Love at First Flight (18 page)

“He's doing great. Working hard in
Florida. I was down there a few weeks ago.”

“Be sure to tell him we said hello,”
David said. “We'll have to get together when he gets home.”

“Do I know you from somewhere?” Pam
asked Michael.

“No, I don't think so. We need to get
going, Juliana.”

“Well, it was nice to see you guys.” She
hugged and kissed them both. “Happy anniversary.”

“Thanks,” Pam said, studying Michael
again before David led her away.

“Oh my God,” Juliana whispered, trying
to catch her breath. “Oh God.”

Michael put his arm around her and led
her to the parking lot. “Hey,” he said once they were in the car. “You haven't
done anything wrong.”

“David will go right home and call
Jeremy. He might not even wait that long. Jeremy was David's best man. I was a
bridesmaid. This is really bad.”

“Juliana, look at me.” When she turned
her eyes to him, he said, “You aren't doing anything that he's not doing, too.
Surely if David calls him, Jeremy will tell him that.”

“No,” she whispered. “Jeremy will just
freak out. He won't tell David we're not seeing each other. He'd never tell him
that. They're going to think I'm cheating on him while he's out of town.”

“But you're not. Come on. Don't do this
to yourself. You know the truth.”

She dissolved into tears.

He brought her into his arms. “Oh,
Juliana, don't. You're breaking my heart here.”

“I'm sorry,” she sniffed. “It's not that
I'm ashamed to be seen with you, Michael. I'm so proud to be with you.”

“You are?”

“Of course I am. I just don't want them
to think I'm cheating on him. I couldn't bear that.”

“Then maybe you need to tell them what's
going on.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “I'll have to.” She
turned to him.

“I'm sorry to ruin our evening. Thank
you for dinner.”

He kissed her cheek. “Thank you for
taking my mind off the trial.”

“Can we go home? Please?”

“Absolutely.”

They were quiet on the ride, but he kept
his hand wrapped around hers. At home, he asked for her opinion on which suit
and tie he should wear to court the next day. He laid the two options on his
bed. “What do you think? The navy suit and red tie or the gray suit with the
blue tie?”

Juliana studied the choices. “Blue suit,
red tie,” she said. “Definitely.”

“How come?”

“You're representing the government,
right?”

“Right.”

“Red and blue is patriotic.”

“Good point. Thanks.”

“I'm going to bed.”

He put his arms around her. “Are you
sure you're all right?”

With her hands on his chest, she nodded.
“Good luck with everything tomorrow. I'll be thinking of you.”

“I'll be thinking of you, too,” he said,
kissing her lightly.

“Think about your work. Don't think
about me.”

“Impossible.”

“Good night.”

“Night.”

***

Hours later Juliana lay awake, her mind
racing with unpleasant scenarios. Running into Pam and David had thrown her.
She wasn't prepared to explain her rela-tionship with Michael to them or anyone
else. Hell, she couldn't even explain it to herself.

When the ceiling above her bed creaked a
couple of times, she realized he was pacing. She got up, pulled on her robe,
and tied it around her waist on the way upstairs.

Moving back and forth across his big
bedroom lost in thought, he wore only a pair of loose-fitting pajama bottoms
that hung low on his narrow hips.

Juliana tried not to stare at his
muscular chest and washboard stomach. “Michael?”

“Hey,” he said, surprised. “What are you
doing up?”

“Couldn't sleep. What about you?”

“I can't.” He tapped his head. “Can't
turn it off.”

She went over to him and took his hand.
A perplexed look crossed his face when she tugged him toward his bed. “Lie
down.” He did what she asked, and she could tell she shocked him again when she
lay down next to him.

He groaned. “Is this supposed to be
helping?”

“Turn over.”

Keeping his eyes trained on her, he
shifted onto his side.

“All the way.”

Face down on the bed, he turned his head
so he could see her.

She reached over to massage his back,
her mouth going dry as her hand made contact with his warm skin. He sighed.

“Close your eyes.” She moved to her
knees so she could massage him with both hands. “Feel good?”

“Mmm.”

“Go to sleep.”

“Yeah, right. I've got the most
beautiful girl in the whole world in my bed, and you expect me to sleep through
it?”

His words shot straight to her heart—and
a few other places. When she leaned over to kiss his cheek, his eyes flew open.
“Sleep,” she said, brushing a hand over his eyes to close them again. She
kneaded the tension out of his shoulders before she worked her way down his
back. As his breathing became slow and steady, she applied less and less
pressure until she was certain he was almost asleep. She started to move off
the bed, but his arm encircled her hips to draw her down next to him. Since it
was either fight him and wake him up or stay with him, she chose to stay.

CHAPTER 16

MICHAEL WOKE UP THIRTY MINUTES AHEAD OF
THE three alarms he had set. Turning to find Juliana in bed with him, he
thought he was dreaming. Then he remembered the way she had cared for him the
night before and was filled with a whole new surge of love for her. Her silky
dark hair was spread out on the pillow and one arm was tossed over her head.
Michael studied her exquisite face, realizing he wanted to wake up with her
forever. He knew it with a certainty he had never felt with Paige and didn't
have a single doubt he could spend his life with Juliana and be completely
content.

After he watched her sleep for at least
ten minutes, he remembered the trial was starting today and he needed to get
moving. Amused to acknowledge that only waking up to Juliana in his bed could
have pushed the trial from his mind on this of all days, he leaned over to kiss
her cheek before he got up to shut off the alarms and take a shower.

