Chapter Seven
Julian pulled up at the floral shop where his sister worked, not far from where he used to live. Thanks to the Blink settlement, Alyssa lived in an apartment a few blocks over, in a nice neighborhood he felt comfortable with her walking to and from, day or night. She lived alone, and he’d learned to be fine with that. He still worried about her much more than he needed to.
He was looking forward to taking her to lunch and catching up. Despite the age difference, he’d always felt close to her. Maybe it was the circumstances in which they’d grown up, maybe it was his protective nature, or maybe it was biology. She was his baby sister and always would be.
He walked in to find her wearing a dark-colored apron, scissors in one hand, flowers in another, humming while she worked. The sight of her doing everyday things never failed to warm his heart, bringing him back to a time he wasn’t sure she’d have a normal life.
“Julian!” Her face lit up as she caught sight of him. “Just let me finish up and I’ll be ready to go.” She snipped another stem on the flowers and set them into a vase before removing her apron and washing her hands in a back sink. “Kate,” she called out to her boss.
The unique woman with pink stripes in her hair stepped out from the back of the shop. “Oh, your handsome brother is here!”
They’d met before, and her boss was harmless, just flirty. She was eccentric, and her work ethic did well with Alyssa’s needs. She let her set a schedule she could handle, didn’t throw surprise requests her way, and accepted the occasional slow speech when she couldn’t access a word she ought to know.
“How are you?” Kate asked.
“I’m fine. And you?”
She smiled. “All’s well here, thanks to my star employee. Your sister has a talent for arrangements.” She glanced at Alyssa and waved a hand. “Go. Take your lunch. I’ll see you later.”
Julian waited for Alyssa to join him up front. “How are you, squirt?” he asked, always using her childhood nickname.
She rolled her eyes. “When are you going to remember I’m an ad… ad… adult?” she said, adjusting the end of the sentence to the slow, measured speech she’d adopted after the accident and learned at therapy. Sometimes normal words came hard for her, either to say or remember.
“You’re always going to be my baby sister.”
“Well, your baby sister wants sushi for lunch.”
“Whatever you want.” His hand twitched to ruffle her hair, but he refrained. No twenty-one-year-old wanted her older brother to treat her like a kid.
Over lunch, they shared a variety of rolls and normal talk. “I love this job. It’s so much better than the last shop I worked in. Kate is so amaz… amazing to work with.” She tucked her dark brown hair behind one ear.
Alyssa hadn’t gone to college. She’d nixed the offer when Julian made it, even if they’d had to take out loans for her to go. But she said it was too hard, her brain no longer worked that way, and she was okay with that. More than he was, since it had always been in her grand plan before the accident. Instead she wanted to focus on creative things that fed her soul and made her happy. Julian was completely on board, and now he had the means to help support her when needed.
“I’m glad.”
“So what’s new with you?” Alyssa asked before popping a spicy tuna roll into her mouth.
“Well, I have news. I’m seeing someone.” He hadn’t told Alyssa the last time he’d been with Kendall, but everything this time was more serious.
“Julian, you have a girlfriend?” His sister’s green eyes, similar to his own, sparkled back at him.
“I do.” Although it felt weird to call Kendall that because all his prior women had been hookups, that’s what she was.
“Will I get to meet her?”
“Do you want to?”
She straightened her shoulders. “I want to give my stamp of approval.”
Julian shook his head and laughed. “You’ll approve. I have no doubt.” He grinned and felt the heat rush to his cheeks as he thought of Kendall.
A few minutes into his sushi, his iPhone buzzed, showing an incoming text from Kendall. “Dinner… and me. Any way you want. My place. Eight p.m.”
His dick liked that suggestion if the hardening in his pants was anything to judge by. He immediately texted back. “With an offer like that, let’s do you first and dinner after.” He grinned and placed his phone on the table.
“Is that her?” Alyssa asked.
He nodded. Why deny it?
