Page 62 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 2

“Just for vacation, that’s all. I wanted some time away. To… do some thinking.”

Julian was definitely hedging. “Thinking about what? Work?”

“Mm. That, too,” he said, going back to dicing the chicken. “Nap. Read. That kind of thing.”

Now I knew he was lying. The man didn’t do idle. “Knit? Basket weave? Maybe roll out some homemade pasta dough?”

He sighed and put down the knife before resting his palms on the counter on either side of the cutting board. “Of course not. I… I brought my cross-country skis, as you know, and I… I may have gotten around to arranging a hookup or something.”

For some reason, that pissed me off. I knew that my visceral, negative reaction to hearing about him with other men was hypocritical and selfish. It made Julian tense, and that made me feel ashamed, but I couldn’t help it.

“Are you serious? You were gonna invite guys out here to hook up? While you were alone ?”

Julian set his jaw. “I generally don’t invite an audience, Parker.”

“I’m just saying, it’s clear that you don’t care much about your safety.” I ripped the guts out of a bell pepper with more force than necessary. “Do you know the percentage of dating app hookups that end in murder ?”

“No,” he said darkly. “And neither do you.”

The silence that descended between us was sharp and jarring.

I wasn’t sure why I could hear Tiller talk about Mikey all day and feel nothing but thrilled for him, or catch Sam pushing Truman up against the elevator wall at the hotel this weekend and think it was kinda hot, but the thought of Julian doing anything with another man made me feel like vomiting.

No human alive was good enough for him as far as I was concerned.

“Just let me know when you need the place to yourself, and I’ll go… out. Or whatever,” I muttered after a while.

“Shut up, jackass.” He focused on cutting onions into perfect thin strips. “I’m not having anyone over with you here.”

“It’s fine. Just because I got screwed over doesn’t mean you have to go without.

” I added a little sniff for good measure since I was already feeling sorry for myself.

I hadn’t had sex in a very, very long time.

Erin had read an article about abstaining for a month before the wedding to make the wedding night more special, but with her job in Denver and mine in Vail, it hadn’t even been necessary to declare an abstinence pact.

Jules placed the frying pan down on the stove a little too hard. “Stop sulking. I hate it when you do that.”

His bubble butt was calling my name, so I kicked him in it with my socked foot. “Feel sorry for me, bro.”

“Don’t call me that.”

I kicked him again. “Feel sorry for me, Peanut.”

“I hate you,” he muttered, swirling some olive oil into the pan.

“You love me.” I moved the piles of cut-up veggies over to his side of the kitchen before pressing a kiss to his cheek. “And thank god for that.”

I moved over to the fridge and poked my head in to see what we had to drink. After grabbing a bottle of water for me and a beer for Jules, I cracked open both and handed him the beer bottle.

I studied his face as he began to throw the chicken into the pan. “So tell me what else. I know there’s something you’re holding back, or else you would have just stayed home and worked this week.”

He huffed out a laugh. “I told you I’m going to be doing work for Mikey and Tiller, right? Well, it turns out I really like it, so I’m moving here permanently.”

I blinked.

“You know my dad always wanted me to take over his mining company.” He shook the pan firmly.

“So that’s what I always pictured myself doing.

But when I started working there, I discovered it didn’t make me happy.

Working with Mikey and Tiller at the resort, though…

it’s new and exciting with so many different legal challenges.

Later this week, we’re meeting with some potential investors about financing a new property acquisition, which is going to involve a ton of negotiation.

And there are liability issues, and vendor partnerships, and various on-mountain concessions to organize legally under the resort umbrella. It’s…”

I stared at him, realizing exactly what had put that spark in his eye. I hadn’t seen it since his college days. “It’s what?”

Julian’s teeth came out to bite into his plump bottom lip. “It’s… it’s fun, Parks. And it’s… I don’t even know how to describe it.”

“It’s yours,” I said simply.

He blew out a breath. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s mine. Every day is something new and exciting to learn about.”

Julian and Hazel had both followed their dad into the family business.

The successful mining company had been the center of their family for several generations.

Jules had grown up knowing his dad would want him to take it over one day, so he’d gone off to college and followed it up with a joint business and law degree.

But he hated it.

