Chapter 10
Romeo
As I slowly wake up, I realize I’m smiling. I must have had one hell of a good dream to be this happy before I can even work out where I am.
Oh, right. The hotel. Bee’s wedding.
And…holy fuck. It wasn’t a dream, was it?
Julian Valentine was really in my bed.
But he isn’t now.
Disappointment crashes over me as I snap my head around and see his side of the bed is empty.
I’m being ridiculous if I thought he’d stick around.
I know he said he would, but that was the post-orgasmic happies talking.
This was just some fun. Amazing, mind-blowing fun that I’m very glad happened.
But he has a proper, adult life to get back to and in reality, he wouldn’t have any reason to hang around this morning with me, would he?
Still, I cast my eyes about the room in the hope of finding a note or some other proof I didn’t imagine the whole thing. I don’t see any kind of message…but there seem to be an excessive amount of clothes scattered about for just one person.
“Oh, damn,” a deliciously mellow voice rumbles from the door. My heart leaps when I look back up and see Julian leaning against the frame, dressed in a hotel robe with what smells like a cup of coffee in his hand. “Did room service wake you? I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Room service?” I repeat in a tiny voice as I sit up, clutching the sheets around me.
Let me get this right. He’s not only still here, but…he got us breakfast?
He nods and smiles shyly. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I got a few things. Also, how do you take your coffee? Or there’s a selection of teabags if you prefer.”
Mortifyingly, a lump has risen in my throat.
I try and subtly clear it before attempting to speak, but what the actual fuck?
No one’s ever done anything so sweet for me before.
I thought last night was incredible enough.
However, this makes me feel taken care of on an entirely different diva-goddess-queen type level.
See? He’s such a Daddy. He needs to stop fighting it.
“Everything’s still on the cart,” he continues gently when I don’t respond. “The hot stuff is covered and on heated plates. I was going to see if I could rouse you with caffeine, then I thought maybe we could eat on the balcony?”
That lump is not only still in my throat but it’s getting bigger. I give myself a second to try and find some composure by glancing away and rubbing my chest. But then I decide that if Julian sees how much his gesture has meant to me, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
“That sounds amazing, thank you,” I tell him sincerely as I look his way again, my voice thick and a little wobbly. “I can’t believe you did that. Eating al fresco sounds super cute. Do you think I could take like thirty seconds to freshen up?”
“Of course, sweetheart,” he says warmly. “I hope you don’t mind, but I already did the same. I used the hotel’s products rather than yours, don’t worry.”
I sniff and hug myself a bit tighter. “You could have used mine,” I let him know. The idea of him smelling like my tropical body wash stirs a silly longing within me. But the way he looks back at me with such fondness makes me wonder if it’s not such a silly idea, after all.
We hold each other’s gaze for several seconds that start feeling a bit too big until he shakes himself and looks down at his hand. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please,” I reply, grateful the moment didn’t get weird between us. “With cream and two sugars, if that’s alright?”
“Of course it is,” he assures me. “I’ll set everything up on the balcony. You come join me whenever you’re ready.”
With a nod, he vanishes back into the main room of the suite, leaving me reeling in the bed we shared last night.
How is this even happening? Did I actually get food poisoning last night and have been hallucinating the entire encounter?
As I shift on the mattress and feel the evidence of a recently stretched out booty, I have to trust that this is not all some kind of fantasy.
Julian Valentine is really here.
So I need to make the most of him while I’ve still got him.
I fling myself out of bed so dramatically, my legs get tangled and I very nearly face plant on the floor. Thank fuck Julian wasn’t around to see that. I careen into the en suite and grab onto the sink to steady myself, which gives me a good excuse to look at my naked reflection.
For some reason, I half expect to appear differently to how I did yesterday.
I’m slightly disappointed that I don’t have any scratch marks or hickeys to commemorate my time with Julian last night.
But I feel different. As if something inside me has shifted or broken free.
Almost like I did when I lost my virginity, although this experience is about a thousand times better than that awkward, anti-climatic hour I spent with Andrew Proctor the summer between tenth and eleventh grade.
