He lay there, looking into her eyes, brushing a few strands of her bangs away as they clung to her forehead from the steam they had just created. He loved so much holding her so intimately, her body so close to his as she laid her head upon his chest. For Julian, too much time had passed since he were fortunate enough to become one with her. He had missed her physically, missed how amazing it felt being inside of her and showing her every heartfelt moment of love he had for her. He felt complete as he had told her in the past, being able to hold her so near to him. Eve raised her chin to look at him and she smiled, such beauty and grace, such innocence, yet such a yearning from Eve to be this close. How Julian wanted her once again and soon. He brushed his mouth along her neck, hoping that she may get the hint that he wanted to be with her again. She moved him away for a moment just to gaze at him and Julian locked his eyes with hers. When she ran her hand through the side of his hair, he looked upon her mouth, wanting to taste it again. Her body, everything, he loved Eve whole-heartedly and he certainly didn’t want to let her go. Julian took the initiative, bringing his body on top of hers once again to her surprise and when he started kissing her passionately, he almost jumped through the roof of the barn when he heard T.C.’s voice.

“Oh shit !” Julian whispered, moving off of Eve in a heartbeat.

“Oh my God Julian, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know my love, I would tell him the truth, but not this way. So he finds us together naked, no that would not be good.”

“Eve, Eve, are you in here?” he shouted.

She could feel her heart coming out of her chest, as she couldn’t move one inch or get dressed as he might hear or see both of them. She just prayed that he wouldn’t climb up the ladder.

“Eve, where are you?”

“Daddy, did you find her?”

“Simone, oh no!” Eve said in a panic.

“Well at least it’s not Whitney.” He said, trying to reassure her.

“Never mind Whitney, if Simone catches us, all hell will break loose Julian. She has a nasty streak, which I can say she has from her dad, temper wise.”

“Damn, this is not good, darling, I don’t know what to do or say.”

“Just be silent Julian, that’s all we can do.”

“But sweetheart, they’re not going to go away with the car nearby.” He said touching her hand.

“Daddy, look there’s a ladder, perhaps mom has taken shelter up there?” Simone asked.

Eve looked at Julian, biting her lip in sheer fright.

“The loft?”

“Yes, maybe she’s up there, perhaps someone let her in for the evening? After all, it is pouring out.”

“No Simone, Eve’s not up there.”

“How do you know?”

“If she was hurt, how would she climb up there anyway?”

“Oh my God, he has a brain.” He said dryly.

“Julian!” Eve said glaring.

“Come on, we must find her, she’s obviously not in here Simone. But the car, I’m so worried about her, I love Eve so much, I would just die if anything happened to my beautiful wife. We have to find her Simone.”

When he shut the barn door, Julian noticed a tear in her eye.

“What’s wrong darling?”

“Julian, he loves me, T.C. loves me.”

“I know he does and he’s very concerned of course that you will be okay. But Eve, here we are, alone and we just made love and it was wonderful.” He said, hugging her.

Julian leaned back when he noticed how tense she had become.

“What’s that matter?”

“Nothing.” She said, looking away.

“You’re having second thoughts about what we did aren’t you?”

“I don’t know Julian, but, remember when I called T.C. and told him everything was fine, look at how he still was so concerned about me.”

“But Eve..”

“He still loved me enough to find me, even if I said I was okay.”

“But now it’s worse, he’s seen the car and the damage and he’s going to assume you lied to him and you’re really hurt. Honey, T.C.’s not going to give up looking for you so… why don’t we get dressed and then tell him the truth?” He said, caressing her hair.

“No!”

“Eve, why not?”

“Because he’ll kill you Julian!”

“Look I love you and I’m willing to wait forever if I have a chance to be with you again, but he needs to know as I’ve said before. He needs to know how much I love you, how my world is incomplete without you. I’m in love with you more than you’ll ever know and I’m afraid T.C. will never be able to love you in a way that I can Eve.”

“But he still cared to come out here.”

“Of course, you’re his wife, but we just made love Eve, I’ve wanted to make passionate love to you for so long and now I had the chance. Are you saying that’s it?”

“Julian.” She said, touching his arm.

“I love you, don’t you love me just as much?”

