CHAPTER 25
Despite Julian’s protests that he was fine, Kristin took him to the hospital the next day for X-rays. As she’d suspected, nothing was broken, but she had to know for her peace of mind.
Haven followed Julian everywhere he went, her plump little body struggling to keep up with him, and her tail wagging like she was a normal puppy.
Watching from the kitchen, she saw Julian pass by on his way to let Haven outside for about the fifth time, noticing that he stopped and waited when the female pup got behind.
Kristin felt her heart melt and she smiled at Julian when he came back into the house again, holding the puppy, still praising her for going potty outside.
“She’s a good girl,” Julian pronounced with a grin.
“Then I guess we’re keeping her?” she teased.
“I’d keep her even if she wasn’t good,” Julian said in a serious tone. “She didn’t have a very good start in life. She would have turned around.”
Kristin put the casserole she’d prepared into the oven and washed her hands. “How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “I changed. I just needed you to love me.”
Kristin felt tears spring to her eyes. “You didn’t change,” she told him as he gently put the dog on the ground. “You’ve always been good.”
“My priorities have been fucked up for years. But I think I have them straightened out now.” He lifted a wicked brow as he added, “And I’m not always good.”
No. No, he wasn’t. He’d tried to seduce her at least fifty times since last night, but she was having none of it. Even though she ached to be with him, the situation with his injured hands was enough to keep her from doing anything that would hurt him.
“You don’t need to be using those hands,” she argued, even though she’d do just about anything to feel his touch. “We can wait.”
Julian pinned her against the counter. “I can’t wait. Not another fucking minute,” he growled as his mouth lowered to hers, one of his bandaged hands gripping her hair to keep her still.
Kristin moaned at the feel of his lips and hands on her, his dominant aggression, her body responding the instant that he touched her.
Wrapping her arms around him, she kissed him back with all of the pent-up emotions she’d been hiding away for days, their tongues entwining in a duel for the title of which one of them was the most sexually frustrated.
As he lifted his mouth, she gasped. “I can’t think when you do this to me.”
“Then don’t think,” Julian rasped. “Feel.” He trailed sensual kisses to the side of her neck, driving her crazy.
“Julian,” she whined, knowing she had to somehow stop him now. “I love you.”
“Fuck! I love it when you say that,” he rumbled. “If I don’t get you naked right now and bury myself inside you, I’m going to have a damn heart attack.”
Kristin’s body, heart, and mind weren’t going to let her resist anymore. His needs were hers, and she knew he was feeling the same demanding, primal urges that she was experiencing.
Taking a quick glance to his side, she saw that Haven was out cold on the floor in the throes of a puppy nap.
“Come with me,” he demanded, grasping her hand and taking her upstairs in the elevator.
Once they hit the bedroom, Kristin started to help him undress without another word.
She unbuttoned the shirt she’d helped him close this morning, her heart accelerating with every inch of his rock-hard chest that she exposed. Finally, the shirt opened completely, and she leaned forward and put her mouth against his heart as he shrugged out of the garment.
Then, she flipped the button on his jeans and lowered the zipper, her belly clenching painfully as she felt his hard erection beneath her fingertips. Would the fact that he wanted her so desperately always affect her this way?
God, she hoped so.
She bent down and yanked at his jeans and briefs, triumphant as she liberated his cock. Julian kicked them off his feet impatiently as Kristin pulled her sweatshirt over her head and tossed it on the floor.
Licking her dry lips, she ran her fingers over the velvety surface of his engorged shaft, ready to taste him.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Julian grumbled, grabbing her by the shoulders and making her stand straight. “I have to be inside you this time, Scarlet. If you wrap that beautiful mouth around me, I’ll never make it.”
He made short work of her bra, then cupped her breasts with his bandaged hands, teasing her nipples with his fingertips.
“Julian.” She arched her back, his teasing almost painful to the sensitive, hard tips.
He stopped and moved his hands down, fumbling with the button of her jeans. She helped him, but once her zipper was down, he slowly lowered the denim and the lace of her panties himself. They only got to her knees before his mouth was between her thighs, his tongue darting between her slick folds.
“Oh, God.” She held on to his shoulders and kicked the garments off, none of which stopped Julian from getting what he wanted.
He grasped her hands and pulled her down to the carpet, their clothing surrounding them in small piles.
Kristin didn’t even notice. All she saw was Julian as he towered above her between her parted legs, his fingertips stroking over her clit. Her body shuddered when she met his eyes, the intense need in his expression so strong that Kristin couldn’t look away.
I feel the same way.
I need you.
Now.
He sat back, then pulled her up onto his lap to straddle him. “I’m not going to be happy unless I can feel all of you,” he told her huskily, holding her until their bodies were flush.
Kristin sighed as soft skin and hard body connected, her nipples brushing against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. “I love you so much,” she whispered into his ear, rubbing her cheek against his forehead.
He lifted her and she scrambled desperately to help him as he lowered her down onto his cock. The bliss of him filling her made her shiver as they finally connected, with Julian buried to the root in her sheath.
“Christ! I love you, baby,” Julian rasped as he squeezed the cheeks of her ass, and then giving them both time to absorb the feeling of finally being free to express exactly how they were feeling.
He didn’t move, his arms just enfolding her and holding her body against him. Kristin panted, needing more, but also wanting this moment.
Julian was hers, and she could feel it with every beat of his stuttering heart against her breasts.
Leaning back, she kissed him, a slow, sensuous motion that seemed to go on forever once he ran his hands up her bare back and speared his fingers in her locks, holding her right where she was while he devoured her with a hunger that matched her own.
