Accidental Fiancé (Unintentionally Yours #5)

6. Julian

Chapter 6

Julian

T his time, the kiss wasn’t stolen. I wasn’t some jerk teenager, and Maggie wasn’t an innocent girl. When I kissed her, she tipped her mouth up to meet mine, synchronicity and intent wrapped in her lips, in the heat of doing what we wanted. She clutched at my collar, her nails grazing my skin when her fingers curled in at the edge.

She let go of my shirt a moment later—much too soon—and backed away. She blinked as if she couldn’t believe what she had done. “I’m sorry.”

Not the response I was used to getting after I kissed a woman. “What’s wrong?”

“I… I shouldn’t have done that.”

I laughed. “Maggie, I kissed you .”

“But—"

“So don’t spoil it. Maybe you get kissed all the time, but it’s been a little while for me, and that was nice.”

Her cheeks flushed a dark pink. “Oh. No, I don’t get kissed all the time. It’s been a while for me, too.”

“Hard to believe.”

She glanced away, smirking to herself. “It’s true, I don’t.” She was so damn nervous. I had to do something.

“Hey, Maggie?”

“Hmm?”

I stuck my tongue out and crossed my eyes, and she laughed so hard that tears streamed down her cheeks.

Once she caught her breath, she asked, “What was that for?”

“You looked nervous. I had to fix that.”

She shook her head, a smile remaining on her face though her tone was a little too defensive. “I’m not nervous.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not. I’m just… I don’t know what I am tonight.”

I had a feeling I knew. Every time I touched her, she leaned into it. When I kissed her, she moaned in my mouth. It was hard not to feel something, even if we were only faking. She was so damn responsive, and I fucking loved that. The crush I’d harbored in high school had gone from ember to flame in an hour, and I didn’t like pretending otherwise.

But. I still needed to slow this down. Tonight was not about me or my crush. I was trying to be a friend to someone who needed one. A protector to a hen surrounded by wolves. It was nothing more than that for her, and I needed to behave.

The trouble was, I didn’t want to. I wanted Maggie, and I hated bullshitting. I changed course and took her hand again. “Dance with me.”

She followed my lead and once we were close, I let the music carry us and did what came naturally. Holding her. Enjoying the softness of her. Not real, not real, not real . Maybe if I reminded myself this wasn’t a date, and we weren’t a couple, I’d be a better man. Chivalrous. Good.

It was pointless to argue with my basic instincts, though.

There wasn’t a chivalrous bone in my body when it came to Maggie. Not tonight, not after kissing her. That kiss broke my restraint. When a dirty beat came on, she wriggled and ground against me. If there was a God, this had to be a sign, right? This was meant to happen. She wanted this, too. She didn’t have to dance on me like I was her personal stripper pole.

She chose to.

She chose me.

The friction of her body on mine, our chemistry. It was all too much. I held a hand on her stomach to keep her tight against me, and her ample ass coaxed my body out of its slumber.

How long has it been?

I couldn’t remember the last time I was with someone, but there was no faking my erection. She must have noticed, too, because she stopped for a moment before starting up again. This time, she rocked against my hard-on ever so slightly as she danced. Not enough to be indecent, but just enough to tell me she knew. The tease.

We weren’t the only pair grinding on the dance floor, the song was made for it. But I barely noticed the others. Not with Maggie backing up to me like this. I lifted her hair from her neck and licked her there, relishing the candy sweat on her skin. She shuddered against me in response and caused my cock to throb for more. I didn’t want to stop, but distant laughter reminded me we were not alone.

Right. The reunion.

I released her hair and turned her to face me. Those pouty lips were made for biting, and her pupils were blown, eyes wide as she stared up at me. Her large chest heaved with every breath. If I were a lesser man, I might have brought up the fact we were in a great hotel, and I had a room.

But I was trying to be decent for some stupid reason. “Another drink?”

“Yeah.”

We practically raced to the bar, both in need of cooling down. Rushing there helped me lose my erection. We each ordered a bottle of water and headed for the same table as before. Water was exactly what she needed, not some guy panting all over her. She’d had a hard night and I needed to respect that and give her some space.

I took off my suit coat and tried to make conversation again as I rolled up my shirt sleeves. “So, have you seen any?—"

“My bakery burned down,” she muttered as her gaze moved to my newly exposed forearms. Apparently, she was ready to talk about it. It was the last thing on my mind after what happened on the dance floor, but I liked that she was willing to tell me what happened. Maybe after tonight, we could rekindle our friendship.

