Alive At Night (Wildflower Series Book 1)

I COULD REALLY GET used to waking up in Julian’s bed. I could really get used to wake-up calls filled with kisses and slow, hot sex. I could get used to hearing his gravelly voice tell me how he’d wanted mornings like this from the first time we’d accidentally woken up in the same bed together.

I could get used to this—all of this. The mind-blowing orgasms, the sweet dates, and the attentiveness.

Everything was absolutely perfect. Everything except…

“Gemma texted me,” I announced on Monday morning as I prepared for another week of work. “She wants to get together. She also asked if I ever learned if Noah is a good kisser.”

Julian’s eyes shot to mine, the fire in them bright until it clicked in his brain why she would ask me that. His irritation dimmed, but only slightly.

“Tell her you wouldn’t know, and you never will.”

Of course he would say something like that. Ignoring his bristly possessiveness that secretly made my insides turn to mush, I cleared my throat.

“I think I’ll just ask Gemma if she wants to grab dinner this week, and then I can tell her everything.”

Julian, who was in the middle of putting on his tie as we both got ready for work, stilled.

“I wouldn’t tell her everything, Daisy.”

He looked horrified at the idea that I would tell his sister how he’d eaten me out in an elevator after our first date.

“Of course I’m not going to tell her everything.” I opened the drawer that Julian insisted on giving me in his dresser and grabbed a pair of tights. “Although, it’s a little annoying that I can’t.”

Julian’s brows furrowed as he continued getting dressed, his movements slow and measured like he was overthinking each step.

“What do you mean?”

“She’s my best friend.” I sat down on the edge of his bed to pull on my tights. Julian’s eyes dropped to my legs, and his hands fell to the side, his tie forgotten. “I’ve always told her everything,” I added. “Especially about the guys I’ve been with. She made me promise a long time ago that I would tell her about my first time. It’s been weird staying quiet.”

Julian’s handsome face tightened, his lips pressing into a firm line. His silence was longer than I expected, but finally, he spoke, and his words surprised me.

“It’s very important to me that your friendship with Gemma isn’t affected by our relationship,” he said, voice unyielding. “I never thought…This, what you’re saying, isn’t a problem that I even considered.”

The way he was taking my offhand comment so seriously made my heart flutter. He was so cute, and he didn’t even realize it.

“It isn’t a problem,” I assured him. “It’s just something I have to get used to. Throughout the whole time we’ve been doing this…thing—”

“Dating, Juni,” Julian amended. “We’re dating.”

“—the only person I’ve had to talk to about it all has been Noah, really.”

“Noah?” he repeated, looking like he was about to choke on his own tongue.

“When he took me out for dinner,” I explained, smoothing my tights up to my knees. “We talked about you almost the whole time, actually. He convinced me not to give up on you after you pushed me away.”

Julian swore under his breath, mumbling about how he owed Noah more than he realized but sounding oddly pissed about it. His expression remained tense and irritated as he chewed on his bottom lip, thinking. Julian was a fixer, and this wasn’t something he could fix.

“Well…” He cleared his throat, shrugging on his suit jacket. “You have my permission to tell Gemma whatever you’re comfortable with.” He paused again. “Do you want me to be there when you first explain about us?”

I looked up at him, pausing my struggle with my tights. “Do you want to be there?”

A shrug. “I want to be supportive if you want me there. But I have no problem letting you tell her alone if you think that’s better. I can talk to her later.”

“She’s your sister,” I pointed out.

“We both know she’s practically yours, too.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, his nose scrunched, and his eyes shut tight. “Forget I said that. Delete that thought from existence, please.”

I laughed, enjoying how mortified he was as he dragged a hand over his face. Poor guy had gone through a roller coaster of emotions in just a few minutes, and while a part of me still thoroughly enjoyed watching him struggle a bit, I also had this innate need to put him out of his misery.

“Relax, baby.”

His body immediately melted at my words. He dropped his hands and sighed, leaning casually against the wall. To no one’s surprise, he was completely ready for work, while I still had an entire laundry list I wanted to complete before we left his apartment.

He raised a brow, appraising my half-covered legs. “Need help with those?”

“No.” A flush immediately rose to my face, and I internally begged it to go away. “It’s just…putting tights on isn’t exactly cute. Maybe you could give me some privacy for a minute.”

