Page 28 of Faith

“I talked to Jakob. He gave me a thumbs up, so that tells you how far we went on that conversation. I’ve been avoiding Jensen’s calls.”

As if on cue, there was a knock on her bedroom door just before it opened. Jensen popped his head in.

“Have you had time to figure out what to do about Jules?”

“First, your intrusion is rude. Next time wait for me to answer.”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay. Now, do you have an answer for me?”

She shook her head.

“Is that her on the phone?”

“Oh, bloody hell, don’t tell him it’s me,” Jules said.

Again, she shook her head. “No. It’s Jeffy.”

“You are a horrible liar,” he muttered as he marched across the tiled floor. It was then she realized he was shoeless. Jensen rarely went without shoes or socks, but in Hawaii, he went with the Hawaiian tradition of removing his shoes while indoors. Why it seemed to mesmerize her now, she had no idea.

“What?” he said.

She blinked and looked up at him. “Nothing.”

“What’s going on?” Jules asked. Before Nicola could answer her, Jensen took the phone from her hand.

“What the bloody hell are you doing calling Nicola?”

He was quiet for a long time while his sister answered him. His face told Nicola that Jules was not in the mood for her brother’s judgment.

“Jules…”

More ranting from his sister. Jules was quiet, and she always did the right thing in public, but she didn’t take any crap off her brothers.

“Fine,” he said. He held her phone out to her. “She wants to talk to you.”

Nicola took the phone. Instead of leaving like she thought he would, Jensen wandered around her room, then out to her balcony.

“So, I guess you didn’t want to talk to Jensen?”

Julienne laughed, although, it came out a little hard and brittle for her. “Yes, well, you know Jensen. Ever since he got clean, he has gotten a little holier than thou about things.”

“Did you want me to handle the media?”

“No. I have my assistant dealing with it. You work for Jensen, not me. I’m just doing the no comment thing right now. Although, I think David will want to run whatever we come up with by you first.”

“Really?”

“Of course. The man is in awe of your press-handling abilities. In fact, he wanted me to call you before it was announced.”

“That would have been nice.”

“No, he felt that I should get your approval about breaking it off. He is positively batty about you. Not as bad as Jensen is, but pretty bad.”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked as she glanced in Jensen’s direction. He was paying no attention to her while looking out at the ocean.

“Come on. We all know that you are his binky.”

She blinked. “What?”