Page 35 of Fighting Temptation (Men of Honor 1)
Ten minutes later Cooper and Kayla help me get Julia into her house. “Her room is at the top of the stairs to the right,” Kayla says quietly.
“Thanks,” I look to Coop now, “I’ll call you tomorrow when she wakes up.”
I start walking up the stairs when Kayla starts in at me, “No funny business Jaxson, or I will kick your ass.” I shake my head, whatever Cooper has been showing her he needs to tone it down. That’s the second time she has threatened to cause me physical harm.
I keep the lights off as I walk into Julia’s room and lay her down gently on her bed.
Fuck! What the hell am I going to do about her dress? I run downstairs hoping Kayla and Coop haven’t left. I see the tail lights on Coop’s truck as they drive away. Shit! I go back in and stare down at Julia with indecision… Just don’t think about it and do it. Taking a deep breath I turn her so she’s laying on her uninjured side and unzip her dress then roll her to her back again. I start sliding the dress down her body when she moans, “Mmmm Jaxson.” Holy fuck! I freeze thinking she’s awake, my semi-erect cock goes painfully hard now. When I look closer I see she’s sound asleep. Christ! I take a deep breath and try to control the need that’s consuming me. Once I get her dress all the way off I decide to torture myself more and stare down at her beautifully sculpted body. Jesus! She’s fucking perfect. Of course her bra and panties match the dress she was wearing, the pale yellow looks good against her smooth olive skin. Rage tears through me again when I see her bandaged ribs looking so out of place on her. Shaking my head I pull the blankets over her and sit on the floor by her bed.
I’m not worried about falling asleep so I don’t bother to set my watch. Being in the Navy we were trained to go with little or no sleep for days at a time. I lean my head back against the wall and watch her sleep.
An hour and a half later I try waking her, “Jules,” I shake her gently while sitting next to her on the bed. She gets a frown on her face, “Come on baby I need you to wake up.”
“No!” she mumbles and slaps my hand away, making me chuckle.
“What’s your name?” I ask in amusement. When she doesn’t answer I shake her again, “Come on I need you to answer me.”
She surprises me when she growls, “My name is Julia, I’m 24 years old and you are Jaxson… my EX-best friend. Now shut up and leave me alone,” she rolls over and is out cold again.
Shit! She’s pissy when she’s tired.
I settle back down in my spot on the floor. Clearly by her EX-best friend comment she’s far from forgiven me. I will find a way to make this right. I would have made it up to her before now if I hadn’t been holed up in that fucking rehabilitation clinic for 9 months.
I stretch out my legs and come into contact with something under her bed. I reach under to see what it is, hoping I didn’t break it. I’m shocked as shit when I pull out a framed picture of Julia and I from my graduation. I forgot that she had Sawyer take this; she looked so fucking beautiful that day. I remember how shocked I was when I heard her cheering when they called my name, shocked and happy as fuck.
Staring at the picture brings back memories of her graduation. I went to surprise her, just like she had me. It had been three years since I’d last seen her. I found out when I got there that she had a boyfriend, someone more in her league, a med student. She had no idea I was there, I didn’t want to fuck up her relationship. And well, to be honest, I didn’t want her to realize just how different I was from the guy, to realize how unworthy I truly was of her, even her friendship. From what Coop could gather from Kayla, the guy was good to her. It drove me crazy thinking of anyone touching her but me. I know I don’t have a right to feel that way, especially after what I’d done, but I can’t help it. My emotions and feelings have never made sense when it comes to Julia.
I snap out of my thoughts when I hear Julia moan. It’s only been an hour since I woke her last. I look over to see her holding her head. I put the picture back under the bed then get up quickly and sit beside her.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask moving a piece of hair out of her face.
She squints up at me in confusion, “Jaxson?”
“It’s me, do you remember tonight?”
She looks around disorientated, “Some… I think. What time is it?”
“2 am.”
“My head really hurts,” she says in a painful whisper.
“Here take some more of these,” I grab her pills and shake out 2 giving them to her. I grab the water I got earlier and help her sit up to take them.
“Thanks,” she mumbles. I go to move back down on the floor when she grabs my arm looking panicked, “Don’t leave me!”
“I’m not. I’ve been sitting right over there,” I point over at my spot on the floor.
“Lay here with me,” she says softly. Jesus! This is a different Julia than I woke up an hour ago. Can I control myself? I look down at her pleading eyes. Shit! I can’t say no to her and I don’t want to either.
As I go to lay down she opens the blankets to invite me in. Oh fuck! Clearly she doesn’t realize she isn’t wearing anything but her underwear. “Don’t do that baby!” I say, quickly closing the blankets back around her, “I’ll lay on top of the blankets.”
