Page 31 of Just Like You (Square Mile Rogues #2)

One year later.

H e came through the door, just after six in the morning, his tie loose around his neck and his bag making a racket over the hallway tiles. Like always, a whirlwind that broke the silence in my life.

The days he was away, I worked as much as I could, just to free up time to spend with him. Some days I felt like I was working harder than I ever had, especially now, when Juliet was once again reorganising our teams, and even I had been formally invited to reapply for my job.

I hated it. Hated the uncertainty of not knowing my place.

“You okay?” he said, dumping his keys and removing that tie as well, letting a myriad of things hit the marbled surface of the kitchen worktop. “Traffic was horrible, and it’s, like, super early.”

“It always is, trying to get through Central London, doesn’t matter what time of day.”

“We should move back to Farnborough.” He grinned. “We never got stuck in traffic there.” Tease. He always did this to me. I stuck my tongue out and scooped him up. Placed a kiss on that luscious mouth of his.

“You smell. And no. Farnborough didn’t work for us. No traffic for you, a two-hour commute for me. Which I gladly did, but it wasn’t fun.”

“Nope. Agreed. This place, though?”

“I know the traffic is bad for you, but I do love it here.”

“It’s ours. And I am going to spend this week painting the second bedroom upstairs and redoing the hallway. I hate the colour.”

“I know you do. Which is why I spent all last evening putting the masking tape back up. Ready to go.”

“And that is why I love you.”

This was very him, coming back from work, overtired and overenthusiastic about everything, his mind racing and his mouth running. He needed to sleep. A nice shower and a cup of tea and Sleeping Beauty would be waking up a different person later .

And now we owned a bog-standard semi in Barnet. Who would have thought? Well. South Barnet. I claimed it to be North Hampstead. That always made him laugh. He was such a little shit sometimes, this person who shared my name.

We had the same last name. Like family did. Me and him.

Kieron and Julian Andrieu-Bradley. I loved our name, and I loved him. This funny, gorgeous person, because I did. Every little smelly bit of him.

“You stink.”

“Yes, I do. I spent an hour trying to clean up bodily fluids. We had to seal one of the toilets off in the end. The glamorous life of an inflight steward.”

“Gah. You’re brilliant. Now get clean before you pass any germs onto me. I have things to do this week, and I have to be on form.”

“Has Juliet made any announcements yet?”

“No, and it’s pissing me off.”

“She’s your boss, not your bestie.”

“True, but still. It’s annoying. Wrecks all my motivation, not knowing what she’s up to. And you know what? Bash rang me last night. He’s as rattled as me. Not that I let him know that, but I could hear it in his voice.”

“Oh. Tell me.” He sat himself down on the kitchen barstool as I wafted my hands at him .

“Get that uniform off, I’ll get it straight in the wash, and then have a shower. After that, I will tell you all the gossip.”

“You’re as bad as Sonny.” I laughed. “Always offering up the gossip.”

“And you need to have patience. Sonny rang twice yesterday, trying to find out where you were. Said he had so much to tell you and that you weren’t answering your texts.”

“I was flying,” he huffed. “Sonny knows that; he just wants to talk to you. Says you’re much more fun than me.”

“I’m not fun,” I said in protest. I wasn’t. Seriously. Although…maybe. I did actually enjoy Sonny’s frequent phone calls. As much as I enjoyed his unhinged texts.

“You are. You’re actually really entertaining. Which is why I have stayed married to you for over a year.”

“Gosh, that makes me feel so much better about this. You stay married to me because I am entertaining?”

He just laughed, standing there in the middle of the kitchen, removing clothing and dumping it in the laundry basket I was holding out for him.

I should probably get going and be on time for Juliet’s morning meeting. Show her how keen I was to make her all the money. But then? This was fun, much more fun.

“I’m filthy, don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” I deadpanned .

“Like you want to eat me. You and your tongue are not getting anywhere near me until I have had a good scrub. And there is stuff on my trouser leg that you shouldn’t really touch. I’ll fold them up. Just grab the whole lot and throw it in the wash.”

