by M. H. Soars
The bedroom was massive and nicely decorated in an impersonal, 5-star hotel room kind of way. The furniture was dark and sturdy. There was a big four-poster bed in the center, a small table with two chairs in one corner, and a huge flat-screen TV on the wall. One door led to a walk-in closet, another to the suite’s ginormous bathroom. At least I assumed it was ginormous.
This was most likely a guest room. So I decided to take off my shoes — they were already killing me — and jumped on the bed. Ah, this was the life! I could spend the rest of the evening here.
The bed was so comfortable that I would have to ask Julian where his mother bought their mattresses. Alexia just laughed and headed to the bathroom, leaving the door open so we could continue our conversation.
“You didn’t answer my question. Were you with Julian all this time?” she asked. I heard her turn on the faucet.
“Sort of, but I had no choice in the matter,” I replied.
When I had gone to greet Julian, he’d put on his thousand-watt smile and begged me to keep him company for a little bit. He’d said he couldn’t leave his post as the host, but he needed me by his side to make his task less daunting. Thinking about it now, that had probably been one of the cheesiest pickup lines I’d ever heard, but I still hadn’t been able to refuse him.
“Yeah, right! Just confess that you were melting inside the moment you laid eyes on him. He looked good.”
I chuckled at Alexia’s comment. Julian did look good, all right. He was wearing a pair of slacks, a fitted, button-down shirt with a blazer, plus nice Italian shoes. I appreciated a guy who knew how to dress up without turning into a metrosexual. And he had smelled wonderful.
The moment I stood in front of him he grabbed my hands and held me at arm’s length to appreciate me from head to toe. Then he pulled me to him and kissed me on each cheek.
Feeling his warm breath near my ear gave me goose bumps. I’d wanted to stay by his side, but when the influx of guests started to increase, I excused myself and went inside to find Alexia. Plus, people had probably been wondering why I was there in the first place. Not that I cared much about what people thought, but I didn’t want to be labeled as something I was not. Like Julian’s flavor of the week, for instance.
“Are you still planning to hook up with him, even though Matt is completely against it?” Alexia’s question caught me off guard. Mia had told me on the sly that Matthew had convinced Zach to warn us about Julian. I had missed the conversation, but Mia thought I should know. She didn’t know that I had also overheard Matthew’s plea to Alexia.
“Matthew has no right to voice his opinion about my life.” Why did she have to bring Matthew into the conversation? I didn’t want to think about him if I could help it.
“He’s just protective about you, about us. You shouldn’t give him such a hard time. I know that Julian is hot and all, but you're not only going after him to spite Matt, are you?”
“I must confess that it had crossed my mind after the airport episode. But I hadn’t given much thought to Julian until now.” I realized that it was true the moment I said it. I hadn’t gotten all dolled up for this party with Julian on my mind, but the moment I saw him, all of the other possibilities went out the window.
Alexia emerged from the bathroom. “Just be careful, okay?”
I leaned on my elbows to look at her. “Don’t worry about me. I believe your Prince Charming is waiting for you downstairs.”
“Aren’t you coming?” She paused with her hand on the bedroom door handle.
“Nah, I'll stay here a bit longer. Go enjoy the party,” I replied half-heartedly. Talking about Matthew had thrown me a bit off balance, and I needed some time to recover.
Alexia stared at me for a moment. I hoped she wasn’t planning on keeping me company. I loved Alexia but I needed to be alone right now. “Okay, I’ll see you later,” she finally replied. She left the room and closed the door behind her.
I couldn’t keep doing this to myself. I had to get over Matthew. Getting all anxious every time someone mentioned his name or when I saw him wasn’t going to help me. It was bad enough that we had to share the same roof.
I had been so excited about Julian a minute ago. Stupid Matthew! Stupid heart that wouldn’t stop beating faster every time I thought about him. I had tried to ignore him earlier when we left the house, but he looked so dashing in his fancy blazer — even more so than Julian.
