Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 123877 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123877 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
The scene that greeted him was again far too normal for anything he fully understood, especially to be so damn endearingly sexy. It touched a newly dominant place inside Julian’s heart, a section he didn’t know was there until meeting Beckett.
Beckett had made it as far as pulling his jeans up. His T-shirt was haphazardly on, and that was as far as he had gotten before passing out on the sofa. The moment was made complete with his German shepherd stretched out on the floor under Beckett’s arm where his hand lay on the dog’s back. Woofer would totally sell Julian out for a good rubdown by Beckett.
No matter how hard Julian tried to keep Beckett compartmentalized, he repeatedly lost the battle, and Beckett kept trekking around inside his head.
Julian went to the edge of the sofa to stare down at the sleeping beauty. When Beckett slept, he looked younger. Now Julian understood the true benefit of keeping his furniture. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have this moment. The slow, steady rise and fall of Beckett’s chest drew Julian’s eyes from his perfectly formed lips to his sweet sleep-time expression.
Maybe bending over for a kiss might wake Beckett in the best possible way.
Beckett had to be exhausted. Julian should let him sleep.
He looked over at the time display on the oven. It was already past eleven o’clock. He could Uber to the club, close everything down, and talk with Ricco about becoming a temporary night manager. If Beckett hadn’t awakened before Julian returned, he’d wake him and send him back to the hotel. It seemed reasonable, and Julian bent to run a hand over Woofer’s head.
“I’ll be back.”
Those words usually sent Woofer into a tailspin, knowing he was being left behind. Not this time. Woofer had attached himself to Beckett, apparently leaving Julian in the rearview mirror. Julian knew it. Woofer did too. Beckett was the one who needed to catch up with the dog’s plan.
Two hours later
Unlocking the front door, Julian walked in and was met with utter silence. The television had timed out, the room was dark, the quiet briefly interrupted by the sound of a slow, heavy exhale, making Julian smile.
What neither he nor Beckett had thought to do was to cancel Beckett’s reservation at the club tonight. The questions Julian had had to field from both his staff and the clientele spoke to the friendship and community Beckett had built at Reservations in such a short time.
Julian had apologized to Chase for not calling and canceling. Beckett’s absence caused his table to be empty for the evening. Julian pulled money from his own pocket to cover the tips Chase had missed by keeping Beckett’s table open. What a mistake that had been. Chase, and Ricco who eavesdropped on their conversation, spread the knowledge that Julian had some secret intel about Beckett’s MIA status. The gossip took wings, making the speculation, from literally everyone, the topic of conversation for the rest of the night.
The amount of flak he took at the idea of he and Beckett spending time together outside the club was crazy. Even when Julian had tried to patiently explain the wild concept of meeting people being the whole idea behind Reservations nightclub, he still got all sorts of kissy face expressions and mentions.
What Julian hoped he had accomplished was hiding how happy he’d been tonight. It seemed hard to contain. Maybe he hadn’t hidden it as well as he’d wanted.
One emotion that refused to be held at bay was that he’d never felt safer in his life.
Fear had guided Julian’s every move since his assault. He regularly had to make himself man-up to walk alone from his designated parking spot to his condo, despite all the complex’s safety and privacy features. Hell, Woofer sounded like the meanest guard dog on the planet when he went nuts at a stranger’s approach. But tonight, Julian knew nothing could get to him if they had to go through Beckett first.
Julian walked to the edge of the sofa. Beckett had changed his sleeping position. Probably the only reason Woofer sleepily got to his feet and shook off his tiredness as he walked to the back door. Beckett laid on his side, knees drawn up with his hands tucked underneath his cheek. He slept like a baby.
As quietly as he could, Julian gathered and attached the leash to take Woofer out before bed. He made quick work of that task. Woofer seemed right on board with the idea of getting back inside the condo as fast as possible. Julian didn’t even feel slighted in the least. Woofer took his place on the rug at the base of the sofa while Julian carefully covered Beckett with a throw before going to his bedroom. He left the bedroom door open.
On the way home, Julian recalled Beckett saying he had a five o’clock wake-up call. He set the alarm on his cell phone, hoping he wasn’t making a mistake by not waking Beckett earlier.