The Tycoon's Resistant Lover (11 page)

She shook her head. “I don’t know why, but it appears that I’m more interested in obnoxious, arrogant, stubborn men who will continue to drive me crazy.”

He thought about that for a moment, both of them staring into the blackened fireplace, the clock ticking on the mantle the only noise while they contemplated their futures. “So what are you going to do about him?”

Julianna sighed and thought about that. “Well, he hasn’t called me back since I left him Saturday morning. So I might not be doing anything about him. I don’t know if he wants me.”

Edward took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. “You shouldn’t assume Julianna. Go find out. Make sure that you’re clear on the fact that he’s moving on. It sounds like there’s been enough miscommunication between the two of us to last us a while.” His eyes gently urged her to follow through on his advice. “If it’s one thing I’ve learned in business it’s that one should never make assumptions. Always be clear about a situation.”

She knew that he was right. It was just the scarier path to take. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for rejection just yet. “What are you going to do about Jessica?”

He shrugged with a deep sigh. “There’s only one thing I can do. I have to marry her.”

Julianna smiled for the first time today. “Because you love her?”

“Yes. Even though she drives me crazy.”

That elicited a laugh and Julianna felt much better for it. “I guess we’re just gluttons for punishment.” He hadn’t said the words, but the look on his face revealed so much about what he felt for the brunette. He was one hundred percent smitten with the woman. She’d never seen that look of unadulterated adoration on his face when he’d spoken with her. “I’m happy for you. I know you two will make each other very happy.”

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “You’re right. I guess I’d better face the music, huh? Find out what that man really wants?” She could feel her stomach tighten and her hands start shaking just at the thought of seeing James again. It might be painful, but she had to do it. Just for her peace of mind so that she didn’t think back ten or twenty years from now and wonder.

Edward smiled down at her and gave her hands another comforting squeeze. “He wants you, Julianna. I’ve seen it in his eyes and if I hadn’t been so obsessed with my own crazy woman, I might have punched him out for moving in on you.”

Julianna rolled her eyes at his comment, knowing that he was exaggerating, but she appreciated the effort. She stood up and took a calming breath. “Thank you for being so wonderful.”

“We’re better off as good friends.” He hugged her then walked her to the door. “Let me know how things turn out.”

“I will,” she said and reached up to kiss his cheek. “you’re a good man, Edward.”

“Don’t forget it!” he growled.

Julianna left, feeling so much better than she had when she’d woken up this morning. The guilt was gone, but it was replaced by an impending sense of doom.

She walked back to her car and drove away, but she wasn’t sure where to go. She didn’t want to head back to her house because it was cold and lonely. She was afraid to head to James’ house because she had no idea why he wasn’t calling her.

So what was she to do? She thought about Edward and how he was marrying the woman he had accidentally fallen in love with. In just a week? How had both of them stumbled on people completely opposite to their familiar worlds and fallen so completely in love?

She stopped at a red light and contemplated her future. Was she going to continue to be scared and worried? Was she going to always slip back to the known or was she willing to step forward and embrace James?

There really was no question about the two options. She couldn’t remain in her current place because that life had changed so significantly. She wanted to move forward, but finding the courage to confront James and find out why he hadn’t called was her fear. But she would tackle it, she told herself. The light changed to green and she moved forward, turning her car towards James’ house instead of her own. She’d confront him, find out if there was a reasonable explanation for why he hadn’t called and if it was reasonable, she’d throw herself into his arms.

If he still wanted her.

She bit her lip, now wondering if the reason he hadn’t called was because he’d moved on. He’d gotten her into bed and achieved the challenge. Was she just his mountain to climb?

She simply couldn’t believe that of James. He didn’t seem like a womanizer.

She couldn’t really say that about him though, could she? She barely knew the man. She bit her lip as she realized that she’d known James for only one week. How much could one learn about a person in a week? What did she really know about him? She didn’t
think
he was a womanizer, but what is she basing that assumption on? Her own hopes?

