Hate to Crave You

by Bella Love-Wins

  “Not that much smaller,” the other man said, shaking his head.

  “My concern is more about the technology,” Charles said, lightly brushing Julianna’s hand when she would have spoken. “Tech has a way of catching up on a universal level. Others will make the same discovery your team has—it could be that my people are already on the trail.” His smile grew sly. “We were just a few months behind you on the software enhancements your people developed with ground-penetrating radar, you know. We were this close.”

  “I’m well aware.” Edgar chuckled. “You’ve got some sharp people, Charles.” He glanced over at Michael and nodded. “You as well, Michael. Keep in mind, though. You both signed non-compete contracts that barred any sort of reverse engineering using what your team might have discovered while they had the prototype in their possession. It’s not that I don’t trust you boys. We go back a long, long time. Our friendship even predates this silly thirty-year squabble the two of you have going.” His smile went sly as he slanted a look directly at Charles. “As to tech catching up on a universal level, I think we’ve got a few years yet before anybody catches up. I’ve got a secret weapon, you might say.”

  Julianna had no doubt as to what that secret weapon was.

  Edgar’s youngest son was something of a savant—if she remembered right. William had graduated from college at the age of fifteen and had gone to work for his father immediately out of school. Some of his first developments had stunned gemologists who had been in the field for decades.

  “Look, I’m not a hugely motivated seller at the moment,” Edgar continued. “I won’t sell for pennies when I know the value of what I have to offer.”

  “We hardly offered pennies,” Michael scoffed.

  “Compared to what I’m offering you? It’s pennies.” Edgar waved a dismissive hand. He checked his watch, then heaved out a sigh. “I’m going to have to cut this short. I’m flying out later today. The family and I have a vacation coming up. After that, I’ve got some business in Asia.” He paused, then added, “Once that’s over, I’ll start shopping around for a new buyer.”

  Rising, he glanced around, looking from Michael to Charles.

  “Maybe use the time to…get creative. Think of something and do better on those bids. I like you both, as you well know. I’d like to…keep my mines in the family, so to speak. I’d rather not see some faceless conglomerate swallow them up. If one of you were to take them over, I know my men and women at the mines would be treated fairly. That’s as important to me as the sale itself.”

  Roman spent the entire meeting ignoring her.

  He didn’t once look her way.

  Julianna wanted to pretend it didn’t bother her, but it did and as he left with his father, all without even a glance in her direction, she swallowed back the disappointment.

  “Darling, can I offer some advice?” her father said softly.

  She glanced over at him, fighting the blush that tried to rise to her cheeks.

  “Of course. But when have you ever asked?” she teased.

  “Let it go.” He nodded toward the now-empty door. “Whatever you think was there…just let it go. The Montrose men are…bullish in their stubbornness, not to mention sore losers. They can hold a grudge until Kingdom come, and then some.”

  Julianna thought of how Roman had acted in the elevator, and this time, as the blush rose to stain her cheeks, she couldn’t fight it any longer. Turning away from her father, she reached for her now-tepid cup of coffee and asked, “Do you think there’s something going on with us?”

  “A blind man can see it…which means sooner or later, Michael will see it, too,” he said. His voice was gentle, not at all upset.

  That surprised Julianna. Turning back to him, head cocked, she asked, “Hypothetically speaking, if something was going on between us, what would you do?”

  “Hypothetically speaking?” He crooked a grin at her and shook his head. Rising from his seat, he came to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Hypothetically, and in truth as well, I want something more out of life for you than a man who nurses a grudge, something more than a man whose family raised him to nurse a grudge.” He chucked her under the chin the way he used to when she was little. “Would it make you feel better if were to tell you I forbid it?”

  “Since when did forbidding me to do anything ever work?” she asked lightly. Then she managed to force a laugh and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “You worry too much, Daddy. Relax. I want to be happy, too. Okay?”

  The conversation with her father had been…unexpected.

  For whatever reason, it seemed that her father wasn’t dead set against Roman, or even against the Montrose family in general.

  She mused about it all day, thinking, too, to what Edgar had said.

  A thirty-year squabble.

  What kind of squabble lasts for thirty years?

  One thing was certain…she didn’t want whatever was going on between her and Roman to turn into another thirty-year squabble.

  Maybe they could be friends.

  Maybe they could be…more.

  She didn’t know.

  But first she had to get him to talk to her.

  On her way home from work, she sent him a text. She’d ignored a text from him on the drive home that night and wondered if that perhaps had something to do with his studiously ignoring her during today’s meeting. They weren’t little kids throwing tantrums and it was time to start acting like the adults they were.

  Still, she tried again.

  Her message was simple.

  Truce?

  16

  Roman

  Truce.

  He brooded over that simple word as his older brother, George racked up the balls on the pool table. “What are you brooding about?” George asked, his gaze appraising. “You’ve looked at the phone probably three times in the past ten minutes.”

