Freed by You

by Danielle Fox

  “Dad, this is my boyfriend, Julian.” I introduced once I realised I had spent too long examining my surroundings. “Julian, Dad. Although I’m sure he would prefer you to call him Henry.” I was desperately trying to show at least some humour to mask my nerves, but obviously humour wasn’t one of my strong points.

  My dad eyed Julian curiously, seemingly studying his suit, right down to his shoes, before smiling politely at him. Although the smile didn’t appear to reach his eyes.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” Julian stretched his arm out in my dad’s direction. “Mr Braxton, I assume?”

  “Yep, that’s me. Please, call me Henry,” he replied as he returned Julian’s strong handshake, his eyes still narrowed slightly as he examined his fine face. “And how’s my little princess?” Dad turned his attention to Maia, taking her from my arms and hugging her tightly against his chest.

  Watching them together – my two most cherished people – brought the familiar sting of tears to my eyes. Dad had struggled greatly to accept my choice of continuing with my pregnancy after my rape and I wasn’t sure he would ever accept Maia, but seeing them so close to one another, adoring one another, absolutely melted my core.

  “Are you okay, baby?” Julian whispered, placing a firm hand at the small of my back.

  “I’m fine, just ridiculously happy. Thank you!”

  Julian’s answering smile almost made me weep. I swallowed hard against the lump that had formed in my throat. It was a smile that looked as if it came directly from his heart, and most certainly reached his intense eyes. He gazed at me adoringly, how a mother would gaze at her child at her first sight of him or her. In that very moment, I briefly allowed myself to believe that Julian Scott may actually love me.

  As I watched Dad with Maia still firmly in his arms, I examined him more closely. He looked like he’d put on some weight. He had always had a strong, athletic build but since he had moved away I had watched him grow thinner and thinner with each visit. But now his face seemed fuller, younger somehow – even though his hair now seemed to be more silver than black. His arms and shoulders looked strong again under the thin material of his T-shirt. I smiled to myself. Maybe Dad had finally found his own happiness.

  “So, how comes you’re here, Ems? Are you in some sort of trouble?” He sat down in the single grey armchair whilst offering me and Julian the sofa with his hand.

  “No, Dad, no trouble this time,” I grinned. “I thought you’d like the surprise.” I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice as I spoke and masked my threatening frown with a smile.

  “Of course I’m glad you’re here. I’m just shocked, that’s all and wondering what’s brought it on?”

  “I was telling Julian how you lived here and how I hadn’t seen you in a while so he offered to bring us here. He wanted to meet you in person.” I blushed slightly as I realised I had just shifted the awkward focus onto Julian – unintentionally of course. I glanced at Julian with sympathetic eyes and he smiled warmly in response.

  “You two are serious then, are you?” Dad’s eyes flicked to Julian, then back to me again.

  Shit! How was I going to answer that without making a fool of myself? I opened my mouth to speak but Julian beat me to it.

  “I think very highly of your daughter, Mr Braxton. She is an incredible young woman, and yes, I am certainly serious about our relationship. I just wanted to meet the man in her life and hopefully gain his approval. Then I’ll know she’s happy.”

  Whoa! I released my held breath and glanced over to Julian, desperately trying to hide the obvious joy from my face. I had no idea Julian was serious about me, and he had chosen his moment to reveal this information in front of my father – where I couldn’t run to him, couldn’t wrap my arms eagerly around him.

  My dad simply smiled tightly and nodded in response to Julian’s declaration. If I didn’t know him better I would say he was embarrassed by the honesty in Julian’s statement.

  “How long have you known you were coming? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “We only decided this afternoon.”

  “This afternoon? You sure got here quickly.”

  “Yeah, um, Julian flew us here.”

  “I thought it might impress her, but instead I scared the life out of her,” Julian added, grinning widely.

  “Flew her here, hey?” Dad muttered quietly, more to himself than anyone else. “So why the sudden visit? You got something you want to tell me, Ems?”

  “Dad! No! I told you, Julian wanted to meet you, that’s all. And I’ve missed you.”

  “So, no babies? No marriage?”

  My mouth dropped open in sheer humiliation.

  “No, Mr Braxton,” Julian laughed. “At least, not yet, anyway.”

  Dad’s eyebrows shot up in astonishment, as did my own. What? Babies and marriage?

  “Relax, I’m joking.” Julian squeezed my knee gently as his mouth turned up in amusement.

  “Well then, any man who can fly my daughter to another country in an afternoon just to meet her old dad certainly gets my approval.”

  Thank goodness for that! I hadn’t noticed Julian’s unease until his tensed posture visibly relaxed at my side.

  “We were hoping you might join us for dinner, Mr Braxton.”

  “Ah...um... Well I wasn’t expecting you so I kind of already have plans. Let me just make a quick call and I’ll see what I can sort out.”

  As Dad left the room, with Maia following closely, Julian’s strong arm snaked around my waist, pulling me closer and against his turned chest. He smelled divine. I inhaled deeply as I pushed my nose against his shirt.

  “You smell lovely,” I murmured.

