Page 34 of Taboo

She studied him, and to say there was skepticism in her gaze would be an understatement.

“Just like that?”

“I will probably try to convince you otherwise, but yeah, unless you give me permission, I won’t touch you. That ball’s in your court.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Was she a little sad? Maybe he was imagining it, but he didn’t think so. He let her go then, closing the door behind her and drew in a deep breath. One thing that proved that they were far from over. He glanced down at his tented pants and rolled his eyes. He just hoped he could function with blue balls.

chapter eleven

The momentthey stepped into the house in Oahu, Julienne’s mobile started playing her mother’s ringtone. “Hello, Mother.”

“Julienne,” her mother said, her voice strained over the miles.

Alarm had her smile fading and her stomach muscles clenching. “What is it? Please tell me there isn’t another story about me.”

“No, but we had to take Nicola to hospital. She had some contractions.”

Fear hit her square in the chest, and she found it hard to take her next breath. She knew that Nic was having some issues, but she didn’t think it would be anything this serious. She rushed toward the stairs, her mind already working on getting to England.

“We’ll be on the plane within the next two hours.”

“No.”

She stopped halfway up the staircase. “No?”

“No, the doctor said they were false contractions and that we don’t need to worry, but they want her on bedrest.”

Some of her worry eased, but they wouldn’t put her on bedrest if it wasn’t serious. “I should be there.”

“Yes, but…”

Her mother didn’t say anything else, but Julienne knew exactly what she was thinking. If she were to show up, the paps would pay attention, causing more embarrassment for the family. The stress wouldn’t be good for Nicola.

“I understand,” she said around the lump in her throat. Her mother wasn’t trying to be mean and, in a way, she was trying to protect both Julienne and Nicola.

“I did have a request though.”

“Anything,” she said immediately. That was her little niece or nephew and her sister-in-law. She would do anything she could to help.

“What we were wondering is if you really need David there?”

Jules’ gaze moved to David, who was watching her intently. “Not really.”

Although they were going to use it as a sort of mini vacation, she knew that she could deal with things herself here.

Her mother sighed; the sound filled with relief. “I would love to have him come back here and fill Nicola’s spot. Your brother and I think that she might actually listen to the doctor if she has someone she can direct, and we trust David.”

And that said a lot. Wulfs weren’t the most trusting of people due to our issues in the past and if her mother trusted David, that meant good things for him in the future. She hated to send him back but as his best friend, she couldn’t stand in his way.

“Yes. As long as he’s okay with it, he’ll be on the plane back.”

“Good. How are you doing? How were the Johnsons?”

Julienne hesitated for only a second. Her mother wasn’t cold by any means, but she was a bit of a stickler about things, and one of those things was business. All of them had been frustrated they had to wait over six months for the lawyers to work through all the issues before they could start redoing the entire Johnson resort. “The whole family is really nice. I don’t know if I need to be here with Sammie in control of the designs.”

“I feel better with you there.”

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