He was knotting the red tie she had
chosen for him when she stirred.

“Hey,” she said with a yawn. “What time
is it?”

Tugging on his suit coat, he sat down
next to her on the bed to tie his shoes. “Six thirty. Go back to sleep.”

She ran his silk tie through her
fingers. “Are you okay?”

Dumbstruck, he watched her fingers slide
over his tie. “Yeah,” he was finally able to say.

She held out her arms to him, and he
sank into her tight embrace. “Get 'em,” she whispered, using Rachelle's words
for encouragement.

He pulled back to look at her. Trailing
a hand down her face, he brushed back her hair and kissed her. “I'll call you
when I get out of court.”

“I'll be waiting.”

He left her with one last kiss.

***

Juliana went back to sleep for a couple
of hours. When she got up, she made Michael's bed and threw in a load of
laundry before she went downstairs to flip on the tele-vision and find her cell
phone.

On the local news at the top of the
hour, she caught a glimpse of Michael going into the courthouse. A pack of
reporters followed in hot pursuit as he moved quickly up the stairs. The camera
cut to a standup shot of a blonde reporter gesturing to a fleet of media trucks
with large satellite dishes on top. “As you can see, it's quite a circus here
at the courthouse. Back to you in the studio.”

Juliana put the television on mute and
dialed Pam's number at work.

“Pam Newman.”

“Pam, it's Juliana.”

“Oh. Hi.”

“Urn, listen, about last night...”

“If you're worried David's going to tell
Jeremy, I think I talked him out of it.”

“I appreciate that, but there's
something you should know.”

“What's that?”

“Jeremy and I are... well... we're—”

“Spit it out, Juliana.”

“We're not seeing each other right now.”

“
Since
when?
What happened?”

“Almost a month,” Juliana said, finding
that hard to believe.

“Because you're seeing that other guy?
He's the pros-ecutor who's been on the news with the Benedetti trial. I figured
that out this morning.”

“Yes, he is, but he's not the reason
Jeremy and I aren't together. I swear to God, Pam. That's not it.”

“Then what? I can't imagine this world
without you and Jeremy together. What happened?”

“Have you ever had a fight with David
that you tell everyone about and then wish you hadn't when he does something
wonderful to make it up to you?”

“Of course. All the time, actually.”

“Well, I'd rather not get into the why
and how of it, if that's all right. I just didn't want you and David to think
I'm fooling around on Jeremy while he's away. That's not the case.”

“What's going on with you and that sexy
lawyer, Juliana? You two were awfully cozy.”

“I'm not sure. But I wouldn't want
Jeremy to hear about it through the grapevine because it would upset him.”

“He won't hear it from me, but I can't
make any promises about David. He was pretty spun up about it last night.”

Juliana winced. “I'm sorry. It was your
anniversary.”

“Don't worry about it. Do you need
anything, Juliana? Are you okay?”

“I'm just fine. Thanks.”

“Call me soon, will you? I want to know
what's going on.”

“I will,” Juliana promised and ended the
call. She had done what she could to put the lid on that situation. Turning off
the television, she went upstairs to shower and get dressed so she could spend
her day off cleaning her mother's house.

***

Juliana was riveted to the lengthy
coverage of the trial's fourth day on the six o'clock news, which included the
daily interview with Michael on the courthouse steps. According to his reports
to her each night, the trial was going as well as he could hope for so far, but
he was frustrated by the defense team's propensity to drag everything out. One
witness he hoped to get in and out in half a day spent two full days on the
stand.

He had called a short time ago to say he
would be home around eight and to pester her once more about going with him to
Rhode Island the next day. Juliana put him off yet again because she didn't
feel right about going. What would his family think when he brought home
someone new just a few weeks after he broke up with his fiancee? Not to mention
someone who wasn't quite free of her boyfriend of ten years?

Because she hadn't heard from Jeremy she
was hopeful that David had resisted the urge to report in to him. Imagining
Jeremy's reaction to hearing she had been out on a cozy date with another man,
she shuddered. No matter what else happened, she didn't want to hurt him if she
could avoid it.

Leaning forward from the sofa, she
reached for the clicker to change the channel as the news ended. She had just
sat back when she was startled by the sound of glass breaking and tires
squealing in the street. Before she could move to see what was going on, the
glass coffee table in front of her shattered. Juliana sat frozen in shock for
several seconds until she felt something dripping on her face. Reaching up, her
hand came back covered in blood.

She screamed.

Someone pounded on the door. “Juliana,
open up! It's Officer Tanner.” He banged on the door again. “Juliana!”

She crawled over the back of the sofa to
avoid the glass that seemed to be everywhere and opened the door.

“Are you all right? Oh, Christ, you're
bleeding.
Shit!
I went around the
corner for one minute to take a leak.” He called for backup and an ambulance
and dug a handker-chief out of his pocket. “Sit down. Here, on the stairs.” He
pressed the cloth to her forehead, which seemed to be the source of the blood
coursing down her face.

Stars danced in her eyes, and sirens
wailed in the distance as she fought to stay conscious. In a matter of minutes,
the house was full of cops and paramedics. They carried her into the dining
room to lay her down so they could clean her wound and apply a butterfly
bandage to her forehead.

The cops scoured the room for evidence.
Under the remains of Michael's coffee table they found a large rock. Juliana
swallowed hard when she realized that if she had leaned forward to change the
channel one second later the rock might have hit her rather than the table. The
thought made her sick.