  “Nothing.” Roman shoved the phone back into his pocket, debating on how to answer Julianna. He hadn’t answered yet because he didn’t know how to answer her. He wanted to see her. He wasn’t even sure if he was still mad, but his dad was still riding his ass and Roman kept remembering her expression that night in the elevator after his comment, it was fun. Granted, she’d said it first and she’d fucked him over.

  But you did start it. That annoying reminder was one he didn’t need.

  “For somebody who is brooding over nothing, you sure as hell are broody,” Alessandro commented. Alex was the baby of the family, and every bit as spoiled as one would expect. He was also sharper than a knife’s edge and his keen gaze took in Roman, taking his measure and a smile lit his face as he came to some internal conclusion. “It’s a woman.”

  “Fuck off,” Roman suggested and gestured to the table. “Just play, dickhead.”

  Without thinking about it, he tugged his phone from his pocket, studying the message once more.

  Truce.

  She wanted a truce.

  What exactly did that mean?

  “It’s your turn now, son,” George said, and when Roman looked up, there was a sly grin on his brother’s face.

  Annoyed, Roman put the phone down and bent over the table with his cue stick. Calling it, he sank one ball, then another. When he straightened, he saw that George was pawing at his phone, scrolling through shit that he had no business looking at.

  And Alex was standing at his side.

  Both of them had looks of wide-eyed surprise on their faces.

  “What the fuck, dude?” Alex said, awe in his voice.

  George was a little more circumspect. “You’ve got a death wish,” he said flatly. “A million women in the world and you choose a Castle to go and tangle with.”

  Roman reached over and snatched his phone away. “Mind your own fucking business.”

  “If you end up dead, it is my business,” George pointed out.

  “I don’t think I’m going to end up dead over this.” Under their glaring eyes, Roman fired back a text to J
ulianna.

  She wanted a truce.

  Not a chance.

  It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to say, but he wasn’t going into that conversation with the watchful eyes of his two brothers standing there.

  “Roman’s right. This isn’t going to kill him,” Alex said, slinging an arm around his older brother’s shoulders.

  Roman shoved him lightly. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. And again, mind your own business. This isn’t any of your concern.” He fired a look at George. “Or yours.”

  But he might as well have been talking to the wall.

  Alex continued on. “I mean, have you seen Julianna Castle? Those eyes…her legs…” He whistled and pressed a hand to his heart. “And they say it’s the forbidden fruit that tastes the sweetest.” He slanted a grin at his brother and asked, “Just how sweet is she?”

  Too damn sweet, Roman thought. But he clamped his mouth shut and circled the pool table. “Are we playing or not?”

  George sighed and picked up his cue stick. “You know, you really should be careful with this viper’s nest you’re walking into.”

  “Are you calling Julianna Castle a viper?” Roman asked, an edge in his voice.

  George heard it, too. He met Roman’s eyes levelly. “It would be hard to label her as a viper when I don’t know her. But she’s the enemy. And I bet you a thousand bucks you’ve already slept with her. Haven’t you?”

  Roman felt his neck heat. He remained silent.

  “Shit, man.” George turned away, lifting one hand to his eyes.

  Alex, on the other hand, whooped and clapped a hand on Roman’s shoulder. “Hot damn, bro!”

  Roman knocked the hand away. “Stop it, Alex. We’re not in high school.”

  “Since when did we have to be high school to be happy your brother scored with somebody as hot as Julianna Castle?” Alex continued to grin.

  “Keep talking about her like she’s just a piece of ass,” Roman advised. “See how long it takes for me to ram my fist down your throat.”

  “See?” George said softly, drawing Roman’s attention back to him. “That’s the problem, and I bet you didn’t even notice there was a problem. This isn’t just sex—and you know it. You’ve been distracted all afternoon and it’s because you’re thinking about her. You’re not just sleeping with the enemy. You’re hung up on her. If Dad finds out about that? That’s the viper’s nest I’m talking about, Roman.”

  Roman went to argue with George, but once he opened his mouth, he realized there was no argument there. There was nothing he could say to his brother that would be the truth and damned if he’d lie about it.

  Shit, he was tangled up with the enemy.

  And he didn’t think he was ready to be untangled.

  Fuck what his father thought.

  Hell, he was still pissed off at his father anyway. Threatening to demote him—it wasn’t like he’d expected Julianna to trick him. Although damn, regardless of what his father thought, he had to respect the fact that both she and her father had been smart enough to plan for something in advance like they had.

  “Let it go,” he finally said, meeting George’s eyes. “Just let it go. It doesn’t concern you.”

  “The hell it doesn’t,” George replied. “You think I want Dad trying to groom me to take your place when he kicks you out of the family all because you couldn’t keep your hands off a Castle?”

  “He wouldn’t do that,” Roman said, shaking his head. Although…part of him wondered.

  Head clouded, he glanced around. “You know what? I think I’m done with pool for the day. I’m out of here.”

  Roman didn’t quite make it to the car before he gave into the urge to call her.

  She answered on the second ring. “What happened to not a chance?”

  “Be like that and I’ll just hang up,” he replied.

