“What time is it there? Like five a.m.?”
“Yep.”
“Why are you up?”
“I have an early photoshoot.” She climbed out of bed, went into the bathroom and set her phone up against the back of the sink. “How was your first day at work?”
“It was good. There’s something I have to tell you.”
“Okay. Spill it.” She put some toothpaste on her toothbrush and began brushing her teeth.
“Remember the guy I told you about from Friday night?”
“Yeah. The hot one in the bar that lives in Venice on the beach?”
“Yep.”
“Don’t tell me he tracked you down and wants to go out.”
“No. He didn’t track me down. He’s my new boss.”
“What?! Hold on.” She rinsed her toothbrush and her mouth and placed her hands on the sink, so her face was mere inches from the phone. “You slept with your boss?”
“I didn’t know he was my boss on Friday.”
“Shit, Julia. That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah. I know.” I bit my bottom lip.
“Did he freak out when he saw you?”
“Pretty much. But we talked about it and things are cool now.”
“From the way you described him, I have a feeling the two of you will be hitting the sheets again soon.”
“Absolutely not. We already said it wouldn’t happen again.”
“If you say so. I have to go, or I’ll be late. We’ll talk later. I love you.”
“I love you too. Have fun.”
“Always do.” She blew me a kiss.
Chapter 10
Sam
I was sitting out on my deck drinking a bottle of imported beer when Simon walked over.
“Hey, bro.”
“Go grab a beer,” I said.
He went inside, grabbed a beer and took the seat next to me.
“So, I heard—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I spoke as I brought the bottle up to my lips.
He chuckled before taking a sip of his beer.
“Only you, Sam. Only you.” He grinned as he shook his head.
“What are the odds? I mean, come on.”
“Is she cool working for you?”
“Yeah. I guess. She told me that I was a one-night stand and nothing more. Can you believe that? No woman has ever said that to me.”
“Maybe she was just saying that. You know how women are. Maybe she’s putting on a front for your sake.”
“I don’t think so. I’m good at reading women and she’s different. She said it with such seriousness. There wasn’t a hint of pretending going on with her.”
“Okay. Then she’s a rare one.”
“I asked her if she usually has a lot of one-night stands.”
“Wow. You asked her that? What did she say?”
“She said ‘here and there’ and then proceeded to tell me she was human and has needs.”
“Hmm. Why is she single? I mean, look at her. She a beautiful and sexy woman. Someone like her shouldn’t be single. Unless she’s crazy and you just haven’t seen it yet.” He laughed.
“I have no clue. I didn’t ask her. She’s not crazy. In fact, she’s overly nice. Like, sickening nice. Oh, and Dad laid into me about Kendra. He said we’re going to end up getting slapped with a sexual harassment suit because I can’t keep my dick in my pants.”
“Damn. Like he’s one to talk.”
“Right? That’s what I wanted to say to him. Then he warned me that I better stay away from Julia.”
“Well, in all honesty, bro, you should. But I don’t know how you’re going to. She’s hot, she’s overly nice, and she’s your personal assistant. Good luck with that.” He held his bottle up to me.
“I can do it. I already know what she has under those sexy clothes she wears. I’m good.” I tapped my bottle against his.
“Hey, what’s going on over here?” Stefan asked as he walked up.
“Just some brotherly talk,” Simon spoke. “Go grab a beer and join us.”
“Is Sebastian at the restaurant?” I asked.
“Yeah. He wants us to come by tomorrow night for dinner. He’s testing out a new dish.”
“Why are we always the guinea pigs?” Simon smirked.
“So, how was your day with Julia?” Stefan grinned as he sat down on the other side of me.
“It was fine.”
“Why is she single?” he asked.
“I asked the same damn thing,” Simon spoke.
“Why the hell are we all single?” I asked as I looked at them.
“You know why,” Stefan said. “Mom and Dad fucked us up with all of their relationship woes. Who the hell needs that shit in their life?”
“True, brother. So true,” Simon said as he finished his beer. “I have to go. There’s a new case I’m working on, and I want to follow up on a lead. Don’t forget about tomorrow. Twelve o’clock at the tuxedo place.”
“We’ll be there,” Stefan said. “You know, we should just buy the damn tuxedos. We’ve stood up in every one of Dad’s weddings. I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last one.”
“I don’t know. He really seems to love Celeste.” I glanced over at him.
“He really loved Mom, Delaney, Madeline and Anna too. I gotta go too, bro. Nanny Kate is off-duty soon.” He held his fist out.
“I’ll talk to you later.” I fist bumped him.
Taking the last sip of my beer, I went inside and got another one. I couldn’t stop thinking about Julia no matter how hard I tried, and I wondered what she was doing. Was she out? Perhaps scoping out her next one-night stand? Was she at home alone? Was she with a friend? Shit. I needed to find an excuse to talk to her. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I dialed her number.
“Hello.”
“Julia, It’s Sam.”
“Hey, Sam. How are you?”
“I’m good. I need you in the office tomorrow morning at seven. I want to go over some things I need you to do regarding the project I’m working on.”
“Okay. I’ll be there.”
“Great. Um. Have you had dinner yet?”
“I just took out a chicken dish I made from the oven. Why?”
“Nothing. I was just going to grab a burger and since we were talking, I thought if you hadn’t eaten yet, you could join me.”
“Oh. You’re more than welcome to come over and try my chicken dish if you want. I have plenty.”
“No. That’s okay. Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“Okay. See you in the morning.”
“Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
“You too, Sam.”
As tempting as it was to go over there, I shouldn’t be doing shit like that. A restaurant was different. We would be surrounded by people and not confined alone in her apartment.
“Good morning.” Julia beamed as she walked in my office with a container in one hand and a cup holder with two cups of coffee in the other.