Julia was furious. She sat there seething, drinking her Cosmo very quickly, and wondering how it was that Gabriel knew the truth about her and from so short a re-acquaintance. Surely Rachel hadn’t…She shook her head. Rachel wouldn’t. That information was personal, and she wouldn’t have spoken it aloud to anyone but Aaron. And Aaron was too much of a gentleman to repeat something like that, ever.
While Gabriel grinned, Julia bemoaned the fact that he’d effectively ruined an opportunity to meet someone who looked like he was nice. Julia probably wouldn’t have given Brad her number because she didn’t do that sort of thing, but she wanted it to be her decision and not her Professor’s. He really was a prick. And it was time he changed.
A few minutes later, their artificially blond-haired waitress came over and handed Julia a small gold box. “This is for you.”
“I’m sorry, there must be some mistake. I didn’t order this.”
“Obviously, dear. One of the guys at the bankers’ table sent it. And I was supposed to tell you that you’ll be breaking a heart if you send it back.” She smiled seductively at Gabriel. “Can I freshen your drink, Mr. Emerson?”
“I think we’re fresh enough over here, thank you.” He kept his eyes fixed on Julia, watching as she turned the small box over in her hand. In it she found a business card and a single, gold foil-wrapped truffle. On the business card, she read:
Brad Curtis, MBA
Vice-President, Capital Markets
The Bank of Montreal
55 Bloor Street West, Fifth Floor
Toronto, Ontario
Tel. 416-555-2525
She turned the card over and read the words that were written in a very confident hand:
Julia,
Sorry we got off on the wrong foot.
The chocolate reminds me of your beautiful eyes,
Brad.
Please call me: 416-555-1491
Julia turned the card over, and a smile spread across her oval face. He’d made a joke. He hadn’t thought her extreme awkwardness was a reason to reject her. And he hadn’t called her a virgin as if it were a curse word. He’d admired her eyes and thought she was attractive.
She carefully unwrapped the truffle and popped it into her mouth. Heaven. How did he know she loved expensive chocolates? It had to be fate. She closed her eyes and savored the intense, dark taste, licking her lips to make sure she didn’t miss anything. An involuntary groan escaped her mouth.
Why couldn’t I have met someone like him my freshman year at Saint Joseph’s?
Meanwhile, Gabriel was gnawing through the knuckles of his right hand like a crazed animal. Once again, the sight of Miss Mitchell enjoying life’s little pleasures was one of the most erotic things he’d ever witnessed. The way her eyes grew wide at the sight of the truffle, the flush that painted her pretty cheeks in anticipation of tasting it, the way she moaned with a half-open mouth, and the way her tongue darted out to pick up the traces of cocoa that clung to her ruby lips…it really was too much.
So of course, he had to ruin it.
“You didn’t just eat that, did you?”
Julia whipped her head around. She’d forgotten Gabriel was there, enmeshed as she was in her own chocolate-induced haze of pseudo-orgasmic ecstasy.
“It was delicious.”
“He could have drugged you. Don’t you know not to take candy from strangers, little girl?”
“I suppose it’s all right to accept apples, Gabriel?”
He narrowed his eyes at her non sequitur. He was missing something.
“And I’m not a little girl,” she huffed.
“Then stop acting like one. You aren’t going to keep that, are you?” He gestured to the box that was now poking out of Julia’s tiny handbag.
“Why not? He seemed nice.”
“You’d do that? You’d pick up a man in a bar?”
Her eyebrows knit together, and her lower lip began to tremble. “I wasn’t picking him up! And I’m sure you’ve never picked up a woman in a bar before—and taken her home with you, which, I might add, I’ve never done. Not that it’s even a shred of your business, Professor.”
Gabriel’s face grew very red. He couldn’t contradict her; he wouldn’t be that hypocritical. But something about what had just transpired between Miss Mitchell and Grendel-the-blond-banker really rankled him, although he didn’t know why. He quickly waved to the waitress to order another Scotch.
