“I don’t think we’re gonna make it to the shower,” he breathed as his face descended to my neck and began kissing it hungrily, “at least not for a while.”
I moaned and completely relaxed under his caress. I liked this kind of conversation; the ones without words, because showing the love was so much more pleasurable than trying to explain it.
When Monday came around, Jonathan called to say he had made a rendering of the design and would like to show it to us and then go see the property. Micah wanted to do them both at once so he told him to meet us at the house and we would drive out to our little piece of heaven. He was still wary of Jonathan, but Celeste had found the Rossi Architectural Firm in the town he mentioned, and, so far, what he had said to Micah (in Italian) about working at his father’s firm seemed to be checking out.
The fence contractor had finished putting up the chain link and now a large gate blocked anyone from driving onto the property. Micah unlocked it, but left the gate open as we drove back to the lake.
“I can see why you chose this spot,” Jonathan stated as he got out of his car. “It is perfetto.”
Micah smiled.
Jonathan unrolled a large colored sketch of the house we had chosen, and then, underneath that one was a different view from the guest homes and finally there was a basic site plan showing the way all three homes would be laid out in relation to each other. I could understand now what he meant when he said it would be like a small village; it was very charming.
“If this interests you, I would like to get a key to the gate so I can bring a friend of mine out here and we can shoot some elevations to make sure where you want to put the house is not too low. I will do a more accurate plan to include the driveway in and to incorporate some of these oaks in the layout of the buildings.”
I wasn’t going to say a word. This was totally up to Micah if he wanted to keep Jonathan working for us. It took Micah long enough to figure out I was remaining silent as the three of us stood their looking at each other like a bunch of idiots.
“Yeah, that would be okay,” Micah began to say as he was unwinding an extra gate key from his key ring.
“You do not have to keep me on as your designer. I will understand if you want to hire someone else.” He evidently saw the hesitation from both of us.
“Trust me,” Micah said as he handed Jonathan the key, “If I change my mind, you’ll be the first to know it.
Jonathan smiled as he took the key, “Somehow, I believe you.”
We all laughed at that statement.
We drove back to the highway and Jonathan told us goodbye and left. Micah was just locking the gate when a familiar, faded yellow pickup truck pulled off the road and near the car.
Trent was waving as he climbed out, “Micah, Leese; I was wondering when I saw the fence going up if you two bought this. Jeanie is going to flip when I tell her.”
Micah shook his hand with a big smile, “Well do us a favor and tell her we would prefer not to have everyone in town know who their new neighbors are going to be—at least not for a while.”
“I can understand. So are you going to build pretty soon?”
“Yeah, I think some time next March we should be ready to move in. We’ll invite you and Jeanie over when we get it finished.”
I didn’t mean to be so surprised, but Micah had taken an immediate liking to Trent from the first day we met him, and it was good to see him making friends with someone who wasn’t a mobster.
“Really? Let me give you our number. Listen, if you’d like to learn the hot spots on the lake to fish, I could bring my boat out sometime—we don’t have to wait for the house to get done.”
“That sounds good. I don’t mind you fishing on the lake. We only had the fence put up so that when they break ground on the house they can keep all the equipment and materials secure.” He pulled the last gate key from his ring and handed it to Trent, “Feel free to fish out here anytime, just you and Jeanie, though.”
“Awesome. Thanks man,” he said, accepting the key. “How about Saturday we get you out on the water?”
Micah looked at me.
“Is Jeanie available Saturday? Maybe we could picnic while you guys fish?”
“Nah, she’s out of town at her sister’s and won’t be back for another week. But we could plan that for another time; I know she’d love it.”
“You guys go fishing Saturday—I’ve got some things to do anyway.”
Trent grabbed his cell phone and asked Micah for his cell number. He immediately punched it in and rang Micah’s phone. “There now we have each other’s number,” he stated as they saved the information.
“I’ll call you Friday, just to confirm.”
We waved goodbye and climbed back into the Vet and pulled onto the asphalt.
“We’re gonna have to stop on the way home and have a copy made of your key,” he stated. “I hadn’t planned on giving both of mine away.”
“So you fish?” I asked, ignoring the key situation.
“I did when I was ten or eleven years old. It was fun then, I suppose it hasn’t changed too much.”
“So you can teach me, right?”
“You want to learn how to fish? Somehow, I just can’t picture that. I’ll make you bait your own hook—I don’t go for sissy stuff.”
I laughed and gave him a very honest look, “Put me behind the wheel of this car and I’ll make you beg for ‘sissy’ stuff.”
A slow, long grin crept onto his face, “True. I don’t think you have a sissy bone in your body.”
“I want to drive my car,” I blurted. “I’m not going to race it, or wreck it, or—”
“Or challenge Jonathan to a race?” he finished for me, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve seen you sizing up the Ferrari. You don’t have to prove you have the faster car—Guinness already did.”
“It would be fun to race, but I wouldn’t do that now,” I stated, trying to get the seatbelt to adjust over my expanding form. “I just miss driving it. Do you think I’m a bad driver?”
“Completely the opposite actually, but it’s how much temptation you can stand.”
