Love Beyond Words (City Lights, #1)(69)

His face was buried in her neck, the harsh, hot gasps of his breath sounded loud and she added her own until they were in harmony, a perfect rhythm and unison that extended far deeper than the motions of their bodies. And in the short space between their shared breaths, she heard it. A tinny little beep. Her eyes flew open in time to see the security console flash red and then back to orange.

David…

The ecstasy that had been building in her subsided with shocking immediacy. She gasped at the ugly, hollow feeling that remained, even as Julian shuddered with pleasure. She held him tightly. Over his shoulder noticed that the bedroom door was ajar. Not a lot but enough.

After a few moments spent catching his breath, Julian retrieved her fallen glass and filled it with the champagne—a celebration of the news that she would graduate with honors this June. He brushed the hair from her eyes and bent to kiss her, but stopped, frowning. She’d tried to keep the ugly feeling in her gut from showing on her face, but he must have seen a shadow of it.

“Everything all right?”

She nearly told him she suspected David had spied on them but the gray days of their argument came back to her. You have no proof. David might have realized what was happening and fled out of discretion. He didn’t spy on us.

Except that he did. She knew it as surely as she knew her own name.

She smiled. “Everything’s fine.





Chapter ThirtyTwo


The rain fell steadily into the late afternoon. It tapped on Natalie’s apartment windows, streaking them with crystalline rivulets. She packed a few more items of clothing in her bag, and her laptop. She had plans to spend the weekend with Julian, and work on her accounting coursework while he edited and transcribed his book. He had thought it a nice idea to spend time together and didn’t see it for what it really was: protection. When she was around, David stayed away, and that’s all that mattered to her.

Her cell phone rang just as she was zipping her bag. Her heart ached to see the number.

“Liberty…”

“Hi, Nat. How’s tricks?”

“Oh, Liberty, I’m so sorry—”

“No, forget it. I’m the *. Marshall told me everything. I should’ve believed you.”

“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have said what I said. About you and Marshall.”

“Maybe not. Or maybe it was totally spot on. Anyway, I only have a minute before my client shows up and just wanted to make plans to hang out, catch up, and hear all about your famous millionaire boyfriend. As one does.”

“I’d like to talk about you. It’s been far, far too long. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. Are you free Wednesday?”

“That’s perfect.”

“Okay, Nat. Well...uh. Talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

Natalie ended the call and sighed. Things weren’t one hundred percent between them, but she felt as if a huge weight had lifted. She hadn’t realized how big a hole Liberty’s absence had made in her life until she was back. Woman cannot survive on man alone, she thought and grinned.

She took up her bag when her front door buzzed. She went to the wall-mounted console. “Who is it?”

“It’s David Thompson. I need to talk with you. Let me up.”

Natalie felt her chest tighten. She fought to keep the irritation out of her tone. “Actually, I’m kind of busy.”

“It’s urgent. I need to talk to you. It’s about Julian.”

Of course it was about Julian; they had nothing else to talk about. But Natalie heard the panicky edge to his voice and a cold pang of fear settled in her gut.

“What is it? Is he okay? Is he sick again?”

“Just let me up, for chrissakes. I’m soaked.”

Natalie hit button to unlock the gate below, and left the door ajar for him, her thoughts awash in worry, so that when David burst through her front door, she let out a little shriek.

“Jesus, David, you scared me.” She closed the door behind him as paced her tiny living area. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”

David was flapping around her small space like a caged bird. He wore a long trench coat, its shoulders and back streaked dark with rainwater. His hair was plastered to his face and his glasses were fogged. He ran his hand over his mouth again and again as he paced.

“Okay, Natalie, listen. This is serious. This is no joke. No, no joke at all.”

Natalie inched toward her door. “What? You’re starting to frighten me. Just…calm down and…”

He whirled on her. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and this is the bottom line: you have to leave Julian alone. You can’t see him anymore. You just can’t.”

“Okay, that’s enough.” She turned to the door and opened it. “I think you’d better leave.”

“I mean it, Natalie.” David pushed past her and slammed the door shut, making her wince and her heart jump into her throat. “You don’t understand what’s happening. You should have just stayed out of our business.”

“I don’t know what’s happened to you, David, if you’re on drugs or what, but this is ridiculous,” she said, her voice sounding steadier than she felt. “Now, please leave or I’ll have to call the police.”