Moment of Weakness (Embracing Moments Book 1) (6 page)

Sitting down next to my father, I shrugged my shoulders. “Plans changed. I’ll be spending the summer here instead.” Grant stared at me. “Is that a problem?” I asked, arching my eyebrows. What did it matter to him what I was doing this summer?

Grant waved his hand in the air. “Oh no, certainly not. We have a lot planned for this summer. Has your father informed you of the gala we will be holding next month?”

“No, I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet,” I said, offering a half-smile that was far from genuine. There was just something about Grant Evans that gave me the creeps. Gathering his papers, Grant stacked them into a small pile and pulled them to his chest.

“Well, Ben, I should get going. It seems as though you and Julia have a lot to catch up on. We can finish discussing the gala at the office tomorrow.” He reached out and shook my father’s hand. Nodding his head at me, he said good night and walked out the front door. I wondered if he knew how much I despised him.

Seconds after the door closed, my father and I darted off the couch and into the kitchen. I grabbed the bowls and spoons from the cabinets, while Dad shifted through the freezer, pulling out the ice cream. This was our thing. Whenever we were feeling down, or when I’d come home from school, the first thing we would do is gorge on ice cream. As a family, we used to go to Big Dippers, and like so many other things that was something else that stopped happening once Mom died.

Dad set down the large tub of salty caramel ice cream between us and dropped a hefty spoon full of it into my bowl. I frowned at the thought of how large my ass was going to be from all the ice cream I had consumed in the past week.

“So are you going to tell me why you’re not going to Europe?”

Oh man. He had to go there.

It was only a matter of time before he asked. I didn’t like keeping things from my father. I never had, and I wasn’t about to start, but he wasn’t telling me everything either. “Only if you tell me what happened that caused all of this.” I waved my spoon around in the air, gesturing at all the cameras.

“Fair enough.” He paused, setting his spoon back down in his bowl. “Over the course of the past month, I have received numerous phone calls—threatening phones calls. The caller is calling from prepaid cell phones, making it hard for the police to track the calls.”

My eyes went round. “And I’m not supposed to be worried about that?” I questioned, licking my spoon clean.

“It’s being taken care of. I haven’t received any phone calls in a few weeks. The increase in security is necessary, at least for now. It was never my intention to have you followed, but it is just for the summer.” I could feel his eyes burning through me. “Speaking of summer, why are you here?”

I took a few more bites of my ice cream and glanced up at my father, who was staring at me, waiting for an explanation. Brushing my hair out of my face, I stared down at my bowl as if it would magically do the talking for me. When that didn’t happen, I forced a swallow around the ball that had formed in the back of my throat.

“I broke things off with Robby. I came home from work early one night, and he and Megan were going at it on the couch. So yeah . . . I just didn’t think spending an entire summer with them was a good idea.”

Dad’s face twisted in disgust. “Going at it? You mean like—”

“Yes, Dad.” I cut him off before he started creating his own names for it just like he had when we first had “the talk.” He couldn’t even say the word sex. He kept referring to it as “parking the hot rod in the garage.” Talk about an awkward conversation. Dad looked at me, sadness filling his eyes. Not knowing what to say, I looked down at my nearly empty bowl and swirled around the remaining ice cream.

“Are you okay? That must have been hard to walk into?”

“Yeah. I’m getting over it.” After what happened today, Robby had made it even easier to let go of. I grabbed my bowl from the counter and walked over to the sink. The lack of emotion on my face would have brought on more questions, and I was ready for this conversation to be over. As I placed my bowl in the sink, I felt my dad’s arms wrap around my shoulders. A small tear slipped down my cheek, not because of Robby, or Megan, or the chaos that was my life at the moment, but because it felt good to have my father hugging me.

“You’re beautiful, Julia, and smart. If Robby couldn’t see that, then it was his loss. One day, you will find someone who will put your needs and wants above his own. Someone who sees how
amazing
you are. Someone who couldn’t even fathom touching another woman because you’re all the
amazing
he needs.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I said, as a genuine smile formed on my face. The things my father had said were sweet, and while I wanted to believe what he was saying was true, I knew I’d never allow myself to get that close to someone. Maybe that was the whole problem with my relationship with Robby. I refused to let him in.

Bumping his shoulder against mine, he pointed toward the terrace. “Want to join your old man out on the swing?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” We walked through the kitchen and out onto the patio. The moon was full and casted a pretty glow over the pool. My father sat down on the swing, patting the seat beside him. Feeling like a little girl, I crawled up onto the swing next to him.

“So . . . what are the rules? With Roman, I mean. He doesn’t need to like watch me pee or anything, does he?” I asked jokingly, pulling my knee up so I could rest my chin on it. My dad let out a soft chuckle.

“No. He isn’t required to be with you when you’re home, unless, of course, we have any special visitors over, or an event is being held here—like the gala next month. He doesn’t really have a set shift like the other guards. Since he is your personal detail, he will have his own temporary quarters in the guesthouse.” He nodded toward the guesthouse that had been vacant for as long as I could remember. “He’s free to go home at night if he’d like as long as you don’t have any plans. I don’t want you feeling like you are required to stay in though either. This is his job, so if you want to go out, all you have to do is say the words, okay?” I nodded. “How is he? You two get along okay?”

I thought back to earlier in the day. Hell to the no, we didn’t get along okay, but I wasn’t going to tell my father that. He had enough on his plate already. “Yeah, he’s fine. It’s only for the summer, and you’re right, he doesn’t talk much.”

“Good, because he is the only guard we have that can fill the position, at least for right now.”

“Why?” I asked, my brows pulling together in curiosity.

“His contract is the only one that states he is willing to remain on the premises. Most of our other guards have wives and children to go home to.”

