Page 61 of Taboo

“Alek, are you okay?”

He fought to get his emotions under control, then turned his attention back to Jules. She was frowning at him. He realized then that she was still waiting for his answer.

“I’m fine.”

She studied him for a long moment, her lips turning down in a frown and, dammit, he didn’t like that either. Not at all. In fact, he wanted to do anything he could to make her unhappiness vanish. Why? Well, other than the fact that he wasn’t an asshole, but her happiness seemed more important than anyone else’s, including his own. He pushed those worries aside because she was still watching him, worry etching her features.

“When did you change your number?”

Her expression blanked, then she made a face. “Gregor. He —or I should say those in his camp—leaked my personal mobile number. We had to change it for obvious reasons.”

If heevercame within breathing distance of this Gregor asshole, he was going to rip his arms off and beat the bastard over the head with them.

“But, let’s not talk about that rubbish anymore.”

“Okay. What do you want to talk about?”

She shrugged. “Why the Army?”

He pursed his lips and thought back to the moment he signed the papers. “My dad served. And I wanted to do something other than being Alek Johnson.”

“Why? I think Alek Johnson is pretty spectacular.”

Jesus, he felt his cheeks heat in embarrassment, and she giggled. It was the carefree sound that had his gut clutching, his dick throbbing. If he could bottle up that sound, he was sure he would be a billionaire from the funds.

“Yeah, well, I wanted to be just me. It’s hard growing up in a family where people expect things from you, but those people outside of the family never see you as anything other than an extension of that family unit.”

Understanding moved over her beautiful face. “I totally understand. Like I said before, I’ve always wondered just how far I would’ve gotten without the Wulf name.” He opened his mouth ready to argue his point from the night before, but she held up her hand to stop him. “There is also a part of me that would just be Julienne Wulf, an independent designer. People would take me a little more seriously then, I think.”

Before he could comment, the waiter showed up with their meals. Once they were alone, they dug into their meals, but he was definitely not letting it go.

“I think you don’t understand how seriously people take you.”

She swallowed a bite of her fish taco. “Maybe, but I’ve never had the nerve to step out on my own.”

Something about this conversation was bugging him. “Look what you did with your ideas for my house.”

“Oh, pooh, any first-year designer could do that, no offense.”

He shook his head. “No. They wouldn’t.” He thought back to his conversation this week with Sammie. “You’re intuitive when it comes to your clients. You listen to what they tell you. Not all designers do that. Instead, they do things to get themselves noticed. You do things to create the environment that makes people happy. You should never ignore that.”

When she didn’t respond, he glanced up. She blinked away some tears, but not before he saw them. Alarm moved through him. What did he say?

“I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, pressing her lips together.

“I said something to upset you.”

After drawing in a long, deep breath, she looked up at him. “No. What you said was just so…it was the nicest thing anyone has told me in a long while.”

He felt one side of his mouth kick up, as pure joy rushed through him. “Yeah?”

She nodded.

He leaned closer so he could whisper in her ear. “I told you that you had a pretty pussy last night. I think I’ve said that several times in fact.”

Her blush was back and for some reason, that made him feel better.

---