They were breathing heavily as he came up for air, and Kristin pushed him onto his back so she could control how much stress he put onto his hands. Rising slowly, his cock slid almost out of her before she went back down, impaling herself until he was buried to his balls.
“Kristin,” he groaned. “Baby. Put me out of my misery. Fuck. Me.”
His hands gripped her hips, and she rocked over him, feeling her own climax building.
Forcing her to pick up the pace by slamming up and into her over and over, Julian manipulated her movements with his hands, gripping her ass tightly.
“Come for me, love,” Julian commanded. “I’m not going to survive much longer.”
Kristin kept grinding down on him as she felt her body coming apart. She was trembling by the time her climax surged through her body, whimpering and moaning as wave after wave of pleasure assaulted her.
“You look so damn beautiful when you come,” Julian growled, thrusting up harder and harder as he found his own heated release.
She collapsed on top of his body in a messy heap, her body spent.
He wrapped his strong arms around her, holding her, leaving their bodies connected. “I love you, Kristin. I can’t believe you’re finally fucking mine.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been meant for anybody else,” she told him as she tried to catch her breath. “You’ve always gotten under my skin.”
“Foreplay,” he reminded her in a playful voice.
She kissed his shoulder, noticing the slightly salty taste of his damp body. “We’re a mess.”
Both of them were drenched in sweat, and she could smell the tantalizing scent of hot sex in the air around them.
He held her tighter. “This is us. It’s you and me together.”
She nodded against his shoulder. She understood every time he said those words. They were separate, but stronger together, different together, incredible together.
It didn’t matter what was superficially dissimilar between them. They were two people who were perfect for each other. Julian was that missing part of her that she’d always longed for and had never found.
She was the part of Julian he’d always been restlessly seeking, but never knew it.
“We need a real honeymoon,” he said earnestly. “I want to start making our memories together. We had a wedding you can’t remember. But I’d love to give you a trip you’ll never forget. Can you get off work for a few weeks?”
She smiled against his warm skin. “I don’t think that will be a problem. Sarah’s pregnant, and I can guarantee that Dante is going to be a worrywart. She’s already getting ready to cut her practice back a lot. I was going to look for something else full time.”
“Is that what you want?”
“No. Working with Sarah is special. But there has never been a time in my life since I was a teenager that I didn’t work every day. I feel like I’m on vacation right now because I’m not needed at the bar.”
“I need you,” Julian replied fiercely. “Just keep working with Sarah until she has the baby, then take time off when she does. It’s not like we need the money.”
“I’d have no idea what to do with myself if I was only working part time,” she mused.
“I’ll make sure to keep you busy,” Julian answered wickedly.
Kristin rolled, finally disconnecting their bodies. She eyed Julian as he was sprawled out on the floor completely naked. She could already think of a few ideas. “We need a shower. I can decide what to do about work later.”
He stood and pulled her to her feet. “Take the time off, sweetheart. Please. You deserve to enjoy your life for a change. Spend some time with me. Micah and I are sharing the responsibility of watching out for Xander, and my cousins are helping even though we never asked them. Let’s both learn how to make things other than work our priorities.”
She knew she could never deny that delicious possibility. Since money was no longer an issue, it was entirely possible for her to work part time. “I might get bored,” she warned teasingly.
He slapped her on the ass, but with his hand bandaged, it caused very little sting. “I’ll make it my job to see that you never get tired of being together.”
Like that was a possibility? “I’ll give it a try,” she agreed.
“I can’t believe Dante is going to have a child,” Julian mused. “He’ll be nagging Sarah all the time.”
“It should be interesting because Emily is pregnant, too. So Grady and Dante can freak out together,” Kristin informed him in a mirthful voice. “They’re due only weeks apart.”
“Holy shit! Do they both know?”
“By now they probably do,” Kristin confided. “They were both going to tell their husbands over the weekend. Both of them are really happy.”
“I’m sure Dante and Grady will be happy, too. But I don’t envy them. I’d be worried, too.”
Kristin had no doubt Julian would be just as attentive and overprotective. “You don’t want kids?”
“I do,” he answered emphatically. “I just want to skip the pregnant-and-fearful stage. Holy hell, and the going-through-labor part. How does a guy stand to see the woman he loves in pain?”
The possessive, protective look he gave her allowed Kristin a taste of what was ahead for them in the future, but she knew she could handle it. “Women safely have babies every day, Julian.” An errant thought popped into her head. “Oh, hell, I guess that’s going to put the ladies’ skydiving on hold.”
“What?” Julian looked at her suspiciously.
“We’d all like Micah to take us skydiving someday. But I think Emily and Sarah will want to wait.”
“You’ll be waiting forever,” Julian answered, his tone adamant. “There’s no way you’re jumping out of a goddamn plane.”
He pulled her into the bathroom so they could clean up, still mumbling about how he’d kill Micah if he ever mentioned taking her diving.
Kristin didn’t bother to tell him that Micah had never asked her, because she just might ask Julian’s older brother to take her one day. Honestly, their love was so new that she would probably feel the same way if Julian did anything to risk his safety. She’d present her argument when it was time.
Right now, all she wanted was to surround herself in the love that Julian was giving her, and wrap herself up in him until they were both sated.
After Julian had taken the bandages off his hands, and they were waiting for the water to reach the right temperature, she threw herself in his arms. “I love you,” she told him with a sigh, kissing the corner of his mouth as she hugged him tightly.
“I love you, too, sweetheart,” he said tenderly as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. “But you’re still not jumping out of a plane.”
She did the only thing she could do when the hot, naked man of her dreams was trying to give her orders.
She laughed until he hauled her into the shower and made her totally forget anything else but him.