Oh. my. God.
It was Julian, of course. He had ditched his white sweater for a black one, cashmere still, and he was now once again dressed austerely in black.
Me likey, Fleur thought dizzily, but what she liked even more was that Julian had actually made the effort to follow her when less than an hour ago he was acting like she had held him hostage for a century.
She slowly lifted her gaze up to Julian, and Fleur knew right away she wouldn't be able to tease him about acting like a stalker. With the way his powerful body was bristling with barely leashed aggression, she suddenly felt like she was standing next to a six-foot-plus volcano, and one wrong word was all it would take to make him erupt.
"Is he your client, milaya?"
Fleur was torn. It would be a lie to say 'yes', but if she said no, then he might ask who was her nonexistent client, and so she heard herself say, "Yes."
There was a slight pause, and then Philippe added, "I hope that's not a problem?"
Julian was certain that Philippe DeRose's native accent made lots of women fall for him, but right now the sound of it only put him in the mood to drive his fist in the Frenchman's too-pretty face. And as for whether it was a fucking problem, which of course it fucking was—-
"It's not a problem at all," Fleur managed to pipe in before Julian could answer Philippe. "Obviously, I didn't let Julian know about our meeting, but it's only because I didn't want to make him jealous."
Since all of Julian's previous lovers had been jealous little bitches, Fleur's efforts to keep things clear of misunderstanding between them were obviously something he should appreciate, but...he just fucking didn't.
Most women would love that Julian would feel jealous towards them.
Why didn't she?
Fleur gave Philippe her most winsome smile even as she sent him a desperate plea with her eyes. Please, please keep playing along. "I'm so sorry about this, but would it be alright if I cut our meeting short? Julian and I have only started dating, and he's still in that stage where he's ping-ponging between wanting me close and wanting to keep his distance."
Fleur was looking at him pointedly as she spoke, but it still took Julian an extra moment before he realized what she was really saying.
Fuck!
He had not realized how painfully obvious he had been earlier. He had thought her leaving for a meeting was perfect timing, but instead she had simply read him all too well and given him space to spare both of them from any pathetic excuses he could've ended up making.
"Anyway..." Fleur turned her gaze back to Philippe and sent the Frenchman one last pleading look. Please help me save my pride? "I'm really sorry again about having to cut our, um, meeting short. If it's okay, I'll have my PA call your PA—-"
"No need." Philippe took her phone from her hold. "Here's my number, chérie. I can call you anytime this week, oui? After all, we need to talk more about this...meeting. Oui?"
Fleur could only smile weakly even as she wondered if she was being low-key blackmailed. "Oui."
"Glad you have that worked out." Julian's cool tone, however, suggested the opposite of his words. "If you could excuse us now, DeRose..."
Fleur only had time to gasp when Julian lifted her up in his arms.
"My woman has her period today," Julian said with sham regret, and he pretended not to hear anything when his words made Fleur gasp anew. "It's imperative I take personal care of her as we've only recently discovered—-"
Oh my God!
Fleur finally caught on to Julian's fittingly devilish plans, but just as she tried to reach up to cover his mouth, another particular bad bout of cramps hit, and she could only bite back a moan as Julian delivered his closing salvo.
"—-orgasms make the best pain relief for menstrual cramps."
Fleur wished she had the energy to deny this, but with her body once again completely consumed with pain, all she could do was dig her nails into his chest...hard.
All thoughts of brandishing his claim on Fleur were completely forgotten the moment he felt Fleur's nails nearly poking holes into his flesh. It was painful enough to make him wince, but it also sobered him up, and he walked away from the other man without another word.
"Hang on, milaya."
Thank fuck he had pre-booked a room here for an entire month.
"It hurts..."
The muffled whimper made his chest clench, but this time Julian knew better than to let his mind dwell on the reason why. The last time he had thought things were too right too different between them, he had ended up inadvertently pushing Fleur into another man's arms.
"I'm going as fast as I can," he promised her just as he stepped inside the elevator.