Read After The One (The One Series Duet) Online

Authors: Danielle Allen

Tags: #Contemporary, #Romance, #Fiction, #Forever Love, #Adult, #Bachelor, #Single Woman, #Sensual, #Hearts Desire, #Multicultural & Interracial, #Romantic Comedy, #Duet, #Book Two, #Reality TV, #Dating Show, #Fantasy Romance, #Entertainment, #Reality Couple

After The One (The One Series Duet) (2 page)

BOOK: After The One (The One Series Duet)
8.66Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“Stress will do that to you. And that was your first big case so being stressed was to be expected. Now that it’s over, you know what you need to do to balance things out.”

“Yes. Not skipping a trip home for Thanksgiving. More quality time with Julian. More nights out with Koko. Fewer thirteen hour days in the office. Less taking work home.”

“Exactly,” she agreed. “And in reference to what you thought I was going to say, I trust you and I know you and Julian will make the right decisions with your life and your future. I’m so proud of you. I’m proud of you both and I look forward to what the future will bring for the two of you.”

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly.
When did Elise Jordan become such a sap?

“Thank you.” I grinned as I typed in the code for Julian’s gate, waiting for it to open.

“Okay, sweetheart, I need to finish up my lunch before my next meeting. I can’t call a last-minute meeting and then be late to it.”

“No, you can’t,” I agreed with a giggle. “Thanks for calling me back so soon!” I called her before I even called Julian to share the good news. I didn’t expect a call back so soon.

“I’m just glad I wasn’t in court so we could have this chat.”

“Me too.”

We said our goodbyes as I pulled into the garage.

Grabbing all of my stuff, I entered the door that led to the kitchen and froze.

My mouth dropped open and my heartrate sped up. “Julian?” I whispered, unable to get the word to come out any louder. My eyes filled with tears as I took in the entire scene before returning my gaze to his broad shoulders. Six feet tall with an athlete’s body, his back muscles shifted under his skin with every move he made. “Julian…”

Seeming to feel my presence, Julian spun around quickly.

My eyes fixated on him and we just stood there staring at one another. I drank in his shirtlessness and the way his defined chest rose and fell with each breath. His smooth skin was the color of a rich almond cream and contrasted nicely with the half-sleeve of black tattoos running from his shoulder to his elbow on his left arm. His short, black hair and thick, black lashes made his grey eyes stand out. His chiseled jawline was shadowed by two days of not shaving his beard. He was absolutely gorgeous.

And he’s mine.

He ran his tongue across his full lips and I swallowed hard.

Even after almost two years, about twenty-one months, a little under seven hundred days, the sight of Julian Winters still made my heart skip a beat. I dropped my bags at my feet.

Sliding the headphones from his ears, he relocated them around his neck.

“Hi Beautiful,” he uttered, placing a lighter on the marble counter. “I wasn’t expecting you home for another thirty minutes or so. I thought I had time.”

I could hardly catch my breath as I gazed up at him like some sort of love-struck teenager. I moved toward the edge of the marble island in the middle of the kitchen. “Julian…what is this?” My arms gestured to the countless candles of varying sizes all over the room. Only half of them were lit.

His lips pulled upward into a sexy smirk as he ambled over to me. “This is a surprise congratulatory dinner.” He cradled my face in his hands, tilting my head upward. “For my gorgeous girlfriend...” He brought his face closer. “Who worked her ass off...” He pressed his forehead against mine. “To win her case…” His lips hovered just above my waiting lips. “To prove to everyone what I already know.”

“What’s that?” I asked breathily, my arms circled around him, enjoying the warmth of his skin.

He leaned back a little and searched my face. His thumbs slid over my cheeks and I felt myself becoming flushed. “That you are a brilliant lawyer and you can do anything.”

“I love you,” I responded, just as his mouth covered my own.

My eyes closed and I could feel the tears burning the insides of my eyelids. His words were sweet and his surprise was thoughtful, but I felt myself getting emotional over how much I loved him and how much I’d missed him the last couple months. Everything I felt for him was as vivid and intense as the kiss we shared.

The kiss was painstakingly slow and I melted into it, into him. His mouth moved over mine, controlling the tempo and allowing us to savor the feeling. I relished the feeling of his tongue brushing against mine, taunting me. Each second of the kiss held so much love and lust, hope and happiness, want and need, that I became overwhelmed.

