The Wright Brother (28 page)

She itched to shove the lock of hair that’d fallen over his eye back.

“Yeah. I am. But…um…”

She frowned, heart going still for a moment. “What?”

Christian and Roman bent over Julian’s shoulder and waved like idiots into the monitor.

“Hey sexy.” Chris’s deep blue eyes twinkled. “You miss us?”

She loved joking around with her brothers, but right now she was fighting a pit of anxiety working through her stomach. Julian wasn’t smiling or laughing, even though his brothers were trying to get him to loosen up.

“You know I do,” she said softly. “But I’m really tired, Chris.”

“Oh yeah, well.” He shoved his fingers through his hair. “Kind of feel like I’ve interrupted something. Just wanted to stop by and say hi.” He clapped Julian’s shoulder.

Roman leaned in. “Real quick—Mom’s trying to figure out how many are coming back for Christmas this year, can you make it?”

As much as she wanted to, she doubted it would be possible. At least not this year. “I wish I could, Rome. But tell her I said hi and sorry I’m taking Julian away this year.”

Roman frowned and looked as though he meant to say something else, when Julian shook his head. They both said something, but Julian had his back turned in a way that she couldn’t read what he said.

Turning back to her a second later, Roman shook his head. “Okay then, girl, I’ll leave you guys alone. Love ya.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Julian came back on the screen and wiped a hand down his jaw.

“What was that about?” she asked once Roman was gone.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. I’ve got to go, I’ve got classes.”

She’d forgotten that it was already Monday morning there. “Julian, I’m really sorry. Don’t be mad at me.”

His look was tired as he said, “I love you, Elisa. Glad you’re okay.”

They hung up a minute later and when she crawled into bed she couldn’t stop wondering what in the world had been going on between him and Roman and why she suddenly had the worst feeling of foreboding.

~*~

Five months.

Five long, agonizing, excruciating months since she’d physically seen Julian last. Elisa tapped her heel on the marble floor in a nervous, methodical rhythm as her stomach churned with excitement.

Meredith peered up from her workstation wearing a smile on her painted red lips. “Do try to contain your excitement, Elisa Jane.” She winked, her British accent sounding all proper and Jane Austenesque, which they both knew was nothing like what she actually sounded like.

Elisa snorted. “Oh, bite me.”

Meredith lifted a brightly painted purple brow, but chuckled beneath her breath. She’d recently gotten rid of her brown and Elisa thought she looked a million times better. Of course the boss hadn’t been exactly thrilled by it, but Mere worked behind the scenes so he’d not fired her for it either.

Meredith was originally from Manchester; she was hip and trendy and basically Elisa’s polar opposite in every way.

Elisa was tanned and blonde (well, considerably less tanned now than she’d been when she’d first arrived) while Meredith now had lavender and navy blue hair. Elisa dressed like a preppy librarian, replete with the cardigans, pencil skirts, trendy Mary Janes, and pearl necklaces, and Meredith was pure modern mod, or, as she liked to call herself, a modern-day Twiggy.

They’d formed a friendship over their love of Austen, Shakespeare, and blues.

Elisa glanced up at the clock again. In three more hours, she’d see him. In one more she’d be walking out the door to her flat to change and hail a taxi to Dublin airport. Running her finger beneath her necklace, she began to tap her foot again.

“Good God, Eli, you’re driving me insane. How can I properly restore this binding with you carrying on as you are?”

Growling, she threw her friend an evil little glare before sticking out her tongue. “I’m not carrying on. But I am excited.”

A twinkle gleamed in her friend’s bright blue eyes. Setting her work aside for a moment, she turned and leaned against her desk, tapping her gloved finger on its edge as she studied Elisa. “I can’t wait to meet this boy. I have a feeling I’m going to be terribly disappointed in the looks department, though.”

Elisa gave an exaggerated gasp.

“Oh yes.” Mere nodded, causing her slicked bangs to spill into her eyes. “I think you’ve been toying with my imagination. There is simply no way a man such as you’ve described could actually be real.”

“Is that a bet?”

She shrugged. “Might be. If I’m wrong, I’ll pick up the tab tonight, if you’ve lied, you will.”

Elisa grimaced. She’d forgotten all about the pub-crawl.

