After The One (The One Series Duet) Read online

  Julian was slumped in his chair as anger and defeat billowed off of him. He was staring straight ahead as he held the phone to his ear.

  I tentatively approached him and stood silently beside his chair. My options were to sit on his desk where important papers were spread out or try to climb into his lap as he was clearly having an angry conversation. I chose to drop to my knees in front of him. I rubbed his knee supportively and gave him a small smile.

  Although he intertwined his fingers with mine, he did not return the smile.

  “Yeah, I get it. And there’s nothing that can be done? Can you try?” He was quiet for a minute. “I understand that, but—” He was quiet again and then he looked at me.

  He barked a few more demands into the phone before concluding the call and dropping it loudly against the glass desk.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I told the team we were engaged and want to get married on January first.” He let out a ragged breath.

  My eyes widened.

  Do they not want him marrying me or something? What could be this bad?

  “Okay…?” I said slowly.

  “They reminded me of my contract… which says I’m required to report my engagement to Robert Brady.”

  My stomach fell as the sinking feeling consumed me. I shook my head as the memory of Robert Brady’s parting words to us came flooding back, confirming Julian’s concerns.

  “If we get married when we want to get married, we have to…” His jaw tensed and tightened as his voice trailed off. It was as if it hurt him to continue the sentence.

  “No no no no no.” I shook my head vehemently as my insides threatened to come to the outside.

  “I’m sorry, Zoe,” Julian whispered his apology. “If we get married before the two year mark, Robert Brady owns the rights to my wedding to you.”

  My eyes stung with tears even though I knew I wouldn’t let any of them fall. “I didn’t sign anything giving them access to my life. Does that matter?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure. They’re looking into it, but it doesn’t look good. They think the only way we can get married before the baby comes is to do a…” He cleared his throat. “Wedding special.”

  Chapter 4

  I sat in my parked car in the garage for a few minutes while I gathered my thoughts Tuesday evening. With my eyes closed, I sucked in a deep breath.

  If I can make it through the rest of the week, I won’t have to return to work until next year.

  I didn’t tell any of the partners I was pregnant. I didn’t know how to broach the subject, especially since I was looking at an almost four-week vacation.

  They can find out when we announce it to people in general. I’m not hiding anything; I just don’t need to spend the next four weeks worrying about how they are trying to get away with firing me. I need to tell my family first and they will be here in two weeks. I’m getting married in three weeks. Then I’m going back to work. I’ll work my ass off and then when I start showing, they will know. I don’t need to stress over how they’re going to react. Why should I even have to deal with that? My body is a vessel and I’m creating life. This same body has walked in and out of their prestigious glass doors day in and day out, busting ass to prove myself for over a year now. They may have gotten away with pushing that one paralegal out, but they will not do that to me. I know my rights and Title VII’s pregnancy-related protections include my right to tell or not tell whoever the fuck I want—

  “Zoe?” The knock against my window scared me and I gasped, recoiling from the noise.

  Looking into those amused grey eyes, I breathed a sigh of relief. “Julian.” I pushed the car door open carefully as he backed up. He reached his hand out for me, helping me out of the car. “You scared me love. Thank you.”

  “I saw.” He searched my face. “Everything okay? Did the partners take the news well?”

  I didn’t tell them, I answered him silently.

  “Yeah, I’m okay.” I smiled at him. “I’m happy to be home though.”

  “I missed you.” He kissed me softly before grabbing my workbag and laptop case. “I’m ready for this week to be over.”

  My face lit up. “I was just thinking the same thing! The only thing that kept me from wallowing in how much I missed you was the fact that after Friday, for three whole weeks, it’ll just be me and you.” I wiggled my eyebrows for emphasis.

  Chuckling, Julian opened the door that led into the house and I followed behind him. As we walked in, the sound of his phone violently vibrating against the counter disrupted the quiet solitude in the air. He placed my belongings on the counter and then turned around to face me as he answered the call.