A snort left Julian, pulling a scowl out of me. “Juniper, everything you do is cute.”

“That is not true,” I insisted, unsure if I should be placated or offended. I was a grown woman with a whole-ass law degree, after all.

“I get it.” Julian heaved a dramatic sigh, but I saw a twinkle in his eye from whatever he was about to say. “You just want me to leave so you can sneak into my bedside table without me knowing. My girl’s curious, isn’t she?”

That definitely hadn’t been on my mind, but now that he’d brought it up…

“Maybe your girl wouldn’t have to be curious if you stopped treating her like she was too innocent for all your little sex toys.”

Julian’s brows skyrocketed, and then he walked toward me, and I felt my stomach drop. Tension balled in my gut as his heavy steps echoed in the otherwise still bedroom. His voice husked over my bare skin when he spoke.

“Turn over.”

He was standing above me now, and I blinked up at him.

“What?”

“You want to be treated like you’re not innocent? Turn over.”

I balked at him momentarily, heat spreading through my body, and then I did as he commanded. Because, goddamnit, I was curious.

Flattening onto my stomach with my tights still wrapped around my knees and my dress barely covering my ass, I breathed into his bedsheets. Meanwhile, Julian’s hands spread over my legs, pushing my dress up and out of the way, baring me. He massaged my ass in his palms before gripping my hips and yanking them up until I was on all fours.

“If you wanted it so badly, you should have just asked,” Julian said, his soft drawl riddled with tension. I heard the sound of a drawer opening and closing, and my arms and legs shook from some sort of forbidden anticipation. “My goal will always be to give you what you want, baby.”

“Julian…” I gasped. “We have…we have to go. We have that meeting…”

My words vanished as a finger drifted down the rim of my ass, moving my thong to the side until I was completely exposed to him.

“You’re so pretty,” Julian murmured soothingly. “This won’t take long. Do you still want it?”

He brushed against me from behind, and I felt the clear outline of his arousal. He wanted it, that was for sure. And as for me… I wasn’t even sure what it was, but based on how he was teasing a finger from my pussy to my ass, I had a reasonably good idea.

But what did he mean that it wouldn’t take long?

“Juni…” Julian sang my name while teasing every inch of me that he could find. A second finger started swirling around my clit, making me groan into the sheets. I squirmed beneath his touch for only a second longer before giving in.

“Yes,” I gasped. “Yes, Julian.”

“Fuck,” he grunted, pushing my shoulders down so my ass was propped up higher. “I can touch you here?”

I appreciated his clarification, but the sweet pressure building deep within me from how he worked his finger between my cheeks left me desperate for more. It was so foreign but so good. And I trusted Julian more than I knew how to put into words.

“You can touch me anywhere,” I breathed.

My words caused an appreciative growl to rise from Julian. “Say that again.”

“You can touch me anywhere, Julian. I’m yours, all yours.”

“Fuck, this is going to be the best Monday ever,” he replied thickly.

His response confused me slightly, but the sound of a cap clicking open distracted my thoughts. Julian’s touch vanished, and when it returned, slick fingers circled around my entrance. My breathy pants grew more and more desperate, needing…God, I wasn’t even sure what I needed.

But then a groan flew from my lips when Julian nudged inside, leaving me amazed at how full and perfect it felt. He settled there momentarily, toying. But then his touch was gone, leaving me with the urge to kick him.

“Julian,” I hissed, and he chuckled.

“I’m here, love,” he murmured, and then, true to his words, the bliss-filled pressure returned, making me melt into the bed from the satisfaction of it. He wasn’t using his fingers this time; one of his secret toys hit me deeper, stretching my ass further—just how he’d threatened doing last night. I held my breath as one of Julian’s hands caressed my hip in soothing circles before I felt him pull back completely.

Except the glorious pressure remained, even as he gently moved my underwear back in place.

“You wear your pretty little accessories so well, Juniper,” he said, voice deep. “You always have. And now you’ll wear this pretty reminder of my touch. Just in case you forget even for a second what it feels like to have me deep inside you.”

“I—Jul—” My words stuck in my throat as I twisted to look at Julian, and tingling pleasure spread through me. And since speaking wasn’t possible, I hoped my expression did the trick.

Julian’s lips pulled in a smirk as he looked down at me. I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen him looking so utterly satisfied with himself, not even in all the years that Julian had teased and taunted me.

