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Shock rooted him to the floor as he stared at her She , h he knew he needed to give her tireedy bastard Before she could sense what he was up to, he dipped his head and pressed a quick, too-chaste kiss on the corner of her lips Her soft inhale ricocheted through hiainst her lips, and then he drew back, letting his gaze roam over that sweet face of hers; he s in the hallway

Gabe lingered by the door to Madeline’s rooainst the frame of the door with his arms folded He didn’t come in, but he watched his sister at the easel When it beca to actually enter the room, Julia walked over to hi his eyes off the painting, he shook his head "That’s okay I actually have a client I need to get in contact with" His head tilted to the side as his eyes narrowed "Do you knohat she’s working on?"

She shook her head "I have no clue"

"Me neither," heone ankle over the other "So, about toht" He looked over at her, lashes lowered "I’aze, ed hers At least Lucian wasn’t lying when he said the dinner included Gabe, but her stoely nonetheless "Really?"

"Yes" A half saze shot to his The way he said that

"Well, I need to get going" He straightened, pushing away froht, Julia"

"You, too," she mur By the time it came to call up Richard to help move Madeline to her bed, Julia was exhausted She’d spent the better part of the day cursing herself out for last night and then for agreeing to go out to dinner with the two brothers

Which oddly felt like she’d agreed to a datewith two guysat the same time

As she paced the room while she waited for Richard, she wished she could call Anna and get her advice, but how could she do that without telling her who she orking for? She trusted Anna, but

Either way, she was done berating herself Julia got real with herself She wouldn’t have done what she did last night if she hadn’t wanted to She wouldn’t have agreed to dinner if she hadn’t wanted to What she didn’t want to face, what terrified her to be honest, was that she did want to

She wanted Lucian

S a shaky hand over her hair, she stopped in front of the doors Thick and heavy clouds were rolling in, casting the entire grounds into shadows Off in the distance, thunder rolled

She really wanted hi that caused her heart to jump around in her chest What would it do if she said it aloud? What would happen if she allowed herself? He was obviously into her even though she still had no idea why he’d stopped the night at her aparto?

Julia closed her eyes as she bit down on her lower lip Her eency would really frown on the whole extracurricular activities of the fun and naughty kind

She hadn’t really even allowed herself to think about the bonus she’d receive upon completion She couldn’t process that yet, what that wouldher back? If she’d called Anna, that’s the question she’d ask And that was an answer Julia didn’t want to delve into

Truth was, she was scared of letting herself feel--to feel anything that truly went deeper than a passing interest It had been that way ever since she’d left Adaiantthat And anything with Lucian would be aunder her skin He was char her feeling completely out of control He was unbelievably handsome and playful Lucian de Vincent was Aet in over her head with hi so more than lust, and did she really want that to happen? Because a relationship with Lucian would lead nowhere She would leave here eventually and she wanted to do that with her heart intact

A crack of thunder jolted her froht lightning cut across the sky, intense and blinding Another loud boo around the porch

Julia stepped back fro was "Wow"

"We’re in for a pretty rough stor inside the doorway Was everyone in this house skilled at being ninja-stealth? Jesus "How do you all move so quietly? Are you even human?"