He pulled back slightly, hovering just over my lips so that they were barely touching. My eyes opened and I realized a tear had slipped through and trickled down my face.

“I love you, too” he whispered. His thumbs swept the tear away. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing at all.” I pressed my lips against his. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” He squeezed me tighter. “It’s good to be home.”

I laid my head against his chest and moaned. “This, this right here is home.” The warmth, safety, and love I felt in his arms and against his chest was unmatched to anything else in the world. I sighed dreamily.

“I didn’t catch what you said.” He pulled back a little in order to see my face. “Where did you say home is?”

Staring up at him, I could feel the corners of my lips turning upward. “I already told you where home is.”

His smile grew as he shook his head and feigned confusion. “I don’t think I heard you.”

I loved how much he loved hearing me say it. I tapped his chest, right over his heart, with my manicured finger. “Right here.” I looked up at him, my light brown eyes boring into his grey ones as I spilled some of the contents of my heart. “This is home. You are home to me. You’ll always be home to me.”

He stared at me for a second as he let the words sink in. “I will never get tired of hearing you say that.”

“I’ll never get tired of saying it.”

He planted a too-swift kiss on my lips and then pulled away before I could turn it into more.

“I wasn’t done yet.” I took his hand from my cheek and placed it over my right breast. My hardened nipple could easily be felt through the satin material.

He groaned, palming my heavy breast in his hand and allowing his thumb to caress my nipple.

“No,” he growled as his hand moved to my left breast contradicting his statement. “Andre will be here any minute now to drop off the food I ordered for dinner.”

I dropped my eyes, noticing that he was tenting his pants. “How long would you say we have before your intern arrives?” I asked slowly, letting my hand play at the waistband of his jogging pants before brushing against his cock.

He sucked in a sharp breath. “We don’t have enough time for everything I want to do to you.” His voice had become raspy and both of his hands found their way under my shirt. “Do you know how bad I want you?”

“Show me,” I whispered, my body burning for him. “I didn’t go back to the office because I couldn’t wait to get back here to you.” I slid my hand into his pants and wrapped my hands around his girth. “And this.”

He grunted before crashing his lips against mine hungrily. I moaned into his mouth as I tried to push his pants down. Pulling out of the kiss briefly, Julian grabbed at my fitted pencil skirt, becoming frustrated when it wouldn’t come up over my round ass.

“Turn around,” he commanded, his voice low and gravely. “And spread your legs.”

My body shook in anticipation as I followed his orders.

He grabbed my hands and placed them against the cool marble countertop. Sliding his hands down my back until he reached my hips, he ground his hard dick against my soft ass and I pushed back against him. Not wasting any more time, Julian unzipped my skirt so forcefully I heard the expensive garment rip.

He pulled the material up, bunching it at my waist, and then he stopped. With my ass covered in the barely-there lace panties he’d sent me as a gift on the first leg of his tour, I heard a sharp intake of breath. I could almost feel it as he eyed the scant material on me for the first time.

“You like?” I purred, rotating my hips in a slow circle.

His hand grazed the lace. “I love.” His finger crept over the material before moving on to the damp spot between my legs. I gasped as his finger came in contact with the most sensitive part of me. “You like?”

“I—“

The doorbell rang.

“Fuck,” Julian swore as he scrambled to pull down my skirt and zip it.

“Julian?” Andre called out as he used a key to enter.

I was fully covered up, but I had to fold my arms over my chest to distract from my erect nipples.

Speaking of erect…

I eyed the still shirtless Julian and although Andre’s intrusion had deflated his erection a little, the imprint of his thickness was obvious in his thin pants.

When I looked up at him, Julian’s eyebrows came together in confusion and then flew up once he followed my line of sight. His eyes seemed to bulge as he noticed.

His head was on a swivel and I was sure he was considering hiding out in the garage.

I bit my lip and looked around the room.

“Julian? I’m going to come in and drop this stuff off in the kitchen!” Andre called out again.

Knowing we didn’t have much time, I spotted the aprons we never really used hanging on the wall. Racing over, I grabbed them both and threw one to Julian. We had just tied them around our waists when Andre walked in and stopped short. With his big brown eyes and even bigger high top fade, the twenty-two year old college senior appeared surprised and amused at the same time.

“Hey…?” He said slowly, stretching the word out as he eyed us both. “Everything okay?”