“You have it bad,” his sister said, laughing. “And I like it. I want to come hang out with Steve, so I can meet her then.”
“We’ll set something up.” He turned his attention to his food, pleased his two best girls would finally meet.
A little while later, he paid the check and they left the restaurant. He’d walk her back to the flower shop before heading home for an afternoon’s worth of computer and security work.
He left his sister securely inside her place of work and walked out the door, heading for his car. From the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of a woman’s face and long light brown hair duck into the nearest alley.
He narrowed his gaze, feeling like he’d seen the girl before. He strode to the entry to the alley and glanced around, but no one was there.
He shrugged and headed home, finally feeling like he had something important to head home to.
* * *
After the night Kendall spent with Julian, and in the time she’d taken afterwards to come to terms with her new reality and how much she wanted things to work with him, she’d reached inside herself. And decided she wanted to resurrect parts of the Kendall she’d suppressed when she’d gone on medication and decided to be the perfect patient.
She took her time getting ready for Julian to arrive. First, a long, hot shower, where she luxuriated in her favorite crème-brulée-scented shower gel and followed up with matching/complementary moisturizer. She made certain to rub her hands up her freshly shaven legs, knees, and thighs, then follow up her arms, chest, and stomach. She wanted to smell good enough to eat so he’d act on the impulse.
She chose a simple short dress that was as easy to take off as it was to put on and left her feet bare.
As for dinner, she wasn’t a good cook. She’d never slowed down enough to learn, so she ordered in food from a gourmet shop down the street. Her kitchen was small, but she set the table and added candles, an intimate touch she’d never tried before.
“Ready for company?” she asked Waffles. “I have a surprise for you.” Julian had texted and asked if he could bring Steve. Apparently the dog had grown attached to him since he worked from home.
Just as she put dinner in the oven to heat, the doorbell rang, and she rushed over to answer, Waffles by her side, dancing and barking. “Shh.”
A glance through the peephole showed her guests had arrived. She held on to Waffle’s collar as she opened the door and didn’t let go until they stepped inside.
“Hey, baby.” Julian grabbed her around the waist, pulling her close. His hard body aligned with hers, the thick outline of his cock pressing against her belly as he placed a long kiss on her lips. Her stomach fluttered with immediate wanting, desire rolling through her body. “I missed you,” he said, breaking the kiss.
“I missed you, too.”
He bent down, giving her an unobstructed view of his tight ass in faded jeans, and unhooked Steve’s leash because the dog was pulling so he could wrestle with Waffles. He rose back to standing. “Go. Play.”
“Welcome,” she said, waving them into her apartment. “I’m sure the two dogs will settle down in a little while,” she said of the animals playing, running from the entry to the family room and back again.
Julian grinned. “I like to see him playful and happy. I especially think he’s got good taste, picking a female in the Parker family as his new girl.”
She touched his cheek, then spun away. “Come. I have dinner for us.” She led him into the kitchen, where she had chicken Marsala and sautéed broccoli ready for them.
“Did you cook this?”
“Nope. Don’t get your hopes up that you’re involved with a chef or anything. Lots of takeout and basic eating here. How about you?”
He shrugged. “I can do a little more than the basics. I used to cook for Alyssa when my mother wasn’t up to it.”
She met his gaze. “My sister and I used to make spaghetti when our mom was too depressed to leave her room.” She caught herself, having already decided she wanted tonight to be light and fun, not serious and intense, and changed the subject. “So if you want pasta, I can boil water. But I figured it wasn’t good date night food.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Lady and the Tramp made it work.”
She laughed. “Comparing us to the dogs, now?”
He chuckled but had no good comeback.
She plated the food while he watched, then he placed the dishes on the table.
The dogs had settled in beside each other in the family room, playing nicely with toys. She and Julian began to eat, talking about everyday things, television shows, movies, and things they discovered they had in common.