It’s not like I was completely unaware that under my polished exterior my life has been a mess. For years, I’ve been putting on a brave face and dazzling people so they couldn’t see all the pain I’ve been hiding.
Because then they’d pity me, and that’s the last thing I want. My life is fucking fantastic and I am so lucky in a million different ways. I refuse to let my shitty parents and the circumstances they’ve created define me.
However, I think Julian’s blasted through all that.
He’s seen exactly who I am, and he still likes me anyway.
Maybe even appreciates me even more because of the shit I’ve survived.
When he looks at me, I don’t feel like he sees a problem to be fixed or a past to be ashamed of.
He just recognizes me for who I am, and he liked that enough to blow my mind and stay the night.
We didn’t even have full-on sexy sex. Imagine what that would be like!
It’s probably best if I don’t. I told him I’d be thirty seconds and I’m still not in the shower. If I have to deal with a boner, all that lovely breakfast he ordered us will go cold.
So I get the water running and barely wait for it to warm up before jumping under and hastily washing all the important bits, careful to avoid getting my locs wet.
Once I’m rinsed, I dry off as fast as I can, then only pause long enough to lather some moisturizer over my face and body.
I might want to run back out there before he can get bored after all and really leave this time.
But I’m also going to take a breath to make sure I’m glowing on the outside as much as I am on the inside.
Following his lead, I help myself to one of the fluffy white robes from the back of the bedroom door, then saunter outside like I’m cool as a cucumber and not quivering with nervous anticipation.
The hotel Bee and I picked for the wedding is immersed in the redwood forest our town is named for.
At school, I learned that these trees aren’t actually native to SoCal, and that the forest is the result of an experimental project in the seventies to do with irrigation…
or something. Obviously, I was more interested in gazing at Andrew Proctor than I was memorizing facts about trees.
Like a lot of people, I love pretty nature things as an Instagram backdrop.
But science and gardening? Not so much my jam.
Anyway, apparently the redwoods here aren’t as impressive as upstate, but I still think they tower over us as I join Julian out on the balcony.
If I’m being honest, I definitely take this wonder on our doorstep for granted.
I’m more likely to be clubbing at the weekends rather than hiking.
Maybe I’ll squeeze in some fresh air by sunbathing on the beach with a cocktail or three.
However, right now, I can say I feel their magnitude.
There’s something humbling about being surrounded by giants, and the early morning scents from the damp soil and needles are rejuvenating.
“Wow,” I say dumbly as I pause by the little table for two Julian’s set up for us. But he simply grins and pulls out one of the seats for me.
“It’s not a bad sight to wake up to, is it?”
“I don’t think I even noticed yesterday,” I admit sheepishly as I sit down.
But yet again, he just looks at me kindly. “You were a little preoccupied yesterday,” he points out.
I snort. “I was even more preoccupied last night,” I counter, not one to ignore the elephant in the room for long. I’d rather know how he feels about our tryst now than sit here torturing myself.
Thankfully, he gives me a bashful but knowing smile as he takes the seat opposite me. “I feel like there’s a joke about a different kind of redwoods lurking somewhere, but I’m not eloquent enough to make it before coffee.”
The laugh that escapes me is more like a hoot, and I’m sure I startle some actual birds out in the canopy. Embarrassed, I clap my hand over my mouth, but that just seems to amuse Julian more.
“So, um, you had fun?” I ask, hating how insecure I sound but unable to stop myself.
He reaches his hand out and I wordlessly place mine against it, loving how he intertwines our fingers. “I had an amazing time, Romeo. I meant what I said. You’re an incredibly rare sort of person, so full of joy and sparkle, but also with a big heart. I’m so happy I met you.”
For a moment, I just let myself bask in his beautiful words. Last night he called me a black diamond and a pearl. As far as pet names go, that’s leagues ahead of anything anyone else has ever given me.
I watch as Julian lifts the silver covers off the breakfast dishes that he’d been keeping warm.
I’m still marveling at the fact he stayed instead of disappearing once he woke up, let alone thought to order us food.
I can see now that he meant it when he told me he got a selection, all because he didn’t know what I like or might especially crave this morning.
What a fucking gentleman.