  “Hey Beverly. Did you—” Julian’s sentence broke off as he appeared to be listening attentively while watching me. “Yeah. We told our families last night.” He smiled and crossed his arm across his chest. “No not the date. We told them it’ll be soon, but we didn’t say when. We’re still waiting on the final word from the lawyers.” He chuckled softly. “Thank you. Yeah, I agree with you. I’m a lucky man and I won’t mess it up.”

  Oh Beverly.

  I grinned at Julian’s response.

  Beverly Davis was not only Julian’s personal assistant; she was the first person he ever hired. As a nineteen year old musical phenomenon, he chose the no nonsense nanny who was looking to segue into working with adults. Perhaps it was her fifteen years of experience with whipping children and families into shape, but she was excellent at her job. She even took care of me, although I insisted she didn’t.

  “She just got home.” His face became serious as he chewed his bottom lip. “Okay. Yeah, we’ll handle it. Thanks for calling.” He paused for a long time, presumably listening as he watched my every move. “Let me know if you hear anything else. I haven’t heard from anyone yet, but if they get wind of it, I’m sure they will be in touch with you or the lawyers.”

  My eyebrows furrowed as I preheated the oven. Handle what? Haven’t heard from who? His side of the conversation has the least amount of information!

  I returned to the island, standing directly across from him, and watched him watching me.

  He wore jeans low on his hips and a white t-shirt that stretched across his chest and arms deliciously. As he said his goodbyes, his smile was slow, easing across his handsome face, and the shadow darkening his jawline only made it sexier.

  “So…? What’s going on?”

  I stepped out of my black pumps and the cool tile welcomed my bare feet. Stripping out of my lightweight, burgundy jacket, I kept my eyes focused on him. I wanted him to see and fully appreciate the form fitting black dress that hugged my curves.

  Ignoring my questions, he eyed me distractedly. “Lawyers aren’t supposed to look this sexy.” He let out a low whistle. “Turn around.”

  I let out a staggering breath that gave way to a beaming smile. The unexpected compliment caught me by surprise and I could feel myself glowing. I did a slow spin as I ran my hand over the plumpness of my ass. “You like?”

  “I don’t like, I love. I’d rack up a lot of billable hours if I got to stare at you all day.”

  My skin heated from his words. “If you were looking at me the way that you do, I wouldn’t bill you anyway.”

  “How do I look at you?” he asked huskily as he stepped forward, backing me into the island in the middle of the kitchen.

  I tilted my head up to maintain eye contact as he closed the distance between us. His hands cradled my face as he gazed down at me.

  My stomach flipped twice. I gripped the hem of his t-shirt and pulled him closer. “Like that,” I whispered. My heart stopped and started erratically. “Like I’m...”

  My voice trailed off because I couldn’t quite explain the look that he gave me, but it was everything. With one look, he managed to make me feel incredibly weak and unbelievably strong at the same time.

  Without saying a word, he leaned down and kissed me lightly. His soft, full lips
only fleetingly grazed mine before he applied more pressure, cranking up the intensity. Before my tongue had a chance to caress his, the beeping of the oven interrupted our kiss.

  I pulled out of our embrace and winked. “I was looking forward to where that was going.”

  “Don’t worry. You won’t have to wait long,” he returned with a smirk.

  “You are such a flirt.” Amusement filled my voice as I washed my hands and headed to the refrigerator. “Now that you aren’t seducing me with your eyes and that small shirt, what happened with Beverly?”

  Julian threw his head back and laughed heartily. “You think my shirt is small?”

  “No! I think your muscles are too big for that particular cotton shirt.”

  The deep timber of his laugh flitted through the kitchen and filled me up. I was so full. I couldn’t help but imagine myself as his wife in that moment.

  Julian Winters is going to be my husband and I am going to be his wife.

  “I have some…news,” Julian started once his amusement had subsided.

