The Allure Of Julian Lefray Part 27

After I finished getting ready, and stuffed a breakfast bar and an apple into my purse, I opened my laptop to check my email. I had fifteen minutes to spare before I needed to head to Julian's hotel, and I definitely didn't want to show up early.

I hadn't had time to check my email over the weekend, and it definitely showed. My inbox was overflowing with emails from my bank and various spam coupons that I never got around to unsubscribing from. A few emails stood out. The subject lines all pertained to the Marc Jacobs fas.h.i.+on show or interview requests. I kept scrolling, losing count of how many there were. ABC News, The Today Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and People Magazine were at the top of my inbox. My first instinct was to a.s.sume that all of the emails were from spam accounts. How could they not be? There could not have been an email from Vogue sitting in my inbox.

My hand shook as I hovered my mouse over the subject line. By the time it finished loading, I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I checked the email address to confirm it wasn't something like [email protected] Nope. The email was from

Holy s.h.i.+t.

I scrolled down and started to read, trying to remain as calm as possible.

Dear Ms. Keller, My name is Elizabeth Hope and I'm the Social Media Team Leader here at Vogue. First of all, congratulations on your runway debut last week. You were quite the talk of the show afterward. I'm sure you've seen the news around the Internet since then, but I wanted to reach out and contact you personally. Vogue has been looking to hire an in-house blogger, someone to expand our readers.h.i.+p to a younger generation. Our ideal candidate would be a fresh face, someone new to the fas.h.i.+on scene, and someone willing to team up with Vogue to expand our readers.h.i.+p- I zoned out after that. Straight up s.p.a.ced out in the middle of my apartment. I think my brain short-circuited midway through her email. I backtracked and reread what she'd typed. I was the talk of the show? News on the Internet? Truth be told, I hadn't checked my blog, YouTube, or Twitter since Sat.u.r.day morning. Julian had been quite the distraction...

I paused midway through her email and pulled YouTube to check my notifications. Last I'd seen, I had somewhere around ten thousand subscribers. Now? Well over two hundred thousand. What the f.u.c.k? In twenty-four hours? My hand shook as I refreshed the website, just to confirm my eyes weren't deceiving me. Nope. No error. My Twitter was the same and when I went to check the hits on my blog, I had thousands upon thousands of new readers.

How?

How had these readers found me so quickly?

I went back to Twitter and searched my tags. The culprit for my stardom wasn't hard to find. One particular photo from the fas.h.i.+on show had spread like wildfire. It was a photo of me standing at the end of the runway with my hand on my hip and a devious smile on my lips. I looked far s.e.xier than I ever had before, owing to the lighting and dress, I'm sure. Marc Jacobs had posted the photo first and after that every major fas.h.i.+on magazine had reposted it with #Fas.h.i.+onWorldsCinderella. Apparently someone had leaked the fact that I wasn't actually a model, and people everywhere had found my story endearing, so much so that Vogue was now offering me a job.

The chime of another incoming email pulled me out of my thoughts and my eyes scanned to the clock on my microwave. s.h.i.+t. I was going to be late. I closed my laptop and ran to grab my purse on shaky legs. I didn't have time to finish reading Elizabeth's email, but I already knew that my life was about to change. Interview requests? A possible position working with Vogue as an in-house blogger? This had been my dream for as long as I could remember. I wanted to be a fas.h.i.+on blogger and I wanted to make enough money blogging that I didn't need to moonlight as a janitor.

I still hadn't fully processed the sharp turn of events in my life when I knocked on Julian's hotel door fifteen minutes later.

"Coming!" a female voice sang from the other side of the door.

I let my hand fall back by my side and stared at the hotel room number, completely confused. Why was there a woman answering Julian's door less than twenty-four hours after we'd had s.e.x?

So help me G.o.d.

Chapter Forty.

Josephine The door to Julian's hotel opened wide and I was met with a bright smile and white-blonde hair twisted into a polished bun.

Julian's sister was standing on the other side of the door and my heart was no longer in danger of pounding out of my chest. Jeez, my organs couldn't take much more excitement this early in the morning.

"Cinderella!" She beamed, stepping forward to boop me on the nose with an imaginary wand.

"Lorena, it's so good to see you," I said as I hugged her before scanning down to get a good look at her outfit. I was used to seeing her in casual clothes, but now that she was out of rehab and back in the real world, she looked far more glamorous with a slight bohemian edge. Her arms were covered in bangles and she had a gold tribal-inspired statement necklace laying against her simple white dress. Her Valentino heels were so beautiful that I had to clasp my hands together to stop myself from bending down and stealing them right off her feet.

