THE low rumble of an approaching thunderstorm gently pulled Julian out of his deep slumber. He loved waking to the patter of rain on the roof. It always made him feel refreshed, like a flower after a spring cloudburst, but when Julian finally forced open his eyes, he didn’t discover an advancing storm but his husband snoring loudly on the pillow beside him.
Waking up like this, with the sheets barely covering Cody’s naked body and his arm draped over Julian’s shoulders, was a hundred times better than any rainstorm. Plus, Cody was fucking gorgeous, even with his mouth hanging open and his usually perfect hair a ratted mess. Why did seeing him like this turn him on more than when Cody dressed in his best for the many political dinners Julian dragged him to?
Careful not to disturb Cody’s slumber, Julian lightly trailed his touch over the curve of his cheeks and along the lines of his strong, stubbly jaw. The coarse hair tickled his fingertips, reminding him of how Cody’s scruff had scratched across his ass and then his lips. The memory stirred his cock from its slumber.
God, they’d been insatiable last night. Cody had made love to him in a way that nobody had ever done before. It had been urgent and primal at times, and at others slow and gentle. It was as if Cody had claimed his body the moment he entered Julian and marked him with each thrust.
When it was over, Julian craved for them to do it all over again, and they had—two more times—before they finally collapsed into a sweaty, exhausted heap.
More than anything, he wanted to feel Cody inside him again, to feel the thick head of his dick forge a path in his body, but one glance at the clock told Julian that wasn’t a good idea. He had to get up and get moving. He had campaign business to take care of before he hopped on a flight to DC that evening.
This would be their first time apart since Cody moved in. They had discussed this trip the week before, and Cody had decided to stay behind to work on his manuscript. Julian had been fine with that—he certainly didn’t expect Cody to go with him every time he had to fly to the capital—but they had made those plans before all of this happened. Now he wasn’t so sure he could leave Cody behind.
The idea unnerved him in a way it hadn’t before, and he wasn’t sure what had changed. The strange emotions made his upper lip curl, but simply dragging his gaze to the sexy blond hunk lying next to him quickly pressed his sneer into a smile and forced the unpleasantness from the pit of his stomach.
How had Julian gotten so damn lucky?
His husband was not only fine, but he was smart, funny, creative, independent, and he wanted everything out of life Julian did. He wanted commitment. He wanted a marriage. He wanted to devote his life to someone else, but most importantly, he didn’t want to fall in love.
That took so much pressure off Julian. He didn’t have to worry about breaking Cody’s heart or meeting the impossible expectations romance brought to a relationship.
All Julian had to be was himself, and Cody accepted him, his faults, and his insecurities without even batting an eye. He’d never been so safe or secure in his life.
It made him want this marriage even more today than yesterday. It also made him want to wake Cody with a long, hot kiss followed by Cody slipping his long, hot cock deep inside Julian’s butt. That would certainly make their two-day separation more palatable.
He just couldn’t bring himself to tear Cody from his deep sleep. After the marathon they enjoyed last night, he deserved his rest. Besides, once Cody agreed that this trial period was now officially over, they had a lifetime of toe-curling sex ahead of them.
If Julian got out of bed now, he could shower, make breakfast, and still arrive at the office in enough time to get most of his work done. He slipped out of Cody’s arms and scooted carefully to the edge of the bed.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Cody’s sleep-heavy voice asked before his arm wrapped around Julian’s midsection and dragged him back beneath the covers.
Julian laughed but snuggled into the warm, muscled embrace that set his body on fire and made his insides tremble. “Just when I thought it was safe to get out of bed.”
“It’s never safe to get out of bed,” Cody grumbled into his back. He kissed along the curve of Julian’s upper spine and toward his nape. “It’s always safer in bed.” He nudged his hardness along Julian’s crevice.
“Is that because the Incredible Bulk is here to take care of me?”
Cody playfully nipped at his shoulder. “You bet your sweet ass he will.”
And boy did he ever.
