Page 28 of Just Like You
“I know,” I said. I didn’t have the strength to continue that conversation, so instead I held him tighter. Rocked him gently in my arms, and then I let him move over, thinking he wanted space. Instead he lay his head down on my chest and curled himself around me. And promptly fell asleep, right there.
My Julian.
I should have got up, but I couldn’t. I just lay there, watching his breaths siphon out of his mouth. His eyelashes fluttering in his sleep. The warm breeze from outside mingling with the sound of the wind through the palm trees.
Perhaps it was a weird dream, or maybe it was real, but I couldn’t piece it all together to make sense. Apart from what I had here?
This was what I wanted. Simple. Easy. Straightforward. Him and me. And the way things just seemed to finally…make sense.
Chapter Nine
Julian
Sleeping in the daytime, when it was actually nighttime, in whatever time zone I was currently in? It did weird things to your body. Even weirder things to your brain, because I woke up with that familiar starving feeling, where I needed to eat. Anything, anywhere, as long as it was edible, my mouth wanted it. Now.
If I’d been at home, I would have been standing in front of the fridge, eating cheese straight out of the packet. Drinking juice like it was priceless nectar from the carton and attempting to find anything…anything at all to calm that hunger in me.
Down route in hotels, I would go for my trusty snack bag, and I found myself pottering around the empty room, flicking the kettle on and rummaging in my suitcase.
A packet of biscuits, which I ripped open and shoved two straight in my mouth, standing there chewing like the idiot I was…as he was standing in the doorway watching me. The soft breeze from outside making his shirt move around his waist. A pair of shorts. Bare legs. A smile on his face.
“Hungry,” I tried to say in my defence, crumbs spitting everywhere over my birthday suit. Yeah. Naked, and I didn’t care.
“Doesn’t surprise me. You’ve had almost five hours. I was going to wake you shortly because we’ll need to go for dinner in a bit.”
“A snack is fine,” I said weakly, not wanting to admit that going for dinner? Here? That would drain my allowance before I’d even taken the first bite of the bread roll on the side.
“Julian.”
He said that a lot. My name rolling off his tongue with a warm ease.
I didn’t want to admit that I liked it. Not Jules. Not J. Not any other quirky little nickname. No, just my name, as it was.
“Things are pricy here, okay? Not all of us can afford to dine like kings.”
I wasn’t proud, nor was I ashamed. I wasn’t made of money, and this job was a champagne lifestyle on a soft drink budget, and I just couldn’t justify… I didn’t have the money to pay for things I couldn’t afford. Story of my life.
“Julian, I don’t mean it like that. I’m not here to scrounge off you. I get a free hotel room… Well. I assume it’s not something you have to pay for.”
“No,” I admitted.
“But I will pay for the food and drinks. It’s only fair.”
Oh. Okay?
“I…” I started, trying to wipe the crumbs off my face. I was stark naked, standing here talking to a man who…
Crap. Double crap.
“Let me order you some tea. Toast?”
“There’s a kettle right here. I just boiled it.”
“And I am here to look after you.” He lifted the receiver and…surprisingly politely, ordered me breakfast. With margarine, not butter, and oat milk.
“You remembered,” I pointed out, honestly surprised. The arsehole was…thoughtful. Kind. He put the phone down and wrapped me up in a hug. Just stood there and held me as I smiled into his shoulder. Shirt fabric in my face. Bloody crumbs still in my mouth.
What a mess I was.
