I swallowed, feeling every unspoken word between us settle softly in the air. “Neither did I,” I admitted, tracing the outline of his jaw with my fingertips. “But I’m not letting go. And I’m the one who has to consider who and what I am. Not you… you’re perfect. Don’t argue.”
Julian smiled. “The fact that you know I would is enough. You’re the perfect one here.”
We undressed each other. Maybe the time for words had passed. I didn’t know. I was new to this. Every time I’d gotten naked before it had been different. With Jules it was silent, and I loved it.
Finally, when I was completely exposed to him, I forced myself to meet his gaze. “I didn’t think I’d feel shy.”
“But you are.” He nodded. “I am too.”
I shook my head. “Are you lying?’
“To you? Never. No, I am. You matter, Baby. Like nothing else, or anyone in the universe.”
He slipped a finger inside of me before he leaned down to suck on my nipple. I bucked beneath him. Wow, I was sensitive.Really sensitive and wanting more. I wasn’t sure what I should be doing right then. In our position, I could kiss his shoulders and run my hands around his back, so I did just that.
His skin was soft and firm. Jules tasted clean and smelled masculine like the citrus scent of his soap only enhanced the very essence that was Jules. He lifted his head. “I am so excited. You can probably feel that. I will be better at this next time. If it goes too fast. You can count on that.”
Was he worried about that? “Jules…”
He winced. “Told you I was also feeling shy and insecure.”
I would say adorable, but we’d leave that alone. Instead, I just kissed him and held onto him, knowing that this was Julian and everything would be beautiful.
And it was.
I leaned on his chest,listening to Julian breathe. What a week it had been. We had lost his granny, discovered Phoenix’s abductors and what had happened—or at least some of it—to him, flown to the Hamptons, and now I had done that. Ups and downs in the most extreme ways.
I smiled and kissed his chest. He responded by kissing the top of my head. “I love you.”
“I love you so much.”
I could feel him smile, his mouth on my temple. “It’s snowing, isn’t it?”
Had he just noticed? Yes it was snowing. It had started before we had. I sat up, slowly. “Should we be worried about the others?” I had been really preoccupied, not thinking about the fact that they were out there driving.
He joined me. “Barrett is a good driver and hopefully had the sense not to use his own car today.” Their oldest brother had a thing for older cars. Beautiful but maybe not perfect for the Hamptons in the snow. Julian grabbed his phone and looked down at it. “They’re fine. See?” He held up the screen. “I mean they’re not as good as I am right now. But they’re coming back. About twenty minutes away I think.”
That was good. I was a bad girlfriend. I should have thought of it earlier. And now I had to not think about what could go wrong in those twenty minutes on snow and ice. The guys really didn’t drive enough.
“Hey,” he nudged me. “Come on. We’re getting in the hot tub.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Jules, we were just discussing the snow.”
“Best time to get in the hot tub. Trust me.” He rubbed his eyes and then with remarkable energy considering just seconds ago he had looked tired, he got out of bed. I followed him. I needed a bathing suit, but I didn’t have one with me. Or maybe I did. Presumably I had a bathing suit somewhere—they’d packed all of my stuff to bring to Louisiana. But I had no idea where it was, and even though we’d packed everything again when we left, we hadn’t unpacked anything since coming here.
So, I had to make do. I grabbed the shirt I had been wearing and decided it would do for the hot tub right then. Julian put on his shorts and stayed shirtless. We were going to be freezing. Maybe Julian was kidding around with this?
But no, after shoving our feet in sneakers, we both rushed outside to the hot tub which was on. “How?” I kind of pseudo-shouted at Julian.
He grinned at me. “I should say magic but it’s a button in the house that turns it on.”
Heat in the form of steam released upward, hitting the snowflakes that came into contact with it and immediately bursting them into nothingness, like they joined into one thing instead. As though the heat from the tub took over the snow itself.
I sort of pseudo hopped in after Julian, the warmth replacing any cold the frigid air brought to my body. I shrieked. He was right. This was fun.
“Sit back.” He smiled at me. “Relax. The cold can’t get us in here.”
I sank deeper into the bubbling water, letting my shoulders slip beneath the surface until only my head remained above. This made me giggle. In my whole life I could never have imagined doing something like this. The sensation was surreal—warmth enveloping me while the world beyond the rim of the tub was being bathed in white. The snowstorm danced, sending flakes sideways, piling up around the deck where the tub sat and clinging to our sneakers, which we had hastily abandoned at the edge. Our shoes were going to be soaked. I would deal with that later.