For her part, Julia ordered another Cosmopolitan, willing the fruity but potent mixture to help her forget the cruel but captivating man who sat achingly near to her, but whom she could never have.
When Rachel returned, collapsing in exhaustion on the banquette, Julia stood up and excused herself. She entered the back hallway in search of the ladies’ room. Gabriel’s arrogance and condescension truly infuriated her. He didn’t want her, but now he didn’t want anyone else to have her either. What was his problem?
She was so fixated on Gabriel that she didn’t see a man standing in the hallway. She ran right into him, springing backward and careening dangerously toward the floor. Luckily, the man caught her.
“Thank you,” she murmured, looking up into the amused face of Ethan, the bouncer.
“No problem.” He released her immediately.
“I was looking for the ladies’ room.”
He pointed with his cell phone. “Other direction.” Returning to the text he’d been composing before she ran into him, he cursed. “Damn it.”
“Did I break something?”
Ethan shook his head. “No. I’m just having…text trouble.”
Julia smiled sympathetically. “I’m sorry.”
“So am I.” He eyed her appraisingly. “I’m impressed. Emerson doesn’t usually arrive with a lady.”
“Why not?”
Ethan snorted. “Are you serious? Look around you. How many couples do you think arrived together?”
“Oh,” she said. “Is he here a lot?”
Ethan looked at her carefully, wondering how much he should reveal. “You should probably ask him that.”
She looked ill.
When he saw her expression, he tried to comfort her. “Hey, he’s here with you tonight. That says something, doesn’t it?”
She looked down at her hands and fidgeted with her fingernails. “Um, he isn’t really with me. I’m just an old friend of his sister.”
She looked so sad, with those big brown eyes and that trembling lower lip, Ethan tried to think of something to distract her.
“Julianne, you don’t happen to speak Italian do you?”
She smiled. “Um, it’s Julia, actually. And yes, I do. I’m studying Italian at university.”
Ethan’s expression instantly brightened. “Could you help me text something to my girlfriend? She’s Italian. I’d like to impress her.”
“Gabriel’s Italian is better than mine. You should ask him.”
Ethan shot her a look. “Are you kidding? I don’t want him anywhere near my woman. I see how women react to him here. They’re all over him.”
Julia felt ill once again, but she pushed her revulsion aside. “Sure, I’ll translate whatever you want.”
Ethan handed her his phone, and she began entering his words in Italian. She giggled slightly at some of the more intimate sounding phrases, but on the whole Julia was impressed that Ethan, for all his toughness and rough edges, cared enough about his girlfriend to tell her how much he loved her and to reassure her that he was keeping the women of Lobby at bay. She was just finishing the text when someone came up behind them.
“Ahem.”
Julia looked up into a familiar pair of angry blue eyes.
“Mr. Emerson,” said Ethan.
“Ethan,” Gabriel growled.
Julia wasn’t sure her ears were working. It sounded like Gabriel had rumbled low in his chest like an animal, but that was impossible.
She pressed send on the phone and handed it back to Ethan. “There you are. Now we’re all se
t.”
“Thanks, Julia. I’ll send a drink over to you.” Ethan nodded at Gabriel and disappeared around a corner.
Julia began to walk toward the restroom.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Gabriel followed her.
“To the ladies’ room. What’s it to you?”
He shot out his hand and grasped her wrist, grazing the pad of his thumb across the veins that were pulsating underneath her pale skin. She gasped.
He moved her until they were hidden in a long, dark corridor, pushing her against a wall. He continued to hold her wrist, drinking in the feel of her quickening pulse beneath his fingers and placing his other hand on the wall next to her shoulder. She was trapped.
Gabriel took a moment to inhale her vanilla scent and licked his lips, but his eyes were far from happy. “Why did you give him your number? He lives with a woman, you know. Now he’s buying you drinks and calling you Julia?”
“That’s my name, Professor! You’re the only one who doesn’t use it. And at this point, even if you wanted to use it, I wouldn’t let you. I think you should have to call me Miss Mitchell forever. And I didn’t give him my number.”
