Trouble After Dark

by Marie Force

  “I’m so glad you do. No one deserves to be loved like that more than Owen.”

  “He’s the best, and he has been from the very start, when I was suffering morning sickness. It never once occurred to him to be bothered by the fact that I was pregnant with another man’s child. At my lowest moment, he just saw me.” Laura blinked when tears flooded her eyes. “I can’t even think about that time in my life without getting emotional.”

  “I couldn’t believe it when he told me he was spending the winter on Gansett because he’d met someone.”

  “I couldn’t believe when he stayed for me. That was such a special time for us.”

  “I’m so happy it all worked out for you guys.”

  “Me, too. Owen tells me you’ve been seeing Deacon Taylor.”

  “We’ve been hanging out since the wedding.”

  “He’s gorgeous.”

  “Is he? I hadn’t noticed.”

  Laura laughed. “Sure you haven’t.”

  “He did the hugest thing for me.”

  “Is that right?” Laura topped off their glasses. “Do tell.”

  Julia spilled the story about Mike, the money, the police and the shocking development earlier when he’d actually returned the money to her.

  “Holy shit. That’s amazing! Not the part about Mike stealing from you, but Deacon…”

  “I know. He was incensed and immediately formed a plan to get it back. I still can’t believe it actually worked.” Julia took a healthy sip of wine, enjoying the heat that spread through her when it settled in her belly. “I have the worst judgment when it comes to men, but Deacon…”

  “He’s proven he’s legit.”

  “Yes! And now, I just want…”

  “What?”

  “Everything. I want to dive into this thing with him headfirst, which is what I always do, and it’s how I end up screwed in the end. I leap before I think, and I always regret it. Every single time.”

  “Has it occurred to you that this time might be different?”

  “Yes! But I always think that. ‘This one, he’s special. He’s different.’ But they aren’t. None of them are special.”

  “I think it’s pretty damned special that Deacon used his professional skills to make your case to the cops at home and got back your money.”

  “It’s incredibly special.”

  “Don’t you think it’s also an indication of who he really is?”

  “I want to believe that so badly. You have no idea how badly I want to believe that.”

  Laura placed her hand on top of Julia’s. “I think it might be safe to believe in him, Julia.”

  “I think so, too, but I’m not sure I could take it if he turned out to be like the rest of them.”

  “I was once right where you are—coming off a heartbreaking disappointment after I found out my new husband was still dating.”

  “I’ve heard this story, and I still can’t believe it.”

  “I know. Me either, but it happened, and at the worst possible time, there was Owen to show me that not all men are scum, despite my recent experience.”

  “At least you had your father and uncles to show you how it’s supposed to be.”

  “That’s true. I certainly did, and even having their outstanding examples to follow, I still chose wrong the first time. It’s proof, I think, that no matter how we were raised, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between the frogs and the princes, especially when they only show you what they want you to see.”

  “Yes, exactly. Mike was so charming and attentive and romantic. I thought he was everything I’d ever wanted. If only that was the first time I’d been wrong, but it was, like, the tenth time. I have zero confidence when it comes to men. They’ve shattered me. All of them.”

  “I’m sorry you’ve been through such a nightmare. I hate that people are so awful to each other. Why can’t everyone just be kind and loving? Can you imagine what a nicer world this would be?”

  “That would be something.”

  “Well, we both know all too well that the real world is often shitty, but that doesn’t mean everyone in it is shitty. Look at what Deacon did for you right after you met. Imagine what he’s capable of if that’s how he starts.”

  “I want him to be as great as he seems. I want that so badly. And wanting it that badly pisses me off, because I’m supposed to be on a dick diet—”

  Laura sputtered, and wine shot out of her mouth as she coughed and cried with laughter. “A what?”

  “You heard me. I’m off the dick. And now, all I want is to be back on it. With Deacon.”

  Laura laughed helplessly. “A dick diet. That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “What’s so funny?” Owen asked when he came into the kitchen.

  “Your sister is on a dick diet. Maybe that’s what I need after having twins.”

  “Shut your filthy mouth.” Owen shot her an appalled look. “That’s the last thing you need, and my sister needs to stop filling your head with ridiculous ideas.”

  Laura rolled her eyes at her husband.

  “I can’t believe you told him that,” Julia said, amused by Laura and Owen and slightly mortified that Owen knew about her dick diet, such as it was.

  Her phone lit up with a text from Deacon that made her feel warm all over with anticipation. On the way over. Can’t wait to see you.

  “Hey, O,” Laura said. “Check out our girl’s face. I think she’s about to blow her dick diet.”

  Owen cracked open a beer. “Don’t say blow and dick in the same sentence unless you’re prepared to deliver.”

  “With that,” Julia said, standing, “I’m outta here.” She gave her brother a quick squeeze on the way by.

  “Oh crap,” Laura said. “I just got a text from my dad. Mac is in the clinic with a suspected anxiety attack. Apparently, he collapsed as he was coming in to meet Maddie for her appointment.”

  “Oh my God,” Owen said. “If you want to go over there, I’ll stay with the kids.”

