He didn't seem to mind. Taking her hand in his, he sucked the wine from her fingertips.
Grace moaned low in her throat. A million ribbons of pleasure spread through her body as his tongue slid the entire length of her fingers while his teeth gently nipped her flesh.
One by one, he slowly cleaned them all. And when he was done, he tilted her chin up and captured her lips with his.
But this wasn't the fiercely demanding kiss she was used to from him. The one he used to seduce and devour her.
This one was gentle, quiet. Soft. His lips were feather-light and questing.
He pulled back. "Still hungry?" he asked.
"Yes," she breathed, not really talking about the food, but more about the aching of her body for his.
He fed her another bite of spaghetti.
And the next time she sought to quench his thirst, he covered her hand with his while his eyes teased her.
They stayed like that, gently feeding each other and just reveling in one another's company, until the end of the movie, when Julian became suddenly interested in the final fight scenes.
"Your guns are fascinating," he said as he watched it.
"I guess a general would think so."
He glanced at her, then back to the movie. "What do you like most about this play?"
'The allegories."
He nodded. "I see a lot of Plato in it."
"You know of Plato?" she asked in surprise.
"I studied him when I was young."
"Really?"
He looked less than amused. 'They did manage to teach us a few things while they were knocking us around."
"You're being flippant."
"Somewhat."
After the movie ended, Julian helped her clean up.
While she was loading the dishwasher, the phone rang. "I'll be back in a sec," she said, dashing to the living room to pick up the phone.
"Grace, is that you?"
Grace froze at the sound of Rodney Carmichael's voice. "Hello, Mr. Carmichael," she said coldly.
At that moment, she could have killed Luanne for going out of town.
She'd only had the one session with Rodney that past Wednesday, but it had been enough to make her want to hire an investigator to find Luanne and bring her home.
The man gave her the creeps.
"Where were you today, Grace? You're not sick, are you? I could bring you some-"
"Didn't Lisa reschedule your appointment?"
"She did, but I was thinking we could-"
"Look, Mr. Carmichael, I don't see patients in my home. I'll see you at your appointment time. Okay?"
The line went dead.
"Grace?"
She jumped and screamed at Julian's voice behind her.
He stared at her with a curious look that would have been funny had she not been terrified.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm sorry." She set the phone down. "It was just that patient I told you about. Rodney Carmichael. He weirds me out."
"Weirds?"
"Makes me nervous." For the first time, she was more than grateful for Julian's presence. Otherwise, she'd be headed over to Selena and Bill's to impose herself on their hospitality for the rest of the weekend.
"C'mon," she said, turning off the kitchen light. "Why don't we go upstairs, and I can start teaching you to read English?"
He shook his head. "You don't give up, do you?"
"Nope."
"All right," he said, falling in behind her. "I'll let you teach me, but only if you put on your red night-"
"No, no, no." She paused on the stairs and turned around to look at him. "I don't think so."
He reached up and brushed her hair from her shoulder. "Don't you know I need a Muse to inspire me to learn? And what better Muse than you in-"
She stopped his words by placing her fingers over his lips. "If I put that on, I seriously doubt you'll learn anything you don't already know."
He nipped her fingers with his teeth. "I promise to behave."
Knowing it was a very bad idea, she let him talk her into it.
"You better behave," she said over her shoulder as she continued up the stairs and to her bedroom.
Grace entered her large, walk-in closet that her father had turned into a small library years ago, and dug around the bookshelves until she found her ancient copy of Peter Pan.
Julian dug in her dresser until he found that wretched outfit.
They exchanged items in the center of the room. Grace ran to the bathroom and changed clothes, but as soon as she saw herself in the gauzy red nightie, she froze. Ugh! If Julian caught sight of her in this, he'd run screaming from the room.
Unable to bear the humiliation of seeing his disappointment in her body, she changed out of the nightie and into her modest pink dorm shirt, then wrapped herself in her thick, terry-cloth robe before returning to her room.