by Anna Kendra
Going down the stairs, he looked around the living room, the kitchen and even in the backyard, but found no one. Damnit! he cursed himself. How could he have slept through the morning when he always wakes up at the break of dawn?
It was a habit he had acquired when he still lived with his birthmother. He had to stay prepared in case some of her clients had a penchant for younger flesh. And even when he’d been adopted by the Turners, he hadn’t trusted anyone enough to think they won’t sneak up on him. That fear had slowly become a habit, which had never been broken once . . . until today.
Julian went back upstairs once again to check Leo’s room, in case Sia was there, but she wasn’t and Leo was fast asleep. And despite him being in a hurry to go find Sia, he took a moment to study the boy.
The room was flooded with light from the two large windows beside the bed. The color scheme for this room was like every other room in the house: dichromatic. Leo’s room was blue and white. It was a simple room with a study desk, closet, ensuite bathroom, and a queen-sized bed. Nothing special but it screamed Leo.
However, when he looked at little closer, the color that he’d first thought to be pure white wasn’t white at all. On close inspection he could see that it was indeed a very pale golden. But what interested Julian wasn’t exactly the room but its owner.
For some reason, Julian saw himself in Leo. Both of them have been helpless at a very young age. However, where Leo had his mother to protect him, Julian had had to fight his own battles by himself. Poor child had to endure a lot at such a young age and his suffering hasn’t ended yet. He was strong—stronger than what he had estimated. Even though he was soft on the inside and would rather read a boring mystery novel than play Call of Duty or some other slayer games, his ability to manage a situation calmly was indeed remarkable. He had to grow up way too fast without enjoying the joys of childhood and the protection of a father.
Julian’s heart thumped with a fierce need to protect this child, so Leo gets to experience all the things he had missed out on. Just like Christian had done for him.
He will. Julian promised to himself. He will do anything he can to ensure that this child didn’t suffer. Like he had to. He promised Leo he will never grow up in an unloving environment like he had.
With that, he slowly closed the door to Leo’s room and left in search of Sia.
Chapter 13
Ring! Ring! Rin—
“Yes?” Julian snapped without looking at his phone. It was nearly ten in the morning and he had already found Sia working in her home office, so he’d left her to work in peace while he went through his daily routine.
“Whoa! What crawled up your ass and died?”
“Abhay,” Julian greeted his best friend with a laugh. “When did you get back?”
“Been ages man!” Abhay joked. “I came back this morning and saw you were gone. Christian seemed worried though. Heard you got shot yesterday.”
“Yeah.” Julian sighed. He’d managed to send in his report last night via email, directly to his brother, before he’d gone to Sia’s room. However, he’d left his phone in his room after that and when he’d gone back to take a quick shower a few minutes ago, he’d discovered nearly fifteen missed calls from his brother. Christian was tough as a nail when it came to work, but one thing Julian was sure of was that his brother loved him dearly.
“Tell him not to worry. The bullet just grazed the skin.” Julian told his friend now. “Anyway, did you get assigned any duties yet?”
“Yes.” Abhay sighed. “Selena just dumped all the files related to your case on my desk. Guess I’m your new tour guide now.”
Abhay Campbell was the master hacker of the company, as well as Julian’s partner in crime. If Julian was Lucifer, then Abhay was Beelzebub. Being half-Indian, he was blessed with that awesome sun-kissed skin that Julian could never rival against, no matter how many tans he got. He had ruggedly handsome features. Just like Julian, he had the same square jaw, straight nose, jet black hair, and light blue eyes. Everyone called them the Devil Twins because of their similar features.
“Oh no! I’m not letting you off that easy. I’m calling you in for field duty. Don’t think you can get away with sitting in front of the computer, chewing hamburgers while I get shot,” Julian joked and heard the dramatic sigh of the man he called his brotherfor more reasons than one.
“And here I thought I was finally gonna get lucky. Damn! How perfect was my plan . . . Oh well!” He gave another theatrical sigh and Julian snorted.
“All right buddy, jokes aside, I need a favor,” he said seriously.
“Don’t you always?” Abhay joked then turned serious. “Tell me.”
“I need you to find every detail you can about Arthur Stone. Friends, enemies, mistresses, anything you can get your hands on . . . even confidential ones.” He added the last bit because he knew how good Abhay was at digging up dirt. “And also,check security cameras for a white Volvo outside of Paradiso around three in the afternoon yesterday. It must be one of Arthur’s because Sia recognized the car. I want to know which gutter that pig’s been hiding.”
“Ah! I’ve been dying of that itch!” Abhay replied.
True, Julian thought. Abhay loved trouble as much as he did and was always “itching” for mischief. Ever since they entered together in the company, they had been the head troublemakers and the biggest pranksters after all.
“Then go satisfy it. And also . . . there’s something that has been bugging me. Why did Stone take over the Milton factory? As far as I have found out, he had a law firm. Why take over a business from the textile industry, much less one that was on the edge of bankruptcy? Get as much as you can.” Julian finished, still thinking about the things he had just said.
“On it. Call you back in an hour or two,” Abhay said.
