For his part, he was pleased – no, thrilled – to learn that Tony was g*y.
When he parked the car in the drive, she got out and did not hurry to the door but waited for him. Further, when he took her hand, thinking she still might need steadying (and because he damned well wanted to), she didn’t resist but walked with him, hand-in-hand to the house.
“I’m so glad you came to get me, I hate calling on Carter,” she admitted and he found himself slowing their pace, making the walk longer so he could draw out this moment. She would come to her senses soon, her mind would kick in, the walls would come up and he found he was enjoying this too much to let it go.
“Why?” he asked as he pushed the door open and they walked through it together.
“Because it seems so, you know, servant-y.”
Douglas laughed quietly, closing the door behind them. “Darling, essentially he is a servant.”
She gave a faux shudder. “I can’t get used to it. To me, we’re all just family.”
At her words, something inside him shifted and along with it the ache for her intensified, turning into need. This need was so consuming, it blurred his vision, it wiped his thoughts, all that existed in the universe was her scent, her hand holding his and the sound of her voice saying those words that still hung in the air.
Her hand tightened in his as she tugged it gently, pulling him to a halt.
As he looked at her upturned face, he was experiencing something he’d never felt in his life.
He was dazed.
Her happy face turned concerned.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he answered distractedly.
“Douglas?”
“Hmm?”
She laughed, that sexy laugh she had, low in her throat and he focused on her.
“Why do I have the impression you’re looking at me but you aren’t seeing me?” she teased.
She actually teased.
He felt his body tighten as the yearning intensified.
“I see you,” was all he said but what he meant was he saw her everywhere, in his thoughts, in his dreams, in his home, in his car, in his bed, everywhere.
She interrupted his preoccupation. “I never properly thanked you for Fred.”
“Fred?” He was losing it, losing the thread of the conversation, losing everything with the overwhelming desire to lift her in his arms, shackle her to his bed and do things to her that would force her to agree to bind herself to him legally and in the eyes of the children, her family, her friends and God.
She broke into his thoughts. “The kitten, he finally has a name.”
That got his attention.
“You named him Fred?”
She giggled. “I didn’t name him Fred, Willie did. He and I traded, since I couldn’t pick a name, I let Willie name my cat and I get to name his dog when he gets one.” She tilted her head adorably. “I’m thinking ‘Babykins’ is a sweet name for a dog, what do you think?”
“I am not addressing a dog as ‘Babykins’,” Douglas replied gruffly.
“Babykins it is!” Julia chortled and then, shocking him to his core, she leaned into him, kissed his cheek just like she had her first night at Sommersgate, tugged her hand gently free and headed to her room, humming the whole way.
Leaving him watching her go and knowing that he was quite emphatically done with sweet anticipation.