“You entered your number into his phone. Do you really put yourself out there with multiple men at the same time?”
Julia shook her head, too angry to respond, and tried to duck under his elbow, but he caught her around the waist.
“Dance with me.”
She snickered. “Not a chance in hell.”
“Don’t be so difficult.”
“I’m just getting started being difficult with you, Professor.”
“Watch it.” He sounded ominous.
Julia waited a moment for the chill his tone gave her to travel up and down her spine. “Why don’t you just stick a knife into my heart and get it over with?” she whispered, looking him straight in the eye. “Haven’t you hurt me enough?”
Gabriel released her immediately and reeled back. “Julianne.” Her name rolled off his tongue as something between a reproach and a question. His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked very upset. Not angry, but upset. Wounded, perhaps.
“Am I so evil?” His voice was low, just above a whisper.
Julia shook her head no, and her shoulders sagged.
“I have no wish to hurt you. Far from it.” He looked down at her intentionally submissive posture, and his eyes quickly sought her mouth. He watched her lower lip push out slightly and tremble. Her eyes darted around anxiously.
She’s frightened, you asshole. Ease up!
“You mentioned before that I hadn’t asked you to dance. Well, now I’m asking.” He softened his voice considerably. “Julianne, will you do me the honor of dancing with me? Please?”
He flashed a winning smile and tilted his head a little…a signature seductive move. But it didn’t have the effect he desired, for Julia would not lift her head. He reached out to smooth his fingers gently across her wrist, as if he was trying to apologize to her skin. (Not that her skin would have accepted his apology.)
Julia clutched at her neck instinctively, suddenly feeling as if she was experiencing physical whiplash from his emotional caprice. Gabriel gazed at the hand that fluttered against her milk-white throat, and once again he saw her blue veins quiver with every heartbeat.
Like a hummingbird, he thought. So tiny. So fragile. Be careful…
She swallowed noisily and eagerly searched out an exit.
“Please,” he repeated, his eyes shining in the darkness.
“I can’t dance.”
“You were just dancing.”
“Not slow dancing. I’ll step on your toes and injure you with these heels. Or I’ll trip and end up on the floor, and you’ll be humiliated. You’re already angry with me…” Her lower lip began to tremble more noticeably.
He took a step closer, and she pressed herself more tightly against the wall, almost as if she was trying to disappear through it in order to escape him. He took her hand and regally lifted it to his lips. Then with a smile firmly on his face, he inched forward, leaning down and bringing his mouth to her ear. Julia’s skin vibrated with his nearness and the feel of his breath across her skin.
“Julianne, how could I stay angry with someone so sweet? I promise I won’t become cross or humiliated. You’ll be able to dance with me.” His whisper was bracing and soft, sexual and seductive, Scotch and peppermint. “Come.”
He took her hand in his, and the same familiar spark coursed across her skin. As he waited for her to respond, he felt her still beneath his touch, and he wondered at the strange reaction she was having to him. It seemed as if his charm was actually working, even though she’d been shaking a moment before.
“Please, Professor,” she breathed, fixating on his shirt front, unwilling to meet his gaze.
“I thought we were supposed to be Gabriel and Julianne tonight.”
“You don’t really want to dance with me. It’s just the Scotch talking.”
His eyebrows shot up, and he had to bite back a harsh retort. She was pushing his buttons, almost as if she knew exactly which buttons to push and when.
“One slow dance. That’s all I ask.”
“Why would you want to dance with a virgin?” she whispered, suddenly fascinated by the bows on her shoes.
His spine stiffened. “Not just any virgin, but you, Julianne. I thought you might want to dance with someone who wasn’t about to molest you on the dance floor and take liberties with you in front of a club full of sexually-aggressive men.”
She appeared skeptical but said nothing.
“I’m trying to keep the wolves at bay,” he said, his voice low.
A lion in charge of wolves, she thought. How convenient.