  “I think I will.”

  “I got a text from Luke that Mac wasn’t feeling well,” Julia said. “I’m so sorry that happened. I hope I can help to alleviate some of his stress.”

  “Hope so, too,” Owen said.

  Laura followed her to the door. “Hey, Julia?”

  Julia turned to face her sister-in-law. “Give Deacon a chance. I have a feeling he’ll be worth it.”

  Julia hugged Laura. “I have a feeling you might be right, and I hope your cousin is okay. See you tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be here all day, wrangling three kids. Come by to rescue me.”

  “Will do, and thank you for listening.”

  “Any time. I’ve got my fingers crossed for you and Deacon.”

  Julia gave her another quick hug and then turned to leave in time to see Deacon taking the stairs two at a time to the third floor. In his left hand, he carried a striped gift bag.

  He came to a stop when he saw her there, his face lighting up with a big smile. “Hey, beautiful.”

  From behind her, she heard Laura’s sigh and had to suppress one of her own. As far as opening lines went, that was perfection.

  Chapter 20

  “Hi,” Julia said, feeling flustered and overwhelmed by the mere sight of him.

  “Where’s our little boy?” Deacon asked as he followed her down the hall to her room.

  “Napping in his crate.”

  “He has a crate?”

  “My grandmother unearthed one from the hotel basement. She says there’s nothing we could need that’s not down there somewhere.” She opened the door and led him inside, glancing at the sleeping puppy, who didn’t stir when they came in. Julia turned to Deacon and couldn’t hold back the need to touch him, to hug him, to thank him. Placing her hands on his chest, she gazed up at him. “Thank you so much.”

  He dropped the bag he’d brought to the floor and wrapped his arms around her, drew her into his embrace and kissed her bare shoulde
r. “I’m glad it worked out.”

  “It only worked out because of you. I’ll never be able to thank you for what you did.”

  He pulled back to look down at her. “You got your money back, and your ex is in a world of trouble. That’s all the thanks I need.”

  When his lips came down on hers, Julia welcomed his kiss with her whole heart and soul. She moved her hands up to encircle his neck and opened her mouth to his tongue. Dear God, the man could kiss. Julia had no idea how long they stood there kissing like maniacs before the need for air became more pressing than her need for him. She pulled back, gasping.

  He stared down at her, his gaze intense and laser-focused.

  “This has been a really, really good day. I got a job, I got my money back, I got to spend all day with my puppy, I got to play with my niece and nephews, and then I got kissed by a very handsome, sexy man.”

  “A very good day indeed.” He skimmed his lips lightly over hers, setting off a new wave of desperate desire she felt everywhere. “I’d planned to take you and Puppy to dinner somewhere, but then I saw you standing in the hallway looking so, so pretty, and all I could think about was kissing you and touching you and holding you and everything else with you.”

  He set her on fire with his words as well as the movement of his hands, which slid down her back to cup her ass and pull her in tight against the hard ridge of his erection. “I don’t get this, Julia. I don’t do this stuff. I don’t count the minutes until I can see someone again, or think about them all day, or buy them presents, or—”

  Ridiculously moved by him, she said, “You bought me a present?” She chose to focus on the simplest of the things he’d said, because the rest had left her breathless.

  “I did.” He was bashful and shy and adorable as he released her to retrieve the bag he’d brought. “I saw this and thought of you, which is another thing I never do.”

  She took the bag from him and sat on the bed just as the puppy woke up and realized they were there.

  Deacon retrieved him from the crate and joined her on the bed, sitting close enough that his leg brushed up against hers.

  How was it that when this man touched her, it felt like she held lightning in her hand? That had certainly never happened to her before—and she’d kissed her share of frogs. Perhaps this was what it felt like to kiss a prince for once.

  She pushed aside the tissue paper and withdrew the smaller of the two packages inside. When she unwrapped it, she found lavender-scented lotion. She squirted a bean-sized bit into her palm and rubbed it into her skin before holding her hand up to Deacon to smell. “You like?”

  “Mmm, I like.”

  Then she opened the second, larger package that contained a gorgeous burgundy silk robe. “This is beautiful, Deacon.”

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  “I should be getting you gifts, not the other way around. So far, you’ve gone to bat for me with my ex, gotten my money back, gotten bit by my dog, paid my vet bill—”

  He stopped her with another sexy, tongue-twisting kiss. “I’ve loved every second of it, and hello, it’s our dog and our vet bill.”

  Her earlier decision to put her faith in him felt even more right to her now that she was with him again. If she was wrong about him, she would deal with that when the time came. For right now, she wanted more with him.

  She glanced at him. “Do you want to see it on me?”

  He swallowed hard enough that his Adam’s apple bobbed. “More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

  His gruffly spoken words fueled her determination to take her mom and Charlie’s advice, to not let the past dictate the present or the future. She grabbed the bottle of lotion and the robe and, giving him a saucy look, went past him to the bathroom. With the door closed, she removed her clothes, rubbed the lotion onto her arms, breasts, legs and everywhere else she could reach and then put on the robe.

