Chapter Twelve

I pick up Andy on my way to meet Eric, Tristan, and Charlie for an early dinner.

Lex flew to Manhattan due to some big mess. I’m not listening, to tell you the truth. It’s what happens when Charlie rambles on about her husband.

The restaurant is a family-friendly eatery, bugging the shit out of Eric. Amelia and Andy are happily playing in the kids’ corner as the waiter stands beside our table to take our order.

“I’ll have the ham and pea soup for starters with a side of garlic bread, the steak and mixed salad for my entree. Oh, wait, can you add potatoes to that and sour cream?” The waiter nods, quickly writing on his pad. “Great, and for dessert I’ll have the chef’s surprise, but make sure it comes with two scoops of vanilla ice cream… oh, what the hell, make it three.” I place my menu down to be met with gaping mouths.

“Adriana, are you feeding Africa?” Charlie asks.

“No, just famished,” I practically sing out loud.

“That’s a mighty big meal. Sounds like you had a busy day.” Eric snickers.

I shoot him an annoyed look. What the fuck is he thinking? At least Tristan has the decency to keep his trap shut.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake. Amelia has spilled some water.” A fretful Charlie excuses herself to attend to her daughter.

“Okay, you better fess up, missy, because you look freshly fucked in every orifice,” Eric points out.

“Eric, honestly. That’s so crass,” Tristan scolds him.

My cheeks begin to flush, no doubt visibly red from Eric’s observation. “Yes, all right. Keep your big mouth shut or no deets.”

“Geez, don’t get all nasty on me,” Eric gripes. “Look at you, you’ve got that glow. You know that jizz-splashed-all-over-your-face glow.”

My shoulders rise and fall as I chuckle at his comment. Even Tristan isn’t immune to Eric’s humor.

“Tristan, maybe you need to block your ears for this,” I warn.

“Please, I live with Eric. I can handle the smut talk.”

“Okay, Julian is so fucking unbelievable I can’t walk. I mean literally, I think my vagina is broken,” I blurt out.

“Oh, hell no, you could’ve warned me, Adriana,” Tristan complains.

“I did!”

He rambles uncomfortably about needing to leave the table and uses Andy and Amelia as an excuse to heads over.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m so happy for you!” Eric claps his hands and stands up to hug me.

“What’s going on?” Charlie returns, eyeing us cautiously.

“Finally finished a design, that’s all,” I lie. “I had this creative block for months, and now it’s all coming together.

“Right, I thought you were going to finally tell me who you’ve been fucking because I swear, Adriana, it’s written all over your face.” She chugs on her drink while waiting for my response.

Crap!

I can’t tell her the whole truth, only because it will affect her marriage. Instead, I decide to give her a few tidbits, leaving out the most important part—Julian.

“Okay. Look, Charlie, it’s not serious. It was a one-night fling, not even a fling just a make-out session, and please don’t tell Lex. And I mean best friend pinky swear, sister-code swear on the Bible and your firstborn.”

“Aww, Adriana, don’t make me do all that.” She frowns, letting out a breath. “What if he asks me?”

“You tell him you can answer the question, but you won’t be held accountable for sexual images of his sister which may creep into his brain and require a gallon of brain bleach.”

“Great response.” She rubs her hands together in delight. “Okay, so gimme all the goss.”

Andy moves toward us and asks to sit down. “Another time, perhaps.”

“Okay, so guess what I’ve planned?” Eric says, barely able to contain his excitement.

We both shrug our shoulders. Tristan is already shaking his head disapprovingly—this can’t be good. Eric is known to be wild and adventurous, but on a positive note, life is never dull around him.

“I’m having a little gathering at our place on Friday night. A very special guest will be attending.”

“Eric, the last time you said that a shemale stripper turned up.” Charlie winces.

I complain along with Charlie, “Yeah. Honestly, Eric, I don’t like your surprise guests.”

Eric throws his hands in the air like the drama queen he is. “Oh, let it go, will you? Yeesh! One time. Nope, something even better.”

“Okay, is this a girl thing?” Charlie asks.

“It’s for everyone, except kids.”

Charlie and I both let out a groan at the same time complaining about babysitters and sleeping schedules. Eric, who doesn’t like change one bit, promises it will all be worth it, and, in fact, it will be a bonding session for all of us.

We agree to go, though Charlie still has to convince Lex, the biggest complainer of all time.

***

Every chance I get during working hours, I race over to Julian’s hotel, fuck him in ways my imagination dares only to dream about yet only for an hour before I’m due back at work. Three days straight, and I’m desperate for more.

By Friday, I am itching to get out but have an important deadline. I tell Julian it’s a no-go since Friday is the day my assistant leaves the boutique at midday for an extended lunch until three in the afternoon. I busy myself preparing a sample for a buyer when I hear the door chime to be met with Julian standing in front of me.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, surprised, looking behind him in worry.

“Well, you couldn’t come to me, so I came to you.”

He is standing before me, wide grinned, dressed head to toe in a dark gray suit and light pink shirt. Armani. Okay, shit, focus and pick up your jaw from the floor.

“But someone could see you here.” I panic.

“Adriana, you have exactly one minute to figure out where I’m going to fuck you.”

Is he kidding? He doesn’t have his kidding face on.

“You’re not joking, are you? And why am I thinking of a place?”

“I’m not joking. I can smell how soaking wet you are from across the counter. Ten… nine… eight…”

I quickly look toward the door and see no one. I pull his arm to my back storeroom, and he doesn’t wait, lifting my skirt and pushing me against the rack as soon as we’re out of sight.

