, knowing that particular possibility had never crossed her mind.
CHAPTER 11
“Is that what you’re worried about?” she asked quietly.
“For your sake, yes. I don’t know if you’re ready for a kid. But otherwise, no. I’m not worried. I think I can support any number of children, and I’d like to have a child. Maybe not now, but someday.”
She wanted to ask him what he’d do if she was knocked up, but she had to let him off the hook. “I’m not. I never went off birth control after my last boyfriend several years ago. It helps regulate my periods, so I just stayed on it. I’ve already had my period. I’m not pregnant.”
Kristin rubbed her belly subconsciously, almost mourning something that had
never even begun.
“You sure?” he answered, sounding almost disappointed.
“Positive.” She couldn’t help the note of sadness in her voice.
“Sweetheart, do you want a baby?”
She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. “More than anything. But I don’t think I have much that I can give a child. Hell, I’m struggling just to survive.”
“Not anymore,” he told her calmly. “You have a husband. You have me.” He pulled onto a newly paved road, then turned into a driveway that was lit up by lanterns on posts, spaced out perfectly to line and light the way to Julian’s house. “We’re home.”
Kristin gasped when she saw the well-lit home with brick exterior. Not only was it grand, but it was an elegant design. “You’re going to live here all by yourself?” The home was enormous, an executive-type mansion. Not that she expected anything less from a Sinclair, but it was still pretty damn impressive.
“No. I’m going to live here with you,” he answered with a chuckle as the garage door opened and he pulled his vehicle into the nearly empty space.
“Not. Happening,” she told him stiffly. “I’m going home.”
Julian shrugged. “We are home.”
“I have my own place, and I’d like you to take me back into town.”
He closed the garage door once he’d parked, then got out of the vehicle. “Why? We’re married.”
Kristin gritted her teeth, knowing he was being deliberately obtuse. The only thing she didn’t understand was why. “We need to get a divorce,” she told him irritably as she exited the vehicle to talk to him, following him through the door in the garage. “I know we had sex before we went out and got married. But are you sure we did it after the wedding? Do you remember?”
“Not the details. But knowing me and how much I want to nail you every time I look at you, I think we did,” he answered vaguely.
So no annulment. She couldn’t take the chance that it wouldn’t be legal.
As expected, the home was enormous, but it had a homey feeling nevertheless. Kicking off her shoes in the mudroom, she trailed behind Julian as he strode silently into the house.
With vaulted ceilings and a chef’s kitchen, the place was inviting and warm; a gas fireplace that was already lit stood between the kitchen and what looked like a large family room. “This kitchen is amazing,” she couldn’t keep herself from murmuring as she ran her hand over the granite countertops in appreciation.
“I wouldn’t know. I only use the microwave,” Julian told her with a grin as he removed his coat and took hers. “Want a tour?”
She shouldn’t, but she had to admit she was curious about exactly how Micah would design a house for Julian. A giant media room? Somewhere to play games? What colors? What style? Nobody was going to know Julian like his older brother. Absently, she wondered if Julian had helped with the décor.
“Yes,” she finally answered quietly, giving in to her desire to see more of the home, then followed him room by room until they finally stopped in front of an elevator.
“You have an elevator in your house?” she asked, bemused. “You look like you can handle the stairs.” Her eyes scanned over his broad, powerful body.
He waved her into the elevator. “I might not have parents anymore, but you do.”
She swallowed hard as his meaning hit home. “My mom . . .” Her voice trailed off.
He simply nodded, then said, “I was thinking of adopting a dog, too. And what if I got an older dog who couldn’t make it up the stairs?”
Kristin shook herself from her fog, reminding herself that Julian hadn’t really been planning for her to live here when the house was being built. Adding an elevator had probably been Micah’s idea. If somebody was going to have an enormous luxury mansion, an elevator made sense.
“You actually want a dog?” Kristin had to admit, she was surprised.
“I like dogs. But I haven’t had one since my Lab died when I was a teenager. I was never around to spend any time with an animal.”
Kristin sighed as she stepped into the upper level. “I always wanted a cat.”
“Never had one, but I’m willing to give it a try. One dog and one cat that get along.”
“Julian,” she said in a warning voice.
“What?” he said innocently as he showed her the bedrooms upstairs, each one actually a suite with its own small sitting room and bathroom. “I’m just giving you some options.”
“I’m not living with you.”
Kristin stopped short as she saw the enormous library attached to the sitting room in the master suite. “Oh. My.”
Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined the room, and they were all full of books, all of the books labeled by category. Walking slowly around the room looking up and down in amazement, Kristin noticed he had everything from philosophy and the classics to a horror collection with science fiction right next to it.
“You like to read,” she uttered softly as her palm caressed the bindings of some of the books. “This is quite a collection.” She sat in the cozy nook window that was big enough to seat two. “I love this.”
Julian crossed his arms and smirked. “I thought you might. You can see the ocean from this window. In the summer you’ll be able to sit here and read while you listen to the waves wash in.”
“Or a storm coming in,” she said wistfully, momentarily getting caught up in Julian’s fantasy. “I love thunderstorms.”
“Me too,” he agreed huskily. “They remind me that there are things that are out of our control, things so much bigger than ourselves.”
Maybe it was an odd thing to hear from Julian, but Kristin felt exactly the same way.
He moved forward and held out his hand. She took it and let him pull her to her feet.
“One more thing,” he said enthusiastically. “The master bathroom.”
She chuckled because he sounded so excited about his new home, and she followed him compliantly. “What about it?”
As he reached a connecting door in the bedroom, he turned the handle and pushed the door open, waving her inside.
The first thing she saw was the bathtub. Not that she could miss it. It was enormous and the focal item in the space. It looked like someone had split open a giant crystal and carved out the pool that was placed next to the enormous rain shower in the bathroom. The tub was half-sunken into the floor for easy entrance and exit. Blue hues glinted off the white surface, and it was one of the most inviting things she’d ever seen. Twirling around, she noted the size of the room and the elegant contemporary design that tied everything together. “Holy shit,” she whispered to herself.
“Your tub anytime you want to use it,” Julian said cajolingly.
“It’s your tub. And I think I’d probably drown,” Kristin answered, trying and failing to imagine herself bathing in the enormous bath.
“I’d be more than happy to dive in and save you,” he mentioned amiably.
Kristin pictured herself pretending to be sliding under the water just so Julian would get that hot body naked and jump in with her. There was room enough for two. Hell, there was room enough to have a giant orgy if one was into that kind of thing.
She turned to him, resigned. “You have a beautiful home. Thank you for the tour. But I really need to get back to town.”
“Your house, too,” he grumbled unhappily.
The fairy tale had ended when she’d left Vegas, and she had to remember that. “This is your life, not mine,” she told him firmly as she started toward the stairs.
He followed closely. “Kristin? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t do this. I can’t pretend that this marriage is anything but a big mistake.” She choked back a sob, tears filling her eyes as she went to take the first step and misjudged the distance, pitching her forward.
“Fuck. Kristin. No!”
A muscular arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her backward as Julian pitched sideways and groaned before tumbling down the long flight of stairs,
his balance off from the effort it took to pull her back to land on her ass on the second step.
“Jesus! He’s injured,” she rasped as she suddenly understood why he’d sounded like he was in pain just before the fall. “Julian!”
Kristin took the steps as fast as humanly possible and dropped to her knees beside his way-too-still body at the bottom of the steps.
He was on his back, and his eyes were closed and his head was bleeding. The stairs were marble, and there had been absolutely nothing to cushion his hard fall.
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry,” she babbled as she felt for his pulse and watched the rise and fall of his chest with relief.
Regret tore through her, but she went into medical mode, ignoring the pool of blood on the floor as she pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans to dial 911 to get an ambulance on the way.
I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. He injured himself even more to keep me from falling.
After hanging up the phone and stuffing it back in her pocket, she dashed to the kitchen and opened drawers until she found a clean kitchen towel. She used it to hold pressure on the large gash to his forehead.
As he began to stir, she tried to keep him still. “Don’t move. I’m not sure if you hurt your back or your neck,” she told him sternly. “An ambulance is coming.”
He blinked as he opened his gorgeous blue eyes, and his gaze landed directly on her face almost immediately. “Don’t run,” he requested groggily.
“I’m not going anywhere right now. You almost killed yourself. What were you thinking?” She held the towel steady as she looked down at him, her heart melting as she thought about how confidently he’d put himself at risk to keep her from tumbling down the stairs.
“It was going to be me or you,” he answered as he shot her a crooked grin.
“You could have just let me go. Maybe I could have caught my balance.”
“Or maybe you wouldn’t,” he argued. “Better me than you. My head is harder.” He started to try to get up.
She pushed him back down gently. “Just for once, can you listen to me? Don’t try to get up right now.”
