CHAPTER 6

Thalia smirked. “I lied.”

Then she proceeded to start cooking, while Julian stood there, watching her every move.

"You lied," he repeated after a moment of silence.

"Oh… about what?"

"The bananas.” he said, taking a step closer. “You said you couldn't cook. But you’re handling that knife like you’ve spent a lifetime in a kitchen."

Thalia smiled, cracking two eggs with one hand in a practiced motion. "A girl has to have some secrets, Julian.” She poured the eggs into the heated pan and turned to face him. “And If i had told you that I was a five-star chef on top of everything else, would you have believed me?”

“Why won’t I?”

“You might have thought I was lying and trying to play games for some cash. Even though we’ve already established my hourly rate, you might think I want more.”

"It’s not the money," Julian muttered, his eyes tracking the way the white shirt moved over her hips as she turned to flip the eggs over in the pan. "It’s the deception. I like to know what I’m dealing with."

"No. You don’t look like that. You look like someone who’d like to control what he’s dealing with," she corrected him without looking back. "There’s a big difference."

Silence took over. Leaving them both with their own thoughts.

The kitchen soon smelled of rich spices and melted butter. Thalia pushed a plate of a perfectly fluffy, red-flecked eggs in front of him.

She hadn't made a plate for herself. She simply leaned against the counter, watching him.

“Go on, have a taste.”

Julian took a small bite, his eyes locked on hers. And the moment the heat of the spices hit his tongue, it tasted divine… better than anything his private chef had ever prepared.

“Where did you learn?” he asked.

“Foster care," she replied after a long silence.

"Over there, you either learn to cook or you learn to go hungry and I preferred the former." She added.

Julian paused, his fork halfway to his mouth. "You grew up in that system?”

"Yeah… Don't look at me with pity, Mr. Valentino. It doesn't suit you," she snapped, though her eyes were soft. "Just like your five years of saintly celibacy, it wasn’t a big deal.”

“And who said my celibacy wasn’t a big deal?”

“Wasn't it? Mind sharing the story about it?” she asked. “You know, we all have histories that shaped our armors. And mine just happened to shape me into knowing how to get a hundred-dollar bill with my body.”

“Good for you.” he said.

She dished out her food and they began to eat in silence. When they were done eating, Thalia walked toward the wine cellar, She scanned the labels of the wines there until she found a bottle of 2015 Chateau Margaux.

"Is this off-limits?" she asked, her fingers tracing over the name on the glass.

"Everything in this suite is technically off-limits to everyone but me," Julian said, standing up.

He walked toward her, stopping just inches away.

"Isn’t the rules melting away slowly already?” she asked.

Ignoring her question, “You want some wine?” he asked staring at the bottle in her hand.

"The world is in chaos, Julian. Marcus Thorne is dead. The city is a crime scene. We are trapped in here.” She pulled out the bottle and turned to face him.”having some wine wouldn’t be a bad idea right?”

“I can’t have that… the alcohol percentage is too high.”

“It’s only fourteen percent Julian. Stop being a saint and be a man for once.”

“Yeah… I know and that’s enough to knock me out.”

“Then, what do you suggest we do? Or you wanna spend the next thirty hours talking about your quarterly earnings?"

"Let’s go to sleep.”

"What? Nahhh I suggest we have a drink Julian. Let’s drink to enjoy the lockdown to its fullest. We barely have a day left and the minute those electronic bolts click open, we’ll be back to our normal lives… like this never existed.”

Julian reached out, slowly taking the bottle from her, and his hand lingered on hers for a while. His thumb rubbing the pulse point on her wrist. “You want me to forget you, Tee?” he asked in a whisper.

“These forty-eight hours aren't real life. And once we're out, the memories should be gone."

His voice dropping to that dark, satisfied growl she’d heard the night before. “What if the memories doesn’t leave?

"You will.” she whispered back,

“Why?”

Her face tilting up toward his. "Because you’re so obsessed with your job, your discipline, and your choices.” She stopped and gave him a light kiss on the lips. “Just for one night... stop choosing. Just be."

Julian smiled and popped the cork of the wine with a soft thud. He poured two glasses, He handed her one, his gaze never leaving her lips.

“To a goodnight," he said, clinking his glass against hers.

"To the memories we won't keep," she replied.

They moved to the sofa in the living area. Where their conversation flowed sweet and as fast as the wine. They talked about the city. Then Julian starts to talk about the pressure of being watched, about the isolation of the top floor, while staring at her as the only person who had ever seen him crumbled.

"You're dangerous," Julian murmured, setting down his empty glass on the table. He was leaning back, his collar open, his persona was completely shattered as the wine starts to have its way.

"Why?"

"Because you make me want to do things that aren't on my balance sheet."

Thalia set her glass down too and moved closer, crawling onto the sofa until she was straddling his lap, just like she had that morning.

"Is that a crime, Julian? To want something this enticing?"

He groaned, his hands coming up to grip her waist. "The crime is that you want the memories to be gone after the lockdown but you keep doing this.” He buried his head in her neck, sniffing her scent. “Tee, I don’t know how to forget things, neither do I know where this deal ends and where... this begins."

"Then don't think about the deal," she whispered, leaning in with her fingers tangling into his hair, her breath warm against his ear.

"Think about the fact that no one can see us. No press, no board members, Just a man and a woman in a room.”

She kissed him… this time it was slow, tasting of the expensive wine and the heat radiating from the two of them. Julian let out a broken sound, his arms wrapping around her like she was the only thing keeping him grounded.

He stood up, carrying her effortlessly toward the bedroom. The white T-shirt she wore bunched up around her waist and her legs locked around his hips.

"This is going to be a long night, Tee," he warned, his eyes dark with a known intensity.

"Good," she breathed against his lips. "I’m not going anywhere, I’m all yours.”

As he laid her back onto the bed sheets, he plunged into her while their lips were still locked, and for the next few hours, he worshipped her body like the most delicate thing he’d ever touch, making Thalia’s professional mask melt into a genuine, shaking release.

Julian crashed beside her after they were done and the room fell into silence, now save for Julian's steady breathing. They remained there till he fell asleep.

Once she was sure he was deep into his sleep, she carefully slid out from beneath his possessive arm. And began searching for her purse. She found it discarded beside the couch, she pulled out her phone. The screen’s glow was blinding in the dark room.

“Still no service.” She muttered.

She opened an encrypted file on her phone, the light of the screen reflecting in her dark irises, Her expression was no longer soft or teasing as it had been minutes ago, It was now cold, and back to her professional face as her thumb hovered over the files.

Suddenly, the bedsheets rustled.

Julian shifted in his sleep, his large hands blindly reaching for the empty space beside him.

"Tee..." he mumbled.

Thalia’s heart hammered against her ribs. she quickly shoved the phone back into her purse and walked back to the bed, sliding back under the covers. Julian immediately reacted to her warmth, his arm draping possessively over her waist again, pulling her back against his chest as if he were afraid she’d vanish if he let go.

Thalia stared at his face,

"Can I do this?" she whispered to the silence.