Page 98 of Meet Me In The Dark
I laugh and high-five her. “Thanks, kid.”
“But Julian,” she says suddenly, all business, “Mom and Aunt Madi said they’ll chop off your privates if you hurt Aunt Celeste.”
I swallow. “Good to know.”
“So maybe don’t hold any other girl’s hands at recess, okay?”
I hold out my pinky finger. She eyes it for a beat before wrapping her smaller one around mine.
“Promise,” I say quietly before Celeste comes barrelling back, red-faced and eyeing us.
She holds up two bowls. “Ice-cream, anyone?”
Twenty-Eight
Celeste
When I walk back into the apartment after sending out a very excited Emmy—who made it painfully clear she knew about the sex club and swore she’d hold it over Madison forever because she met Julian first—I’ve already hugged the kids and said goodnight to her husband.
We’re alone now. Really alone. Not the kind of alone that follows sex, when the air is still thick with sweat and satisfaction, but the kind that comes after whatever the hell this evening was.
Like…he ate dinosaur nuggets.
I step cautiously into the kitchen and halt mid-step.
Sweet lord, have mercy.
He’s washing the dishes.
I linger and stare from the doorway. He doesn’t look at me, but I see that wicked smirk playing on his profile.
“You tell your friends everything, huh?”
“Yep. Absolutely everything,” I admit, grabbing a towel.
“Didn’t we sign an NDA?”
“I didn’t give away any of the important details. I only told them that I met you there. Besides, that NDA was moot the day you pinned me to my door in my office.”
He doesn’t have an answer for that.
“You babysit often?” he asks instead.
I take a plate from him and start drying it. “Whenever I can force Emmy and Joe to go out on a date.”
He nods.
I don’t know why, but I keep going. “We all lived together when Emmy got pregnant with Sasha—me, Emmy, and Madison. For the first few years, it was just us trying to raise a baby together. Then Joe came along and swept both of them off their feet.” I smile as he glances at me with warmth in his eyes. “Sorry about that, by the way. I’m sure you didn’t come here for my excellent cooking skills.”
“Those were the best dinosaur nuggets I’ve ever had.”
“Eat them often, do you?”
“I will from now on.”
I laugh, but when I meet his eyes, he’s already watching me with a ghost of a smile lingering at his lips.
He looks pleased with himself.
