“You’re anything but predictable,” Julian muttered irritably.
Cameron couldn’t help but look back at Julian as one of his hands flew to cover his mouth and muffle a strained laugh.
“See?” Julian groaned and rubbed his eyes.
Cameron’s answer was muffled until he moved his hand and repeated himself. “See what?” He glanced out the window yet again. “I feel like Little Orphan Annie,” he muttered under his breath.
“Shut the hell up and get out of the car,” Julian grumbled as he pulled the handle and pushed open his door.
Cameron bit his lip and followed, stopping once he was standing to let his eyes track all the way up the façade of the house. “You live here alone? In this huge house?”
“The wife and kids live in that wing,” Julian deadpanned as he waved his arm carelessly to the left.
Cameron blinked at him, taken aback until Julian rolled his eyes and shook his head impatiently as he turned to start up the steps.
“I deserved that,” Cameron muttered as he walked up the stairs next to Julian.
“Yes,” Julian agreed coldly as he stopped at the front door and fished out his keys.
Cameron shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot, especially once Preston drove the car away. In the dark, Julian almost looked like a stranger, and Cameron wanted very much to touch him, to reassure himself that this was his lover, the man who held him at night, and not some angry shadow of a man he didn’t recognize.
Julian unlocked the large front door and pushed it open, turning to look back at Cameron in the welcoming light that streamed out of the foyer. He was quiet for a long moment, and then said, “You wanted me to take you home,” he murmured to him. “So... come home with me.”
Tipping his head, Cameron looked at him intently before one corner of his mouth curled up. “I thought you were going to get on your knees and beg me there for a minute.” He took a half-step toward the threshold.
Julian growled and reached out, grabbing him with the same force he’d used earlier and yanking him into the house before slamming the door closed behind them. He kissed Cameron hard in the middle of the massive foyer, holding him tightly so he couldn’t get away.
Cameron gasped against Julian’s lips and clutched at his shoulders as he was overwhelmed. Julian had brought all his strength to bear upon him and he couldn’t resist. He draped himself against his lover, trying to kiss him back, to take part in the consuming kiss.
When Julian released him, Cameron allowed himself to look around dazedly. He jumped slightly when he noticed a nondescript man in a dark suit standing unobtrusively at the base of the staircase, his hands behind his back.
“Will that be all, sir?” the man asked Julian.
Julian didn’t tear his eyes from Cameron’s face as he waved the man off.
“Very well, sir,” the man drawled. Cameron could see the amusement in the butler’s expression as he turned and quietly disappeared into the inner reaches of the house.
Cameron opened his mouth to speak, but Julian kissed him again and cut off his words. Seconds later, Julian pulled away from him and met his eyes intently for a few moments, then began heading for the stairs, Cameron’s elbow firmly in his grasp. Cameron followed obediently, trying not to gape at his surroundings. Julian took him up to the first landing, where a hallway broke off and led them to a pair of double doors. Beyond was a relatively small bedroom that took up one of the house’s turrets.
Julian pulled Cameron inside and flipped on the lights. It was simple and sparse with nothing but a four-poster canopy bed against one wall and a sitting area in a bay window that curved in the turret’s shape. A flat-screen television hung on anotherwall, and there were two very large, long-haired orange cats sitting side by side on the bed staring at them with matching green eyes.
Cameron cast his gaze around the room and came to settle on the two cats. “Youdolive with somebody. Somebodies!” he said in mock accusation.
Julian cleared his throat as one of the cats stood and stretched languidly, then fluffed his long fur and jumped off the bed with an audible thump before prowling toward them. “That’s Wesson,” Julian muttered with a point of his finger. He nodded at the cat still on the bed and said, “And that’s Smith.”
Cameron stifled a laugh and watched them guardedly as Wesson stalked toward them. They were perhaps the largest cats Cameron had ever seen. They had to have been half-lion. He edged slightly behind Julian. “They look—” He cleared his throat. “Um. Not very friendly?”
“No, no. They’re completely evil,” Julian assured him as he bent and picked up the cat that was winding around his ankles. The cat was massive. Cameron thought it had to weigh at least twenty pounds, and then the long fur made it look twice its already impressive size. It hung over Julian’s large shoulder, making the big man look like a child trying to drag an oversized teddy bear. It was purring so loudly Cameron could hear it just fine without moving closer, and it stared at Cameron with the same blank, knowing expression its master always had. More than ever before, Julian’s mannerisms struck Cameron as being like those of a very large cat. Perhaps he spent too much time with these two beasts.
Julian gave Wesson a squeeze, and the cat let out a low, throaty meow of complaint before Julian snickered and set the cat down again.
“You live with these two monsters, and you can’t like mylittlebittydogs?” Cameron asked incredulously.
“My cats would turn your dogs into hairballs,” Julian scoffed affectionately.
Cameron crossed his arms. It seemed his easy-going lover was back... for the moment. “Well, you’ve got four dogs at my place who are head over heels in love with you. And these... cats. And they are the only ones I’m willing to share with,” he said seriously.
“You think I might have someone else?” Julian asked in a hard voice as the cat jumped back up onto the bed and turned to watch them. “You think I lied when I told you I loved you?”