Julie’s mind was lost in a flurry of emotions and hope.
The interview for the management position was coming up, but there wasn’t an offer for employment on the table. Still, there was possibility on the work front. Just the prospect of other options had lifted her from her rut.
And there were new possibilities on the romantic front, too.
Julie’s ex had left her and she couldn’t see the trees for the forrest. But now? There was Nico. And while they hadn’t had a normal, regular day together, there was possibility—the prospect of something more. The hint at something meaningful. Just the idea alone dug down deep in her heart and dragged an ear-to-ear smile onto her face.
Nothing noteworthy had happened, but the feelings she was feeling were magical. She wasn’t even sure what was happening with them. Still, the possibilities made every minute worth it.
Julie was so busy grinning like a fool, that she didn’t hear Nico leave the bathroom. In the time it took him to walk the short distance back to the kitchen, she noticed the sauce had begun to bake against the sides of the pot in hard crusted scales. She must’ve gotten lost in her thoughts. Slowly, she began to stir again.
“Care to share?” Nico asked, low enough to be a whisper.
Julie started, surprised by his presence. “Damn. You scared the shit out of me.”
He stood directly behind her. So close she could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. His hard chest on her back. Something harder on her butt.
“Based on the look on your face, it must be something good,” he said.
She pressed her hand to her chest and shifted to turn toward Nico, but his hands latched onto her hips, stilling her in place. Nico’s lips were inches from her face and she was afraid to breathe. Every inch of her skin reacted to his touch, pulsing and buzzing under the weight of his strong fingers. The beat of her heart, pounding so fast and hard…she thought surely it would betray her excitement.
“Looks ready.” He leaned in over her shoulder. “Can I have a taste?”
Julie dipped the wooden spoon in the sauce and cradled her hand beneath it as she turned and lifted it toward Nico’s mouth. He didn’t give an inch. Instead, he pressed his body evenly against Julie’s.
Slowly, he parted his lips and tasted the sauce. God she would have given anything to be that spoon. To have his full lips on her.
Julie tilted her head toward his, and released a low gasp. Their faces were a whisper apart. So close that she was dizzy with the fresh cottony smell of him—his scent. She searched his face and found the same longing in his eyes that she was sure lingered in hers. As much as she tried, she couldn’t keep her eyes from traveling downward to his lips.
“It’s delicious,” he murmured, behind closed lids.
After a satisfying moan, Nico opened his eyes and grazed his wet tongue over his lips then turned the spoon toward Julie for a taste. At that point, the tightening low in her belly throbbed and she feared she might unravel from his proximity alone.
She wanted more than a taste. She’d already had a taste of him in the shower the other day and now she was craving him.
As she lowered her bottom lip, he slowly dragged the warm spoon across her lips, glazing them with red sauce. When he was finished, he placed the spoon on the counter and returned his gaze to her. “Don’t move.”
Before she could object or even determine his next move, he took her face in his hands and pressed his lips hard over hers, sucking and biting softly. Effectively winding her up. He looked at her with those eyes she loved so much and Julie exhaled only to take in a sharp intake of air. The catch in her throat intensified as his gaze darkened.
As if she could move. Her knees were losing strength and the handle to the oven behind her was digging into her back. She gripped it to keep her upright and a laugh bubbled up at the sense of deja vu. Was this how it was going to be every time, Nico ravishing her and Julie trying and failing at keeping her motor skills in order.
“What’s so funny?” Nico smiled into Julie’s lips.
“It’s just…I’m falling,” she said.
Nico’s decadent chocolate eyes fluttered open, ablaze with questions.
Julie knew exactly how it sounded. Although, she was physically falling to the floor, the words struck a chord. Was she falling for Nico?
Her breath hitched and her mouth fell open. Before he could say a word, she turned her gaze. “To the floor,” she quickly clarified. She couldn’t look directly at him. It was too much.
Nico bit back a smile. Then, sweet and tender, he brushed his lips over hers once more. It was the kind of kiss that said more than any million words could communicate. It was soft and gentle. Without a word shared, it said I want you so bad. I’ve missed you. Maybe, I might be falling for you, too.
It was Julie’s undoing.
“Say you want me,” Nico whispered as he trailed light pecks down her neck to her collarbone. He wrapped her hands around his own thick neck and moved her away from the stove.
Julie thought she might hyperventilate as he deepened the kiss, allowing his hands to dip under her dress to her bare back. With both hands, he pressed her into him where she could feel how much he wanted her, too. His erection pressed into her stomach and Julie released an agonizing groan.
“I want you…” she breathed. “To respect me.”
The second the words were out of her mouth, Julie could have kicked herself. She wanted Nico. She deserved Nico. Her body deserved Nico. But, deep down, she knew this wasn’t exactly the best route to go to keep him around.
Images of his beautifully thick, veined erection flashed in her mind and she wanted it again, needed it. Every wet inch of him. Julie was feening for this man and she hated how much she wanted him. One proper lay and she was practically a junkie going through withdrawals in need of her next hit.
As Nico let his tongue slink back into his mouth, replacing it with a sweet kiss, Julie hated herself. She hated her damn brain for getting in the way of what her body craved. Nico removed his hands from beneath her cute little black dress which would have been perfect for unobstructed counter sex and Julie could have cried. God she hated reality and knowing too much. Ignorance was so much more fun.
In the back of her mind, Julie knew another round of sex with Nico would be as amazing as it was the first time, but what was she doing? She was insane to keep doing this to herself and expecting different results. If she wanted Nico, and she did, painfully so, she knew what she had to do.
Willpower was one thing, but it took grit and a special kind of stubborn resolve to let Nico leave. Here was this beautiful man, who had cooked for her and kissed her properly like she deserved to be kissed, and she was letting him walk out.
Or, rather, pushing him out before she did something she’d regret in the morning.
In the back of her mind, she warred with herself. On her shoulder, a teensy angelic version of herself urged her not to go jumping in headfirst. And on the other, a devilish red version of Liz. Little Liz, persuasive as ever, begged Julie to bed Nico. Convincingly so, she argued that Julie could ask for forgiveness later, once she recovered from sex so good it put her to sleep.
Mostly, Julie fixated on the fact that nothing bad had happened.
They’d actually spent several sane, sober hours together and she hadn’t ripped anything, hurt herself, or required any sort of medical attention, excluding minor heart palpitations.
What was worse than her fledgling emotions grasping for anything real to grab hold of was the white box. And not just any white box, but a small white box. The kind that often held an even smaller velvet box that likely displayed delicate jewelry, like…oh say, a ring.
They’d been standing in the doorway prolonging the inevitable, both recapping the evening. Julie was going back and forth in her mind a thousand times about letting him leave, and every time, Nico staying outweighed her worries of what they might do. She was on the verge of caving when the rain outside began spattering against the window.
At first, it was a light drizzle. Within a few minutes, it poured in sheets, blurred and heavy against the living room window pane. As clear a sign as any, Julie urged him to get home safely before the roads slicked too badly.
Nico nodded and untied his jacket from his waist. As he flipped his jacket over his shoulders, the pockets emptied on the floor.
Julie bent down to help him pick up his belongings on the floor and that’s when she spotted it. Between the jingling coins and a black leather wallet was a small white box.
At that moment, about a million thoughts flew through her head.