by Jamie Pope
“Why did he think that?”
“Because I had just gotten a letter from my mother and it sent me spinning. She was alive and had a job and was doing well and I had just been moved to another foster home. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted to disappear. I felt entirely unlovable.”
“And today you found out that somebody had loved you all along.”
“Yes.” She shut her eyes briefly. She didn’t cry. She couldn’t remember the last time she had, but the emotion was there, burning in her throat. “I ruined my chance at a family.”
Julian took her hand between his massive ones and leaned over to softly kiss her cheek. “You were thirteen and hurting. You can’t blame yourself.”
“He invited me to his retirement party. I thought he was inviting me to be kind. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to feel alone in a room full of people who were all connected to him.”
“You’re connected with him too.”
“Yes. He told me so. He won’t let me stay away. I should feel happy about this, but I just feel so damn sad now.”
“You don’t want to go to the party?”
“No, but I’m going to go because I owe him that and it was selfish of me to consider not going.”
“I can go with you.”
She looked up at him, surprised by his offer. “You can?”
“If you don’t want to go alone.”
“I don’t.”
“Then it’s settled. I’ll be your guest.”
Chapter 7
Julian hadn’t seen Sunny for a week after he left work to meet her at the coffee shop. It had been out of character for him to leave work for anyone. Even with Regina he asked her to schedule their lunchtime dates in advance. But Sunny didn’t even ask him to leave. All she had said was his name and he had heard the weight of the world in it.
Something inside him was pushing him to go to her. He had walked out of his office even before she had agreed to meet him. He had felt her presence as soon as she entered the coffee shop, and his entire body started to buzz.
Compared to him she was so small. Her wide eyes and soft rounded features made her appear innocent, almost fragile, but she wasn’t. To live that kind of life, to be shuffled around from place to place, to have no one to claim her had to be hard, but she kept her head up. She kept moving forward. He didn’t feel sorry for her like some people might; he admired her.
He offered to go to the party with her, that she hadn’t invited him to. He had taken nearly two hours of his day to be with her. That was so out of character for him. His body wanted her, but his mind knew he couldn’t cross that boundary. He still had to work with her. He had to get to the bottom of this brewing custody battle.
He had to keep his distance from her when he could help it. So he hadn’t seen her for a week. But he had texted her at night, and called her once when words on a screen weren’t enough.
And now he was going to see her again. In his office this time where he planned on treating her more like a client and less like the friend she thought she was.
She was bringing Soren to meet him. He had spoken to the Earls on the phone more than once over the week. They seemed like kind, hardworking people. They couldn’t lavish Soren with gifts, or give her a top-notch private school education. They just wanted to love her. It was so simple.
There were so many people in the world who couldn’t conceive or lost the children they had been good parents to, and then there were people who had no problem creating children but treated them like shit, threw them away when they never asked to be brought to earth in the first place.
He wondered how that was fair. How God could punish good people and reward bad. His father had once told him it wasn’t that simple when Julian had expressed those feelings to him. But his father had a strong faith. Julian hadn’t been on good terms with his faith since he was a child.
“Mr. King,” his assistant said through his speaker, “your appointment is here.”
“Please, send them in.”
He stood up as his door opened and in walked Sunny, wearing a simple dress that was some shade of purple he couldn’t identify. Her hair was in its natural state, not a straightened sleek bob, but she had a head full of springy jet-black ringlets. He liked her hair like this the best. Short, sexy, a little wild. It was how he thought of her.
And then there was the little girl with her. He had to pull his eyes off Sunny to concentrate on her. They looked shockingly alike. Same caramel-colored skin, same textured curls. Soren’s eyes were wide and soulful, but they were green instead of brown.
“You two could be sisters,” Julian said more to himself than to them.
“You think so?” Sunny seemed shaken by his observation.
“You look so much alike.”
“Sunny is beautiful,” Soren said, her voice just above a whisper.
“She is,” Julian said without thinking. “And so are you.”
“I would like to have you as a sister,” she said, looking up at her social worker.
“I feel the same way about you.” Sunny hugged the child close to her. “You’re the sweetest thing. Please, meet my friend, Mr. King. He’s going to help us learn about your mama.”
Soren shook her head, her eyes getting wider. “I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back to her.”
“I know.” Julian stepped forward and set his hand on the frightened child’s shoulder. “We just want to find out all we can about her so that the adoption can go through.”
“I don’t want to talk about her.”
“Okay.” He knew he couldn’t force her. He knew she had spent nearly a year not speaking. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. He didn’t want her to do anything she wasn’t ready for. “You ever have one of those crazy milkshakes? You know the ones with whole pieces of birthday cake on top of them? Or s’mores or whatever crazy thing they had in the kitchen that day.”
“My moth—” Soren stopped herself. “Mrs. Earl said they probably cost twenty dollars and even though they looked cool she said she couldn’t see herself spending twenty dollars on something that wasn’t going to make her more beautiful. Mr. Earl said that she was already the most beautiful woman in the world and she didn’t need anything.”
