Summer Of My Secret Angel (26 page)

Lips pursed, I scratched my head. This was
one fine lie he’d told me about the ladder. But one day alone with
Julian would provide a lot of opportunities to draw out his
secret.

After I retrieved a towel from the rack in
my bathroom, I skittered back into my room to comb my hair. With my
boots slipped on, I hurried to meet Julian in the garage.

Even before I rounded the corner, I noticed,
with disgust, that he wasn’t alone. The voice of the dragon carried
to me and stopped me in my tracks.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,
Julian.”

The muscles in my jaw tightened. Had he
lured me into a trap?

“But I didn’t ask you for your opinion.”

Oh boy, Julian’s snappy tone had my hair
standing on end. But he was out of his mind if he really believed I
would go on a family day with Charlene.

Shoulders squared, my boots pounded on the
tiles as I strode into the garage. An evil glare narrowed my eyes.
“If she’s coming with us, I’m cancelling.”

Julian gave an exhausted sigh while his eyes
rolled skyward. “No, she’s not. And no, you don’t. Your mother just
came to wish you well today.” He moved his gaze to her.
“Right?”

My mother searched his face, almost pleaded
with her eyes, but Julian remained motionless. Then she skirted the
SUV’s rear and stopped in front of me. “Have a beautiful day,
Jona.” Even if her saying this was so obviously imposed upon her,
the smile she gave me appeared genuine. So much so that I had to
fight the impulse to smile back.

Saying nothing, I watched her back as she
trudged out of the garage.

“Are you ready?” Julian’s enticing voice so
close to my ear startled me. My head snapped around. His eyes were
inches from mine, and I held my breath as one corner of his mouth
twitched sweetly.

I raised the terry cloth. “Here’s the
towel.”

“And I’ve got the rest.” After lifting a
picnic basket into the car’s boot, he closed the door. “Get in.
We’ve got a bit of a drive before us.”

Excitement gripped my heart. I climbed into
the passenger’s seat. Simultaneously, we slammed our doors shut and
fastened our seatbelts, then Julian reversed the SUV out of the
garage.

For the first twenty minutes of the drive
along paved country roads neither of us spoke. Lost in the romantic
landscape, I peeked out through the window. With only little
traffic, Julian sped south, concentrating on the highway ahead.

I feared he wouldn’t talk to me at all, but
he surprised me a little later when he cleared his throat and said
my name.

“Hm?” I tilted my head to the left.

“Yesterday, you know, with Lou-Lou, the duck
and everything… You seemed terrified for a moment.” After the
briefest glance at me, he stared in front again. “Did I scare
you?”

Oh boy.
And I had wondered how I
would bring up the topic. All the better if he knew I felt
something wasn’t right. “You—” But my own sigh cut me off. “No,” I
finally drawled. “You didn’t scare me. But I’ll have you know I’m
not buying your story with the twine ladder. I examined that thing.
A bloody squirrel couldn’t make it up there without breaking the
wood.”

Brows furrowed, his eyes snapped toward me.
“You still don’t believe me?”

“Shit, no. But I don’t know why you’re not
telling me how you made it up to the balcony. Did you step on
Charlene’s shoulders?” I cringed at the thought. Under his weight
her spine would have snapped just as easily as the wood.

Julian pulled a wry face. “Now you’re being
ridiculous.”

“Then what?” I urged, shifting toward
him.

He raised a suggestive brow. “What if I
jumped and hung on to the railing?”

“What if you stopped finding excuses?”

“What if I get you some ice cream later and
we don’t speak of it again?”

“I can’t believe you’re trying to buy me
off.” But, damn, ice cream sounded tempting.

Although Julian didn’t confess, I felt like
I was one step closer to figuring him out. There was only one
question burning in my mind now.
Should I be happy about my
little victory, or scared as hell?

He shifted his glance to me and, though his
lips were tight, his eyes shone with warmth and care.

No, Julian didn’t scare me. He never
could.

“You better not forget about the ice cream.”
And with another sigh, I returned my attention outside, granting
him peace for the moment. I glued my face to the passenger’s window
so he wouldn’t notice my grin.

The ride took a little longer than an hour,
and with the final miles the landscape changed from rolling hills
to flat plains. Fidgeting in my seat, I couldn’t wait to find out
what kind of place he wanted to show me.

