When I woke the next morning, I was nauseous and weak, but the feeling of his arm around me was like finding a lost piece of heaven. I rolled onto my back, my blouse was gone, but my bra was still on me as was my underwear. Micah’s shirt was gone, but his jeans were still in place.
“Are you okay?” I heard him whisper.
“I’m still sick to my stomach, but not anything like I was when David did this to me.” I didn’t even want to discuss it, but I had to know, “How much did you put in my drink?”
“Enough for two; David told me he gave you enough for a half dozen. Leese, I’m sorry I did this to you. I had no idea about the baby. All I knew was that Ryan said someone forced this on you and I had to know. You shouldn’t have left. You should have come to me and we would have gotten my family together and figured this out.”
“What would you have done, Micah? You would have charged upstairs and someone would have cut you down. I couldn’t risk letting him destroy your family or you; my life didn’t matter at that point.”
I caught the first tear as it flowed down his cheek, “You mean everything to me. Don’t ever say your life doesn’t matter.”
I rose up on my elbow and kissed his lips. I knew we’d kissed last night, but I wanted him to know that, sober, I still loved him so much.
“I don’t know how you can even stand to be near me after what happened between us, baby.”
“What I couldn’t stand was being away from you. Aaah!” I gasped; my hand dropping to the mound where there once was only flat stomach.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Micah move so quickly from lying down to upright.
“What’s wrong?” came his panicked reply.
I grabbed his hand and placed it against my stomach and watched the splendid amazement hit him. “I-I can feel the baby moving,” he breathed. “Is it okay? I mean have you felt this before?”
“I’ve felt the sensation, but not this strong. Yes, it’s okay-just getting comfortable I think, but help me up. I’m calling my doctor to see if he can get me in. I need to ask him about-Ecstasy.”
I called my doctor and told him I had, unintentionally, taken a little Ecstasy last night and I wanted to see him to make sure everything was okay. He paused for a long moment on the phone and I wasn’t sure if he was trying to figure out how I’d done it unintentionally or if he was concerned about the effects.
“I’ll see you as soon as you get here.”
My heart beat grew faster as I thanked him and hung up.
“Do I wait here or-”
“This is your child and I want you with me.”
“God, I don’t believe it, I-”
“Micah you’re the only man I’ve ever slept with,” I emphasized, feeling a little hurt at his statement.
“No, it’s not that-you know I believe you. It’s that, for once in my life, I’m scared to death. I’m shaking,” he said, holding out his trembling hands so that I could see.
I rose up and brought my mouth to his for a gentle kiss, “I guess this means I should drive?”
“Yeah, I really think you should.”
We didn’t say much to each other as we drove along the coastline to the doctor’s office. But he kept watching me the entire way. I don’t think he ever noticed the cliffs and the beautiful ocean crashing gently against the breath-taking coastline; all he did was stare at me. He finally spoke when we pulled into the medical complex.
“I never thought you could look more beautiful than the day I married you, but I swear you’ve changed to someone even more spectacular.”
I smiled and squeezed his hand, “Let’s go.”
I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain my ‘drug use’ when Dr. Cray asked me, but Micah spoke before I could open my mouth.
“It’s my fault. I didn’t know she was pregnant and I-I spiked her drink.”
“You know you can go to jail for that,” Dr. Cray scowled.
“I know I should go to jail for it,” Micah confirmed.
Dr. Cray sighed, as he turned back to me, “Leese, if you did this on a regular basis or even just on a recreational basis, we’d be looking at multiple birth defect issues, but since you are in your second trimester and the fact that this is the only time during your pregnancy that you’ve been…” he shot an annoyed glance at Micah. “…been exposed to it, the baby should be fine. But I do want to get a sonogram, just to make sure everything is normal. Is he the father?”
“Yes,” I said, finally finding my smile.
“Good, then he can stay, but don’t ever, ever-”
“I swear, never again,” Micah spoke up. “I didn’t know.”
“That part doesn’t matter. Never give someone a substance without their knowledge.”
“I won’t.”
The ultrasound machine was brought in, but first he placed a microphone against my stomach to listen to the baby’s heartbeat; a rapid pulsing sound filled the room. I’d heard it before, but I watched the smile spread across Micah’s face, and then concern.
“It’s so fast. Is that normal?”
