by Marie Force
Filled with nervous laughter, she said, “I can tell.”
He dropped his hands to her bottom, pulled her tight against his erection, and reclaimed her mouth. Even when Juliana’s cell phone began to ring, he kept up the mischief until she tore herself away from him to reach for her purse. “It’s Mrs. R,” she told Michael.
“Juliana?”
“Hi. What’s up?”
“Jeremy’s in town, and he’s looking for you.”
“Oh my God! What’s he doing there?”
Michael gave her a questioning look. She held up a finger to say just a minute.
“He said he had plane tickets for this weekend and decided to come as planned. He wants to know where you are. What should I tell him?”
“I’ll call him.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Don’t worry,” Juliana assured her friend. “I’ll take care of it.”
“He’s um, well—”
“What?”
“He’s wound up because he can tell you’re not living in the house. He’s having a fit.”
Juliana groaned.
“Did you get there okay?”
“Yes, about half an hour ago.”
“Okay. Call me back if you need me for anything.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“What’s going on?” Michael asked when she flipped her phone closed.
“Jeremy’s in town. I guess he’s raising hell because I’m not there. Mrs. R said he figured out I’m not living in the house. I noticed how dusty the place was this morning when I was there. He knows I’d never let it get like that if I was living there.” She paused before she added, “I need to call him.”
“Okay.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about.” He kissed her forehead and steered her into the living room. “I’ll wait for you in the kitchen.”
Juliana took a deep, calming breath and released it before she opened her cell phone to push number one on her speed dial.
“Babe?” Jeremy said, apparently pouncing on the phone. “Where the heck are you?”
“I’m out of town. I needed to get away for a while.”
“I really wanted to see you this weekend. I was hoping we could get past all this craziness.”
“We said three months. It’s only been one.”
“Come on, Juliana! This is getting ridiculous.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, but I need this time to figure some stuff out.”
“What stuff?”
“I’ve got to go, Jer. I’ll talk to you in two months.”
“Where are you living, Juliana? I can tell you’re not staying here.”
“With a friend.”
“You don’t have friends that I don’t know.”
“I do now.”
“I miss you, babe,” he said, his voice urgent. “It’s making me sick. I miss you so much.”
“Bye, Jer.” Overwhelmed by the emotion and distress she’d heard in his voice, Juliana buried her face in her hands.
“Are you all right?” Michael asked from the doorway.
Making an effort to rally, she forced a smile. “Yeah.”
He came into the room and sat next to her, drawing her into his arms.
Juliana relaxed into his embrace, comforted by the strong beat of his heart.
“Better?” he asked after several quiet minutes.
She tilted her face up and kissed him softly. “Much.”
He cupped her cheek and was about to kiss her again when they heard the garage door open.
She pulled away from him.
He groaned. “You owe me,” he whispered, helping her up from the sofa.
Juliana giggled and followed him into the kitchen.
Michael’s mother burst into the room with a huge smile on her pretty face. “I see Maryland license plates in my driveway!” She stopped short when she saw that her son wasn’t alone. “Oh, and you finally cut your hair! I love it!”
“Hi, Mom.” Michael smiled as he leaned down to kiss and hug her. She was a shorter, rounder version of Michael. Her brown hair was shot through with silver and her blue eyes skipped over her son and his companion. “This is Juliana Gregorio. She’s responsible for the haircut.”
Maureen extended her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Juliana. Wonderful job on the hair.”
Juliana shook her hand. “Thank you, Mrs. Maguire.”
“Please, call me Maureen.”
“Where’s Dad?” Michael asked, helping himself to a beer from the fridge.
Juliana shook her head when he offered her one.
“He’s working until five. He’ll be thrilled to see you.” Maureen swatted Michael. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I would’ve cleaned the house.”
“Cleaned what?” Michael asked, looking around at the spotless house.
“Your home is lovely, Maureen.”
Maureen looked at Juliana with an almost surprised expression. “Thank you.” She turned back to Michael. “How’d you get away? No court today?”
“Nope. The judge had something else to do.”
“How’s the trial going?” Maureen asked.
“Pretty well.”
They had agreed not to mention the trouble at his house to his family since his parents would worry.
“Your sisters will be delighted that you’re here. Are you staying at Maggie’s?”
“I hope she has room.”
“It’s the off-season. She’s slow.”
“Maggie and Luke own a bed and breakfast inn,” Michael explained to Juliana.
“Well, let me call them all,” Maureen said. “I’ll invite everyone over for pizza, sound good?”
“Sounds perfect,” Michael said, looking to Juliana.
She nodded in agreement.
Many hours later, Michael’s sister Maggie showed them to a fancy room on the third floor of her home.
A natural blonde who favored their father, Sean, Maggie gestured to a doorway. “The bathroom’s right through here, and there’re plenty of towels in the closet. Do you need anything else?”
“No, we’re good. Thanks, Maggie. Just make sure you tell Mom you gave us two rooms.”
