The kitchen door flew open and Meghan and Deirdre all but fell over one another into the kitchen. “Hey, Mum, Daddy, you’re not going to believe this…” They froze two steps from Damon, their eyes wide as they stared down at him. The publicity poster of Demon Jones in Deirdre’s hands spoke the words Meghan couldn’t.
All eyes focused on Damon. Questions hung in the air like the oppressive summer humidity blowing in through the open door.
Damon had wanted this conversation to be about Julie. But the photo trembling in Deirdre’s hands couldn’t be ignored. Under the weight of their assessment, only sheer willpower and pride held Damon’s spine straight. “Yes, it’s me. Most people don’t recognize me.”
“Oh, I’ve known who you were all along,” John said. It seemed the man of the house was the only one not wearing blinders where Julie and Damon were concerned.
“You did?” The question tripped out of the women’s mouths in unison.
“Who Damon chooses to be is none of our business. That’s for Julie to worry about. As I was telling your mother, you girls need to take a step back and let your poor sister live her own life without interference from you.”
“Daddy.” The name dragged over Julie’s lips, compassion and love filling her eyes.
Damon had never been so proud to be part of the male population as he was at that moment. Sometimes men did get it.
“We’re just worried, Daddy,” said Meghan.
“It is too our business,” said Deirdre.
Alice browed furrowed. “John, how can you say we meddle?”
The cacophony of syllables tumbled over itself until the room swelled with female irritation. Damon put his fingers to his mouth and blew. The piercing whistle painted stunned expressions on the women’s faces and satisfaction on John’s.
“Demon Jones is what makes me money,” Damon said. “It pays the rent and puts food on my table. It isn’t who I am. But perhaps in time you’ll all come to see that. Fortunately for me, Julie already has.” He stood and turned to Alice. “Thank you, Mrs. Tilling, for the wonderful meal. Mr. Tilling,” he extended his hand, “it’s been a pleasure having dinner with you.”
John wrapped a beefy hand around his and winked. “Same here, Damon.”
At least he had someone’s blessing. “Now, if you’ll excuse us. Julie, it’s a beautiful night. How about that motorcycle ride?” He took her hand, not really caring what she thought of the whole thing. Both of them needed to get away.
Julie’s gaze jumped around the faces of her family. “But Damon, I…we…”
He liked that he made her speechless. “Don’t think, Julie. Just do,” he whispered in her ear as he scooted her out the back door and shut it soundly behind them. He planted a kiss firmly on her mouth before pulling her across the lawns to her driveway. Damon knew full well three pairs of eyes were watching from the kitchen window. He wrapped Julie into another bone-melting hug, thoroughly ravaging her dazed mouth with his. Trepidation and excitement sparked in the green pools of her eyes. Eyes he’d like to settle in and just stay. He sipped her bottom lip into his mouth. “As much as I’d like to keep going with this, now is probably not the time.” He pressed his erection to her belly and watched her expression shimmy from shock to desire.
He settled the helmet on her head and swung his leg over the bike seat. “What do you say we go for a ride?”
* * * *
Blackness filled Julie’s field of vision. Damon lay on top of her, the hard planes of his chest heaving from their sexual play.
“I’ve never made love under a piano.” The words slipped out without thought. “I mean…” Julie squeezed her eyes shut, wondering if Damon would react. Sex. It had been sex. Making love seemed to intimate something so much more. She wasn’t sure how he would react if she’d called what they’d just done, very satisfactorily, making love.
He raised his head slowly and looked at her. “What did you mean?”
“Well, just that there are other places in your condo we could have chosen.” A nervous giggle followed the statement. It hadn’t even been a week since they’d met. No one except her parents fell in love at first sight. She was a romantic, but expecting that from a man just didn’t seem fair.
Damon smiled down at her, his dimples dancing with the spark in his eye. “Oh, because if I didn’t know any better, I would think you were trying to backpedal out of calling what we just did ‘making love.’”