Soon she finished the delicious chicken, and he did the same, sliding the plate away from him.
“I’m full and that was excellent,” he murmured.
She nodded in agreement. “How’s work?” she asked.
“Busy. New clients are lining up. With hacking becoming so prevalent, my business is doing well, for which I’m grateful.”
“That’s great.”
He nodded. “I’ve hired outside consultants and people who work directly for me. I’m growing. What about you? How’s the job going?”
She blew out a slow breath. “I love working with dogs. I get so much satisfaction placing homeless dogs with their perfect people.” Her tone dropped a bit.
“But? I can hear it in your voice.”
“It’s not a job that gives me enough of an income to fully support myself. And the longer I’m out of the hospital and on my own, the more I know it’s time to find something more permanent.”
“Do you have any ideas?” he asked.
She hesitated for a good long while, and he gave her the space she needed to work up the courage to admit her goals.
Finally, she spoke. “I really want to be a vet tech. I’d need two years at a veterinary technology School accredited by New York State. There are a few local schools that would work and some that are in the suburbs. I could take the train… or rent an apartment there.”
“You’ve thought this through.” His eyes gleamed with approval.
“I’ve already met with an admissions counselor at one of them. I can go part time and not have to quit my job.” And the thought of having her own steady income, a goal she could work toward, gave her a feeling of pride.
“Then do it. I know you can make it happen.”
“Really? You believe in me?”
He grasped her face in his hands. “I definitely believe in you.”
She couldn’t help the smile that took hold. “You’re the only one I’ve told. I haven’t even let Lexie know. Or my father.”
And she’d have to ask him for a loan. Or, he’d insist on paying. Her father was an investment banker who could more than afford to cover the cost of school. But he’d done so much for her over the years, and even if he’d put the brunt of her care on her twin, financially he’d always been there.
“I’m glad you trusted me with your hopes and dreams,” Julian said.
She smiled. “Me, too.” She glanced at their empty plates. “Can I get you anything else?” she asked.
His eyes darkened, and she recognized the desire that filled them. “Just you.”
* * *
As Julian listened to Kendall talk about her future, a mixture of admiration and longing rushed through him—a desire that surpassed the physical for a woman he was coming to want more with each passing day.
He held out his hand, and she grasped it, curling her fingers around his. He pulled her toward him, and she came willingly, ending up in his lap, her legs straddling his on the chair. Her dress hiked up her thighs, exposing her delicate panties, and the warm heat of her sex settled against his hard cock. Ripples of awareness trickled through his veins.
She slid her arms around his neck and sighed. “How did we get here?” she asked.
“I got fucking lucky,” he muttered before sealing his lips over hers.
He slipped his tongue inside her mouth and lost himself in her taste, her sweetness, everything that was Kendall. And she met him halfway, moaning when he swept inside, tongues tangling in an effort to bring them as close as possible.
Her body rocked against his thick erection, and he lifted her dress, slipping a hand up her back, guiding her back and forth as her hips moved enticingly against him. Her soft sighs breathed into his mouth, the noises growing louder as her hips gyrated faster over his denim-covered dick.
He broke the kiss, stroking the soft skin on her back, urging her on.
“Mmm,” she murmured, kissing him again while clearly working up to an orgasm.
“That’s it, baby. Take what you need.” His cock was hard, his balls tight, but his focus was on her pleasure.
And just when he thought he couldn’t stand to not be inside her warm, wet body, she stiffened against him, then trembled in his arms as she came apart, her orgasm going on and on. He fought against coming himself, waiting until she’d ridden out her enjoyment before standing with her in his arms.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he strode out of the kitchen and into the family room. The dogs had crashed, sleeping curled into each other on Waffles bed on the floor.
Julian shook his head and passed by them, heading straight for her bedroom. He lay her on the bed and stepped back to undress. While he stripped bare, she pulled her dress over her head, revealing a skimpy matching set of bra and panties, which he paused to admire for half a second before she tossed them onto the floor.
