Page 40 of Choose Me

Jules is silent, and I comb my fingers through his soft, silky hair, hoping to soothe him. “Well…” His voice is tentative, but his eyes are determined. “What if we prove him wrong?”

That would be nice, but it’s not likely. “How would we do that?”

“No idea.” Jules exhales dejectedly.

So much for that. “I was hoping you’d come up with something.”

“Nope.”

That one word, said so sadly, breaks my heart. There must be a way for this to work. There has to be. Because I’m not willing to give Jules up now that I have him. “That doesn’t mean that we have to stop seeing each other. Until wecome up with something, we keep doing what we’re doing. See where this goes. And in the meantime, we’ll figure out how to get Stef on board with the idea.”

Jules side-eyes me. “So we keep us a secret?”

I wobble my splayed hand. “Not in the bad way. Not like I’m ashamed of being with you, or we need to be ashamed of being together. Because I’m not and we don’t.” I kiss the tip of his perfect nose. “But we’re still new, and we don’t need Stef’s disapproval derailing things before we figure it out.” I’m not going to tell him I already know where I want us to end up. That might spook him, and that’s the last thing I want. “But until then, we can plan how to tell him in a way that he’ll accept.”

Jules drops back onto the pillows and stares at the ceiling for a long few minutes while my pulse races and I wonder if I’ve fucked up. “All right. I guess that’s not a horrible idea. I mean, we don’t have a good plan for telling him, so…”

“Okay. So, we quietly do the dating thing and keep the PDA to a minimum. But when we’re alone, I can kiss you whenever I want?”

A huge grin spreads across his face. “You could kiss me now.”

I cup his face with my hand. “I will happily kiss you anytime.” When I lean down to place a soft kiss against his lips, my plan is to make it sweet but chaste, because Jules needs to get up and talk to Quinn. But he seems to have other plans. He slips his fingers into my hair and kisses me hungrily, ruining my attempt to be responsible. We lose track of time exploring each other’s mouths, caressing each other and lazily enjoying being close.

That is, until we hear Quinn in the kitchen. Jules drops his arms back onto the bed. “Fuck. I really do have to get out there.” He grabs my arm, eyes pleading. “Can I see you tonight?”

There was never any doubt of that, at least in my mind. But his sad eyes and soft pouty mouth tug painfully at my heart, and I know this look will forever get Jules whatever he wants with me. I have to keep that to myself for as long as possible or I’m in big trouble. “Aren’t we all supposed to meet up and play darts?”

Jules’ lower lip sticks out even further. “Fuck. I forgot about that.”

“You don’t want to go?”

He stares at my chest and traces over my tattoos. “Well, um, if you’re going, maybe I do.”

“Yes, I’m definitely going. Stef organized this so neither one of us can bail.” I kiss him on the tip of his nose. “But you should probably get up and say hi to Quinn.”

With a groan, Jules pushes up into a sitting position, and I reluctantly let him slide out of bed, determined not to distract him any further. It doesn’t stop me from staring at his beautiful ass as he bends over to pick up his sweatpants and pulls them on. He glances at me over his shoulder. “I can feel you watching me.”

I don’t even try to hide my grin. When I moved away, things between us changed. He was quieter and a little shy around me when I’d come home, and it hurt. But seeing him like this now, all flirty and fun, makes my chest tight and my eyes sting, because this ismyJules.

He pulls a T-shirt out of his dresser and tugs it over his head. “Are you coming out for coffee?”

I nod and pick up my phone. “I’m going to check my messages first and then I’ll be out.”

Jules walks to the side of the bed and leans over to kiss me. “Don’t take too long. I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.” Yes, it’s sappy. No, I don’t care. We’re probably going to bethatcouple who makes everyone else gag with our sweetness, and I’m fine with that. I reluctantly let him go, and when the bedroom door closes again, I unlock my phone. There are a few missed texts, and I open the first one from Bjorn.

Bjorn: Sorry about the scene at dinner.

Bjorn:Didn’t mean for that to happen.

Bjorn:Sorry for my part in making it worse

Well, that’s something, at least.

Me:It’s all right. Shit happens. I appreciate the apology

I close that text string and open the one from Gunnar.

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