After The One (The One Series Duet) Read Free Page A

going to cook dinner.” He pointed to the food he’d just brought in. “But it’s already cooked.” He looked between us. “It looks to me like the only thing you two were trying to put in the oven was a bun.”
    We had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.
    “No, no, no,” I giggled. “No buns in ovens. Not yet.”
    “Yeah, marriage first. Kids after that,” Julian agreed, looking over at me with a wink. “Way after that.”
    “Way, way after that.” I wrapped my arms around Julian’s middle and grinned up at him.
    “Your friends hate you a little bit, don’t they?” Andre joked, unable to stop his own chuckles, triggering ours.
    A couple minutes later when we had gathered ourselves and stopped laughing, Julian pulled out a list of things he needed Andre to take care of over the next few days in exchange for studio time.
    I smiled giddily as I heard him tell his intern that we weren’t to be disturbed all weekend. Grabbing the bag of food, I relocated to the dining room table, giving them privacy.
    A few minutes later, Andre poked his head in the dining room and waved. “See you later, Zoe.”
    “Bye, Andre! Thanks for bringing the food over.”
    “You know I have to do the grunt work sometimes in order to work with the genius. Just picking up food for the greatest artist, songwriter and producer triple threat since Kanye has made me a better DJ.”
    Spying Julian walking up behind Andre, I teased, “Don’t let him hear you say that. It’ll go to his head! You know—”
    “I heard that!” Julian protested, cutting me off as he slipped a shirt over his head. “And I’m going to let you finish, but Andre had the best compliment of all time.”
    I let my head fall back as my laugh echoed through the room. “I’m just kidding, baby. You know I think you are unbelievably talented and I’m your biggest fan,” I insisted. And even though I couldn’t stop giggling, I honestly meant every single word.
    Julian grinned. “That’s more like it.”
    Andre rolled his eyes. “And that’s my cue! Enjoy your vacation. I promise you won’t see me for the rest of the month—especially since you two were being crazy inappropriate in the kitchen.”
    We both chuckled hard as we waved goodbye.
    A few minutes later, Julian and I were seated and about to dig in to the authentic Italian feast.
    “This smells delicious,” Julian pointed out. “I’m convinced a better baked ziti doesn’t exist outside of this place, except maybe in Italy.”
    I inhaled deeply, expecting the usual garlic and cheese mixture to make me salivate. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect.
    I sat up straight and put my hand to my mouth.
    I feel sick.
    “What’s wrong?” Julian asked, putting his fork back down and peering at me with concern.
    I shook my head as the wave of nausea passed. “Nothing, I just felt a little sick for a second. I think it’s what I’ve been eating and the times I’ve been eating while working on the case. Long hours mean I’m eating at random times during the day.”
    “When I talked to you the other night, you said you had a convenience store burrito. You hate burritos. Your stomach is probably mad about that.”
    I giggled. “In my defense, it was two o’clock in the morning on a week night. Nothing was open near the office!”
    He smiled. Then as suddenly as it appeared, it went away. “Zoe, are you sure you’re okay?”
    I must’ve looked sick before I felt the wave of nausea hit me again. Springing to my feet, I bolted to the closest bathroom. I made it just in time to empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet.
    After making sure everything was out of me, I washed my hands and rinsed my mouth out with water. I opened the door to find Julian standing there.
    “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine. I think I just maybe ate too much earlier and the smell of the food triggered something.”
    Julian quietly assessed me, his hands on my face and then shoulders. “Have you been