I was thinking about using Ryan for an example to prove my ability to withstand temptation, but I really wanted to avoid ever telling him that I came so close to taking that forbidden step. Maybe he was right. Maybe I needed to learn to avoid temptation, instead of keeping it as close to me as a gas pedal to my shoe. “It’s just fun to drive, that’s all.” I looked out the window and sighed. “If I’m not going to get to drive it anymore than maybe I should sell it.” Man, I hated to say that, but what good was it if all I could do was look at it?
I felt his warm touch as he gripped my left hand.
“See what I mean about feeling like I’m taking away your ability to be yourself. Don’t sell it, yet. I know you can handle it. After the baby is born, I’ll accept whatever you want to do with it, other than putting a baby seat in it.”
“I wouldn’t do that.” I knew he was teasing, but I could tease, too. “Front air bags, remember?” I laughed. “Actually, I’m considering getting rid of both of my cars and finding a—a nice sedan.”
“If you do that, you’ll ruin my anniversary gift. I don’t need to have my Vet. If I’m going to pick on you about responsible driving, I need to take my own advice, too.”
“You love this car,” I argued. “I don’t want you to—”
“I already picked out the new car for you, and even though I don’t need the money from the trade in, I felt horrible about restricting your fun without touching mine.”
“Martyrdom is appreciated, but completely unnecessary—keep the Vet. So, I have to wait until our anniversary to find out what you’re buying, huh?”
“No, I just didn’t want you to run out and buy something similar. It’s unusual, so I’m guessing you’ll like it. Ever heard of a Maybach?”
I was about to strain a brain muscle trying to remember the name. I had heard of it before, but probably dismissed it
because I had never been interested in sedans before now. “I know the name, but I honestly don’t remember the car.”
“It’s about as luxurious as a car gets. I’ve ordered you one with all the toys; everything from built in DVD players, to electronic curtains and even a refrigerator in between the rear seats in case you have to put baby food or something in it.”
“Are you sure you ordered me a car and not a motor home? Does it hit sixty within thirty minutes?”
“I’ll have you know it’s twelve cylinders like your Aston, 604 horsepower and has a top speed of 172 miles-per-hour, but I don’t expect you to ever find out if it really will reach that speed.”
“Wow, that has to be a record for a motor home,” I smirked. “I’m kidding. It sounds wonderful and I can’t wait to see it.” I couldn’t lean over and kiss him because of the arrangement between my belly and the seat belt, so I blew him a kiss.
We didn’t hear from Jonathan for another week. Micah got to go on his fishing trip with Trent. He very proudly displayed his twenty-one inch largemouth bass when he got home. I thought he would have it stuffed since he was so impressed with himself, but that night I was surprised to find him cooking in the kitchen. I knew immediately it was his fish in the frying pan. He had filleted and skinned it, and rolled it in seasoned flour and fried it golden brown in a little olive oil. It was delicious, and I’m not really that big of a fan of fish.
CHAPTER ten
Our anniversary was only ten days away and I was struggling to decide what to get Micah as a gift. He was getting me a ‘family’ car, but what would he like to have? I was lying on the bed nursing a dull headache while Micah showered, when his phone went off. I picked it up and noticed it was Trent calling. He was telling me that Jeanie was dying to get us all together for a picnic, and he wanted to get Micah back out on the lake to see if he could re-create the feat of the twenty-one inch bass or if it was simply beginner’s luck.
That was when the idea hit me; the perfect gift for Micah for our anniversary.
“Trent,” I practically shouted into the phone, “you just gave me a great idea! I’ve been racking my brain to figure out what to get Micah for our anniversary—a boat—a bass boat. Could you tell him you’re looking for a new boat and get him to go with you? Help him find the perfect boat and trailer—ah, crap—he’s going to need a truck, isn’t he?”
Trent was laughing by this point as he listened to my rambling, “It’s a good thing you’ve got a deep bank account—I’m lucky if I can get a new pole out of Jeanie.”
“Would you mind doing this for me? I don’t want him to have a clue, and he is really good at figuring out gifts.”
“Yeah, I think I can pull this off. Let me talk to him.”
Micah was still in the shower when I rapped on the shower door. He was grinning from ear to ear when he opened the door, “Headache gone?”
I stared at my soaking wet, butt naked, hot husband and smiled as I waved the cell phone in my hand, “Trent is on the phone for you.”
“Oh,” he said, shutting off the water, grabbing his towel and drying his face and hands.
The date was on. Trent worked for the power company so he had odd work days. He was free all day Wednesday which worked out well since Micah didn’t like leaving me home alone. We’d had the house all to ourselves for several days because Mom and Kimmy had flown to Louisiana to visit David, but they were due in Wednesday before noon. Trent would come to our house and they would leave out early and spend the day picking out Trent’s new boat.
Micah was all smiles as they pulled out of our garage in the Vet and headed down to Outdoor World in Dania Beach. I wondered if he would be suspicious as to why Trent was looking at brand new boats instead of used ones, but I could only hope he wouldn’t figure out the real reason for the trip.
Fifteen minutes later my phone was ringing with a very excited Jonathan on the other end.
