Page 125 of Alive At Night

“Bother me?” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “When you tease the hell out of me? Yes, yes it—”

“No,” she cut me off. “Not that.”

Her voice didn’t have that heat that I just saw in her gaze, and it forced me to open my eyes again.

“That I’ve never—” She glanced away.

“No.” I shook my head as I understood, and then I kept shaking it, pushing myself up. “Fuckno.”

Juniper still wasn’t looking at me. So I ignored any sense of reasoning—a common trend these days—and rolled off the couch to close the distance between us.

“I’m obsessed,” I emphasized, which got her attention. Her eyes snapped to me, widening when she realized I was walking toward her with clear intentions. I needed her body against mine, and then I got it. My fingers tangled into her hair at the nape of her neck, and I yanked down, forcing her to look up at me and listen to every word I was about to say. She gasped, and the heat was back. “I’m beyond obsessed with the idea that no one else has fucking touched you like I plan to.”

Juniper’s eyes did the talking as she searched my face for any indication that I was telling the truth. But all of it was so goddamn true. I still couldn’t believe it, that she hadn’t been with anyone else.

“I’m a selfish man, Juniper,” I murmured, “and you made my goddamn year with that news.”

She frowned. “You’re not selfish.”

“Oh, I am with you. Haven’t you figured that out by now?” Giving in to temptation, I whispered a kiss over her forehead. “I get grumpy when I have to share you with others, and I’ve been doing it my whole life. So now…”

“So now?” Juni repeated when I didn’t finish my sentence.

“Now I can’t stop thinking about getting a part of you all to myself.” I sighed, knowing I needed to stop this conversation before I got carried away. “But I know I won’t get it this morning, so I need you to give me a goddamn break.”

Juniper’s lips curved, her expression now sparkling and satisfied. “Do you really think you deserve a break, Julian Briggs?”

Goddamn her. “I’m sure I don’t.”

She shrugged, and I released my hold on her hair, trailing my fingers down her neck in a soft caress. “Yesterday was a good day,” she said, shivering a bit. “I’ll give you that.”

That was an understatement, in my opinion. Everything from the morning together to the drinks after work to us staying up late working on Grayson’s case was good.Great.I wanted days like that every day now.

“But you don’t have to do all that, you know,” she added.

“All what?”

“The food, the drinks, the sweet talk, everything. I appreciate the effort, but I just want you for who you are, Julian.”

“And you have me.”

Her shine dulled just a bit when she looked up at me. Disbelief still touched her irises, making me want to punch something. Of course I knew it would take more than one day to erase years of being a shithead. Of course she thought I was acting yesterday when in reality, it felt freeing. But it still hurt to see.

“We need to get ready,” I said, accepting that I wouldn’t be able to change how Juni felt in the next ten minutes. “Go change, and we’ll stop by your place on the way to work.”

Juniper began walking backward toward my bedroom. Her sly grin reappeared. “You mean you don’t think I should wear this to work?”

“It’s up to you.” I shrugged, returning her smirk. “It’s your virginity at risk.”

“You just really love football, don’t you?” she said with a laugh. “It does it for you, huh?”

“It has nothing to do with football,” I said, shoving my hands in the pockets of my sweatpants as I watched her dance away from me. “And everything to do with seeing you wear my name.”

She paused by the bathroom door, seeming reluctant to step inside and separate again. She didn’t want to admit how much she liked hearing me say shit like that, but she did—I could tell. It gave me hope, and I decided to capitalize on that.

“You’re right that I never accepted you like the rest of my family did,” I said. “I never wanted to hurt you, Juniper. It’s just that this…this was the only kind of Briggs I wanted you to be.”

“And what kind is that?”

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