She turned, crawling up to the head of the bed, giving him a perfect view of her delectable ass. Acting on impulse, he placed a well-timed slap on her rear before she could turn back around.
“Hey!” she squealed, and he wasn’t sure if she was reacting to the contact or the sound. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes darkening.
In their earlier relationship, they’d experimented a little. He’d tied her arms and legs during sex, and she’d loved it. He’d lightly slapped her ass, and she’d come quickly right after. Not to mention what it’d done to him, amping up his desire, just as he felt now.
He rubbed the red, heated mark he’d left behind on her ass, and she moaned at his touch. Although some things had changed, and she was mellower, other things hadn’t—their physical and emotional connection and their enjoyment of fun sex.
He slapped her other cheek. She arched her back, lifting her ass toward his palm, not away from it. His own body was throbbing with a need that increased every time she responded to his actions. He rubbed the newly reddened area, and she glanced at him, over her shoulder, her lashes fluttering, her eyelids heavy with desire.
“Don’t move.” He reached for his pants on the floor and pulled out a condom, unwrapping it and drawing it onto his aching shaft.
She wiggled her ass in reply, earning her another light slap. Her answering sensual moan went straight to his dick. He needed to be inside her. Yesterday.
Bracing a hand on her sleek lower back, he guided his cock into her sex, sliding his shaft along her wet pussy before he notched the head inside her.
“Ooh,” she moaned, a sound he felt everywhere.
Inch by gratifying inch, he glided into her wet heat until he was balls deep. So fucking deep.
“Oh, Julian.”
“Right here, baby.” His name on her lips caused his desire to kick up a notch higher, and he hadn’t thought that was possible. Not when his body was wired and already slick with desire and sweat. The only thing keeping him from coming was the urge to make sure she climaxed first.
He wrapped his hand around her hair and tugged, eliciting a shuddering moan. He slid his cock out and thrust back in, finding his own rhythm, one she matched, grinding back against him with each successive thrust inside her.
She shook and trembled, searching for the ultimate fulfillment. He slid one arm around her waist and pressed a finger on her clit, moving it in a circular motion, his fingertip wet with her desire. A few more strokes and she came around him, moaning incoherent words in between sobbing out his name.
Only then did he let go, allowing her climax to trigger his own. He began to pump into her, grasping her hips and plunging deep, over and over again. The aftermath of her orgasm caused her inner walls to clasp his dick in a moist, tight tunnel. He’d never felt anything so hot, so right.
“Oh, fuck, Kendall.” He came on a shout, lost to the hot spurts leaving his cock and the waves of pleasure tackling his body.
A little while later, they were cuddled beneath the covers, something he couldn’t remember doing with her in the past. This need to stay close to any woman, and to her in particular, was new to him.
He held her close, inhaling her warm, fragrant scent that was delicious. He nuzzled his nose into her neck and shoulder, licking behind her ear, and she giggled.
“Silly.”
“I’m just happy.” And he was, which was a unique feeling for him.
“Why? What makes you happy right now?” she asked.
He drew a deep breath. “You. And the fact that you still trust me or you wouldn’t let me spank you.”
“We click sexually,” she murmured. “But yes,” she admitted. “I’m coming to trust you. Not again, because I just can’t think about the past as something that was honest. Or real. But I’m coming to trust you now.”
It was fucking amazing to hear those words from her beautiful lips. He didn’t kid himself. They had a truckload of obstacles ahead of them in the form of her family. But for this moment in time, he had everything he wanted.
* * *
The next morning, Julian left Kendall’s early because he had a conference call, but not before he’d claimed her once more. If he was in the room with her, he desired her. That wasn’t new. What had changed was the realization that there was so much more between them than sex.
No, it hadn’t been that long since she’d forgiven him, but in that short time, he’d opened himself up to her. Been honest about himself and his past, and he hadn’t been disappointed. She’d accepted him, faults, flaws, and all. Leaving her this morning hadn’t been easy, but it was necessary.
