Mr. Masters (Mr. 1)

My eyes search his.

“Please?” he whispers. “I don’t want to lose you. I can’t stand seeing you like this.”

I drop my head to his chest and he holds me tight. Maybe we can work through this.

“You hurt me,” I whisper.

"I know." He presses another kiss to my lips. "I'm sorry."

Our kiss turns passionate and my face creases against his. It’s been a long week of tension and I’ve missed my man. Maybe we just needed to have it out and now things will be okay?

He wraps me in a towel and dries me before we move to lie down together on the bed.

He runs his fingers through my hair, never taking his eyes off me. He seems miles away. What’s he thinking about? We’re staring at each other as he dusts the backs of his fingers down my cheek, a small smile creeping onto his face

“What are you smiling at?” I ask.

“You.” He leans in and kisses me. “Your lips go blue when you cry.”

“That’s the frostbite from your heart.”

He smiles. “I deserved that.”

“How is this going to work, Jules?” He frowns. “I don’t know.” His eyes hold mine. “Do we have to decide now? Can’t all these big decisions wait?”

“For what?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know, but I feel like I’ve only just found you and we’ve been together for two minutes. Suddenly we have to make a decision on the rest of our lives.” He shrugs. “What’s the rush?”

“I don’t want to fuck you in the dark, Julian. I want to love you in the light,” I whisper. “I can’t lie to Willow any longer.” I shake my head. “Every time I lie to her I die a little inside. She deserves the truth.”

He exhales heavily and rolls onto his back, staring up at the ceiling.

Ding dong.

“Sammy,” I whisper, sitting up. “He’s getting dropped home. I completely forgot.”

Julian jumps up, grabs his clothes and throws them on. “You stay here, I’ll sort it.”

He disappears out of the room, closing the door behind him. I turn off the light and crawl under the blankets. My eyelids are so heavy. I’m exhausted from all my crying.

I close my eyes and try to forget today ever happened.

If only.

I wake with a start to find Julian lying on his side watching me.

“Hi,” I whisper. I vaguely remember him crawling into bed late last night and wrapping himself around me as I slept.

"Hi." His gaze falls to my shoulder as if he's too ashamed to make eye contact. We say nothing for a while, until he eventually spits the words out like they're poison. "I'm sorry."

“About what?”

“For last night.” He pulls me close and holds me in his arms. “I shouldn’t have gone out and left you.”

I frown. That’s not what I’m upset about? But I stay silent, unsure what to say.

“Bree. I just...” He pauses, searching my eyes. “I just…”