“I know. I’m so sorry that happened. Do you want to?—"

“It was so random…” She sighed and sat back on her bar stool. “The firefighters said it was a one-in-a-million accident. The front door’s kickplate hit the doorstop at the wrong moment during the flour delivery. Metal on metal caused a spark and boom. Small explosion, big fire.”

“Wow, that’s crazy. What are the chances?”

She fiddled with the cap of her bottle. “Yeah, I know. Bad luck, I guess. I keep thinking Dad must have used up all of our family’s good luck by having his mini stroke detected early. He’s on a bunch of medication to keep the big one from happening. But if the cost of my father’s good health is losing my bakery I’m willing to pay it.”

I understood the feeling. She had to tell herself a story that made her loss meaningful somehow. But that also meant she felt responsibility for things that were out of her control, and I couldn’t let that stand. It was an accident.

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Maggie.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know but it makes it easier to swallow the idea that I lost everything I worked for… that it was for something good and not all for nothing.” She got choked up and guzzled most of her water. “I’m sorry, Jules. I’m not normally this emotional.”

I reached for her hand. “I’m glad I can be here for you then.”

“Are you gunning for sainthood or something?”

“What?”

“You’re being so nice to me.” The way she looked at me felt like hero worship, and I couldn’t let her do that. I was no one’s hero.

But I wasn’t sure how to respond, either. The truth or something subtle. Maybe shoot down the middle. “Well, to be honest, I’m not being entirely altruistic. I’m getting something out of this too.”

“What do you mean?”

I felt like the parent about to tell their kid the truth about Santa Claus. If I told her the truth about me, would she be angry? “You’re a beautiful woman, Maggie. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy your company. This is more than reminiscing over high school and lost time. There’s a connection here, at least for me.”

Her plump lips parted in the slightest gasp, and I took that for an opportunity knocking. A burning rush came over me as I crushed my mouth to hers, taking charge of the moment. I laced my fingers through her hair to angle her head, deepening the kiss. Her mouth tasted like the orange in her cocktail, and I craved more.

I wanted to be a good friend, but I was just as much of an animal as the next man, entranced and intoxicated by a beautiful woman’s seductive kisses. This was undeniable—two stars colliding, sparks flying. We hadn’t gotten together when we were kids because I never got the courage to ask her out.

I’m thinking she might’ve said yes.

It may not have worked out anyway because we were teenagers but it didn’t matter now. I wanted to enjoy the present moment. Her moan shot straight to my cock, making me ache for her, and I stopped asking questions.

I broke the kiss, pressing my forehead to hers. “This is wrong.”

“It is?” Her voice was barely a whisper. I had to strain to hear her over the music.

I leaned back, and she leaned forward, following me. I stole a deeper view of her cleavage before sitting up straight. “It is. You’re vulnerable, Maggie. You went through a huge financial and career loss recently, and then tonight, you had to deal with Chloe and the others… I’m just trying to do a solid for an old friend, so we should probably wait until we see them watching us before we start kissing again. Shouldn’t we?” Say no .

She shook off the haze. “I guess so.”

I took a deep breath of disappointment to clear my head. “Fine. Right. We can do this. We’re adults, not horny teenagers?—"

“But what sells the engagement story better than a happy couple caught up in each other?”

“I can’t fault the logic in that.” I hooked my hand around the back of her head and kissed her again—longer, deeper—until we were full-blown making out.

“Get a room!” someone hollered from a distance.

Another brilliant idea. I backed off, but only a fraction of an inch. Her brows lifted in concern, a silent question of why I stopped kissing her. Hoarsely, I asked, “What sells the story better than the two of us running up to my room right now?”

“We should do that,” she said, gulping. “To sell the story, I mean.”

“Right. For the story.” I led her to the lobby’s elevators where I kissed her again and again. I couldn’t get enough of her mouth, couldn’t stop touching her. The elevator dinged at us and once inside, I hit the button for the penthouse suite. Doubt grew loud in the silence. What if she was only doing this for the story and wasn’t into me at all?

I might be reading this all wrong so I offered, “We don’t have to?—"

Maggie launched at me, her fingers clasping at my collar again. She pulled me down for another kiss. I was definitely not reading this wrong.

I spun her around and pushed her to the wall, a hand on either side of her head to cage her in as we kissed. The doors opened just in time otherwise I would have stopped the elevator and taken her right then and there.

The hallway was a fever dream of kissing and groping one another. I pressed her to the wall with my body, my hand sliding under her dress while I bit her neck. She groaned and arched herself into my palm.

God, I couldn’t get enough of her.

But at this rate, we were going to get arrested, so I dragged myself from her and went down the hall, searching for my suite. Maggie came up behind me and grabbed my ass as I tried to unlock the door. It finally unlatched, and I led us inside the dark penthouse.