He hated working for his family business while Hazel thrived in the role. I wasn’t surprised Julian finally found something that excited him; I only worried about it being something that would require his relocating to a tiny town in the boonies.

There was no denying how happy it seemed to make him, though, so I would suppress my disappointment and support him.

“Jules, that’s fantastic. Holy shit.”

He held up a hand. “Don’t get too excited. I’m not completely sure yet. That’s why I didn’t tell you before. You always get so excited, and I really need to be smart about this.”

Okay, that stung a little, even though he was right. “I can be smart,” I promised. “Besides, what’s to know? It’s a ski resort, which happens to be my specialty. Who knows more about skiing than anyone you know?”

“Rod Rokas?”

This time I swatted his ass with the kitchen towel, and he yelped. “Do I need to whip out my ski medals? My fucking World Cup title? My current resume overflowing with alpine awesomeness?”

Jules threw his head back and laughed. “You’re the most modest person I know until the two of us are behind closed doors. Then it’s all, ‘World Cup’ this and ‘Olympic Team’ that. Surprised your head can even fit in this tiny cabin.”

We both knew that wasn’t true. I rarely talked about the years I’d spent pursuing pro skiing because I’d actually hated them.

It was why I’d used his car accident as an excuse to quit the team.

Julian had been T-boned by a drunk driver one night in grad school on his way home from a study session.

His parents and Hazel had been in Hawaii on vacation at the time, so I’d been the one to drop everything and fly out east to take care of him.

When he finished pushing food around in the pan, we served ourselves and took our plates back to the sofa in the living area. I threw another couple of logs into the fireplace and watched the wood take the flames as I sat back down to eat.

Being quiet with Julian felt natural and healing, as always.

After a while, the sound of our cutlery clanking against the plates died down, and I took our empty dishes to the kitchen before returning to the sofa.

This time, I lay down with my head in Julian’s lap and felt his hand immediately go into my hair the way it always did.

I stared at the fire while he gently sifted through my hair and lightly scratched my scalp.

The faint headache I’d been fighting off for the past few hours receded a little.

“Think she’s okay?” I asked softly after a while.

His fingers paused for a moment before continuing. “You should text her and ask.”

Somehow, that didn’t feel right. If she’d wanted my help, she’d have come to me instead of running away. “Nah. She needs to figure things out on her own.”

He made a sound that didn’t agree or disagree.

“Has Hazel texted you?” I asked after another few minutes.

I felt Julian shift as he reached over to the side table to grab his phone. After a few seconds, I felt his muscles tense.

He didn’t say anything.

I rolled over onto my back to look up at him. “Dammit, Jules. What did she say?”

He didn’t realize he was now cupping my cheek and brushing a thumb idly across the tender skin below my eye. The caress was soothing, but then again, he’d always had this effect on me. When I needed comfort, Julian was the first person I thought of. It had been that way as long as I could remember.

Julian sighed and met my eyes. “She said Erin decided to fly to Mexico.”

I sat up so fast my head spun for a split-second. For some reason, a laugh bubbled up. “She went on our fucking honeymoon? By herself?”

Julian’s pink ears were an instant giveaway. I laughed again. “Oh my god, she’s planning to find someone to hook up with, isn’t she? Well, that’s an adventure alright.”

“Parker, could you be serious for five seconds?”

“I am serious. She wants adventure, she’s getting it.” It still sucked that I couldn’t be what she needed. I still felt adrift in all kinds of ways I didn’t want to think about, but the relief I’d felt earlier was still there. Undeniable.

“Easy as that?” Jules demanded. “You’re saying it doesn’t bother you one bit? You don’t even have any made-up statistics to quote about the percentage of all-inclusive-resort hookups that end in disaster?”

I snorted. “Not a single one.” Surprisingly, the idea really didn’t bother me. I felt zero jealousy when it came to Erin, which I suppose was yet another giant red flag I’d mistaken for a good omen.

I stood up and made my way to the kitchen, where I’d spotted an unusually large collection of brand-new liquor bottles stashed in the cabinet next to the fridge.

Julian bit his lower lip like he was struggling for patience and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Parks. I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything. She’ll go have her fun and then come back with a clear head. You can do things differently next time. The two of you can go to Vegas or something.”

“There won’t be a next time, Jules. She and I are done.”

“You say that every time, and yet…”