Okay, she needed to stop this kind of thinking. It was negative and unproductive. And unfair to James since she wasn’t giving him the benefit of the doubt. She needed to trust her instincts and to believe in James and what he stood for. She wasn’t going to condemn him just because she was in a relationship with a guy who made her nervous. She could rise above this kind of thinking.

She steered towards his building, barely remembering the way because she’d been in a different frame of mind yesterday morning. She’d been so happy and relaxed, ready to take on the world. She’d also been so optimistic about the weekend, which had turned out dreadfully. No, she stopped herself again. She wasn’t thinking like that.

Parking across the street, she stepped out of her car and stared up at the building. It was right across from the park and, in the darkness that was slowly enveloping the city, she could see lights on in the penthouse.

She looked down at her black slacks and tan black trench coat, smoothing out the wrinkles after a long day of driving and crying. She touched her cheeks, hoping that the tears she’d shed at Edward’s house didn’t show. She wiped under her eyes gently, hoping to erase any mascara that might have dissolved when her tears flowed over her lashes onto her cheeks. She wanted to look strong and confident when she faced James after the past two days.

“Stop stalling,” she said as she stepped into the street. She looked both ways but the Sunday evening traffic was light so it wasn’t hard to start crossing over to the opposite side where James’ building was. If she hadn’t looked up at that moment, their eyes wouldn’t have met. In fact, she wouldn’t have noticed the smaller woman next to him who was gazing up at him with adoration and she wouldn’t have seen his arm around her waist as they approached his building.

The woman had long blond hair that flew out behind her. She wore dark, skinny jeans and long, black boots that came up over her knees along with the kind of bohemian suede coat that Julianna could never pull off. One needed a certain attitude for that kind of a look and Julianna just didn’t have it. Her hand nervously went to the collar of her black, classic trench coat, suddenly wishing that she’d worn something more daring. Something that could compete with this woman’s dramatic flair.

Julianna stood there, confused and hurt for a long moment before her eyes and her brain connected. She realized that he’d moved on from her over the weekend, that she’d lost him to this other woman and the pain that ripped through her was more difficult to bear than anything she’d ever felt in her life.

Spinning around, she was just about to hurry back across the street to her car when a steel band wrapped around her waist and stopped her.

“Oh no you don’t,” James said as he pulled her back onto the wide sidewalk just outside of his building, grabbing her by the upper arms to glare down at her. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Let go of me!” she almost yelled. She was trying to maintain her dignity, but she was too furious with his betrayal to remain calm.

James didn’t even ease the tension in his arm that was still wrapped around her waist. He flipped her around though, then moved so that her back was against the building and his whole body was holding her captive so she couldn’t escape him. “Not until you tell me why you’re here.” He didn’t sound furious, but sometimes James could be very low key about his emotions.

“None of your damn business!” she snapped at him, trying to yank her arms free but he had an iron grip and she couldn’t shake him off without hurting herself. “Just let me go and feel free to have a wonderful night with your floozy!”

James glanced back over his shoulder and almost groaned when his sister smiled in his direction, waving her fingers to let him know that she’d heard Julianna’s comment and wasn’t going anywhere. “Liz, could you give us some privacy?” he asked, but it was more of a growl because he knew his sister wouldn’t move an inch.

“Not on your life,” she replied with laughter lurking in those blue eyes of hers. “Why would I miss the show?”

James bowed his head with frustration. One problem at a time, he told himself, trying to calm down. “Julianna, what are you doing here?”

“Why? Because I’m yesterday’s woman and you don’t want today’s tramp to see me?” she tried to push him away, but he only pressed his body against hers harder to stop her movements. “Just get off me you stupid brute! I’ll be on my way and you can have as many women as you want,” she said but the words broke on the last word because it hurt too much to picture him with another woman, especially one as beautiful as the lovely Liz standing only a few feet away watching the scene with a huge grin on her face.