I sighed, got out of bed, and walked toward the balcony. I opened one of the French double doors and stepped outside. The balcony was shrouded in darkness, so I doubted anyone would be able to see me from the party below.
I looked around, watching the partygoers. I spotted Alexia walking over to Ethan. She seemed extremely happy. I was glad that she was enjoying herself, but I was also worried. She had a very strong reaction when I mentioned that Ethan was a temporary thing. One would think they were engaged to be married and I had told her to leave him at the altar.
None of that mattered anyway. The moment she saw her ‘Promised One’, Ethan would become nothing more than a vague memory, which made me feel bad for him. Thomas had been devastated when she ended things with him. I would hate it if Ethan ended up falling in love with her too, because it would just mean having his heart crushed.
He was an only child, as far as I knew, so clearly he was not the guy from the Prophecy. Alexia was the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and her counterpart, according to the Prophecy, had to be the seventh son of a seventh son. The Prophecy stated that the Promised Ones were meant for each other, like soul mates. I hoped that Ethan didn’t get too attached to her.
I’d had enough of the negative thoughts. It was time to go back to the party. Maybe what I needed right now was a drink to get me back in the mood. Thinking about Matthew or the Prophecy was not going to help. I headed back inside and closed the balcony door.
I was missing a shoe. It had probably gone under the bed when I threw it off my foot. My dress was a bit snug, but I could probably manage to go down on my knees to retrieve it. I looked under the bed and mentally cursed when I saw that the stupid thing was all the way under the middle of the mattress. Fantastic.
I was buried halfway under the huge mahogany beast when I heard the bedroom door open. Shit. I quickly grabbed my shoe and crawled back out from under the bed.
“If I knew how easy it would be to get you in my room, I wouldn’t have bothered with fancy clothes tonight.”
It was Julian. Double shit.
“You said I was welcome to enjoy your entire house. I didn’t realize this was your room,” I replied, blushing furiously as I got up and tried to fix my dress, which had hiked up mid-thigh.
Good thing it was dark in the room, with the only light coming from the party outside. I sat on the edge of the bed to put my shoes back on and get the hell out of there.
“It’s not my official room, but I’ve taken quarters here until they finish refurbishing mine. I just moved in two days ago.” He sat next to me on the bed.
I tried to avoid looking at him because my breathing had become shallow. I was done with my sandals, so in an impulse that was more self-preservation than anything else, I stood up suddenly, meaning to leave Julian behind. But before I could take one step, he took my hand, forcing me to look at him.
“You are so beautiful, Sam. I never get tired of looking at you.” His voice was husky, barely a whisper.
“You must say that to all of your conquests.” I tried to sound casual, but my heart was hammering. It felt like I was on my very first date. I didn’t know why I was so nervous.
He pulled me back to sit next to him. Then he reached for my face, carefully caressed my cheek, and ran his thumb over my lips. They involuntarily parted and I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation of Julian’s touch on my skin. Before I could open them again, his lips were on mine, soft and warm.
His kiss was so light, like he was afraid my mouth would break or I would push him way. It was surprisingly sweet and I
felt enveloped by Julian’s presence. The kiss deepened. That was all the encouragement he needed. One of his hands moved to the back of my head, twisting my hair and pulling me closer.
My whole body ignited and I was overwhelmed with lust. I had kissed plenty of guys in my life, but I had never felt so much intensity in the act before. I twined my hands behind his neck, and his unoccupied hand reached for my waist. I was consumed with a need to get closer to him, to remove all barriers between us, to feel his skin against mine. It was scary and wonderful at the same time. But he kept perfect control of his actions, never attempting to cop a feel, even though I knew my body was giving him all the signs to go ahead.
We kissed for a long time, lost in each other’s mouths, before I had to stop to catch my breath.
“Wow!” he said. “This was way better than in my dreams.”
