by Lizzy Ripp
He shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway. It's been my whole life for most of my life, you know? Can you think of something you enjoyed doing when you were fourteen that you're just as passionate about today?"
She smiled wryly. "I think when I was fourteen I was completely convinced that I was going to become an Olympian horseback rider. And I don't even ride anymore.”
He nodded. "Exactly. It's impossible not to feel... Over it, sometimes. And I know how that sounds. But that's how it is. And I guess I just... Lashed out the past couple of years. Maybe I'm going through a delayed teenaged rebellion," he said with a small laugh. "Because I was working my whole teen life. Maybe I'm just sick of feeling coddled," he shook his head. "I don't know. I've never had to arrange my own accommodation, or flights, or find a job or do any of the things that people in their thirties have had to do. And knowing I'll only have that so long as I'm useful to the League is pretty nuts. I've never really been accountable to anyone except this organization. So maybe I'm just doing what I can to have them dump me. To force me to grow up finally. Or something," he said, shaking his head, looking muzzy and drugged. "I don't know."
"That actually makes a lot of sense," Julia said. "Have you ever talked to someone about that?"
"I'm talking to you."
She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."
He gave a lazy smile. "Yeah. No, I haven't."
Julia decided not to push him on this particular front - not now, when he was lying before her barely awake and high on opiates.
"I want to kiss you again," he said suddenly, his fuzzy gaze focused on her face as much as it could be.
She laughed. "I don't think you're in the position to be kissing anybody. I'd be taking advantage of you, all drugged up like that."
"I will put it in writing," he said. "Take advantage of me. I sign away my rights."
"That's not how it works," Julia said, unable to stop herself from smiling at the earnest look on his face. "In fact... I think I'm going to give the on-call doctor a call and see if I should let you sleep. You look like you need it. Put all amorous thoughts on the back-burner until then, okay?"
As Julia got up from the couch, her phone in hand, Yaro grabbed her by the wrist, his huge hand easily wrapping around it entirely.
"You're the only person I've ever met who I feel accountable to. Do you know what I mean?" He asked suddenly, his face serious. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this now and I'm honestly not sure if I'll remember this later. But that's how I feel this very moment."
Julia looked down at him. He looked so vulnerable lying there, laying his heart out for her. His eyes, though hazy and soft were sincere. She knew he meant every word that he was saying. Her heart began to pound and she gently put her hand on top of his own.
He smiled woozily and she fought the urge to bend down and kiss him, fearing if she started, she simply wouldn't be able to stop herself. Instead she located the contact the nurse at the hospital had given her and dialed.
As she chatted, Yaro watched her strolling around his apartment and decided that he liked the way it looked. He liked having her here - it was strangely comfortable. Not like having a guest over at all, really. He let the sound of her voice, with its professional polish on at full blast, speaking clearly and concisely with whomever was on the other end of the phone and closed his eyes, feeling the way he'd felt sometimes as a child put to bed early, listening to his parents’ grown-up conversation outside his door.
He must have dozed off, because he woke to a gentle hand on his forehead, and his eyes fluttered open to find Julia smiling down at him, her hair put up in a ponytail, wearing one of his tee-shirts and nothing else – though it was long enough to be a modest dress on her. He paused for a moment to take in how incredibly sexy that looked before looking back into her eyes. She was smiling at him as if she knew exactly what he'd been thinking. Damn, he thought. Caught.
"The doctor said you can go to sleep if you're not feeling dizzy, since you have someone here in case you wake up disoriented. I don't think I can get you up the stairs to your bed, so are you okay sleeping here?"
He felt so comfortable he didn't think he could have faced the idea of moving anyway and nodded, relieved. He couldn't remember ever being so tired.
"I hope you don't mind also," she said somewhat shyly, gesturing to the tee-shirt she was wearing. "I don't have any other clothes with me and I didn't want to leave you to grab some from my apartment."
