01 Untouchable - Untouchable (37 page)

She passed me the bag as I had the
sensation to tell her that he wasn’t even here, but why spoil her
fun. I thanked her and closed the door.

Just before dark I heard the sound of
the Trans Am pulling up to the next bungalow. I watched from the
window, noticing how he took everything in before stepping from the
vehicle, including the slightly open curtain in our unit. He
frowned and then proceeded to the door.

He was speaking as he opened it, “When
I say close the…” The aroma of dinner must have hit him. “Did you
use your credit card?” He didn’t sound angry that there was
something available to eat, just puzzled.

“
No, you told me not too.” I
was reminding him that I
could
follow directions. “I had it delivered to the
motel and they charged it to our room.”

“
I’m sorry I didn’t think to
give you any cash so you could get something if you needed it, but
you can use the charge card now that they know we’re in town, just
don’t use it for anything that can be traced back here—like a
delivery order.”

“
But I was
careful.”

“
It’s on the news that you
were at the hospital today.”

“
The news crew never saw me.
They were pulling into the hospital as I was pulling
out.”

“
They don’t have video of
you, but they interviewed a nurse and a hospital administrator,
both positively identified you. You won’t be able to go see her
tomorrow.”

“
But, I have to! She needs
me and I promised.” I was filled with fear that the few minutes I
spent with her would be all I had and then she might think I wasn’t
going to help.

“
Leese, I know they’ll be
waiting for you tomorrow. If they don’t go ahead and shoot you when
you’re walking in, they’ll wait for you to come out and do
something then. I’m sorry.”

“
Can I at least go…” My
emotions were trying to uncheck themselves, but I paused to force
them back down. “Can I go see her doctor downtown?” I could see he
didn’t like that idea either, but I continued before he could
answer. “Please. I have to see him and get him to drop all the meds
he’s put her on. He’s been our doctor for years and I think, I hope
at least, he’ll listen to me. I’ve got to do something before she…”
So much for checking my emotions, I couldn’t continue.

He sighed.

I knew the sigh well. It was the one he
used just before he caved into whatever it was I wanted at the
moment.

“
I don’t cry to get my way,”
I defended my emotional inabilities, and then began wiping away the
tears. “It’s just this is really hard.”

“
Annalisa, if I thought for
one second that the tears were fake, you wouldn’t sway me. But,
I’ve never seen so many honest tears in my life.”

“
Sorry,” I choked, grabbing
a dinner napkin and trying to stop the next downpour.

He moved beside me and pulled me into
that place in his chest where it seemed I fit so perfectly. “Don’t
apologize. In this business I haven’t seen much honesty, and I’m
finding that I like it.”

“
So can I go?” I implored,
looking up at him with my still watery eyes.

“
Yeah,” he laughed softly.
“But we’ll plan that out in a little bit. How about
dinner?”

We sat at the small dinette and avoided
talking business. I think we both needed doing something normal,
like sharing a meal, to take a little of the stress off. But as
soon as I put the leftovers in the fridge, I had to ask where he
had gone today.

The ‘I-don’t-want-to-tell-you’ face
appeared.

“
You might as well tell me
because…” Then a horrible thought crossed my mind. I flashed back
to our conversation this morning about his needs and how frustrated
he had been when I stopped his advances once again. What if he… I
know I went pale.

“
What is it?” He was
genuinely concerned.

“
Unless you… Never mind,
maybe I don’t have to know everything.”

“
Annalisa,” he said, his
head cocking sideways slightly. “What is it? You’re upset about
something.”

“
It’s nothing, I’m just
being stupid. Forget I even asked.” I was trying to find something
distracting to do, anything to stop this conversation that I
initiated. “Let’s watch the news—I hear an heiress turned up
today.” I was trying to put a little humor back into our
evening.

He caught me before I got to the
television and simply picked me up in those massive arms and
carried me into the bedroom. It was completely dark, not even the
bathroom light was on. He laid me down softly and pulled me in
close.

“
You want to know where I
went today. Okay, let’s discuss it.”

My heart felt as if it was going into
defibrillation and I had to catch my breath. This sounded like a
hideous confession coming and I really didn’t want to hear it. I
knew I wasn’t the first young woman to be in his arms, but somehow
if he was to tell me what I suspected, everything would change for
me and I’d never be in these arms again. “Please don’t. There are
some things I’d rather be ignorant about.”

“
What is going on inside
that brain of yours? I got Sharon’s address and went to scope out
her house.”

The oxygen returned to my system. “Oh,
I thought—I thought there was something you didn’t want to tell
me.”

He was quiet in the darkness, and I
knew there was more. “You’re right. There are some things that I
don’t want to tell you.”

Okay, now I’m back to feeling like I
could pass out on this internal coaster ride. It didn’t take all
afternoon to find the woman’s house. I was picturing Sharon and the
fact that she was a beautiful blonde, far too young for Robert, but
not for… “I’m gonna be sick,” I said trying to rise up.

“
You don’t need to know
every…”

“
Yeah, okay. I get that.
Just let me up and…” He was still holding me as I began to tremble.
I needed to get away.

“
She’s using Robert to get
to your families fortune.”

“
Duh. I didn’t figure a
woman that looked like that was really interested in him.” I
snapped.

“
I found out that she and I
are a lot alike…”

That was all I could take of this
confession. “Stop it! Let me up!” I was struggling hard against him
now, but he had decided I wasn’t going anywhere. He rolled on top
of me, pinning my arms above my head and stopping my thrashing legs
with his own. I felt almost crushed as his full weight came down on
me.

