As Good as the First Time

by Altonya Washington

  “What’d he say?” Correll asked, watching Julia closely as she drank deeply from her tall glass.

  “He doesn’t believe me.”

  “Should he?”

  Julia stood and walked over to the black baby grand piano in the center of the room. “Yeah, he should. I meant it.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, what now?”

  Julia shrugged and tipped the rest of the burgundy-colored liquid down her throat. “Look, I admit I was wrong. Right up until he stormed out of the restaurant that night I thought he was just trying to ignore me so his feelings would go away and he’d try to be happy. Then I realized that maybe he really was happy. It just hit me out of nowhere…” Julia trailed away and noticed Correll watching her intently. “Am I surprising you?”

  “Hell, yeah,” Correll admitted. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  Julia yawned, stretching her arms overhead. “Well, I’ve been doing a lot of that lately….” She squeezed her eyes tight against the heaviness weighing down her eyelids. “Correll, I think I better get going while I can still keep my eyes open.” The moment she turned from the piano she felt dizzy. “Uh-oh,” she whispered, leaning back against the baby grand.

  Correll was by her side in a flash. “You okay?” he asked softly, his thumbs brushing the undersides of her breasts.

  “I must be more tired than I thought.”

  “You want to sit down for a minute?”

  Julia shook her head, wincing slightly at the light in the room. “I’ll be fine. It won’t take long to get to my hotel,” she assured Correll, turning to head out of the living room. She had only taken a few steps when the dizziness overwhelmed her.

  “Whoa,” Correll called, catching Julia’s light form in his arms. “You should lie down,” he said, carrying her upstairs to his bedroom.

  “No, Correll.” Julia weakly resisted as she tried to squirm out of his arms.

  “Julia, stop,” Correll softly ordered, his hands tightening slightly against her bare skin. “You just need to lie down for a little while, all right?”

  She was already succumbing to the effects of sudden weariness and ceased her resistance. “All right. Just for a little while.”

  Chapter 14

  Cortez leaned back against the headrest in his truck and sighed. He’d just dropped Renee off at her home and at last acknowledged his real frustration. When Julia left all those years ago, he insisted, to himself and everyone else, that they just weren’t right for one another. He knew he’d been fooling himself. Her forceful, demanding and sexually confident nature had always put him on edge. It was that edge that made the arousal for her so damn irresistible, a reason why he never forced the issue about her not wanting to marry. For such a long time that arousal had been more than enough. He’d never realized how much it overwhelmed what should have been the far more important and stronger aspects of their relationship. Additionally, he hadn’t realized how much that edge overshadowed the ugliness she’d experienced with his family.

  Ever since he’d seen her in Los Angeles there’d been a gnawing at his will. Now, for some reason, she intrigued him far more than she ever had. This time there was more, and for the life of him he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

  “Yeah, she’s got her sights set on my brother,” he said aloud in the dark interior of his sport utility vehicle. He wouldn’t let himself accept that something in that statement didn’t ring quite true.

  Cortez shook his head as he rubbed one hand over his soft, wavy hair. He really needed to talk to someone. Picking up the phone resting in front of the gearshift, he decided to call his brother. He had punched in the first three digits and then decided to stop by Correll’s house instead.

  “Oh…my head…and everything else…” Julia groaned, pushing her hands through her short, dark locks.

  The dizziness hadn’t let up very much, but she managed to push herself into a sitting position. She noticed two things: First, she was in a strange bed. Second, she was totally nude!

  As she was far too groggy to do anything about the situation, she gave in to it. Falling back to the bed, she moaned.

  Correll was downstairs at the bar pouring two glasses of champagne. Glancing back over his shoulder at the staircase, he shook his head. He had decided to take more time with his plan. Though once he had gotten Julia out of her clothes, he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist a taste of the sweet, dark beauty for long.

  Placing the bottle of Dom Perignon back in the small refrigerator he began to make his way out of the living room. The front doorbell rang just as he stepped from around the bar. Frowning, he looked out through window and saw his brother’s truck.

