20. The Appetizer
CHAPTER TWENTY
THE APPETIZER
Julian
I take another sip of my whiskey, listening to the sound of tires crunching on the gravel driveway. It’s a nice night, and I have the windows in the receiving room open to let in the early night breeze. And as I lift the glass of amber liquid to my lips again, I let the whiskey sit on my tongue for a few seconds, numbing my mouth as I stare down at Sophie’s text from half an hour ago.
Sophie Love 3
On my way home. Viewing went great. I signed the contract. I saw Kai… and there’s something I need to tell you.
My stomach clenches with nerves as I swallow the whiskey slowly. The sound reverberates through the quiet room, and when I hear her car door slam shut, I sink back into the chair I’m sitting in.
I hadn’t responded to her text—I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have the whole story, and I wanted to hear what she needed to tell me before reacting.
Something hot slides through me when I think of the two of them together, different scenarios playing before my eyes in my overactive imagination. Did she run into him at the shop? Or did she seek him out somewhere? Perhaps they ran into each other and went back to his place… He doesn’t live far from the building she was viewing.
A cold sweat breaks out on my forehead as I hear her come through the front door.
“Honey, I’m home!”
Her voice carries through the house, and I have to ignore the pang of disappointment that works through me. She sounds normal— unaffected— and I wonder if I’m overthinking this.
It has to mean something that I hope she tells me she fucked him, right?
I suppose it would cancel out the guilt I’ve been carrying around for kissing him two nights ago.
“I’m in here,” I call out.
The sound of her shoes echoes through the large foyer, and then she’s before me. She’s in a rumpled linen dress, but her face gives absolutely nothing away. Sitting up straighter, I give her a genuine smile before setting my drink down and patting my lap.
“Sit.”
I swear her cheeks tinge with color at my command, and I watch her carefully, waiting for her to confess. For a second, I think about blurting it out— did you fuck him? —because I need to know. I force myself to sit still, but it feels like my entire body vibrates with anticipation. Patience feels like a luxury I wasn’t built for. Even now, the need to interrupt her claws at me, to skip ahead to the parts I don’t know yet.
ADHD doesn’t care about propriety—it demands now . I’ve learned how to fake patience, but sometimes I’m just holding my breath, pretending to wait.
She sets her handbag down and steps out of her boots. Smoothing her hair, she gives me a shy smile before walking over to me. When she’s a foot away, I reach out and pull her down onto my lap. She inhales sharply as I twist her around, pulling her face down and pressing my lips against hers.
She moans as one of my free hands moves up her skull, fisting her hair and pulling it just the way she likes it.
When I pull away a few seconds later, she sways as she watches me with glazed-over eyes.
That’s my girl.
“How was your day?” I ask, running the hand that was in her hair down her spine until it’s resting on her lower back.
“Good. I signed the contract—Jake said he’d get back to me next week, but he didn’t foresee any obstacles. The place is a wreck, and it’ll need a lot of work, but Stella painted a vision I can’t unsee now. I… I think this is going to be a really amazing thing,” she tells me, grinning. “And I can’t wait to show you.”
Lifting one of her hands, I kiss the back of her palm, and then I lay it against my warm cheek.
“That’s incredible, pet. I’m so very proud of you.” Her eyes flick between mine, and she pulls her lower lip between her teeth. “Was there something else you wanted to tell me?” I ask, keeping my voice smooth as I attempt not to laugh at her uncomfortable expression.
“Umm…”
Pressing a finger to her lips, I tilt my head as I look her in the eye.
“What’s wrong, Soph? Are you worried I’ll be mad?”
She pulls her lip farther into her mouth before looking down. “No, it’s just… it’s always been you and me against the world. It feels strange to tell you that I was intimate with another man.”
My lips twitch with the threat of a smile. “Sophie, I’ve watched you with plenty of other men before.”
