by J. S. Scott
“Oh, no you don’t,” Julian grumbled, grabbing her by the shoulders and making her stand straight. “I have to be inside you this time, Scarlet. If you wrap that beautiful mouth around me, I’ll never make it.”
He made short work of her bra, then cupped her breasts with his bandaged hands, teasing her nipples with his fingertips.
“Julian.” She arched her back, his teasing almost painful to the sensitive, hard tips.
He stopped and moved his hands down, fumbling with the button of her jeans. She helped him, but once her zipper was down, he slowly lowered the denim and the lace of her panties himself. They only got to her knees before his mouth was between her thighs, his tongue darting between her slick folds.
“Oh, God.” She held on to his shoulders and kicked the garments off, none of which stopped Julian from getting what he wanted.
He grasped her hands and pulled her down to the carpet, their clothing surrounding them in small piles.
Kristin didn’t even notice. All she saw was Julian as he towered above her between her parted legs, his fingertips stroking over her clit. Her body shuddered when she met his eyes, the intense need in his expression so strong that Kristin couldn’t look away.
I feel the same way.
I need you.
Now.
He sat back, then pulled her up onto his lap to straddle him. “I’m not going to be happy unless I can feel all of you,” he told her huskily, holding her until their bodies were flush.
Kristin sighed as soft skin and hard body connected, her nipples brushing against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. “I love you so much,” she whispered into his ear, rubbing her cheek against his forehead.
He lifted her and she scrambled desperately to help him as he lowered her down onto his cock. The bliss of him filling her made her shiver as they finally connected, with Julian buried to the root in her sheath.
“Christ! I love you, baby,” Julian rasped as he squeezed the cheeks of her ass, and then giving them both time to absorb the feeling of finally being free to express exactly how they were feeling.
He didn’t move, his arms just enfolding her and holding her body against him. Kristin panted, needing more, but also wanting this moment.
Julian was hers, and she could feel it with every beat of his stuttering heart against her breasts.
Leaning back, she kissed him, a slow, sensuous motion that seemed to go on forever once he ran his hands up her bare back and speared his fingers in her locks, holding her right where she was while he devoured her with a hunger that matched her own.
They were breathing heavily as he came up for air, and Kristin pushed him onto his back so she could control how much stress he put onto his hands. Rising slowly, his cock slid almost out of her before she went back down, impaling herself until he was buried to his balls.
“Kristin,” he groaned. “Baby. Put me out of my misery. Fuck. Me.”
His hands gripped her hips, and she rocked over him, feeling her own climax building.
Forcing her to pick up the pace by slamming up and into her over and over, Julian manipulated her movements with his hands, gripping her ass tightly.
“Come for me, love,” Julian commanded. “I’m not going to survive much longer.”
Kristin kept grinding down on him as she felt her body coming apart. She was trembling by the time her climax surged through her body, whimpering and moaning as wave after wave of pleasure assaulted her.
“You look so damn beautiful when you come,” Julian growled, thrusting up harder and harder as he found his own heated release.
She collapsed on top of his body in a messy heap, her body spent.
He wrapped his strong arms around her, holding her, leaving their bodies connected. “I love you, Kristin. I can’t believe you’re finally fucking mine.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been meant for anybody else,” she told him as she tried to catch her breath. “You’ve always gotten under my skin.”
“Foreplay,” he reminded her in a playful voice.
She kissed his shoulder, noticing the slightly salty taste of his damp body. “We’re a mess.”
Both of them were drenched in sweat, and she could smell the tantalizing scent of hot sex in the air around them.
He held her tighter. “This is us. It’s you and me together.”
She nodded against his shoulder. She understood every time he said those words. They were separate, but stronger together, different together, incredible together.
It didn’t matter what was superficially dissimilar between them. They were two people who were perfect for each other. Julian was that missing part of her that she’d always longed for and had never found.
She was the part of Julian he’d always been restlessly seeking, but never knew it.
“We need a real honeymoon,” he said earnestly. “I want to start making our memories together. We had a wedding you can’t remember. But I’d love to give you a trip you’ll never forget. Can you get off work for a few weeks?”
She smiled against his warm skin. “I don’t think that will be a problem. Sarah’s pregnant, and I can guarantee that Dante is going to be a worrywart. She’s already getting ready to cut her practice back a lot. I was going to look for something else full time.”
“Is that what you want?”
“No. Working with Sarah is special. But there has never been a time in my life since I was a teenager that I didn’t work every day. I feel like I’m on vacation right now because I’m not needed at the bar.”
“I need you,” Julian replied fiercely. “Just keep working with Sarah until she has the baby, then take time off when she does. It’s not like we need the money.”
“I’d have no idea what to do with myself if I was only working part time,” she mused.
“I’ll make sure to keep you busy,” Julian answered wickedly.
Kristin rolled, finally disconnecting their bodies. She eyed Julian as he was sprawled out on the floor completely naked. She could already think of a few ideas. “We need a shower. I can decide what to do about work later.”