“Can you and Micah come out to the property this morning? I want to show you something.”
“No, I’m afraid he’s tied up for the day. What did you want to show us?”
“The house on the property—it is wonderful, but we will have to decide how to make it accessible. I am thinking you should put in a road around the west end of the lake.”
“What house?”
“The rancher’s retreat on the other side of the lake. I should have called you first because I have already hired a man with an airboat to take us over there. I guess I will have to call and cancel.”
I remembered that Jeanie said the rancher who owned the property, before the developer, had built something on the other side of the lake, but I assumed it was a simple little shack that wouldn’t be of any value to us. But, by the sound of Jonathan’s voice, it was no simple shack.
“It’s nice, huh?”
“Extremely charming. There are no electric lines running to the house, it runs on a fuel cell and solar. The setting is beautiful and the furnishings are still inside. I cannot wait for you to see it. I think, if we had someone come in and cut a road around the lake, you two could live on the property right now until your new house is finished.”
“Really? You’re serious?” Maybe there was something else I could surprise Micah with for our anniversary. Mom would have a fit if we moved out before her grandson arrived, but it would be awesome to have a private weekend retreat. “How long would it take to cut in the road?”
“Two or three weeks, if you like the house well enough to do this—you really need to see it. As I said, I hired a man with an airboat to ferry us across the lake. He is going to meet me there at noon, but I guess I will call and cancel.”
“No, don’t do that. I want to see it. I’d like to surprise Micah.”
“Do you want me to pick you up? The drive will not be so long in my car.”
Riding in the Ferrari was a cool idea, but not if Micah found out I did it. “No, I’d better not.”
“Of course,” Jonathan said (and I could almost hear his smile through the phone), “it would be an even shorter drive in your Aero.” He paused.
I pondered.
“Not that I am suggesting anything reckless, but it would be fun to have you trailing me in your car. I have been dying to see it on the road.”
Trailing him? Oh, please—if anything, he would be trailing me.
“We would create quite the sight with an Enzo and an Aero sizing each other up on I-95. But,” he paused again, “your husband is not one that I actually want to make angry, and I am pretty sure he would blame me and not you for getting that beauty out of your garage. But your Aston Martin would get you there in good time, if you want to see the house today.”
“How soon can you get here?”
“I can be at your house in fifteen minutes—if that is not too fast?”
“You’re asking the wrong girl that question; I’ll be ready.”
I was already dressed in my blue-jean maternity skirt and a loose cotton blouse, and I had put on my makeup before Trent arrived. All I needed to do was put on tennis shoes instead of my dress flats and I would be prepared to trek across the landscape to get to the wooded surprise. I went downstairs and out to the garage. My Aston Martin sat by itself in the three stall bay. I really would like to take what was in the other garage. I’d love to feel the adrenaline rush in my veins when I turned the key. I’d love to put Jonathan and his Ferrari in my rear view mirror and watch him attempt to out-maneuver me. I’d only be gone about six hours and I doubted Micah would even be back by then—Mom would, but would she spill my secret if I took the Aero? She’d be calling Micah if she pulled in to find my Aston in the garage and me not there. I doubted she’d even look in the other garage for my Aero.
Ah, now there was an idea.
I left mom a note on the kitchen counter and pulled my car to the end of the driveway to wait for Jonathan. When the Ferrari came around the bend in the road, I couldn’t get the smile off my face. Just before he reached me, I pulled out in my Aero and t
ook off for the property. I was laughing when my phone went off. Thank goodness it was Jonathan calling and not Micah.
“You are living dangerously this morning,” he chuckled.
“The key word to that statement Mr. Rossi is ‘living.’ I needed a little adrenalin fix today. Good luck catching me.” And I hung up.
We arrived at the property after only an hour and fifty minutes. I was careful, but a little heavy on the speed since his streak of gray lightning kept attempting to get around me. It was the most unadulterated fun I’d had behind the wheel since I’d been on the airbase in Colorado. He actually only made one serious attempt to take the lead and that was just before we pulled off the interstate. I could see, in my side mirror, the determination across his face as he made his move. We had come up behind a grouping of cars when I heard him drop the gears and the high wind of his engine as he hit the fast lane. It only took me a second to maneuver around the grouping by weaving to the right and then giving my gas pedal an opportunity to meet the floorboard. It didn’t take more than the blink of an eye to catch and pass him before our exit.
I pulled up to the gate and waited for Jonathan to open it. I rolled down my window as he unlocked it.
“I might as well hold it open and let you drive through first, I have been watching nothing but your license plate ever since we left Palm Beach anyway,” he smiled.
I drove back to the lake and waited for him to join me. We made it early, so his rented airboat hadn’t arrived yet. Now that I was here and had enjoyed some time behind the wheel, I was feeling horribly guilty about driving my car. It wasn’t the best decision I’d made in a while and, even if I made it home before Micah, and even if Mom didn’t notice what I pulled into the driveway in, I still planned to tell Micah about my adventure and accept his wrath. I deserved it. I could only hope that this house was as good as Jonathan eluded to so I could use it to off-set my poor judgment.
Untraceable Page 12