“Hi Andre,” I greeted him, hoping to cover up the sexual tension that lingered in the room with my chipper attitude. “Good to see you!”

Julian followed my lead. “Thanks for picking up the food for us!”

“No problem. Here’s your change.” He put the change and the receipt on the counter. Finding a candle-free corner, he put the food down. “I don’t know what I interrupted, but you two are making this awkward for me.”

“What do you mean?” Amusement laced Julian’s words.

I looked away from them both and held my breath to keep from laughing.

“Well first, I called your name when I came in and you didn’t say anything. I know for a fact you can hear me in here. Second, let’s say you were really cooking. Let’s say I believed that. Julian, why do you have on an apron and no shirt? That has to be a health code violation!”

My body shook from holding in the laugh that was burning my throat.

Andre added. “Then you have on the wrong aprons.”

I looked down and then looked at Julian. I hadn’t noticed my name emblazoned on the front of the apron he was wearing since we were rushing when we put them on. When Julian and I caught each other’s eye, we both snickered.

Andre, always the comedian, continued. “And finally, you’re in the kitchen with your aprons on as if you’re going to cook dinner.” He pointed to the food he’d just brought in. “But it’s already cooked.” He looked between us. “It looks to me like the only thing you two were trying to put in the oven was a bun.”

We had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.

“No, no, no,” I giggled. “No buns in ovens. Not yet.”

“Yeah, marriage first. Kids after that,” Julian agreed, looking over at me with a wink. “Way after that.”

“Way, way after that.” I wrapped my arms around Julian’s middle and grinned up at him.

“Your friends hate you a little bit, don’t they?” Andre joked, unable to stop his own chuckles, triggering ours.

A couple minutes later when we had gathered ourselves and stopped laughing, Julian pulled out a list of things he needed Andre to take care of over the next few days in exchange for studio time.

I smiled giddily as I heard him tell his intern that we weren’t to be disturbed all weekend. Grabbing the bag of food, I relocated to the dining room table, giving them privacy.

A few minutes later, Andre poked his head in the dining room and waved. “See you later, Zoe.”

“Bye, Andre! Thanks for bringing the food over.”

“You know I have to do the grunt work sometimes in order to work with the genius. Just picking up food for the greatest artist, songwriter and producer triple threat since Kanye has made me a better DJ.”

Spying Julian walking up behind Andre, I teased, “Don’t let him hear you say that. It’ll go to his head! You know—”

“I heard that!” Julian protested, cutting me off as he slipped a shirt over his head. “And I’m going to let you finish, but Andre had the best compliment of all time.”

I let my head fall back as my laugh echoed through the room. “I’m just kidding, baby. You know I think you are unbelievably talented and I’m your biggest fan,” I insisted. And even though I couldn’t stop giggling, I honestly meant every single word.

Julian grinned. “That’s more like it.”

Andre rolled his eyes. “And that’s my cue! Enjoy your vacation. I promise you won’t see me for the rest of the month—especially since you two were being crazy inappropriate in the kitchen.”

We both chuckled hard as we waved goodbye.

A few minutes later, Julian and I were seated and about to dig in to the authentic Italian feast.

“This smells delicious,” Julian pointed out. “I’m convinced a better baked ziti doesn’t exist outside of this place, except maybe in Italy.”

I inhaled deeply, expecting the usual garlic and cheese mixture to make me salivate. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect.

I sat up straight and put my hand to my mouth.

I feel sick.

“What’s wrong?” Julian asked, putting his fork back down and peering at me with concern.

I shook my head as the wave of nausea passed. “Nothing, I just felt a little sick for a second. I think it’s what I’ve been eating and the times I’ve been eating while working on the case. Long hours mean I’m eating at random times during the day.”

“When I talked to you the other night, you said you had a convenience store burrito. You hate burritos. Your stomach is probably mad about that.”

I giggled. “In my defense, it was two o’clock in the morning on a week night. Nothing was open near the office!”

He smiled. Then as suddenly as it appeared, it went away. “Zoe, are you sure you’re okay?”

BOOK: After The One (The One Series Duet)
8.66Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Clammed Up by Barbara Ross
Somewhere My Love by Beth Trissel
Ascension by A.S. Fenichel
Priestess of the Fire Temple by Ellen Evert Hopman
Ghost King by Gemmell, David
Fancy Pants by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
The Gospel of Us by Owen Sheers