Letters to Julian (A Cupid Inc Novella) (3 page)

“Well, you were told.” The waitress tucked the twenty into her pocket and began clearing the plates and cups. “Are you just going to sit there or are you going to go get him?”

“I’ll give him a head start and a chance to cool down.” Even to his own ears, the excuse sounded lame. “He doesn’t want to talk to me right now.”

“Sugar, you’re overthinking it.
Get yourself up and go get him.”

The server didn’t know the whole story, but she had a point. He could sit there and do nothing, or he could go find his best friend and make things right. 

* * * *

“Stupid, stubborn,
ridiculous idiot,” Julian grumbled to no one in particular as he trekked back to the bookstore.

When he’d left the diner, he’d ever
y intention of grabbing a cab and going straight home. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten his new book back on the front counter at The Book Attic, and he wouldn’t let Ridley ruin that for him as well.

Entering the store, he waved hello to Bridget when she called his name, but he didn’t much feel like talking to anyone. In his hurry to get the hell out of the place and return to the peaceful solitude of his own house, he didn’t get a good grip on his book, sending it tumbling to the dark, hardwood floor.

“Fish sticks.” Bending to retrieve it, he stopped with his hand hovering just above the cover when he noticed the light blue piece of paper poking out from between the pages. “Oh, Ridley.”

Picking the book up, he sat it on the countertop and slid the note out with trembling fingers. He didn’t know what had happened or why Ridley had suddenly began acting so strangely, but he didn’t like the distance he could feel growing between them. Unfolding the square sheet of paper, he sighed happily when he recognized Ridley’s elegant handwriting, and the corners of his lips twitched as he read aloud.

“Ask and it shall be yours. Always.”

At least this hadn’t changed. Since that first book, Ridley always had a recommendation for him when he entered the store. Sure, he let Julian pretend to browse, but he always had a book waiting for him at the front desk with a special note tucked inside. Sometimes, the letter would be nothing more elaborate than congratulating him on a recent client or expressing the wish for Julian to have a good week, but the words
never failed to put a smile on his face.

In the beginning, he’d had the biggest crush on Ridley. Once he
’d gotten to know the man, those silly, shallow feelings had morphed into something deeper, but by then, he’d realized Ridley didn’t see him the same way. Julian hadn’t been overly disappointed, though. He enjoyed spending time with the guy, and if he could only be friends with Ridley, well, it was a pretty special friendship.

Thinking back over the conversation from that morning, Julian closed his eyes and groaned. “You’re doing it again.” Gods, he didn’t mean to be
so
friendly or come on so strong. He just didn’t know how to be any other way. Kissing Ridley’s cheek had been as natural as breathing for him, but he understood most people wouldn’t see it that way.

Maintaining a distance and respecting personal boundaries was a hard concept for him. If he liked someone, he enjoyed being close to them. On the other hand, he supposed he didn’t need to stand six inches away from his friends to talk to them. Yeah, he could see how that might make some people uncomfortable, but he didn’t always realize when he was doing it.

In the almost hundred and fifty years he’d been alive, so many people had come and gone from his life. Friends, lovers, coworkers—no one stuck around for long. He’d hoped this time would be different because he really liked Ridley, but once again, he’d messed everything up by being too…something. Julian didn’t know exactly what it was about him that turned people off, but when it came right down to it, the only common denominator led back to him.

The sky outside seemed to darken with his mood, and the clouds finally opened in a steady rainfall that drenched the sidewalks and pelted off the passing cars. “Great.” Flipping his hood up to cover his head, he tucked the note back into his book and mentally prepared himself to step out into the cold, winter rain.

Before he could leave, though, the bell over the front door jingled, announcing Ridley’s arrival. Steam rose from his skin, and water droplets dripped from his mussed hair, but he didn’t appear to notice. Then again, the cold wouldn’t affect him like it did Julian. He’d even confessed that the summers were always hard for him, because his body didn’t adjust well to the heat. Being an ice dragon had its perks, but Julian could also see how it might be a pain in the backside.