“How long until we get there?” I asked for
the thousandth time.

“Be patient.”

“Be patient, my arse. Patience is for OAPs.
I’m seventeen!”

“You sure? Because right now you’re acting
like a three-year-old.” He laughed.

Minutes later, he pulled the car to a curb
and cut the engine.

I turned a beaming face on him. “Are we here
now?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes. Now get out, you
little nag.”

Surrounded by a line of conifer trees,
several cars, and a souvenir shop, it was impossible to tell where
he’d brought me. The road we’d come on wound to the right and kept
going into the distance. This was an interesting place, peaceful,
but strangely isolated.

Hands placed on my waist, I twisted from
side to side, getting rid of the stiffness in my back. As soon as a
fresh breeze wafted around me, I got lost in an oddly familiar
smell
.
Eyes closed, I took a deep breath
of…
Julian
.

The unique cry of a bird echoed in the
distance. Even though I’d heard the sound only once in my life, I
recognized it immediately and threw Julian an amazed glance across
the hood.

1. WHY IS A KISS COMPLICATED?
   

THE SHADE OF the trees dusted my naked arms
with goosebumps while Julian unloaded the boot of the SUV. With the
basket and two towels in one hand, he offered me the bent elbow of
his free arm to hang on. His smooth skin burned under my cold
fingers. I couldn’t help but skim them in circles over his biceps
while we walked down a narrow path covered with small twigs and
needles of conifers.

Julian laughed softly. “I probably shouldn’t
say anything…but this really tickles.”

I lowered my flaming face and forced my
fingers to lie still over his arm. I uttered an apology and was
glad that he didn’t pull his arm out of my hold.

During our walk of a few hundred feet, the
cry of the birds grew louder, raising a fountain of anticipation in
my gut. “Seagulls?” My eyes fixed on the impish smile that hovered
at the corners of Julian’s mouth.

“I guess this place wouldn’t be the same
without them,” he replied the moment that the line of trees cleared
and provided a view of the cliff before us.

It was crazy to ignore my trace of vertigo
when I meandered toward the edge. But, shit, I had to take a look
down. The marvelous sight of the Mediterranean Sea rolling to the
beach eighty feet below caused my heart to stop for a moment.

Julian’s tender nudge with his knuckles
closed my dropped-open mouth. I turned to him and read the joy at
my reaction in his face.

“I’m taking the basket and towels down
first, and then I’ll come up to help you down the slope. Just wait
here,” he said.

“Make it fast,” I breathed happily,
struggling to keep the boiling anticipation under control.

At his reassuring nod, I leaned against the
nearest tree and watched him skitter down a gravel path that
appeared dangerously steep. But his promise to help me make my way
down banned all the expected fear from my chest.

“Ready?” he said, panting, when he came back
and held his hand out to me.

To slide my fingers into his stirred a
pleasant tremor in my belly. My free hand automatically rubbed over
the tingly spot. Julian’s warm gaze embraced me as his hand closed
securely around mine.

The path being too narrow to let us walk
side by side, he had me climb down behind him while he moved
backward, facing me. His left hand stretched forward and I clasped
it for support, while he steadied himself on the rocky wall to his
right. On a pebbled patch, my boots lost their grip, causing me to
slide down as if on rollerblades. But Julian kept his balance as I
bounced into him.

“Whoa.” The squeal escaped me the third time
I rushed down a foot or two and coaxed a low chuckle from my guard
in front of me.

“Would you please stop laughing?” I scolded.
“Why do we have to take this breakneck path anyway? Aren’t there
stairs somewhere, or at least a less life-threatening way?”

“There’s an easier way to the public beach a
couple hundred yards over there.” He pointed to the left. “But this
place here is…well, hardly anyone comes down here.”

Rolling my eyes, I laughed. “I do wonder why
that is.”

His laugh came closer to my ear this time.
He looped his arm around my waist to help me over a few rocks on
our way. Scared of a fatal fall to the bottom of the cliff, I
tensed, but enjoyed his firm body pressed to my side
nonetheless.

