Doug wasn’t surprised how easily Barnes had been won over by Senator Stanton’s charm and sincerity. After all, hadn’t Doug been won over by the man’s daughter in a matter of hours?
Meanwhile Doug’s article had been an exclusive, redeeming him and exposing the Barnes-Haywood Mob-related corruption scheme—all without a mention of Juliette Stanton’s name. And without using the Runaway Bride angle of the story the other papers had been clamoring for.
Of course the answer to why Juliette bolted from the altar could be found by deduction but it wasn’t a subject Doug had chosen to bring up. He’d sacrificed that tidbit of news in favor of protecting the woman he loved. Sacrificed. When had Doug Houston ever sacrificed the meaty details to protect someone else? He had to admit, he felt damn good about himself now and could thank Juliette for teaching him to be more caring. And with an exclusive exposé under his belt, under any other circumstances he’d feel sheer satisfaction.
Instead, all he experienced now was a profound sense of loneliness and frustration. For a man who’d always been on his own, who’d never even had a live-in relationship, he should be used to a solitary existence. But choosing to be alone and being forced into the state were two very different things.
Needing a change of scenery, he decided fresh air might clear his head. Doug grabbed for his keys and hit the street only to discover a walk in the rain—even a walk down Lake Shore Drive, far from Secret Fantasy—brought back a flood of memories. All of them good, none of them ever to be repeated again, because fantasies by definition were created by the imagination and not meant to be lived out forever.
And besides, he’d fabricated his fantasy in order to get himself paired with Juliette. He’d told Merrilee that by helping Juliette heal, he’d see he could put another person before himself. He’d said he wanted to make up for using Erin to further his professional aspirations. And he’d claimed he needed to be able to look himself in the mirror. The irony was, as he’d spoken aloud, he’d realized he was telling the older woman the truth.
Yet all he’d done was repeat his past mistakes. He’d used Juliette exactly the same way he’d used Erin, only this time, he’d also been hurt. He’d fallen hard and lost the woman he loved. Well deserved, Doug figured now.
The biggest irony was he’d achieved his fantasy and still wasn’t satisfied. The fantasy he’d woven for Merrilee had helped him become more human. Yet even looking back and understanding every place he’d gone wrong still didn’t hand him the future he desired. That decision was out of his hands. After all that had passed between them, if Juliette wanted him, she knew where to find him. Or did she? It wasn’t like he’d shared that important bit of information. He muttered a curse and headed back toward home, wet for his troubles, but no closer to a solution.
As he neared his front step, he caught sight of fiery hair gleaming in the mist, making him wonder if even undeserving S.O.B.’s like him sometimes got second chances.
He slowed his pace as he approached, still feeling as if he were in a dream. But when she extended her hand and he touched her, he knew she was here. Real.
And, he hoped, his fantasy come to life.
“Hi there,” he said.
“Hi, yourself.” A hesitant smile pulled at her lips, a smile he’d missed in the past lonely week.
The rain began to pick up momentum and he dug into his pocket for his keys. “You’re sitting in the rain. Is your fear of storms wearing off?”
She shrugged. “Better memories have taken over.”
Her hand remained in his and he held on tight, brushing his thumb over the pulse point on her wrist. “Have you been waiting for me long?” he asked.
She licked at her damp lips. “Only all my life.”
Without another word, he pulled her to her feet and let them inside. He swung her around and, backing her against the wall, they met in a scorching kiss that was emotional and intense and left him without a doubt that her feelings were as strong and potent as his.
“I missed you.” Her softly spoken words echoed in his ear as she nuzzled her head between his shoulder and cheek.
“Likewise.” He reached for her waist and pulled her body close to his. “I know we have things to work out.”
“Mmm.” She murmured in agreement. “Lots of things to settle.” Her lips created havoc with his nerve endings while she feasted on the sensitive skin of his neck. “But nothing that can’t wait.”
His body was already anticipating his next move and he desperately needed that emotional and physical connection. Needed to feel himself inside her and know they were real. “Waiting to talk is good.” He thrust his body against hers. “Waiting for anything else is not.”
“I’m not the one wasting time talking,” she purred in his ear.
No, she was the one with her hands halfway down his pants. From modest to confident, all in the course of a…relationship? He’d have laughed at the change if the entire subject weren’t so serious.
She wrapped her hand around his erection and he let out a groan. The lady had a point. There was a time for talking and now wasn’t it.
He looked into her green eyes, darkened by desire and an emotion he hoped he could name. “Race you to the couch?”
“Well, it’s about time.” She laughed, ducked beneath his arm and ran for the sofa, losing clothing on the way.
Doug followed her lead and ended up on top of her on the couch, her body heat seeping into him and warmth filling the cold spaces inside him. Spaces that had been cold far longer than since she’d left him on the island. And spaces only she could ignite and rouse into a burning flame.
He raised her arms above her head, linking his fingers with hers. “No protection.”
“It’s not a problem for me. How about you?”
He heard the challenge in her words. In the past he’d have felt like he was being trapped, that the walls were closing in. Instead, euphoria lifted him higher. “You don’t sound too upset about it.”
“Should I be?” She shifted, spreading her legs in an invitation he couldn’t mistake. “I was half asleep one night on the island. We were together and I could have sworn I dreamed you said something important. And then you said it again, only I was awake but not ready to hear. If you meant it, I need to hear you say it again.”
