Chapter 17

“You go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute,” Sia told the man with the clipboard and then waited ‘till he was gone before turning to the others. “Leo, honey, go ahead and sit in the VIP section. Millan’s there and Julian has assigned someone to go with you.”
Seeing the torn expression on Sia’s face, Julian quickly said, “Don’t worry, my men will watch after him.”
She hesitated at first but then nodded her head in defeat. With a hug and a few kisses, she finally let Leo go, leaving her and Julian alone in the dressing van.
“And where’s mine?” Julian said with a raised eyebrow. He expected to receive a heated glare or a gritted out insult. Hell, he even expected to get slapped across the face.
However, Sia suddenly pulled him down by the collar of his jacket and kissed the sense out of him. Her lips were soft and they tasted of strawberries that Julian had learned was the flavor of her favorite lip balm. Julian gave into the kiss, wrapping one arm around her delicate neck while he used the other to hold her hips and bring her closer. There was an urgency in her kiss, a vulnerability that left him feeling helpless.
He was sending her into the woods hoping to lure out the wolf and even though he’d be watching from the side, she will be left vulnerable for a while in the hopes that the wolf will show up and take the bait. And that’s what he’d been scared of for a while now, he realized. With this kiss, Sia was telling him just how nervous she was as well.
He accepted it all. He accepted her fear, the anxiety, and the pain she felt for having to relive old memories. And he gave back as much comfort as he could. When they finally pulled back, Sia couldn’t help but crack up at the sight of Julian’s lips. They were stained a bright red which matched his shirt.
Julian frowned and turned to look into the mirror behind him. Upon seeing the red across his lips, he folded a few tissues and wiped them across his lips vigorously, but a light stain still remained.
“Careful,” Sia said as he brought the tissues to his lips again. “You’re going to hurt yourself trying to get that off. Here, let me help.”
Sia tipped her makeup remover into a fresh tissue and lightly dabbed it on Julian’s lips, effectively clearing it of all the stain. “There, all done.”
“Thanks.” Julian turned to face Sia once she’d disposed the tissues. “You’re scared.”
“No, I’m terrified.” Sia admitted to him. This was Julian, her bodyguard and the man who had stolen her heart. “I know this is important, but I don’t want to put myself out there. And it’s not just because of Arthur, it’s—”
“You feel that being in front of a crowd will make you a real person to them, someone they can now openly criticize and judge.” Julian finished for her, tracing his fingers down her cheeks softly, and Sia leaned into the touch. “If I could, I’d never let you go through something like this again. But we have no other choice.”
“I understand that.” And she did; she just wasn’t happy about it.
Sia knew she’d just crossed a boundary with Julian, one that she couldn’t back out of now. She hadn’t meant to, but she was slowly becoming a nervous wreck, and being around Julian always helped settle her nerves. The undercurrent of sensuality between them hadn’t faded since the day they’d first kissed. If anything, the sparks had grown in magnitude and it now threatened to burn them both. But true to his word, Julian kept his promise, keeping his hands off but still staying extra close. Sia had nodoubt in her mind that he had every intention of courting her after he had taken care of Arthur Stone permanently.
“Let’s go before that kid comes back with his clipboard.” Julian held his hand out for Sia and helped her out of the van and into the building where the show was to commence, all the while keeping an eye out for any danger.
And for good reason. The events that were to come to them will need all their vigilance and caution.

* * *

The first reality check that Sia got was when she entered the green room, where the models were getting ready. One of the models from another designer’s section suddenly came running towards them and flung herself at Julian.
“Oh baby! It’s been ages since I last saw you! Why didn’t you ever come visit me?” The blond woman, who must have starved herself so she’d look like a skeleton, purred in Julian’s ear, clinging to him like a lizard does to a wall. She wore the most ridiculous dress Sia had ever seen. What are designers coming to these days?
Sia cringed. Of course Julian had dated her. Even though she was a fake blonde and was skinnier than a bamboo pole, the girl had a pretty face and sharp features to boot. She was beautiful in her own unique way. But Sia couldn’t stop the pang of jealousy in her gut that made her want to peel the lizard off of Julian with bare claws . . . or sharply manicured nails.
Julian’s response not only surprised her, it also made the other girls, and a few menalmost laugh outand give him hopeful looks.
“Err . . . do I know you?” Julian said awkwardly as he pried himself away from the woman’s clutches and hid behind Sia for protection.
This caused Sia to look at Julian with raised eyebrows and a smirk. The girl’s mouth, however, hung open like a fish thrown out of the water.
“How can you forget me? You said that we’ll date after your mission was over! You said you would come back!” She stomped one heeled foot on the carpet like a four-year-old being denied candy.
Thank God Leo wasn’t like that as a kid, Sia said in a silent prayer.
“Look, Miss,” Julian said sternly. “I don’t know what I said or when I said it, but you really need to leave right now. The show is about to start, and you’re wasting both of our time.”
The girl, probably in her early twenties, closed her mouth and huffed at both of them before stomping over to her stall, back to an angry designer.
“That went well,” Sia joked, the knots in her chest untangling, easing her back to comfort.
“I didn’t sleep with her, I swear!” Julian whisper yelled at her desperately, even though Sia hadn’t asked for an explanation. He knew he hadn’t exactly been poster boy for good behavior, but he didn’t want his past interfering with what he wanted to have with Sia: a future.
“You remember the people you slept with?” Sia asked and was surprised to hear the anger in her voice. She knew that she had no right to be angry but she could never keep her actions in check whenever she was near Julian. Just because she has never had a normal life didn’t mean that she could blame or resent him for once being a horny teenager like a million others. In fact, she could almost picture him as a jock in high school with cheerleaders flocking around him like lawyers at a crime scene.
“It’s not like that, Sia. I wish I could explain to you, but now is not the time,” he said with eyes dark with determination. “This discussion is far from over, and we will talk about this.”
Their eyes met and held. Sia’s breath caught in her throat when she saw the promise in his eyes. There was no escaping him now, no way of skirting around the topic. She found that she didn’t want to either.
“I have to go,” Sia said through a throat gone dry. And then she turned to attend to her models for her show.