“Of course, but it’s not a simple thing to change. Whitney thinks we are having an affair remember?”

“We’re not, we’re looking for our son.”

“Julian, we just had sex.”

“I know Eve and it just proves how much our love has stood the test of time, even with all of the hurdles we’ve overcome. I was a bastard for years and here we are, years later, in a loft, talking after we became one again. I could never have imagined it was ever possible, but it is and we just proved it. Eve, I can’t lose you, not again, not after this.”

“But T.C. loves me.”

“And I’m in love with you.”

“How can I make a choice Julian?”

“Very easily Eve, if it weren’t for the terrible things I did, T.C. would never have existed in your life. We belong together, you know we do and we just made love. Don’t you think that proves it?”

“So now that we had sex, I should automatically dump T.C.?”

Julian wanted to tell her yes of course, dump him that moment, but that wasn’t the right thing to say.

“Eve, think about what we can have, think about how much I love you, our son, everything that we share, passion, love, lust, we know each other so well and I’ll make you so incredibly happy.” He said, touching her cheek.

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do darling, I think you just won’t admit to yourself how much you love and want to be with me, not just today, forever.”

“My husband..”

“Forget your husband!” he said firmly.

“What?”

“Eve, I want you so much and I know you do too. Open up your heart and remember what we had, remember everything that we shared, minus the drugs, the drinking, minus that whole scene. Think about the many hot nights we had and think about just how much I love you, really think about it.”

“Julian.” She said, grabbing for her clothes.

“Please don’t walk away from a love that we can rekindle over and over Eve, please give me a chance.”

“A chance?”

“A chance to be the husband I should have been to you in the first place, a chance to also be the father I should have been. Eve, if we find our son, our family would be complete, but not before I would get down on one knee.”

“I can’t marry you Julian, I’m already married to T.C.”

“Divorce him.”

“I can’t.” Eve said, rather annoyed.

“Yes you can and don’t say it’s not that simple because if you love me enough, then you would.”

“Oh, so now I’m going to get the guilt trip?”

“No darling, of course not, I’m sorry, I can’t help how I feel for you, you know I love you and would marry you in a second, I would be the happiest man on earth.”

“Julian I..”

“Daddy, I’m sure mom’s in here.” Simone said, opening the barn door once again.

“No Simone, she’s not, we would have spotted her.”

“Actually T.C., I was up in the loft.” She said, climbing downwards.

“Eve, you’re okay!” T.C. said excitedly.

“Yes, I’m fine, I told you there was nothing to worry about.”

“Why didn’t you answer when we called you the first time mom?”

“I was sleeping.”

“Well if you’re okay, let’s go home, oh Eve, why didn’t you just let me come in the first place?” T.C. asked.

“I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Worry, I love you sweetheart, I’m just glad you’re okay.”

When T.C. and Simone opened the door, Eve looked back at Julian who was sitting there staring at her. She mouthed the words I’m sorry and Julian sat back against a wooden beam, finding it so difficult to believe that Eve was going home with T.C. But he wasn’t going to give up on the woman he loved, she could be slightly stubborn sometimes, even if he would never tell her that or she would ever admit it. He knew she was just torn and it was only a matter of time hopefully for them that love would find it’s way into her heart enough to be with Julian. When Julian got dressed finally and headed down the ladder, he was startled by the appearance of the farmer who obviously owned the land.

“What are you doing in my barn?”

“I’m sorry, but there was an accident and I needed to find shelter.”

“Accident?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well, in that case, it’s understandable, I was going to say if you were a thief, I have plenty of pitch forks and other farm equipment I could use to interrogate you.” The farmer said pointing his finger at him.

“I’m not a thief sir.”

“Are you telling me that’s your car against that tree out there?”

“Yes and no, you see, my lady friend…”

“Lady, oh pardon my manners.”

“She’s gone, long story, but the tow truck will arrive shortly.” Julian said.

“Well do you have transportation yourself then?” he asked.

“No, but I could.”

“Never mind that, you did say you’re not a thief right?”

“I’m not, I’m Julian Crane.” He said, shaking his hand.

“Julian Crane that names sounds familiar.”

“We’re pretty well known.”

