Stevie snapped. Every ache inside of her had eased significantly. She was going to be honest in hopes of being better for him.
“Hey,” Julian greeted once he stood next to them. He then glanced at both of them several times. “Mona, you aren’t picking on the intern, are you? What kind of mentor are you?”
Mona rolled her eyes. “You barely say two sentences and you’ve already annoyed me. Anyways, I have some reports to read. Stevie, I don’t want you in until Monday. That’s when the real work begins. If you can’t handle it, then don’t bother coming in.”
“I can handle it,” Stevie assured her as Mona nodded and made her way to her office.
“What was that about? I swear, I give her the wrong latte once and she hates me. How was I supposed to know she has a hazelnut allergy?”
Stevie laughed. “Did she tell you which latte she wanted?”
Julian’s eyebrows furrowed. “Possibly. There’s a chance I wasn’t listening.”
“Hmmm, that’s probably an issue.”
“I think it is. Listen, Blondie…” He pursed his lips. “Can I take you somewhere?”
The cute, nervous look on his face had her trying to suppress the laugh she had formed. All she wanted to do was kiss him and that unsureness away. But she wasn’t going to risk being caught.
“Sure,” she said as casually as she could.
“Would you like to come for a walk? I haven’t been home in four years, so I wanted to see if anything has changed.”
Her heart swelled at the way his eyes softened. The blue lightened a fraction more into an almost pale silver. It was breathtaking. And it was beautiful.
“I don’t know.” She added a layer of reluctance in her voice to tease him.
Julian dug his hand into his pocket and said, “Heads, we go for that walk. Tails, we go for that walk.”
“Those two options you just gave defeats the purpose of a coin toss,” Stevie pointed out.
His reply was a grin and then he dug in his pocket. “Call it,” he said and held out the coin.
“Always heads,” she breathed and opened her hand out to him.
“Always all in,” he corrected and dropped it into her palm.
“Well, we’ll see—” Stevie paused the moment she glanced down at the coin. Her chest constricted in an ache she had never known. Parts of her heart had yelped, alerting her to its existence. “You kept this?”
“I had to.” He smiled sadly. “We made a lot of memories out of it. It made me feel like we were still together after all those years. I carried it around because it gave me hope that I’d see you again.”
“I-I…” Stevie’s heart threw itself violently to her ribcage, demanding those three words to slip out. “Leek you.”
She quickly snapped her mouth shut. Julian’s blinked at her several times then he exhaled deeply.
“Oh, my fucking God,” she whispered, embarrassed. Stevie shoved the coin into his hand and then rushed towards the elevator. When she reached it, she pressed hard on the down button, praying that the elevator would get to her before Julian.
“Stephanie!”
She clenched her eyelids shut and felt the humiliation heat her cheeks. Then she breathed out and turned to face him. Julian smiled at her. The sincerity in his eyes toned down the sting of humiliation she felt.
“I’m so sorry. I go to tell you that I… and I say leek. Who says they leek someone?” she asked, shaking her head.
Julian took a small step forward and cupped her face. “We say leek. You and me.” He tilted her head up and then pressed his lips against hers, whispering, “Remove an ‘E’ and a ‘K’ and replace it with an ‘O’ and a ‘V’ and that’s how I feel about you.”
Breathing became impossible and her heart had stalled. Stevie’s lips parted and she mindlessly blinked at him.
Julian brushed his thumb against her bottom lip and uttered, “I love you, Stephanie. I’ve been in love with you since Thailand. I had all but fallen in love with you when you first said your name. And I’m certain you love me but disguise it in the way you told me that you leeked me. So, instead, I’m going to say this: I leek you, Stephanie. With everything I have and will be. Everything I am has been yours and will always be yours—”
The ding from the elevator stopped him and broke the trance he held over her. Stevie stepped back and avoided his eyes. It was so easy to tell Charles that she loved him.