  “Damn,” he muttered, hoping Cortez wasn’t in the mood for a lengthy visit. He wanted to be there when she awakened. Hopefully the extra liquor he’d slipped into her drink would have her far too relaxed to resist letting nature take its course. He’d thought of sleeping with her since the first time Cortez had introduced them. Being so close now, he wasn’t about to let a thing interfere with the conquest.

  The rings of the bell became longer and more insistent. Correll didn’t want them to awaken Julia, so he went on and opened the door to his brother.

  The fierce frown on Cortez’s caramel-toned face deepened when the door finally opened. “What took you so long?”

  “What’s up, man?” Correll greeted him uneasily.

  “I need to talk.” Cortez sighed, rubbing a hand across his whiskered jaw as he walked inside. When he turned and saw the two glasses and Correll in his boxer shorts, he groaned. “Sorry, man.”

  Correll simply shrugged and looked away. Instantly, Cortez had a bad feeling about what he’d walked in on. Turning away from his brother, he walked farther into the house.

  “I dropped Renee off at her house and drove around for a while. I needed to talk to you,” Cortez absently explained. His gaze was intense while he inspected the living room.

  “Well, man, you can call me tomorrow. We can have lunch or something.”

  Of course, Correll’s obvious attempt at getting his little brother to leave did not work. If anything, Cortez was even more suspicious. He was about to leave the living room when his eyes fell to the bronze key ring on the end table. A host of keys dangled from the ring bearing Julia’s name.

  Cortez turned and looked up toward the ceiling. Then he stormed up the carpeted stairway.

  “Tez!” Correll bellowed, rushing up the stairs behind his brother. His heart pounded frantically, as the champagne sloshed outside the glasses he was still holding. “Cortez!”

  Julia was moving restlessly against the sheets. Far off she could hear shouting and heavy footsteps. Still very disoriented, she threw back the covers and tried to make her way out of the bed. Unfortunately, she only fell to her back.

  Cortez halted in front of the closed bedroom door and closed his eyes. He prayed silently for his suspicions to be unfounded. Pushing against the door, he opened his eyes.

  As he suspected, there in his brother’s bed was Julia. Her lovely features were relaxed as she slept peacefully. Cortez’s mouth opened as his sluggish steps brought him closer to the bed. He rubbed his hands through his hair as his eyes traced Julia’s flawless, dark body. He couldn’t stop himself from trying to memorize every inch of it. Despite the circumstances, he felt himself respond to the sight of her.

  Correll cleared his throat. “Cortez, man—”

  Cortez simply raised his hand, not wanting to hear anything his brother had to say.

  After a while, Julia’s eyes fluttered open and she saw Cortez looming above her. “Cork,” she sighed, a lazy smile crossing her full lips.

  The sound of her voice shook Cortez from his trancelike state. He bent down and took her arms in an unbreakable hold.

  The stinging force of the grip forced a moan from Julia. “Cortez,” She whispered.

  “Shut up!” Cortez ordered, as he shook her fiercel
y.

  “Cortez,” Julia groaned, a bit louder this time. Though she was still groggy, she recognized the voice that yelled at her.

  The terrible accusations Cortez hurled at her caused her head to spin again. Looking past the murderous expression on his face, Julia saw Correll standing across the room with two glasses. Everything fell into place when she saw that he was in his boxers. “Cortez, please…” she whispered again.

  Cortez fixed her with a scathing look and pushed her back to the bed. “You are truly something else,” he whispered.

  Julia held out a hand in a defensive gesture. “Cortez, please. I swear I don’t know what this is. I don’t know what’s going on…please.”

  Cortez’s handsome face was darkened by the look of pure disgust he gave Julia. With a hateful smirk, he shook his head and left the room.

  Julia pulled the sheet off the bed and wrapped it around her body. She ran after Cortez, tears streaming down her lovely face. “Cortez! Cortez, wait!” she called, hurrying down the stairs after him. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Correll following along.

