You taste so good...
You're so cute...
Oh gosh, you're so yummy...
Julian had never had someone talk to him like this before between kisses. Ever. Actually, Julian had never had a girl shower his face with soft little kisses either, and the moment the thought poisoned his mind—-
Fuck.
It was happening again, and fuck, fuck, fuck, why the hell couldn't his brain just stop recognizing all the things that made Fleur different? And besides, why did it even matter that she was showering his face with kisses? No other woman had done that, sure, but wasn't there an ex-girlfriend who once peppered his cock with kisses? Granted, he also hadn't known she had been high on drugs at that time and—-
Fuck.
The kisses had suddenly come to an abrupt stop, and when he felt Fleur go absolutely still—-
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Julian prepared himself for Fleur's anger - or even worse, her hurt - but then he heard her soft laugh—-
Fleur could only shake her head as Julian opened his eyes. "May I give you a piece of advice?"
"Am I truly being given a choice—-" He saw Fleur arch her brow and was smart enough to swiftly backpedal, finishing, "Because I'll need to insist on that advice if you decide not to give it."
"Nice save," Fleur said with a twitch of her lips.
"If that's your way of trying to wriggle out of giving me advice," Julian said gravely, "I'm afraid it's not going to work. I need that advice, milaya."
Fleur could no longer help it. She laughed even when she knew it would make her stomach hurt, and even as her abdominal muscles started cramping like mad, she managed to cup Julian's beautiful face and tell him very, very sweetly—-
"The next time you start to panic, just remember these five words."
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck?"
She laughed again, and even though she regretted this right after, she shook her head and said, "It's only for twelve days."
Julian's smirk disappeared.
"Repeat after me, Mr. Alexeyev," Fleur said teasingly. "It's only for twelve days."
And of course she was right.
"Our contract is only for twelve days, so what's there to panic about?"
Damn right.
Damn fucking right, so why then, Julian asked himself broodingly, did twelve days suddenly feel too fucking short?
FLEUR COULD NOT REMEMBER being this unbelievably happy.
The past few days had been one of the best times of her life, and this on her period, too. If she were to look at herself in the mirror, her reflection would probably show her looking like the proverbial cat that got the cream. And so she should, with Operation Yuletide 2.0 knocking down achievement goals like a pro golfer getting one birdie after another.
Julian had literally moved in to her apartment, and when she had asked him why, he had told her very seriously that it was so he could be Fleur's round-the-clock pain reliever.
He had also insisted that they do what she wanted in the few hours each day that Fleur wasn't in pain, and it was how they had ended up shopping for matching Christmas sweaters (the uglier, the better), which Fleur had then insisted on both of them wearing when they had gone skating outdoors.
They had also watched the Lakers game the other night, never mind if Julian had zero interest in any kind of sports, and when after that a heavier-than-usual flow had her urgently needing an unexpected change of pads...
Julian hadn't hesitated to buy her a pack from the nearest convenience store, and when he had sent her a photo of what he was looking at-
Always, Ultra-Thin, Extra Heavy Overnight, with Wings, Scented - is this okay?
She simply hadn't been able to resist it. After taking a screenshot of the photo and message Julian had sent her, she had then posted it caption-less on her Instagram feed...but with his name as a hashtag.
At that time, all Fleur had wanted was to generously share his cuteness with the world, and while the photo did break the part of the Internet that avidly followed the lives of the rich and famous, what she had forgotten to consider until it was too late was...
Willem.
Her brother's name popped up on the screen as her phone started to vibrate, and Fleur bit back a sigh as she slid into the backseat of her car.
"Helder Meer please, Maarten."
"Does Julian know you intend to visit him?"
"He doesn't have to know anything," she said with a huff. "He'll know when he sees me, and he'll be pleased about it. He's always pleased to see me, you know."
Maarten snorted. "So he doesn't know then."
Fleur glowered at her driver. "Will you please, please just drive?"
The older man was still snickering as Fleur took her phone out of her purse, and she couldn't help but make a face at the back of his head. Grrr!
"Saw that."
She pretended not to hear this and made a show of answering her brother's call instead. "Hello, brother dear."