“We should probably go, Daisy. Don’t want to be late for that online meeting, especially because it’s not even scheduled to go for long. I want to watch you try to make it through with that plug in your ass.”

“I can’t—” I gaped at him, still struggling to find words.

“Oh, you can. You took me beautifully this weekend. You can take this, too. It’ll be less than an hour, honestly.” When I continued to stare at him, he cocked his head to the side. “I picked the smallest one. Does it hurt?”

I shook my head slowly. No, it definitely didn’t hurt. “It’s not that. How am I supposed to—to work like this?”

“You’re very good at your job,” he said seriously, his praise making my cheeks heat. God, his validation shouldn’t make me feel quite this good and especially not at a time like this. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

With that, he started walking away, out of the bedroom. I could only stare after him until I finally came to my senses. Even as I scrambled to my feet, my insides felt confusingly good—like I was scratching the surface of an itch that I couldn’t completely reach. I gasped, and when Julian just kept walking, I gritted my teeth with frustration.

“Julian Briggs!”

He was seriously going to simply leave after that?

“Yeah?” He stopped in the doorway and leaned against the frame as he looked me up and down. I swallowed, suddenly unable to talk. Again. Julian noticed. “Are you shocked at how good my last name just felt in your mouth, baby? There’s a reason for that.”

I balked at him, flustered for so many reasons. But Julian simply chuckled. It was warm, trickling down my spine. He was warm, and I was grateful that I’d get to bask in a bit of heat today, even though it was the dead of winter.

“I’m sorry we didn’t have enough time to stop at Georgia’s this morning, but I promise we can go tomorrow.”

My brain was still trying to process that Julian had fulfilled his husky promise from last night, and meanwhile, he was over here talking about baked goods. But then his words caught up to me, and I was stuck looking at him with my mouth gaping open again.

“What?” He looked taken aback at my expression as the elevator doors closed, encasing us as we rode up to our office.

“We? We can go tomorrow?”

“Did you not want to go to Georgia’s with me tomorrow? I thought it was your favorite.”

“It is my favorite.”

“So, what’s the issue?”

“Are you going to meet me there like we did that one time or…” I stopped, mulling the scenario over in my head. “It doesn’t make sense for you to pick me up. I could pick you up, though.”

“I’m sorry…” The elevator doors opened, and Julian stuck his foot out to keep them from closing while staring at me, brows furrowed. “Are you trying to figure out how to not stay over at my place tonight and still get your muffins in the morning?”

“Do you want me to stay over?” I struggled to meet his brilliant blue gaze. “I just figured that after this weekend, you’d want some space.”

“Space from you?” Julian scoffed, looking irritated at the idea. He gestured for me to leave the elevator. “Never.”

This new version of Julian still threw me for a loop sometimes. It was so hard to get used to hearing him say things like that.

“Didn’t get enough sex this weekend?” I joked, dropping my voice as we walked across the lobby. I could feel Tyler eyeing us as we moved past his desk.

Julian stopped at my words, turning to face me. “Don’t do that. I know it’s partly my fault that you have this narrative in your head, but I thought we were breaking it. I didn’t get enough of you this weekend. Don’t get it confused.”

I gulped, feeling warmed by his words, even though what I had said was mostly meant in jest. Or a mechanism to protect myself, despite rationally not having any doubts that Julian wanted this relationship. Wanted me.

“Hey, St. James. Briggs.”

Cameron’s voice made me jump. And that jump made all my insides tumble and tighten…sweetly. Unbearably sweet. I stifled a groan as I looked anywhere but at Cameron’s face. I just had this feeling that if I looked at him, he would know. He would know everything.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Julian’s lips twitch.

“Hey, man,” Julian said, barely skipping a beat.

“Morning, Cameron,” I said, finally looking over at our coworker and friend. My voice sounded overly bright to my ears.

Cameron’s brows furrowed as he looked between us, and then he shook his head, stepping through the glass doorway leading to our workspaces.

“You two are going to be so fucking ridiculous to work with, aren’t you?”

“Haven’t we always been?” I tried to joke.

Cameron shook his head, smiling as he decided not to answer that question. “Just remind me to never enter your office without knocking.”

“Hey, Cameron,” Julian teased. “Don’t enter our office without knocking. Especially not today.”

My eyes grew round at the promise in Julian’s words.