“Damon, I—”
He nibbled on her lip. “Because, Julie—I like the sound of that.”
She pushed him away. “We barely know each other. And those words intimate something that maybe we’re not ready for.”
“I’m ready for it.”
“But…I…we—”
Damon pressed his mouth to hers, his tongue urging her to open and let him taste and staunch the hemorrhage of stunned stupidity.
“I love making you speechless.” He pressed kisses along her jaw. “I love hearing the sharp intake of air when I kiss you here.” His teeth grazed her neck, and she gasped. “I love the way your body begs me for more.” Damon’s hand slid up her belly to cup her breast, and her nipple immediately peaked under his touch. “As a matter of fact, Julie,” he lifted his head, and his gaze swept her face, “I’ve come to realize there isn’t anything I don’t love about you.”
“I love being with you too, Damon.” Nervousness pulsed in her throat.
He smiled, slow and easy. “No, Julie. Just. I. Love. You.” He kissed each eyelid, then her nose, punctuating the last three words. “Say it.”
“I love you, Damon.”
* * * *
“Does sex make everyone ravenous?” Julie asked.
Damon laughed at the woman he loved sitting at her kitchen table, wolfing down her third slice of loaded pizza. He still wasn’t sure how the hell that had happened, but there it was. He was in love and no one could convince him otherwise. His heart belonged to Julie as surely as if he’d wrapped it up and handed it to her as a gift. They’d no doubt take their time figuring this whole thing out, but never again would he scoff when someone mentioned love at first sight. It seemed hearts were smarter than heads when it came to soul mates.
“It sure gave you an appetite.” He laughed as she offered him a bite.
After a couple of hours at his place, they’d decided to sneak back to her house to go through Jason’s stuff and watch the video tape. They’d crept in the back door and were now eating pizza by candlelight, hoping not to alert the rest of the family. He didn’t live here. Didn’t really know her family. Still, Julie made him feel like he was home. A place he hadn’t been in a very long time.
He shoved his hand in the pocket of his jeans, working to control the urge to gather her in his arms and never let go. She loved him. He took a long pull of his beer and tried to swallow the emotion clogging his throat. Damon laughed as Julie juggled the pizza slice, then sucked cheese and sauce from her fingers. “You know, eating isn’t supposed to be so sensual.” Leaning over the table, he kissed her. “But the way you do it makes me want to be a slice of pizza.”
She laughed and pushed his face away from hers. “Cool your jets, Romeo. We have work to do. No lovemaking until we watch the video tape together and see if there are any clues.”
He sat back, warmed by her choice of words. “Okay, now that Elvis admitted it’s him with Jason, what do you think you’re going to get from watching it again?” He drained his beer.
“I have no idea. But why tape something like that in the middle of high school memories? Someone chose that tape on purpose.” Julie set down the slice of pizza and wiped her hands on a napkin. “I’ve lost my appetite. Let’s just watch it and figure this out.” She stood, grabbed the candle and led them into the living room. “Only Jason, and maybe his father, would have access to Jason’s Delmont house.”
“And Elvis.”
Julie stopped in mid stride. Light from the candle cast her face in flickering shadows, highlighting the con
fusion marring her features.
“He said he found him that night. Obviously he has a key,” Damon said.
“Or Jason let him in.”
“Julie, are you making excuses for Elvis?”
“He said he loved him,” she said wistfully.
“Stranger things than murder have happened because of love.” Damon brushed his hand over her cheek. “I just don’t think we can rule him out.”
“But Elvis was so emotional in his office. I just can’t see him doing anything to hurt Jason.”
Damon heard the catch in her voice. But she turned her back to him before he could figure out if she was crying.
Julie bent and pulled the box out from under the corner table. “What about the doctor?”
Her ass wiggled enticingly, and Damon lost his train of thought. “What?”
She stood and swatted his chest as she walked to the other corner of the room, holding the candle to illuminate the room. “Stop staring at my ass and focus.” She rifled in the drawers of a desk. “I said, what about the doctor? The one who prescribed the medication? Could she and Jason have had something more than a doctor/patient relationship?” Standing, she put her hand on her hips, holding up the candle and surveying the room. “That’s odd.”
