Page 28 of Hotline
Especially with a man like Julian Lennox.
My body goes cold. It feels like every vein inside me has burst and every drop of blood inside me is pooling at my feet.
"Is there anything I can do differently?" I venture timidly. "What can I do to make you happy?"
"You can move into my house. You can stay by my side. Constantly.Permanently."
My brain vibrates inside my skull.
I feel like I am on the verge of tears. On edge.Aching.
“I have to come clean with you, Opal,” he says. “I never spoke to you before we met. I only saw you coming out of work the night before. And when I saw you, I wanted you. I wanted you more badly than anything I’ve ever wanted in my entire life. You were so perfect and so beautiful. Like a flower breaking through concrete.”
His thumb traces a line from my collarbone to my throat. His touch is everywhere, like a whisper on the verge of becoming something stronger. So much stronger, energy vibrating around me, waiting to snap.
"I wanted you for myself…and I wanted everything. Not just a phone call. Not just a few words spoken in secret. I needed all of you. In person. In every single fucking way imaginable.”
He gets closer and slips his arm around my back, pulling me close.
Oh my goodness in heaven. His hands are on me. Julian Lennox's hands are on me, firmly and decisively. It's a choice. Adecision. I don't think I've ever tasted a bigger dose of danger and excitement than I am right this second. The thrill of it all…it's too much. I can't take it. I press my fingers against his beautiful chest. The strength within him is staggering.
No wonder I didn’t recognize his voice.
"I want you, Opal. All of you. I want my arms around you and I want your lips on mine and I don’t want anything between us.”
My head is spinning. The thing I want the most — the man who saved me, who pulled me out of that place — wants me all for himself.
I want him all for myself, too.
The moonlight slanting into the room through the blinds is making everything in here glow. It feels like another realm entirely, like we're not in the real world.
He takes in a deep breath. It's intense and disarming. It's like he's stolen all of the air in my lungs and taken it for himself. I love it. I want him to have it. I want him to have all of me.
"I thought you were going to say that I'm awful at this.”
"Nothing you ever say or do will be anything less than perfect."
"No," I say, shaking my head and biting my lip. I press my fingers to his chest, about to confess, ready to throw myself at his feet, to beg for his mercy if he demands it, but resigned to shutting the hell up if he asks me to. Even despite all of that, I cannot help the smile tugging at my lips. I think he might like what I'm going to say. I certainly do. "I'm a liar and a fraud. A scammer. A total bait-and-switch."
He tips his head back and huffs out a chuckle.
"I don't think any of those things would faze me in the slightest."
"Julian, that place…"
“Is irrelevant," he says. "As far as I'm concerned, my life began the day I saw you. Nothing else matters. It's just you and me now. Period."
"But I want…" I swallow and pat my hands lightly against his chest, asking him to let me finish. "No. I want to tell you this. I think you have the right to know that you've been swindled. That I have never done anything like this before. That I was ill-suited for that job and that the proof is standing right here in front of me." I swallow thickly as I look up at him. "You're the only one."
A growl rumbles through him as he pulls me against his body. His hot body. His huge body. He grabs my ass and hitches my leg up and plants himself right between my legs. I hold onto his shirt for dear life, with a breathless hum between us.
"More," he says against my lips, squeezing my ass, his fingers digging hard enough to bruise. "Tell me more."
My voice dims to a thin whisper.
“I’ve never talked to a guy like that. I’ve never wanted to. And when you took me from that place, I finally knew that I wanted to. Withyou.”
"So you've never…" he ventures, trailing off.