He stood and pulled her to her feet. “Take the time off, sweetheart. Please. You deserve to enjoy your life for a change. Spend some time with me. Micah and I are sharing the responsibility of watching out for Xander, and my cousins are helping even though we never asked them. Let’s both learn how to make things other than work our priorities.”
She knew she could never deny that delicious possibility. Since money was no longer an issue, it was entirely possible for her to work part time. “I might get bored,” she warned teasingly.
He slapped her on the ass, but with his hand bandaged, it caused very little sting. “I’ll make it my job to see that you never get tired of being together.”
Like that was a possibility? “I’ll give it a try,” she agreed.
“I can’t believe Dante is going to have a child,” Julian mused. “He’ll be nagging Sarah all the time.”
“It should be interesting because Emily is pregnant, too. So Grady and Dante can freak out together,” Kristin informed him in a mirthful voice. “They’re due only weeks apart.”
“Holy shit! Do they both know?”
“By now they probably do,” Kristin confided. “They were both going to tell their husbands over the weekend. Both of them are really happy.”
“I’m sure Dante and Grady will be happy, too. But I don’t envy them. I’d be worried, too.”
Kristin had no doubt Julian would be just as attentive and overprotective. “You don’t want kids?”
“I do,” he answered emphatically. “I just want to skip the pregnant-and-fearful stage. Holy hell, and the going-through-labor part. How does a guy stand to see the woman he loves in pain?”
The possessive, protective look he gave her allowed Kristin a taste of what was ahead for them in the future, but she knew she could handle it. “Women safely have babies every day, Julian.” An errant thought popped into her head. “O
h, hell, I guess that’s going to put the ladies’ skydiving on hold.”
“What?” Julian looked at her suspiciously.
“We’d all like Micah to take us skydiving someday. But I think Emily and Sarah will want to wait.”
“You’ll be waiting forever,” Julian answered, his tone adamant. “There’s no way you’re jumping out of a goddamn plane.”
He pulled her into the bathroom so they could clean up, still mumbling about how he’d kill Micah if he ever mentioned taking her diving.
Kristin didn’t bother to tell him that Micah had never asked her, because she just might ask Julian’s older brother to take her one day. Honestly, their love was so new that she would probably feel the same way if Julian did anything to risk his safety. She’d present her argument when it was time.
Right now, all she wanted was to surround herself in the love that Julian was giving her, and wrap herself up in him until they were both sated.
After Julian had taken the bandages off his hands, and they were waiting for the water to reach the right temperature, she threw herself in his arms. “I love you,” she told him with a sigh, kissing the corner of his mouth as she hugged him tightly.
“I love you, too, sweetheart,” he said tenderly as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. “But you’re still not jumping out of a plane.”
She did the only thing she could do when the hot, naked man of her dreams was trying to give her orders.
She laughed until he hauled her into the shower and made her totally forget anything else but him.
CHAPTER 26
The next evening, Kristin still felt like she was walking around in a very surreal dream, one where she was still married to a man she loved with all of her heart.
And he loves me.
That miracle still mystified her, since she and Julian were so different. She knew—no matter what Julian said—that she wasn’t anything but ordinary when it came to her looks and oversized ass. But she wasn’t about to mess with destiny. She was quite happy with her fate.
Julian had hauled her into downtown Amesport this morning. Every single thing they’d done during the morning and afternoon had been frivolous and fun. After spending a few hours at the arcade, Julian had insisted on hitting the movie theater to see a lighthearted comedy that she had mentioned she’d wanted to see when they were in Vegas. Kristin was surprised that he had even remembered, since she’d only mentioned it briefly, and she’d said she’d like to see it when it came out on DVD someday. She usually never had the time to actually go to a movie theater, and she hadn’t been to the old arcade since she was kid.
Later in the afternoon, he’d cajoled her to a few of the shops, buying her outrageous items, like a giant teddy bear that she’d made the mistake of saying was adorable. Finally, she’d had to coerce him away from Main Street to make him stop buying her things she really didn’t need.
Finally, they’d stopped at Sullivan’s for lobster rolls before heading back to Micah’s house on the way back home, to pick up Haven. Tessa hadn’t minded watching the puppy, since she had Homer, her service dog, who had enjoyed his playtime with Julian’s new pup.
Now, Kristin was sitting in front of a warm fireplace at home, surrounded by the fixings for s’mores, wondering what was taking Julian so long to get downstairs. He’d only gone up because he said he wanted to get something on the upper level.
Haven was curled up next to the couch, sleeping peacefully.
“Did Homer wear you out today?” Kristin said aloud to the sleeping puppy with a smile.
Kristin was pleasantly tired herself, having spent one of the most incredible days of her life doing everything and nothing with Julian, the two of them acting like lovers, which they were. She sighed, thinking about how sweet he could be. He held her hand, stole kisses everywhere he could, and never let her forget that he loved her.
And she believed him. She sincerely believed that neither one of them would ever regret their choices. They were too damn happy together.
Her phone pinged with a text, and she pulled her cell out of her back pocket.
Julian: I love you, Scarlet.
She chuckled, wondering why he was texting her when he was in the same house.