James shook his head, closing his eyes at the frustration welling up inside of him. Why had fates decided to choose this exact moment to have Julianna walk across the street and misinterpret his relationship. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. And you’re not yesterday’s woman! But speaking of which, why did you leave yesterday without a word? Why do you keep doing that?”

Julianna froze as she stared up at him and her anger actually increased with his accusatory words. “Without a word?  I left you a note to call me! I told you exactly where I was going and you completely ignored me. I would have expected at least a ‘thanks for a great lay’ message but I should have known better coming from someone who likes to play the field,” she said, turning to glare at the blond woman. “Of course, if I’d known that you play the field like this,” she spat out, referring to the short period of time in between when she’d left him yesterday morning and the way he’d found another woman to warm his bed so quickly, “then I would have known better than to become involved with an immoral, obnoxious man who flouts his muscles and manhandles women!”

James might have thought her ranting was funny if they weren’t having this conversation on the street in front of his building. And if he weren’t so furious about the way she’d left him yesterday. With a growl of frustration, he pulled away from her and grabbed her wrist, dragging her towards his building. “We are not doing this out here,” he said and pulled her into the lobby. “Bobby, get the elevator down here now!” he said to the lobby attendant who frantically pressed a button behind the reception desk.

A fraction of a second later, the ping of the elevator sounded and James pulled her into the cab. When the blond woman stopped outside and smiled, Julianna almost kicked James in the shin just to get away from him.

“As fascinating as this is, I’ll be on my way,” the blond said.

He was torn between ensuring that Lana got to the airport safely and ensuring that Julianna didn’t escape yet another time. In the end, he accepted that his little sister could catch a cab just as easily so he let her go. “Fine. Just call me when you arrive, okay?”

“Will do!” she replied and smiled once again.

With that, James pressed the button to close the doors, then turned to glare at Julianna. “What the hell happened yesterday?”

Since she couldn’t go anywhere, he released her and Julianna rubbed her wrist and backed up into a corner of the elevator, glaring at him with murder in her eyes for both the way he’d handled her and the way he’d moved on to another woman so quickly. “I told you. I left you a note!”

James ran a hand through his hair with frustration. “There was no note, Jules. You just left me yesterday morning and I’ve been furious with you for leaving me again.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” she demanded, throwing her hands up in the air. “If you didn’t find a note, just pick up your phone and call me!”

He bent down so that he was directly in her face when he said, “Why? So you could ignore my calls like you did the day before? No thanks! I wanted you to come back to me and offer an explanation. What we had Friday night was great and if you’re not willing to meet me halfway, then there’s nothing I can do, Jules!”

The elevator doors opened and she stepped out into his penthouse apartment, grateful for the extra space. “First of all, I left you a note. Ask your housekeeper. She watched me write it and even offered to make me breakfast. Secondly, I don’t do casual sex!”

James ran a hand over his face, wondering how to get through to her. “Of course you don’t. Believe it or not, neither do I!” He glared right back at her and pointed his finger in the general direction of the street. “That happens to be one of my sisters and I’m sorry that she’s an annoying pain in the neck who thought it was funny that I was being harangued by the woman I’d just told her I was in love with but she has an evil sense of humor and I can’t seem to break her of that habit. So sue me!”

Julianna stopped and stared back at him, reeling from the news that it was his sister. “That was one of your sisters?” she asked in a small voice. And he loved her? She couldn’t even broach that statement because everything was suddenly very confusing.

“Yes!” he said, throwing his arms up in the air. “She’s the older sister, but she’s still younger than me by about seven years. She’s here on business and just wanted to have dinner with me.” He stopped and glared at her. “If you’d let me know where you were, I would have invited you for dinner with her and introduced you to her.”

Julianna pushed her hair out of her eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry, James. I jumped to conclusions and just….saw red when I saw you walking down the street with your arm around her waist.”