CODY shut off his computer and got up from the chair. It was six thirty in California, which meant it was nine thirty for Julian in DC. Although Julian had texted him shortly after he landed in Dulles, they hadn’t spoken on the phone. Julian had two meetings lined up, so Cody expected they wouldn’t be talking until late, if at all.
That had been fine yesterday. Today, the lack of contact ate away at him.
He’d stayed behind to get work done, to knock out a good twenty pages in his manuscript. Staying home, which was what Julian’s house was becoming to him, had been something he’d been looking forward to when they discussed Julian’s travel plans the week before. Both of them had been fine with the arrangement, and he’d thought it would still be okay, even after last night. Once Julian left, though, loneliness crouched upon his shoulders like a lion waiting to consume him. It made concentrating difficult, and so far, he’d only managed to write four pages, which wasn’t all that great.
Being apart from him, especially today of all days, seemed like a cruel twist of fate. Although Julian and Cody had shared a bed the past few months, all they’d done was sleep in it with the occasional heavy petting Julian sometimes did “in his sleep.”
Yeah, right. Cody had bought that story along with the Golden Gate Bridge last month.
Still, their relationship had changed. The boundaries they had established had slowly retreated, and Cody enjoyed it more than he believed he would. He felt both drunk and sober at the same time. If this had happened a few weeks ago—hell, even a few days ago—he’d have seriously reconsidered this entire arrangement, but after last night, after Julian had asked Cody to claim him as his husband, any reservations he had about their relationship, about the feelings that welled up inside him no matter how hard he tried to fight them, vanished.
When he made love to Julian, Cody gave him more than just his body.
Did that terrify the ever-loving fool out of him? Oh hell to the yeah. It scared him more than finding a clown hiding underneath his bed, especially since Julian had yet to share his past with Blane. But the fear only exhilarated him more. It reminded him of that time he went skydiving. He hadn’t wanted to jump from the plane, but he’d just closed his eyes and let himself go.
Except this time, a parachute wouldn’t keep him from slamming into the hard-packed ground. He had faith Julian would keep him safe.
WHEN Julian entered the apartment he rented in DC, he immediately regretted not asking Cody to come along. He’d grown accustomed to coming home to that beautiful smile and those strong arms that always greeted him with a hug whenever he walked through the door.
Cody had spoiled him with his presence, and right now, he missed that big, goofy lug something fierce. If he didn’t have another committee meeting tomorrow, he’d be catching the red-eye back to the West Coast.
God, what the hell was going on with him? Whatever it was, he had better keep it in check.
What he couldn’t rein in was his need to hear the velvety tones of Cody’s voice before going to sleep. If he couldn’t have his husband’s naked body pressed up against him as he drifted off, he could at least have the next best thing. He yanked his phone out of his pocket and dialed Cody’s cell.
He answered on the first ring. “Well, there you are. I’ve been worried sick for hours. You don’t call. You don’t text. I thought you’d forgotten all about me.”
Julian fell back on his bed. A huge grin spread across his features, and his stomach flip-flopped. How could he be hungry? He’d just eaten. “We’re going to have to discuss your nagging.”
Cody gasped. “I am not a nag.”
“Then you do a wonderful impression.”
“You, sir, are a butthead.”
Julian laughed. “A butthead? Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
“I don’t think someone’s called me a butthead since middle school.”
Cody snorted. “Not to your face.”
Julian couldn’t help but laugh. Cody was more than likely right about that.
“Are you going to try for sleep now?”
Julian nodded even though Cody couldn’t see him. “Yeah. I’m tired, but I don’t know if I can drift off just yet. I was hoping hearing your voice might help.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he tensed. Why had he said that?
“Well, I have something that might help with that.” Muffled sounds echoed on the other end of the phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting in bed,” Cody answered. “Naked.”
Julian liked where this was going. “Hold on.” Two seconds later he was out of his clothes, his phone in one hand and himself in the other. “You were saying.”
“You have your iPad with you?”
Well, that hadn’t been what he’d been expecting. “Um, yeah. Why?”
“Where is it?”
Julian eyed the device on the nightstand next to him. “Right here. Why?”
“Open it.”