"I definitely do not mind," he said decisively, taking in the sight of her again, letting his gaze run from head to toe in frank appreciation. She blushed under his scrutiny.
"You're so beautiful," he said at last, letting his hand cup her face again. She opened her mouth to protest and he cut her off with a shake of his head.
"Shh. I don't want to hear it. I just want you to know it," he said, letting his thumb trace her petal-soft skin. She bit her lip and he found himself lost for breath, wanting to keep that image of her in his mind forever.
She got up from her kneeling position then, tucking the blanket in around him.
"Where are you going?" He asked drowsily as she moved to turn off the light.
"I was going to sleep in your bed if that's okay."
"Sleep here with me," he said. "It's a big couch. I'll make room."
She stood, looking down at him uncertainly. "Are you sure? I don't want you to feel..."
He reached out an arm for her. "I'm sure. Come here."
Julia took his hand and let him pull her to him, sliding next to him lengthwise on the couch, fighting to keep her heart from pounding noticeably in the proximity. She was pressed against him tightly, she could feel his chest, hard and broad through his shirt, lost in the intoxicating smell of him. Like fresh-cut cedar and spice and something that was just inherently Yaro. She took a deep breath and felt dizzy.
They both gave a small laugh at the adjustments required to share the space, jostling gently with one another until a mutually comfortable position was decided upon. Yaro, spooning her, wrapped his arms around her frame, her head laid back comfortably on his chest, underneath his chin.
Yaro felt drowsy and perhaps more comfortable than he ever had, feeling the length of her down the front of his body through the thin fabric of the tee-shirt. He could tell, through all the readjusting that had taken place and with his arms wrapped around her as they now were, that she wasn't wearing a bra. The feeling of her breasts pressed firmly against his arms was almost too much. He prayed he wouldn't embarrass himself, forcing his mind to think unsexy thoughts - including visiting his parents in the middle of a Moscow winter - to distract himself from how good she felt, how intoxicating the smell of her was, and how much he longed to peel his tee-shirt off of her and taste every inch of her. Unsexy thoughts, he repeated to himself silently. Think unsexy thoughts.
Luckily the drugs he'd taken and his general state of exhaustion were providing some assistance in this regard and he soon felt himself detach from thought in general, carried away into the hazy darkness of a long-awaited sleep, his arms wrapped securely around Julia. He was aware only of extreme comfort and the promise of something wonderful to wake up to. In just a few short breaths, he was fast asleep.
Julia, for her part, felt unable to relax at present. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable - quite the opposite. She found herself enjoying a sense of home she hadn't had in a very long time, lying there, with Yaro sleeping soundly behind her, his arms securely around her. When had all of this become real?
She hadn't shared a bed with anyone since the breakup with Daniel, and in the three years the two of them together, it had never felt like this. She'd never felt so comfortable and cherished - and the thought made her nervous. She hadn't felt this way, in fact, since she was a teenager, before Jacob's accident, before she'd known what the world could really do to you. That it could snatch away the ones you loved in the blink of an eye. She felt a rising tide of panic at the idea of coming to feel that way about someone
again.
Behind her, Yaro shifted in his sleep, making a small sound in the back of his throat and pulling her tightly against him, his chin nuzzling the top of her head. She felt so safe and so secure that for a moment she wanted to cry. Instead, she laid herself back, closed her eyes and with a soft sigh of her own, fell into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
WHEN JULIA AWOKE the next morning, she found herself completely but not unpleasantly disoriented. She blinked her eyes, not recognizing the surroundings as her own and for a moment was profoundly confused. This was heightened by the realization that she was not in a bed of any kind and nor was she alone. There were a pair of large, sturdy arms wrapped securely around her and someone snoring gently against her back, exhaling softly on the top of her head.
Suddenly the events of last night came back to Julia in a rush. The things she'd told Yaro, the things he'd told her and the way they'd spoken with each other - how comfortable the two of them had felt together. It had been like nothing she'd ever felt before.
