Page 30 of I Knew You
But Whit’s words echoed in my head as I headed back downstairs.
“Don’t even think about it, Bram.”
Chapter Six
Julianna |September 29, 2024
The bedside lamp cast soft shadows over the walls. According to the antique wall clock, I’d lain awake for three hours. Distractions were not working. My mind was on an endless loop, a barrage of emotions threatening to choke the tiny bit of peace I’d attained since entering Bram’s house.
As much as I didn’t want to be indebted to Bram for taking me in, I was thankful I wasn’t staying at what was left of Gram’s house. The home I knew no longer existed. It would never again have the smell of cinnamon pinecones and wood smoke in the winter or sun tea and freshly cut grass in the summer. All those memories were remnants of the past. I should have known I couldn’t go back, but I hadn’t been prepared.
I couldn’t believe I was staying in this farmhouse that had only existed in the recesses of my childhood memories. Bramhad restored it beautifully with his bare hands and sharp skills. The man had more capabilities than I ever thought possible.
He left you alone, injured on the side of the road.
He broke your heart into a million pieces.
He didn’t come for you.
My mind kept pinging between past occurrences and present truth.
It wasn’t loneliness that made my brain work overtime. I was used to being alone. The only person I’d shared personal space with as an adult was Kallie. None of the short-term boyfriends of my past ever so much as stayed overnight. I couldn’t do casual cohabitation. I was a hopeless romantic in a world of instant gratification and cool indifference. I had not even had sex yet. My sexual resume wasn’t empty, but intercourse was a line I had yet to cross. No one ever seemed worth that type of closeness.
My thoughts were interrupted by a slight cough. Bram’s footsteps echoed as he padded up the stairs, followed by the click of Lakey’s nails on the wood. My insides tensed, including my back, which protested over my muscles flexing. I didn’t relax until I heard his bedroom door creak twice, indicating that it opened and closed.
I was in a strange, yet familiar, house with a strange, yet familiar, man, wrestling with a mattress that wasn’t supporting my back.
I had to be very picky about what I slept on, and the guest bed wasn’t cutting it. Pinching and burning pains tore through my body, sensations that had become more frequent as the days passed, punctuating my lack of time. Surgery was no longer a maybe. It was a must. And I refused to bother Bram about moving rooms. I didn’t want him to know how badly I suffered. I got up and removed the heating pad and naproxen from my overnight bag, which made me realize I had no waterto take the pills. There was no choice for me but to make a quick expedition down the stairs.
I tried to be quiet on my socked feet, but the old house made it impossible. The floor and doors creaked. I cringed at the noises but decided I was being ridiculous. Bram told me I could go downstairs if I were thirsty. I still slinked down the little hall, pausing at Bram’s bedroom door when I noticed it was slightly ajar.
I stood there for a moment in the semi-dark. A light from the foyer below illuminated the space, but it wasn’t enough for me to see into his room. I took the tiniest sliding step toward the open door.
I didn’t notice the deep knot in the old wooden floorboard, and my toe caught in it. My heart stopped as I pitched forward into the bedroom door, unable to find anything to grab to stabilize myself. It flung open, and I fell onto the floor inside the bedroom face-first, right in time for me to glance over and see a completely naked Bram Winchester walk out of his ensuite bathroom.
Eyes wide, I stared up at him. Lakey jumped off the bed and leapt to get to me. Her wet tongue on my face blocked my vision of Bram.
“Whoa!” was all I’d heard Bram exclaim. He ran back into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I gently pushed Lakey away, and before I could gather my wits to flee, Bram was already on his knees beside me with a white towel wrapped around his waist.
“My God, are you okay?”
I looked up at his dripping wet form, trying to take him in fully, but it was impossible.
No trace of boyishness remained in his broad shoulders, roughened skin, or the chest hair that haunted my dreams. He no longer had defined abs, but his stomach and chest were solid, and his arms were well-defined without flexing. I hadn’tnoticed the veins in his forearms earlier. I hadn’t even known forearms could be so attractive.
I tried, and failed, not to think about his dick.
He was so perfect. And I’d crashed into his bedroom in the middle of the night like a fucking creep.
I groaned, the thoughts of his handsomeness eclipsed by the sharp pains in my back.
“Can you move?” His deep voice felt like velvet against my skin.
I tried to move and gritted my teeth as my muscles protested.“My back,” I said in a small voice, then I exhaled a groan.
Before I could react further, Bram bent over and scooped my large body up like I was nothing more than a feather. I gasped, struggling against him in pain and embarrassment. I was entirely too heavy for him to lift. “No! You can’t?—”
“But I am,” he interrupted, committed to his act. It wasn’t an easy transition, but he walked me to his bed and gently placed me on the worn quilt and rumpled sheets.