“Yes,” Dr. Cray stated, “babies have much faster rhythms and then they slow down with age. That sounds good to me. What do you think, Leese? Do you want to find out if this is a boy or a girl today?”
I nodded, afraid to speak as the jelly was smeared across my stomach and the ultrasound machine was turned on. Micah gasped as the picture came on the screen of our child. He was squeezing my hand tightly as every detail of the tiny face, arms, body and legs appeared with the three dimensional image. One thing became immediately obvious and I knew it before Dr. Cray could say it.
“It’s a-a boy,” I stammered. I had a feeling I was carrying a boy, but I didn’t know until now.
“Congratulations. Yes, your right, it’s a boy.”
Micah was a wreck and he dropped down in a nearby chair as the doctor cleaned off the jelly and then helped me sit up.
“All looks fine and-”
“Dr. Cray, what about-about having sex?”
Micah’s head shot up as he looked at me, “No, I don’t think you’re allowed.”
Dr. Cray laughed, “I don’t get that response from too many fathers-to-be. Sex is fine, encouraged even because it has a calming effect, afterwards of course, on your body. As long as you two aren’t into anything rough-”
“No,” Micah interjected. “Never again.”
That earned him another scowl from the doctor, “As I was saying, yes you can. And a lot of women find that it is the most heightened sexual time of their lives because all the senses are extra receptive during pregnancy.”
“Thank you,” I said, swallowing hard and shaking his hand.
I had never seen anything affect Micah so desperately. I got the opposite reaction on the drive back to the cottage as he stared out the Jeep, head turned hard right as the scenery passed by. I pulled up to the cottage and got out, but he just sat there.
“Come on,” I coaxed as I closed my door, but still peering through the open driver’s window. “Micah?”
“I don’t deserve this,” he stated. “I don’t deserve you. You should hate me for what I did, and I don’t know if I can handle forgiveness. I can’t see how this could be anything that God purposed.”
I leaned in the door frame, resting my head on my forearms as the brilliant California sunshine warmed my back. “Micah…” I waited for him to look at me. When he turned, I began. “Do you remember the few days we had together, and the conversation about getting me pregnant?”
“Of course I do, but-”
“Do you think that four months after telling me you wanted to wait, you would have changed your mind? I know I wouldn’t have.”
“You don’t want to be pregnant, do you?” he sadly questioned.
“I was okay with letting it happen during those first few times, but I knew it would only be if God planned it.” I reached inside the Jeep and grabbed on to his hand, but he looked away. “When I ran away and my period started a week later, I was crushed. I wanted to be carrying your baby so badly because if I couldn’t have you, at least I would have had a part of you.” I gave his hand a tug to get him to look at me. “I had no clue God had the day of conception already planned-not in a way that either one of us wanted, but it’s all a matter of timing. Don’t you understand? This baby wouldn’t exist if all this didn’t happen.”
He swallowed as he looked at me with anguished filled eyes, “But-I-hurt-you,” he paused on every word to make his point.
“Yeah, you did, like nothing I’ve ever experienced. But as bad as that was physically, it didn’t even come close to the pain of leaving you. Come inside, Micah. We don’t have a lot of time together and-”
The expression changed quickly from sorrow to disbelief, “D’Angelo isn’t going to keep us apart.”
“He said if he finds out that we’re back together your family won’t last twenty-four hours. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“I’m going to kill him,” The words were ice cold as a flicker of blankness appeared in his eyes.
“No! You can’t go after him. I may not know much about how the mob works, but I know he’s your superior and you can’t touch him.”
“He’s used me since I was fourteen to do his dirty work-and I don’t mean things that were contracted. When he forced you into this, he stepped over the line and I am going to take his life in payment.”
“I want to ask you something, Micah, but, to tell you the truth, I’ve got to get inside because I still feel a little sick to…” He was out of the Jeep before I could finish the sentence.
I opened the bedroom windows and let the ocean breeze flow into the room and then lay down on the thick comforter, making room for him beside me. He hesitated and then finally joined me.
“D’Angelo told me something that day that’s bothered me ever since and I want to know if it’s true.”
“I’m sure it has something to do with all the people I’ve killed. I was hoping we’d never get into this, but,” he seemed to be steeling himself for my question, “go ahead.”
“Not everyone, just the first one.” I watched his reaction and knew this was the question he was honestly dreading, “Was it a woman? A woman you slept with?”
