by Marie Force
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 Nineteen
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 appa
rently 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.
She reached up to kiss him and adjust the collar of his shirt. “You look nice.”
“Thanks. Where’s Dad?”
“At a meeting at the Hibernian Hall.” She led him into the kitchen. “I have all the stuff you asked for.”
Michael inspected the bag to make sure everything was there. “This is great. Thanks.”
“She’s lovely, Michael. Really, really lovely.”
“I know.”
“I’m so happy to see you with someone like her. She’s exactly perfect for you.”
“I think so, too. I’m glad you like her.”
“We all do. Your sisters are crazy about her.”
“I figured they would be. It’s just, well—”
“What?”
“It’s kind of complicated,” he said, giving her a brief rundown of Juliana’s situation.
Maureen looked like she could cry. “Oh, Michael! And you love her so much! I can just feel that when I’m with the two of you.”
“Yes,” he said. “It happened fast, but I felt something different for her the first time I ever saw her. Isn’t that strange?”
“No, it’s not strange, not when it’s the real thing. She’ll make the right choice, honey. In the end, she will.”
“I hope you’re right. Well, I’d better get going. Thanks for the help.”
“Have a nice time tonight.” She stopped short at the front door. “Michael, why are there cops outside my house?”
“Oh, just something to do with the trial. Tom Houlihan ordered it. Nothing to worry about,” he said, kissing her forehead.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. We’ll see you tomorrow before we head home.”
“Okay,” she said with another nervous glance at the police car.
Michael arrived back at Maggie’s house to find Juliana reading to his niece, Emma, in the living room. With Emma on her lap, he couldn’t get a full visual on what Juliana was wearing, but he saw enough bare shoulder and smooth leg to make his mouth water.
“Uncle Michael,” four-year-old Emma said, “Juliana’s reading Good Night Moon.”
He kissed his niece and sat down next to them. “I see that. And I see you talked her into another braid,” he said, tugging on the end of the long blonde braid.
Maggie came into the room. “Come on, Emma, it’s bath time.”
“Do I hafta? Juliana’s reading to me.”
“Yes, you hafta. Juliana’s going out.”
Emma made a big production of hugging and kissing Michael and Juliana before she took her mother’s outstretched hand.
“You guys have a nice time tonight,” Maggie said with a wink for Michael.
“We will.”
“What was that all about?” Juliana asked when they were alone.
“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “You look amazing. Stand up and let me see.”
She did as he asked.
He made a twirling motion with his index finger.
Juliana spun around so he could get a full view of the sexy peasant-style black dress she wore with open-toed black heels.
“Mmm, mmm, mmm,” Michael said, fanning himself. “Hot.”
She giggled, and his heart ached with love for her.
“Does that mean you approve?”
Getting up, he wrapped her shawl around her shoulders. “Oh, yeah,” he said, kissing her. “I definitely approve.” He led her out the front door.
When they passed his car, she asked, “Where are we going?”
“For a short walk,” he said, putting his arm around her. “Are you warm enough?”
She nodded.
Crispy fallen leaves littered the sidewalk, and the smell of wood smoke wafted through the chilly autumn air.
Over his shoulder, Michael noticed two police officers following them at a respectful distance.
They walked along Lower Thames until Michael stopped in front of a three-story Victorian with paper covering the large street-level windows on either side of the front door.
“Where are we?”
He used a key to unlock the door. “My place.”
“Yours? I don’t get it.”
“Come on in, and I’ll tell you.”
Inside the door, he flipped on lights in a small hallway at the bottom of a stairwell. He led her into the rooms on the left side of the stairs. “When I was fifteen, my grandfather and I bought this place together.”
Stunned, Juliana stared at him. “You did not!”
“We did,” he said with a grin. “He and I used to take long walks through the neighborhood, and he’d tell me stories about the people who owned all the houses when he was a kid. His father grew up on the third floor of this house, so when it came on the market, he and I hatched a plan to buy it. I’d had a paper route and a lawn mowing business for years, and he knew I’d hung on to every dime I’d ever made.”
“I can’t believe you bought a house when you were fifteen!”
He chuckled. “My grandfather used to say, ‘Michael, my boy, you can’t go wrong with real estate.’ So we each put down ten thousand dollars and bought the place for seventy-five thousand. When he died about seven years ago, I found out that he’d paid off the mortgage and left his half to me. Turns out he steered me right. It’s worth about three-quarters of a million now.”
“That’s such an amazing story. What are you going to do with it?”
“Whenever I’m home, I chip away at all the work it needs. I spent a whole weekend last spring refinishing the molding around one of the windows upstairs. On the days when I get sick of dealing with Baltimore’s criminal element, I dream about opening a general law practice down here and living upstairs.”
“I can see that. I can see you as the neighborhood attorney taking care of everyone’s problems.”
“Can you? Really?”
“Definitely. You should do it. You’d be great at it.”
“Thanks.” He shrugged. “Maybe someday. Let’s go upstairs.”
Back in the vestibule, Juliana asked what was on the other side of the stairwell.
“Another good-sized retail space that I’d lease out in my hypothetical scenario.”
The second floor had high ceilings, large windows, an outdated kitchen, two bathrooms, and two big bedrooms. “There’s another apartment upstairs.”
“Something smells good. Where’s it coming from?”
“Go on up and find out.” He pointed to the third-floor stairs and
gestured for her to lead the way.
Juliana gasped when she walked into a candlelit room with a table set for two in the middle. There were roses on the table and soft music playing in the background. “Oh, is this what you were doing?”
“I can’t take all the credit. My mother and my sisters helped a little.”
“A little?” she asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
He smiled. “Okay, a lot. My mother provided all the candles, and Maggie and Shannon did most of the setup.”
Juliana put her arms around him. “But it was your idea.”
“I wanted to show you this place, and since I wasn’t in the mood for a crowded restaurant tonight, I thought this might work.”
“It works,” she said, kissing him. “Thank you.”
“Are you hungry? We’ve got shrimp scampi from Sardella’s in the oven.”
“I’m starving.”
He held her chair, opened a bottle of wine, and poured them each a glass before he went to get their dinner.
“This place has great service,” Juliana said when he delivered her dinner. “Very sexy waiters.”
“No hitting on the help, please.”
“I’ll try to restrain myself.”
“Don’t try too hard.”
She laughed. “This is so good,” she said after the first bite of spicy shrimp.
“I’m glad you like it. Mary Frances said I couldn’t go wrong with Sardella’s scampi.”
“Your sister is very wise. When did you even have a chance to do all this? You’ve been with me the whole time we’ve been here.”
“Last night while you were playing hair salon with the little girls, I was plotting and scheming with the big girls.”
“I’ll have to keep a closer eye on you in the future.”
“Nothing would please me more.”
After dinner, he asked her to dance.
Juliana put her hand in his and followed him to the middle of the big room where the light from the candles flickered on the bare walls.
They danced for a long while as Michael held her close to him and breathed in the unique scent that had invaded his senses the day he met her and held him captive ever since.