10Christian knew that's what he wanted. He knew that he wanted to have a life with her, but when it came right down to it and she was actually asking him, his life seemed to flash before his eyes. It wasn't as though he was going to tell her no. He wanted this with her. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to be with her more than he wanted to be with anyone in his life, even more than Kimber. Julia was it for him and he knew that.
Julia felt a slight twinge of fear well in the pit of her stomach. She shouldn't have asked him. She shouldn't have even brought up what had happened while she was on the table. She should have just kept it to herself. But if she wanted to have a relationship with this man, she had to be completely open with him, and that meant discussing things like this with him. She had to know if he wanted the same things out of this with her as she did.
"Forget it," she said, sitting up, starting to look for her clothes. She would take a cab back to the boardwalk to get her car and then she'd spend the rest of the evening with Annie. Annie deserved a night with just her and her mother. Julia shouldn't be here with Christian when she should be home with her daughter and she knew that. But even as she sat up, she felt Christian's arm wrap around her waist as he pulled her back against his chest.
She swallowed hard, closing her eyes. She didn't want to think about what he was going to say. She didn't even want to be here right now. She wanted to disappear. She wanted to sink into the bed and not even be here any longer. But that's what she was used to doing. She was used to running from her problems. She had decided the other day when she had showed up at his apartment that she wasn't running from this anymore. She had wanted to talk to him about this then, but it hadn't happened. She shouldn't be running from it now.
"I do," Christian whispered against her ear. Julia's eyelids closed tighter around her eyes, swallowing the lump forming in her throat. "I do, Julia," he repeated when she didn't say anything. She hadn't even moved. He pulled her back so he could look at her. She slowly opened her eyes. They were moist, red and full of … fear… nervousness… She was afraid she was dreaming and Christian could tell she was worried. "I want to be with you, Julia. You're the only woman I've ever really wanted to be with. No one has ever and no one will ever fill the space in my heart you occupy. Never."
A slow smile crept across her lips and he pressed his lips against hers as he laid her back down against the bed, rising over her, pulling the sheet along with him. He laid his body down along the length of hers. "I want to be with you, Christian," she murmured, pulling his body down on top of hers, lifting her hips to his, feeling his rigid arousal pressing against the fiber of her being. "I want you and only you." Christian moved his hips slightly and slid slowly into her, letting her warmth wrap tightly around him, gripping him and pulling him tightly into her.
Downtown, Sean McNamara stopped at a stoplight on his way to pick up dinner for himself and Matt when he saw Julia's car parked in front of a bench near the boardwalk, but she was nowhere around. He looked around to see if she was anywhere around, but he couldn't spot her. Hearing a honk behind him, he noticed the light had turned green and he held up his hand, pulling forward and through the intersection toward the restaurant where he had called ahead ordering his and Matt's meals. He's give Julia a call after he parked the car. Maybe Julia and Annie would like to join him and Matt for dinner.