Page 171 of Alive At Night

He groaned inwardly. “I know. I know I do. I’m so sorry, baby. I fucked up. Grayson texted me this morning that he wanted to discuss the case.”

My stomach dropped, and I immediately knew everything Julian was about to say. Because he didn’t just fuck up;wefucked up. And Julian’s commitment to his friends and family meant everything to him.

“The case…” I breathed. “We forgot about the case, and then you shut yourself away to keep working on it so you wouldn’t let Grayson down.”

Julian’s expression was strained as he nodded. “Iforgot about the case.”

“No,weforgot about the case,” I repeated. “We were working on it together, Julian.”

“He’s my best friend. Gabriel’s my godson. It shouldn’t have been up to you to remember.”

“We’re dating, aren’t we?” I whispered, brushing my lips over his cheek. “We’re colleagues, right? We’re a team in every sense of the word. You should have told me.”

“Dating. Colleagues.” He scoffed. “You’re right. I should have told you. But those words don’t feel like they even touch on what we are.”

“What are we, then?”

“We’re…so much more.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw and the five-o’clock shadow growing there as he found his words. And then his gaze found mine. “You’ve always been there, and you’re part of me in a way that no one else in this world is. I don’t know how to explain it, but you’re…you’re the person I think of when I think of home.”

“Julian…” Tears stung the back of my eyes as he said the words I’d always wanted to hear. For more than a decade, I wanted Julian to admit that I was something,anythingto him, and he’d gone and admitted even more than that. Home. We were home together. But a question still lingered in the back of my head. “What did…what did you say exactly to Gemma? On the phone?”

His hand dropped, and he pressed his lips together momentarily. “She wouldn’t tell me where you were, and I…I lost it. I told her if anything ever happened to you…” He shook his head. “I just lost it, Juni.”

I snuggled closer to him, a shiver running through me despite his embrace and the oversized sweatshirt. “Nothing is going to happen to me.”

He nodded, his shoulders dipping as though he needed to hear me say that. “Are you cold?” he murmured, and I realized my little shiver had become shakes. I didn’t feel cold, but deep exhaustion had settled in my bones.

Julian rose from the couch before I could answer, carrying me across his living room and padding through the hallway. He finally let me slide to my feet in the bathroom and nodded at the pearly white free-standing tub I’d always admired. “What about a bath?”

I agreed wordlessly. That sounded heavenly.

Julian took action as he turned the knobs on the tub to find the right water temperature. Once he was satisfied, he pointed at the cabinet beneath his sink. “I’ll be right back, but I think some Epsom salts are under there if you want to check.”

I raised a brow, surprised to learn that Julian was a bath guy. “Epsom salts?”

He rolled his eyes. “They’re good for achy muscles after working out.”

Laughing lightly, I moved toward the sink while Julian ducked back into the hallway. But when I opened the cabinet door, I froze.

“Julian!” My voice was shrill as it echoed in the bathroom.

“What?” His footsteps quickened as he raced through the apartment, and I managed to unstick my feet and meet him in the hallway. He stopped short at the end of it.

Both of us were breathless, staring at each other. Julian’s expression was riddled with concern as his gaze flicked over me, undoubtedly assessing my well-being. But all I could do was look back at him, slack-jawed.

“Under your sink…” I started.

A bit of understanding dawned on his face. But he remained quiet, tense…waiting for me.

“There’s got to be at least a dozen bottles of my perfume under your sink, Julian,” I gasped, still struggling to comprehend what I’d just seen.

He nodded wordlessly. Becauseof coursehe knew that there were that many bottles of perfume under his bathroom sink. He raked a hand through his hair before correcting me. “It might be closer to two dozen.”

I swallowed. “Why do you have that many bottles of my perfume under your sink?”

“I told you I would buy out the entire stock.” He lifted one shoulder. “I’m sure I could get more, but that was as many as they had available at the store.”

“So I can’t torture you with it anymore?”

---