He released me as soon as I’d successfully
climbed over the difficult passage, but kept a strong hold on my
hand. And by
successfully
I mean I only slipped halfway out
of my shoe once and didn’t break an arm, leg or my precious
neck.

“Don’t you ever tie your boots? It would
help a lot, you know.”

“I can’t. One of the laces is ragged.” I
carefully scooted on. “Honestly, how stupid would I look with only
one shoe tied?”

“Oh, you mean besides the hole in your jeans
and the stained shirts you used to wear?”

Pebbles bounced down the path when I stopped
abruptly to scowl at him. But Julian’s tantalizing wink didn’t fail
to curve my lips. Shielding my eyes from the sun with my free hand,
I slowly shoved forward until my soles sank securely into the sandy
beach next to the basket Julian had brought down before.

A deep, relieved breath filled my head with
a scent heavy with warm wind and sea.

So familiar
.

My gaze snapped to him. Julian’s eyes were
closed. He sucked in a breath himself. Why would this man, who
smelled like a gorgeous day on the beach, look like he’d just
returned home?

His eyes slid open and he cast me a sideways
look. “Come on, let’s find a place over there.”

The towels spread in the shade of two palm
trees provided a place for us to sit. Kicking off my boots, I
couldn’t wait till the soft white sand touched my bare feet.

As I galloped toward the foaming waves,
rolling laughter erupted from my chest. The first wave brushing my
calves sent me leaping back out of the water. Strong arms wrapped
around my waist when I bounced into Julian behind me.

I shuddered. “It’s arse-cold.”

“Once you get used to it, the cold isn’t all
that bad.” He grabbed my hand. My hair danced in the wind as he
pirouetted me in the sand like a ballerina. “Want to go for a
walk?”

“Mm-hm.”

Julian led the way. He was right about the
cold water. My toes sinking into the soaking sand at each step
created the illusion of walking on clouds. The seagulls above
performed a concert of cries to accompany our stroll.

Drops of saltwater glinted in the sun as I
shoved my feet against the oncoming waves. Julian flinched next to
me as an unanticipated wave soaked into the hem of his knee-length
shorts.

“It is cold, all right,” he said through
clenched teeth.

It didn’t stop me from splashing water all
around me. “These little sprinkles wouldn’t hurt a tough guy like
you, would they?” Scooping water in my cupped hands, I doused his
entire front.

A menacing growl rumbled in his chest. It
might have scared me, if his warm eyes hadn’t raked me with
something different than anger.

Mischief.

Uh-oh.

With one swift tug, he pulled his shirt over
his head. Strong pecs twitched underneath his skin as he tossed it
to the sand. He granted me a couple seconds to stare at his
perfectly shaped body, my mouth watering for a feel of it. Then he
charged toward me with a grin that meant no good and swept me up in
his arms.

My girlish squeal and his cheerful laughter
mixed in the soft wind.

With my hands in a death-grip at the back of
his neck, he tromped farther into the sea. I pressed against him,
dreading the moment he would let go and I’d drop into the cold
water.

“Don’t you dare!” I held on even tighter. A
wave brushed my bum and drenched my shorts. “I have no change of
clothes!”

“Then you better pray these aren’t made of
sugar,” he chided and lowered me farther into the cold sea.

Chills ran wreaked havoc all over my body,
and not only as a result of being dipped. His arms around me and
his hands in places where he’d never touched me before ignited an
unfamiliar heat in spite of the cold soaking through my
clothes.

“You’re dead, Julian!” The sound of the wild
ocean muffled my cry. “My arse is totally wet. Now let me go,
goddammit.”

I regretted my words the moment I’d spoken
them.

He grinned. “As you wish.”

A wave swallowed me whole a second
later.

Me and my bloody mouth.

Fighting to get on my feet again in the
twirling water, I sputtered and wheezed as I broke through the
surface. I rubbed the water from my face and caught a glimpse of
Julian wading back to the shore, casting me a grin over his
shoulder.

I shoved my soaked bangs from my forehead
and laughed. “You just wait till I get you!”

Crystal clear water tempted me to stop on my
way back and bend to retrieve one half of a shell from the sandy
bed. Sunlight glistened inside it, playing out all the colors of
the rainbow. Frozen, I ran my fingertip over the smooth texture,
feeling every rise and fall of the beautiful shape.