  “Cortez! Don’t go! Please let me try to explain this!” Julia cried, wiping her face with the back of her hand. She caught Cortez just as he reached the last step. “Cortez, wait.” She pleaded, grabbing the edge of his jeans by a back pocket.

  Cortez was so blinded by anger he could barely breathe. When he felt Julia touch him he turned with undiluted rage filtering his smoky eyes.

  Julia’s onyx gaze was trained on the hate she saw on the face of the man she loved. She pressed her fingers against her mouth and watched Cortez pull away. He left her with a long glare before leaving the house.

  When the door slammed behind Cortez Julia fell to her knees. Correll closed his eyes and tried to tune out her loud wailing. His ultimate goal to turn Cortez against Julia had been fulfilled. Unfortunately, seeing Julia broken and crying hysterically made him sick inside. He cursed himself for ever taking part in such a cruel scheme.

  “Julia? Julia, come on, honey. Let’s get up,” he gently persuaded. “Let’s go back to bed.”

  Although Julia was in shock, Correll’s words sobered her. “What happened here?” she asked, pulling away from him.

  Correll knew he had done a terrible thing, but he couldn’t admit that to Julia. “We slept together,” he lied, watching the confusion in her eyes fade into hopelessness. Like a limp doll, she dragged herself back upstairs to get dressed.

  “What happened to you?” Renee asked Cortez, when he opened his door early the next morning. She was shocked to see him looking so drained. “I’ve been trying to call you since you dropped me off last night.”

  Cortez moved away from the door so Renee could enter. “I got in late,” he grumbled, rubbing his firm stomach in an absent manner.

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  “I don’t feel like talkin’ about it.”

  “Cortez—”

  “Renee, please, all right?”

  Renee walked over to him. Taking hold of his arm, she made him face her. “What is going on with you? You answer the door looking like hell and you tell me nothing’s wrong?”

  Cortez jerked away from Renee, his expression murderous. “What the hell do you expect? It’s eight-thirty in the damn morning!”

  “It’s not like you to miss a budget meeting at the station. I wanted to come check on you after we tried calling and got no answer,” Renee quietly explained.

  Cortez walked through the house to the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of orange juice and then looked at her. “I had a fight with Correll last night.”

  “Over Julia?” Renee blurted.

  “What?” Cortez asked, a small furrow forming between his thick brows.

  “You just looked very, um, aggravated when they were at the party together.” Renee sighed, covering her slip.

  “Right,” Cortez muttered, taking a sip of the juice.

  Renee managed to hide her smile at Cortez’s cold words. “When are you gonna talk to Correll?”

  “I’m not.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Cortez finished his juice and slammed the glass onto the counter. “I don’t really have anything else to say to him.”

  “Cortez, baby, you can’t let whatever happened come between you two.”

  Cortez lifted one toned shoulder in a lazy shrug. “It’s too late for that. I don’t want to see him again.”

  Renee’s laugh was short and humorless. “How can you turn your back on your own brother? Unless there’s more going on with you and Julia?”

  “Drop it, Renee,” Cortez ordered, squeezing his eyes shut. The last thing he wanted was to think of his feelings for Julia Kelly.

  Renee decided to heed Cortez’s warning. She hoped she could convince Correll to set things right, so this would work to both their advantages.

  “I’ll see you at the station later, all right?” she called, making a mad dash out of the house.

  “Damn it, Lila, didn’t I ask you to do this yesterday?” Correll snapped at his secretary, who just watched him with stunned eyes.

  Lila Harris ordered herself not to snap back at her usually wonderful boss. “I did take care of it, Correll. These are just the copies you asked me to make.”

  Correll gave the papers a closer look, closing his eyes in regret. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

  Lila rolled her eyes and turned away from the desk, walking past Renee, who had just witnessed the scene.

  “Hey, can I talk to you?”