  “And then you’ll call back.”

  He would, too. He didn’t know how long it would take him, but he was going crazy not seeing her.

  Instead of responding to that, he asked, “Think you can be discreet?”

  “About…”

  “Anything and everything, if need be.” He reached his car, but instead of climbing inside, he leaned against it, facing the house.

  “I’m as discreet as I need to be.”

  That was good enough. She’d understand the need for discretion. He allowed one more moment of internal debate, then said, “You think you can avoid mixing business with pleasure?”

  “It’s my personal preference.”

  This is stupid, Roman.

  And it was, he knew it. Still, he didn’t hang up the phone. “If you can be discreet and avoid mixing pleasure and business, then yes…we can call a truce.”

  She didn’t respond at first.

  In fact, her silence stretched out so long that he prodded her with, “Well?”

  “I think you should admit that you missed me first,” she said, her tone light, almost teasing.

  “You want me to admit that I missed you.”

  “Well, I thought about telling you that you should crawl and beg for forgiveness after the way you acted on the elevator, but that’s not in my makeup. Tell me you missed me and that will be good enough.”

  As soon as she mentioned the elevator, the urge to apologize did leap to his lips, but he bit it back. They were calling a truce. That was good enough.

  Still staring at the house, he brooded in silence briefly, then said, “I’ve got a better idea. I’ll show you. Meet me at my place?”

  “I’d rather you come to mine.”

  He didn’t bother asking why. She might not trust him not to pull another stunt, and he wasn’t sure he could blame her. “Okay. I’ll be there in a bit. I’ve got a stop to make first.”

  17

  Julianna

  The terse text from Roman might have taken some of the light out of her world, but the phone call from him put it all back in.

  Sitting in the back of the car, she lowered the phone, barely resisting the girlish urge to clasp it to her chest and grin like an idiot.

  Roman was coming over.

  And he had missed her.

  Maybe he wasn’t going to say it out loud, but he’d missed her. Briefly, she thought about what her father had said about the bullishness of Montrose men. She didn’t know how he knew that, but she did have to agree with him—Roman struck her as being exceedingly bullish and stubborn.

  But he’d agreed to a truce and he was coming over.

  Some part of her worried that maybe this was another trick of his, that he’d pull something like he’d done the other day, inviting her over and then after a quick, hard fuck, kick her out—or rather, he’d have to walk out since she’d insisted he come over to her place. But despite her doubts, she didn’t think that was the case.

  There’d been something in his voice, something she hadn’t heard before.

  A hesitancy of sorts. Uncertainty. Maybe even what she felt?

  She didn’t know.

  “Any stops you want to make on the way home, Ms. Castle?” John asked from the front seat.

  “No, John. Straight home,” she told him, turning her head to look out at the streets of midtown Manhattan as they drove on. “I’m expecting company.”

  “Very well.”

  Once she got inside her condo, she raced to her bedroom, stripping clothes off as she went. She’d worn a pretty green and white pantsuit to work, but it wasn’t the sort of clothes she wanted to greet Roman in.

  She walked into her closet and stood in the middle of it, wearing champagne-colored lingerie and checking out her clothes with a keen eye. She didn’t want to look like she’d dolled up for him, but she wanted to look sexier than hell.

  Decisions, decisions.

  In the end, she stripped out of her bra and went with a jumpsuit just a few shades darker than the panties she still wore. It was heavier material so the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra wasn’t immediately obvious. The piece w
as clearly meant for lounging around the house as it was a skinny-strapped, blousy piece, but it was both comfortable and sexy…and it made the most of her eyes, while making her pale skin glow in a subtle sort of way.

  Best of all, it was easy to peel off of her if he decided that was what he wanted to do.

  After pulling it on, she gathered up the clothes she’d stripped off and dumped them in the hamper she used for dry-cleaning, then rushed into the bathroom. A quick pass of a brush restored her hair and she pulled out her makeup kit to restore her lipstick and freshen up the rest of her face.

  She added a spritz of perfume and was done.

  It took all of ten minutes and then she was back in the living room, pacing the floor. It had been thirty minutes since she’d talked to him. He’d said he had a stop to make. How long would the stop take?

  When the hell was he planning to show—

  The doorbell rang and she jolted.

  She started to rush to answer, but slowed her pace. She wasn’t a school girl. He made her feel like she had with her first crush in high school and wasn’t that just silly?

  Forcing herself to walk at a moderate pace, she reached the door just as he rang the doorbell a second time and opened it with a smile on her face.

  The sight of Roman standing on the other side was enough to make her heart race and she found herself leaning toward him without any conscious thought to do so.

  He met her halfway, though, and that made it okay.

  His lips came down on hers softly, the kiss a sweet, tender one. “Hey,” he murmured when she would have pulled back. Curving one hand over the back of her neck, he held her close. “Do that again.”

  So she did, parting her mouth for him when his tongue stroked across the seam of her lips.

  He made a rumbling sound deep in his chest and it was enough to make her heart skip a few beats.