After the Kiss (Sex, Love & Stiletto 1)

She shot a nervous look at the bedroom, where naked Mitchell had resumed his sprawled position. She fixed a smile on her face and grabbed the doorknob. “It’s the girls. I’m going to close this, okay? To protect your virtue.”

“ ’Kay,” he muttered sleepily.

She opened her front door to Riley and Grace, her panic increasing as she saw that this was definitely no surprise brunch call. Riley was wearing her glasses, which was practically unheard of outside the walls of her apartment, and Grace was wearing ratty sweatpants and a shirt that looked like it had probably come from Greg’s hamper.

“What’s going on?” she whispered, ushering them in.

“Why are we whispering?” Riley whispered back.

Grace gaped at Julie’s kitchen table, which clearly showed the remnants of breakfast for two.

“You slept with him? You just met the guy!”

It took Julie a few seconds to realize that Grace was talking about Keith. “No, not him,” Julie said with an impatient wave. “Mitchell.”

She glanced meaningfully toward the closed bedroom door, and her friends’ eyes went wide in matching horror.

“Mitchell’s here?”

“Yes, he’s here,” Julie said with strained patience. “What exactly is going on?”

Grace took a deep breath. “We need to talk. And he needs to leave.” She gave a sideways nod toward Julie’s bedroom.

“I can’t just kick him out. He brought me breakfast.”

And held me while I cried. And then made love to me so gently I wanted to cry all over again.

“Doesn’t look like you finished it,” Riley said, poking at a barely touched bagel.

“We got distracted.”

Grace squinted at her. “Are you blushing?”

Julie’s bedroom door swung open, and Mitchell emerged looking every bit the man on his way to a round of preppy golf, and not at all like a man who’d just been passed out with his bare ass hanging out of his jeans.

“Mitchell! Hi!” Grace’s voice could have broken glass.

Riley’s eyes were wide with alarm, but she quickly fixed a smile on her face and ran a hand over her knotted hair.

“Hello, ladies,” Mitchell said. “I was just on my way out.”

Grace looked at his untouched breakfast and bit her lip. Julie knew that her manners were warring with whatever doomsday proclamation she’d come to make.

“We need some girl talk,” Grace finally said. “Sorry to chase you out.”

Crap. Julie had been sure that Grace’s manners would win out and she’d insist that Mitchell finish his breakfast. If she was chasing him out, the situation was dire indeed.

He smiled in understanding, and grabbed his keys and wallet from the table before bending to give Julie a swift kiss on the cheek. “I’ll call you.”

“Okay,” she said, forcing a smile.

He turned to go, and impulse had her grabbing frantically at his sleeve. He glanced at her curiously. “What’s up?”

Her eyes skimmed over his comforting face, wishing she could burrow into him and stave off whatever storm was about to hit. He smiled softly, his eyes glowing warm, and she knew, she knew, that it was the last time she’d see that expression.

“Nothing,” she said, her voice cracking. “Have a good day.”

Tell him you love him.