He walked out of her building with Steve on a leash. The dog hadn’t left his new girlfriend without a fight. He’d cried as Julian put his leash on and dragged him away from Waffles.
He stopped at a corner café to grab a cup of coffee, and it took awhile before a taxi willing to pick up Julian and Steve stopped for them. The ride was short, the sun hot through the back window, as Steve pressed his nose against the glass during the trip.
Julian hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, and that was okay with him. He had a damned good reason. The woman he’d left sleeping in her bed, hair tousled over her pillow and face, a soft smile on her lips when he’d kissed her good-bye.
“We’re here,” the driver said, pulling up to the curb by Julian’s apartment.
He slid his credit card into the slot and handled the payment and a nice tip for taking Steve, too, before climbing out of the cab. He was walking across the sidewalk into his building when he heard his name. It was a soft whisper, but it was enough for him to turn.
A young girl with long, dark curly hair met his gaze. Her hands were shoved into the pockets of a hooded, zippered sweatshirt that had seen better days, and her jeans were ripped and faded. But it was her eyes that triggered his instant recall.
“Alex?”
“You … you remember me?”
She was older now, her hair longer, her expression sadder. But her vivid eyes were so light green they often appeared blue. Just like her brother’s.
“Of course I do. Billy’s sister,” he said of his one-time friend, although drug buddy would be a better term.
During the time after college when Julian was high more often than not, he’d hung around with Billy and his group of friends. Julian was lazy and didn’t do much beyond drugs and occasionally showing up for whatever menial labor job he could find, but Billy had been more hard-core.
He was currently doing time for possession and dealing, and his arrest had been the catalyst for Julian to clean up his act—because but for the grace of God, Julian could have been with him. And he couldn’t have afforded to end up behind bars, abandoning his baby sister the way Billy had. Alex had been left with no one to fend for her, and she’d ended up in the foster care system.
He met her gaze. “How did you find me?”
She pulled her sweatshirt tighter around her, her hands never leaving her pockets. “I was wandering near where I used to live with Billy when I thought I saw you. You were busy with a woman and I didn’t know if I should bother you.”
“I knew someone was following me. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I had to work up the nerve,” she mumbled. “Then I Googled your address on the computer at school.”
She obviously had something she needed from him, and getting it out of her was going to be like pulling teeth. “Are you hungry? There’s a place on the corner that makes killer pancakes.”
Her eyes lit up. “I guess,” she said, her casual words at odds with the longing in her expression. The kid was hungry.
He bit back a grin. “Let me take this guy upstairs and cancel my nine a.m. appointment and we’ll go eat. And talk.”
“Can I pet him?” she asked.
He nodded and while he pulled out his phone and called a long-time client, Alex petted and talked to a very happy Steve. Luckily the client understood he had an emergency come up. They agreed to reschedule and touch base later. He ran upstairs and crated Steve, who was tired from his morning exertion. A cab ride was apparently a lot for the dog.
Julian returned to find Alex standing where he’d left her. “Ready?” He glanced at her, but she didn’t rush to start walking. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I don’t have any money.” Her cheeks burned with embarrassment.
“And I didn’t ask you expecting you to pay. Now let’s go eat. I want to know what’s going on with you.”
When she hesitated, he placed a hand on her back and nudged her forward until she was shuffling her way along with him.
A little while later, they were seated across from each other in a booth. Julian had handed her a plastic menu and told her to order whatever she wanted. If she hadn’t ordered a large stack of pancakes, bacon, and orange juice, he’d have placed a similarly big order for her. His gut told him she was hungrier than she’d admit to being, which brought out the same protective instincts he’d have if his sister looked as lost and afraid.
“Why aren’t you in school?” he asked, then realized, for all he knew, she’d graduated. “How old are you now, anyway?”
“Eighteen.”