  “Thank you. And you smell and look more than lovely.” He nestled his nose into my hair before nipping gently at my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “I can’t wait to get you into bed this evening,” he whispered close to my ear, his sweet breath rasping against my cheek.

  His hand travelled up my thigh, his thumb gently brushing between them as he spoke. My breath hitched in my throat.

  “Always so sensitive to my touch, Miss Braxton,” he breathed as his hand skimmed lightly over my breast.

  “Julian, stop it.” I was panting already, desperate to feel his touch once more but aware that I shouldn’t be.

  “Stop it because you don’t like it, or because you think you shouldn’t like it?”

  Ah, God. Of course I liked it, but of course I shouldn’t. I was sitting on my father’s sofa and he could walk in at any second.

  “Because my dad is just the other side of that door.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  His thumb pressed against me through the thin lace of my thong, making it obvious to any onlooker exactly what he was doing.

  “Julian!” I pushed his hand away and smoothed out the material of my skirt, pulling it to its correct length. I peeked up at Julian and saw him staring into my eyes, his face contorted by a deep frown. “Of course I like it, Julian. But you wouldn’t if my dad walked in. Behave yourself,” I warned.

  “In that case I may just have to keep it up all evening, Miss Braxton. You make it sound like a challenge,” he teased, eyeing me wickedly as he raised an eyebrow at me.

  My dad walked in, making Julian shift back in his seat promptly.

  “Everything okay?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t notice my flustered appearance.

  “Well, as we’re doing introductions, would you mind if I brought a guest along to dinner?” Dad nervously rubbed at his face as he spoke, looking anywhere but at me.

  “Have you been keeping secrets, Dad? Why didn’t you tell me you had met someone?”

  So that explains the fuller features. I was right, Dad had found love again for the first time that I had been aware of, and he was happy. I leapt up from my seat and threw my arms around him; smiling widely.

  We ate at a small Italian restaurant just a few minutes’ walk from the house. Dad introduced us to Di
ane who he had been dating for six months now, yet failed to tell me! She seemed lovely, she seemed kind and warm. She was attractive too, her long, blonde hair was clipped back off her face which was perfectly made up with just the right amount of make-up to complement her pretty face. She looked younger than my dad, maybe forty, I’d guess, but they seemed to be genuinely very happy together. It was a welcoming sight.

  Julian accepted my apparent challenge for the evening as he regularly stroked a foot up the length of my shin, causing me to blush scarlet on a number of occasions. I almost spat my large mouthful of wine straight into Diane’s face when his hand slipped beneath my skirt and travelled high up my thigh – too high!

  Just as the waitress delivered the dessert menu Julian’s phone buzzed against the hard wood of the chair.

  “Sorry, I have to take this,” he said as he glanced at the screen and began to move away from the table.

  I glanced over to the far side of the room often, imagining all the different possibilities of what could be making Julian so agitated.

  “Seems like a good catch, Em.” Dad’s voice snapped me away from my vivid thoughts.

  “Yeah, he is, Dad.”

  “Just promise me one thing,” he began, his eyes wandering across the table in front of him. “If he doesn’t treat you right, you get out of there straight away.”

  “I promise, Dad.”

  I was distracted by Julian’s demeanour as I glanced back at him again. He was leaning with his hand against a wall, his head directed at the floor and his jaw looked strained as he spoke. Then he shut the phone off and roughly crammed it into his pocket before raking his hand through his hair.

  “Everything okay?” I asked him as he returned to the table. His dark eyebrows were twisted into a deep frown.

  “Nothing for you to worry about, just business,” he replied, his eyes not leaving the table.

  I hurried Maia with her dessert, sensing Julian’s unease as he sat tensely beside me, drumming his fingertips impatiently against the edge of his chair meaning that only I could notice.

  I promised to visit my dad tomorrow as we walked back to where our car was parked at the bottom of his small driveway. We exchanged kisses, and stern handshakes, before climbing into the car, without entering the house. I sat in silence, not sure of what to say, and watched Julian’s every movement as he drove. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel and he roughly yanked at the gear stick with every change.

  “Julian, what’s wrong?” I mumbled, feeling almost too frightened to speak loudly as if that was somehow going to unleash his tightly held anger.

  “Nothing, Emily. I’m fine.”

  “I know you’re not fine. I wish you’d just be honest with me.”

  “It’s just business, like I said. Just drop it!” he snapped.

  My stomach dropped – not at his choice of words but more at the tone of his icy cold voice as he spoke them. As if I was nobody. Sure he had snapped at me before – before we were a couple – but never had I heard his voice so empty of any emotion.

  I stared out of the window and remained silent as tears pooled in my eyes. I blinked rapidly, desperately trying to be rid of the moisture. My deep intake of air, intended to steady my overwhelming emotions, obviously caught Julian’s attention and I noticed as his head turned in my direction.

  “I’m sorry, Emily. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  I ignored his apology.

  “Emily, please. I said I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  “It’s fine, Julian. Please stop looking at me and concentrate on the road.”

  He glanced quickly over his shoulder before pulling the car into the dust at the side of the road.

  “Now will you talk to me?” he pressed.

  “I wasn’t not talking to you, Julian. Maia needs to go to bed.”

