everything about you is so different from what I’m used to.” She waited a long moment, working through in her mind what she wanted to say. “And when you’re near, I….” she didn’t want to admit it, afraid that he would use this, but she wanted to be honest with him. He deserved that from her. “When you are near me, I lose control and I don’t like it.”
He didn’t hesitate this time. He took her into his arms and held her gently, resting his chin gently against the top of her head. “That’s a good thing, Jules. We’re perfect for each other.”
She allowed the comfort for a small moment, then pulled back, looking around to see if anyone else had witnessed their embrace. “We’re too different and I don’t like losing control. We won’t work, James.”
He laughed softly. “We worked pretty well last night.”
She gasped at the memory that had never been very far from her mind. Her eyes looked up at him and she couldn’t breathe for a long moment. “Don’t,” she whispered, seeing the desire pooling in his eyes.
He smiled grimly. “I can’t seem to stop it when you’re around,” he admitted grimly. His hand slid up her tiny waist, stopping just below her breasts and she reached up, intending initially to stop his hand but as soon as she touched him, her hand lost its strength, unable to push him away.
She looked up at him again, her heart racing and her breathing ragged as the pull that he always had on her started to suck her into his vortex. The rest of the world faded away and, in her mind, they were no longer at her friend’s party and the noise behind her faded out of her consciousness. All she saw, heard and smelled was James and the excitement only he could make her feel. “We can’t.”
He chuckled softly as his other hand reached up and touched her ear, sending fire racing along her ear, down her neck and spiraling out to all parts of her body. “We will.”
She took a deep breath, her body actually swaying towards his again. But one of her friends called out her name and she stopped, turned her head and jumped back from James, realizing they were too close for casual friends.
She forced a smile to her face and walked away towards Debra, her forgotten glass of wine still in her hand and she took a long sip of it, trying to cool herself down after being so close to James.
Debra pulled her into a conversation with a couple of her friends about some of their old college acquaintances but Julianna found herself glancing up, looking for James just to make sure he was still there. She didn’t want him to leave for some reason. The party had become more exciting just with his presence here.
He caught her looking his way too. Every time she looked for him, it was like he could tell that she was checking for him and he glanced up from his group of friends and their eyes met across the room. The first few times he’d caught her, she looked away quickly. But as the evening wore on, she accepted that she just wanted to be with him. It wasn’t the alcohol either since she didn’t even finish her first glass of wine before switching to seltzer water.
For the next two hours, Julianna tried to stay on the opposite side of the room from James as the other guests milled about, talking and joking. Somehow though, she kept finding herself right next to him, leaning against his muscular frame at times, other times she would find her hand in his, their fingers entwined. She thought about pulling away, not wanting others to know how she felt about James. But when his thumb ran over her knuckles so softly, instead of releasing his hand, she shivered with awareness and smiled up at him. James was not a man to be dismissed or ignored.
By the time dinner was over, Julianna could barely stand the tension any longer. She wanted to grab him by the hand and drag him out of the house. But she contained herself, at least long enough to approach Gloria to let her know that she was leaving and to thank her for the evening. “It was really wonderful and I’m so sorry I’m leaving early.”
Gloria looked at her with concern. “Is everything okay? We haven’t even had a chance to catch up yet.