She laughed and kissed her brother’s cheek. “Do you think I was born yesterday? Very nice to meet you, Juliana. Very, very nice.”
“You, too, Maggie. Thanks for everything.”
“I’ll see you in the morning. Come on down whenever you get up.”
“Good night.” Michael closed the door and turned to Juliana. “My sisters love you.”
“They’re so nice. And the kids are just adorable.”
“How many French braids did you do tonight?”
“How many girls are there again?”
“Seven.”
“That sounds about right.”
Resting his hands on her shoulders, he leaned in to kiss her. “They all loved you. Almost as much as I do.”
“I just can’t imagine what it would be like to be part of a family like yours. You can tease and bicker and fight, but it’s obvious you all love each other so much. You’re really lucky, Michael.”
“I know I am. Paige was only here once. It was a total disaster. Her complaints were endless: the kids were too loud, my sisters were bitchy to her, my mother didn’t like her. On and on.”
“I just don’t see how…” Juliana shook her head when she thought better of it.
“What were you going to say?”
“I don’t see how you lasted so long with her. I know I shouldn’t say that, but I wonder.”
“I’ve come to realize I was killing time with her.”
“Until what?”
“Until I found you.”
“You say the sweetest things,” she said, caressing his cheek.
“I mean it.” He hugged her. “You know I do.”
She relaxed into his embrace. “Michael?”
“Hmm?”
“Can
we go to bed now?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
She giggled as he backed her up to the bed, his eyes hot with intent. “I didn’t know I needed to ask.”
“You don’t.” His lips cruised up her neck. “I’m all yours. Any time you want me.”
Shivering from what he was doing to her neck, she reached down to cup his straining erection through his jeans. “How about now?”
He moaned. “Juliana…”
Trailing a finger up and down the length of him, she said, “Hmm?”
He sprang into action, pulling and pushing at clothes, until he had access to what he wanted.
Delighted to have driven him a little crazy, Juliana laughed at the picture she must’ve made with her shirt pushed up to her neck, her bra pulled down, and her jeans tangled around her ankles.
“What the hell is so funny?” he asked through gritted teeth as he plunged into her.
Juliana’s laughter faded into a gasp. Arching her back to meet his thrusts, she managed to say, “I thought we’d get ready for bed the way civilized people do.”
Slowing the pace of his hips, he rolled her earlobe between his teeth. “How do civilized people get ready for bed?”
“Often, they get undressed.”
“I uncovered the good parts.”
Slipping her hands under his shirt, she eased it up and over his head. “Mmm, more good parts,” she said, running her thumbs over his nipples.
He groaned and pushed into her again as she wiggled under him. “What’re you doing?”
Choked with laughter, Juliana said, “Trying to get my pants all the way off.”
With his foot, he swept her jeans away and then hooked her leg over his hip. “Much better.”
“Mmm,” she whispered. “Michael…”
“I love the way you say my name.” He brushed his lips over hers.
“Don’t stop, okay?”
Laughing, he said, “Don’t worry, stopping isn’t in the plan. Feel good?”
Juliana looped her arms around his neck. “Amazing.”
“So there might be something to be said for uncivilized?”
“Oh yeah…”
He went deep, and she cried out as an orgasm hit her hard and fast.
“God, Juliana…”
She opened her eyes in time to watch him lose himself in her. Moved and astounded by the wonder of it, she held him close to her.
“We can do it your way now,” he said after a long moment of quiet.
“How’s that?”
“Civilized.”
“Why would we want to when your way is so much better?”
Smiling, he brushed the hair back from her face and kissed her.
As he gazed at her with unabashed love, Juliana somehow knew she would never forget this particular moment.
Chapter 19
The next morning, Michael and Juliana watched his nephews play against their cousins in a close Little League baseball game.
“Which team are we supposed to be for?” Juliana whispered to him.
“Both. Definitely both.”
“Welcome to my world,” Maureen said when she overheard their conversation. “Next year the girls are going to try to get them all on the same team. This is too stressful.”
After Colm and Cormac’s team beat Patrick and Sean’s, Michael and Juliana had lunch downtown with his parents. He fought a losing battle with his father for the check, and when his parents left to do some errands, Michael and Juliana walked back to Maggie’s. On the way, they window-shopped in the stores and boutiques that lined the waterfront.
“See anything you like?”
“All of it,” Juliana said.
He laughed.
An odd expression came over her face.
“What?”
“That guy, across the street. I’ve seen him somewhere before.”
Michael turned to look.
“Which one?”
“The brown jacket. See him?”
Across the street, the man in question took off in the other direction.
“Are you sure you know him?”
“No. He probably just looks like someone I know through work or something. Forget it.”
He glanced over one more time, but the man was at least three blocks from them. Michael put his arm around Juliana for the short walk back to Maggie’s house.
When they got there, no one was home, so he spirited Juliana up the stairs. Closing the bedroom door and locking it, he turned to her.