“What is? The relationship angle?”
“No, not that. The video tape’s missing.”
Chapter 10
Nervousness skittered along her skin like a centipede. Julie worked hard not to wriggle in the leather chair of Dr. Maura Wells’ waiting room. Without the tape, they had nothing to go on, except a bottle of lithium prescribed to Jason by this doctor.
They’d learned from Elvis that Dr. Maura Wells was a psychiatrist specializing in sexual disorders. But Julie had no idea how someone could believe homosexuality was a disorder. That thought just pissed her off. But Elvis said Jason had been her patient for a decade because he was gay. That would have made him eighteen or nineteen when he started seeing the doctor. Jason had never mentioned to Julie that he was seeing a therapist. Then again, he’d never mentioned he slept with men either.
Julie had no idea how she and Damon were going to pull this off. No one, least of all a professional, was going to believe Damon was a gay man dating a woman. Testosterone emanated from his pores like the intoxicating aroma off fresh flowers. Even in his tight designer jeans and leather vest exposing the bronzed skin of his muscular chest, he didn’t look any less heterosexual. Or perhaps, the whole Demon persona just got her revved up for more of what she’d had every night for the last week and a half. The magic he worked on her flesh hadn’t been performed by any gay man.
Damon winked at her. Heat crawled up her chest and colored her cheeks. The man had only known her three weeks, yet he could read her better than her family.
“Jewel and Demon?” The woman who opened the door was petite, just over five feet tall, but her presence sucked all the air from the waiting room. Her blueberry eyes swept the length of Damon, sizing him up like a cobra waiting to strike. “It’s a pleasure to meet one of Bangor’s infamous celebrities. I’ve followed your meteoric rise to fame.” She held out a firm wrist.
Instead of shaking her hand, Damon scooped her fingers into his and lifted them to his lips.
“I must say, Demon, your call surprised me,” the doctor said. “You have quite a reputation as a lady’s man.”
“Up until now it’s all been a ruse for ratings, I assure you. But I’m interested in finding out if it can become a reality.”
“Well, you’ve come to the right place.” Maura put her arm around Damon, ushering him into the inner sanctum, ignoring Julie all together. “Let’s talk in my office.”
“The fact is I never slept with a woman until Jewel. Some multiple partner stuff with a couple of bi-friends, sure, but never a woman by herself,” Damon said as he walked with the doctor into her office.
Feeling like an unwelcomed guest, Julie followed behind.
Maura led Damon to the couch and sat in the chair next to him, her knee brushing his. “I’d like you to tell me more about yourself. This first session will just be chatting to find out what you like, what you don’t.” She patted his leg. Another inch higher and the gesture would have been considered foreplay. “Just relax, Demon.”
Dropping her purse at Damon’s feet, Julie thumped down on the couch next to him. The hand she placed possessively on Damon’s thigh wasn’t part of her act, but when he lifted it with a flourish and set it back in her lap, she had to remind herself—it was part of his.
“See. This is what I put up with,” Julie whined. “He says he wants this relationship, but won’t even let me touch him.”
“No PDAs. I’ve told you that.” Damon sat back in a huff, crossing his legs away from the good doctor.
Maura pulled the pencil from behind her ear, tendrils of blond hair falling coquettishly around her face. She rubbed the length of the pencil along her upper lip before flicking her tongue on the lead. Her long lashes winked. “PDAs, Damon?”
Julie couldn’t believe this woman was for real. The man was gay for goodness’ sake, and yet the good doctor flirted openly in front of his girlfriend. It certainly was an interesting counseling method.
“Public displays of affection.” Damon tapped his fingers at the base of his throat. “She wants me to prove I want this relationship every minute of every day, no matter who’s around.”
“And do you?”
“Well, that’s a loaded question. I thought that was your job to help me figure that out.”
