Modern Girl's Guide to One-Night Stands (17 page)

The room was still dark when she heard the knocking. The first thing Julia noticed was that Simon wasn’t in bed with her. She looked around the room. Bright light was streaming through the crack in the blackout curtains, and Julia realized it was much later than she thought. The knock came again. Julia grabbed the robe from a hook in the bathroom and went to the door. Maybe it was Simon. He could have gone out for breakfast and forgotten the key.

But when she opened the door, Megan pushed her way inside.

“Oh, my God, Julia. I’m so sorry about yesterday,” Megan said, throwing her arms around her. She pulled back and looked around the room, her gaze coming to rest on the untouched takeout containers. “You’ve got to be starving. Simon said you were so exhausted last night you just passed out.”

Julia looked into the hall before closing the door. “Where is Simon?”

Megan put a small bag on the table and opened it. “Oh, he came home first thing this morning. He didn’t want to wake you. I know he’s been an antisocial jerk this weekend, but my brother is a nice guy. He was trying to be considerate.”

Considerate?
He’d run away, and despite the fact she had done the same thing, Julia was still angry.
Last night was different. Wasn’t it?

“Oh.” It was all Julia could manage.

“Here,” Megan said, tossing her a clean pair of shorts and a shirt. “Simon said your clothes were probably still wet from the rain. Get dressed and I'll take you out for breakfast.”

Julia headed to the bathroom to dress, more confused than ever. Did anything change after last night? This time it wasn’t anonymous sex with a stranger. It was Simon.
Megan’s Simon.
Did it mean he was interested in something more? She wasn’t ready for another relationship. But if he wanted a relationship, why had he left?

Oh, shit. Was last night a pity fuck?

Her head pounded from lack of food, and her stitches were throbbing now. Julia looked down at her hand. The bandage had soaked through with dark blood. Figured. She’d probably popped a stitch after last night, but she wasn’t going back to the hospital. She dressed, forgoing the bra, and came out of the bathroom determined to have a talk with Simon before he left today.

“I’m ready if you are, but I’d rather go back to the house. I didn’t get a chance to thank Simon for his help last night,” Julia said, hoping Megan wouldn’t see past her lie.

“Well, you’ll have to shoot him an email, then,” Megan said, picking up the bag and heading toward the door. “The boys were packing up the car when I left. Simon said something about an early meeting tomorrow.”

Julia stopped, taking a second to process what Megan just said. That answered her earlier questions. The fact that he’d left without so much as a goodbye said it all. Before following Megan into the hall, Julia took a deep breath and shoved away her roiling emotions. If that was what he wanted, it was fine with her.

Chapter Ten

Modern Girl Tip #12: The Chase—A one-night stand should be fun. You might be tempted to jump right to the sex, but there’s a lot of fun in the chase. So take it slow. Tease. Flirt. Enjoy the ride, even.

Simon was a grade-A bastard. There was no denying it. But after last night, he couldn’t face Julia.

It wasn’t because of the sex. It had been every bit as mind-blowing as he remembered. If it had just been sex, Simon would have gladly spent more time getting to know that sexy body of hers. And it would have been easy to treat it like any other hookup, with emotional distance and mutual respect.

Instead, he spent the whole night awake with Julia in his arms, replaying every minute of the day, trying to figure out how he’d gotten so invested. Things had rocketed past casual to involved in the course of a few hours.

And he panicked.

She was a complication he didn’t need in his life right now. Not with everything going on with his company. And he knew if she looked up at him with those stormy eyes and her pouty, kissable lips, he’d start making promises he couldn't keep. Hell, with the way things were going in New York, he couldn’t even promise her he’d be in Chicago come next week.

No.
It might have been a shitty thing to do, but it was best for both of them.

She had said she wasn’t looking for a relationship after her breakup. Julia was probably relieved he’d left so she wouldn’t have to give him the brush-off.

Simon had almost convinced himself that he’d done them both a favor, when the phone rang. He hit the answer button on the steering wheel. “This is Simon.”

“What the hell did you do to Julia?” Megan’s pissed-off voice filled the car.

Peter laughed in the passenger’s seat, shaking his head. “Man, you’ve done it now.”

“Shut the fuck up, Peter,” Simon said, not in the mood to deal with his ribbing, and took the phone off speaker. “Why do you think I did something to Julia?" he asked, afraid his sister was about to tear him a new one for being a jackass to her friend.

“Because she hardly talked to me on the way home and when we got here, she grabbed her camera and left. I’ve known her for long enough, and she hides behind that lens when something’s bothering her. So? What. The. Hell. Did. You. Do?”

“Megan, I’m not in the mood for your shit right now. I didn’t do anything,” he said. The lie left a bitter taste on his tongue, but he wasn’t about to discuss what happened with his sister. “She was pretty shaken-up after the hospital trip. Did you think about that? Besides, if she is upset with me, there's not much I can do now. We’re almost back to Chicago. Why don’t I drop her an email when I get home and make sure I didn’t do anything to upset your little friend?”

