Chasing Julia (Rhode Island Romance #2) (17 page)

He trailed a finger
slowly along her crotch, outlining her mound, and then pressed down along the
center crease. “Feels a little damp under there,” he teased.

She arched her hips
off the bed. “Take them off and find out just how wet I am for you.”

He quickly
complied.

He dropped to his
knees on the floor, set his hands under her bare bottom and tugged her forward
until her bottom rested on the very edge of the bed with her legs dangling.
“Spread your legs.”

She did.

He tugged gently at
the patch of downy blond hair between her legs. “You’re so pretty.”

She giggled at the
masculine appreciation and wonder in his voice. “Thank you.”

And then she closed
her eyes, her neck arching as he put his mouth on her. His questing tongue
laved her soft folds, delved inside her channel, licked its way to her swollen
clit. He sucked that tiny bundle of nerves into his mouth at the same time that
his hands found and squeezed her breasts.

Julia cried out,
canting her hips off the bed as she surrendered to an orgasm that engulfed all
of her senses.

When the room
stopped spinning, she found herself fully on the bed and Tony above her, his
legs between hers, pushing her thighs further apart. He braced his upper body
on his hands as he bent his head to take her mouth. It was a soft kiss at
first, a kiss of gratitude and promise. Then the kiss caught on fire and burned
fierce and hot.

She was out of
breath and hungry when he pulled back. He wrapped his big hand over the top of
her head, compelling her to meet his piercing eyes. “I want you looking at me
when I come into you,” he whispered with burning urgency. “I want you saying my
name.”

She could only nod,
too overcome to speak. She brought her hands to his lower back, slid her
fingers down to grasp his taut buttocks. She felt the head of his penis
touching the crease of her inner thigh. She arched into that hard, hot
pressure, sharp currents of need racing up her spine.

“Julia,” he
breathed as he slowly entered her.

She drew a breath,
her mouth agape as he pushed deeper. “Tony,” she whispered.

“Louder,” he urged.
“Say it louder.”

“
Tony
.”

His jaw scraped
against her cheek. His mouth brushed her ear. “Who am I?”

“My husband.” She
undulated her hips, lifting, circling, luring him in deeper and deeper until he
was completely inside of her, stretching her, filling her. “Tony.”

“Julia,” he panted.
“My wife.”

She slid her arms
up his smooth back and clutched his shoulders, pulling herself against him,
rubbing her tender breasts against his chest. He lowered himself to his elbows,
the tempo of his thrusts increasing. And then he rested his body fully on hers
as he slid his hands down to cup her bottom and lift her into his grinding hips.

She loved the
sounds he made as he plunged into her—low, soft grunts that were interspersed
with shaky sighs that sounded almost like laughter resonating from deep in his
chest.

He buried his face
against her neck, his breath coming in hot, rapid pants against her skin. He
enveloped her completely, filled her completely.

If she could crawl
inside of him, she would. She’d never felt this closeness, this total unity.
“Tony,” she said again as she brought her hands to the back of his head.

She felt the
pressure building deep inside of her, her body quickening in preparation for
release. She wanted him with her when she reached her peak. “I’m close,” she
breathed in his ear.

He reared his head
back, his eyes seeking hers. At the same time, he snaked his hand between their
bodies, his thumb landing unerringly on her swollen clit. He rubbed. “Come with
me, baby,” he murmured.

Her fingers fisted
in the short strands of his hair. Her mouth fell open on a silent gasp as she
convulsed against him and around him. A groan came from low in his chest as he
thrust deeply, once, twice and then held still as he released his hot seed deep
inside of her. She wrapped her legs around his hips, milking him dry as he
bucked through the aftershocks and panted hot gasps against her face.

He brought his arms
around her head, cradling her as he collapsed fully against her, his chest
rising and falling with the force of his breathing, his sweat-slick skin glued
to hers. She was breathing just as hard. She smoothed her hands up and down his
back.

A shudder rippled
through him and he twitched inside of her. “Julia,” he groaned, replete.

“Tony.”

She closed her
eyes.

He was still inside
of her as they both sank into a sated sleep.

She
awoke to feel him flexing slowly inside of her, his penis fully engorged. She
opened her eyes to find him braced above her, his hips between her thighs, one
hand fisted in the bed sheet, the other lazily playing with her breasts.

“Hello, wife,” he said
in greeting, his grin cocky.

“Hello.” She rocked
her hips gently, inviting him deeper.

“Damn. That feels
so good. I could live inside of you.” He tweaked one nipple with his supple
fingers, then brought his head down to suck her other nipple into his mouth.

She sifted her
fingers through his hair. “I think a part of you soon will be,” she said
softly.

He stilled. He
released her nipple and lifted his head. His eyes gleamed with love and male
pride. “So soon?”

She hitched one
shoulder. “I’m not on birth control. And it’s the right time in my cycle. And I
just have a feeling.”

He kissed her mouth
tenderly. “Oh, Julia,” he whispered against her lips. “That would be a dream
come true. Our baby growing inside of you.”