We were still a few inches apart, and I could feel his warm breath on my skin. I smiled.
“Don’t tell me you were dreaming about me,” I teased him.
“Every night for the longest time.” He started to give me little kisses on my jaw, and then continued his path down my neck, making my legs feel like jelly. I was glad I wasn’t standing.
“Wet dreams?” I managed to say, which prompted him to claim my mouth again. This one was a quick and passionate kiss and left me gasping for more.
“I think we should go back to the party. People will start to wonder where we are,” he said a little bit breathlessly, and I knew that the party was the last place he wanted to be right now.
“Okay,” I reluctantly agreed. I didn’t want to go back to the party, either. I wanted to stay here and kiss Julian until all my problems faded away. I would have to be social at the party and deal with Matt. Matt. I felt a stab of pain and guilt thinking about him. Damn him!
Julian helped me up, and we walked out of his bedroom together. But instead of going back down the main staircase, he pulled me in a different direction.
“Let’s use the staff’s staircase. It will lead us into the kitchen. Then we can avoid any speculation,” he explained.
Julian was full of surprises. Good ones. He hadn’t tried to take advantage of me in his room. I was still trying to wrap my mind around my lack of control back there. I was a passionate person, but not that passionate, especially with a guy I barely knew. And now he wanted to avoid all the gossip we would have caused if we had emerged together from the second floor. I stopped him halfway down the hall to give him a quick peck on his lips. He smiled and kissed my hand in return. I didn’t need to say anything. He knew how grateful I felt.
Alexia
I didn’t know what was up with Sam. One moment she was on cloud nine, the other she was moody and sad, and it always went back to Matt. I suspected that Matt had conflicting feelings about her, but what about Sam? I didn’t know if my duty as best friend to both was to meddle or stay out of it.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that people were staring at me until I was halfway down the stairs. I gave myself a mental slap in the head. I should have known what it would look like if people saw me coming from the second floor by myself. They were probably wondering who I was and what my connection was to Julian.
At every party I had been to in Santa Fe, kids had roamed freely, but oddly enough, here the second floor seemed to be off-limits. Now it was too late. I raised my chin and pretended to be invisible until I heard one of the girls from the tiki bar incident ask her friend, “Who is she? Don’t tell me she's Julian’s latest squeeze.” Her friend snickered.
I tried to keep the embarrassment from my face as I passed in front of them, but my red cheeks betrayed me. Great. But at least I could find solace in the fact that I didn’t attend their school and probably would never see those girls again.
As I went outside, I quickly looked for Ethan. He was where I had left him. As I walked toward his table, I noticed that a lot of people briefly stopped to greet him, but no one stayed long. If I understood correctly, this was Ethan’s first social appearance since his accident. I found it strange that no one wanted to chat with him or ask how he was.
I finally reached his table and sat next to him. “Hi, I’m back. What did I miss?”
“Oh, the usual. Boys and girls trying to get each other’s attention, people being phony.” He waved his hands dramatically to accentuate his sarcastic answer.
“Are people giving you a hard time? Was that the reason you didn’t want to come? Sam told me what happened to you.” I blurted it all out like a freaking train wreck before I could stop myself. “I’m sorry!” I covered my mouth with my hands.
“It’s okay. I’m glad she told you what happened to me, so I won’t have to tell you myself. And yes, that was one of the reasons I didn’t want to come.” He looked at me calmly, and I didn’t know what to make of it. I reached for my hair, trying to use it as distraction, only to remember that I had it in a ponytail. I played with the strap of my romper instead.
“So why did you come to the party, then?”
“Do you really have to ask?” He stared right into my eyes, and it felt like I was drowning in a sea of green. I started to lean toward him and only realized what I was doing when I was a few inches from his face. I quickly recovered and put some distance between us. I turned around and pretended to people-watch.
“The party is certainly picking up,” I said automatically and immediately berated myself for it. Why couldn’t I say anything interesting when I was around Ethan?