“No, I know. It’s just that you weren’t there this time, and I guess I just have to get used to the idea that Kai and I will have something just for the two of us. Like the two of you do. It’s the first time I’ve felt separate from you.”
Separate.
The word lingers like an echo in the room. I’m not sure why it bothers me—maybe because I’ve never feared losing her to anyone else. But hearing her say it now, I wonder if I’ve been so focused on managing my own feelings for Kai that I forgot to check in with hers. Maybe I assumed she’d follow my lead, but she’s stepping ahead of me, isn’t she?
It makes me think of all the times she seemed bored, or restless. All the times she’d latch on to a detail for the housewarming party, and now the bookshop…
She had questioned her place in our life, and I’d dismissed it.
But now?
Now, I can feel the shift—subtle but undeniable. The quiet confidence in the way she talks about Kai, the way her eyes spark with something more when she mentions him. I recognize that look. I’ve worn it myself.
For the first time, I wonder if this isn’t just about sharing her… but about watching her grow beyond me in ways I didn’t anticipate.
And strangely, I don’t feel threatened. I feel something else—something softer. Pride, maybe.
I cup the back of her head, brushing my thumb over her jawline, grounding both of us in the space between words. “I understand completely. But I think it’s a good thing that we’re all compatible together, in many different configurations. It bodes well for whatever this is, don’t you think? The fact that we all have chemistry together and separately is rare. Now, are you going to tell me what happened?”
She snaps her eyes back to me. “Well, Stella had a meeting at Saint Helena Academy, and she asked me if I wanted to say hi to Kai. I said yes, but when I got to his office, he wasn’t there.” She takes a deep breath. “A very nice woman showed me to the pool, and he was in there swimming laps.”
She shifts on my lap, and I have to wonder if she’s aroused just thinking about it.
Because I’m sure as fuck hard as a rock.
“And?” I ask, running a hand up her thigh.
“And,” she answers, almost breathless, “I don’t even know what happened, to be honest. I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
A low growl settles in my chest as I run my hand up her thigh, only to find her knickers already wet.
It ignites a smoldering ember of possessiveness. I want to hear every detail, want her to spell it out piece by piece, but somewhere in the back of my mind, a question lingers. Is it the dominance I crave, or the reassurance that I still hold something Kai doesn’t?
“Tell me everything.” She gasps as I lightly run a finger over her seam, and when a full-body shudder works through her, I chuckle. “Go on, Soph. What happened after you found him swimming laps?”
She whimpers when I add a bit of pressure, and I have to press myself farther into the chair so as not to grind my cock against her arse.
“I sat down on the edge, and he told me…” She trails off, a blush forming on her cheeks. “He told me to lift my dress and spread my legs. He didn’t—he didn’t give me an option. And then he put his fingers inside of me.”
I feel something white-hot flash through me at her words, my cock feels heavy— aching . I don’t speak. I only wait for her to continue.
“He told me to hold my breath. So I did, but it didn’t work at first. I was too nervous. He went down on me at the same time, and then he made me lose control of everything I thought I knew,” she finishes, face red as she looks at me.
I take in her words, imagining how she must’ve looked spread out before him on the pool deck. It’s better than the different fantasies I’d been thinking up before she walked through the door.
“Also, he said, ‘Do you think Julian will recognize the taste of my mouth after I send you home?’”
A low, guttural groan breaks free from my chest, and before I know it, I’m lifting her off my lap and setting her down on the floor as I hover over her.
“Hm. That sounds like a challenge,” I purr, nudging her dress up as I fumble with my belt.
“There’s my territorial husband,” she whispers, smiling up at me.
I unzip my trousers, freeing my cock. Before I enter her, though, I swipe a finger through her folds, bringing it to my lips and sucking. Her eyes glaze over, and I don’t give her any sort of warning before I drive into her. My hand curls near her head, and I drop my chin as my mouth falls open. It feels like she’s suctioning me into her, and my whole body shudders as soon as I’m fully sheathed in her tight heat.