She closed her eyes again with a small smile, not wanting to wake Yaro by moving but then snapped them open again. The benefit. It was tonight and she realized she hadn't found the opportunity to tell Yaro he wouldn't be coming with her. She sighed, reaching out for her phone on the floor beside the couch and nearly dropped it again when she flicked the screen on.
"Shit!" She whispered fiercely, not wanting to wake Yaro who was still heavily asleep behind her. She squirmed gently, trying to extricate from his arms without waking him and managing to burrow out the bottom by replacing her torso with a pillow, which he gripped firmly.
Her flight was in three hours and she still had to head home and grab all her stuff. Thank god she'd packed before heading out to work the previous day. As she slipped Yaro's tee-shirt from over her head and went searching for her clothes, wearing just her thong and covering her breasts with her arms for some semblance of modesty, she suddenly became aware of the sensation of being watched and turned back to the couch where Yaro was watching her with an expression on his face she couldn't place.
"Hey," she said, trying her best to retain a little dignity as she struggled to pick up yesterday's dress with her toes to avoid bending over and giving him a complete show of her breasts.
"Hi," he said, smiling at her deviously and making no move to look away.
"Could you... Y'know," she said, blushing scarlet as she held tight to the dress between her toes, attempting to lift it into her outstretched hand, the other remaining firmly across her chest.
"Nope," he said, shaking his head. "I'm enjoying this way too much."
Finally she turned her back on him, having secured the dress in her free hand and slid it over her head, but not before he got a substantial and much appreciated look at her ass in a thong that had him instantly hard - a fact he nonchalantly covered up with the pillow she'd put in his arms.
"Leaving so soon?"
"I'm afraid so," she said. "I've got a flight to catch in three hours and I've got to swing by my place to pick up my bag first."
"A flight?" He asked, looking confused, then realization dawning on his face a moment later. "The benefit," he said. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
"I slept in," she said, fastening her dress and slipping on one of her high heels before turning back and seeing that he was getting up too.
"Yaro, what are you doing? You can't go," she said, wishing she had found a way to tell him this last night
"What do you mean? Of course I'm going," he said stubbornly, already starting for the ladder to his room.
She trotted over and put herself between him and the ladder, crossing her arms in a "no-go" sign. "You cannot come on a flight the day after you've had a concussion. Like absolutely not. The doctor said no way."
"I'm fine," he said impatiently. "I feel completely fine."
"You don't look fine," she said. "Have you had a look in the mirror? Seen that goose egg?"
Yaro furrowed his brow at her and then looked over her shoulder to the full-length mirror, leaning against the far wall closest to the bay window overlooking the street.
"Oh man," he grimaced, laying his eyes upon the offending injury. "Yeah, that's uh. That's not great."
That was the understatement of the year, Julia thought. The bump from where he'd hit his head last night had exploded into a huge goose-egg, easily visible under his sleep-rumpled hair. It was red and angry-looking and certainly didn't need to be subjected to a flight or an evening spent in a tux schmoozing with philanthropists.
"Look, it's really sweet that you want to go so badly," she said, putting her hands on either side of his face and tilting it down to look at her. "Really. It means a lot to me. But you cannot do this right now. What you need to do is head right back over to that couch and lie down. Is there someone I can call to come look after you while I'm not here?"
He looked thoughtful for a moment, rubbing his chin. "I would say Jonathan but he and Cassie are going with you, aren't they?"
"Yeah, they are," she said, looking troubled. "Is there no one else? I can't leave you alone, the doctor said you needed to have someone with you until the effects of the concussion wore off and that could be a few days."
"Well..." Began Yaro carefully and deliberately. "There is someone you could call."
---
A scant twenty minutes later, Rhochelle stood in Yaro's kitchen, listening dutifully to Julia's long list of care instructions passed down from the doctor as if she were detailing the care of a much beloved pet. Rhochelle was friendly and patient, having been happy to come over for a friend in need as soon as Julia had filled her in on Yaro's situation.
