“Everett Vitalli.” He held out his hand.
She shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Liza Thomas.”
“My wife sends her apologies for the accident.”
“I guess I’m trying to see the positive side. I got to meet your son, so it’s all good.” Liza’s cheeks reddened and she turned away.
Normally, her expression would have him running for the hills. Drew was right, he was about to surpass his two date rule, with no chance of getting laid in the near future. Maybe there were feelings involved?
“Did you have to sign paperwork for the insurance company?” She questioned his father.
“Yeah – something like that.” His dad nodded. “What plans do you two have for the day?”
“I have some errands to run and tonight I’m making Julian dinner. Your son has been so kind to me. I can tell he was raised to be a gentleman.”
“Really?” Everett smirked and gestured to Julian with his thumb. “Are you sure you’re talking about him?”
“Gee, thanks, Dad.” Julian rolled his eyes.
“Well, I hope you two have fun. About time he found a good woman.”
“We’re not dating.” Liza snickered.
Everett raised his eyebrow at Julian. “There’s seriously something wrong with you.” He turned away from them shaking his head. “Let me know if there are any more papers I need to sign for this insurance thing, will you?”
“Sure. I’ll be around sometime this weekend and we’ll discuss things.”
“Whatever you say.” Everett walked away.
“What was that about?” Liza glanced over at Julian. .
Julian offered her his hand and helped her into her seat. “My dad’s strange at times. Don’t mind him.” He closed her door and then headed over to the passenger’s side. “Now come on let’s take this thing for a ride.”
*****
Liza drug the last grocery bag out of the car and handed it to Julian. She knew he was staring at her ass, but she ignored it. “Well, that’s all of them.”
“You don’t have to cook for me.” They headed for her apartment building.
“Too late. I have the sauce in the Crockpot already. It’s just a matter of finishing things up.”
He put his arm around her on the elevator, but then dropped it at the last minute. “Let it cool down, put it away, and we’ll eat it another day. Let me take you out for a night on the town.”
“I promised you dinner.” She faced him. “This is the only way I can pay you for everything you’ve done for me.”
“But you don’t need to pay me, we’re—”
“Yes?” She opened her apartment door.
“Wow, your sauce smells incredible.” He inhaled deeply and followed the scent to the kitchen.
“No – you’re not changing the subject on me.” Liza put her hands on her hips and stood there waiting. “We’re what, Julian?”
“We’re friends?”
“Friends?” She quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Okay, maybe a little more than friends?”
“I get the feeling it wasn’t what you were going to say.” She yanked the bags from him and set them on the counter.
She was busy washing her hands when he came up behind her and placed his hands on her waist. He kissed her neck and brought his lips to her ear. “What if I told you I want to reconsider the whole dating thing?”
Liza drug a towel out of the drawer and faced him. “I’d say ask me tomorrow because you’re still not getting laid.” She shoved him away from her and put away the groceries.
“Wait, what?”
“I told you. I won’t sleep with you unless there was some kind of relationship. Nothing changed.”
Julian raked his gaze over her body.
Her cheeks warmed. Why did he have to be so damned sexy? Here she was trying to make a point when what she wanted to do was tear his clothes off.
“Keep looking at me like that, babe, and I’m going to question your resolve.”
She headed over to the refrigerator with a bag of groceries and bent over to put the vegetables in the crisper. “Go pick out a movie while I put the finishing touches on dinner.”
Julian chuckled. “All right, I’ll keep it light.” He made it to the opening between the kitchen and the living room.
“What made you ask me out for dinner last night?” Liza leaned against the refrigerator door.
“I wanted to get to know you better.” He shrugged.
“I’m glad you were there. If you weren’t, my client would have punched me and I’d be explaining why I had a black eye.”
“Yeah – I would have been pissed.” Julian seized the bottle of wine off the counter. “Where’s your corkscrew?”
Liza rummaged through a couple of her drawers before finding the tool. She handed it to Julian. “I don’t often have a reason to use a corkscrew, it’s surprising I even have one.”
“I’m not a big wine drinker either.” He held up the bottle. “Glasses?”
She pointed to the top cabinet above the stove. “I don’t even have the proper glasses, but I’m sure there’s something we can use.”
Julian got two glasses out of the cabinet and poured the wine. “These will work.” He held one glass up for her as she was putting a pot of water on the stove. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” They clinked their glasses and drank. “You were going to pick out a movie. I doubt I have the best selection, but there should be something we can watch.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” He headed into the living room.
Liza had finished putting the pasta into the boiling water when her phone rang.
”Fuck me!” She let the comment fly when she saw her boss’ name on her phone. She contemplated not answering it, but figured it was important.
Julian whispered in her ear, “Are you trying to turn me on?”
Her eyes widened and she stuttered. He sure was quiet when he wanted to be. “I . . . it’s my . . . my boss is calling.” She answered the phone. She heat rose to her cheeks as he watched her. “Hi, Kate.”
