Chapter 20

Jade

(Present time)

I rolled into my pillow and pressed it around my head as if that would stop the embarrassing memories from flooding in.

It made me feel stupid that I had thought that way once upon a time.

But who could blame me?

I was nothing but a child, and Julian was the one person who was always there when I needed rescuing. Naturally, I grew infatuated with him. Then it turned into this huge crush before I finally admitted to myself that I was hopelessly in love with him.

Foolish me thought he had to be too. That we were perfect for each other despite our nine-year age gap. And I would have confessed my feelings to him, but I experienced my first heartbreak from him on the same day I decided to.

I shot up from the bed in annoyance, giving up on sleep since it just wasn’t coming no matter how hard I was trying.

Grabbing my pink silk robe, I tied it around myself and shuffled out of my room for some late-night snacking. That usually knocked me out faster than anything.

On my way back from the pantry with both my hands full, curiosity pricked at me and I made a silent detour towards Julian’s room without stopping to rethink my actions.

To my surprise, I found the door unlocked. When I turned the knob and nudged it open with my shoulder, I told myself I was only going to take a peek and be out within seconds.

But clumsy as I was, I just had to spill all my snacks on the floor when I leaned into the room more than a couple of inches.

Quietly cursing myself, I lowered to my knees just inside the doorway and began scooping them back up. As I was doing so, I glanced up at all the pink decorations I could see and realized there wasn’t a single personal touch to this room.

It looked like something out of an interior design magazine—no picture frames, no stray clothes, no intimate knickknacks anywhere. Even the bed was perfectly made with pink frilly sheets.

I would have concluded he had never even slept in this room before if not for his scent clinging to every inch of the space around me.

I slowly got to my feet and approached the bed as if being controlled by something unseen. I dumped all my snacks on his nightstand before carefully perching myself on the edge of the bed and smoothing my hands over the cool sheets.

Here, his scent was stronger as I surveyed the pink room from this new angle. I found it funny that he hadn’t even bothered to redecorate. But my humor disappeared when I realized he was probably not planning on staying here long-term so there was no need to waste money anyway.

I leaned back into the mountain of satin-encased pillows behind me and turned my head to bury my nose in them, inhaling long and deep until my skin started to heat up thinking about how Julian’s body was in this same spot not even two nights ago.

I kicked off my fuzzy slippers and snuggled higher on the bed, telling myself I just needed a few minutes before I got up and left.

But the longer I remained, the quicker my breaths came as my mind wandered into forbidden territory.

I thought about Julian fucking me slow on this same bed, with the smell of sandalwood wrapping around our sweaty bodies as he moved his cock deep inside me and whispered filthy things into my ear in that rough, sexy voice of his.

You can take it.

That’s my good girl.

Let me hear you scream for me, sweetheart.

I had no conscious remembrance of my fingers opening my robe and sneaking beneath my sleep shorts to slide through my already drenched folds, my breath hitching in a sharp, heavy gasp when they made contact.

But what I knew was that the next time my lids fluttered open in hazy pleasure, my gaze landed on a very broad, very familiar-looking figure standing in the open doorway and staring straight at me with intense gray eyes.