Accidental Fiancé (Unintentionally Yours #5)

14. Julian

Chapter 14

Julian

“ Y ou got one more in the tank, I know you do! Come on, Julian, one more!” Dix cheered me on while my arms embarrassingly shook as if this were the first time I’d benched in my life. I could hardly get the bar back up without his assistance but seeing his hands hovering, ready to grab it, was enough for me to lift it over the edge of the hooks. Once the weight settled, I could breathe again.

“Fuck.”

“Monday getting you, or is something else hitting?” Dixon Weaver was one of the best personal trainers in the world, and his physique proved it. He was tall and bald, and his muscles had their own muscles. He had been a professional football player until too many concussions caused an early retirement.

His gym was glorious. Every piece was made to his specifications, some having been handcrafted by the man himself. The outer wall of windows overlooked the ocean, but inside, the place was nothing but blood, sweat, and tears. Scuffed plates, wear and tear on the padding, worn knurling. The kind of gym that felt lived-in, the irony being that his apartment was the entire second floor above it.

“It’s nothing. Just need to get my head in the game.” And Maggie out of it . That was what the extra-long workout was for.

I had been distracted all day at work. I’d see a brown-haired woman and lament to myself that her hair wasn’t as brown or as curly as Maggie's. When I smelled freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in the cafeteria, the scent overpowered me making me think of her, and I ended up agreeing to some ludicrous suggestion from the HR VP about decreasing vacation time. I fixed it right after but that could have been disastrous.

I could not escape her influence. It was a problem.

Dix knew me too well. “Who is she?”

“What makes you think there’s a woman involved? It’s Monday. Mondays are tough on everyone.”

“Not you, Julian. You come in, you bang out your work, you stay focused, grounded. That’s who you are, Monday or not. So…?”

I sat up, wiping my face. “Too soon to say.”

“Ah, I knew it.” He grinned. “Tell me about her. Didn’t you have your class reunion this weekend?”

“Yes and I don’t want to get into it.”

“Whatever you say. Drop and give me twenty.”

I cocked a brow at him. “What?”

“If you don’t want to talk, then you want to work. Twenty pushups, and if you don’t get on them quickly, I’m adding twenty burpees.”

“Her name is Maggie.”

He chuckled and put the plates back for me. “And is Maggie a blast from the past?”

I sighed. There was no way to get out of this without destroying my body or my pride, so I opted for pride and told him everything. “I’ve had a crush on her since high school and this weekend all of my fantasies came true. But now, in the cold light of day, I’m not sure taking her to Yaya’s party is such a good idea.”

“You said it’s for three weeks, give or take, right?”

“Right, but three weeks of living together suddenly feels longer, you know? We were together most of the weekend, and this morning, I accidentally kissed her in front of Piper. That’s not what you do when it’s a temporary thing.”

“For sure. But you’re comfortable with her.”

I nodded.

“You like her.”

“Yeah.”

“So, why not move things to the next level when enough time has passed? What’s the big deal?”

“Because she’s my fantasy, I’m not hers.” The words hung in the air like the scent of rancid garbage. Heavy, oppressive. Horrible. All my insecurities in one sentence. Dix had seen me at my worst during my divorce but this was hitting differently. I felt more vulnerable and I hated it.

He took a beat to recalibrate. “I think you’re selling yourself short, man.”

“I’m not.” I moved to the dumbbells for curls to burn out the last of what I had in the tank. “She never thought of me like this in high school, and I’m not going to make things weird for her. If she brings it up, I’ll apologize and play it off. If she never brings it up, even better. But I’m not going to be a creep about it. The kiss this morning was a one-time thing.”

“Like the night of the reunion?”

I exhaled my disapproval loudly but kept going at my curls.

“And the following morning? That was a one-time thing too, right?”

“Must you continue?”

He chuckled. “Chin higher. Too much give in your back.”

I did as he instructed. “Better?”

“Yes. And another thing?—"

“Can we not? I’ve been overthinking this all day.”

“Whatever you say. Shoulders back.”

I made the adjustment and got a better burn in the bicep. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that if she didn’t want to be kissed this morning, she wouldn’t have climbed on you last night.”

“You don’t know Maggie.”

