by Leah Brooke
Shaking her head, she started to get up again, dropping back in her seat with a sigh at Gabriel’s approach. “I don’t want it. If I’m shaking, it’s with anger. Gabriel, I don’t need a fucking lecture.”
Gabriel laughed softly. “I wondered how long it would take you.”
Clenching his teeth again, Nick straightened and sat on the sofa next to her, curiously observing her with Gabriel. Sharing a glance with a stone-faced Steve, who hovered over Julianna from the other side, he clenched his jaw. Fighting jealousy, a new and disturbing sensation for him, he forced himself to remain quiet in the hopes of learning more about her and her relationship with the other man.
Gabriel took her hands in his, shaking his head over the rough scrapes. “Look what you’ve done to yourself, sweetheart.” Running his fingers over them in a way that made Nick’s blood boil, he kissed her palms before she could jerk them away. “Get a good night’s sleep, and I’ll call you tomorrow. We have a lot to talk about.” The unmistakable threat in his voice had Steve shifting his weight.
Nick opened his mouth to tear a strip off of Gabriel, shutting it again when Julianna laughed softly, the sound of it like a caress to his groin. Jesus, she turned him inside out, and without even trying.
Flipping her wet hair over her shoulder, she sat back with her arms crossed. “I don’t want to hear it. It’s obvious I’m a big girl and I can do what I want. I appreciate your concern, but you’re my friend, not my keeper.”
At the warning look on Gabriel’s face, Nick sat forward, ready to defend her. Fascinated, he watched Julianna back down, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
She sighed, looking away. “Okay. I shouldn’t have lied to you. I shouldn’t have gone tonight.”
Loyal, and smart enough to know when to admit she was wrong.
Each facet of her personality fascinated Nick even more.
Gabriel patted her knee above the bandage Nick had just applied, making him want to smack it away. “If you ever do anything like this again—”
Julianna shook her head and smiled faintly, showing dimples Nick hadn’t been aware of. “I won’t. That’s for sure.”
Gabriel stood and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “You’d better not. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Absolutely. Do I look frail to you?”
Straightening, Gabriel ran a hand over her hair, smiling as Nick and Steve shifted restlessly. “Looks can be deceiving. We’ll talk more tomorrow, sweetheart. Call me when you wake up.”
Steve sat on the arm of the sofa next to Julianna, scowling at Gabriel. “You can go now. We’ll take care of her.”
Gabriel smiled mockingly, which pissed Nick off even more. “I think we should all leave Julianna alone. She’s fine, I assure you. I’ll check on her after she’s had a good night’s sleep. Thank you for looking after her.”
Nick glared at Gabriel before leaning close to Julianna, deliberately keeping his voice low and intimate. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
She crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in an apparent effort to put some distance between them. “I appreciate that you stopped to help me, but I really want to be alone. This is a lot of fuss for two skinned knees. I’m fine. Please go.”
No longer having an excuse to be there, he inclined his head, meeting Gabriel’s mocking smile over his shoulder. “You win for now, but she hasn’t seen the last of us.”
Gabriel laughed softly, surprising the hell out of him. “I would be sincerely disappointed if she had.”
Impulsively, Nick took her hand in his and turned it over to lightly kiss her palm, hiding a smile at her shiver. She would remember him all right. “Good night, Julianna. You’ll be seeing me again.”
Moving away, it surprised him that Steve knelt in front of her, murmuring quietly to her before straightening. Nick slipped his shoes back on and gathered his things, watching Julianna’s face color at whatever Steve said to her. Memories of a long-ago time and the possibilities of what this could mean stirred a hunger in him that shook him to his core.
Steve seemed mesmerized by her, something Nick hadn’t seen in all the years he’d known him.
Was it possible?
