“I, um, actually have to show you something.”
Petula smirked and glanced down at his jeans-clad-hard-on, sassily. “Oooh. Right now? I mean, I’vefelthow impressive it is, but are you really going to whip it out right here?”
“Fresh,” he said, and with a grin, landed a quick kiss on her mouth. He managed to end things before they got heated again, then he untangled from her without—thankfully—hurting his engorged appendage. He nudged her across to her side of the bench seat, buckling her seatbelt around her. “No, is the answer to that. I’m not an exhibitionist. But I do have somethingelseyou need to see.”
She made an exaggerated pout. “Okay. But I’m all in for the first reveal, just so you know. Ready and waiting.”
He scoffed. “I’m ready, too. But this is definitely not the place.”
She brightened. “Oh! You’re taking me to a motel, then?”
Damn, she was cute.
“No,” he chuckled. “And stop trying to guess. You’ll ruin the surprise. And you’ll see soon enough, anyway. It’s only a ten-minute ride.”
“Okay.” She sat back in her seat, seemingly relaxed, but he could tell she was still aroused. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and she rubbed her thighs together as if assuaging an ache. Julian wished he could take care of that for her, right the hell now, but circumstances dictated that they wait. Living with family was fine for most things, but for privacy to explore a new relationship? Not so much.
Which is why…
Ten minutes later Julian pulled into the driveway of a cute bungalow that backed up to a small, private pond.
“What’s this?” Petula questioned, looking around curiously.
Julian didn’t answer, but smirked and pointed to a sign in the front yard that was just visible in his headlights.
“Contract pending,” she read, then squealed. “Did you buy this house, Julian? Is it yours?”
“Not yet,” he cautioned. He didn’t want her to get ahead of herself and go running up to the door expecting it to be warm, furnished, and ready for stripping off clothes. “I pass papers next Wednesday.”
“Then we’ll have a place to be alone.” She clapped her hands.
“We will. But with one immediate problem. I have no furniture. No household shit. Nothing.”
“Oooh.” Petula’s face now registered a different kind of excitement. “How about we spend the next few days hitting up some stores and buying you things?”
Julian was gladPetulawas excited about the prospect of outfitting the place, because thinking about it hurt his brain. He’d never had to set up a living situation before, always having resided in furnished, base housing.
He certainly wasn’t going to say no.
“That sounds great.”
Julian brought his mind back to present, put the truck in gear and followed Petula to her next drop-off, still remembering the balance of that night.
Because the house had been empty, they’d spent several more minutes making out in the driveway, where much to Petula’s disappointment, none of her cute coercion had convinced him they should shed any clothes.
He knew the anticipation was killing her, as it was him, but Julian was trying to savor every moment.
Flirting, kissing, and innuendos could be fun.
Just not for too long.
True to his word, in the following two days, Julian had let himself be dragged from furniture stores, to home-goods retailers, to frou-frou establishments, and before the weekend was over, he had a lot of the necessities to stock his kitchen, and enough linens to host several toga parties. And the bathroom stuff like toothbrush holders and soap dispensers? He never would have considered buying any of that. Petula had been a godsend.
The entire lot of their purchases was currently tucked away, safe and sound in his parents’ barn.
Deliveries of a king-sized bed and two dressers had been set for the day after the closing, which was now just two days away, and even though he’d wanted to get all the furniture purchasing done, Petula had smartly told him he needed to wait, measure spaces, and pick color schemes before he committed to anything more.
If he’d been doing the buying alone, he would have picked out one comfy-assed sofa, a big screen TV, and called it a day. But if Petula were to become an integral part of his life—and he could already picture her living in this bungalow with him—he’d happily defer to her about wall colors and stuff to sit on.
