United

by A. Aubry

  “Julianna?” I asked.

  Her head quickly moved to look up at me, her blue eyes piercing mine. She wore very minimal makeup and her usually long, flowing hair was in a bun on the top of her head. Drake helped her gather up papers before standing back up with Julianna. Hot damn, her look made every hot secretary fantasy flow through my mind. Her black pencil skirt hugged her hips just right and her white dress shirt swooped just the right amount that a small glimpse of cleavage was visible…if you looked for it.

  I watched her eyes drag over the outfit that I chose to wear, it was very similar to what I wore for our date last night. Man, what I would give to go back to last night.

  “Finn, what are you doing here?” Her voice was almost a whisper.

  Did she think I came to surprise her? Fuck, should I have come to surprise her?

  “You two know each other?” Drake asked as he gave Julianna the papers he had picked up.

  “Wait, is she the one that you met at the bar on Saturday?” Bo questioned.

  Jordan was about to ask another question and I shushed everybody as subtly as I could, “Yeah, this is Julianna. I met her at the bar on Saturday. Julianna, these are my friends and teammates Bo, Drake, and Jordan.”

  She looked between the three of them, assessing them. Yes, they were all attractive but when her eyes turned back to me, I could see them light up. That’s right, baby, you are mine.

  “Nice to meet you all,” she smiled and my breath was nearly taken away. Her attention turned to a door that was down the hall, an older gentleman was sitting at a desk on the phone inside, “Can I help you guys with something? I’m just on my way to a meeting.”

  Julianna looked a little frazzled. That may have been why she hadn’t answered my texts, a lot going on and all.

  I piped up because none of my friends decided to do it for me, “We’re actually supposed to be meeting a guy named Shane? He wanted to interview us for some sort of sports article.”

  She rolled her eyes and quietly laughed, “You guys are on the wrong floor, this is the Variety section.”

  That made more sense. She told me the night that we met that she wrote for the Variety section.

  “The girl at reception told us to go to the third floor,” Jordan answered.

  Julianna’s eyes locked on mine and I just wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her like I did last night, “She’s new, Sports is on the fourth. Let me just drop off these papers in the conference room and I can escort you guys there.”

  “Sounds great,” I smiled and her cheeks blushed before she turned away from us.

  Shit, watching her walk away from me in that skirt…that did things to me.

  “You fucked her, didn’t you?” Bo teased as he nudged me with his elbow.

  I shook my head, “What? No, I didn’t fuck her.”

  “Yet,” Drake finished for me.

  Okay, I couldn’t say that he wasn’t right. We hadn’t fucked…yet. I wanted to, believe me, I really fucking wanted to. If we didn’t have our damn media day today, I would’ve last night. While it wasn’t like I didn’t get laid almost two weeks ago, Julianna’s body was like a magnet for me and I just wanted to be close to it all the time. Preferably without clothes.

  A brunette, that I recognized from the bar as one of Julianna’s friends, walked by us. Her eyes lingered for a second too long on Bo and he took notice. Even I could see that his eyes were eating her alive as she walked into a room that Julianna had disappeared into a few moments before. Down, boy. We needed to be professional.

  Julianna came back to our small group and nonchalantly brushed past me, her hand making the smallest contact with my arm. My heart began to race, what the fuck? One touch and I was lost now? She waved her hand for us to follow her as she called for the elevator. My eyes drank her in, I definitely needed to see her tonight. The doors to the elevator opened and we all piled in. Almost as soon as we were all in Bo, Jordan, and Drake started talking about their fantasy football drafts because amazingly all three of them were still in the pool.

  I got as close as I could to Julianna, her flowery perfume emanating off of her, “You haven’t responded to my texts.”

  Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked over at me, our mouths only a few inches apart that I could still smell the minty scent of the toothpaste she used this morning.

  “My phone must still be on do not disturb from when I went to bed, I’m sorry. What did your texts say?”

  Fuck the texts, let me kiss you.