“Do you? It’s been a minute since you two hung out, so maybe you should get to know one another again instead of pounding each other’s brains out for a night. She’s your fantasy girl, but reality might pour some cold water down your shorts.”

He had a point.

How much did I really know about her as an adult? Not a lot. But that didn’t seem to matter when I pulled in at home and saw her rental car parked in front of the garage. Something deep inside of me settled down, knowing she was inside the house with Piper. I might not have known the details of who she was these days, but I knew who Maggie was at her core.

Which was why it was so hard to keep my fucking head about her.

When I walked into the house, the aroma of tomato sauce wafted up my nose and I followed it like a drooling animal to the kitchen. There, I found Piper, wearing a chef hat and an apron, next to Maggie, who wore the same thing. That feeling that had settled down in my chest now lifted and swooned.

They were too cute together.

“Hey, you two.”

They both jumped, and Maggie ended up with tomato sauce dripping onto her apron from the wooden spoon in her hand. “Oh damn it, I mean dang it. Piper, you can’t say the other one.”

My daughter laughed while Maggie cleaned herself up. She teased, “Dammit!”

“Pip, language. What is all this?”

“Thought we’d make you a proper supper. She says she loves noodles, so we decided on spaghetti and meatballs. Sound good?”

“Sounds incredible. But you could have ordered something.” I sat at the kitchen bar and rolled up my sleeves.

“Where’s the fun in that? I’ll make you a bowl.”

Piper came to sit next to me. “Pop, did you know you could make noodles?”

“Yes, I… Maggie, did you make the spaghetti?”

“Mm-hmm,” she said as she ladled everything together.

“I don’t know how much work that is, but I’m sure it goes way beyond opening a box. Why go to all the trouble?”

She shrugged and set the bowl in front of me. “Taste it first and let me know if it needs anything.”

I did, and the supple noodle had edges on it that picked up the sauce in a way I didn’t realize spaghetti could. The sauce itself was succulent, yet not overly heavy, and seasoned to perfection. And the meatball was the stuff of meatball dreams, full of flavor with just the right density. I had no words. I just kept eating.

“Does it need anything?”

I shook my head and kept at it.

The three of us slurped pasta together, putting a serious dent in the massive amount Maggie had made. She swore it was impossible to make a small amount, so she had made enough to feed a small army. I was so full by the end of it that I said, “If you keep cooking like this, I’ll have to do extra-long sessions with my personal trainer every day.”

She smiled at me over her glass of wine. “Salad tomorrow?”

“That’ll make up for tonight, but what about the next day when I ask you to make spaghetti again?”

“I’m glad you liked it. But I have other plans for the rest of the week.”

“No more spaghetti?” A terrible thought.

“Nope, something else. Hopefully, you’ll like it just as much. And there will be more vegetables involved.”

“No!” Piper shouted as she climbed down from her chair.

But Maggie insisted, “You remember all the vegetables I put in the sauce and the meatballs? It’ll be like that. You won’t even notice them. I promise.”

“Okay. We can have yucky vegetables.”

I couldn’t believe she caved so easily to Maggie’s demands. Piper never did that. She must really like her.

“How about you start getting ready for bed, so when you get sleepy, you’re all set?”

“Only if you get in your pajamas, too.”

“Deal.”

“Yay!” Piper ran down the hall to her bedroom.

I shook my head in disbelief. “How are you getting her to comply so easily? Non-compliance is sixty percent of her personality.”

“It’s probably just because I’m new. Once she gets comfortable around me, I’m sure the honeymoon phase will be over. All set?” she asked, her hand out for my bowl.

I gave it a teasing smack. “No possible way. You made this amazing dinner from scratch. The least I can do is clean up. You sit and have another glass of wine. Tell me about your day.” I picked up my bowl and Piper’s and carried them to the sink. Maggie had already snuck hers in and rinsed it off. I pointed at a new device in the kitchen. “What’s this thing?”

“That’s my stand mixer. I used it to make the pasta. It’s handwash only.”

“Got it.” I tackled the kitchen, starting with the mixer first. “So, things with Piper today went well, I take it?”

“She’s a fun kid. Loves her swimming pool.”

I laughed. “Yes, she does. Her swim lessons went okay?”

