Letters to Julian (A Cupid Inc Novella) Read Online Free PDF

uncomfortable after their tryst, Julian didn’t know if they’d even be able to manage that.

    Chapter Three
    Julian didn’t come into the store the next day. Or the next. Or the next. By the time Monday rolled around, Ridley had already come up with plenty of reasons why what had happened between them had been a huge mistake.
    He didn’t want a relationship, never had. He was better on his own, and for the most part, he liked it that way. Meeting Julian for drinks twice a week was one thing. Investing in a fulltime relationship with phone calls and dates and flowers didn’t suit him. For a while , he’d try to give Julian the fairytale he deserved, but he wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever. Romance always came with expectations, and the pressure to live up to those expectations gave Ridley fucking hives.
    “Good morning,” Julian sang as he waltzed into the bookstore with a beautiful smile stretching his lips. “ I brought breakfast.” He held up a couple of brown paper bags and shook it in Ridley’s direction. “Don’t give me that look. They’re bagels, not donuts.” The brat even stuck his tongue out as he hopped up on the counter and pulled open the first bag. “I have plain, strawberry, and brown sugar cream cheese, too.”
    Surprised but pleased to find nothing had changed between them, Ridley propped his elbows up on the countertop and leaned over to peer inside the paper bag. “Where’s the coffee?”
    “Eww. That stuff will make your heart explode.” Opening the second, smaller bag, Julian pulled a tiny carton of milk out and tossed it to him. “Drink that. It’ll make you grow up big and strong.”
    Knowing when to leave well enough alone, Ridley laughed as he caught the milk carton and opened it. “What are you plans for today?”
    “I have to meet with a client this afternoon in the Bronx about an ad campaign for some new age voodoo shop something or another. I’m a little hazy on the details, but it’ll be fabulous.” He pulled the top off of an individual sized tub of cream cheese and dipped his bagel into it. “Then I’m going to get my hair cut and my nails done.” He held up his left hand and inspected the nails with a wrinkled nose. “My cuticles are awful. Wanna come?”
    Ridley grimaced, and a small shudder worked its way down his spine. “Not bloody likely. That’s all you, love.”
    Julian shrugged and bit into his bagel. “Your loss,” he said around the mouthful of bread. “What’s on your agenda for the day?”
    “Payroll.” Ridley hated payroll, almost as much as he hated inventory. “Some bloke is supposed to be coming in this afternoon to do up a window display for spring. Bridget’s idea,” he added when Julian arched an eyebrow at him.
    “You do know that’s kind of my job, right? Why didn’t you just ask me? I’d make that window magical.”
    “Aye, you could, but that’s one of my rules. Never mix business with pleasure.” He’d owned and managed a slew of businesses in the last two hundred years, and unfortunately, he’d had to learn that little lesson the hard way. “It’ll be enough to keep the harpy off my back.”
    “I heard that!” Bridget called from the back, causing both of them to chuckle.
    “Okay,” Julian relented, “but I reserve the right to hate it.”
    “I’d expect nothing less.” Without thinking, Ridley reached out to push back the curtain of hair that covered Julian’s face. “Gods, you’re beautiful.”
    “Thank you.” A pretty pink blush crept into Julian’s cheeks and spread to the tips of his ears. “I’m too pale and my arms are disproportionate to my body, but I suppose I’m okay to look at.”
    Instead of panicking over his more-than-just-friends comment, Ridley realized Julian was giving him an out, and he leapt at it with both hands. “And scrawny. Don’t forget scrawny.” Fuck, what’s wrong with me? They were better as friends, and he’d do well to remember it. Still, he didn’t see