The building hummed and the city kept on glittering. He carried me to his en suite bathroom, set me on the cool counter, and cleaned me up with unhurried attention. The same hands that had wrecked me moving over me like I was something irreplaceable.
“Why do you always do that?” I asked.
He didn’t look up. “Do what.”
“This. After. You always do this.”
He tossed the towels, and lifted his eyes to mine. “Because I like taking care of you.” He said it like it was obvious. The simplest fact in the world. “I enjoy every part of being with you, Lyss. This too.”
I leaned down and kissed him, and felt him smile against my mouth.
“Finish up. I’ll get your clothes.” He walked back into his office to gather my clothes up off the floor.
He came back with them folded over his arm and set them on the counter beside me. Then took my face in his hand, tilted it up to him, and just stared at me. I didn't know what to do with my face while he did it.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“How am I looking at you?” He gave me a peck on the lips.
I smiled. “Like you’re…I don’t know…drunk.”
He didn't answer right away. Just held the look a moment longer with his thumb moving along my cheek. His lips parted, like he was about to say something. Instead he kissed me again, both hands cradling my face.
When he drew back, his playfulness had returned. “Next time, we start at my desk then the couch. Work our way to the windows.”
I lifted a brow. “So what you're telling me is I've created a monster?”
He pressed another kiss to the corner of my mouth. “I’m telling you that we have more surfaces in here to break in.”
I let out a tiny laugh and kissed him deeply.
“Come on. Let's go home.”
I slid down off the counter. “My place or yours?”
He pulled the shirt on, watching me while he did the buttons. “Mine since you don't have Micah tonight.”
“Aww, you want to cuddle with me in your bed, Julian?” I teased like I'd caught him.
“Yep. I want to hold you all night. That a crime?”
I melted right there in his bathroom and didn't bother hiding it. “No. Definitely not.”
He took my hand, laced his fingers through mine, and led me toward the elevator with his thumb caressing my knuckles the whole way.
36/
use me!
alyssa
I don’t knowwhy I said it out loud. Most of the time I keep things like this buried, because the second you put a dream in the air somebody wants to swat it down. Maybe it was the wine. Or maybe it was just the comfort of Julian.
“So, I’ve been thinking,” I said, tracing the rim of my glass. “I’m grateful for the job at Harrison & Mills, Harrison is great, but he’s near retirement, barely in the office. His son’s the heir, and that man is a piece of work. Every single thing I say, he second-guesses on principle. I say left, he says right. And the part that makes me want to throw something is he’s not even good. A mediocre white man who’s failed up his whole life, who strolls in with no prep, fumbles a hearing, and gets nods like he’s the second coming of Thurgood Marshall.”
Julian set his drink down, dark eyes steady on mine.
“I out-work him, I out-read him, I’mright, and I still sit there getting talked down to. He gets the benefit of the doubt and I have to earn mine back every morning before nine. He looks the part. I have to keep proving Iamthe part. With a smile.”