“I was just leaving,” he announced into the uneasy silence. “I forgot my book.” He held the hardback up unnecessarily while he floundered for something else to say. “I have it now.”
Yes, brilliant.

“Julian…”

Ridley stepped toward him, but Julian backpedaled, nearly tripping over his own feet in his hurry to put distance between them. He’d had about all of the emotional upheaval he could handle for one day, and he still didn’t know what he’d done to cause it. “I have to go.” He’d already caused a rift in their relationship, and he didn’t want to do anything else to further the damage.

“Easy, Julian.” Hold
ing both hands up on a show of surrender, Ridley approached cautiously, pausing after each step as he made his way closer to Julian. “You’ve every right to be angry with me, but I just want to talk. Will you stay and talk with me?”

“Ridley, what’s going on with you? You’re acting very strange today, and I have to be honest. This hot and cold, back and forth stuff is kind of starting to make my head spin.”

At first, he’d only been upset that Ridley didn’t trust him to share whatever problem had put him in such a poor mood. Then he’d worried that he’d somehow caused the nasty attitude, and he’d felt completely awful. Now, however, he didn’t know what to think.

“Can I buy a vowel or phone a friend, because I’m kind of lost.
Is this about the kiss? I’m sorry about that, okay? It didn’t mean anything.” Oh, he’d love for it to mean something more, but the quick peck on the cheek had been nothing like that. “I get excited sometimes and forget about personal space.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Then what? I’m feeling a little insecure here, so maybe you can just tell me what I did so I can work on not doing it anymore.”

Julian didn’t see anything humorous about the situation, but Ridley began to laugh.
“I admire that you always say what you think, but truly, you didn’t do anything wrong. I wouldn’t want to change anything about you.”

“Is this the part where you bite my head off again? Because I’m beginning to detect a pattern.”

Ridley rocked from his heels to his toes and back as though he couldn’t decide if he wanted to come closer or run in the opposite direction. His blue eyes darkened and glazed over as he stared at a point on the far wall, and he mumbled under his breath, though Julian couldn’t make out the words.

“Uh, Rid, are you okay?”

“Sod it.” In two, long strides, Ridley closed the gap between them, cradled Julian’s face in both hands, and slanted their mouths together in a searing kiss. “Okay?” he asked a moment later in a breathless whisper.

“Yes,” Julian answered just as quietly. “Don’t stop.” He’d wanted this for months but had never imagined it would happen. Gods, but he
needed more.

Groaning, Ridley backed him against a nearby shelf, pinning him there as he attacked his mouth in rough, hungry kis
ses that stole Julian’s breath. Dropping his book to the floor, Julian threw his arms around Ridley’s neck, dragging him closer as their tongues tangled in an intimate dance for dominance.

“Hey, boss, I was…oh.”

Disengaging from the kiss, Julian dropped his arms and buried his face against Ridley’s chest as he chuckled. “Hello, Bridget.”

“Hi, Julian,” she responded brightly. “You know, you two should really get a room.”

“Bridget!” Ridley barked at her, which only made Julian laugh harder.

“Okay, okay, I’m going. No need to get testy.”

“She’s a dear, but sometimes I’d like to flog her mercilessly.” With a snort of his own, Ridley tucked Julian’s hair behind his ear and brushed a kiss against his forehead. “Would you like to come upstairs, love?”

“Yes.” For a heartbeat, Julian worried he was being overeager, but with his dick throbbing behind his zipper, he couldn’t care about things like that. “Are you sure, though?”

Instead of answering him verbally, Ridley took his hand and led him through the storage room at the back and up a flight of creaking stairs, stopping occasionally to pull him into another mind-bending kiss. Once inside his apartment, Ridley didn’t waste breath on pleasantries or awkward conversation, either. Pulling Julian’s jacket and shirt off over his head in a single move, Ridley caressed every inch of his torso as he backed him down the short hallway to his bedroom.

“I don’t have condoms.”

“Can’t get diseases. Either of us. Moot point.” His reply came out a bit breathless between kisses, and he wasn’t at all sure he’d made sense.

