Not even a sudden move to look at her phone.
Show me your face, baby. What’s wrong?
Her knees are pulled to her chest, and her head is bowed, so I can’t see her beautiful face, but there is no mistake she’s crying. Her whole body is heaving up and down.
Show me your goddamn face, Juliette!I yell internally, willing her to fucking listen.
This is the exact reason I kept my pilot on standby.
I’m coming for you, baby.
Fuck the meeting, fuck everyone else.
My girl needs me.
I tear through the penthouse, and thankfully, she’s not in the hallway anymore. I find her curled up, sleeping on the couch, with the warm blanket she loves from my room wrapped around her like a sheet of armor.
The barely there dusting of freckles along Jules’s cheeks has disappeared behind red blotches down her face. Her eyes are swollen shut, and her lips puffy and parted, letting out a soft breath that hitches even in her sleep.
There’s a pivotal time in your life that you won’t know until it happens. You won’t even believe it until it happens.
It’s happening…
I’m falling in love with Jules.
Or I’m already in love.
Standing here, looking down at my girl, there is no way I’m walking away from my beautiful, sweet girl. Seeing her here in my house, with Claud sleeping upstairs, makes so much fucking sense to me now that I wonder how the hell I’ve been such a fool to have wasted my time worrying about the what if’s.
Mine.
I always knew it. It only took me a minute to wrap my head around it.
Finally, I’m listening to what Camila has been trying to tell me. I’m taking life by the fucking reins, and I’m claiming my girl.
“Harrison?” Jules’s raspy voice croaks quietly as her eyes flutter up. “You’re home?”
Leaning down, I put my arms around her, easily picking her up, pulling her to my chest, and then walking us toward my bedroom.
I kiss her cheeks, then forehead, letting my lips linger against her warm, smooth skin. “I’m home, baby.”
In every sense of the word.
I lay her down on her side of the bed, walk back to lock the door in case Claudina wakes up early or has a nightmare, and then undress Jules. “W-what are you doing? I can’t sleep in here.”
“You will, and you won’t fight me on it. Tonight we sleep. Tomorrow we talk.”
Jules’s eyes widen in surprise, though she still fights me. “I can’t, Harrison. I want to, but I can’t.”
Her raw, shaky words have me pausing. “What do you mean by that?” I frown.
Her eyes are downcast as she plays with the hem of her shirt. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t lie in this bed beside you and pretend I’m okay with it. I thought I could, but I can’t do casual, Harrison. I can’t do anything less than all in with you. What we had before was…”
“Was not enough.” Her hopeful eyes lift to mine. “I’m not letting you go,mon petit papillon. This is it. This is where you belong. With me, in this bed, in my home, and inourlife.”
“Harrison.What?” She gasps, and the most beautiful sight of happiness crosses her face.
“Tomorrow, Jules.” I kiss her red pouty lips. “Sleep now, baby,” I tell her as I get in behind her and pull her close to me, never wanting to let her go.