“Yeah come to think of it, I know you now, well you’re welcome to spend the night here, but this isn’t exactly your cup of tea now is it Mr. Crane?”

“It doesn’t matter sir.”

“Of course it does, you’re used to the finer things in life, you sure you can handle it?” he asked.

“Yes I can.”

“Well come on in the house, you’re awfully wet, my wife will get you some dry clothes.”

When Julian came out from changing, the farmer started to laugh at him.

“Is it that bad?” Julian asked, wearing a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt.

“You look very nice, and the shirt, well my husband loves his flannel.” She said smiling.

“You know, if I had a pair of red and green suspenders, I’d look like that guy on TV, what’s his name, Red Green?” Julian said thinking.

“Farmer Julian or Farmer Crane, which do you like better?”

“That’s a good question, but probably neither.” He said, looking at him.

Julian sat down with a cup of coffee the farmer’s wife had given him and was just relaxing when his cell rang.

“Excuse me please.” He said getting up and going in the other room.

“Julian, where are you?” Eve asked.

“Still at the barn.”

“Oh no, I realized when I left, you were kind of stuck there.”

“No big deal Eve, not exactly, besides I ran into the owners of the house. I’m just going to stay here overnight and head home.”

“You are?”

“Yes.”

“Julian, I’m so sorry, I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know Eve, but you do know I’m always going to love you.”

“Yes I realize that, T.C. is in the shower right now and Simone’s in her room so I have a few minutes to chat.”

“Well I still feel the same way about you, no matter what. I just want to be with you Eve.”

“I know and after what happened tonight, I shouldn’t have been so insensitive to the fact of it. You’re right, we made love and I should be more considerate about it and I know you love me.”

“I do Eve, listen, meet me tomorrow will you?”

“I have to work days.”

“After work please, we still need to talk about this.”

“Alright Julian, I can do that, get some rest.”

“I love you Eve, you don’t know how much.”

“And I love you Julian.”

When he hung up, they just smiled at him and he thanked them for the coffee.

“You can sleep in the spare room, but if you’re afraid of anything, well, we are in the country.”

“Nah, I’m not scared of anything like that, if it’s going to golly , then it bites me.” Julian said smiling.

“Well, here are some more blankets for you then, I hope you’ll be warm enough.”

“Yes and thank you.”

Julian headed off to bed and tried very hard to sleep, but he wasn’t used to a twin bed and it made him realize how much he had been spoiled over the years, enjoying his king sized bed, with or without company. The house was quiet and it gave him time to contemplate what had happened. He missed Eve terribly already, but hearing her voice, so soothing, so nice, he smiled, knowing he was going to see her the next day. He wished that he could truly convince her to just up and leave T.C. but Eve wouldn’t do that. She loved him far too much or so she thought. He knew Eve was thinking with her head only and that was why she was able to just leave him for the night after they were intimate. But he was willing to give her time to sort out her emotions, he had come this far with her, and there was no turning back. The next day, Julian was woken up early, hearing commotion in the kitchen. When he got dressed, the farmer’s wife smiled at him.

“Sit down and have some breakfast.”

“No thank you ma’am, I’m fine, maybe just a coffee.”

“You’ll sit down and eat a proper breakfast right now!” she said firmly.

Julian laughed to himself as she sounded like a mother telling her child what do to. But he would humour her and when he put the plate of eggs in front of him, he realized he was rather hungry so he ate it.

“See, you’re a growing boy, you need a good start to the day.” She said, jokingly.

“Actually, I’m usually seeing the inside of my eyelids at this time.” He said, looking at the kitchen clock, not even seven yet.

“You’re not an early riser?”

Julian’s mind wandered being the naughty boy he was for a moment at that thought.

“Hello, Mr. Crane.” She said, waving her hand in front of him.

“Yes, I do get up early, but not always.”

“Feel free to go back to bed if you wish.” She said.

“No thanks, I’m up now.”

Julian bit his lip at that thought; he was setting himself up with such comments. He may have changed a lot, but part of his old personality was definitely still a part of him when it came to lust and the many thoughts a man has towards it. Julian could have called for the limo, but decided just to hail a cab that morning instead. He thanked them for their hospitality and was on his way. When he set foot back into the mansion, Rebecca was there, being her annoying usual self.