Note to self—always wear dresses.

He is already hard and enters me without warning, and I push back, the adrenaline running through me as he continues to fuck me when anyone can walk in. The thrill of being caught spikes my arousal, and my body is moving with his, pushing deeper into him.

“I can’t go a day without fucking you. It’s too hard. I need you, Adriana.”

“I need you, too,” I moan loudly.

His grip tightens, almost hurting me, and his movement speeds up. He brushes his lips against my ear and demands to come inside me. I nod, but he wants me to say the words.

I don’t say it, I beg for it.

The ache down below is spreading all over me, and I clench in pleasure, biting his hand to keep myself from screaming his name. He wants us to be in sync, something I always struggle with, but with his magic fingers gliding across my swollen clit, I’m done faster than you can say holy fuck.

He fixes my skirt and kisses my shoulder as I control my breathing. I straighten my hair in the mirror on the wall and smooth out my dress when the chime rings. I motion for him to be quiet and stay put. As I walk back into the store, my heart falls out of my chest, smack bam on the floor, as I see my brother standing behind the register.

“Lex,” I almost shout. “Why are you here?”

“Why are you shouting my name? I’m not deaf,” he replies.

“Sorry, noisy aircon out back. So, what are you doing here?”

Act calm. Do not show any signs of paranoia.

“I wanted to talk to you about tonight. Do you always leave the store unattended?”

“No, dickwad. Cassie had to be somewhere, and I really needed to count something in the back, and besides, I have a door chime.”

“Right. So about tonight. It’s not a fucking drag queen party again, is it?”

“Shemales, not drag queens. Eric promised it wasn’t.” I distract myself by folding some garments in front of me, but it seems pointless as Julian’s cum is oozing down my thigh. What have I gotten myself into? Why can’t a vagina be like a Venus flytrap, once caught, it shuts. This is just plain uncomfortable, and my brother is in front of me. My eyes move toward my arms as they begin to redden.

“So, I’ll bail. Charlotte can weather the storm.”

“Whatever. You’ll last an hour before the curiosity gets the better of you, and you do your whole I-miss-my-wife bullshit.”

I need to wrap this conversation up, but Lex is getting comfortable resting his hand on the bench and pulling out his cell to type something. The anxiety was getting to me, and suddenly, the temperature in the room is stifling hot.

“Well, I haven’t seen her much this week between me flying to New York and her helping Nikki with that pending case. Is it too much to want to spend quality time with my wife?”

“Uh, no…” I’m aware Julian hears all of this, and I am not too sure what he’ll be thinking right now. Will he be annoyed? Angry? The last thing I want is to get into another argument when things are becoming great between us.

I see Lex’s face light up, and his lips widen into a smile.

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

He continues typing. “Oh, nothing.”

“Whatever. Show me!” It’s just like when we were kids. He knows how to push my buttons, and I used to hate it when he hid things from me. Classic example, when he was fourteen, and I thought he was smuggling Wonka bars into the house in a brown paper bag when my dad had banned all sweets for a month after Lex and I accidentally washed his wallet as part of our chores. I swore he was sneaking in candy and begged him to share it with me. He always refused, and so one day, I rushed home after school and raided his room only to find the latest Penthouse magazines.

Yet somehow, I still didn’t learn my lesson back then or now, asking him to show me his cell.

“You want to see your best friend naked in the shower?”

“Oh my God, Lex! TMI! Get the fuck out of here, you freak.”

“Gladly. I’ve got a wife who needs attention. See ya tonight, sis.” He winks.

He walks out the door, and I let out a long-winded sigh. I give it a few minutes before I head to the back. Julian is standing there against the wall. I know he has heard it all, given that his face is blank. No smile or I-missed-you grin.

“I’m sorry, that was so awkward, and I know that must have been hard for you.”

“Adriana,” he grits.

“Yeah?” I mutter.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I want only you? The only uncomfortable thing about this is that I loathe your brother for holding us back. I want to go home to you and do dirty things whenever I please.”

“But Charlie and naked…” I’m fucking rambling. Why am I fucking talking about Charlie being naked!

“Don’t. Please.”

“But you’re not—”

“How many fucking times do I have to tell you it’s over? I don’t think about her that way,” Julian raises his voice, throwing his arms in the air with frustration. “This has got to stop, you understand me?”

“Argh, I hate it, too. Okay!” I fall into his arms, desperate to feel secure.

Slowly, he wraps his arms around me, allowing me to bury my head into his chest. His lips kiss the top of my head. “I need to go.”

I don’t allow him to let go of me, not caring at this moment who walks in on us. “Don’t go,” I plead.

“I have a meeting. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Come over tonight?”

“You have that thing at Eric’s,” he reminds me.

“Oh, right.”

“Tomorrow, okay? We’ll make something work. I promise.” He places a final kiss on my lips before exiting the store and leaving me on my own.

I plonk myself on the stool, slouching as I mentally scold myself for being a hormonal, jealous woman. Sometimes, I have no idea who I am. Almost like I have multiple personalities, and the worst one of them all is jealous Adriana. The thing that scares me the most is I never know what’s around the corner. Our relationship is a roller coaster, and I blame myself. Julian does nothing but reassure me it’s only me he wants, yet it isn’t enough. What else do I want? That nagging voice inside me wants to ask him more questions. I feel like he’s hiding something, but what?

I have no idea, and jealous Adriana will only disappear if I find out exactly what’s bugging me.