“Okay.” Julian hung up and put his phone back in his pocket as he leaned his back against the closest wall and closed his eyes.
He wasn’t tired but weary. He couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss he’d shared with Sia last night which was bothering him. Julian was no virgin but kissing Sia was making him feel like a hormonal teenager who had no control over his urges. He had always wanted to taste her, kiss her, and feel her soft body against his muscled one. He had thought that once he had at least kissed her, the desire he felt for her would fade, if only by a fraction.
How wrong he had been. Now that he had felt her, kissed those amazingly soft, plump lips which had tasted of strawberries last night, and ran his hands through the liquid silk of her hair, it was impossible to get her out of his system. He wanted more. And he was very sure that once he had her, he would never be able to get enough.
Shit!
He was never the desperate type. Women threw themselves at his feet, and it was a fact no one could deny. But this one woman had him eating out of her palm already and worst of all, she had no idea what she was doing to him.
He had hoped that the fact that she was older than him by three years would dull the attraction, but instead, he had been blown off his feet from the very first time she had looked at him with those big innocent green eyes. In fact, he didn’t even think of her as an older woman. He just thought of her as . . . his.
Double shit!
“Damn you! Get your head in the bloody game!” He hissed at himself. “You’re here to work for her, not screw her! If I lose this chance, I’ll lose the company.”
Julian ran his hands through his hair a few times, getting his focus straight before he straightened himself and went in search of Sia. Thankfully, he ran into Martha on his way downstairs who told him that Sia was having another one of her creative sprees and that she’d been in her home office for the past four hours, right after she’d had tea.
Julian wanted to be patient and give her some space, considering the fact that she had survived another near-death experience yesterday, but something didn’t quite feel right. Julian had this sinking feeling in his gut that told him that maybe, Sia was pullin
g away.
Sia was an independent woman who had built her reputation and career from scratch. Something told him that what he had thought was something special might just have been a moment of vulnerability for her. It was done—a thing of the past and never to be spoken of again. Funny how karma was coming to bite him back in the ass.
When Julian found Sia in her home office, carrying a plate of snacks from Martha as his excuse, she was busily working on a fabric draped around a mannequin with a few pins in her mouth, held between her teeth. A box containing a similar set of pins was placed nearby on a stool next to her for when she ran out of them as she now worked on creating pleats and frills while pinning the fabric together to form running stitches.
With dark blue skinny jeans and a black long-sleeved top with a white tank underneath, she looked every ounce the professional designer she was yet managing to look younger and more vibrant at the same time. Her hair was pulled back into the messy bun she always seemed to sport when she was working, and her brows were furrowed in concentration. She was so beautiful that Julian was as startled as he’d been the first time he’d laid eyes on her.
Julian decided not to disturb her as he placed the plate down on a nearby table and watched silently as she took parts of a fabric, folded them in different ways until they looked to her liking, and held them in place with the pins. Sometimes, she’d cut pieces of another fabric and placed them on the main fabric. Within a few minutes, Julian watched in awe as the plain piece of fabric had now transformed into a beautiful floor-length gown with crisscross patterns of green and blue silk. Scattered all over the bodice were tiny flowers shaped from white lace.
Sia went over to her desk and took a sheet of paper and compared her drawing to the nearly finished product. She would have to call her secretary, Millan, later tonight to get her samples into the truck and get it stitched by her tailor, Megan.
She went on doing a few more adjustments to the dress and thought about adding a sash. She was debating the idea, looking at the paper in her hand while a pencil was tucked between her lips, when she heard his voice.
“It’s perfect,” he said, coming to stand next to her.
“Thanks,” she answered softly, trying not to appear startled. She hadn’t heard him enter; she’d been too lost in her work, although she did have a feeling he’d been watching her silently for some time now, but she tried not to let her nervousness show.
But when Julian reached out to tuck a stray hair behind her ear, she knew she had to stop. She had to think about her son first, no matter how good it felt to be with him—how right this felt.
“Julian . . .” she began and he must have felt the distress in her tone as his eyes snapped to hers instantly. “We can’t . . .” she tried to say but faltered a little. After reminding herself of Leo, she mustered her strength and finally told him, “I can’t do this” followed by a few seconds of deafening silence.
Chapter 14
“We can’t . . . I can’t do this.”
Julian frowned. “Can’t do what exactly?”
“This whole thing . . .” she said and trailed off, pointing vaguely between the two of them. “Whatever happened last night . . . was a mistake, Julian. It can never happen again. I can’t let it. Both of us have very different priorities. So please, let’s just forget that anything ever happened last night and move on.”
“And what exactly happened last night?” Julian said a little too harshly, causing Sia to flinch. He wanted to apologize, but his pride was hurt badly. “We kissed, that’s it. It’s not as serious as you’re making it out to be.”
Sia had thought that Julian might respond in such way since he was known to pass from woman to woman without a backward glance. But what she felt was anything far from relief. Angry? Yes. Jealous? Yes. Disappointed? Hell, yes!
So, she clenched her hands by her side and faced Julian. “You’re right. I had a moment of weakness last night. It should never have happened.”