“Trina called me this morning about the incident last night,” Kate said.
The incident. Liza’s heart sank. She grabbed the garlic bread off the counter and set it in the oven. Why did work always ruin things for her? “Wasn’t everything cleared up last night?”
“You sound funny.”
“I’m cooking dinner. What’s the problem?”
“It’s not so much about the incident itself, but the man who helped you.” Kate explained.
“And you’re telling me this why?” Liza tapped her fingernails against the counter. Every word out of Kate’s mouth sent her blood pressure through the roof.
“While in this business we have to be careful with whom we associate,” Kate stated. “You’re talking about a family that has supported our cause quite a bit. If they pull our funding, we all lose.”
“What’s going on?” Julian rested his hand on her shoulder.
She covered the receiver. “This shouldn’t take long.” She turned her attention to the phone call. “Sorry, I have company.”
“I heard.”
“Are you trying to tell me my association with Julian will affect the company?”
“Funny.” Julian scoffed. “They’ll take my donations, but they don’t want their employees to have anything to do with me.”
“I hear someone,” Kate told her. “Think about it.”
“No, Kate. The person in the background is Julian. He’s amused you don’t want me to spend time with him, but his donations are acceptable.”
“You told him?” Kate was horrified. “I was told to speak to you. Your personal life is none of my business. As long as it doesn’t affect your work, I don’t care who you hang out with.”
“I have to finish dinner. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Liza.”
Liza clicked off her phone and left it on the kitchen counter. “I hate my jo
b.”
“Quit,” Julian said.
“I can’t. I’m barely scraping by on what I make now.”
“You should be able to save money now. You won’t have a car payment,” he reminded her with a smile.
“I didn’t think about it,” Liza said. “I’m glad I didn’t make my car payment today when I went to the bank.”
“See if you can save money for a couple months,” he suggested.
Liza turned away from him. She hated talking about money or the lack thereof. He didn’t understand — he had money. He may have spent the first twelve years of his life poor, but now, he passed out money like it was candy. Quitting her job would be wonderful, but how would she survive? She tried to think about something else. “I’ll finish dinner.” She angled to the stove. Many of his comments screamed his lack of understanding. Something else appeared off with him. One minute he was bold and presumptuous as well as excessive and the next, he almost appeared lonely.
“I’m sorry.” He rested his hand on her shoulder again, only to drop it. “I can’t keep my hands off you. It wasn’t my intention to bring up a sore spot.”
“It’s been a rough couple of years for me.” She carried the sauce out to the table and he helped by bringing out the pasta and bread.
“It smells great.”
They served themselves and did not talk for a few minutes. “This is wonderful. Great sauce. I’d never tell her, but it rivals my mother’s.”
“Please don’t tell her. The last thing I need is for her to be mad at me.”
“She may hit you with her car again.” Julian chuckled.
“You’re so mean!” Liza shook her head.
“You never finished telling me about yourself.”
“What do you want to know? I’m thirty years old. I have a Master’s degree.”
“What’s your degree in?” He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt revealing his tattoos again.
“My degree is in Human Behavior and Society.” She stared at his forearms. “Did the same artist do all your tattoos?”
“Drew did all of them.”
“I thought Drew was a mechanic?”
“He is, but he’s also a tattoo artist. He has a tattoo shop right next to our brother-in-law’s mechanic business.” Julian told her.
“Interesting.” Liza nodded. “Do you have others or just the ones on your arms?”
“I have two on my chest, including a Poe quote. I have a Robert Louis Stevenson quote on my back and a tree.”
“I’m a bit of a Poe fan, myself? Which quotes?”
“You’ll see.” Julian stood and tugged his shirt from his pants.
“What are you doing?” She looked up at him as he walked around the table over to where she sat. He was close enough to reach out and touch him.
“I think we need some music, don’t you?” He flipped through the screens on his phone until music played through the speakers.
“I didn’t figure you for a country fan either.” The song was one of the newer country groups she listened to, Florida Georgia Line.
He set the phone on the counter behind him and started singing along with the song and he two-stepped over to where she sat.
Her eyes widened as his fingers found the top button to his shirt. Then another, and another.
She swallowed, her mouth went dry.
By the time he got to the fourth button, his smile lecherous.
“What are you doing?” Liza put her hand over his hands to stop him before he could go further. She was already going up in flames.
“I’m showing you my tattoos.” He ignored her hand and continued unbuttoning his shirt swaying to the music as he did.
“Dancing to music?” she mused.
His shirt fell open. Her mouth gaped. His chiseled abs screamed for her to touch them. Further up to the beginning of the written quote on his chest. He rotated his shoulder slowly as his shirt slipped from one shoulder. He paused long enough to wink then his shirt slid off the other shoulder.
Liza laughed.
He did a dip in the middle of his spin, then straightened then did a little shimmy while his shirt down his arms. He stripped the shirt the rest of the way off and draped it over her head.
