01 Untouchable - Untouchable
Page 34
I almost dropped it. I knew the handwriting and I knew who M was. My hands immediately began to shake. I opened my car door and sat down, before I fell down. I plugged it into my stereo system and found the single song that had been downloaded on the player. I didn’t recognize it. It was titled The Reason by Hoobastank. I hit the play button. The first words sung were, “I’m not a perfect person...” and I started crying.
He might as well have written the lyrics himself, because it ripped straight to the bottom of my heart. “…I'm sorry that I hurt you. It's something I must live with everyday. And all the pain I put you through, I wish that I could take it all away and be the one who catches all your tears. That’s why I need you to hear...I've found a reason for me to change who I used to be. A reason to start over new…and the reason is you…”
I couldn’t stop shaking, I couldn’t breathe. All this time I had been aching for him, needing him, wanting to know if I had dreamed that he had told me he loved me. And then I had sealed him up inside my heart when Celeste told me that I had to let it go, for his sake.
I felt a warm hand touch my arm. I turned and, just like a dream, he was kneeling there beside my car. I don’t remember going into those marvelous steel bands that he uses for arms, but I knew I never wanted to leave them. I was sobbing, just about to shake into a million pieces and all I could say was his name, over and over.
“Baby,” came the voice that was like a piece of heaven.
God, I missed that voice.
He was using his thumbs to try to dry my tears as he cradled my face. “You switched to waterproof mascara?” He choked out, his eyes filled with tears that threatened to overrun his lashes.
I laughed. “Where have you been? I thought I was going to lose my mind completely.”
“I told you getting out of the mob isn’t easy.”
I stopped breathing. “You—you’re…”
“Yeah, Baby, that’s all in my past now and I was wondering if you still were interested in forever?”
“Oh, Micah, do you really mean it?”
“I didn’t know if you still wanted me…”
I couldn’t let him finish that sentence, as I laced my fingers through his hair and raised my lips to meet his. I wanted to have the kiss, the kiss I didn’t think I would ever have enough time in this lifetime to finish. There would be no painful ending to this one; this would be the beginning of so much more. This kiss was warm and gentle, sensual and long. I could feel that familiar heat burning through my veins and I knew I was flushed with color by the time our lips parted.
“I guess I’ll take that as a yes,” he whispered and then kissed me again. This time a little stronger, a little hotter and building with all the need we had for each other. “Oh, Baby, I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.”
I moved to kiss him again. I knew I was never going to get enough of this. But now he was smiling and putting his fingers to my lips.
“We are in the church parking lot,” he grinned. “I’d like to keep doing this but—well, if this is your church then I don’t want them to have a bad impression about me.”
I laughed. There were going to be a lot of impressions that people would take away from the two of us being together and most of them I knew were going to be bad, but I also knew that God had brought us together for a reason.
“I love you, Micah,” I whispered, hungry for another kiss, but knew he was right. We needed discretion and restraint. “You’re really out?”
“My whole family has gone through hell to get me to this point—and I know this is where I want to be. Gwen got me out of Florida before the Fed’s arrived. She’s put her job on the line to see that all the evidence in Louisiana has been destroyed. Dad and Mom both faced the local family to stand up for me when I said I wanted out, and David…” he choked on the words. “Well let’s just say he’s in the most trouble of all of us.”
“Why?” I had to know. “Because of getting Robert put away?”
“Leese, it’s like a cardinal sin. No one in the family works with the police; it’s a death sentence. I didn’t even know the crazy bastard did it until it was too late. Dad is still trying to save his ass.”
My hand went to my mouth, shock, surprise and fear filled me. “Why would he risk that?”
“He figured it out. He knew it was real for me. He’s never been in love, but after I had to leave you and he saw what it did to me, he knew he couldn’t chance Robert putting another hit out there on you. He knew it would have killed me. I guess Gwen had been right about him all along.”
“What can we do to help him?”
He gave a weak smile, “Let my family handle it and be happy that we’re together.”
I wrapped my arms around that glorious neck and held on tight. “I can do that.”
“I want to make a bigger change in my life, Leese. I believe in what you believe, I know God does everything for a reason now. I trust Him completely. I want to come forward in church.”
That was more than I could take and my knees buckled. He caught me and sat me on the hood of my car. “Don’t pass out, Baby.”
“What changed it for you? Tell me how you finally figured it out?”
“When Sharon shot us, it was a miracle that neither one of us was killed. The bullet came through you and if it had an ounce more thrust it would have pierced my heart, but it didn’t. But it did take something away. Unbutton my shirt,” he said softly.
With trembling fingers I began to expose his skin, when I got to his heart, I saw the nasty scar, similar to my own, but it was what was missing that took my breath away. The bullet had pierced through the side of his tattoo, removing the first two letters. He knew when he saw it that I had been right all along, God has a reason for everything—no matter what it is.
He pulled his hand out of his pocket and opened a black velvet box; a beautiful diamond solitaire sparkled from within. Kneeling on the ground, he simply asked me to share forever with him.
That was when I realized my mother and sister were in the parking lot watching everything that was happening, as well as my pastor and a few dozen other church friends.
I nodded and said, yes. The parking lot erupted into cheers.
He put the ring on my finger, stood and pulled me into his arms. “Well,” he whispered, “At least they sound happy for us.”
I dried my tears as we turned toward the group and began to walk, “Yeah, the only person that I know who will be really upset is my date for next Saturday.”
He stopped and looked down at me. He wasn’t angry or even jealous, but he was extremely surprised. “Have you started dating someone?”
“No, it’s a first date and it was to celebrate my birthday—and to do a little wild driving.”
“Ryan,” he said it as if he had known it all along.
“Yeah, I was finally going to make good on my promise, but…”
“You’re keeping your date,” he stated as we resumed walking toward the crowd.
“No, I can’t.” I was ready to protest, but he finished his statement.
“You’re just going to have your fiancé as your chaperone, and he isn’t allowed to touch. And you, Mrs. Gavarreen will remain untouchable, until the moment you say, I do.”
“I only have one question,” I said as I reached out and grabbed my mother’s hand. Kimmy was already hugging Micah’s waist.
“Mom, this is Micah, the man I love.”
She smiled and hugged his neck, “Hello, Micah. It seems I owe quite a bit to you.”
“I actually owe your daughter my life, but I’d like to ask if you would allow me to marry her?”
“Only if I want her to be happy; she has never spoken of anyone like she does about you. What’s your question, Honey?” she asked
I looked from Mom to Micah and back. “How soon can we put a wedding together?”
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Thank you for purchasing Untouchable. If you have enjoyed it, I’d appreciate a review and to have you t
ell other where to find it.
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Heart of the Diamond was first release back in 2002 in paperback and hardcover. Many of my fans have expressed that it is something they have re-read several times over the years. The sex gets steamy in several scenes, but it is the story that created a following (men and women, alike). I’m so glad that Smashwords has made a way for me to bring my 150K word novel to the public at such an affordable price.
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Thank goodness there are still people out there that love to read (and write)!!
About the Author: Lindsay lives in Florida on the west coast. She is married and has three children. Although she holds a degree in technology, writing full-time (someday) is her dream job. She enjoys different genres, but always comes back to writing romance.
Heart of the Diamond (published)
Untouchable Trilogy:
Untouchable (published) Book 1
Unforgiveable (coming soon) Book 2
Untraceable (in progress) Book 3
Lindsay enjoys hearing from her readers.
Feel free to contact her at
mailto: Delagair@gmail.com
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE