“Edward—”
“I’m in love with you.” I let the words hang in the air. “I am so in love with you. I know that it’s fast, and my head is spinning but it’s all I can think about.” I emphasize every word. “I am in love with you.”
Tears fill Julia’s eyes, and suddenly she’s kissing me. “Yes. Yes. I’m in love with you too. I don’t know how it’s possible, but I know it. I realized it yesterday and the only thing in the world that I want to do is be with you.”
I kiss her deeply, passionately. So hard and so thoroughly that she’ll never be able to forget this moment. “God, I don’t want to leave this bed.”
“It’s a very good argument for why a person should never become a CEO.”
I laugh, rolling us over so that she’s draped across my chest and we’re enclosed by the curtain of her hair. “I’ve never heard it put like that but that’s actually a good point.”
“But you are a CEO, and even though I’m in love with you, I know that you love your job and I’m not going to be the reason your job suffers because you’re playing hooky for sex. There’s plenty of nighttime hours for sex.”
I pretend to be offended. “How dare you. I could be playing hooky for plenty of things besides sex.”
“Name one.”
“I could take you out for the best breakfast imaginable.”
Julia sticks out her tongue. “I’m still stuffed full of pasta thanks to you. I’m not even close to hungry.” She rolls to dive off the bed. I try to catch her, but I’m not successful. So I settle for watching her slip on that pair of black underwear that make her look sexy as hell. “This is a pretty good view, I have to say.”
“Pervert.” But she’s smiling as she says it.
I put on the robe that she borrowed last night and join her as she puts the rest of her clothes on and heads to my front door. As much as I don’t like the fact that she’s right, she is right. I can’t ignore the business. But I will be damned sure that she remains a priority as well. My father did a good job of that, and I’m going to follow his example. Never will I ever make Julia feel like she is not my entire focus. Because she deserves to be.
We’re on the porch now, and she turns to me. Eyes wide. “How did this happen?”
I know what she means. It feels like five minutes ago we were talking at the trashcans. And now I’m going to kiss her goodbye after one of the best nights of my life. It’s a crazy whirlwind and I wouldn’t trade it for everything. “I don’t know, but I’m glad that it did.” Softly, I kiss her before pulling away. “Text me about how it goes.”
“I will.”
I watch her all the way to her front door, and we wave. Not at the window, but this is so much better.
16
Julia
I lean against the front door after I shut it. Holy crap. I feel like my entire world has just been turned upside down in the best way. I’m in love with Edward and he loves me too. It feels so real and so right that I don’t know how I contain it all. It’s going to be all that I can think about.
But there’s something else that I have to deal with. The house is deadly silent. There are no sounds of my mom cleaning, which normally she would be by now. Is it possible that she’s still asleep?
I head to the kitchen to make some coffee, and am startled by mom sitting at the kitchen table, head in her hands and coffee already in front of her. “Mom are you okay?”
She groans. “My head is pounding.”
I slide into the chair across from her. She looks like hell. “I’m not exactly surprised.”
“Why not? What the hell happened?”
The shock registers on my face, but I try to mask it quickly. “You don’t remember?”
She shakes her head and winces. “No.”
I swallow. “I went out to get us coffee. You called me to order a Frappuccino and you sounded a little strange. But I ran into a friend, so I took some time. When I came home you were drunk. I don’t know how much you’d had, but I’m guessing it was a lot. I put you to bed.”
Mom takes a sip of the coffee. “Wow. I’m sorry about that.”
“Care to tell me what made that happen?”
She huffs a breath. “If I manage to remember, I’ll tell you.”
“You have to have some kind of idea. You don’t just decide to get blackout drunk for no reason.”
She shrugs. “Probably the stress. So much to do before Friday.”
“What’s on Friday?”
“Julia.” Mom looks at me as if I’m missing something. “The gala.”