Nick met Julianna’s eyes over Steve’s shoulder, his cock lengthening as Steve ran a hand over her knee. Never in his wildest dreams had he even contemplated the possibilities, but it seemed that fate smiled on him. Only this time, he had a friend he trusted and loved as a brother, and the means to make a comfortable life for her, and the power to shield her from the scrutiny of others.
Looking back to see Gabriel watching them with a speculative gleam in his eyes, he raised a brow, wary when Gabriel smiled and shook his head.
Steve straightened and joined them, scowling at Gabriel. “What’s David’s last name?”
Gabriel laughed softly. “I’ll take care of him.”
Nick shared a look with Steve. Reluctantly turning away, he left the apartment, walking beside a silent Steve down the dim hallway toward the elevator.
Seconds later, Gabriel came out, his steps hurried as he joined them. Sliding a glance toward Julianna’s apartment, he kept his voice low. “The two of you seem enthralled with Julianna. I think you might be exactly what she needs. She’s confused and vulnerable and would bite my head off if she knew I told you that.”
Steve folded his arms over his chest, his eyes hard and wary. “Then why did you?”
Gabriel’s lips twitched. “Because I’d have to be blind not to see your interest in her, and this gives me the chance to warn you.”
Nick lifted a brow. “Warn us about what?”
All traces of amusement vanished, and Gabriel’s eyes turned ice cold. “I make a formidable enemy, and if you hurt Julianna, that’s what you’ll become.”
Nick looked toward the apartment. “I have no intention of hurting her, but we will be seeing her again. If you try to get in our way, you’ll learn that I also make a formidable enemy.”
Steve nodded and avoided looking at Nick. “Don’t try to get between us.”
Gabriel laughed softly as the elevator arrived. “Good. I think we understand each other.”
Nick watched him walk back to Julianna’s apartment, vowing to himself that tonight would be the last time he ever turned her care and well-being over to another.
She would be his.
Chapter Two
Julianna sighed and pushed the stack of bills aside, dropping her head on her forearm. She had to get some work, some real work soon or she would be in deep trouble. The small jobs she’d managed to get in the last several weeks just wouldn’t be enough anymore.
When she’d stormed out of Avante’s, she’d looked for a job elsewhere, but no one would hire her without references. Ken Phillips certainly wouldn’t give her one, and that had been her only position as a designer since leaving design school. She’d worked damned hard at Avante’s and had almost no social life, doing all the work so Ken could get all the glory.
She hadn’t minded at all, considering it a learning experience, and absorbed as much information as she could while making contacts all over town. It worked out well until Ken hired his new girlfriend and made her Julianna’s boss. Julianna no longer had any say in the designs but got the blame for Tracy’s incompetence.
To keep the other woman from ruining her reputation, Julianna had no other option but to quit.
Damn it. She’d loved that job.
When she got the job offer from Avante’s, she left New York to come to Philadelphia, excited to begin her career. Little did she know that Ken, the owner’s nephew and the one who ran the design firm, would claim all of the designs as his own while he did little more around the office than chase women, making their lives difficult if they didn’t succumb to his charms.
Several complaints about Ken to his uncle did no good. As long as Ken made enough money, his uncle, Vittorio Avante, didn’t care what he did. Vittorio’s new, young wife took all of the older man’s time and attention, and he
Now that Julianna had struck out on her own, she wouldn’t have to worry about Ken anymore. Glancing at the ever-growing stack of bills again, she sighed and looked at the figure in her checkbook as if the numbers could have miraculously changed since she’d last looked two minutes ago.
She did, however, have bills to worry about.
What she wouldn’t give to get the huge job of redecorating the newest Crescendo hotel.
They’d called earlier in the week and set up an interview for tomorrow. She knew she had only a one in a million shot at getting it, but she’d put her name in the hat all the same. Avante’s would probably get the contract, and she couldn’t help but smile to herself when she thought about what the owners would say about the rooms after Tracy got through with them.
Perhaps if she made a good impression at the interview, they’d hire her after they saw Tracy’s work and fired Avante’s.