"Yeah, I saw the hit last night on TV. The bar I was at for a date had the game on. Looked like he clocked him a pretty good one," she'd said. "Give me ten minutes. I'll be over as quick as a bunny."
She'd been true to her word - and given that she lived right around the corner, she had shown up in record time, complete with a bag full of bagels and cream cheese, the smell of which was enough to make Julia's mouth water.
"Thank you so much for doing this," she said gratefully, trying to keep her voice down as Yaro, who had started complaining almost immediately of another splitting headache upon waking, had been administered another round of drugs and fallen promptly back to sleep. "I'm not supposed to be leaving him alone but I have to fly out of town today..."
"Not a problem," Rhochelle said cheerfully, rifling through the bag of bagels and selecting an "everything" with a small tub of cream cheese, which she set about methodically applying. "Happy to do it. And as it happens, I haven't got anything lined up for today, work-wise, so I'll be happy to hang around until you get back."
"Great," Julia said gratefully. "That's so great, I really appreciate it. And um..." She paused, unsure of how to go on. Rhochelle looked up at her, waiting, chewing patiently on her bagel.
"I'm sorry about what happened before... You know, the first time we met. I wasn't expecting you and..."
Rhochelle shook her head, holding up a hand. "Don't mention it," she said. "He should have told you about our arrangement. He was a bonehead. He can be a bonehead sometimes," she said, as if letting Julia in on a little secret.
"He really can," she agreed.
"And for what it's worth, you really don't need to worry about anything," she said. "I don't know if Yaro told you anything or not, but I'm a sex worker - so I'm pretty much a pro at the 'not catching feels' thing."
"Oh! Right," Julia said. "Yeah. Well, I'm not worried about that, it was just kind of a sore spot from..." she cleared her throat, not wanting to give too much away before she'd even had her coffee for the day. "You know. Past relationships."
"Yeah," Rhochelle said, nodding sympathetically. "Totally understand."
Julia wondered if she knew about Daniel and Sasha Lux. But that was another thing she couldn't stomach having a discussion about before caffeine.
"Great. Well. I'll be back tomorrow midday
and then I'll come straight back here. Are you sure you're cool to hang out until then?"
"100%", Rhochelle replied. "Are you sure you don't want a bagel for the road?"
Julia eyed the bag, tempted.
"Go on," Rhochelle said, giving it a little waggle. "He probably won't be eating them anytime soon and they're still warm."
"Twist my arm, why don't you?" Julia grinned, pulling a sesame seed bagel out of the bag. "I'll skip the cream cheese though, gotta run. Thank you again."
She cast one last look towards the sleeping form on the couch.
Rhochelle smiled at her. "He'll be fine. Promise. I'll take good care of him. Feed him and walk him and everything."
Julia nodded, "Okay. Give me a shout if anything comes up."
"You got it, boss."
With a tiny salute, Rhochelle saw her off and Julia was on her way to Philadelphia.
----
Yaro didn't wake up for another four hours and when he finally did, he was somewhat surprised to find not Julia but Rhochelle sitting on the couch beside him, idly flipping through a magazine and munching on the contents of a jar of dill pickles from the fridge.
"Hey there, sleeping beauty," she said. "I was starting to wonder if I should be worried about you."
Yaro furrowed his brow. He hadn't remembered Julia leaving and certainly didn't remember Rhochelle arriving.
"Where's Julia?" He said, looking around as if she might be hiding behind a potted plant.
Rhochelle raised a playful eyebrow at him. "What am I, chopped liver as a babysitter?" Then she smiled. "She's gone to Philadelphia, remember? She called me to come look after you. Hasn't been much of a job yet, though. You've been asleep since I got here."
"How long has that been?" Yaro asked, sitting up and wincing as the pain in his head returned with gusto.
"About four hours now," she said. "You want something for that?"