“Filthy.”

“Always.”

He went off to get showered whilst I emptied his laundry into the washing machine. In our kitchen. A small home, nothing fancy, but it had been bought outright by the two of us, and we had a garden and a manageable commute. For both of us.

And I loved it. Loved everything about the life I was now living.

Even when things were difficult and work was draining.

Not just mine, but his too. It wasn’t all weeks in the Maldives and glamorous locations.

He mostly jetted back and forth on east-coast redeyes or far too long European legs where he’d turn up at midnight, exhausted.

But we also had nice little perks. He sometimes managed to get on my work trips. And then he had trips where I’d jet off over the weekend and join him in hotels on the other side of the world. Take him out for dinner and just…

Get away. Refresh. Remember why we did this in the first place.

Because we fit. Belonged. And the very truth was, we did, actually, make each other happy.

“Better?” I said, as he reappeared in a bathrobe, all freshly showered and wet curls .

“Yeah. Need a few hours, and then I’ll be all good. Have you got plans for dinner tonight?”

“There’s stuff in the freezer. Whatever you want.”

“Any of that chicken left from last week?”

“Yup. Shall I take it out?”

“So domestic,” he teased, as I placed a cup of tea in his hand.

Domestic bliss, indeed.

“So what did Bash say?”

“He was… talking to me like we were friends, or something, and it was strange because we never talk about personal things. We’ve worked together for years, and I wouldn’t call him a friend.

A workmate. One that sometimes annoys the hell out of me, but he was a bit rattled by this reorganisation.

Apparently, him and his Jake have just been approved for their first foster placement.

They have two kids turning up tomorrow, and he was all twitchy, worrying if he’ll suddenly be out of a job by next week. ”

“Like Juliet would do that.”

“She would. Nothing she hasn’t done before. If you underperform and take the piss? She has you out before you know it.”

“But…”

“Bash is our chief analyst. She would be mad to lose him. She’ll keep him, and Faye, and Jenna. Oliver? Trouble. Always in trouble, but he works like an Arabian stallion. Gets those results. Anil has been with us for years, so have Will and Jenna. And…”

“She’s not going to cut you loose.”

“She could. If she does what she’s mentioned and outsources the whole risk and data aggregation, then that makes me a spare part.”

“And would she?”

“Could be a smart move.”

“And?”

“And I wonder if I could just…you know. Let go. Start up my own small company and work from here. It would mean much less money, but more time. I could spend time with you, and…”

“And?” He sipped his tea.

“I would take Maura with me, because that way I could get her to slow down. She only has a few years to go before she has to retire, and she lives near here. It could work. We could think about a family. Perhaps get a dog.”

“I’d love a dog. But we’d have to have a good dog sitter on the books, so you could still come away with me.”

“Yes.”

He went quiet, musing for a while.

“Do you want kids?”

“I don’t know.” Truth. An absolute one. “I never thought I did, but then talking to Bash yesterday, how excited he was, and at the same time, how terrified the whole thing made him. The change to his life. Would Jake still love him, or would… the kids even like him? Kids like me? They change everything, do n’t they?

And I keep thinking, if Ralphie hadn’t taken me in, where would I have been? What would have become of me?”

“But we wouldn’t be on our own. We’d have a bunch of cool aunties and uncles to help us.

I could take some paternity leave. Maybe go part time.

Money isn’t everything, but it would change, of course it would.

We would change. And we need to go see Ralphie this weekend.

Bring him strawberries. He likes those.”

“He likes you. Every time you turn up, his face lights up. But seriously, Julian. For better or worse? Whatever you think. One thing, though, we’d never get bored.”

“I’m never bored as it is. I come home, and we have all these things going on. We travel, and we go out, and we run around and, even going to the supermarket is fun. Because you’re there, with me.”

“Need to convince you to come to the gym with me again.”

“Never.” He grinned. “Absolutely not.”

“You were cute.”

“I was terrible. Awful. I have zero skills when it comes to working out.”