She watched as the anger dissipated from Julian’s electric blue eyes, only to be replaced by something she couldn’t quite put a finger on. But when those beautiful pink lips tilted up on one end in a devious smirk, she knew she was in trouble.
“You’re right, it shouldn’t have.” He took a step forward until their faces were mere centimetres apart. He was so close to her that he could smell the sweet cherry blossom scent of her shampoo, the sweetness of the strawberries on her lips. “It was a moment of weakness, and you needed my strength.” He lifted his hand and lightly tilted up her chin so he could see into the bright emerald of her eyes. “But I never implied it was anything more.”
Sia sucked in a breath, taking a whiff of Julian’s scent into her lungs. The scent of the lemon temporarily overwhelmed her senses before she got her bearings under control. “Julian, I . . .”
But nothing else came out. No matter how much she tried, she felt like she was drowning in the blue of his eyes and there was no one to save her. Sadly, she didn’t want to be saved.
“Remember this, Sia,” Julian spoke softly, but the words shook her to her core. “If I decide to take you, I won’t use your vulnerabilities against you. You’ll come to me of your own will, and it will happen soon. It’s clear in your eyes that you want me and the only reason I’m holding back is because I know you aren’t ready. But be prepared, Sia Milton, I know desire when I see it, and I won’t hold back next time.”
There was challenge in every word he spoke, and both he and Sia knew that it won’t be long before they acted on the attraction between them. And just to make his point clear, he flicked out his tongue and lightly ran it over Sia’s bottom lip, making her eyes widen in surprise. He let go of her chin and turned to walk away.
Sia leaned back against the table behind her as soon as Julian left the room. If it wasn’t for the piece of furniture, she’d have slid and sprawled on the floor by now. Her breathing was out of control, her heart was hammering in her chest, and her lips still tingled—at the point where Julian had licked her.
Licked her!
She lightly traced the spot with her fingers, while her other hand went to her stomach to calm the flock of butterflies going wild inside her. That had not been her plan! And yes, she had to admit, she had been the one to initiate the kiss, and damn her for that, but it had felt so good! She didn’t think she’d have the strength to live up to Julian’s standards. If this was her reaction to him merely licking her lips, then she didn’t think she’d last long in bed.
She shook her head. She couldn’t let such things happen. She was a mother, damn it! She had a thirteen, almost fourteen-year-old child. She couldn’t submit them to the humiliations of the media and the world. She just couldn’tno matter how much she wanted to run into his arms, and how much she wanted to feel his naked skin against hers. Sia was new to all of this, she realized. What she had experienced with Arthur wasn’t lovemaking or sex, it had been rape. He’d never asked for her consent or made her feel pleasure in any way. It had always been about his needs, his pleasure, and his satisfaction. And Sia had been too young, too scared to know who to ask for help. The only people who were supposed to protect her had wanted nothing to do with her after she had been married off. Her own mother had never cared, not even when she’d shown her the bruises during the short family gatherings Arthur had taken her to once or twice a year.
Sia didn’t want to relieve those days ever again. And even though she knew that Julian would never hurt her that way, not when every inch of him screamed protector, she knew there were other ways in which she could get hurt.
“I know that I’m just another new challenge for you, another new conquest,” she told no one in particular. “But I refuse to be another notch on your bedpost. I deserve better and besides . . . you’ll find someone better in your next mission.”
Harsh words, but Sia knew they were the truth.
***
Julian flinched at the insult.
He knew he shouldn’t be eavesdropping on Sia ou
tside her door, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d finally said what he’d wanted to, and Sia hadn’t denied his claim. She desired him; at least that much he was sure about now.
It was true though, he thought. He had always been like that. If someone had it in them to refuse his charm, which had numbered to zero until now, he would just go after another woman on his next assignment. But that was before Sia, before she had made him feel things that he was capable of feeling. He’d be damned if he let her slip away.
“So, you think it’s just temporary? That I’ll just move on after my work here is done and jump into another girl’s bed?” he spoke to himself calmly, making sure no one in the house heard him, or that the sound didn’t carry through the door. “Fine then, I won’t pursue you anymore. But you’ll soon change your mind, Sia. That much, I can assure you.”
He didn’t know what had happened between Sia and her ex-husband, but he could only imagine the kind of hell Sia had had to endure during her four-year marriage to that bastard. He was determined to make sure that she never has to deal with that kind of torture again. And he knew, to some extent, what sexual abuse felt like. It was one of the reasons he wanted to become a bodyguard so he could protect people from abuse. He’d initially wanted to be in the military or the police force, but after Christian had gotten injured during a war in Afghanistan, his parents had straight out refused to let Julian join. They had died from a car crash shortly after and there was nothing he could do but to honor their wish.
“But—” Julian said, a determined look in his eyes, “I’ll make sure you never have to go through that ever again. I won’t let that sonofabitch close to you. I’ll never let you down, Sia, as long as I’m alive.”
With that in mind, Julian went to turn away from the door and go up to his room to follow up on Abhay’s call, but when he turned, his eyes widened in shock.
The only thing he could think of was Oh shit!