  The doors opened as I started to lean in and I moved back as to not garner the attention of my friends. Bo looked at me knowingly, he saw how we were interacting…shit. We followed Julianna down a hallway and into a vast number of cubicles. She entered one that had the name Shane London on it and sat on the edge of his desk. If I had a desk at work I would want her sitting on mine in that pencil skirt, or maybe less.

  I couldn’t even focus on the exchange that she was having with Shane. My mind was lost on how beautiful she looked today. I definitely needed to see her tonight. I would do and say anything to get to her my place. We needed to finish what we started last night. Julianna looked at me as she talked to her friend and her cheeks flushed as she caught me watching her.

  The man named Shane turned around in his chair and got up extending a hand to each of us in turn, “Fellas, I’m so sorry about that. Daniela was supposed to call me when you guys got here.”

  Julianna slipped off his desk and leaned an arm on the top of his cubicle, “Oh, that explains why Daniela sent them to Variety. She must have thought they said Shayna.”

  Shane turned his attention to Julianna, “Someone really has to have a talk with her.”

  Bo cleared his throat slightly as Julianna shrugged at Shane, “Okay guys, we’re actually going to do this interview in the conference room. Would you mind showing them where that is, Jules? I just need to get a few things. Anybody want anything to drink?”

  We all said water, we needed to stay hydrated before practice. Next thing I knew, Julianna was leading us back through the floor and to a room with a large wooden table, several chairs, and sports posters on the walls. I took a seat at the table while Bo, Drake, and Jordan either took a seat or looked at the action shots that were on the walls.

  “Well, this is where I leave you all. It was nice to meet you Bo, Drake, and Jordan.”

  Julianna gave her sweet smile and turned to walk out of the room. Shit, I needed to know if I could see her tonight. I quickly got out of my chair, Bo shaking his head at me, as I walked with Julianna out of the room.

  “Can I see you tonight?”

  She stopped and turned around to face me, “What?”

  “That’s what my text said. I want to see you tonight.”

  A playful smile spread across her lips, “Two nights in a row. I must be a lucky girl.”

  “Technically three if you count the night we met,” I gave a small smile. Yep, that was still cheesy.

  “I’d love to see you tonight,” I did a mental happy scream, “What were you going to suggest?”

  Oh, hell…I didn’t think this through very much. Well, I wanted to finish what we started last night so the logical place would be my townhouse.

  “Dinner and a movie at my place?

  Her cheeks flushed and her smile widened, “Sounds great, text me the address and the time and I’ll be there. I usually leave the office around five.”

  The feeling of needing to touch her, to be close to her, took over as I carefully grabbed her hands and laced our fingers, “I will.”

  Julianna’s hands gently squeezed mine and she looked into my eyes. Her blue eyes were like pools of water and I couldn’t look away. Shane walked by us, clearing his throat, obviously dismissing Julianna in a teasing manner before he went into the conference room.

  “Duty calls,” I quietly laughed as I ran my thumb over the back of her hand.

  Julianna tugged on my hands, bringing me closer to her as she got up on the balls of
her feet as her lips tenderly closed over mine. Now this was what I would be thinking about all through this interview.

  “See you tonight,” she said quietly.

  I could feel my cheeks burn as I smiled at her, “See you later.”

  I released her hands, going back into the conference room and closed the door.

  “So, you two a thing?” Shane chuckled.

  “Sort of,” I nervously laughed as I took my previous seat at the table.

  “That kiss didn’t look like sort of,” Shane offered.

  “Wait, you two kissed out there?” Drake asked.

  I rolled my eyes at him, “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes.”

  Jordan whistled, “Get it, Finn.”

  I chuckled and Shane proceeded with the interview. A lot of interviews were alike, as in, the same questions were asked in nearly every single one. Thanks to that, not much thought had to go into the answers that I gave. If I really had to formulate a new answer, it probably wouldn’t have worked out too well for me because all I could think about was going down to the third floor and picking up right where Julianna and I left off. At the conclusion of our interview, on the ride back down to the lobby, I took my phone out of my pocket and texted Julianna my address. Her immediate response made it difficult for me to conceal my grin.