“But you do,” I said, walking around the kitchen counter to where he was. Gently grabbing his elbows and turning him around. Standing up, with that dressing gown, which I untied, letting the fabric plummet to the floor.

I just wanted to admire him. Watch him. See all that beauty that was all mine.

“Naughty,” he whispered. “I know what you’re thinking. ”

“At least I’m not dressed yet. I’m not having you ruin another of my shirts.”

“It was only one button, Ki.” He laughed as I lifted him up. His bum up on the counter in one swift lift.

“And what are you going to do to me?” he mused, a little smile brewing on his face. His dick stirring with little twitches. “What do you have in mind?”

“Well…” I didn’t actually have a plan. Not that I needed one, not anymore. Where I’d once planned these kinds of things like it was a hostile takeover, where I had to negotiate my needs and wants? I didn’t feel like that anymore. Because…

I was just me. And he was him. And it really wasn’t that complicated.

“We don’t have to always follow the rules.” His voice was so calm. So wonderfully soft. That thing he did, his hands stroking down my arms. “It’s just you and me.”

“I love you.” I spoke quietly because he heard me. Sometimes I didn’t have to say anything at all, and he still listened.

“Can I just…”

I don’t know why I was suddenly so overwhelmed. Why I sometimes went all mute and weird, when it was just too much for me to handle. An ocean of love in my chest for this guy who’d just turned up in my life one day and changed…everything.

“Carry me upstairs, and fuck me to sleep,” he said, a little glint at the corner of his eye. “Just don’t drop me. ”

And just like that, I burst out laughing. Scooped him up in my arms and carried him upstairs.

Dropped him down on the bed, naked and smiling.

“Hard and fast,” he demanded, turning over and getting up on all fours.

“How much prep do you want?”

“You know how I like it,” he said, pursing his lips.

The little shit.

And just like that? I held his arse cheeks open and dived in. Gave his tight little opening the attention it deserved. Licked him soft, my tongue prodding his insides as he moaned and squirmed.

“Hold still,” I burst out, giving his arse a little swat.

“Can’t help it,” he whined. “It’s good. More!”

I ate, and I left zero crumbs. None. My tongue deep inside of him as his hand flew over his length. Jerking himself off to the sounds of my mouth sucking at him.

And my cock was rock hard, because I didn’t need much to get in a state. Not with him.

“Don’t hold back,” he demanded. “I’m bloody close.”

Just what I wanted to hear, because. Yes. I still hadn’t learnt my lesson. Edging was not for me, and instead we did this.

Quick. Fast. Dirty.

Perfect .

“Condom.” I had barely said the word before he handed me one, already open.

Not that we needed them, but as we both agreed, it was so much easier to clean up when we used them. And we both liked the sheets to stay clean for more than a day.

Domestic bliss.

I smiled, rolling it on, then accepting the bottle of lube that was right there in his hand. His breathing hitched a little as he put his head back down on the bed, his hand resuming touching himself, now with an added helping of lube.

Perfect.

Everything was just so bloody perfect.

My cock against his opening. My knees moving closer. That fog in my brain lifting as I pushed.

And again. A little at a time as he sang out sounds below me.

Oh yes. Here we were. One steady thrust and he shouted, and then I fucked him. Hard and fast. My orgasm almost instant as he swore into the sheets.

Okay. Yeah. The clean sheets thing? I might have to do laundry today. Later. Much later.

Instead I curled up on the bed with him in my arms, grabbing a blanket from the side and wrapping him up.

“Sleep, my darling,” I sang out, weary with exhaustion. “I’ll be back around sixish. That work for you? ”

“Take out that chicken,” he murmured.

“Will do.”

I kissed the top of his head. Breathed him in.

“You’ll be fine. Tell Juliet I’ll kick her arse if she lets you go.”

“I’m sure that threat will be well received.” I smiled. Like I would.

“I’ll text her myself. And uninvite her, and Faye, from the lunch with Gina next week.”

“Now we’re talking.”

It wouldn’t make any difference, but yeah. It made me smile. Because whatever happened?

Everything would be fine. Absolutely fine.