Grace swallowed when she saw the pain on Aphrodite's face as she touched Julian's hand.
Julian hissed as if her touch burned his skin.
Aphrodite let go. "Grace, promise me you'll take good care of him."
"As long as he lets me, I will. I promise."
Aphrodite nodded, then placed her hand on Julian's brow. He threw his head back as if he'd been struck by lightning. Aphrodite leaned over him and kissed him ever so lightly on the lips.
Instantly, his entire body went limp.
The handcuffs fell open, and still Julian didn't move. Grace's heart stopped as she realized he wasn't breathing. Terrified, she reached a trembling hand out to him.
He took a deep, convulsing breath.
Grace saw the familiar longing in Aphrodite's eyes as she held her hand out to a son who didn't even know she was there. It was the same look of yearning she saw so often in Julian's eyes when he didn't know she was watching him.
How could two people need each other so desperately, and yet not be able to reach out to one another?
Aphrodite vanished the instant Julian opened his eyes.
Grace moved to his side. He was shaking so badly, his teeth chattered. His fever gone, now his skin was as cold as ice.
She pulled the blankets off the floor and covered him up.
"What happened?" he asked, his voice unsteady.
"Your mother freed you."
Julian stared in amazement of her words. "My mother? She was here?"
Grace nodded. "She was worried about you."
Julian couldn't believe his hearing. Was it possible?
But why would his mother help him now after all the times she'd turned her back on his suffering and left him to it? It didn't make sense.
His frown deepening, Julian started to slide off the bed.
"No you don't," she said sharply. "I just got you back, and I-"
"I really have to go to the bathroom," he said, interrupting her.
"Oh." Grace helped him from the bed.
His legs were so weak, he needed her support to help him down the hallway. Julian closed his eyes as he inhaled the sweet smell of her. Afraid of hurting her, he tried not to put too much of his weight on her shoulders.
His heart warmed at the way she helped him, at the feel of her arms wrapped around his waist as she walked him down her hallway past the grandfather clock.
His Grace. How would he ever be able to let her go?
After he relieved himself, she ran a hot bath for him and helped him into it.
Julian stared at Grace while she bathed him. He couldn't believe she'd stayed by his side all this time. He didn't remember much about the last few days, but he remembered the sound of her voice soothing him through the darkness.
He'd heard her calling to him. And at times, he was sure he'd felt her hand on his skin, pulling him back from the madness.
Her touch had been his salvation.
Closing his eyes, he enjoyed the sensation of her hands sliding over his body as she bathed him. Down his chest, his arms, his stomach. And when her hand accidentally brushed his erection, he jerked from the force of it.
How he wanted her.
"Kiss me," he breathed.
"Is it safe?"
He smiled at her. "If I could move, you'd already be in this tub with me. I assure you, at the moment I'm as helpless as a babe."
She licked her lips tentatively as she brushed her right hand over his. Her touch was gentle and warm, and she stared at his mouth as if she could devour it. That look went a long way in banishing the chill from him.
She leaned forward and kissed him deeply. Julian moaned at the contact, wanting more. Needing more of her touch.
To his amazement, he got it.
Grace left his lips only long enough to peel her clothes from her body until she stood naked before him. Slowly, seductively, she crawled into the tub with him, straddling his waist.
Julian moaned at the feel of her hairs on his stomach. She returned to his lips with a kiss so hot, it scorched him.
Damn it, he couldn't even hold her! His arms wouldn't budge on their own. And he desperately wanted to hold her tight against him.
She must have felt his frustration, for she pulled back with a smile. "It's my turn to care for you," she whispered before burying her lips against his throat.
Julian closed his eyes as she trailed her kisses down his chest. When she reached his nipple, he reeled from the pleasure of her tongue teasing and suckling him. Never had anything touched him more than her actions. He couldn't remember the last time someone had truly made love to him.
And no one had ever been so thorough. So giving.
He sucked his breath in sharply as she reached down between their bodies to stroke him. "I wish I could make love to you," he whispered.
She lifted her head to meet his gaze. "You do that every time you touch me."
Somehow, he found the strength to wrap his shaking arms around her and pull her against his chest. He claimed her lips with his own.