"It's good to see you too. Did Julian tell you I'd be working with you guys starting today?"

I shook my head. "He didn't, but I should have realized you would be."

Speak of the devil...

Julian stepped out of his bedroom freshly-shaven with wet hair and a devilish smile. He was putting the finis.h.i.+ng touches on his red tie and conjuring up memories that I wished I wasn't thinking about right in front of his sister.

"Morning Jo," he said, coming closer and bending to kiss my cheek.

I inhaled his cologne before he stepped away and pushed aside the wave of desire that came with it.

"Ah, are you a cheek kisser now, Julian? When did you become such a European dandy?" Lorena asked, glancing back and forth between us.

"Jo has a way of bringing out the gentleman in me," he said with a wide smile.

I grunted. "Do not believe that, Lorena. Just last week we went out for lunch and he almost let the restaurant's door slam shut on me."

Julian held up his hands. "No! I thought you'd stopped to look at magazines a ways back, so I didn't hold it open. Not to mention, the door was really heavy."

I laughed and shook my head.

"Is this what it's going to be like to work with you two? How do you even manage to get anything done?" she questioned.

"Usually we inst.i.tute quiet time," I offered. "We aren't allowed to talk until we've checked off at least three items on our to-do lists."

It sounded like a joke, but it was true. If Julian and I had it our way, we'd distract each other with photos of dogs and YouTube videos all day. Obviously things would change now that Lorena was back. We'd have to adjust to a third person and something told me Lorena wouldn't care for dancing cat videos as much as Julian and I did.

When I strolled farther into his hotel room, I saw that Lorena had already set up shop at my normal spot on the big couch. Julian's laptop was across from her, which meant I was left with the hotel desk. This wasn't a bad thing-in fact most normal people work from desks-it was just that I knew I wouldn't get away with sneaking my normal glances at Julian all day. Things were already changing.

Lorena took her seat at the couch and jumped right into work. Her enthusiasm was infectious and I knew she'd been waiting months to finally get back to her company. We had a final meeting with a design team in the afternoon and I needed to finish a few things before then.

I opened my laptop and laid out my pen, phone, and notepad in a neat row. The setup wasn't as comfortable as the couch, but it would do. I had a view of Central Park right out the window. Sure, I'd have preferred my standard view of Julian, but maybe the new setup would help my productivity.

My computer was still booting up when Julian held a warm cup of coffee out in front of me. I hadn't even heard him approach; I'd been too lost in the craziness of the morning. I reached out to take it from him and then he squeezed my shoulder, a small gesture of rea.s.surance.

"Thank you," I said over my shoulder.

He gave me a knowing smile and then headed back to his spot on the couch. If Lorena noticed the exchange, she didn't say anything about it.

"Jo! You have to give me all the details about Sat.u.r.day night. I've seen your photo everywhere this morning! You're seriously famous now," Lorena said, clapping her hands in excitement.

I glanced over to Julian and he smiled.

"By all means, tell her about the fas.h.i.+on show or we'll never get any work done today." I laughed and proceeded to give her every juicy detail of the show. After all, I could tell her the insanity of the first half of my night without including the details of what happened after. With her brother. In this very hotel room.

She'd pestered me with questions, but I didn't mind. It was mid-morning by the time Julian heavily suggested we actually start to work, but even then, I had to promise to tell her more during lunch.

By the time we'd all settled down to work, I had too many conflicting thoughts swirling around my head to actually focus. I couldn't even decide what should take top priority: the fact that Vogue had emailed me about a job or the fact that I wanted to jump Julian's bones at that very moment.

I glanced over my shoulder and snuck a peek at Julian. He was firing away on his keyboard with his brows subtly tugged together, a sign of concentration. I loved watching him while he worked. He hit enter on whatever he was typing, leaned back on the couch, and caught my stare.

An earthquake would have taken a backseat to that stare. My heart leapt in my chest as a slow, seductive smile spread across his lips. The breath of my lungs, the beat of my heart, the basic ability to pull my gaze away from him-they were all under his control. The connection between us was stronger than any willpower I could have mustered.

"Julian, what's the website for the architecture firm we're meeting with this afternoon?" Lorena asked, interrupting our moment.

Oh right, maybe stop eye-f.u.c.king Julian while his sister is around.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and turned back to good ol' Central Park.

Concentrate. Open your email. Pretend to type something. It can be gibberish, just stop sitting there like you're frozen.

I'd managed to get through half an email when Lorena stood to use the restroom a few minutes later. My fingers froze over my computer keys as I processed that she'd be gone for a few minutes. There was absolutely no way I would let the opportunity slip by me. The second the door to the bathroom locked into place, I pushed off my chair and ran to Julian as quietly as possible. He shoved his laptop aside, stood, and reached for my face. He cupped my cheeks in his palms as our lips met.

