After the Kiss (Sex, Love & Stiletto 1)

“You don’t know him,” she muttered. “He’s the last person to forgive someone who made him feel foolish.”

“But you knew that all along,” Grace said. “What’s changed?”

Julie took a sip but didn’t respond. Because she didn’t know how to respond. This should have been like the billion girl talks she’d had with Grace and Riley before, but this time it was different.

Because Mitchell was different.

“Uh-oh.” The uncharacteristic gentleness of Riley’s voice was nearly Julie’s undoing. She felt tears prickle the back of her eyelids, and she blinked them away.

Grace rested a hand on her arm. “Julie, you really do like him, don’t you? It’s not just guilt anymore.”

Julie lifted a shoulder and allowed herself a small sniffle, if only to prevent snot from dripping into her drink.

No need to taint the self-medication. “Things have gotten a little intense.”

“Intense how?”

Oh, I don’t know … how about the fact that I seem to be actually considering the prospect of a future with a guy for the first time ever?

She squirmed. “I’m not sure, exactly. Nothing overtly changed. The sex got a little hotter. The cuddling got a little sweeter.”

Riley blanched. “You cuddled? With the subject of a story?”

Even Grace looked wary.

“I told you, it was movie night. And he was so happy about the stupid baseball game. What was I supposed to do?”

“But you don’t even like movie night—it’s been your benchmark for hell since forever.”

She licked at the sugar rim of her drink, avoiding her friends’ eyes. “Yeah, I might have been kind of wrong about that.”

“Oh, Julie,” Grace breathed in horror. “You’re in love with him.”

“I’m not,” Julie said sharply. Saying it out loud would make it true. It couldn’t be true. She could not be in love with an uptight, baseball-watching Wall Street broker who thought reading was a hobby and running was fun.

“Well, if you’re not in love with him, what’s the harm in letting it go on for a few more days? You still have some time before you need to write the story. Might as well stick it out. Get more material. Get more sex.”

Get more involved, Julie mentally added.

“No,” she said firmly. “I have everything I need. I successfully snagged a guy, flirted, let him woo me, went from casual dinners to romantic dinners, from exploratory sex to hot sex, and then I had the talk followed by movie night. What else is there to discover?”

“Julie, that’s just the start of a real relationship,” Grace said.

Julie snatched her hand away from her well-meaning friend. “Which was exactly the assignment. To go from casual dating to serious. From there, it’s all you.”

“Okay,” Grace said easily.

“What’s that?” Julie said, pointing an accusing finger at her. “What is that tone?”

“I’m just thinking that maybe you should start looking at Mitchell in a context other than your story. You know, maybe see if things can work out.”

Julie gave a harsh laugh. “Just because you’re happy in your domesticated little Tribeca apartment with your steady, perfect boyfriend and your scheduled sex life doesn’t mean we all want that.”

“Meow,” Riley said, her eyes flicking between Grace and Julie.

But Grace merely met Julie’s eyes steadily. “Don’t put this on me and Greg. This is about you and Mitchell and about how you let a man fall in love with you so that you could impress your boss.”

“Oh, God.” Riley buried her face in her drink.