Kristin: Love you, Hotshot. Why didn’t you just come downstairs?
“I’m here,” a husky voice proclaimed from the entrance to the family room. “I just wanted to text you like I would have done if we had gotten the chance to actually date. Isn’t that what boyfriends and a fiancé would do?”
Every nerve end in her body was tingling and Julian’s voice sent a pulse of pleasure down her spine. He looked so vulnerable, so uncertain, that Kristin wanted to leap up and throw herself into his arms. He hadn’t been his usual cocky, smartass self all day, and she kind of missed it. But the attentive lover was sort of nice, too.
She held out her hand to him. “Are you okay?”
He frowned. “I’m fine. Why do you think I’m not?” He put his bandaged hand in hers and sat down next to her. “Okay. Yeah. I’m kind of annoyed that I couldn’t get you flowers. I went upstairs to call. I wanted roses. But the flower shop was closed.”
She turned to face him and sat cross-legged like he was and lightly took his other hand. “Julian, I don’t need anything else. I have you.”
“I have you, too. But I hate the fact that you got robbed when it comes to romance. I never took you on a normal date, or did the typical things that a guy would do who is crazy about you. You deserve that and so damn much more.”
The expression of discontent in his eyes melted Kristin’s heart. “So that’s what today was about? Trying to make our non-dating time up to me?” she questioned, flabbergasted.
He shrugged. “Yes and no. I want to be with you doing those things. But yeah, I think you deserved a lot more than what you got.”
“Do you know how happy you make me? Don’t you realize that what we have means everything to me?” she questioned softly. “Maybe our relationship was unconventional, but we spent time in Hawaii and Vegas. You’ve given me something special. Why would I want normal when I have extraordinary?”
He grinned at her. “I can do a whole lot better.”
His devilish grin made her heart skip a beat. “Just the fact that you love me is perfect,” she answered with a sigh, wondering how he could think the little things mattered when she had so much now.
“I was an asshole in the past, Kristin. I blew off my mom and dad for over six damn years because I was so consumed with my career. That’s a mistake I can never take back again. I hadn’t seen them for most of my adult life because I wanted everything my way and on my terms. Xander was right, back when he told me I was being a prick. I was. And I ended up regretting it. I never want to fuck up again. I never want to not show the people who mean something to me that I care, every single day.” His eyes captured hers with an expression of remorse dancing in their depths.
“I know you care,” she assured him in a hushed voice.
“I more than care. You’re my everything,” he confessed in a low baritone that vibrated with emotion. “I knew almost immediately when we first met. I knew you were meant to be mine.”
If Kristin was honest with herself, deep down inside, she’d probably known that, too. Julian had touched a place in her heart that had never stopped aching for him. “Maybe I knew it, too. Maybe that’s why I had to do everything I could to distance myself. You and me—us—wasn’t even fathomable to me. You were Julian Sinclair. I was a small-town medical assistant and a makeshift bartender just trying to survive.”
“If I hadn’t already been committed to some projects, I would have stayed, worn down your resistance until you let me take you out,” Julian admitted. “But I had to wait. Every time I had to leave it almost killed me.”
Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked at his tormented expression, knowing he meant every word he said. “So you decided to kidnap me?”
“I was pretty damn desperate by that time. Wh
en I found out you weren’t coming to Vegas, I was determined to find a way for you to go,” he rumbled.
Kristin’s heart skittered. “You went to an awful lot of trouble.”
He shot her a heated look. “Believe me, you’re worth it.”
She sighed, still not quite feeling worthy of inspiring this much emotion in Julian. But he was slowly changing the way she felt about herself.
“Tell me about our wedding,” she asked curiously. “I keep trying to remember it, but it’s just a blank.”
“That’s another thing . . . You deserved a beautiful wedding.”
“I had a great honeymoon in Hawaii. That was much better. Tell me.”
“The ceremony was short and sweet. We picked out rings from the chapel. You told me you didn’t need a fancy ring because I was your prize, and it was just a symbol. You were wearing that sexy dress, and when you said your wedding vows, it was the happiest day of my life. I was a little too messed up to realize that things might not look all that good the next day when we were sober.” He paused before adding, “I’m sorry you didn’t get a dream wedding.”
Kristin hated seeing Julian dejected. It wasn’t his usual demeanor, and it broke her heart. “I don’t regret it. I’ve never wanted a fancy wedding. I’d rather just be married to the right guy.”
He looked at her hopefully. “And you think you got it right?”
“I know so,” she answered emphatically. “Maybe I can’t remember it, and maybe I never will. But I know I wouldn’t have married you either unless it was actually what I wanted. I guess I still don’t understand why you didn’t just tell me sooner.”
“I was drunk, but I didn’t do something I didn’t want,” he said huskily. “Somehow, I wanted to convince you that we could make it real. When I woke up, I was worried that you wouldn’t even consider staying together and giving us a try. I took the rings and the paperwork, and actually hoped you didn’t remember. It would give me a chance to wrap the movie and get to Amesport so we could talk.”
“I have a confession to make,” she told him hesitantly.
