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I let outa long exhale before ringing the doorbell at Juliette’s townhome.
“What? You suddenly decided to develop some manners?” Her scowl from earlier today hasn’t dissipated.
“I didn’t think it would be appropriate or welcome to just barge in. Should I have?” I smile at her, knowing it’s probably only going to make things worse.
“Come in. I’ll show you to the spare room.” She steps aside and I follow her through the entryway, to the stairs.
“Smells good in here.”
“We already had dinner. There are leftovers in the fridge if you want them.”
I follow her up to the second level, her heels softly clicking on the wooden stairs. As we walk, I notice the way her dress sways beautifully across her hips and ass when she moves. I grip the handle of my duffel bag tighter, averting my gaze.
“This is Chloe’s room,” she says, pointing to a closed door. “She’s currently working on homework.” We walk the opposite direction of where I know her bedroom is, toward the end of the hallway. “And this is the guest bedroom.” She reaches into the room and flicks on the light. “There’s an en suite bathroom as well.”
I step into the room. It’s large for a guest bedroom, but then again, I shouldn’t be surprised considering the home it’s in. It looks like a high-end hotel room, with shades of beige, white, and black coordinating with the black and gold accents of the furniture.
“Thank you,” I say, putting my bag on the floor and turning to where she’s standing at the edge of the room.
“Did I really have a choice?”
“No.” I don’t lie. “I’m sorry I raised my voice with you today. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s fine,” she says quickly, her arms crossing over her chest as if she’s guarding herself. “I’m going to get Chloe to bed. There are extra towels and sheets in the linen closet,” she says, pointing toward a narrow door next to the bathroom.
“Don’t be angry with me, Juliette.”
She stops halfway, still turned away from me. “I’m not angry atyou,Alex. I’m angry at this—at the situation.”
I want to stop her—to tell her I understand and to hold her—but I let her go. I can’t always try to fix everything for her or make her feel better. That’s not my job. My job is to protect her and Chloe and keep them safe.
I take my time putting my things away, but it still only takes me 10 minutes. I contemplate turning on the TV that’s mounted on the wall, but decide against it, opting instead to set my laptop up on the desk and get some work done. By the time I take a shower and crawl into bed, my mind is completely overrun with thoughts of Juliette lying in bed just a few steps from my door. I went through hell during my time in the military, but this . . . this is torture.
I don’t set an alarm, instead waking to the sun peeking through my blinds at 5:30 a.m. I toss off the covers, stretching and pulling on a shirt and pants before heading downstairs to make coffee.
“Where the hell . . . ?” I mutter to myself and open and close at least half a dozen cabinets, looking not only for coffee, but also for the coffee maker.
“It’s over here.” I turn around to see Chloe opening the front of a wooden cabinet to the left of the fridge. “It’s a Nespresso, so there are pods.” She opens the drawer beneath the counter to reveal dozens of pods in different colors.
“Fancy,” I say, walking over.
“Pick a pod,” she says, looking up at me.
“Uh . . .” I pick up a few, attempting to read the Italian names, but it doesn’t help. “This one looks good,” I say, holding it out toward Chloe, who takes it, opens the machine, and places the pod inside.
“Then you just hit this button.”
“Thank you. Are you a coffee drinker too?” I smile at her and she returns the gesture.
“Only on the weekends. Mom says I can’t during the week, but she lets me have one cup on Saturday mornings. She also usually makes me breakfast.” She stares at me.
“Oh,” I say, glancing around the kitchen, “what time does she normally get up?”
She shrugs. “I dunno. I’m not usually up too much before her, but I couldn’t sleep. I was excited you were here. Mom told me you were staying with us for a while to help out with her job.”
“Well, I’m excited to be here too, Chloe. How about I find us something to eat? Do you like pancakes?”
She gives me a questioning look. “You can make pancakes but you can’t make coffee?”