“What?” Meredith narrowed her eyes. “Please don’t tell me you plan to bail again. You did it last time. I won’t let you toss me to the wolves.”

“Toss you to the wolves.” She laughed. “You’re so crazy. It’s not like you don’t know them all.”

“Ha!” She rolled her eyes. “Tobias with his filthy, dirty jokes. And Angelica and her ‘I’m so rich and you are not’ superior attitude, and let’s not even mention Callum and his—”

“Callum and his what?” A deep male voice caused both women to emit low pitched shrieks, turning toward the door as one as the thirty-two-year-old former Calvin Klein model and now full-time nerd leaned against its frame with a large, Cheshire grin on his Adonis-like face.

Short brown hair with a soft wave to it that he styled in such a way as to make it look sexy but still scruffy, a very neat, full beard, and piercing brown eyes, Callum Dunn had set many a hearts on campus to fluttering. Even Elisa had felt her cheeks grow warm the first time she’d met him.

He reminded her a lot of slightly beefier version of Jamie Dornan. Oh whom Meredith currently had the biggest crush.

Dressed in his typical fashion of dark jeans and a steel-gray cardigan, Callum was definitely easy on the eyes. And the fact that he originally hailed from Northern Ireland, Belfast to be exact, made his accent even a slightly bit more exotic than the norm out here. Which in turn made it sometimes hard for Elisa to talk with him.

Mostly because she found his accent to be one of the sexiest she’d ever heard in her life, much as she hated to admit it.

“Hm?” He lifted a brow. “Callum, what? I do believe I heard my name.”

Snorting, Meredith batted a wrist. “How long were you waiting out there just to hear your name? You’ve quite the ego, Callum Dunn.”

His smile was nothing but straight white teeth and dimples, which Elisa pointedly ignored. She was on the hunt for a Jacobite scroll and had found little in the past two days of searching to lead her to believe she was any closer to sussing the thing out.

“You are coming to the pub tonight, eh, Elisa?”

“Mm.” She didn’t glance up at the shivery sound of his voice. “I don’t know.” She clicked on a new screen. “I’m picking up my boyfriend from the airport today.”

“Elisa,” Meredith whined, “you have to come. I’ll not go without you.”

“There, see?” Elisa could practically hear Callum’s smile. “You must come. And bring him too.” Then with a nod in her direction, he turned and walked back out.

Meredith jogged over to her a moment later and shook Elisa’s elbow, forcing her to glance up. Her friend’s face was a bright cherry red.

“That man is so fuckin’ beautiful I just want to take a bite out of his arse.”

“What?” Elisa’s face scrunched into a half-grimace, half-laugh.

“Yes.” She reached out her hand and pretended to grab something from mid-air. “Just sink my teeth into and shake it. God, he’s lovely.”

“I’m just, yeah, wow, I’m not touching that one with a ten-foot pole.”

“Oh, hush, I know you have a boyfriend, but if you cannot see that man is fine, then you’re blind, Elisa Adrian.”

With a huff, Elisa began to power down her laptop. “I’m never going to find that scroll today. I think I’m just going to go, I have to get ready for Julian.”

She hopped off her stool and grabbed her purse.

“Bring him to the pub,” Meredith said in a high falsetto. “I demand it, I must see the glories that is Julian Wright.”

Giving a finger wave, Elisa rolled her eyes. “I’ll think about it. Later!”

If it hadn’t been for the heels, Elisa would have run the entire two miles back to her flat. Hopping into the shower, she washed up quickly, before moving on to her closet and choosing her sexiest outfit. Which wasn’t really all that sexy.

Not skanked-up sexy, as Meredith would put it anyway. It was just a floral-print strappy dress that came to just above her knees and cinched at the waist. She paired it with dove gray heels, and applied just a little bit of makeup. Something she’d been getting into more and more lately, thanks to Meredith’s assertion that to not wear makeup was nothing short of criminal.

Putting a touch of smoky eye shadow onto the corners of her eyes, she curled her lashes and applied a light tint of shell-pink lipstick. Thankfully she had great hair that didn’t require much in the way of upkeep. A quick blow dry and a little bit of gel gave it a tousled, just-woke-up-from-bed feel.