He hadn’t made a joke; he was looking at her seriously, his intense blue eyes boring into hers.
“One dance with me and they’ll know enough to leave you alone. That should be an improvement over the current state of affairs.” He smiled faintly. “If I’m very lucky, no one will bother you for the rest of the evening, and I won’t have to guard my charge so closely.”
She bristled at his characterization but relented, realizing that at this stage of his life he was used to getting his way—always.
It wasn’t always that way, though, was it Gabriel?
“What shall we dance to?” He persuaded her to reenter the lounge, placing a hand on her lower back. “I’ll request whatever you want. How about Nine Inch Nails? Maybe a little Closer?”
He grinned in order to indicate that he was kidding. But Julia wasn’t looking at his face, she was watching the floor so she didn’t trip and embarrass herself and The Professor. Nevertheless, as soon as the name of that song left his lips, she froze.
He nearly ran into the back of her she stopped so suddenly. Through the tips of his fingers he felt the marked coolness of her body and immediately and fiercely regretted ever suggesting that song. He moved to regard her face, and what he saw troubled him deeply.
“Julianne, look at me.”
Her breathing paused.
“Please,” he added.
Obediently, she raised her wide brown eyes to his and looked up at him through her long eyelashes. He saw fear and radical unease on her face, and something inside of him twisted.
“It was a joke. And in poor taste. Forgive me. I would never request that song for a dance with you. It would be the worst form of blasphemy, to expose someone like you to words like that.”
Julia’s eyelashes fluttered in her confusion.
“I know I’ve been a bit of a—stronzo tonight. But I’ll choose something nice. I promise.”
Unwilling to release her for fear she might bolt, Gabriel brought her to the DJ’s booth and slipped him a bill, whispering his request. The DJ nodded and smiled, saluting Julia before he searched for the requested song.
Gabriel walked her to the dance floor and pulled her in close—but not too close. He noticed that her hands, which were so much smaller than his, had begun to
sweat. It didn’t occur to him that perhaps she was having this reaction because of the song he mentioned. No, his only thought was that she was completely averse to him, and he’d made matters worse by being insulting and overbearing with her when all he really wanted to do was save her from the wolves that had descended to sniff at her skirts.
Why the hell do I care? She isn’t a child. She isn’t even a friend.
He felt her shiver, and again he regretted being harsh with her. She was a delicate little thing and clearly quite sensitive. He shouldn’t have mentioned the fact that he’d observed that she was a virgin. That was a boorish thing to do. Grace would have been appalled at his lack of gentility, and rightly so.
Perhaps he could make it up to the beautiful Julianne by dancing with her nicely and showing that he could act like a gentleman, after all. Gabriel placed his hand at the small of her back and flexed it. Immediately, he felt her breathing quicken.
“Relax,” he whispered, his lips brushing against the skin of her cheek accidentally.
He brought their bodies close together, making sure that she could feel his chest against hers. Strong and hard met gentle and soft, as they brushed against one another through their clothing. Gabriel was now on his best behavior.
Julia didn’t recognize the song he’d requested. The vocalist was singing in Spanish, and the words were unfamiliar, although she recognized the phrase besame mucho and knew that it translated as kiss me a lot. The arrangement itself was slow Latin jazz, and they swayed to it gently, Gabriel moving her across the dance floor like an expert. The fact that he’d chosen such an overtly romantic song made her blush.
I kissed you a lot, Gabriel, for one glorious evening. But you don’t remember. I wonder if you’d remember me if I kissed you…
She felt his pinky graze the top of her barely there panties through her dress, and she wondered if he knew what lay beneath his finger. The thought that perhaps he did made her skin explode in heat. She hid her eyes by keeping them determinedly fixed on the buttons of his shirt.
“It would be better if you looked me in the eye. It will be easier for you to follow my lead.”
She found him smiling down at her, a wide and genuine smile that she hadn’t seen in years. Her heart fluttered, and she beamed back at him, dropping her guard (but not her special panties) for only an instant.
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