"Hello?" I said as I closed the door behind me. "Julian?"
I heard a started sound from the sofa, and Julian sat up, obviously surprised. "Krystal? Oh God, what time is it?"
"Just after midnight," I said, setting down my bag and coming over. He had set up his laptop computer on the coffee table, and it was pretty obvious he had fallen asleep. "You must be getting caught up from jet lag."
Julian yawned and stretched before wiping his hands over his face and nodding. "Yeah, I must. Wow, jeez, sorry."
I chuckled and sat down next to him. With his hair a bit disheveled from sleep, he looked cute, a lot more innocent than I'd ever seen him before. "It happens to us all. I've gotten used to being able to catch some sleep on a moment's notice. So what's loaded?"
"Well, I figured you'd be coming home late, so I didn't want to keep you up all night. First off, I wanted to apologize about last night. I didn't mean to disrupt your work or to cause you any problems."
"Thank you," I said, smiling. "Just to let you know, Kimberly called me during my break. She told me about your conversation. Regardless of the result, I know your intent was in the right place."
"Thank you," Julian said, reaching out and taking my hand. "Secondly . . . you cook one mean ass steak. Best I've ever had in my life."
His compliment made me blush, and my smile spread into a grin. "Okay, okay, you're forgiven. Now, are you going to tell me what you loaded up or am I going to be forced into hitting the play button myself?"
"Just a moment," Julian said, getting up from the couch. He rushed into the kitchen area before returning, carrying two bowls. From my sitting position on the couch I couldn't see what they were. "I wish I could take the credit for these, but as you know I can't cook much at all, I’ll admit I ordered delivery. I figured you'd had dinner at the restaurant, so I just got us some dessert."
He handed me my bowl, along with a spoon. "I don't know if it's up to Michelin star standard, but I've got a weakness for tiramisu. This place about a mile away delivered, and so I got us a tiramisu and a panna cotta. So anyway, as to what I loaded. I thought about it, and I realized as much as a movie would be fun, you'd probably be too tired. I thought instead about your upcoming TV appearance, and loaded this instead."
He hit the play button, and I was immediately taken back as the theme from Backdraft played over the speakers. "You loaded the original Iron Chef? Awesome!"
It was even more than awesome. Julian had chosen with quite a bit of forethought, choosing an episode that featured the first woman to defeat one of the Japanese Iron Chefs. As the cooking progressed, we both enjoyed our dessert, and afterwards leaned back to relax, my sweet tooth satisfied.
What happened next felt strangely natural to me. With exhaustion overtaking me, I leaned over, relaxing against Julian's arm, until he lifted his arm around my shoulder. It was warm and comfortable there for sure, and there was an unmistakably masculine aura. I leaned in and relaxed, letting my head rest against his body, feeling the light tingles of arousal begin to work their way through my body. I could hear Julian's heart through the thin cotton of his shirt, and by the time the final credits played, my body moved on its own. Scooting up, I turned towards him, our eyes meeting before we started leaning in, our lips parting.
When our foreheads touched however, Julian suddenly stopped, and pushed himself backwards. "No . . . I, I can't. I'm sorry Krystal, I just can't."
He got up off the couch and almost fled to his room. I sat there in the glow of the computer screen until his screen saver kicked in before pushing off the sofa and heading for my bedroom. I paused in the middle of the living room, thinking of going to Julian's room, but I decided to get some shut eye instead. Maybe the light of day would make things feel less weird.
Twenty minutes later however, I was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. My body just wouldn't calm down, and I knew what it wanted. It had been a long time, too long really, since I'd had a man share my bed, and the last one had been pretty so-so. Lying on the sofa against Julian, my body was reminding me that while my culinary career was skyrocketing, my love life was going down in flames. It ached for intimacy, it needed release.
But he was my stepbrother! I mean, Mom and John are some pretty open-minded people, but could they understand that? Besides that, Julian's reputation, and the fact he had been pretty much an asshole for most of his life were not in his favor. Then again, it was hard not to be drawn to his body.
It was a hell of a time for my memory to start arguing with me. His intentions were good this time . . . Don't tell me he doesn't push some buttons physically for you . . . if I didn't know better, he sounded like he has a crush on you, babe . . .