When the ceremony came to an end, I noticed Devlin was no longer in his seat, and my dad was waiting for me on the sidelines alone.
“Congratulations, Jules.” I stepped into his open arms. The hug was a rare occurrence, saved for those moments when I’d lived up to his expectations.
“Thanks, Daddy.” He took a step back and held me at arm’s length, then smiled. Another rare occurrence.
“Let me take you out to dinner and we’ll talk about your impending move back home.”
“Sure. We need to talk.” I looked away from the puzzled look he gave me and caught Devlin’s eye over his shoulder. He was leaning against his car watching us. “Can I meet you at the car, though? I need to talk to someone.”
He looked over his shoulder to see who’d caught my attention. When he turned back toward me, the frown on his face told me he didn’t approve of Devlin. Though Devlin’s reputation preceded him in the business world, there weren’t many pictures of him floating around, so there was no way he’d recognized him. At that moment, I silently thanked Devlin for being an excessively private man.
“I’ll just be a minute.” I stepped around him and made my way across the lawn to the parking lot just beyond. Devlin smiled at me as I stepped into his arms. I took a deep breath with my head pressed to his chest, taking in his amazing masculine scent. The tension that had started to build over my impending conversation with my father began to disappear.
“I don’t want to tell him,” I admitted, my word muffled against his shirt.
He released his tight hold on me and lifted my head with two fingers under my chin. “This is your accomplishment, not his. What you do next is up to you, but I want to see you smile, Juliana. Every day. If you can honestly tell me going back to Chicago will make you happy, I’ll pack up everything and take you there tomorrow.”
I took a step back at his shocking words. “You’d move with me? Pick up and leave everything?”
He stepped in close, ran the back of his hand down my face. “You have no idea what I’d do for you. Still clueless of your hold on me.”
He leaned in and took my mouth in a soft kiss, his tongue sweeping over my lips then plunging inside with smooth, strong strokes. He cupped my face as the kiss deepened, stirring a need in me, causing me to moan into his mouth, claw at his shoulders. When he broke away, his forehead resting against mine, I felt him smile against my lips. It was these moments with Devlin. These little glimpses of the caring man he hid that made me love him. Dangerously so. To the point it felt like I’d come apart without him.
“Go talk to your father, then you come home to me.” He tapped a finger over my nose, rounded the car, got in, and pulled off. I stared at the car as he turned out of the lot, a little dazed by that sweet display Devlin had put on. My spell was broken as my father’s rental car pulled into the spot Devlin had vacated.
Opening the door, I slid in, ignoring the hard stare my dad pinned on me. “Who was that?”
“A friend,” I answered with my gaze fixed on the windshield. One thing at a time, Juliana. I wasn’t going to tell him I wasn’t going to Chicago and dating a multi-million dollar mogul with the kind of reputation that would make my dad furious all at once.
“Looked like more than a friend to me,” he said as he pulled the car out of the parking lot, turning in the opposite direction Devlin took. He continued to eye me throughout the drive to the restaurant, and I pretended to be busy on my phone.
Chapter Eighteen
Juliana
Robert Callahan was irritated.
I could see it in his tight frown and the constant tapping of his fingers on the tabletop. He’d pulled his black suit jacket off as soon as we made it inside the restaurant. His dark brown hair began peppering with gray a few years back. I’m sure he’d like to blame me for them, but I knew his stress was self-inflicted from being overbearing and domineering.
The waiter came. Dad ordered for both of us without my input, then his patience ran out. “I hope you know what you’re doing with that man, Juliana. He looks to be too old for you… and too rich. Men like that use young, gullible girls like you.”
“Dad, he’s not using me.”
He folded his hands on the table and shook his head. Disappointment noted.
“How are you getting home next week?”
I shrugged. It really shouldn’t be this hard. I was being a coward when all I had to say was, ‘Dad, I know you spent a shit-ton of money so I could attain this diploma, but I’m just going to hang it on the wall while I pursue dance.’
Easy, right?
No. That won’t work.