Under His Roof

chapter nine

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen you around here before, I'm Wendy."

The lady stretched out her hand to shake Kimberly's own, Kimberly shook her hand and smiled. "I'm Kimberly, it's nice to meet you."

She nodded. "You too, and which department do you work in?" She took a sip of her drink, looking at Kimberly with warm eyes. Before she talked to Kimberly, Wendy looked like the type of woman who would be cold and rude, she was tall and middle aged, but she had a permanent bitch-face. Only when she smiled at Kimberly was it evident that she was truly a kind person.

"Oh, I'm actually—I don't work here, I'm here with Julian Carter tonight."

Wendy's eyebrows shot up and her lips turned into a smirk. "Oh, is that so?"

Kimberly laughed. "No, no it's not what you think, I'm actually a student and Julian is an old friend of my parents so they arranged for me to stay with him during spring break and he just brought me."

"Well you look a lot older than you are." She said.

Kimberly sighed, "Or so I've heard."

Wendy smiled at her. "So tell me, what's it like living with little Jules?" She asked.

Hearing Wendy call Julian 'little Jules' amused Kimberly, seeing as Julian was always this big bad powerful man, and here was a woman that made him seem like a child with two words. Kimberly laughed, taking a sip of her drink as well, thankful that she looked older than she was raising no questions when she got herself a drink. "Well, living with Julian is quite a ride I have to admit, kind of like living with a really sexually frustrated adolescent."

Wendy laughed, tapping Kimberly's arm lightly. "Ah, that's my Jules."

"Talking about me?"

Julian came up beside Kimberly, looking from her to Wendy who was still laughing from Kimberly's comment, unaware of the fact that Kimberly was actually the sexually frustrated adolescent who was having secret fantasies about Julian.

Minor details.

Kimberly nodded, smiling at Julian. "Of course, what else would we be talking about? The companies or the merging? Pshhh."

He rolled his eyes. "Well only good things, I hope." He said, chuckling as he knew the answer to that question judging by Wendy's demeanor.

"Oh Jules, Kimberly is hilarious, you guys must have a crazy time at your house."

Wendy's words made Kimberly gasp as she was taking another sip of her drink, causing her to choke on it. She started, coughing in what she hoped was a quiet manner, but before long people started to stare at her.

"Oh my God, Kimberly are you okay?" Wendy placed a hand on Kimberly's arm, rubbing it lightly.

Kimberly nodded, still choking a little bit "Yes—cough—I'm fine—cough—Just a little—cough—phlegm."

Kimberly cleared her throat and she felt Julian's large hand on her back, "Come on, let's get you some fresh air." He said, leading her past Wendy and weaving his wat through the crowd, holding Kimberly close to him. When they were finally outside, Kimberly took a deep breath, her cough subsiding with the smell of the fresh air.

"You okay?" He asked, trying to look serious, but she could see the smile threatening to spread across his face. "You looked like you'd seen a ghost." He said.

"Nothing happened." She lied, "The drink went down the wrong way, that's all."

"Well maybe you shouldn't be drinking then."