  Correll groaned when he saw Renee in his office. “This isn’t the day,” he warned her.

  “What happened?”

  Correll sighed, remembering the previous night. “I planned on helping Julia pass out and then I would convince her we had slept together. I’d insist on telling Cortez, knowing she’d leave before letting him find out.”

  “But?”

  “But Cortez paid a surprise visit to my house. He found Julia in my bed. It wasn’t pretty after that.”

  “My God.” Renee breathed, taking a seat before the large desk in the corner of the room. “I can’t believe you did that. You really need to talk to Cortez before more time passes and things get even more out of hand,” she advised.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Correll decided.

  “Honey, Cortez told me he never wants to see you again.”

  Correll’s intense hazel stare snapped to Renee’s face. “I’m not gonna lose my brother over this crap. I mean that.”

  A suspicious frown darkened Renee’s honey-toned face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Correll stood behind his desk. “That means I’m tellin’ Cortez about this whole foolish mess.”

  “You can’t!” Renee ordered, her large eyes following him around the office. “Please, Correll.”

  “Renee, you just told me my brother may not want to talk to me again. You expect me to just sit by and let that happen?”

  Renee took a deep breath. “Now, listen to me. Cortez isn’t going to stay mad over this. You are his brother. He’ll forgive you in time. It’s Julia he’s really angry with. I’m sure she’ll be heading back to Los Angeles by the end of the day.”

  Correll sighed and sat back down. He covered his face in his hands and groaned.

  Julia smoothed her hands across her flaring mocha-colored skirt, which reached just above her knee. She waited patiently for Cortez to open his door. She didn’t know what could possibly be said, but she had to try.

  The door flew open and Cortez stood there with a murderous glare on his face. If possible, that glare deepened when he saw that Julia was his unexpected guest.

  “Can I come in?” she asked, glad that he hadn’t slammed the door in her face immediately.

  Cortez stepped aside to allow her in. “You got a lot of nerve comin’ up in here when I’m so close to…” The growling threat trailed away as he slammed the front door once she’d entered.

  Julia’s heart flew to her ch
est at the sincerity of his words. “Why are you so upset over this?”

  “What?” Cortez whispered. He tilted his head slightly, certain he had misunderstood her.

  “You’re so upset over this. Why? You’ve told me time and time again that you’re not interested in me, in us, again.”

  Cortez watched Julia unblinkingly. It was obvious by the look in his eyes that he did not believe what he was hearing. “So that makes it all right for you to sleep with my brother then? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  Julia closed her eyes. She tried to steel herself against the effect that his slightly raspy, deep voice had on her. “Cortez—”

  “Does that make it all right?”

  “No, but…” Julia’s uneasy words trailed away.

  As she struggled to find the right way to explain things, Cortez lost his patience. He bounded across the living room.

  Julia backed away from him. “Cortez wait, please—”

  “Don’t!” he roared, his intense stare faltered while he fought to maintain a grip on his temper.

  Julia pressed her lips together, her vision blurred by tears. “Cortez, please. I don’t remember what happened,” she said, watching Cortez’s hateful glare narrow. “I don’t know if I slept with Correll or not.”

  “Right,” Cortez snarled, continuing his trek toward her.

  “Cortez, wait! I’m trying to explain this!” Julia hated to beg, but she was racking her brain for the right words to soothe his raging temper.

  Unfortunately, her pleas fell on deaf ears. Cortez did not stop until he caught Julia. One of his large hands grasped her upper arm, and he set her back against the wall. Closing his eyes, he prayed for the strength to fend off the rage that seemed to be blinding him.

  Finally, out of breath and weary, Cortez pressed his forehead against Julia’s and took several gulps of air. Her slender form trembled against him as she, too, tried to catch her breath. In the midst of it all, their lips met. Soon, they were caught in a kiss of desperation and desire. Cortez thrust his tongue deep into Julia’s mouth. She moaned, mimicking the action, as she felt his hands roaming her body feverishly.