“Fuuuck, pet. You’re so wet.”
She moans, shifting her hips slightly so that I can push in another inch. My arms shake at the sensation of being inside of her just an hour after Kai had his mouth on her—I might actually come too soon.
“Well? Are you going to sit there, or are you going to fuck me?” she asks.
Grunting, I wrap a hand around her throat as I pull out. She gasps, waiting for me to push back into her, but I press the tip of my cock against her instead, not giving her the satisfaction yet.
“Did you come?” I ask, bending down and sucking on the space between her collarbone and ear.
“Y-yes,” she stutters, her nails trailing underneath my shirt as she scratches me.
“How many times?” I ask, my tongue laving against her soft, delicate skin.
“O-once,” she mutters.
“And did you like being dominated by him?”
“Yes,” she sighs, throwing her head back even farther.
I thrust into her, and she gasps, letting out a low, loud moan. It reverberates through me, and I lift myself up to get a better look at her from my knees. Pulling her hips up, I rest the backs of her thighs on mine, holding her close and angled up as I continue fucking her.
“God, yes, that angle is divine,” she says through clenched teeth. She tries to roll her hips, but I hold her down. Biting her lower lip, she looks up at me and gives me a bratty, little smile. “Harder, please.”
Gritting my teeth, I fuck her with zero abandon. I’m so rough that we actually move across the carpet, and the slapping sound mingled with her loud groans… it’s too much.
Especially when I take my thumb and begin to swirl her wetness—or Kai’s saliva?—through her folds.
I watch her carefully, half expecting her to fold beneath the weight of my stare. But she doesn’t. Instead, she presses a hand to my chest and pushes—just slightly—until I’m the one beneath her. For a second, I consider flipping her back, but I don’t. I let her stay on top, even if it feels unnatural.
She rides me, confident and smiling, and my hands move to her hips, gripping the flesh.
A minute later, she shatters, eyes squeezing tight as her cunt grips me over and over. I watch her raptly as she falls apart, mesmerized by the way she goes completely still, just for a moment, before trembling uncontrollably. It’s one of my favorite things about her.
“Fuck. I’m so close, baby.”
“Come inside of me,” she begs, her voice a soft whimper. “Please, Julian. I need you.”
“Soph, I’m—fuck?—”
My cock explodes, and my hips jerk as I empty everything I have inside of her. When the last of it leaves my body, I pull her off me and collapse to the floor.
She follows, rolling over to face me, a satisfied smile grazing her lips, and I’m suddenly struck with an idea.
“Stay there,” I tell her, sitting up and grabbing my phone from where I’d left it on the table.
“What are you doing?”
I look down at her, flushed and spent, rumpled and so very clearly just fucked.
“Spread your legs, baby. Let me see my cum drip out of you, pet.”
Her mouth drops open, but she does as I say. Slowly inching one leg to the side, I growl when I see my seed slowly slide out of her perfect, pink pussy.
I snap a picture—legs spread, hands relaxed at her sides, soft smile—and draft a text to Kai.
I hover over the message for a second longer than I should. It’s a game, one I know Kai is smart enough to catch onto. But I can’t resist the impulse. If he wants to play with Sophie, he’ll have to know I’m still in the game too.
I did taste you. Thanks for the appetizer.
“Did you just take a picture of my fanny?” she asks, sitting up and grabbing my phone. When she reads what I wrote him, her eyes flash to mine.
“Julian Ashford. For shame,” she mutters, laughing.
I chuckle as I stand up to grab something to clean her off, thinking of what Kai will say when he gets that picture from me.
When I return, I clean her up, running a hand down her thigh and smoothing the hair away from her face. She’s sated, drowsy in that way that makes me want to wrap her in blankets and keep the world at bay. I don’t move right away.
Instead, I stay there, pressing my lips to her forehead like she’s the most delicate thing I’ve ever held.