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Demon; being gay is not a disease. It’s not something you should be ashamed of if it’s the lifestyle you choose. I have many friends who are homosexuals, and they’re extremely happy, well-adjusted people.” Leaning forward, Maura came close to Damon.
Julie watched the woman’s nostrils flare as if she were scenting Damon.
“But sometimes, it just doesn’t seem to fit,” Maura said in a sultry whisper. “Some people fall into the lifestyle without truly desiring that kind of relationship. I believe environmental factors can influence the sexual being. By enlightening clients on cause and effect, I’ve been able to,” she paused, “re-wire, shall we say for lack of a better word, the desires for sexual intimacy.”
Julie couldn’t believe her ears. Deirdre grew up in the same house, same parents, same everything, yet her desire to be with Brianna had nothing to do with that. Anger twisted around her gut, and she swallowed hard, willing herself not to vomit.
“Sexuality is a personal choice,” Maura continued. “If you truly want to leave the gay lifestyle behind and become completely heterosexual, I’m willing to help you.”
“I just want you to fix him. The sex is great. I just think he should—”
“Jewel.” Maura’s smile held no mirth. “We’re not talking about you now, are we?”
“But he—”
“Stop.” If malice were bullets, Julie would have been nothing but a white chalk outline. “Jewel,” Maura continued. “You are here today as an observer only. I don’t have time for your histrionics. This is about Demon and what he desires.” The doctor’s hand found its way to Damon’s biceps. “Demon, in order for this to work, you will need to be open about your sex life, past…” She glared at Julie. “And present. However unpleasant that may be.”
“Talk about my partners?” he asked.
“See, I’ve begged him to talk to me, but—”
Maura jumped to her feet. “Really, Jewel. One more outburst and I will have to ask you to leave.”
Julie sat back in a huff. Even for playacting, this is not how she thought this counseling session would play out. Is this what Jason had endured? Manipulation and seduction seemed to be the woman’s only means of so-called therapy.
Maura stood and walked behind Damon, her hands resting on his shoulders. “Relax, Demon. You’re safe here.” Working her fingers into the muscles, she bent close to his ear. “How’s that? Feeling relaxed?”
“Hmm, you have strong hands.”
“Close your eyes and focus on my voice.” Her hands moved over his shoulders. “Tell me why you’re here, Demon.”
“When this,” Damon flicked his head toward Julie, “relationship seemed to be something she wanted to pursue, I knew I needed help. And Elvis said you were the best.”
For a moment so brief Julie thought she imagined it, Maura froze.
“Elvis? Elvis Castonguay?” Maura asked, her fingers digging into Damon’s shoulders.
“Owner of Starry Knights,” Julie replied enthusiastically.
Maura pushed away. “That’s it. I can’t do this.” Her hands waved them away as she stalked to her desk. “Demon, I don’t think this is going to work.”
Damon jumped up from the couch, shaking his fingers in Julie’s face. “But she doesn’t have to come if that’s the problem.”
“No, she’s not the problem, Demon. You are.”
“But I really want this.”
“Want what, Demon? To pretend you’re gay or to find out about my connection to Elvis?”
“You know Elvis?” Damon asked, feigning innocence.
“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know him or me. Demon. You have the same tattoo as Elvis.” She stared at him, but Damon didn’t flinch. “You didn’t even try to hide the ink on your shoulder. I suspected you wanted me to see it. Which begs the question, are you frat brothers, lovers, or both?”
Damon crossed his arms over his chest. “Frat brothers only.”
“And I suppose you’re not gay and in need of counseling?” Maura asked.
“No, on both accounts,” Damon said.
“So why did that lovely partner of mine send you here? A little spying to see how lucrative my other business is?” Her words sliced through the air. “Just because he’s overextended doesn’t mean I need to put more money into his loosing company.” She stopped her pacing. “Or is he looking to take me down with his sinking ship?”
“We’re not here for business, Maura.” Damon’s voice was soft. “We’re here about Jason McCarty.”
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