That kiss.

That kiss was a sucker punch to my gut. That kiss was Julian laying claim to my soul. I was on the fringe of insanity, swept up in the feel of him. I was wholeheartedly convinced that we could have a quickie while Lorena was in the bathroom, and then I heard the toilet flush.

Julian and I flew apart like we'd just been caught red-handed. My heart hammered in my chest as I glanced to the bathroom and then back to Julian. His devilish smile didn't help matters. I laughed and shook my head, giving myself another foot of distance between us.

d.a.m.n. Would it kill Lorena to take her time? Get comfortable in there. Read a book!

"I'm going to ask her to grab us lunch," Julian said, running his hand down the length of my arm before tucking it away in his pocket.

I tilted my head. "Why?"

"Because I want fifteen minutes alone with you before the meeting with the architecture firm this afternoon," he said, bending to steal one last kiss before the bathroom door opened.

Alrighty then.

"Are you guys okay?" Lorena asked with a skeptical tone. When she'd gone into the bathroom, we'd been sitting down and working quietly. Now, we were standing together in the center of the room, panting as if we'd just finished a triathlon.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Julian and I are doing our work yoga."

What?

She arched a brow. "What's that?"

I laughed as if she was crazy, my brain working overtime to come up with an answer. "Oh. Uh, you just pause every hour on the hour and do five minutes of stretching." I turned to Julian. "Go ahead, Julian. Show her your downward dog."

Chapter Forty-One.

Josephine I stared at my open laptop in front of me, wondering how I'd managed to sit at my kitchen counter for an hour and not type a single word. I had three blog posts to write for the coming week, a Greyhound ticket to purchase, a giant check to deposit in my account, and a hundred or so emails to respond to, one of which was from Vogue.

I'd yet to tell Julian that I was heading home to Texas for a few days. It wasn't because I was purposely keeping things from him, we just hadn't had a moment alone to talk where we weren't attacking one another. Since Sat.u.r.day, I'd had interview request after interview request from blogs and news channels wanting the inside scoop about the "Cinderella of New York Fas.h.i.+on Week". It was all a bit surreal, but with each pa.s.sing day my social media followers continued to double. I was supposed to have had dinner with Julian the night before, but I'd had to cancel last minute to do an interview with People Magazine. It was just a short piece, not the front page or anything, but still! I couldn't very well turn down People Magazine. I knew the timing of everything was terrible. Julian and I had finally decided to sleep together, and the very next day, my life had exploded into chaos.

I reached for my phone, knowing I'd have a better chance of getting everything out if I texted him. I drafted a short and sweet message and hit send before I got distracted by another incoming email. My inbox was currently hovering at around 132 unread messages, all from important people, all vying for my attention.

Josephine: Hey, my dad is turning 60 next week, so I have to head home to Texas to celebrate with him. It won't be for long.

Julian: What? When do you leave?

I glanced at my calendar hanging on the front of my fridge.

Josephine: Three days.

How had the days crept up on me?

Julian: Way to give a guy some warning...

Josephine: Are you mad?

Julian: No. Why would I be? I just wish your dad lived in New York.

The image of my dad wandering around the streets of New York was almost too comical to consider.

Josephine: Believe me, you don't want him living here.

Julian: How long will you be gone?

Josephine: Just for a few days, but I'll be bringing Lily back with me. She's moving into my apartment.

Julian: Sounds like trouble.

I smiled. With Lily moving in with me, there definitely would be trouble...I just hoped it was the good kind.

Chapter Forty-Two.

Julian "Julian, how did my shoe get stuck in the lamp?" Josephine asked as I b.u.t.toned up my pants.

I turned to look over my shoulder. Sure enough, Josephine's high heel was wedged between the wall of Dean's boat and the bedside lamp. A few inches to the left and I would have busted the light bulb.

"I think I was just ripping stuff off you," I explained. "I don't have great aim when you have your s.h.i.+rt off."

She glared at me and then bent to retrieve her s.h.i.+rt from the floor. I'd wanted to just throw it overboard but I knew she would have killed me. Even still, as she b.u.t.toned her blouse back up, I took every opportunity to get my fill of her while I could.

"They're b.r.e.a.s.t.s, Julian," she laughed. "You can literally type 'b.o.o.bs' into Google and see half a million of them."

I smirked. "None quite as perfect as yours though. I know; I've tried to find them."

She reached to throw one of Dean's pillows at my head and I realized I'd underestimated her ability as it clocked me in the side of the face.