  The silk against her skin made her feel sexy and desirable and worthy of being cared for by a man like Deacon.

  She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and saw that her skin was glowing, her eyes were bright and her lips swollen from his kisses. Julia couldn’t recall the last time she’d looked so healthy or felt so alive and wished she could bottle that feeling for the next time she was low. Taking all that confidence with her, she walked into the room, where Deacon waited for her, sitting now on the end of the bed, facing the bathroom, hands clasped between his legs.

  When he looked up at her, his eyes heated with blatant desire that he did nothing to try to hide. “You’re beautiful, Julia. Inside and out.”

  Could he ever know what those last three words meant to her? That in just a few days of knowing her, he already understood her better than any of the many men she’d dated ever had, that he’d looked beyond the surface to find the essence of her? She’d been told all her life that she was beautiful, but never once did she truly believe it until Deacon told her.

  He held out a hand to her.

  She moved toward him, linked her fingers with his and breathed through the tsunami of emotions—desire, fear, need—that threatened to derail this perfect moment.

  When she was standing between his legs, he put his hands on her hips and drew her in until his lips were pressed against the silk against her belly.

  “I told Tiffany I wanted something pretty and sexy but not too sexy. I didn’t want to send the wrong message. We totally failed.”

  “How so?”

  Deacon pulled back to look up at her. “I’ve never seen anything sexier in my entire life than you in this robe.”

  He moved her as much with his words as he did with how he looked at her, as if she was the most precious thing he’d ever seen. How could that be when three days ago, she’d never seen his face or heard his name?

  “About that dick diet you told me you were on…”

  “I think it’s safe to say my dick diet is blown.”

  His low chuckle and bright smile made her feel lighter than air as the insistent flutter in the vicinity of her heart had her breathless with anticipation. “It’s dangerous to say those words in the same sentence.”

  Smiling, she looked down at him, taking in every detail of his sinfully handsome face. “It’s a big deal for me to trust you this way.”

  “I know, and I promise to be worthy of your trust. Always.”

  As promises went, they didn’t get much better than that, which was why when he tugged on the knot that held the robe together, she let him. He slid his hands inside the robe and wrapped them around her waist, bringing her even closer to him, close enough that he could press his lips to her belly.

  She ran her fingers through soft brown hair streaked with blond, learning the feel and texture of it as she held him to her. Now that she’d decided to give him a chance, she wanted all of him.

  He ran his hands from her hips down the backs of her legs and then up again to squeeze her ass before moving up her back, leaving goose bumps in his wake.

  Her skin had never felt more alive than it did under his touch.

  He handled her carefully, as if she were fragile and might break if he was rough with her. She didn’t want him to think of her as fragile but wouldn’t object to him being careful with her.

  Julia let the robe fall from her shoulders, leaving her bare to his ravenous stare. She was too thin after the strain of the last few months had made it difficult for her to eat. She knew it but hoped he wouldn’t notice or care.

  He released her only long enough to pull his shirt over his head, revealing a defined chest and abdomen that had her licking her lips in anticipation of touching him there, everywhere. His hands were once again on her, caressing her with a tenderness that made her weak in the knees.

  Apparently, he realized that, because he gathered her into him and moved them so they were reclined on the bed. His effortless strength was as attractive as his kind golden-brown eyes, the dimple in his cheek that appeared only when he smiled, the late-day scruff on hi
s jaw and the reverent way he gazed at her.

  No one had ever looked at her the way Deacon did. Other men had looked at her with appreciation, but Deacon… He looked at her as if she mattered to him. All he did for the longest time was look at her, running his fingertips over her cheek and mouth as if trying to commit her to memory.

  “What is this exactly?” Judging by the way he looked at her as he asked that question, she wasn’t the only one being powerfully affected by what was happening between them.

  “I don’t know, but it feels good.”

  “So good.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Does it scare you?”

  “It terrifies me.”

  Cupping her cheek, he kissed her softly. “No, don’t be terrified.”

  “Can’t help it. These things never go well for me.”

  “Maybe this time, it will.”

  “Maybe.”

  He continued to run his thumb over her cheek. “I went to Tiffany’s store to get you something, and while I was there, I asked her if it was different when she met Blaine. She said it was like nothing that had ever happened to her before. Instantaneous understanding that he was on a whole other level. That’s how this is for me with you.”

  Her eyes filled with tears that she wished away, not wanting to appear weak to him when she’d worked so hard to stay strong through all the storms. But she couldn’t help the emotional reaction to what he’d said. “Are you scared?”

  “Strangely enough, I’m not, even though I know I probably should be.”

  “Why?”

  “Because these things don’t happen to me either. I’ve made a career out of staying unattached, but all I want now is to be attached. To you.” He moved in closer to her for another of the kisses that made her head spin. “I keep telling myself this can’t be real, you can’t be real, but then I see you again, and I know that nothing has ever been more real than you are.”

  Julia reached for him, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him with all the emotion he’d stirred in her by sharing his truth. She understood how he felt, because she’d felt the same thing every time she’d been with him.