The owners of Crescendo had a reputation for only using the best, and she knew that although she’d been the best designer at Avante’s, they never would have heard of her.
Unfortunately, she was probably too small-time for them. She didn’t even have an office and, right now, couldn’t afford one. She promised herself that one day she would have a beautiful office, including a secretary, who would handle the numerous clients begging for her designs.
The phone rang, the timing making her smile. “Well, there you go. My first big client.”
Amused at herself, she nevertheless checked the display before answering. David had already called a number of times this week, and she’d had more than enough of him. She smiled when she saw the display and answered with a soft laugh. “Hello, Gabriel.”
“Hello, Julianna. How are you today?” Gabriel’s low, deep tone was full of concern.
Julianna carefully stacked her bills again and secured them with a rubber band, wishing she could just toss them out the window. “I’m just fine. Knees are healed, and I’m through feeling like an idiot. Well, almost. And you?”
Gabriel’s soft laugh made her smile. “I feel like all I’ve done this week is avoid questions about you.”
Alarmed, Julianna dropped the stack, almost knocking over her cup of tea. “What are you talking about? Who’s asking questions about me? David? I’ve already talked to him and took the blame for everything. He did nothing wrong. I was the one who messed up, and I’ve told him over and over that I made a mistake. Why the hell does he keep calling me?”
Her words came out in a rush, and she grimaced, belatedly realizing that she’d allowed Gabriel to see how much it upset her.
He understood her far too well.
After a tense silence, one in which Julianna tried and failed to think of something else to say, Gabriel spoke in a clipped tone.
“He’s blaming himself for trying to push you into something that you weren’t ready for. At least that’s what he said to me. I don’t believe him. You’re a challenge to him, and I think he’s obsessed with you. Stay away from him.”
Julianna got up and started pacing her small apartment. “I have no intention of getting anywhere near him again. The whole thing made me feel cheap and, I don’t know…ugly. I’m not a damned dog and don’t want to be treated like one. And the rest…well, it’s not what I imagined. It was a mistake. Mine. Why the hell can’t he just let me forget it?”
“Because he’s an asshole. A good Dom would respect your insecurities and attempt to work you through them. If he couldn’t get past them and he really wanted you, he would work around them.”
Intrigued and somehow reassured by Gabriel’s anger, Julianna leaned back and picked up her tea, glad to have the focus off of her. “Really? How?”
Gabriel chuckled. “Are you asking me for advice regarding dealing with a bratty sub?”
Julianna laughed at Gabriel’s teasing tone, knowing damned well he could see right through her, and appreciated his attempt to ease her nerves. “Maybe. You never know. I might want to have my own little sub one day.”
He covered the phone briefly, probably to say something to his assistant, and laughed softly. “Forget it. That’s not what you need.” His tone changed, the terse command in it unmistakable. “Seriously, Julianna, I’ve heard things about David that I don’t like. Stay away from him.”
Momentarily speechless at his warning tone, Julianna quickly recovered. “Don’t use your Dom voice with me. I’m not one of your subs. Damn it, Gabriel, I wanted it to work. I thought it would work. You made me think it could work. It didn’t. Now I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“You’re damned lucky I don’t have the right to spank you soundly for going behind my back that way. I told you that if that’s what you wanted, I would find you someone suitable.”
Julianna shook her head, amused at Gabriel’s proprietary attitude. Ever since they’d met two years ago, he’d taken it upon himself to watch out for her. Sometimes it drove her nuts.
But she’d come to love him as a friend and wouldn’t have him any other way.
Pausing at the window, she looked out at the rain. “I’m a big girl, you know. Bigger than most, in fact.” Angry at herself for the bitterness that had come through in her voice, bitterness she hadn’t realized this subject had brought so close to the surface, she quickly changed the subject. “You have enough on your plate trying to get Kelsey in your clutches.”