  I returned to the middle of the kitchen and left a few feet of space between us, but Julian pulled me flush against his body anyway and lifted me off of my feet.

  Spinning me around, he sat me on the flat surface of the marble island. Wedging my legs open, my dress slipped up high on my thighs and he positioned himself between them. We were eye-to-eye.

  Wrapping my arms around his neck, I cocked my head to the side. “You’ve located a quill pen for us to write poetry with and be really pretentious about it?”

  He let out a short chuckle. “If you write me anything in a quill pen, I’d hear it in a tone.”

  I nodded profusely. “Like a high society…rich dignitary type of tone.”

  “Yeah, exactly.” He smiled, running his hands over my hips. “And the fact that you knew what tone I was talking about is the reason you don’t need a quill pen.”

  “You get me.” I giggled, watching him watching me. I touched his handsome face. “What’s going on, baby?”

  Uncertainty flashed in his eyes before he started to speak. “You know Beverly has alerts on anything that comes up related to me…or you, right?”

  I nodded slowly, unease giving me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  His hands patted my hips while it appeared he was bracing himself for what he was about to say. “Well…one of those reality TV gossip sites reported that we were engaged.”

  My eyebrows flew up. “Oh shit…”

  He nodded. “Yeah, but it’s okay for now,” he assured me. “It’s just that one site so it hasn’t gotten any traction, but this means that Robert Brady will probably find out sooner than we were hoping, so we have to make a plan.”

  My heart felt heavy because the fantasy plans we’d made in bed the night before were just that—a fantasy. The reality was that in order to marry the man that I loved in the timeframe I wanted while all of our closest friends and family were still in town, we’d have to get married on television.

  Unless…

  “What if we marry in secret?” I murmured softly, even though I knew the risks.

  Julian’s head tilted as he stared at me. He brought his hand to my head, smoothing it over my hair that was slicked back into a coarse bun. He let his fingers trail a path from my temple to my cheek and then down my neck. His touch was light and feathery, stirring up all types of feelings within me.

  “You want me to violate the terms of the contract?” His voice was as soft as his touch.

  I did, but I didn’t. I did because I wanted our wedding to be ours, but I didn’t because I knew it would be a huge financial setback and a legal and PR nightmare.

  I shook my head. “I don’t want you to do anything in violation of the contract.”

  “What do you want?”

  “To marry you.”

  He gave me a look. “What do you want?”

  “I want to marry you in a beautiful dress in front of our family and best friends. I want Chele King to sing ‘Always The One’ acappella as I walk down the aisle to you. I want it to be intimate. I want it to be us. Just us.” I looked down temporarily before making eye contact again. “I don’t want to do it in front of hundreds of strangers. I know it’s how we met and how we got together, but marriage is sacred and I want it to be ours. So if there’s any way we can avoid doing it on live TV, I would love that…but I’ve read the contract. Your team has read the contract. I don’t think it’s possible.” I paused. “What do you want?”

  He swallowed hard. “I want you as my wife. Last night, we talked about getting married on New Year’s Day with the hope that I can get out of my contract.” He stared at me for a long while and the subtle twitch of his eyebrow alerted me to his nervousness. He licked his lips. “Let’s say we can’t get out of the contract, what then? What do you want to do?”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but he interrupted before I could answer.

  “But before you answer, just know that I know I’m willing to do whatever you want to do. It kills me that I might not be able to give you the wedding you’ve always wanted. If you want to postpone, I’ll—”

  Pressing my lips against his, I stopped his flood of words with a kiss. “Julian, stop.” I searched his eyes until I saw the uncertainty receding. “You are going to give me the marriage I’ve always wanted; that’s what matters.” Ignoring the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach, I made a conscious decision to do what was best for our family. “We’re not going to postpone. Just like we said last night, we’re going to start the year as Mr. and Mrs. Winters.”

