Love at First Flight (23 page)

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 secu-rity 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, refer-ring 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.

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
Goodnight 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 shoul-ders. “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 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!”

Enjoying her reaction, he said, “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.”