Driving her to the apartment she’s renting each night has become more difficult, and I know I need to make a move. I don’t want to say goodnight to her and leave her alone while I return to my bed with thoughts of her on my mind constantly.
And I know that waking up beside her will be perfect in every way. She’s spent the night a few times, but having her in my space all the time is something I crave so badly. With Shay, I was happy to have her leave and go off on her shopping sprees. I would, at times, sleep in my studio, telling her I was busy when all I needed was space.
With Nea, everything is different.
“Good morning,” Nea says excitedly from the doorway as she enters the studio. In her hand, she’s carrying my favorite mug filled to the brim with black coffee I know I’m going to swallow easily because I had a late-night getting artwork ready for another show. This time, my paintings will be transported to New York.
“You made me a coffee?”
With a blush, she grins and nods. “I always make you coffee.”
It’s now or never, Julian. As I think it, the words tumble from my mouth without a second thought. “What would you think about you making me a coffee in our kitchen?”
She looks at me for a while before she narrows those pretty eyes and pins me with a stare. I can tell she’s thinking and rethinking her response because she’s chewing on her lower lip. I’ve noticed her do it over the past couple of weeks since I really took my time to take her in.
“And perhaps waking up next to me every morning?” I continue when she doesn’t answer. I keep my expression schooled, but the nervous energy rushing through me is too much to take. I don’t want her to say no, but I also can’t force her into doing something she’s not ready for.
I would prefer she say yes because that’s what she would like, rather than feel obligated to do it because I want it. Nea steps closer to me, her perfume taking hold of me just like it did the first day she walked into this house.
I can’t stop thinking about that moment. When I first laid my eyes on her, I knew I was fucked. She was too different, in a mesmerizing way, for me to ever not fall in love with her. I may have fought it, I may have been completely and utterly fearful of it, but now that it’s happened, I know I can’t stop it.
“Is that you being coy and cute?” she finally asks, leaning up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to my lips. Her scent, her taste, everything captures me like a fly caught in a spider’s web. That’s what she’s done to me. And I can’t deny I love every second.
“I love you,” I tell her, the truth slipping free. “And I want you beside me.” There are no more secrets between us. This one was always the biggest. I knew I had fallen in love with her the night I took her to dinner in the Quarter. I knew it when she smiled at me from across the table.
“I never thought this is how my new life would go,” Nea admits, a small smile dancing on her lips as she looks up at me. “But I can never change the way I feel because I love you too, Julian.”
The breath that was stuck in my lungs whooshes out in relief at her response. Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her in, my hands roaming their way to her pert ass, and I lift her up.
Instinctively, she wraps her legs around me, and I crash my lips to hers. She whimpers when I squeeze the cheeks of her ass, which allows me to dip my tongue into her mouth. The tension in my muscles eases, but the blood rushes straight to my cock when Nea grinds on me.
“We have work to do, naughty girl,” I tell her, but I don’t release her. I probably should, but she feels far too good against me.
“Will my boss allow me an hour for brunch?” she teases between kisses on my lips, cheeks, even my nose.
“He’ll think about it, but you’ll have to definitely make it worth his time,” I growl, my mouth finding purchase on her neck and sucking the sensitive flesh, earning myself a dick-hardening whimper.
“I think I can arrange that.” Her words add fuel to the already raging fire, and I walk us into the bedroom, kicking the door shut.
Time to make more memories.EpilogueNea
One year laterI’m not sure where we’re headed. Julian hasn’t told me anything. I’m in the car with a blindfold on and, to be honest, my heart is racketing in my chest.