A Thief of Nightshade(40)

Jullian pulled her to him and kissed her sweetly, his tongue gently teasing, stroking, the sweet pressure of his mouth on hers easing her tension. Beneath her hands, the muscles of his chest flexed and she worked to free him of his shirt.

“There’s never been anyone else,” he said suddenly.

She was out of breath from the kiss still. “What?”

He grinned that boyish grin she’d fallen for so many years ago. “I think I was too embarrassed to tell you that.”

“No way.”

He blushed. “Yes way.”

She leaned back to look at him and narrowed her eyes. “Really?”

“Yes ... really. I know. It’s not the norm where I come from, either. I just ...

knew that I’d know it was right when I met you. And I did.” He smiled, but when she didn’t his hold on her tightened. “Hey, what’s going on? Talk to me.”

She shook her head, her stomach in a knot. “I don’t know, I guess I feel like you got cheated.”

“What? Honey, what are you talking about? Here I am, a nameless nobody who has enough issues with his past to fill a shrink’s planner for five solid years, and you think you’re somehow lacking?

Explain this to me ... wait ... please tell me you aren’t referencing what happened to you as a child. You are, aren’t you?

Sweetheart, that’s it, isn’t it? You think you’re—”

“Damaged goods. Always have been.”

He held her against his chest with her head tucked beneath his chin. “You know how I said the lake was like a mirror? The only one that can be shattered and put back together?” He waited for her to nod before he continued, “We’re like that glass, Aubrey, both of us. Things happened and we feel torn apart by them, but we healed and got stronger. Actually, it’s more like that broken bone in your leg. Your bone is strongest where it broke. You’re not damaged goods. You’re my sweet, tender-hearted Aubrielle, and my whole world would be empty without you.” He tipped her face up. “Are you hearing me?”

She gave him a smile.

“That’s not quite the smile that I want to see, but it’ll do for now.” He squeezed her inner thigh, knowing full well it would make her squirm and, of course, smile wider. “There we go. Much better. Now do you want to hear what I was afraid of?”

“You, afraid of anything? Do tell.”

Jullian flipped her to her back and started pulling her jeans off. He didn’t start talking again until he had them halfway down her legs. “I have so little to offer you. No real name to speak of, no pedigree, no fortune. I wouldn’t want them again if they were granted to me anyway, but I was afraid that it would matter to you. How foolish I was to waste so much time worrying about the one thing you couldn’t care less about.”

She sat up and pulled her jeans the rest of the way off. “I remember you saying something

to

Grant

about

understanding his privileged upbringing. I wish you’d asked me. I could have spared you the worry.”

“Sounds familiar.” He pushed her back onto the bed and unbuttoned the last button on her shirt. “If you would have asked me, I would have told you that ...

such a sour pout for such a sweet face,” he laughed, “won’t you at least let me finish before you argue with me?”

“Okay! Okay!” she squeaked as he tickled her again.

He

reached

beneath

her

and

unhooked her bra with one hand. “I would have told you that just one kiss, just one word sung from your lips, one tender glance, is all I’d want if I were a dying man with one final wish. Damaged goods?

No, Aubrey, you’re more than I could have ever imagined ... more than any man like me should be privileged to have in a

partner and a best friend. And I intend to spend the rest of my life proving it to you.” He bent to kiss the bare skin of her stomach.

Wrapped in a blanket, Aubrey padded barefoot to where Jullian sat on the porch.

“I was just going to close my eyes for a minute. I guess it was more like two.”

“The rest was well deserved.”

Jullian handed her a cup of coffee and put his arm across her shoulder once she was seated beside him, giving her his now-infamous grin upon finding that the thin blanket was all she was wearing.

“Actually, I heard somewhere that they’ve discovered clothing to be detrimental to your health. You really should consider doing without it altogether.” He looked back out to the lake. “At the very least for the rest of the weekend.”

“Oh? I think I can handle that.” She laughed, moaning a little when she took her first sip of coffee. “So good.” She still couldn’t take everything in, how good she truly felt. “This place ... I don’t have any words. How did you finish this in just one year?”

He kept his gaze at the water, a loosely restrained smirk giving the impression that as usual, he was keeping something from her. This time though, she wasn’t hurt by it. “Let’s just say my woodworking skills are a little on the enchanted side. I wish I’d finished it sooner, but some things in life are better done the long way. Do you like it?”

“Beyond words.” She caught sight of the windows again, the bright colors even more magnificent with full sunlight on them. “Faerie tales?” She rose to look at them closer, even more impressed that they were more than the mere blocks of color she’d initially thought.