Her voice shook and Doug recognized her fear and anxiety about putting herself out there to be hurt if she was wrong. He understood because he’d been there himself. Only neither of them would ever hurt the other one. Not if he had a say in things, and it seemed now he did.
He eased his hand down, slipping his fingers into her silken, moist heat. She let out a soft sigh of need, but her gaze never left his, her eyes wide and imploring, the question still lingering between them.
“No questions, no uncertainties between us, Juliette. Never again.” He raised himself over her and entered her with one smooth stroke. “I love you.” As her muscles contracted around him, the words came not from his body but from his heart and they’d remain there. Forever.
Juliette felt herself toppling over the precipice quickly, the incredible waves building with each successive thrust of Doug’s body inside hers. And when she fell, she knew he was there with her. But long after the physical satisfaction faded, Doug’s words remained lodged in her heart.
He’d grabbed for an Afghan blanket on the arm of the sofa and covered them and now she lay cuddled in his arms. “You have to know I love you, too.”
“I kind of figured that out about the time you lost the last item of clothing on the way to the couch.” He laughed, but sobered quickly. “I just don’t understand how I could be so damn lucky after what I did. That article must have been much better than I thought.”
She needed to look him in the eye so she rolled to her side, a mistake since she nearly fell onto the floor. She settled for climbing back on top of him instead. “I never read the article.”
His eyes opened wide and she felt the rapid increase of his heartbeat beneath her ches
t. “Then what the hell changed your mind about me?”
“You did.” She ran a hand down his cheek. “You said you loved me when you had nothing more to gain. It was something I should have realized and believed in long before Stuart ever showed up.”
“I used you.”
His honesty now touched her. She inclined her head. “You came to Secret Fantasy for a story. You didn’t leave the moment you got one. Any other arguments?”
He clenched his unshaven jaw. “My fantasy was a lie—at first.”
“And later?”
His hands cupped her cheeks. “I wanted to put you first and I wanted to help you heal. Instead, I repeated old mistakes and hurt you even more.” In the depth of his eyes, she saw his pain.
In hurting her, he’d hurt himself. If that wasn’t love, then Juliette didn’t know what was. “Oh, Doug. Loving me isn’t hurting me. Who hasn’t made mistakes? I made mine when I followed some nonexistent plan I thought my parents had for my life. The only bright spot is that it led me to you. Oh, and that fantasy of yours? About putting me first and making my dreams come true? Did I mention I’d like you to keep it up for the next fifty or sixty years?”
His hands held onto her hips, preventing her from falling, and his deep chuckle reverberated inside her. “Is that a proposal?”
“Damn straight, since you might have just gotten me pregnant.” This time she made sure her challenge was light and fun. She had him and she damn well knew it.
He grinned. “No way can I turn down a proposal like that. Especially from a woman who accepts me the way I am.”
“Darn right I do.” She turned serious. “How’s your father?”
“Home and eager to meet the woman who’s turned me inside out, upside down and made me inhuman since she’s been out of my life.”
Her heart kicked up a beat. “Sounds like someone’s missed me.”
He let out a heartfelt groan. “You have no idea. But you do realize, you don’t even know if I squeeze the toothpaste from the top or the bottom.”
She laughed. “Are you trying to scare me off?”
He shook his head. “I’m realizing it’d take a lot more than my living habits, thank goodness.” He brushed a light kiss over her lips.
“We have a lot more to discover about each other.” As if to make her point she slipped her hands downward in a slow, leisurely exploration of the body she adored.
“And we’ve got a lifetime to learn.” He greeted her hands-on journey with some incredible moves of his own, causing her to writhe and squirm on top of him.
“Well, I’m game.” She managed to speak through the desire quickening inside her.
“And I’m glad.” Love shone in his eyes, making her feel complete. “But don’t you think you ought to read that article?” he asked. “There’s nothing in there about you. Not a word, not a hint, not a mention. Just your father’s wisdom.”
Her father. He’d said when she got around to reading the article she’d fall for Doug all over again. At the time, she thought he was applauding her courage for going after the man she loved, but she realized now her father probably had a hand in working things out with Doug.
“Juliette?”
She heard his silent fear, but he no longer needed to prove anything to her, and by trusting him without reading that article she hoped to prove that to him.
Besides, trusting Doug was easy because she’d learned to trust herself. “I already know I’ve got an intelligent man who puts me first.”
Doug’s heart filled with love and satisfaction—emotional satisfaction because he’d found his other half. A woman he loved to distraction who put her complete faith in him. He’d just have to make damn certain he never let her down.
“I promise to read the article,” she said.
But her actions belied her words as she began an erotic swirling of her hips and arching of her back, tormenting his already hard body with an enticing invitation—one he planned to take her up on, and he met her with determined thrusts of his own.
Her lashes fluttered shut and purred. “Mmm. Guess I’ll be reading it later.”
“Much, much later,” he muttered. Unable to withstand her teasing and needing to be inside her, he took charge, tossing the blanket onto the floor and lifting her until she could ease herself onto him, joining them together again.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-0253-8
SECRET FANTASY
Copyright © 2001 by Karen Drogin
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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