  Julianna: Can’t wait to see you later. We can continue our Netflix and not so much chill ;).

  “What? Did your girlfriend send you a naughty text?” Bo teased as we walked out of the Star Tribune offices to his car.

  “One, she’s not my girlfriend because we just met and two, even if she did…it wouldn’t be any of your business.”

  Drake laughed, “Look who’s getting all defensive over his not-girlfriend.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” I murmured as we all climbed into the car and took off for practice.

  Julianna and I hadn’t exactly laid down the lines of a relationship. Did I want to be with her in terms of boyfriend/girlfriend? Yes. It was odd because I had just gotten out of a relationship with someone who was almost exactly like Michael in terms of putting people down. She never put me down, but she put others down…she was a cliché mean girl. But would Julianna want to be in a relationship so soon after breaking up with Michael? He hurt her, even if it wasn’t the cheating, he hurt her emotionally over the last three years. If we decided to put the label on our relationship, I would take it upon myself to show Julianna just how perfect she truly was. Fuck, did that sound like I was in love already or what?

  When I got home, just before the peak of rush hour traffic, I showered and got dressed more comfortably for my second date with Julianna. This did count as a second date, right? She texted me at five-thirty saying she still had another fifteen minutes according to her GPS and the stand still traffic she was stuck in. I really should have considered how bad traffic got when it came to after five o’clock on a week day. As I put in an order online for a pizza place down the street to deliver between five forty-five and six, my phone buzzed on the countertop. My hopes that it was Julianna telling me she magically got here quicker fell when my mom’s name lit up my screen.

  I was insanely close with my mother; how could you not be when your whole family was abandoned by your father when you were only two? She worked long hours to give my brothers and myself the best life that we could have as we grew up in Atlanta. But she was on the strict side, and insanely unforgiving in her ‘no sex before marriage’ talk. Due to her being so against it, my brothers and I had to sneak around with the girls we were dating in high school and college. To this day, I still have never had sex in my childhood bed because of my mother’s rule. She had a tendency to interrupt, her need to interrupt came even worse the second I would start to jack off in my bedroom. It was as though she knew and that was creepy as fuck.

  “Hey mom, I can’t talk very long,” I answered quickly.

  “Finn Walker, is that any way to talk to your mother?” Her quiet southern drawl picked up when she got exasperated or mad at one of us.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just that I have a date and she will be coming over really soon,” rolling my eyes, I finished placing our pizza order and closed my laptop.

  “Did you and Natalie make up?” She asked, sincerely intrigued.

  She thought Natalie was sweet and innocent, and at one point in time that was true. Natalie wasn’t like that the longer we were in our relationship. I had actually been trying to find a real excuse to break up with her before she cheated on me. She ended up doing me a favor.

  “No, mom. Natalie and I will not be getting back together, I told you that she cheated on me because I wouldn’t have sex with her.”

  It wasn’t a complete lie, she did cheat on me. But up until that point, we were having sex almost daily.

  She quietly sighed, “Such a shame that sex has become the deciding factor of a relationship nowadays. Now tell me Finn, who is this new girl?”

  My face lit up as I described her, “Her name is Julianna and she is my age. She writes for the Star Tribune which is a local newspaper up here in the cities. She’s funny, smart, and damn is she beautiful.”

  “Language, Finn, keep in mind who you are talking to,” my mother scolded.

  All I said was damn…damn. It was difficult to be so different when I talked to my mom and then turn around and shoot the shit with my brothers. She wanted us to be perfect gentlemen, and while I lived by that usually, thanks to my brothers I had the mouth of a sailor. I was pretty sure if my father stuck around, I would have been able to blame him for my swearing…and my mother wouldn’t be so uptight because at least she’d be getting laid.

