“With me? What did you learn about me from trying my cooking?” he asked.
Her throat grew thick. “That you were . . . different than what I had initially thought about you.”
A smile spread slowly across his lips. “It’s a damn shame I can’t kiss you for another week.”
Her laugh came out as a surprised giggle. “A week? What, did you ask the doctor or something?”
He nodded playfully. “We had a little chat.”
“Of course you did,” she said.
They were silent until Julien shot up from the couch.
“Oh, my God,” he said.
“What?” she asked. “What is it?”
He blew out a heavy breath and sank back into the couch.
“That day when I was making the cheesecakes, I asked Esme to stir the filling for me while I took a phone call,” he said.
Lumi stared at him. “Esme . . . the secretary?” she asked finally.
He nodded, pursing his lips.
“But . . . oh,” she said, remembering what Julien had told her about her weird gifts. Esme was just a door away from him every day. There was no doubt in Lumi’s mind that Esme had been watching him, hoping for a chance. Until Lumi came along, Esme probably thought she had one, and when it became obvious that she and Julien were becoming something other than co-chefs . . . “Oh, God.”
He buried his head in his hands. “I had no idea,” he said.
She reached over and rubbed his shoulder with the unburned hand. “No, of course you didn’t. How could you know your girlfriend is some kind of food clairvoyant unless someone had told you?” she asked.
He shook his head within his hands, then peeked out from between his fingers, a slow smile spreading over his face. “Did you say girlfriend?” he asked.
“Yeah, I guess I did,” she said. “There’s a lot to figure out here.”
“Like what?”
“Like Esme. How would I even go about accusing her? I’m sure she never imagined while she was stirring that filling that her resentment was going to go directly into my bloodstream,” Lumi said.
“Argh, what a mess,” Julien said. “If I had confronted her about the gifts, none of this would have happened.”
Lumi shook her head. “We don’t know that. It still could have happened because she probably would still be thirsting anyway. And she’d likely be resentful of anyone who got close to you. She does have a right to her feelings . . . even if they suck.”
Julien was silent, his expression unreadable. Suddenly, Lumi felt like she had been walking for miles. Her eyelids grew heavy too.
He noticed the change in her and put his hands on either side of her shoulders.
“Lumi, are you okay?” he asked.
“I just feel exhausted all of a sudden,” she said.
He nodded. “That’s understandable . . . this is a lot to take in. And you haven’t had so much activity in a while. Do you want to take a nap?”
“We just took a nap.” She laughed.
“So?” he asked. “I don’t charge for naps.”
She was about to say no, but a huge yawn erupted from her. “You know what, maybe just a few minutes,” she said. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch.
Thirty minutes later, she opened them. Julien was by her side, reading a newspaper, the couch-side light turned down low.
“Julien?” she whispered, and he turned to her.
“Yes, love?” he asked.
“What time is it?”
“Ten,” he said.
“I should go,” she said, stretching as she stood up.
“You know, you don’t need to, Lumi,” he said, measuring his words.
Her breath caught slightly in her throat. “Um . . . yes, I should. I need to go home and shower.”
“Oh! Didn’t you shower already?”
“I was going to, until someone came along and started breaking down my door.”
“Right . . . that. Well, I do have a shower here,” he said.
“Oh, you do?” she asked, distracted.
“Yes, I got tired of bathing in the Hudson River after a while.” He grinned. She rolled her eyes playfully.
He led her into the hall, which had been fit with hardwood flooring, and pushed open a white door with frosted glass. The bathroom was spotless and was as white as she expected. He grabbed a plush crimson towel from his linen closet and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before closing the door behind him.
All alone, she slipped off her dress, careful not to drag it over the burns, and stood naked in front of the mirror. She scrutinized her upper body, from her face to her neck, to the swells of her breasts, to her belly. If she was honest with herself, the portion of her body covered by the burns was quite small. And the rest of her body looked and felt the same.
“Lumi. I forgot, that bathroom doesn’t have any—”
He cracked the door open behind her.
“Soap.”
35
Julien
Julien had meant it when he told himself to leave Lumi alone. But when he saw her standing there in the bathroom, the valley between her shoulder blades had its own special language for him. It spoke to him, told him something only he could understand. It made it impossible for him to remain neutral.
“Can we try, Lu? I’ll be careful, so careful,” he whispered.
“Okay,” she whispered in return, flicking off the bathroom light before he whisked her away in his arms.
He lifted her up and carried her over the threshold into the master bedroom, and the symbolism of the act was not lost on him. With the flick of a switch, the room flooded with a tenuous light. He laid her down, gentle as a rose, on the edge of the bed.
From his vantage point, he could see the surprise in her face as she noticed that the master bedroom was a spectrum of navy, gray, and cream hues, different from the bright white that covered the rest of Julien’s living and working spaces. He lay down behind her and then wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him until they were two spoons, cuddled together.
He planted a soft kiss on the delicate skin of her neck. She leaned her head away from him in response, opening that tender plane to him and giving him more space to do what he wanted. Seeing this, he continued moving down, his kisses becoming hungrier. He slid down her neck, and his heart stalled for a second when she responded to his kisses with a moan.
This moment was a long time in the making, and one he had ached for. The night in the kitchen had been fire, necessary to keep them both from spontaneously combusting. But he hadn’t had the chance to take his time to make love to her the way he truly wanted to since he first laid eyes on her. The smell of gardenia and lime radiating from her neck pervaded all his senses as though it were a drug that blinded him to all but his desire.
From her neck he moved to her spine and followed that curve all the way down, one kiss at a time. He could feel the muscles in her back grow more relaxed under his lips. With his fingers, he traced the curve of her waist as his mouth blazed a feverish trail down the slope of her back. She exhaled softly, goose bumps announcing themselves on her skin.
Watching her arch her back toward him to receive more of his kisses knocked the wind out of him. A thought crossed his mind, and he smiled to himself with a glint in his eye. He pushed away from her and stood up behind her.