Chapter 26

Sia untangled herself from Julian carefully and got down from the bed, careful not to wake him. He was sleeping peacefully next to her, one of his arms out which Sia had been using as a pillow, while the other rested on his stomach. He looked beautiful and utterly exhausted.
She wanted to feel guilty, but she found she couldn’t. She knew this wasn’t about Arthur. Tonight had been the result of all the sexual tension that had been building up between her and Julian from the first time they met. The previous night’s events with Arthur had just made her decision that much easier.
She was in love with Julian.
She’d denied it long enough. At first, she had thought that her attraction towards Julian had been a result of all the attention he had been giving her. But Julian was kind and caring and protective by nature. Yes, he was a bit of a flirt, but he’d made it clear plenty of times that the only one he wanted was her. It’s as if the Julian that she’d heard rumours about, the one called Lucifer, had never existed. Well, at least not since he’d met her. And the Julian that she’d had the pleasure of knowingwas the most wonderful man she’d ever met.
Several men had wanted to “help” her after her divorce with Arthur and his arrest. But there had always been a motive, an agenda against her or Arthur. He hadn’t left her with a lot of money, and frankly, she’d only taken as much as was needed for her college tuition. After all that he’d done to her, he owed her that much. Her lawyer had told her she could have a lot more, like the house and several others of his belongings, but the house had been a prison for Sia and anything that belonged to Arthur would only give her nightmares. So, she left everything behind and moved in with her grandparents, breaking off all contacts with her treacherous parents. From then onwards, there had been no looking back, no batting of her eyelashes as other men pursued her. Until now.
Getting up, she put on the nearest piece of clothing she could find which was the T-shirt that Julian had been wearing. She put it on, not bothering with any underwear since the shirt reached until her thighs, and began searching for her phone but realized she had no idea where it was. It must have fallen when Arthur had grabbed her. She cringed at the thought of the evil man.
She searched around for Julian’s phone, but when she found it, it was switched off due to not having been charged. Thankfully, she saw Julian’s house phone on the bedside table.
Picking it up, she immediately called Martha. She noticed that it was pitch black outside and realized it was too late, but then a sleepy voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Leo? What are you doing up so late?” she asked her son, relief flooding her chest as she released the breath she didn’t know she had been holding for some time.
“I slept with the phone with me. Thought you’d call when the problem’s over,” he answered. Sia could almost see him stretched out on his bed, rubbing his eyes to try to stay awake.
“I’m sorry, hon. But I’m glad you’re at home. Go back to sleep now. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Sia was having mixed feelings. On one hand, she felt like she wasn’t ready to face him yet, but on the other, she couldn’t wait to see her son in front of her, safe and sound. Then she remembered something before she hung up. “Is anyone staying with you?”
“Yes, Mom. His name’s Abhay. I think he’s Julian’s best friend,” he answered, his voice sounding sleepy again.
“Ok, hon. Goodnight. I’ll see you soon. I love you.” She held up a hand to her heart.
“Love you too, mom. Goodnight . . .” And the line went dead. He had fallen asleep while talking.
A pair of muscular arms suddenly wrapped around her waist. “Everything okay?”
“Sorry. Did I wake you up?” she asked, leaning into him.
“Bodyguard, remember. I’m aware of a lot of things . . .,” He flicked his tongue over her earlobe and her breath hitched from the contact, “. . . especially about you.”
His voice sounded husky with desire. She didn’t miss his erection pressing hard on her lower back. Sia realized that Julian was standing completely naked behind her, perfectly comfortable in his own skin. And why shouldn’t he be? The man was built like a tank, every inch of him lithe and unadulterated desire. She could already feel heat pooling between her legs, as she remembered how good his body had felt on top of hers, and how much she wanted him again inside her.
She’d never know sex could be this good and addictive, and she knew she had a lot to learn—not just about sex but about her body as well. And she could think of no one better than Julian to teach her everything. She didn’t want anyone but him to touch her. She had lived without these simple pleasures for long enough, and she didn’t want to hold back anymore.
“Julian . . .” she breathed out his name, unsure of what to do next.
“Sshhhhh . . .” he shushed her, his breath hot on her neck, sending tingles down her spine. “I got you.”
And then he was tugging his shirt up and off her body, making her feel shy and bold at the same time. Sia turned toward him and captured his lips with hers when he lowered his face. Her hands once again tangled in his hair. She liked the silken texture of his hair, and especially the feel of them on her body as his mouth devoured her. It was sad that he wore it so short.
This time, however, when Julian carried her to bed, their lovemaking wasn’t as delicate and Sia was glad that Julian wasn’t treating her as a porcelain doll anymore. There was passion and anguish, pain and pleasure, and the blissfulness of their union. Sia couldn’t be more in love with Julian than she already was, but during the moments when they were entwined together in each other’s arms, after the throes of passion had subsided, Sia felt her heart swell with love and tenderness for the man who had taught her the real meaning of love. At that moment, she felt complete and empowered as a woman, something she had never quiet felt before.

