One Weekend with the Billionaire Chapter 73

*Braxton*

It’s clear over dinner that Julia is distracted, though I can’t say why. I decide we should finish eating before I start asking questions. But I will ask her. After all, I spent so much of last night too worried to mention to her something she already knew all about, so it’s ridiculous for me to try not to discuss what’s going on with her. I need to know what’s bothering her, just as she wanted to know what was bothering me the night before.

As soon as we finish our dinner, I say, “We should go spend some time in the hot tub.” My muscles ache from being so rigid all day at work, on edge, waiting to see what was going to happen next. Since I heard nothing from my lawyers today, it is unsettling to think I may spend the next several weeks or months just waiting for a phone call that might not come.

“Okay,” Julia says. “That’s a good idea. I have something I’d like to talk to you about, and it will be less stressful if we can chat in the hot tub.” She smiles that beautiful smile of hers, and I already feel slightly more at ease, even though I am nervous to hear what she wants to talk to me about.

We walk hand-in-hand to the bedroom where we find our swimsuits and take turns changing in the bathroom. I would love to watch her undress and put on her bikini, but I know we will never make it outside if I see her beautiful curves right now.

Once we are ready, we head outside. It’s a cool night with a light breeze. The fresh air fills my lungs as I pause on the edge of the hot tub, my face lifted to a starlit sky. Julia steps into the water first. “It’s nice,” she says as the bubbles surround her. My gaze shifts from the heavens to the heavenly woman in front of me.

“You’re so beautiful,” I tell her, my feet in the water now. She’s right. It feels great. Just warm enough to melt the tangles in my muscle but not too hot to work up a sweat. I hope we can find another way to do that--as soon as I find out what it is she wants to talk to me about.

I sink in up to my chest, and Julia slides in to my side, her fingers playing against my abs as she rests her head on my shoulder. She smells so good. For a few moments, I let everything else melt away and just enjoy this perfect woman in this scenic location, her touch carrying all of my worries away.

It can’t last forever. I know she wants to speak to me, and I want to know what’s weighing on her mind, so I open my eyes and look into hers. “What’s going on?” I ask her, managing a small smile, even though I am leery of her response.

Julia sighs and looks down at the bubbling water for a long moment before she says, “Jeff called me today.”

I feel my whole body grow stiff at the mention of his name. Visions of her talking to him on the phone have jealousy bubbling up inside of me as steadily as those bursting against my skin from the sauna jets. “He called you?” I repeat. She nods. “And you spoke to him?”

Again, she sighs and then nods. “I had to. He kept calling.”

“You could have put the phone away. Or broken it.” I am thinking out loud. When I see what my comments do to her face, I am instantly sorry. “That’s not fair of me, Julia. I apologize.”

“That’s okay,” she says, though I’m not sure she means it completely. “Anyway… he said that his lawyer is so good, he’ll take everything from you.”

My eyebrows arch as I consider exactly what Jeff has probably said to her. I shake my head. “You don’t need to worry about that, baby,” I assure her. “Jeff is full of it. I have some wonderful lawyers. They’ll figure it out.” I don’t believe most of what’s coming out of my mouth because I’m unsure of the situation myself. I want to believe I have nothing to worry about, but I don’t know that, not for sure.

“Well, I’m worried,” Julia says. “He’s just… relentless. He doesn’t stop.”

I run my fingers through her hair. “Julia, it’ll be just fine, okay? There’s no need to worry about it.” She nods, but I can see in her eyes that she’s still worried. “Listen, even if I did lose everything somehow, I wouldn’t care. As long as I have you, that’s all that matters.” I mean it. Even though I love my house and my company, and having the money to do whatever I want to whenever I want to is a luxury I can’t fathom being without because I’ve had this life since birth, as long as I am with Julia, I truly will have everything I need in this life.

Her face tells me that she is skeptical, that she can’t imagine that she could ever be enough for me. My fingertips brush her cheek as I move in to find her mouth with mine. She leans into me and kisses me back, and I feel the tension in her body begin to let go. I am still concerned about Jeff calling her. I don’t want him to talk to her at all. But I trust Julia, and if she chooses to talk to him, or anyone, so be it. For now, all I want to do is make love to this beautiful woman and let everything else go.

As Julia begins to respond to my kisses, I know that we are about to forget about the rest of the world. I pull her to me, and she wraps her knees around my thighs, and Jeff and everyone else can go to hell--no one else matters.