  Relief smoothed out the crease between his eyebrows as he sighed. “Thank God.”

  Capturing my lips with his, he kissed me with a tenderness that caused me to feel faint. My body heated, my brain flooded with emotions, and my heart skipped a beat. I wrapped my legs around his hips and pulled him closer as he leisurely explored my mouth with his own. The kiss was gentle and reverent.

  I felt loved.

  Pulling out of the kiss, we stared into each other’s eyes. “January first,” I breathed, a bit of wonder in my voice. “We’re getting married in less than a month.”

  A slow smile spread across his face. “You sure you don’t want to push it to February or right before I leave in March, give us time to plan?”

  I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter if it’s January first or March first. Unless there’s a way out of the contract, we still couldn’t have the wedding we talked about last night.” I let my fingers play along his chiseled jaw. “So why delay having you as my husband?”

  “So we’re doing this?” Julian questioned, eyes crinkling happily.

  Scooping me up into his arms, Julian helped me off the island. “We’re doing this,” I giggled, unwrapping my legs from around his body and placing my feet on the ground. “So I guess I need to find a dress.”

  “You do that. I have to make a few calls before dinner.” His lips brushed against mine. “I’ll be in the office if you need me.”

  I watched his sexy ass leave the kitchen.

  “I love you,” I called out to his retreating back.

  “I love you, too.”

  He went to handle his business and I handled mine. Two hours later, we were sitting side-by-side on our laptops in the den as we listened to music and planned our wedding.

  Although they were unable to find a loophole to get us out of any kind of contractual obligation to The One, his team of lawyers found a wedding planner named Peri Moore who was available and able to execute in a few weeks’ time. We spoke to her briefly and told her our wedding colors were a twist on the classic black and white. She assured us we were in capable hands and that she would handle everything.

  Well, everything except for the fashion and the music.

  Julian and I made it clear that we were going to take care of those things and let her know what we decided when we met with her in a few days.

  With that out of the way, we contacted the rest of
our wedding party and then worked on random wedding tasks. I’d just gotten off of the phone with Koko, who had received my email about her maid of honor dress, when Julian’s phone rang.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  We were sitting close enough that I could hear a man’s voice, but I couldn’t make out who it was.

  Julian pulled the phone from his ear to look at the number again. “This number is private. How did you get it?” he asked sharply. Although it was subtle, I heard the intimidating shift in his tone.

  I didn’t even pretend not to be listening as I turned my head to look at him.

  “Beverly has my calendar. There was no reason for you to bypass her.” He was quiet for a minute, listening. “We can discuss this at another time.”

  I eyed him and could feel the tension rolling off him. He didn’t raise his voice, but the rough tone indicated that he was not pleased with the caller. He clenched his jaw and that worried me, but the fact that he hadn’t made eye contact with me worried me even more.

  “I’ll give you one hour. Yeah. Friday night. I’ll have Beverly get back to you with my availability.”

  Julian hung up the phone, tossing it on the couch cushion. He let his head drop back.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “That was Robert Brady.”

  My stomach lurched. “What did he want?”

  Julian lifted his head and looked at me. “He said he wanted to congratulate us on our engagement and it felt too impersonal to have his assistant call mine and he didn’t want to go through Beverly when he could just call me directly.” He shook his head hard once. “Arrogant asshole.”

  I moved my laptop and then moved his off of his lap. He wrapped his arm around me as I curled into his side. “I’m sorry, baby.”

  “No, I’m sorry. We should be celebrating on Friday, but instead, I need to meet with him and deal with this.” He rubbed his hand against my skin. “I’m going to make it up to you though.”

  “No need. I’m coming with you.”

  Julian laughed. “I didn’t think you’d want to.”

  “Ordinarily I wouldn’t, but we are going to settle this thing once and for all. Maybe seeing us together will change his mind and his heart. Maybe he’ll let you out of the contract once he sees that this is real and doesn’t need to be exploited.”