“Oh,” I said simply. Changing the subject, I asked about the gala. “So, we’re having the annual gala here this year?”

The gala was normally held at the country club every year. It was a tradition my mother and father had started long ago. The extravagant event’s sole purpose was to raise funds for charity. Each year, a new charity was selected. Everybody and their mother attended. Well, everybody who could afford the ten thousand dollars it cost per plate.

“Yes. The country club was booked in advance for a wedding this year. Grant’s place isn’t big enough, so I offered to have it here. You are more than welcome to invite some friends if you’d like.”

Friends. They seemed to be in short supply lately. “Lacey is home for the summer. I’ll probably invite her. Her father normally attends anyway, right?”

He nodded. We sat there in silence for a while simply enjoying each other’s company, and then he spoke. “Does this mean you’re finally going to allow me to buy you a car?” my father asked through a tired yawn.

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah, I guess so.”

He laughed. “You’re just like your mother.”

Patting my knee, my father stood up and kissed the top of my head. “Just let me know when you’d like to go. I’ll try to be there, and if I can’t, I’ll have Theo accompany you. He seems to know his stuff when it comes to cars.”

I smirked. If anyone knew his stuff about cars, it was most definitely Theo.

“Good night, Dad!” I called out to him as he strode across the terrace back toward the house.

He waved his hand in the air but kept walking. “Good night, Julia.”

FALLING BACK INTO
my normal routine over the next few days was proving to be a difficult task. At college, I had my own place. I could come and go as I pleased.

Here. Not so much.

If I wanted to leave, I needed to make sure Theo was available to drive me around, which was just a huge inconvenience. Not to mention there was Roman. Anytime my feet stepped off the property, Roman’s feet were required to follow, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to subject myself to that. Not only would people stare, because that was inevitable when someone who looked like they belonged with the secret service followed you, but I was still holding a grudge over the way he had spoken to me. Besides his occasional comings and goings from the guesthouse, I hadn’t seen him since then. I spent the last few days unpacking and lounging around the pool terrace, but the longer I stayed in the house, the more of a prisoner I felt. I wasn’t required to be followed while on the property, but every time I turned around, there was a security guard standing by. My father had made sure he introduced me to everyone, hoping to lessen the awkwardness, but it didn’t help.

As I sat in my room, I made a list of all the things I needed to pick up at the pharmacy. After walking in on Megan and Robby, I had packed as quickly as I could, grabbing my necessities. My shampoo, conditioner, and all the rest of my womanly products never made it into my suitcase. I got by using the stuff at the hotel, but now that I was home, I needed to go shopping. I figured it would do me good to step out of the house. Roman would have to follow, but it didn’t mean we needed to communicate. So during breakfast, I asked Theo if he could take me this afternoon. It was never an issue. Theo was always more than willing to drive me wherever I needed as long as my father didn’t need him. I made sure my father knew of my plans and figured I’d leave it up to him to notify Roman. A huge part of me hoped he’d forget.

No such luck.

As I walked through the garage door, I stopped abruptly. Roman was leaning against the car door, and all I could do was stand there and stare. I hated how good he looked. My eyes searched the garage. Theo was nowhere in sight, and since he had the keys to the Cadillac, that meant I had to wait. I stood behind the door for another moment, and then realized how immature I was being. Avoiding Roman was impossible, and if I wanted to do anything this summer, I’d have to get over being around him.

I dragged in a shallow breath and stepped around the corner. The clacking sound of my heels against the hard, concrete garage floor pulled Roman’s attention toward me. His hands fell to his sides, and his relaxed frame tensed as he stood up straight. Walking to the front of the car, I dropped my purse on the hood and turned to lean against it. From the corner of my eye, I could see Roman watching me, his own discomfort obvious. I told myself I would ignore him, but standing there in complete silence had my nerves feeling like they wanted to push through my skin.

Come on, Theo. Where are you?

Despite my resistance, I turned my head to steal another glance, and the second I did, Roman’s eyes caught mine. Every hair on my traitorous body rose, and right when I was getting ready to look away, his mouth parted like he wanted to say something.

“Sorry I’m late, Miss Julia. I hope you weren’t waiting too long.”

Roman’s mouth snapped closed at the sound of Theo’s voice.

“Not at all, Theo,” I said, smiling softly, but not taking my eyes off of Roman. Theo pressed a button on the key fob, and at the sound of the door unlocking, I grabbed my purse from the hood and headed for my usual seat. Theo opened my door for me, and as I waited for Roman to slide in behind me, I watched Theo gesture toward the front of the car.

“Roman, I want you to join me up front for now.”

The door closed a second later. Something coursed through me, and I wasn’t sure if it was relief or disappointment. I had the entire backseat to myself, which was unusual. It wasn’t a slated rule, but my security detail always sat beside me.

As I sat in the backseat enjoying the roominess, I wondered why Theo asked Roman to sit up front. At the mention of my name, I unbuckled my seat belt and scooted forward. The privacy partition was up, making it impossible to understand the conversation taking place in the front seat, but I knew they were talking about me. The car came to a stop, and I scrambled back to my seat. Just as my hand landed on the belt buckle, my back door opened. Roman stood beside it.

Sliding out of the seat, I grabbed my purse and made my way toward the entrance of the pharmacy. Theo remained in the car, but Roman was only a few steps behind me. The moment we stepped foot into the pharmacy, all eyes fell on Roman. If he noticed all the attention he was drawing, he paid no mind to it. In fact the only thing he seemed to be paying attention to, was me. I grabbed a basket and darted down the aisles. The sooner this shopping trip was over, the better. Of course, the list I had put together was nowhere to be found, which meant a trip down each aisle was a must. We were just about finished when I remembered the one thing I had forgotten.