Read Online After The One (The One Series Duet) by Danielle Allen - Free Book Online Page B

for that particular cotton shirt.”
    The deep timber of his laugh flitted through the kitchen and filled me up. I was so full. I couldn’t help but imagine myself as his wife in that moment.
    Julian Winters is going to be my husband and I am going to be his wife.
    “I have some…news,” Julian started once his amusement had subsided.
    I returned to the middle of the kitchen and left a few feet of space between us, but Julian pulled me flush against his body anyway and lifted me off of my feet.
    Spinning me around, he sat me on the flat surface of the marble island. Wedging my legs open, my dress slipped up high on my thighs and he positioned himself between them. We were eye-to-eye.
    Wrapping my arms around his neck, I cocked my head to the side. “You’ve located a quill pen for us to write poetry with and be really pretentious about it?”
    He let out a short chuckle. “If you write me anything in a quill pen, I’d hear it in a tone.”
    I nodded profusely. “Like a high society…rich dignitary type of tone.”
    “Yeah, exactly.” He smiled, running his hands over my hips. “And the fact that you knew what tone I was talking about is the reason you don’t need a quill pen.”
    “You get me.” I giggled, watching him watching me. I touched his handsome face. “What’s going on, baby?”
    Uncertainty flashed in his eyes before he started to speak. “You know Beverly has alerts on anything that comes up related to me…or you, right?”
    I nodded slowly, unease giving me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
    His hands patted my hips while it appeared he was bracing himself for what he was about to say. “Well…one of those reality TV gossip sites reported that we were engaged.”
    My eyebrows flew up. “Oh shit…”
    He nodded. “Yeah, but it’s okay for now,” he assured me. “It’s just that one site so it hasn’t gotten any traction, but this means that Robert Brady will probably find out sooner than we were hoping, so we have to make a plan.”
    My heart felt heavy because the fantasy plans we’d made in bed the night before were just that—a fantasy. The reality was that in order to marry the man that I loved in the timeframe I wanted while all of our closest friends and family were still in town, we’d have to get married on television.
    Unless…
    “What if we marry in secret?” I murmured softly, even though I knew the risks.
    Julian’s head tilted as he stared at me. He brought his hand to my head, smoothing it over my hair that was slicked back into a coarse bun. He let his fingers trail a path from my temple to my cheek and then down my neck. His touch was light and feathery, stirring up all types of feelings within me.
    “You want me to violate the terms of the contract?” His voice was as soft as his touch.
    I did, but I didn’t. I did because I wanted our wedding to be ours, but I didn’t because I knew it would be a huge financial setback and a legal and PR nightmare.
    I shook my head. “I don’t want you to do anything in violation of the contract.”
    “What do you want?”
    “To marry you.”
    He gave me a look. “What do you want?”
    “I want to marry you in a beautiful dress in front of our family and best friends. I want Chele King to sing ‘Always The One’ acappella as I walk down the aisle to you. I want it to be intimate. I want it to be us. Just us.” I looked down temporarily before making eye contact again. “I don’t want to do it in front of hundreds of strangers. I know it’s how we met and how we got together, but marriage is sacred and I want it to be ours. So if there’s any way we can avoid doing it on live TV, I would love that…but I’ve read the contract. Your team has read the contract. I don’t think it’s possible.” I paused. “What do you want?”
    He swallowed hard. “I want you as my wife. Last night, we talked about getting married on New Year’s Day with the hope that I can get out of my contract.” He stared at