The waitress poured two cups of coffee, and he looked down, adding some cream to his.
“When do you graduate?” he asked her.
“Next year.”
His gaze shot to hers. “Shouldn’t you graduate this year?” he asked.
She swallowed hard, her eyes large and luminous in her face. “When Billy went… away, I got sent to foster care.”
“I know.” And if he’d been in any shape to help her, he would have.
At the time, he’d been addicted, and though he’d decided to kick the habit, it hadn’t been an easy road. He’d holed up in a pay-by-the-day hotel, shivering and puking his way to sobriety. By the time he’d come out the other end, he’d been hanging on by a thread.
Determined to do right by his sister at last, he’d found an NA meeting. It hadn’t been easy, admitting his addiction, fighting his demons, staying clean. And in the process, he’d all but forgotten about Billy’s sister.
Guilt consumed him now, but he pushed it away, focusing on what he could fix. “What’s going on?” he asked her.
She twirled a strand of hair around her finger… around and around until she was pulling at the hair on her head. “In all the shuffling around with foster homes early on, I kind of lost a year. So I’m a junior.”
He nodded. “And where are you staying now?” he asked. Because at eighteen, the system would be finished with her.
“I aged out, and my foster mother threw me out the door on my birthday a little over a month ago.” She glanced down at the table, not meeting his gaze.
Fuck. He clenched his hands into a tight fist beneath the table, determined that she didn’t see how upset her words made him. “Where have you been staying?”
“With a guy I know who aged out ahead of me. But his friends are druggie assholes.”
Fuck and fuck.
Just then, the waitress came by with their meals. She placed the plates in front of them.
“Do you have a plan?” he asked when they were alone again.
Alex shook her head, tears in her eyes. “Last night they stole money I had saved from working after school. I won’t go back there.” She curled her hands into fists on the table. “I’ll sleep in Central Park if I have to.”
“So you came to me.”
She shrugged. “You were always decent to me. You didn’t try and cop a feel like some of Billy’s other friends. But if it’s a hassle, I’ll just go.” She started to push herself out of her seat, her untouched meal in front of her.
“Wait.”
His deep voice startled her and she bolted upright.
“Eat. Then you can stay with me until we figure something out.”
Her shoulders slumped in sheer relief, and the tears hovering in her eyes fell onto her cheeks.
His stomach twisted in pain.
“You mean it?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t.”
“Can I get you anything else?” the waitress asked.
He glanced at Alex’s empty juice glass. “Some more OJ please.”
The woman nodded and walked away.
“Why?” Alex asked.
“Why what?”
“Why are you helping me?”
He leaned closer, ignoring the delicious smell of his food and focusing on her instead. “Because I have a sister. And I’d like to think, if she needed help, someone would step up for her.”
And because in some weird way, he felt like he owed her. For being selfish and not giving a thought to what would happen to her when her brother went to jail. Something else to add to his sins.
“But there’s a catch,” he said.
“Of course there is,” she spat. “I’m leaving.”
“No, you’re listening. You’ll finish school and graduate. And if you’re working a part-time job, you’ll keep it up.” Which would keep her out of trouble.
She blew out a deep breath. “That’s it?”
“Yeah. That’s it.”
Her shoulders slumped in relief, and he didn’t want to ask what she’d thought his stipulation in exchange for giving her a place to stay would be.
He shook his head. He also knew he had to talk to Kendall and explain his new houseguest, but this was something he needed to do in person. And she was going to visit her parents today, something he knew was a stressful event for her.
With that discussion out of the way, Alex dug into her food. He noted she practically wolfed down her pancakes, which told him it’d been awhile since she’d had a decent meal.
“Any news from Billy?” he asked.
“He’s getting out soon,” she said before gulping down her drink.
Although this was good news for Billy, he didn’t think the same held true for Alex. Or Julian, since she’d be staying at his place. He’d just have to take it one step at a time.