Sliding his hands under Ridley’s shirt, Julian moaned as he moved his palms over the rippled expanse of the man’s abs, exploring each bit of warm skin he could reach. With a huffing grunt, Ridley stripped
out of the soft, cotton shirt, giving Julian more room to play as he ushered him toward the bed.

With eager hand
s and fumbling fingers, they made quick work of removing the rest of their clothing, and Julian whimpered in need when Ridley pushed him back onto the mattress. Starting at Julian’s knees, Ridley kissed a wet trail of liquid fire up the inside of one thigh while he scraped his blunt fingernails along the other. Moaning from deep in his chest, he tangled his fingers in Ridley’s thick, dark hair and arched up from the bed.

Despite
Julian’s efforts to hurry things along, Ridley continued to tease, flicking his tongue along the rigid shaft of Julian’s cock and sucking just the tip of the crown into his mouth. Then he repeated the process in reverse, sliding his tongue down Julian’s length and driving him out of his mind.

“Mmm,” Ridley hummed, sending faint vibrations down Julian’s cock to his tightening sac. “Ever impatient. Relax, love.”

Julian couldn’t relax, though, not with his balls aching and his dick throbbing. Fisting his hands in the comforter, he arched up from the mattress again, angling his hips toward Ridley’s parted lips. “Please,” he begged, uncaring of how desperate he’d sounded.

With a feral growl, Ridley grabbed him by the hips, pinning him to bed as he engulfed Julian’s cock to the base in one swallow. His throat muscles constricted around the head as his tongue played along the shaft, and Julian’s eyes rolled back in his
head as he gasped in pleasure. Dragging his lips back up the pulsing shaft, Ridley circled his tongue around the flared crown and prodded the slit, lapping at the drops of pre-cum that seeped from Julian’s dick.

Slow and methodical,
he set a torturous pace, taking Julian to the edge but never letting him fall over. Moaning and growling, he ran his hands over Julian’s stomach, his sides, and down his thighs as he bobbed his head, taking Julian’s cock to the back of his throat on each downward glide.

Julian’s heart beat too fast, too hard, and his muscles quivered with pent-up energy, but still, Ridley continued his leisurely tempo. He pushed Julian higher and drove him to delirium with desire until he hovered on the precipice of orgasm. His lower back
tightened, his toes curled, and just when he thought he’d finally get the relief he needed, everything stopped.

“No!” he wailed, flopping back on the mattress and reaching for his spit-soaked cock.

“Not yet,” Ridley warned in a tight voice, as though speaking through clenched teeth.

Stretching out over Julian, he reached for the headboard, hissing when his hard cock slid over Julian’s belly. Returning with a small, clear bottle of lube, he snapped open the cap and coated two fingers on his right hand before diving on top of Julian again for another hungry kiss. Their tongues met, twined, and retreated, over and over in an intimate, familiar rhythm. Losing himself in the kiss, Julian relaxed into the comforter, winding his arms and legs around his lover to pull him even closer.

A long, slick finger caressed his opening, spreading the cool gel over the clenching muscles of his hole before slipping through the tight ring. The first prod of Ridley’s finger sent tingles up his spine, and as the digit moved inside him, stretching him open, heat spread across his flushed skin. Rolling his hip
s, he rode his lover’s finger as he rocked up against him, rubbing his cock over the corrugated expanse of Ridley’s abs.

One finger became two, filling him with a pressure that traveled down to his balls, and his inner walls clamped around the invading digits as he mewled and wri
thed atop the mattress. Ridley pumped into his aching hole, twisting his wrist and scissoring his fingers as he continued his assault on Julian’s senses by kissing and nibbling down his neck and across his collarbones.

“Easy,” Ridley muttered. “Breathe, love, just breathe.”

Then he disappeared again, rising up on his knees and easing his fingers from Julian’s entrance, leaving him feeling empty and yearning. Before Julian could make his voice work to form a protest, however, Ridley returned, bracing himself on one hand as he rubbed the tip of his lubed cock over Julian’s tight starburst and thrust forward to penetrate his clenching channel.