Julianna’s best friend, Kelsey, owned a coffee shop around the corner from Julianna’s apartment and had become her first friend when she moved to Philadelphia. Julianna had introduced Kelsey and Gabriel when she and Gabriel met over coffee to go over designs for his house.
After several long seconds of a rare, stunned silence, Gabriel finally spoke again. “You are indeed a brat and in need of a spanking, and not one you’d enjoy either.”
Julianna made her way back to the kitchen and frowned at his unusual avoidance of a subject. She picked up the stack of bills from the table and stuck them in a drawer so she wouldn’t have to look at them. “When are you going to make your move? You’re making her nervous. Really nervous. She knows you’re up to something and doesn’t know what to make of your sudden decision to be friends with her. She doesn’t trust you.”
Intimidated by Gabriel’s dominant nature, Kelsey avoided him as often as possible. She’d been raised in a series of foster homes and had been molested, so she didn’t trust men at all. If anyone could draw Kelsey out of her shell, though, Gabriel could. He had the patience of a saint—and the tenacity of a pit bull.
All of the laughter left Gabriel’s voice. “Trust must be earned, Julianna. Kelsey will come to me when she’s ready.”
Julianna shook her head in amusement at Gabriel’s arrogance. “And in the meantime you’re making sure that no one else touches her. That man that showed up every day no longer has his coffee there. He must have decided to go elsewhere, along with every other man who asks her out. It must be very frustrating for her.”
“That’s the idea, sweetheart.”
Julianna knew the fact that for several of the men who used to hit on Kelsey to simply stop coming shook her friend, mainly because she knew Gabriel was behind it and couldn’t figure out how he’d accomplished it.
Wondering if any of them would ever learn how he’d done it, Julianna walked back to the living room and dropped onto the sofa. “Thank you for checking up on me, Gabriel. It’s really not necessary. I’m fine. I promise.”
“I just called to wish you luck on your interview tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll get the contract.”
“You’re so good for my ego, Gabriel, but I doubt it very much. They’ll want someone big to do it.”
“You might be surprised. Julianna, are you sure you’re okay?”
Julianna knew Gabriel wouldn’t let it rest until he believed her. Trying to ease the tension, she forced amusement into her voice. “You’re just upset because you made a mistake. I think this is the first time since I met you to know you to be wrong about something. I’m not submissive, Gabriel.”
“Nonsense, sweetheart. We’ve already talked about this. David isn’t right for you. That’s why I told you to stay away from him from the beginning. There are different levels, darling. You’re lucky I don’t throttle you.”
Julianna smiled at the exasperation beneath the amusement in his voice. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I think I proved that.”
“Just because you’re taller than most women, and strong, that doesn’t mean you’re not a woman. Underneath, you’re just as soft and vulnerable as any other, probably more so.”
“Bullshit.” Hating that he was right, Julianna got up and started pacing again. Gabriel had a way of cutting through to the heart of a matter and was right often enough to be irritating.
Gabriel clicked his tongue. “You and that mouth. Do you realize that you only curse when you’re feeling threatened? You’re a vulnerable woman who wants to lose herself to a man in the bedroom. That doesn’t mean you have to lose yourself. It takes a strong woman to be a sub. They have all the control.”
“Have you told Kelsey that?”
His heartfelt sigh tugged at her. “Underneath, I think she knows but doesn’t want to believe it. One day soon she will. But her needs are much different than yours.”
Not knowing how to respond to that, Julianna was struck speechless. Worrying that Gabriel would read too much into her silence, she changed the subject. “If you talk to David, please tell him to stop calling me. Maybe he’ll listen to you. He keeps telling me that I belong to him now and wants me to meet him again.”
“I’ll take care of him. But don’t you give up on what you need. Just because you didn’t find what you were looking for with him, don’t give up.”
Julianna looked back toward the drawer hiding the bills she could no longer see, but couldn’t forget. “I don’t have time for anything like that right now. I have a stack of unpaid bills and no jobs lined up.”
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