He continued to
rock slowly inside of her, a languid coupling as he pressed tender kisses all
over her face. Her climax was a gentle ripple, a quiet clenching around his
thickness. His orgasm chased hers, his pleasure sounding from deep in his
chest.

He rolled onto his
back, taking her with him. He caught her close to him, his fingers tracking
down her spine and then gently squeezing her bottom. She rested her cheek on
his chest, one hand clasped around his neck, her thumb rubbing along his jaw.

Gradually, his penis
softened and he slipped out of her. She felt another ripple inside of her, a
tiny aftershock.

“Happy?” he asked
drowsily.

“Very.”

“No more doubts?”

“None.”

He glided his hands
up her back and massaged her shoulders. “The fire’s gone out. Are you cold?”

“Not anymore. Your
body is like a furnace.”

“How about we try
out the Jacuzzi tub?”

“Do you have bubble
bath?”

His chest rumbled
with soft laughter. “No, I don’t have bubble bath stuff. I’m a guy.”

“Mmm. Yes you are.”
She pressed a soft kiss to his sternum. “I
might
have some packed in my
overnight bag.”

“You brought an
overnight bag?”

“Of course. And
maybe
I packed a scented candle, too.”

“Any other
surprises in there?”

She circled one of
his flat nipples. “
Maybe
another pair of panties with a matching bra?”

His penis twitched
against her thigh. He groaned.

She grinned. She licked
his nipple until it puckered and then gave it a teasing bite. “You’ll have to
go get it though. It’s still in the car.”

He didn’t move
except to spread his legs, rubbing his burgeoning erection against her. His
hands slid down to caress her bottom again. “God, I love your ass.”

“I like yours,
too.”

He chuckled. He
slowly eased his penis into her wet channel. “We fit together perfectly, don’t
we.”

She gave a soft
gasp as she felt him lengthen and thicken inside of her. “You recover fast.”

“Because it’s you.
Sore?”

“No. Just a nice
pleasant ache.”

“I’ll be gentle.”

“Don’t be.”

As the thrust of
his hips picked up speed, she drew herself upright and straddled him, bracing
her palms on his hard chest. She felt the thud of his heart vibrating against
her right palm.

He cupped her
breasts. “You are so beautiful.”

“So are you.”

“And you’re my
wife
.”
His voice carried amazement.

“Always.”

He grasped the back
of her neck, drawing her face down to his. His tongue plunged into her mouth,
matching the thrust of his hips. She sucked him in, wrapped her hands around
his head, pressed her fingers against his skull.

She writhed her
hips as he found a pleasure spot deep inside of her. His hot breath mingled
with hers. His fingers were between her legs, his thumb rubbing. She was a
quivering mass of fever and need. Sweet pleasure pooled and gathered. She tore
her mouth from his, cried out in ecstasy as her orgasm surged through her body.

His own cry echoed
hers as he spent himself deep inside of her.

They slumbered for
a while, her body resting on top of his, exactly where she wanted to be.

Her stomach
growled.

He laughed softly.
“Hungry?”

“A little.”

“Bath first? Or
dinner first?”

“What’s for
dinner?”

“I picked up some
roast chicken from the store earlier. How about that with a salad?”

“Sounds lovely.”

He gave her bottom
a light smack. “Get off of me then.”

“No.”

He tickled her
ribs.

She shot upright,
scrambled away from his teasing fingers. “Tony! Stop. I’m ticklish.”

“I know.”

She vaulted off the
bed and raced for the bathroom. She locked the door behind her.

“I’ll be
downstairs,” she heard him call out. “Don’t be too long in there.”

When she eventually
made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, he was putting the final touches
on a salad. He had his jeans on and nothing else. His eyes swept over her
attire. She was wearing his shirt. It was a cotton work shirt. It draped to
mid-thigh on her.

“I like seeing you
in my shirt,” he said.

She leaned against
the center island where he was doing the food prep. “I like being in it.”

She admired his
washboard abs and the intriguing line of dark hair that arrowed down to his
groin. She reluctantly pulled her eyes away and flicked her gaze around the
kitchen. “I like this room.”

He scooped large
helpings of salad onto two plates. He grinned. “I’ll never forget the look on
your face the last time we were in this room, when you thought I had a serious
girlfriend.”

She pursed her
mouth. “It wasn’t very nice of you to toy with me like that.”

“Hey, I was telling
the truth. I told you I was thinking of buying this place for my future wife.
It wasn’t a lie.” As he spoke, he sliced up some chicken and put it on another
plate. “That was the day I knew for sure that you were attracted to me. Those
pretty eyes of yours were practically green with jealousy.”

“I wasn’t jealous.”

“Three days married
and you’re lying to me already, Mrs. Rossetti?” He winked at her. Then he
opened a drawer and withdrew some silverware. He handed it to her. “Here, go
set the table. I’ll carry everything over.”

She strolled over
to the small oak table on the far side of the kitchen and set out places for
two. “Is this new?”

