mother and Abbey had sent, but she’d fallen in love with it.
Elena, Abbey and Troy had overseen the move while Julie had been shooting the film on location in Chicago. The twenty-one-day shoot had been the most aggressive schedule she’d ever worked. Back-to-back sixteen-hour days had fried her brain. She needed to recharge.
Troy had wanted to pick her up from the airport, but a last-minute problem with a client had held him up. Abbey had a callback for a part in a dance movie and instead of bothering her mother, Julie had called Fido and he’d picked her up. Solo. It was a little anticlimactic to the whirlwind of the past month.
Julie sniffed the air. Garlic. Something smelled really good. She kicked off her shoes and padded slowly toward the kitchen, checking out her new home and mentally cataloguing the furniture she’d change. “Hello? Is someone here?” she called. The three people she trusted most had a key.
A tiny bud of apprehension wiggled in her stomach as she thought about Cal, but she shoved it aside as she peeked around the kitchen door. The huge kitchen had black granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and an enormous center island. The kitchen table sat in the far corner flanked by two glass walls and French doors opened up to the nearby pool. Two tall, white candles flickered on the table, but the best sight stood in front of the oven.
Wearing faded jeans and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, Troy checked something in the oven before closing the door. His smile destroyed her.
He whipped off the oven mitts and met her in three long strides. “Surprise,” he said, wrapping her in his arms. She squeezed, but not too hard. He was still tender. “God, I missed you.” He pulled back, ran his hand through her hair, and she leaned into his palm, loving his heat. His mouth came down over hers in a soft, deep kiss that curled her toes. Their tongues mated, danced, retreated and met again. Every cell in her body burned hot and alive as his hands roamed her curves, up, down and back up again. Troy backed off and leaned his forehead against hers. “I can’t keep kissing you without an exact replay of our first encounter.”
She’d never forget the way he’d pushed her against the front door and kissed the bejeezus out of her. “As I recall, I kind of liked that,” Julie whispered against his mouth.
“Yeah, I did too. But pretty soon we’re not going to be alone.”
Julie’s eyes snapped open. “We’re not?”
“No. Your mother and Abbey are coming over any minute. They miss you and want to be here when you go through the house. I actually thought you were one of them.”
“Oh.” Talk about a disappointment. “So, no hot sex on the kitchen counter?”
Troy grinned. “Rain check?”
“Absolutely.” Julie leaned up to kiss him, but stopped. “Hey, wait a minute.” She looked beyond his shoulder. “You cook?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Don’t you?”
She snorted. “Not if I can help it.” She brought him down to her mouth for another smoking hot kiss. “I am so turned on with that news.”
“Knock, knock? Anyone home?” Elena’s voice carried into the kitchen and Julie groaned.
“Told ya,” Troy said at her lips before giving her one last quick kiss. The kitchen phone rang and he grabbed the receiver. He noticed the caller ID as he started to hand it to Julie. “This is weird. Yeah?” he said, taking the call. He put a finger up as he took a few steps away.
Elena and Abbey walked in together and Julie counted her blessings. Her mom, her man and an employee she loved. Considering everything she’d been through, she couldn’t complain. She walked through her house for the first time, loving it on sight. The house fit her perfectly. Four spacious rooms, each with its own bathroom, hardwood floors throughout, and most important, a giant-ass gate that surrounded the whole property.
After her twenty-minute tour, the phone rang again. “This is for me,” Troy said, picking up the receiver in the living room. “I’ve got it,” he said into the phone. “See you in a sec.” He hit the button on the phone that controlled the front gate. “Hope you don’t mind, but I needed Blake to drop off my cell phone. I left it at the office.”
“I don’t mind. He should stay for dinner as long as he’s here,” Julie said.