“They sound like they love each other,” Julian said.
Soren nodded. “I want to stay with them.”
“I know. I want to buy you one of those milkshakes.”
Soren’s mouth dropped open. “Too much money.”
“I’ve saved up for this day. I was just waiting for the right lady to take with me.”
They went out for milkshakes and Julian made it a point not to talk about Soren’s mother. He asked about school, about her friends, about her plans for the summer. He spoke of her future with the Earls. If a child was that terrified to go back to their mother, then he would have to do everything in his power to keep her with them.
By the time they had finished, Soren was as relaxed and as giggly as any ten-year-old and Mr. Earl had come to get her.
“Hi, Papa!” she greeted him. Mr. Earl paused and looked at her.
“You’ve decided?”
She nodded her head. “Is papa okay? I can call you dad, or daddy but I like the way papa sounds.”
“Papa is okay.” He bent down and kissed her forehead and Julian could have sworn there were tears in the man’s eyes when they left.
Julian was alone again with Sunny in his office. “You were very good with her. I’m impressed. I thought she would be afraid of you.”
“I’m a giant.”
“Yes, you are. But a friendly one apparently.”
“The party is tonight, correct?”
“Yes. It starts at eight at his favorite restaurant. They’ve rented out the entire back room.”
“My firm’s cocktail party is this evening.”
“Oh.” Her face fell. “I understand. I’ll be fine alone.”
“I wasn’t canceling. My firm’s gath
ering starts at six. It’s just a thing we do for our clients in the spring. I was going to ask you if you wouldn’t mind coming with me first.”
“Are you sure you want me to come? I probably won’t fit in.”
Maybe not. The venue was at one of the city’s most prestigious hotels. Most of the old money clients would be there as well as potential clients the firm hoped to snag. “If I didn’t want you to come, I wouldn’t have asked you. You’ll fit in just fine.”
“I’ll go with you. I bought a dress to change into for the party but I’m not sure it will be fancy enough for your work function. Maybe if I had a pair of heels? I can stop by Arden’s place and get some.”
He looked down at her feet. “What size do you wear?”
“Nine.”
“I’ve got heels for you in my apartment and some jewelry as well.”
“You like to dress up on the weekends, Mr. King?” She grinned at him.
“Yes, but not in what you’re thinking.” He grinned back. “I’d bet you’d like to see my weekend wear.”
“More than you’ll ever know.”
The exchange was flirty. He had told himself he wasn’t going to cross that line again, but he couldn’t help it when she was around and now he was going to spend the entire night with her.
He was cursing himself already. He took her to his apartment, which had direct views of Central Park. She walked in and went straight to the window. “This is gorgeous.” She sounded awed. “I mean, I knew people lived like this but I didn’t really know until just now.”
It was such a stark contrast from her place, with the doorman, concierge, and round the clock security. He could protect himself if he needed to and yet he was much safer than she was at night. They both worked hard. It didn’t seem fair.
“Come on. Let me show you what I have for you.” He took her by her hand and led her to his bedroom.
“Damn, this bed is huge.”
“I’m huge.” He went over to his wall safe that was tucked away behind a painting and pulled out boxes of jewelry for her to choose from.
“The wall safe is very rich of you, but I guess my more pressing question is, why do you have so much unworn women’s jewelry in here?”
“One of my clients has a store in the diamond district. I cleared up some issues he was having and he gets me really good deals.”
“I love a bargain as much as anyone else but you haven’t answered my question.” She sat on the bed opening the boxes.
“I pre-buy gifts for the women I date. I’m not good with birthdays and anniversaries so I keep stuff on hand in case I run into an issue.”
“How long have you been doing this?”
“A while. . . . I hear judgment in your voice.”
“You’re damn right you hear judgment in my voice. It’s not very thoughtful.”
“The women I have dated never minded. I always had a gift for them, even when there was no occasion. And I don’t recall asking for your opinion.” He picked up a set of gold bangles and slid them onto her wrist. “Wear these. You can get ready in the guest bedroom. My sister stayed with me for a while and never took all of her stuff. You’re welcome to whatever she has left behind in that closet.”
“Thank you.”
She left the room then and he went into his closet, stripped off his clothes, and looked for something to wear that night.
He had liked wearing suits when he first started his career in law, but as time went on, he felt more and more constricted in them. His favorite part of the day was when he was able to go home and take them off. But now he was going to have to get dressed again and go be social with a bunch of people he didn’t want to see tonight. He’d had a good day with Sunny and Soren. He had forgotten about the mountain of paperwork that waited for him. He had forgotten about the back biting and conniving of his peers. But he was going to come face to face with it again as soon as they walked into that five-star hotel tonight.
And this time he wasn’t going to be armed with Regina, who was always perfectly poised and fit in at these events. He was going with Sunny who had an edgy sweetness to her, who had never drank from a thousand dollar bottle of wine, who had never been to Europe or a gallery opening or skiing with a politician. She wasn’t going to fit in, and for a moment he thought about blowing off the work function so he didn’t have to bring her.