He heard her pull the stopper out with her foot as she deepened her kiss, all the while her hand tormented him with light, gentle strokes against his swollen shaft.
His head reeled from the sensation of her touching him there. He lived for her touch. Craved it in a way that was indefinable.
Once the water had drained from the tub, she left his lips to blaze a scorching trail down his body. Julian let his head fall back against the edge of the tub as she licked his stomach and swirled her tongue over to his hipbone.
Then, to his utter shock, she took him into her mouth. Julian growled as he cupped her head in his hands and savored the feel of her tongue and mouth swirling around him. No woman had ever done that before. They had only taken from him, none of them had ever given.
Not until Grace.
Her touch shattered the last bit of his will, the last bit of his resistance to her. His entire body shook from the warmth of her actions.
"I'm sorry," she said, pulling back from him. "You're so cold, you're shivering again."
"I'm not shivering from the cold," he said, his voice hoarse. "I'm shivering from you."
Her smile pierced his heart as she dropped her head and returned to her relentless assault on him.
By the time she finished, he felt as if he'd been tortured all over again. He couldn't have been any more satisfied had he actually climaxed.
She helped him out of the tub. Still his limbs shook. And he had to lean on her to get to the bedroom.
She laid him down gently and covered him with all her blankets. She placed a tender kiss on his brow as she tucked the covers around him.
"Are you hungry?"
All he could do was nod.
Grace left him long enough to warm a bowl of soup. But by the time she returned, he was sound asleep.
She set the bowl on the nightstand, then climbed into bed behind him. She curled her body around his and faded off to sleep, too.
It was three days before Julian's strength came back. The entire time, Grace stayed with him. Helping him.
He found it hard to fathom her strength and devotion. All his life, he'd waited for her. And as every day passed, he realized just how much he loved her. How much he needed her.
"I have to tell her," he said as he toweled himself dry. He couldn't let another day pass without her knowing just how much she had come to mean to him.
Leaving the bathroom, Julian headed to the bedroom where Grace was on the phone with Selena.
"Of course I didn't tell him what his mother said. Jeez!"
Julian took a step back, and leaned against the wall as Grace continued talking.
"What was I supposed to say? Oh, Julian, by the way, your mother threatened my life?"
He felt as if someone had delivered a staggering blow to his solar plexus. His vision turning dark, he entered the bedroom. "When did you speak to my mother?" he demanded.
Grace looked up, shocked. "Uh, Lanie, I need to go. Bye." She hung up the phone.
"When did you speak to her?" he asked again.
Grace shrugged nonchalantly. "It was the day you went psycho on me."
"What did she say?"
She shrugged sheepishly. "It wasn't really a threat. She just said she wouldn't share you with me."
Rage coursed through him. How dare she! Who the hell did his mother think she was to make any demand on him or Grace?
What a fool he'd been to ever think his mother had softened her heart where he was concerned.
When would he learn?
"Julian," Grace said, rising to meet him in front of the bed. "She changed her mind. When she came here to release you-"
"Don't, Grace," he said, interrupting her. "I know her a lot better than you do."
And he knew what his mother was capable of. Her ruthlessness made his father's pale in comparison.
His heart heavy, he knew he could never tell Grace what was in his heart.
Worse, he knew he couldn't stay with her. Ever. If he had learned anything it was that the gods would never let him live in peace.
How long before one of them hurt her? How long before Priapus used her to get back at him? Or his mother came to wreak her vengeance on both of them?
Sooner or later, he would pay for his happiness. He had no doubt. And the thought of Grace suffering...
No. It was a chance he refused to take.
The days flew by as they spent as much time together as possible.
Julian taught Grace classical Greek culture, and very interesting ways to enjoy Reddi-wip and chocolate sauce, and Grace taught him strip Monopoly, and how to read English.
And after several more driving lessons, and a new clutch, she realized Julian was a hopeless driver.
It seemed to her that only a few days had gone by and yet the last day of the month came so fast that it terrified her.
Even worse, the night before it arrived, she made the most startling discovery of all.
Julian was that one person she couldn't live without.
When she thought of her life returning to what it had been before him, she ached so deeply in her heart that she was sure she would die from it.
But in the end, she knew the choice was his and his alone.
"Please, Julian," she whispered to him as he slept beside her. "Don't leave me."