Biting onto the corner of her lip, she raced around the small apartment and picked up the bras she’d allowed to collect around her living room and bedroom. Realizing she was starting to stall, she rang for a taxi. They got to her within ten minutes. The drive to the airport felt hideously long and short all at the same time. By the time he dropped her off, she felt like she might puke.

They’d been keeping up by Skyping whenever possible, and of course emails when one or the other wasn’t free for a face-to-face chat. But that all felt so impersonal, Elisa was almost desperate to see Julian.

She ignored the swivel of men’s heads as she walked through the doors to the waiting area.

What if Julian had changed? What if he didn’t love her like before? So much time had passed.

But the moment she saw his smiling face coming down the escalator, she forgot all her nerves, all her what ifs, and, with a happy squeal, raced over to meet him.

Dressed in dark, distressed jeans and tight-fitting CBGB black print shirt, Julian was causing his own set of heads to turn. He’d cut his hair—it no longer fell as long as it had—but he’d also lost all traces of his boyish looks. There was a light dusting of scruff on his jaw, and Elisa flung herself into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, not caring that she was probably showing off all the goods to the world.

“You’re here,” she tapped out on his arm and then kissed him passionately.

He tasted like Julian. Like mint and candy. He smelled like she always remembered, clean soap, and his touch…his touch was strong and powerful and intoxicating.

“I’m here, Smile Girl,” he danced the words down her spine and she nodded in return as a single tear slipped down her cheek.

The moment they stepped foot inside her flat it was like old times. Elisa peeled his shirt off, dragging her nails down his abs as he sucked and nibbled his way along her neckline.

She was just about to kick off her heels but he shook his head no. Instead, he scooped her into his arms and laid her down on the couch. Then without tearing his gaze from hers, began to slowly take her clothes off.

There were no thoughts of anyone or anything else in her head when Julian stared at her as he now did. Like she was everything good and lovely and perfect.

He took off everything except the pearls and the heels.

Giving him a smirk, she drew a finger down her thigh, and then laughed when he attacked her like a feral jungle predator.

And when he moved deep inside her, feathering words upon her sensitive skin, she remembered all over again why it was that they’d vowed to remain loyal to each other. Because no man on Earth could ever make her feel a tenth of what she did when she was with him.

Three hours later they were just about to fall asleep in each other’s arms when her phone rang.

Holding up a finger, she kissed Julian’s nose and then reached over his body for her purse where she stored her phone.

“Hello?”

“Tell me, duckling, exactly where you are, because I am certain I told you there’d be no getting out of it tonight.”

Groaning, Elisa shook her head. “Not tonight, Mere, seriously. I just want to hang out with Julian, but I promise that I’ll—”

Julian’s fingers were waving in the air and he was frowning at her.

“Hold on,” she said, and glanced at him. “What’s the matter, babe?”

“Is that your friend?” he asked after he’d disentangled himself from her arms.

Nodding, she watched as he put his clothes on roughly.

“Yes, what are you doing?”

“Did you have plans already?” He turned to her.

His hair was all rumpled and God he looked so sexy, she just wanted to bring him back to her side and have him be naked again. But there was something in his eyes that didn’t feel right—an energy was there she’d never felt before with him.

It made her feel suddenly shy. Sitting up, she covered her breasts with her arm and dragged her dress over with her foot.

“No, not really. They wanted me to bring you out to the pub tonight and introduce you, but I didn’t think you’d want—”

Brushing his fingers through his hair, he gave her a grin. But it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m fine. I told you before I came that I didn’t want you to change your plans because of me.”

“Jules.” She slipped her dress on and stood, reaching out for him when the static of a loudly buzzing voice rang through her phone speaker. She glanced down at it.

Picking the phone up, Julian handed it to her, and then turned on his heel and walked toward her bathroom.

What the hell had just happened?

Feeling slightly numb, she placed the phone back to her ear.

“Hello!” Meredith’s sharp trill made Elisa realize she’d probably been yelling for the past minute.

“Hey,” she said glumly, staring at her bedroom door, listening to the rush of water from her sink and growing more and more worried each second that ticked past that something wasn’t right.

“Whoa, what’s that tone for? Problems with the mister?”

“No.” She frowned, shaking her head almost violently. “Of course not.”