“Yep. Sylvie wanted
the one from the house.” He brought their plates to the table. “I haven’t
brought much furniture from the house. Most of the stuff there is mix and
match. I was hoping you’d like to go furniture shopping this weekend.”

“Okay. There are a
few things at my place that might work here.”

He grabbed a bottle
of salad dressing from a cupboard and snagged some paper towels. “I like your
couch. That might work in the living room. We could get some coordinating
pieces.” He set the items on the table. “I have water or beer to drink.”

“Water’s good.” She
sat down at the table and watched him as he retrieved a pitcher of water from
the fridge and then a pair of glasses from a cupboard. “Looks like you already
have a lot of things organized. Did your crew help you unpack everything?”

“Just the
necessities.” He came back to the table, poured their water and then sat down
next to her. “There are tons of boxes in the garage. I thought we could go
through them together. Decide what goes where.”

She scraped her
chair closer to his and snuggled against his arm. “You knew I was coming back,
didn’t you.”

“I hoped.”

“I thought you were
going to come chasing after me,” she confessed softly. “I expected you to kick
down my door at any minute.”

He angled his head
to plant a kiss on her temple. “I do have some pride, Julia. I figured there wasn’t
anything more I could say to you to help you make up your mind. The ball was in
your court.”

“I’m sorry for
being such an idiot.”

He lifted her face
to his. His eyes were intense. “You are
not
an idiot. You were scared. I
get that. You couldn’t remember our wedding. I was hoping when you woke up that
it would all come back to you. I guess it didn’t.”

“Were you furious
when you realized I’d left?”

“Furious isn’t the
word for it. I was frantic at first, thinking something bad had happened to
you. It was already early evening by the time I woke up. Max was barking like
crazy. I had to take him out for a walk. I knocked on Hannah’s door on the way
because I thought you might have gone there to look at the pictures she’d
taken. It wasn’t until I called the front desk that I realized you’d both taken
off.”

“Did you get my
message? I called you from Los Angeles.”

“Yes. I was
in-flight to Chicago when you called. By the time I was able to listen to your
message, I was livid. I didn’t want to speak to you. It didn’t help that I
missed the red-eye out of Chicago and spent the night in a flea-bag airport
hotel with a yapping dog.”

She couldn’t help
but giggle at the image. She brought her hands to his face and drew him down to
kiss his forehead. “I’m sorry.”

He kissed her nose.
“It’ll be a story our grandchildren will want to hear over and over.”

She wrinkled her
forehead. “So… Where
is
that dog?”

“Max is with
Sylvie. I need to get this place dog-proofed before I bring him over. We’ll
have to make sure to keep the closet doors shut. I’ve found out that he likes
to chew on shoes.”

“And just
how
did we acquire that scruffy little mutt?”

His eyes twinkled.
“You don’t remember?”

She shook her head.

He slid his hands
from her face to her shoulders and gave her a nudge. “Let’s eat while I tell
you all about it.”

It turned out that
it had been Julia’s idea to keep the dog. They were leaving the chapel and Tony
was helping her into the taxi when Max had hopped into the car ahead of her and
plopped himself down on the seat, tail wagging furiously, a happy grin on his
doggy face. He didn’t have a collar. His fur was matted and dirty. When Tony
had picked him up to remove him from the car, he’d felt the dog’s ribs poking
out.

“I remember now,”
Julia said, interrupting Tony’s story. “I said there was no way we were going
to abandon that poor dog. I insisted we at least take him to the vet to see if
he had a microchip.”

“He doesn’t. And
then we had to get him vaccinated so he could travel home with us. After you
passed out on me, I gave him a bath.” He made a comical face. “That little mutt
got to lick your toes. I was lying there thinking ‘You lucky bastard. It’s
my
wedding day. That’s
my
bride’.”

Julia laughed. “It
felt pretty good, as I recall. You’ll have to try it on me sometime.”

“Gladly.”

She gave him a coy
smile. “I thought you wanted a big dog. A lab or a golden retriever.”

“Instead I got a
mutt of very questionable pedigree.” He grimaced. “Who also has cost me close
to a thousand bucks already between emergency vet fees, airline fees, hotel
fees and all the food he’s been guzzling down. He’s already put on two pounds
since Sunday.”

She caressed his
arm. “You love him already.”

His mouth twitched
in a grin. “He has a way about him.”

“Consider him my
wedding gift to you.”

He threw his head
back and laughed until his eyes watered. Then he caught her close in a fierce
hug. “Oh, Julia. It feels good to laugh about all of this now. These last
forty-eight hours have been pretty grim.”

“I know.” She
rubbed her cheek against his warm chest.

He propped his chin
on her head. “Do you remember our wedding now?”

“Yes. Most of it.
All the important parts.” She wrapped her arms around him. “And I’m sorry again
for running away, for not believing in you.”

“You just didn’t
believe in yourself.” His voice turned gruff. “And I could’ve been gentler with
you that day.”

“You know what,
though?”

“What?”

“I’m glad that the
first time we made love was in this house.”

“I would’ve said
differently on Sunday. I was desperate to take you. But I’m glad, too.”