* * *

Sia’s eyes fluttered open slowly, but she shut it again as the bright light hit her eyes.
What happened to my room? she thought. It was never this bright—Oh!
She wasn’t in her room. She was in Julian’s . . .
Wait, was she? She had no idea where she was.It had been the middle of the night when she’d arrived here and she had been too disoriented to properly admire the beauty of the house. Then there was Julian making love to her ‘till the early hours in the morning. She wasn’t sure if she had been hallucinating or not, but she had a vague memory of watching the sun rise in the horizon before falling under the spell of slumber.
Opening her eyes and sitting up with great difficulty, she was greeted with the most amazing sight ever.
The front lawn was wild and unkempt. Grass grew all over the place with small rose and lavender bushes. There were also some large trees which she had no name for. Wait, is that a mango tree? she asked herself.
The walls around the house were high enough so no one could see this far from outside the house, allowing the inhabitants enough privacy. It was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. Well, apart from Julian’s gloriously naked body, she thought with a blush.
With a start, Sia realized that she wasn’t exactly looking out of a huge window or a door to the balcony. In front of her was an entire wall made of clear glass, displaying the beautiful scenery outside.
The room was fairly large, larger than the rooms in her home, at least. The rest of the three walls were painted in red with gold swirls. In fact, the entire room was in the red-and-gold color scheme. There was a closet and a mirror to her left and two couches in front of the fireplace. To her right was the bathroom, its door left open. A laundry basket sat beside it that contained the dress she’d worn to the show last night. Sia wished it be thrown in the dumpster instead. The bed on which she lay was huge, and went along with the theme with its red covers and gold pillowcases.
Sia got up slowly and winced, feeling sore all over from her lovemaking with Julian. What she and Julian had shared was too intense, too beautiful to just casually name it sex.
The way Julian had treated her and worshipped her had been the most beautiful night of her life. It had indeed felt like her first time. Sia knew she wasn’t a virgin, but she also hadn’t been with anyone in the eleven years since her divorce from Arthur.
A knock on the door broke her train of thought, and she hurriedly wrapped the covers around herself as the door opened.
“Good morning, beautiful. I got youbreakfast in bed.” Julian entered the room with a large tray in his hands and kicked the door close behind him.
He was wearing only a pair of brown shorts, his torso bare. It made Sia’s eyes widen as she remembered running her hands through them last night, followed by her tongue. Julian had let her experiment the second time around, and she suddenly had the urge to do things that she never wanted to do before with any other man. Naughty little things that, in the daylight, seemed too embarrassing to be admitted. She quickly looked away, blushing. How could she have gone so wild last night? The answer was simple: Julian had encouraged her, and both of them had enjoyed it.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice seeming to have deserted her.
“No problem.” Julian smiled.
He laid the tray on the bed and was about to hand her a plate, but Sia stopped him. Taking the covers with her, she stood from the bed carefully and was about to move to the bathroom (probably to change into the clothes that Julian had given her last night) when she heard Julian’s sharp intake of breath.
Turning around, she looked at him and saw him staring at the bed sheets. Before she had a chance to see what he was looking at, Julian had put down his plate and was by her side in an instant, his hands on her shoulder, checking all of her wounds to see which was bleeding.
“How badly did I hurt you?” Julian asked in the midst of his frantic searching.
“Hurt—what?” At first Sia was confused, but then she looked at the bed and saw what had gotten Julian so worked up.
Even though the covers were red, the darker, reddish, almost brown spots of dried blood were still clearly visible and prominent.
“Wow . . . I didn’t know not having sex in over eleven years would grow back my hymen,” Sia joked, but Julian stood frozen on the spot.
“Sia, I’m rea—”
“Don’t.” She turned to him and touched his cheeks with one hand while clutching the covers to her chest with the other. “Julian, I’m fine. Really. A bit sore, true. But I don’t regret anything. Feeling sorry will take away the magic from what we shared last night. And it was, truly, the best night I ever had.”
Julian didn’t relax for a while, searching her eyes. When he finally found her words reassuring, he sighed and hugged her to him, burying his face in her hair. Sia wanted nothing more than to stay in his arms all day, but she had work to do, and she needed to see Leo soon.
After convincing Julianso, Sia took a long hot shower, then after applying some medicine on to her wounds, got dressed in a pair of light wash jeans and a navy t-shirt that Julian had bought for her this morning.
After coming out of the bathroom, she ate the bacon, eggs, and pancake heaped on her plate and drank a cup of hot coffee. Then she went out of her room to find the kitchen.
Julian had to leave her for a while as well. He had to inform the police about the recent happenings and get updates from his team. There was also the threat of the media finding out about last night and now that they could add a face to her name, she was even more vulnerable. As much as she hated a leak in the media, she feared Arthur more. Her fear won, and she allowed Julian to make the call to the police. She trusted him to keep things under the media’s radar.
Sia took the opportunity to roam around the house. The living area was made of the same glass as the bedroom. Julian had said it was perfectly safe, so no one could see inside the glass, and the glass was perfectly bulletproof. She expected nothing less from a man who was to be the owner of Turner Security soon.
There were a couple more doors in the hallway, and a staircase that led to the ground floor which also had an enormous living area, several other bedrooms, a theatre room, and the kitchen.
Sia took Julian’s directions and navigated herself into the beautiful modern kitchen, where the smell of fried bacon still lingered. Sia put the dishes in the sink and washed them, not sure if there was anyone working at present.
She had just finished putting the plates away when she heard a feminine voice speak from behind her, freezing her in her place.
“Excuse me, who are you?”