An impish grin danced across his lips. Had Cody left him a naughty surprise? He was the best husband ever. Julian snatched the device off his nightstand and switched it on. He quickly flicked through the pictures in his photo album, where not one naked picture of Cody graced his screen. “I’m not finding anything.”
“Go to the Movies app.”
If Julian were any happier, it would be Christmas. He’d never been a fan of lovers taking explicit videos of themselves, but that had been before he married Cody. He opened up the app and found a movie file uploaded to his device. His cock throbbed. “You didn’t?”
“I did.” The grin in Cody’s voice couldn’t be more obvious. “Don’t open it yet. We have to do it at the same time.”
“Why?”
“We’re going to watch together.”
Now Julian was completely confused. Why would Cody want to watch a video of himself posing naked or jerking off? “You’ve lost me.”
“You’ll see in just a moment.” Cody huffed on the other end as he no doubt reached for his iPad. “Okay. Start the video.”
As soon as Julian did, he was greeted with a poor-quality recording of some show he’d never seen before. “What is this? Who are these people?”
“It’s Days of Our Lives,” Cody replied, as if the answer were obvious. “But it’s an old arc. I figured you needed to get caught up on some of the basics before you plunge into the current storyline.”
Julian groaned on the phone. “You didn’t have to.”
“Oh, shut it. Okay, that woman is Marlena Evans. We love her.”
“Even though she’s trying to kill that man?”
“That’s Doug Williams, her good friend.”
“Why is she trying to kill him if he’s her good friend?”
“She’s a serial killer.”
Julian rolled his eyes. “Why the hell am I supposed to love a serial killer? This soap opera is ridiculous!”
“She’s not really killing these people. Everyone thinks she is, but they’re all alive, whisked away to a private island by the bad guy, who is trying to destroy Marlena and her husband, John.”
This plot was getting more absurd by the moment. “That makes no sense.”
“Will you just shut up and watch? I’ve spliced together footage of this storyline for you. It’s one of their best plotlines of all time.”
Julian seriously doubted that. What he didn’t doubt was this show’s ability to put him to sleep, so he set the iPad on the mattress, lay back on the bed, and waited for sleep to claim him.
An hour later Julian’s heartbeat raced in his ears. “Holy shit! They just shot Marlena!”
“I know!” Cody screamed from the other side.
“She can’t be dead. Please tell me she’s not dead. John wouldn’t let her die.”
“Keep watching.”
“I’m never going to get to sleep. You know that, don’t you?”
Cody chuckled. “Now you know why I love this show!”
Julian wasn’t quite ready to make that claim yet. If he did, he’d never hear the end of it. “It’s okay.”
“You love it. Admit it.”
He didn’t love the show. Cody, on the other hand—
Julian sat up in bed. An eerie chill settled across his body. “Um. I’m really tired now. I need to get some sleep.”
“Oh. My. God. You’ll do anything to admit you don’t love this show.”
Julian let out a fake yawn. “I really need to sleep. Long day tomorrow.”
“Fine,” Cody grumbled. “But we’ll watch it some more later. Okay?”
“We’ll see.” He tossed his iPad off the bed as if it were possessed. “I’m gonna be pretty busy the next few days.”
“Are you still coming home on Sunday?”
That had been the plan, but right now he needed some space. The walls were closing in around him. “I may have to stay longer.”
“How much longer?” The disappointment in Cody’s voice couldn’t have been more apparent. It worried Julian.
“A few more days at least. Maybe a week.”
“A week?”
The tone of Cody’s voice made his chest tighten. Julian didn’t enjoy the feeling. “I’ll let you know more tomorrow.”
Cody sighed. “Okay. I just miss you.”
Julian gripped his phone so tightly the casing popped. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. “Thanks. I’m really beat, so I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
He ended the call before he got a response.
It was an asshole move, he knew that, but what else could he do? Everything that had once been clear had muddied. He had to clean things up and get some perspective. That was the only way to deal with whatever was going on. When his world had righted itself, he could deal with Cody and redirect them both onto the path of certainty they had somehow deviated from.