“Yes, her lessons with an Olympic gold medalist went just fine.” The way she said it made me worry.

“What’s that about?”

Maggie laughed to herself, rolling her eyes. “You hired a gold freaking medalist to teach your kid’s swim lessons, Jules. That’s not exactly normal.”

I shrugged and went back to what I was doing. “I want the best for my little girl. Go on.”

“Um, Etta does not like me.”

“The only people Etta likes are children. She’s amazing with them. Adults, not so much.”

Maggie went quiet for a moment. “Piper mentioned to her that you kissed me this morning and that I’m living here. She must think I’m the girlfriend of the week by the look she gave me.”

“Did she say something snide to you?”

“No. Just a look. Like I was trash.”

“I’ll have a talk with her.”

“Don’t you dare! Not until after I’m gone. I don’t want you to say something to her that makes things weird when I’m dropping Piper off in the mornings.”

That word again. “We certainly wouldn’t want anything to be weird.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mag-gie! You’re not in your pajamas!” Piper shouted from down the hall, my saving grace.

“Right.” She scooted off her chair. “Excuse me. Duty calls.” She took her wine with her.

Once the kitchen was cleaned and I changed into my loungewear for the night, the three of us gathered in the first floor living room for a movie. Maggie made popcorn—something I never kept in the house—and Piper ate it up as if she had never had popcorn in her life. Which come to think of it, she might not have.

We let her pick the movie, something about fairies battling an evil wizard. But all I could think of was how much I wanted Maggie to sit closer to me. How I wanted to drape my arm around her shoulders and smell her hair while we watched the movie.

Instead, I plunked Piper between us as a buffer. Between her and the giant popcorn bowl, I had a safe distance from temptation. Casually, I snuck a hand into the bowl and snatched some for myself.

“Pop! That’s my corn!”

“And we can make more,” Maggie said sweetly. “No need to be greedy with it.”

“Okay. Sorry, Pop.”

I shot Maggie another glance. New or not, I did not understand the spell she had over my daughter. “That’s alright, sweetie. I know how you are with food.”

“I don’t share.”

Maggie laughed. “Isn’t sharing a good thing?”

“I like it when other people share with me. But I don’t like to share with other people.”

I interjected, “We’re working on it.”

“Hmm,” Maggie said, thinking aloud. “Maybe if the adults around Piper asked for popcorn before digging their thieving hand into the bowl, she would be more willing to share.”

Piper grinned up at me. “Pop has thief hands.”

“She doesn’t like to share, and I don’t like hearing no. It’s a volatile combination.” I grabbed another handful out of sheer rebellion.

“Pop!”

“Am I going to have to move the popcorn bowl over here so only Piper and I can reach it?” she teasingly chided.

“I have long arms, and I’m not afraid to use them.”

Piper defiantly placed the bowl onto Maggie’s lap. “No corn for Pop!”

But Maggie threw a piece at my face and giggled. “Maybe just one piece.”

“Oh, it’s on!” I reached over, but she held the bowl away, twisting to keep me from it. So I tickled her to make her drop it.

Piper scooted out from between us and shouted, “Tickle fight!” then she went after my feet, knowing how much I hated that.

Maggie, the voice of reason, tried to pull away and stand up, but I yanked her back down onto the couch for more torture until she whooped and squirmed sufficiently enough to satisfy me. I let her up and she stood there, breaths heaving as her smile faded. She chewed her bottom lip as she looked into my eyes.

But Piper was undeterred. “Get him, Maggie!”

“No, I?I need more wine. Be right back.” She left the bowl on the end table.

“She knew I’d win,” Pip said as she climbed back onto the couch next to me. “That’s why she stopped.”

But I had a feeling that was not the reason. The truth was, all of this was too easy. Maggie fit into our life seamlessly, enhancing it in just a day. The breakfast treats, the meals, the suddenly compliant child. It was as if she took the little things that were mildly bothersome—making dinner, managing Piper’s defiant streak—and turned them into pleasantries.

Now I understood what she meant when she said it was weird because things weren’t weird, especially where they should be. She made this situation too comfortable, and I didn’t know what to do about it.

But I had to figure it out and soon. Otherwise, when she left for good, she’d walk out with my heart in her handbag.