Catherine’s POV
The weight of those three words I never expected to hear from him... hung in the air in a thick and undeniable way. He looked diminished sohow, his shoulders hunched as he stared at his hands. His hands were trembling slightly in his lap.
I wanted to reply but I couldn’t even form the words, so Julian beat to it. He cleared his throat, it was rough and strained, then he moved his eyes everywhere else but , he was trying to avoid looking at my face. "I’m sorry."
I sat up, the silk sheets rustling against my skin. "Sorry for what?"
"For saying that," he whispered, his voice cracking. "For dumping that on you right now. It was selfish. You’re already dealing with so much and then I go and tell you I love you in the middle of a literal cri scene. I don’t an to burden you with my feelings. I have no intention to make things even more complicated than they already are. I know I’m not exactly... an easy person to love. I know I’m broken. If you can’t say it back, or if you do not feel the sa way about ... I understand."
He sounded so defeated, so certain that his own darkness had finally pushed away. It broke my heart more than any of the shitty things I’ve been through ever could. He was waiting for to reject him, waiting for to confirm his own worst fears about himself.
I didn’t say a word at first. I simply moved across the bed, the friction of my movents the only sound in the room. I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder, feeling the iron-hard tension in his muscles. He flinched slightly but didn’t pull away. I moved until I was kneeling in front of him, then leaned forward and placed a single finger over his lips, silencing the rest of his apology.
Julian’s eyes popped wide. He finally blinked them, his darkness of those eyes eting mine. In that pale light, he looked incredibly vulnerable. I loved this part of him, this part that showed just how human he was.
"Stop," I whispered, my voice steady and sincere. "Never apologize for loving soone. Never feel sorry about matters of the heart."
I moved my hand from his lips to his cheek, my thumb tracing the line of his jaw. "I’ve felt it for a long ti, Julian but I wasn’t sure. I’ve seen it in the way you look at when you think I’m not watching. I’ve felt it every ti you’ve stepped in front of to take a blow ant for . I’ve seen how jealous you get when Dante gets close. You think you’re a monster because of the things you’ve done, but a monster wouldn’t care this much about protecting anyone. You even protected Tessa. A monster wouldn’t be sitting here right now, terrified that he’s burdened with his heart."
I took a deep breath, the air in my lungs feeling light for the first ti in weeks. "If you must know... I love you too, Julian Vaugh. I’ve loved you since before I was brave enough to admit it to myself."
The change in him was instantaneous. It was as if an everlasting burden had been lifted off his chest. His eyes searched mine, looking for any hint of a lie, but he found none. He let out a long, shuddering breath and turned fully toward , his hands finding my waist and pulling into him.
"You an that?" he rasped. "You love ?"
"Yes, I do," I confird.
He bit his lip and shook his head, then let out a short laugh. "Are you saying this to make feel better?"
"Why would I? You should know your Wildcat better," I replied with a pout, and raised my brows up twice in a teasing manner.
He didn’t wait for another word. He surged forward, his lips eting mine in a kiss that was entirely different from the desperate, angry one from before. This was slow, deep, and filled with a profound sense of relief. It was a seal on a promise we hadn’t even voiced yet. The world outside the door faded into nothingness. There was only the heat of his skin and the rhythm of my heart matching his.
Julian’s hands moved with a new kind of reverence, tracing the curve of my waist before sliding up to my back. He pulled closer until there was no space left between us. I could feel the heat radiating from him, a frantic, living warmth that I wanted to lose myself in. He broke the kiss to press his forehead against mine, his breath warm on my face.
"I don’t deserve you," he whispered.
"Then spend the rest of your life trying to," I replied, my hands tangling in his hair.
He pulled back just enough to look at , his gaze dark and hungry. With a slow, deliberate movent, he reached for the buttons of his shirt, discarding it with a frantic energy that told his patience had reached its limit. I watched him, my breath catching in my throat. His body was a map of the battles he had fought—the tension in his chest, the scars of his past, and the raw strength he used to keep us safe.
When he moved back to , his touch was electric. He laid back against the pillows, his body hovering over mine. He kissed my neck, his lips trailing down to the hollow of my throat, sending sparks of fire through my veins. Every touch was an unspoken confession, a physical manifestation of the love we had both been too afraid to voice until now.
I reached for him, pulling him down, needing to feel the full weight of him against . As our clothes were taken off, the heat grew. Julian was very careful with his hands exploring every inch of my skin as if he were morizing . He was acting like this would be the first ti we were intimate. He touched with a mixture of worship and demand, his fingers tracing patterns over my hips that made my head spin.
When we finally joined together, it wasn’t the frantic release of two people trying to escape their problems. It was a slow, rhythmic union that felt like coming ho. I arched my back, my fingers digging into his shoulders as he moved within . It was intense and overwhelming, a physical conversation that said everything we couldn’t put into words. I looked up at him, my vision blurring, and saw the way he was looking at —with a raw, unfiltered devotion that made feel like the most important person in the world.
We moved together in the silence of the night, the only sounds the friction of skin and our mingled gasps. Julian’s movents were steady and powerful, his eyes never leaving mine. He was anchoring , holding in this mont so tightly that the rest of my life felt like a distant dream. I felt the tension building within , a coil of heat that finally snapped, sending waves of pleasure through my body that left breathless and clinging to him.
Julian followed shortly after, his body tensing as he buried his face in the crook of my neck, his heart hamring against mine like a trapped bird. We stayed like that for a long ti, tangled together.
Eventually, Julian shifted, pulling into his side and tucking my head under his chin. He pulled the duvet over us, his arm draped protectively across my middle. The silence returned, but it was no longer heavy. It was peaceful.
I traced the line of a faint scar on his chest, my mind wandering to how we could make this work as stepsiblings. We were in the heart of the enemy’s territory, surrounded by people who would destroy us for a headline or a power play.
"What about Dante? Will you tell him off now?" His jealousy ca to play, even now that we were having the best ti of our lives.
I chose to poke out his jealousy further, so I turned around and folded my hands on his chest, resting my chin on them. "Why would I do that?"
His head snapped fast, bending to catch my face. "Are you seriously asking that? We love each other, that ans we have to discard every other person who can be a threat to what we have."
What a sheepish thing to say... I thought in my head and almost laughed out loud. I couldn’t laugh yet, not when I was trying to ss with him.
"Oh, be for real. I have already introduced Dante to your dad and you are engaged to Lucy. I doubt there’s nothing loving each other can do to change our written destiny."
He imdiately raised , though carefully. He held my hands and made us sit up, his eyes studying like I was the most unbelievable person to exist. "Stop it, Catherine. I am not marrying Lucy and you are not going to be with Dante. I’ll fight Richard if I must. We belong to each other." His tone got more serious after each word and his eyes got darker like he was really furious at the thought of us ending up with different people.
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