“
What the hell is wrong with
you, Leese? Stop it, and be still.”

“
I don’t want to know what
you did with her today,” I struggled to get out. “Next you’re gonna
tell me she just has a lot of
needs
—just like you.” I was sobbing
at this point and I knew if he gave me a second of freedom, I would
be out the door and I really didn’t care who was waiting beyond
it.

He paused so long on top of
me that I wondered if he was trying to crush me. “Ah, Leese—I
didn’t mean for it to come out sounding like…
You think I went over there and slept with her?
No, I found out she’s a mob princess. Like me, her
family is all mob—she’s… My God, Leese, why would you think—how
could you think that I would do that to you?”

“
After this morning you
said—you talked about your needs—and then you were gone all
afternoon—and you didn’t want to tell me—you and I can’t…” I was on
the edge of hysterics at this point.

“
Leese,” he crooned, his
hand released my arms and cradled my face. “I haven’t even been
able to think about another woman that way since I met you. My
needs are for one person, and that’s you.” His body relaxed and he
positioned himself to take the weight off me. “I didn’t want you to
know she was mob. And that I think she’s sleeping with either Ricky
or Jack— they’re staying together. I’m pretty sure she is waiting
for Robert to get sole control of the money and then she’s going to
take it from him and give her daddy a big financial boost. I’m
certain she’d be happy to have all of you dead, Robert
included.”

“
I’m sorry,” I whimpered. “I
just didn’t want to know if you had…”

His face descended in the darkness, his
cheek rubbing slowly in the soft pile of my hair by my earlobe.
“You may ruin this for me for life,” he breathed quietly. “Nothing
has ever felt this way. I’ve never had a need like you before.” His
mouth found its way to my neck, his body provocatively pressed
against my own, and his hands beginning to slide down where there
had always been breaks before.

I heard him whisper something urgent to
me, but I couldn’t hear anything except the roar of my pulse in my
ears. With trembling fingers, I began undoing the buttons on his
shirt, feeling the hot muscled skin beneath. He moaned at the touch
of my hand. The voice came again, clearer and frantic, surprising
me with his request.

“
Tell me to stop, Baby. Tell
me before it’s too late.”

“
I love you, Micah,” I
replied. “I can’t hurt you this way anymore. Make love to
me.”

It was as if I could feel him coming
undone. Passion descended like fire. I knew he needed me the same
way I felt the night he pulled me out of the pool; more than
anything, more than air, more than a beating heart, more than
life.

“
You didn’t want it this
way, Leese.” His body pressed firmly against my own as if two
pieces of a puzzle were about to come together. “You said it had to
be forever.” His mouth was now in the hollow of my throat and
moving lower.

“
We don’t have forever,
Micah—tonight will have to be forever.”

He stopped, his head resting against my
breast. His breathing was being reigned in and control was
returning. “No. You aren’t doing this for yourself, you’re doing it
for me. I can’t let you give up on forever. I can’t let you change
that part of your beliefs because you want to satisfy me. You said
this morning that you had a hard time believing it means anything
to a man. I want you to know that it means something to
me.”

“
You’ve been waiting for a
yes.” I swallowed hard. “I’m giving it to you.”

“
And I’m giving it back. I’m
saying no.”

With that he rose from the bed and went
into the shower. I lay there and tried to let the magnitude of what
just happened work its way through me. I was relieved and yet I was
still aching for his touch, the feel of his lips on my skin, and
the feeling of a consuming passion. Would I have regretted it in
the morning? I know I would have, but as far as tonight my only
regret was that he was the one who said no.

I wondered when he came out of the
shower if he’d get anywhere near me; we came too close this time.
But he surprised me, crawling into the bed and putting me securely
in his arms. “Now we can talk about my day.”

“
I thought we did talk about
your day.”

“
We got distracted—at least
I was distracted and…”

“
Me too,” I added, snuggling
against his chest.

He wrapped me tighter in his hold.
“When I left to get our breakfast this morning, Mom called and gave
me the low down on Sharon. I didn’t want to tell you because you
had enough on your mind about your mom. When she was checking up on
her, she found that Norton was her married name.”

“
She was
married?”

“
She was twenty-two at the
time and her husband was fifty-seven. He had several million in the
bank, but, mysteriously enough, he had a serious car accident three
months after they were married and died.”

“
Funny how that happens,
isn’t it?

“
Her maiden name is Moretti.
Her family works the east coast. That’s where she got connected
with Jack and Ricky several years ago. Evidently she has hired them
more than once. She’s sloppy when she does something or else that
bank withdrawal would have never shown. I guess she figures her
daddy will get her out of any fix she gets into.”

“
So you think she’s got her
sights on Mom’s money so that she can give it to her
father?”

“
Actually the extra money
that has been keeping Robert afloat has been coming from the mob
like we suspected, but particularly from the Moretti clan. I guess
she figured they would be getting back their investment when she
gets finished with him.”

“
So why did you say you
think she’s sleeping with one of the brothers?”

“
Did I tell you
that?”

“
You really were distracted,
weren’t you?” I was smiling in the dark, letting my hand trace the
pattern of his abdominal muscles through his cotton
tank.

He squeezed my shoulders. “Don’t derail
me. When I left the hospital, I drove down to check out a rental in
her name by the beach. The house next door is for sale so I called
the realtor and asked her to show it to me.”

“
Wasn’t it obvious to the
realtor that you spent most of your time looking at the house next
door?”

I could actually hear the smile appear
on his face. “I didn’t keep the realtor there long. But I spent
plenty of time in the house.”