“You’re going to get tired of me if we keep this up,” she said with a shy smile as he eased the coat off her shoulders.
“I will never get tired of you.” When she looked away, he used a finger on her chin to bring her back to him. “You’ve heard that before, haven’t you?”
She shrugged.
“Juliana, look at me.”
Reluctantly, she brought her eyes up to his.
“I will never, ever, ever get tired of you—not ten years from now, not fifty years from now.” He kissed her and tugged the sweater over her head. “Never.” Unhooking her bra, he whispered, “Ever.”
“How do you know that?”
Pulling off his shirt, he brought her hand to his chest. “Because you make my heart pound. No one has ever made my heart pound, and no one but you ever will. I love you. I’ll always love you.”
“That frightens me.”
“Why?” he asked, tugging her jeans and panties down over her legs.
“What if…” She bit her lip.
He stood up and dropped his own jeans into a pile on the floor. “What if what?”
“What if things don’t work out between us?”
“It’ll work out,” he said with supreme confidence as he brought her into his arms. The feel of her breasts against his chest sent a surge of lust rocketing through him.
“How can you be so certain?”
“I just am.” He lifted her and entered her with one sure stroke. “I know it.”
Juliana wrapped her arms and legs around him and let her head fall back in surrender. “You’re going to hurt yourself,” she whispered. “I’m too heavy…”
“Shh.” With his hands under her bottom, he moved her ever so slowly up and down. “Mmm,” he sighed. “Oh, that’s so good. Can you feel how deep I am? How far inside you I am?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “Yes.” She clung to him, and when he finally walked them over to the bed, she pulled him down with her.
He filled her with long, deep strokes. “Nothing has ever felt like this, Juliana. I’ll never get tired of feeling the way I do when I’m with you.” Keeping up the steady thrusting of his hips, he dipped his head and sucked her nipple deep into his mouth.
“Michael!” she cried, climaxing with a shudder.
With one last push, he joined her.
“Michael.”
Through the haze of sleep, Michael heard her but couldn’t seem to pull himself out of the fog to reply.
She shook his shoulder.
“Hmm.”
“Michael, wake up.”
“I’m awake,” he said but kept his eyes closed. “What’s the matter?”
“The guy I saw today is the same one who talked to me that day outside your house.”
His eyes flew open. “What?”
“Remember? When I was first living with you? He asked me if I lived alone?”
Michael sat up and ran his hand over his face as he fought to wake up. “You’re sure?”
She nodded.
He reached for his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Tom.” When he got his boss on the phone, he told him about the man Juliana had now seen twice. “We didn’t report it the last time because he only asked her if she lived there alone. He didn’t threaten her in any way.”
“Is she certain it’s the same guy?” Tom asked.
Michael looked over at Juliana, who was pale and big-eyed—again. “Yes.”
>
“Do you want me to see about getting you some security up there?”
Michael hesitated. “If I was by myself I’d say no, but I’m not risking her. Set it up.” Michael gave him the address. “My sister’s got three kids in this house, Tom. Make sure the cops know that.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Tom assured him. “When you get back to Baltimore, bring her in to look at the mug shots for the Red Devils. She might be able to ID him.”
“I will.”
“Listen, I’m glad you called because we got a print off the rock. You’ll never guess who.”
“Gee, could it be a Red Devil?” Michael asked, referring to the Benedetti’s gang.
“Yes, but it gets even better. Nick Dimitri.”
Michael gasped. “Their cousin? What a bunch of idiots they are!”
“They’ve already picked up Dimitri, but he’s not talking. We’ll be looking at additional charges against the Benedettis, too, if we can get Dimitri to point to them on the order.”
“He won’t give them up.”
“He might. He apparently almost shit himself when he heard the potential sentence for harassing an officer of the court. I also talked to Judge Stein today. He wants to see all the attorneys in chambers at nine on Monday morning. I’ll be there, too.”
“Okay, thanks, Tom. For everything.”
“Be careful, Michael. The Benedettis know you’ve got them by the balls. They’ve got nothing to lose.”
“I hear you. I’ll see you Monday.” Michael hung up and told Juliana the rock thrower was in custody and that Tom was arranging protection for them while they were in Newport. “But that’s enough of that. Tonight, we’re going out.”
“Where are we going?”
“You don’t need to know. All you have to do is put on something so sexy I won’t be able to think of anything but you, got it?” He kissed her and got up. “I’m taking a shower, and then I’ve got to go do a few things. Can you be ready in about two hours? Seven thirty?”
“I should be able to throw something together by then.”
“Do your best,” he said, leaning down to kiss her.
She tried to pull him back into bed with her, and he resisted with a groan. “Release me, woman! I have stuff to do,” he said, sinking into the kiss despite himself.
Ten minutes later, she finally let him go.
Michael went out to his car and introduced himself to the police detail that was already positioned outside his sister’s house. One police car stayed at Maggie’s while another followed him to his parents’ house where Maureen waited for him.