“Hey.” She wadded up his shirt and tossed it at him.
Julian dropped the shirt on the floor and stood there, his arms out to the side while he continued his dance.
She stared at the tattoo. A raven taking flight across his right pectoral muscle and the quote in two lines across the rest of his chest. She couldn’t help herself. She closed the gap between them and traced the words.
He flinched at her touch, but didn’t stop moving.
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” She read, following the lines with her fingers.
Julian groaned, grasped her arms and pulled her against him.
She felt his hardness pressing against her through his jeans. Heat raced up her face. She dropped her hands to her side. “I think I’ve seen enough.”
He ran his fingers down her cheek and brushed her hair behind her ear. “When I say you’re beautiful, it’s not a line. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”
She tucked her head. “You’re just saying that.”
“No, I’m not.” He lifted her chin, staring into her eyes. “Liza, beautiful doesn’t even come close for what you do to me when I look at you.”
Liza let out a deep breath as she took a step away from him. She grasped her necklace and moved it along the chain.
“Please don’t be nervous.” He switched off the music on his phone, shoved it in his pocket, and stooped to pick up his shirt.
“Can I see your back?” Liza kept her voice low. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find.
Julian turned around. A gnarled black barren tree ran up his back with ravens perched on and flying away from the branches. The second quote mirrored the one on the front, spreading across his back in two lines, next to the tree.
“A man cannot destroy the savage in him—”
Julian interrupted, finishing the quote himself as he tugged his shirt on over his shoulders. “—by denying its impulses. The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”
“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde again.” She quirked a brow at him. “Curious. Why that book?”
“The mysteries of Julian Vitalli.” He shrugged and buttoned up his shirt. “I’m a normal happy guy one minute. The next I’m losing it.”
“Surely, it’s not that bad?” She cocked her head.
“In the span of two days, you’ve taken the time to ask more about me than anyone outside my family ever dreamed of asking?”
“That can’t be true, you’ve been married twice.”
“Yeah and neither of them cared enough to find out.” He sat across from her. “I have a two date rule.”
“A what?” She chuckled. “You’re kidding. A minute ago you said you were reconsidering us dating . . . which is it?” Where was his head? Did he have issues keeping his thoughts straight?
“Two dates then I’m out door. No relationship – nothing more than sex most of the time.”
Her heart sank. Was he being cruel now? Would he stand her up tomorrow? “What about—” She didn’t get him. Maybe she was reading too much into his flirtations? He was fun to be with. She could learn to deal with having a male friend. Might be fun?
“Tomorrow?” He finished her sentence for her. “I’ll be there.”
“What would you call it then? We’ve been out what three times now?” She sunk into the chair, her legs unable to hold her any longer. What about his sexy little dance? His hot and cold act was more than a little bewildering.
“Four, we had lunch today.” Julian wiped his mouth on his napkin. “I don’t think I could stay away from you if I tried.”
“I’m not opposed to it, but why? After everything you said?”
“I’m a mess and it doesn’t bother you. Believe me I appreciate that
.”
Liza watched him across the table.
He struggled. His fists clenched and unclenched at the table.
She stood and moved her chair over to sit beside him. She placed her hand over his. “It doesn’t change anything. You can’t scare me off.”
“What?”
She rubbed his hand with her thumb. “I don’t know what game you’re playing but I don’t scare easily. I’d like to be friends with you.”
“Liza, I don’t—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “I’ve spent two amazing days with an incredible man. And despite your endless come-on lines, I can’t get enough of you.” She stroked his upper arm. “I’m not going to push you for a relationship. I’m not going to lie, I’d like one, but I do understand your reservations.”
Julian traced her jaw line with his fingers.
She leaned into his touch, then kissed his palm.
“Two days, we’ve known each other, two days—”
The ringing of her phone interrupted his comment. “Two days and what?” Her phone rung for the second time and she knew she had to check it soon.
“Go check your phone. I don’t want you to get in trouble with work on my account.”
Third ring. “Damn it!” Liza hurried and grabbed her phone from where she left it. She hit speakerphone on the last ring. “Hello, Trina.” Her words were clipped. She was tired of her private time interrupted.
“I need you here for an emergency visitation.” Trina didn’t bother with pleasantries.
Liza glanced at her watch. “It’s quarter till seven and my day off. Isn’t there anyone else who can do it?”
“You’re it, Liza, everyone else is busy with other visits and I have the Batterer’s class to run. The visit starts at eight. You need to be here by quarter till.”
“Fine.”
“With your write-up the other day, I wouldn’t push your luck.” Trina left little doubt in her voice she would have Liza written up again if she did not do the visit.
“On my way.” Liza let out a deep breath.
He came around the table, stopped behind her, brought his hands to her shoulders, and massaged. She put one of her hands on his and mouthed ‘thank you’.
“It will run from eight until nine. The sooner you can get here, the better.”
If You Only Knew (And Then Came Love Book 1) Page 7