“You’re such a douche. God, I wish you were here because you deserve the bucket.” Megan hung up before he could plead his case.

Fuck.
He hated pissing off Megan, but it seemed like that was all he could do these days. They’d always been close. They’d had each other's backs. But last night had nothing to do with her.

He would write Julia an email and try to explain. She was reasonable and would understand. Especially if he explained about New York. A quick email was all it would take. Simon was starting to warm to the idea when Peter spoke up.

“Meg sounded pissed. Did she threaten the bucket?”

“She’s almost thirty. You’d think she’d stop acting like a child." Simon sighed and shook his head. “I blame you. You’re the one who started this. Knowing Megan, she’ll probably drive back to Chicago just to nail me with ice water.”

“She told Heather Fitzpatrick I had the clap. I think a little payback was in order.”

“Did you ever think maybe Meg did you a favor? From what I heard, Heather was a psycho bitch. You know, the ‘boil your bunny’ kind."

“She could have just warned me off her. That rumor followed me for months. It was our senior year and I thought I was never going to get laid again. But that was a long time ago, and I got her back,” Peter said, shrugging it off. "So what did happen last night?”

“Nothing. I took her to the ER and the roads were flooded, so we had to stay at a hotel.”

“Sure. And that’s why you were hell-bent to get back to Chicago the second you walked through the door.” Peter laughed, leaning back in his seat. The mocking tone of his voice grated on Simon’s nerves. “Fess up. What are you keeping from Megan? Did you sleep with Julia?”

“You two are reading way too much into this.”

“Dude, we’ve been playing poker for years. I can spot your tell a mile away. There was something you didn’t want her to know. So go on, what was it? You couldn't have slept with her or you wouldn’t be in such a shitty mood. Did you make a move and get shot down? Because if she’s not interested, Megan will want you to back off. Julia is like her pet project right now."

“I didn’t make a move on her,” Simon bit out between clenched teeth. He’d thought Julia was the only person he needed to worry about this morning. Between Peter’s constant probing and Megan’s anger, he was starting to feel like an ass. Why wouldn’t they just let the whole thing drop so he could handle it? “Have you forgotten about the Star Atlantic client? I don’t have time for a relationship. My head needs to be in the game.”

“If you don’t want to talk about it, fine. Just don’t piss off Megan. Her anger tends to run downhill and I don’t want to catch hell for your screw-ups.”

Simon rolled his eyes but was grateful when Peter changed the subject. They spent the rest of the drive home talking about a few projects that needed follow-up, and not about their weekend at the lake house.

For the next week, Simon put in long hours trying to put the finishing touches on the Star Atlantic campaign. But it didn’t matter how many late nights he spent at the office. The minute he was home alone his thoughts would stray to Julia.

He found himself wondering if she was angry at him. Did she think about him at all? He stared at his ceiling at night, unable to sleep. When he did close his eyes, all he saw was her freckled skin, bare and flushed with arousal. And that damn tattoo. He dreamed about exploring the dark path that ran up her spine with his tongue.

By Sunday night, he was sleep-deprived and had the worst case of blue balls. It had been all kinds of wrong to leave without talking to her, and this was his reward.

It had to stop. What he needed was closure. Stumbling through his dark room, he grabbed his laptop and headed for the living room. He’d shoot her that email he’d promised and explain his behavior. Then his conscience would be clear and he'd be able to focus again.

He composed a brief message and sent it off, but was disappointed when he didn’t feel the slightest bit better. He went back to bed still frustrated, and decided if he didn’t hear from her in the next few days, he’d call the house and talk with her.

Luckily, when he checked his email the next night there was a message from her. But it wasn’t what he’d expected.

Simon,

Thank you for the apology, but it wasn’t necessary. We both knew what we were getting into. Thank you for a nice night. No hard feelings.

-Julia

No hard feelings? He’d agonized over that apology letter, picking out just the right thing to say to let her know he was taking full responsibility for what he did. And this was her response? She might as well have been thanking him for fixing a flat tire or walking her dog.

It was a brush-off. Plain and simple. He should have been relieved. It was exactly what he wanted to hear, but somehow that brief message caused his mind to shift into overdrive. He had this perverse desire to find out what she was really feeling.

He hit reply, but stopped when he saw a website address at the bottom of her message. Simon followed the link to her professional photography site and was taken in by the beautiful nude silhouette on the splash page. He recognized the figure immediately.

The photo titled
In the Dark
took his breath away. The lone woman completely in the dark, with strategic splashes of light highlighting the hills and valleys of her form. Even though Julia’s features were in the shadows and unrecognizable, he knew it was her. He could almost feel the smooth curve of that hip against his palm.

He followed the link to the series of nudes, hoping to see more of her. But much to his disappointment,
the photo from the splash page was the only one that featured Julia. The other photos were of various models, and while they were all beautiful, none of them were as striking as
In the Dark
.