He didn’t say anything, so I turned to look at him again, trying to find out if I had offended him somehow. I found Ethan regarding me in awe and that made me feel strange, but in a good way. When he realized I was staring back, he tried to hide his emotions, but it was too late. I smiled.
“Were you staring at me?” Ha! That was a question that even Sam would be proud of.
“Yes, I was. Don’t take this the wrong way, but there is just something about you,” he said, and my heart did several backflips. I could have confessed the same thing, but I wasn’t ready yet. That was me, Miss Caution, especially after Thomas.
“Well, I’m glad you came to this party, despite your motives. You left so quickly at lunch today, I didn’t even get to talk to you properly.” Shoot, way to sound aloof and needy at the same time. I must be some kind of genius at mixed signals.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. There are just some topics I’m not very comfortable talking about yet.” He reached for the glass of water on the table.
“I understand. So, since we are here, alone, just ask me anything you want to know about me.”
“Anything?” he teased as he put his glass back down.
“Yep. I’ve got no secrets.” I puffed my chest like it was something to be proud of. I could be such a dork sometimes.
“Let me think.” He rubbed his chin and pretended to ponder really hard. “Oh, I’ve got one! How come you live in Santa Fe alone with your dad, and not here with the rest of your family? You must be lonely.”
I’d been expecting a question about what my favorite dessert or TV show was, not something so personal. But even though I had lied about the no secrets thing, it was an easy-to-answer question.
“I used to live here until I was five, but my dad got this huge job opportunity in Santa Fe, so we moved.” I shrugged like it was no big deal, when in fact, it was quite the opposite. But I didn’t want to be the woe-is-me kind of girl, especially around Ethan. He had enough sorrow in his life.
I could sense he had another question brewing, but I cut him off. “Now it’s my turn to ask you a question.”
“Oh, so this is how it’s going to be, huh?” He smiled and I almost lost it when his dimples made an appearance. Was it possible that I was falling head over heels for this guy that I barely knew? Yep. Totally possible.
“Those are the rules: one question for you, one question for me.” I pointed at him and then at me to emphasize how this interview thing was going to work.
“Fair enough. Shoot.” He laced his hands behind his head and leaned back in his wheelchair. I could see his biceps straining against the fabric of his jacket, making it harder for me to concentrate.
I had a million questions that I wanted to ask him. Specifically, I wanted to know about Chloe and whether he still had feelings for her. But I knew that Chloe was an off-limits topic. Besides, I didn’t want to sound like a crazy girl, grilling him about an ex-girlfriend. That was a hell of a way to scare a guy. So instead, I settled for a question about his family.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
His relaxed stance disappeared as he straightened up in his chair. He looked conflicted and sad at the same time. Oh no, had I breached another forbidden topic? How many off-limits topics could a person have? To be fair, Mia had mentioned he had family issues. Crap.
“I’m sorry. It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about that. I should have just asked you what your favorite food was,” I said, mortified.
“I’m not an easy person to talk to, huh?” He asked. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about my family, and you have the right to ask me about them since I’ve just asked you about yours. It’s just that my story is not a happy one. I don’t want to bring the mood down, that’s all. I promise I’ll tell you about them one day.” I could see sincerity in his eyes, but I was still unable to forget the sadness I had brought him.
My distress must have shown on my face, because he continued. “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’m not as fragile as I look.” He took my hand and squeezed it. The same sparkle I had felt at the ice cream place when he had touched me was here again. But this time, I didn’t flinch in surprise, just squeezed his hand back and gave him a half-smile.
“Much better,” he said. “So, I propose a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“I’ll be the one asking all of the questions tonight.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he silenced me by placing his finger to my lips. The sparkle from our touching hands started to spread through my body, and his finger on my lips was doing all kinds of things to my body that I couldn’t explain. Talk about hormones in overdrive.