  “Sorry, ma. She’s really beautiful though. Maybe one day you can meet her. I think you two would get along very well.”

  “I’m sure we would, you’ve always picked some very nice girls,” except for Natalie, “I hope to come up and visit you soon. Just remember, Finn Walker, no sex until marriage. I don’t care how much you lust after this girl, that is a sacred thing between a man and his wife.”

  My phone beeped in my ear with a text, Julianna said she had arrived, “I know. I have to go though, mom. I love you and I will call you later.”

  She warned me once again to make good choices and I would be damned if I made a bad choice and not sleep with Julianna. She needed to be worshipped, to be shown that she was loved. Shit, there I go again, thinking about love and this girl I literally just met. I put my phone down on my kitchen island, grabbed my apartment keys, and went to go greet Julianna at the front door. I had been waiting all day for this moment.

  When I saw her, I opened the door for her and smiled, “You made it.”

  She giggled and smiled wide, “It’s not my fault you live in the direction that everyone is traveling after work.”

  As soon as she was in arms reach, I snaked an arm around her waist and kissed her tenderly, but quickly. The last thing I needed was for my neighbors to see me making out with a girl in the front hallway of our building. Lacing our fingers together after I released her, I led her back to my apartment. I opened the door, letting Julianna walk in first, and followed through. I closed the door behind us, choosing not to lock it because the pizza would be here shortly.

  Julianna looked around the small downstairs area of my apartment, it wasn’t much to look at but it was the main living space.

  “I didn’t think you’d live in a studio apartment,” she swiveled around on her heel and smiled at me.

  Huh? Oh…because I had two floors and not just one, “I don’t live in a studio apartment, the bedrooms are upstairs. Technically, this is a townhouse.”

  And a very expensive one at that.

  I tried not to laugh as Julianna’s mouth opened in surprise, “You have a whole other floor?”

  Using my index finger I pointed at the ceiling, “Yeah, two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and the laundry room are upstairs.”

  “Why do you have two bedrooms?”

  I hadn’t told Juli
anna about my family yet. I couldn’t remember if I ever told her that I was originally from Atlanta.

  “My family doesn’t live in-state. They all live in Georgia, so they come and visit sometimes. I got drafted by the team here, so I moved by myself.”

  The fact that I wasn’t close in proximity to my family still hurt. I remembered when I got drafted like it was yesterday. I went into my childhood bedroom and actually cried. One, because I was so happy that I would be living my dream, and two, because I was going to be away from my family. At that point, Cooper and Amelia were married with little newborn Sofie and Ashton and Violet had just gotten engaged. Not to mention the fact that I would be moving over a thousand miles away from my only parent.

  Julianna took my hands and laced our fingers together once more, “My family lives in Wisconsin. Not quite as far as Georgia, but feels far to me.”

  “Are you close with your family too?” I asked hopefully.

  Natalie was nowhere near as close with her family as I was with mine. In fact, she told me quite frequently how much she despised her mother, and how her father was only good for buying her things after their divorce. It still pissed me off that she looked at her parents that way. At least she had two parents.

  Julianna and I gazed into one another’s eyes as she nodded, “As close as one can be with their family. My mom especially, she’s one of my best friends.”

  Yep, this girl was fucking perfect. Just the thought that she was close with her mom like I was close with mine made me smile.

  “I’m close with my mom, too. My dad left when I was two years old. My two older brothers helped raise me when mom was at work.”

  “My father left before I was born, so I know how you feel. He made a slight appearance between the ages of five and ten, before going back to acting like I never existed. My mother eventually married my stepfather when I was two, he’s pretty much been the only real father figure I’ve ever known.”

  Okay, remember when I said she was perfect before? Yeah, she just fucking topped that. Who knew that we were so similar when it came to our biological fathers?

  “My mom remarried for a short period of time, but it quickly ended. After that, she said the only men she needed in her life were her boys.”