Julian Martin sat on the couch, going through a bunch of emails on his phone. He sighed, realizing how much work he had to do. Procrastination was indeed the thief of time, he thought, as he realized that it was his fault that work had piled up this much.

"You will not believe who just called me... Guess who" Abby Martin said as she emerged from her bedroom, clad in pink silk pajamas.

"Who?" Julian asked casually, clearly not in the mood for small talk.

"I said, guess," Abby said.

Julian Martin turned to look at his little sister, who had a look on her face that he didn't quite understand. He rolled his eyes and returned his attention to his phone.

"I'm not going to bother about guessing anything," he said. "Because I have a feeling that you will tell me anyway. You know,... Because it's you and you can't be quiet about anything... Even to save your life. I'm not even sure that you can keep secret, so just cut the crap and tell me what it is"

"You are no fun" Abby said and she glared at her brother, but then she smiled because she knew he was right. She would tell him anyways, but that didn't stop her from picking up a pillow and throwing it at him.

"Well," she began, "I know you're going to love this... Do you remember my best friend, Nina Taylor, from high school?... Oh of course you do.. How could you forget"

For some reason, Julian felt his heart beat a little faster at the mention of that name. Abby waited for him to say something and when he didn't she continued.

"That was her on the phone. She said she decided to leave her dad's company as she was in this 'Independent... Starting over again phase'... I didn't really listen to that last part because I got so excited after she told me she got a job here and she wants to stay with me for a while. Isn't that amazing? It's been so long you know... Remember how close she and I were in high school?"

"Yeah I remember," Julian said. How could he forget? At that time, Nina Taylor was a huge part of his life….not because they were close friends or in any kind of relationship, but because he spent a great deal of time just thinking about her and getting distracted by her.

"Well, I guess that's a good thing.... for you. At least you won't complain to me about being bored anymore and maybe I can finally get some peace" he added, willing the memory to go away. It was embarrassing to think about just how much he'd been into Nina Taylor.

Abby grinned at him. "Excited about seeing her again?" she asked.

Julian gave her a puzzled look. "Why would I be excited?" he asked. "I don't see any reason why I should be. She's your friend. She's coming to live with you... Not me. I mean, of course it would be nice to see her again after all these years, but excited... Is.. Is just not the right word. Why would you even ask me that?"

"Oh please," Abby replied. "You had such a huge crush on her when we were in high school. Your eyes followed her everywhere. Remember how I used to tease you about it and you made me promise not to tell her? Because you wanted to do it, and I quote 'on your own time'.. Only that time never came because you were just too shy. “

Julian rolled his eyes, but also smiled at the memory. It had been a long time ago, but once in a while he still thought about Nina Taylor. She had been Abby's best friend at the time and he had had a huge crush on her till he left for college.

The problem was he could never bring himself to tell her how he felt back then as he thought she was way out of his league. She and Abby had been cheerleaders while he had been one of the brainy students most people saw as geeks.

Nina was sharp and really good-looking. She had long red hair and big beautiful green eyes, and most times he called her 'red' to tease her. In addition to being very good looking, she was intelligent and perceptive, and although she hung out with the Soc crowd, she was open to befriending people who weren't in her crowd. Julian was so attracted to her but couldn't never bring himself to say it to her. Why would a girl like Nina even want to go out with him anyways? And besides she was dating some jock guy then. So he had kept his feelings to himself.

Apparently, he didn't do such a good job of keeping his feelings in check because Abby found out about it, and he had to make her promise not to tell. Leaving for college had helped and when Nina and her family moved to another state, everyone had just....moved on.

Julian glared at his sister. "That crush was many years ago...People move on from stuff like that," he said. "But you know what? I honestly think it would be nice to see her again... It's been so long. Do you think she has changed a lot?"

Abby grinned at him. "And just what exactly do you mean when you say 'a lot?"

-----------------------

Nina Taylor breathed deeply as she knocked on Abby's door. Her fingers tightened on her bag, not because she was scared, but because she was nervous as hell. She still wasn't sure if she had made the right decision by coming to New York.

It hadn't been an easy decision to make. And it was even harder because her father was against it. But she knew that had to leave. She was tired of having everything planned out for her. She hated it actually. She wanted something different. She wanted adventure and she wanted something to happen in her life that didn't involve her father at all. So when she had told him that she had gotten a job in New York and quit her job at his company, he had been furious.

Wendy didn't want to hurt her dad in any way, but this was something she had to do. And her father might be angry now, but she hoped he would get over it...eventually. He definitely wasn't going to stay angry forever.

She smiled when Deborah opened the door and pulled her into her arms.

"Oh my God, Nina," Abby said, still hugging her. "I can't believe that you're really here"

"I know. I can't believe I'm here too" Nina replied as Abby finally released her.

"I really appreciate you letting me stay with you" Nina said as they both walked inside. "And I know it was kinda out of the blue so I'm very sorry. I was surprised too... honestly I didn't think I was going to get this job and when I did, I just knew that I had to go for it…. I really didn't know where else to go and when I was so relieved when you said that I could stay,"

"Oh it's fine really" Abby replied, placing one hand on Nina's shoulder. "You are welcome here and you can stay as long as you want. Trust me, I could really use the company. I hate living alone, it gets really boring and I'm really in need of someone to talk to…especially after work." She led Nina to the living room where a young man sat. "I'm sure you remember my brother, Julian."

Nina's eyes fell on the man sitting on the couch and for a second, she almost didn't recognize him. Julian Martin looked so different.. Good different... Not that he wasn't good looking before, she had always thought he was cute, but this... This was on another level. Or maybe it was just because she hadn't seen him in years.

"Of course I remember your brother" she said to Abby, then she turned to Julian. "Hi Julian, it's really nice to see you again"

"Hello, Nina," Julian replied as he stood and extended his hand to her. "It's good to see you again"

Nina swallowed. Fractions of a second felt like an eternity as an excitement she didn't quite understand oozed over her like lava. She could no more have kept her gaze from straying to his eyes than she could have stopped breathing. He towered over her by a good eight inches, making him approximately six feet six.

The glow of the light in the room touched his hair. With the beautiful eyes, the sharp slant of cheekbones, the arrogant nose, the wide, sensual, almost cruel curve of his mouth and the rock-hard jut of his jaw, he reminded her of a long-ago king from a mysterious country, standing on a wall, an unseen wind teasing his long black hair as he surveyed the land he ruled. Hard, shrewd, somehow removed from the masses.