  “Maia’s asleep,” he stated matter-of-factly. “I’m sorry; I had no right to speak to you like that.”

  “It’s fine! You’ve obviously got something on your mind, if you don’t want to tell me then that’s okay.”

  “That was Jason on the phone.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  Julian pressed his palm against his forehead before taking an audible breath and holding it.

  “He’s been keeping an eye on things; someone broke into The Lounge today.”

  “Oh! Did they take much? Is everyone okay?”

  “Everyone’s fine, it was closed. But, that’s just the thing, they didn’t take anything. Not a single thing was out of place.” He rubbed a finger and thumb across his eyebrows, effectively distorting their usual place as they scrunched together.

  “So how do you know someone broke in?”

  “The back door lock was broken so Jason’s checked the CCTV and there was someone in there, he appeared to be looking for something, or someone.”

  My stomach twisted as a wave of nausea washed over me. “And you think it was Jay?”

  “Either that or my father has sent someone.”

  “Would he do that?”

  “He’s not interested in me but if he’s found out about Natalie...” he trailed off and banged his head against the seat rest behind him, his eyes screwed tightly closed. “He’ll kill her, Emily. I have to get home to her; I won’t let her down again.”

  The engine roared back to life and he drove quickly back to our chateau. Julian spent the next half an hour or so closed into one of the spare rooms. I could hear his muffled raised voice and pacing footsteps but I couldn’t make out any clear words.

  When he returned to living room, where I was curled up on the sofa in front of the fire, his expression had softened considerably.

  “Would you care to join me in a glass of wine, Miss Braxton?”

  I frowned at him; searching his face for whatever emotion he was masking so well for he couldn’t suddenly be so relaxed and happy, surely?

  “I thought we were going home?”

  “No need, Jason’s taking care of everything. It seems they’ve found the intruder and it was simply an addict looking for his next hit.”

  His eyes strayed away from my scrutinising glare on a number of occasions during his short statement, and I knew instantly that he was lying to me.

  “Then I’d love one, thanks.”

  I decided to ignore the obvious and continue to enjoy our weekend. He joined me on the sofa and handed me a glass of white wine. I accepted, gratefully, and took a large mouthful.

  “I see you’re still wearing that dress, Miss Braxton. Let’s see what we can do about that,” he threatened as he lunged himself over me, straddling my lap as his hands twisted into my hair and he pressed his open mouth greedily over mine.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Emily, wake up.” Julian stroked a gentle finger along my naked shoulder. “Emily.”

  I blinked sleepily, trying to focus my vision. The only light I could see was coming from the lamp beside my head. The windows were still in darkness. Why was Julian waking me up in the middle of the night? I rolled over to face him, with a sudden panic spreading through my body.

  “What’s happened?” I looked up, expecting to see a worried Julian or even a frightened Julian. But instead I was greeted by the same Julian that I had seen the day before, the same expression that had been fixed onto his beautiful face as he had sat in the cabin of his plane.

  His face beamed back at me, his smile dazzling and wide.

  “What’s going on?” I whispered. Then I felt his arousal pressed firmly against my hip. “Not again, Julian, surely? I do need to sleep sometimes, you know.”

  He laughed loudly, startling me as his body jolted next to me.

  “No, Emily, not again. Unfortunately. I’ve got a surprise for you.”

  “What sort of surprise?” I mumbled, my voice sounding husky.

  “Get up and I’ll show you.” He grinned like a child. And it really was infectious. I smiled back at him.

  “What time is it?”
r />   “Five-thirty.”

  “What? Five-thirty? Are you mad?”

  “Probably,” he chuckled. “Come on, up!”

  He rolled me over to the edge of the bed until I had no choice but to put my feet on the floor. When I stood up and turned to him, I was shocked to see that he was already dressed.

  He looked almost edible, I had never seen him wear anything but a suit but today he was wearing a pair of dark casual jeans accompanied by a reasonably tight-fitting, grey, hooded jumper. He looked so much younger than usual and very, very sexy.

  I climbed back onto the bed, trying my damned hardest to stick my bum out as far as possible, and flashed him my effective smile.

  “You sure I can’t tempt you to stay in bed a little longer?”

  “No, you can’t.” His eyes flickered away from me and then darted back to my face quickly as he noticed my no doubt obvious wanting expression. “Ah, Emily,” he groaned, “you’re spoiling my plans with that sexy smile of yours.”

  He moved so fast that I didn’t see him coming and so squealed with laughter as he hurled himself on top of me, effectively pinning me to the mattress as his strong hands clutched my wrists and raised them high above my head.

  “Do you promise to shower very quickly if I fuck you first?”

  My chest exploded with a loud burst of laughter. “Who said romance was dead?” I giggled.

  “I did warn you!” he laughed softly before he hastily shrugged his jeans off his impressive legs and I realised that that was possibly the first time I had ever heard him laugh like that – naturally, with no sarcasm involved.

  “Dress in something warm. You go shower, I’ll wake Maia and make breakfast.” He bounced up off the bed and sprang out of the room looking more than a little excited. I smiled and let out a deep breath then shuffled toward the bathroom.