Alive at Night (Wildflower, #1)

by Amelie Rhys

It didn’t do anything, though. I could take a freezing cold shower and still be running hot for Juniper St. James.

So annoyingly familiar and sweet and perfect.

“Ironic, isn’t it?” “Yeah.” She didn’t turn around, but I could tell she wanted to. I wondered if she could tell what I wanted, too. “Yeah?” “Yeah.” Her voice started to disappear into the night. “It’s ironic, Julian.”

This was precisely why I’d always kept her at arm’s length. Otherwise, it was a slippery slope, and now I was falling down it.

“Juni.”

“Juniper.”

Julian stole the rest of my words with his lips, kissing me and knocking me back into his desk in a single swift movement that left me reeling. His talented lips broke from mine for one split second to grunt, “Shut up,” before he dove in again, capturing my mouth with his for a second time. I kissed him back recklessly, momentarily losing myself in how our tongues tangled and lips clashed. Why? Why did he have to be so good at this?

“God, you drive me up the wall.” Julian grabbed me by the throat and wrenched us back together. “I said shut up.”

I shut up. Our lips fused back together.

“I want you. I desperately want you like this. You have no idea, Juni baby.”

I desperately want you.

“It wasn’t fake,” he breathed, his lips fanning my skin. “The kiss, the things you said in the hotel room… Tell me it wasn’t fake. Tell me it was more than getting swept up in the moment.”

“I thought you wanted me to shut up,” I retorted while fighting to catch my breath.

His voice dropped to a tone I didn’t dare disobey.

“Well, now I want to hear your pretty little mouth tell me it wasn’t fake.” “It wasn’t fake.”

“The things I would have done to you if you hadn’t been drunk, Juni…God.”

“It was all I could do to keep my fucking shit together with how you were teasing the hell out of me.” His voice lowered. “You’re gonna pay for that, by the way.” I dropped my voice so it matched his. “I already told you not to stop, Julian.”

“Juniper.” He spoke my name between us, sounding gravelly, desperate. “I’m going to touch you. I need to touch you.”

“Payback, remember?” he breathed. “Touch me,” I pleaded, and my request had Julian folding in an instant.

“Good girl,” he murmured appreciatively before sliding his fingers between my legs and swearing under his breath.

“That’s it,” he muttered gruffly. “Come on, love.”

“Let me,” Julian groaned, his tongue swirling up my inner thighs like he wanted to give me a preview of what it would feel like. “Let me taste more of you.”

“Kissing you feels like living, Juniper.”

“It only comes alive at night.”

“Juniper,” I clarified, feeling like my knees were about to give out. “Juniper St. James. Brown hair, brown eyes, so fucking pretty. Please tell me someone knows where the hell she is.”

It felt like every breath I took was only enough air to get by until the next inhale, and I’d never get back to fully living unless I had her.

“You’re such an ass.” True, very true. After all, I was sitting next to my sister, thinking dirty things about her best friend. Reliving them, actually.

“Julian John Briggs, what did you do?”

Juni didn’t deserve that. She deserved the world. I wanted to give her the world. I wanted to give her the world so fucking bad, but

I didn’t know how to juggle that and work and my relationship with Gems.

If I needed to leave to make her feel comfortable, then I would leave. I’d do anything.

This existing thing? I hated it. Didn’t she realize I hated it?

“I thought you weren’t afraid of a little bare skin, Julian.” “I’m not.”

“Your skin, your lips, any little bit of you, I’m not afraid of any of it.”

“I fucking crave it,” I said in a low voice. “But

I’m afraid of what it’ll do to me if I let it. What it will do to you. What it will do to the people around us.”

“Jul...

Jealousy looked good on Julian Briggs.

But I also thought he hated me, and the last few weeks certainly didn’t feel like hate. I thought he was cold, but recently, I’d never felt so warm. When it came to me, I thought he only knew how to be hard and unfeeling, but then there were those moments when he was oh, so soft.

“He can have tonight to figure out what he wants. And then, just maybe, I’ll give him a chance if he realizes it’s me.”

“He knows it’s you, Juniper.” He sounded so sure of himself. I wished I could be that sure, too.

“That’s my girl.” My girl.

“It’s nothing new,” he confessed, his jaw continuing to clench angrily even though his eyes were soft and imploring. “Not for me. I spent so many years pushing you away because of it, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Juni.” His apology was marred by a curse beneath his breath. “But you have to understand what it was like.” “What what was like?” “You were everywhere, Juniper.” His voice scraped my soul. “Every time I turned the corner, you were there. Your stacks of books, that perfume, clothes—all over my house. Everywhere, all the time. Such a goddamn tease. Because even though you were there, you hated me. And even if you didn’t, I couldn’t have you.”

“I only hated you because of how you made me feel. You were the only one who never accepted me, who didn’t consider me welcome. All I wanted was more family to call my own.”

was wrong. In his own twisted way, Julian did protect me from himself. He just didn’t realize it wasn’t necessary. And it was futile.

“From now on, if you want someone to take you on a date, it’s going to be me,” he muttered, his fingers dragging along my jawline to my chin, holding on to it so I wouldn’t look away. “And if you want someone to fuck you, that’ll be me, too.” He rocked his hips against mine, letting me feel how ready he was for it. “Not anyone else. Me, Juni. Understood?”

“What happened to just existing?” “At this point, I don’t even know how to do that without you,”

“I’ve never not

wanted you, Juni. I’ve tried for years not to want you, but I can’t do it anymore. I want to be around ...

“Constantly, Daisy.” The confession brushed against my lips. “I think about you constantly. I want you constantly.”