But he wanted her there with him. Not to make him look good, but because he just wanted her comforting presence more than her poise.
“Julian?” He heard her call his name.
“Yeah?”
“I need your help.”
“I’m in the closet.”
Sunny walked in and her eyes went wide. He was beginning to love that expression. Every time she experienced something new she got that look of wonderment. It was rare to see that. It made him want to show her the world.
“This closet is bigger than my whole damn apartment. It’s making me bitter.”
“I worked hard to get these things,” he said.
“Are you saying if I continue to work hard that I one day can have all this?” The sarcasm was clear in her voice.
“What do you need help with?” It was then he noticed that she was holding her dress up on her body by the straps.
“I can’t zip this alone.”
He wasn’t expecting it to be so sexy. The dress was the color of red wine. It was simple, no sparkle, no adornments, but it clung to her hips and then she turned around in front of him and he saw how it formed to her curvy backside. His groin tightened painfully and he willed himself not to get an erection.
It was going to be impossible.
Her back was bare beneath the dress. He skimmed his fingers over the place her bra should have been.
“I can’t wear a bra with this dress,” she said, reading his mind. “It shows through the fabric, plus it’s so tight on top I can get away with it.”
He intended to zip up her dress and send her on her way. But his mind and his body weren’t working together tonight. “You’ve got a tattoo.” He wasn’t expecting that from her. “Let go of your straps.” He could see just the edge of it peeking out. It was on the edge of her back, almost on her side. He pulled the dress away to see wildflowers, delicate and pretty.
He stroked his fingers over the black ink and watched her tremble a bit. He needed to stop touching her. “Is it okay that I’m touching you?”
“Yes,” she said, but it barely came out as a whisper.
The straps of her dress fell down her arms and her breasts were revealed. He looked over her shoulder at them. They were large, firm and high with beautiful brown nipples that he knew he was going to touch before the evening was over.
He kissed the back of her neck. It was going to be hard to stay in control with her tonight. He couldn’t go all the way with her. They couldn’t have sex. It would be going too far. It would be crossing a line they couldn’t uncross. But he had already seen her body. He had already touched her. What was the point in stopping now? He wouldn’t be able to make it through the evening if he did.
“Julian.” She moved her bottom across his erection. “I’m topless and you’re just in your underwear.”
“I realize this.” He kissed down the side of her neck.
She swallowed hard. “I think it’s time to admit that there is something between us.”
“I admitted that to myself the first time I met you.”
“Damn it, Julian.”
“I just want to touch you tonight, Sunny. We can’t go any further than that.”
“What if I want to? What if I want you so much I can barely think about anything else?”
Her admission almost undid him. All he had to do was spin her around and kiss her. All he had to do was pick her up and take her to his bed and slide deep inside her. “I can make you feel good.” He couldn’t deprive himself of this. He knew if he did it would build and build and then he would explode and not be able to control himself at all.
&nb
sp; She wasn’t someone he could just have a sexual release with and then forget. She would stay with him long after it was over.
He pulled her dress down all the way until it slid over her hips and pooled to the floor at her feet. She just was in heels and a pair of simple black underwear. They weren’t meant to be sexy, and the fact they weren’t, made them impossibly sexier on her.
“I want to touch you, Julian.”
“No. It’s my turn.” He pulled her tightly against him, loving the way her smooth back felt against his chest. He ran his hands down her sides and to her waist before stroking up her belly. She let out little throaty moans. She trembled. He had never been so turned on in his life.
His heart was pounding as his hands went to her breasts. He cupped them at first, feeling the weight, enjoying the soft heaviness in his hands.
She placed her hand over one of his and moved it down her body and into the band of her underwear. She didn’t have to say a word. She parted her legs to give him greater access.
He swore. It was the most arousing thing he had ever seen.
She was incredibly wet and he could just imagine himself sliding inside of her. Her tight warmth clenched around him. But he knew he couldn’t go there with her tonight, so he just began to stroke her.
She moved against his hand, causing her deliciously round bottom to move against his erection.
She must have realized the effect she was having on him because she started to grind her backside into him, moving her hips up and down as he stroked her.
Her cries grew louder. His breathing became more and more labored and then she broke, her entire body shaking as she cried his name. He came as soon as the last syllable left her lips. He had never done that before. Part of him felt like he was a teenager again. Too afraid to go all the way with a pretty girl.
She turned in his arms, pressing her breasts against him and wrapping her arms tightly around him. They stayed like that for a few moments, recovering, enjoying each other’s warmth. And then she kissed his chest with her sweet lips and then the base of his neck.
She tilted her face up, her lips seeking his. He wanted to kiss her so bad. But he couldn’t. His sense was starting to return. She had come to him to have her dress zipped up and he had stripped her nearly naked and touched her all over her body.