“I was fourteen, Leese,” he didn’t sound like he was offering it as an excuse, but just a sad beginning to a story I knew I’d regret hearing. “My dad determined I was ready to be a soldier for the mob, but D’Angelo was the one who told me I would be different. I should have paid with my life for what he had me do, but we have kept his private work secret from the rest of the family. Believe it or not, the mob values honesty at the highest level. If a superior asks you a question, you’d better be telling the truth. He’s had me lying to superiors ever since he had me kill the mob boss’s wife.”
I knew this wasn’t good. If he had been breaking mob rules from the beginning and D’Angelo used it against him… I pulled my body up close to him because I’d begun to shiver in the cool air. He reached over me and pushed the closest window frame shut, to keep the breeze off me.
“D’Angelo told me she was a whore, an unfaithful woman that had wormed her way into a marriage to the head of the clan. He said she didn’t deserve a place of honor in the family, but he would give her a chance by testing her loyalty-with me.” His breathing was getting shallower and I knew he hated having to tell me this. “D’Angelo said she had a particular weakness for young boys, and, if it was true, and she tried to seduce me, I was to kill her. He said I’d be doing the Boss a favor, but we would never let him know we’d handled it for him.” He paused, then asked, “Are you sure you want to hear this?”
“Yes,” I shivered, realizing it hadn’t been the breeze that was shaking me inside.
“She’d decided to spend a few days in Gulfport gambling and sunning on the beach. It was my first outing as a member of the mob and my parents trusted D’Angelo-they thought I was taking care of a small time hood that had been skimming business and was on the run. They never knew what I was really doing.”
“So he took you to where this woman was and-and…”
“I met her out on the beach. I had no idea what to do with a woman. D’Angelo told me to go over and say hello, offer to help her in some way or just hang out near her. He was right, she did like young boys, but particularly well-built young boys and it wasn’t long before she had me wrapped around her finger. I spent an afternoon getting to know her; she was beautiful, twenty-one years old and eager to be the first woman I’d ever slept with. I’ll never forget her bringing me into her room. I wanted to have sex with her, but the whole time I kept telling myself if we crossed that line, I was supposed to kill her. I didn’t want to hurt her; she was fascinating to me.”
“He never should have put you in a position like that, Micah. You were too young and-”
“And too stupid,” he added. “She took me and I was freaked out by the emotions. I hadn’t learned control and, after the first time, she aroused me again, and I knew I had to finish the job. If I didn’t, I’d be a failure-most likely D’Angelo would have killed me and returned home and told my parents that the target got me first. I didn’t have a gun; he never told me what to do, so I simply turned animal. She seemed to like getting rough, until I got my hands around her throat.” His voice caught on the last words. “I killed her with my bare hands and I swore I’d rather shoot someone than to do that again. You know what she went through, Leese. I did the same thing to you when I raped you.” The tears were washing down his face. The pain was incredible and intense for him.
“But you didn’t kill me, Micah. If you’d been under better control, you’d-”
“I never would have hurt you, Leese, if I could have helped it.”
He rolled over and caressed my cheek and then buried his face into my neck as I stroked his hair and tried to quiet his anguish.
“Is that all, Micah?” I had to know if there was anything more to what D’Angelo had done to him. I could feel him shaking his head no, but he didn’t seem ready to talk so I simply held him and waited.
When he finally raised his head, he seemed composed and ready to finish telling me what happened. “He was very-very happy with the way I killed her and so, to celebrate, he bought me a whore for the night as a gift for doing what he wanted.”
“You were a child, a fourteen year-old child, and he bought you a hooker?” I couldn’t keep the ire out of my response.
“Yeah, and if he hadn’t been in the same room with me when I… I almost killed her, too. My sexual drive had been linked to murder and I couldn’t see how to separate the two. I eventually learned control, but women were nothing to me. They were something to use and walk away from…until I met you.”
He rose up on his elbow to look down on me, seemingly wanting to touch me, but was hesitating, “You don’t know how different you are. You are so innocent, trusting and naïve, like some kind of creature that never existed in my world. When I met you, I came so close to killing you because you actually frightened me, and that was a new experience. You told me I had to be a gentleman; that was new for me, too. I had control, but I never had that kind of restraint. I couldn’t even kiss you. And then when you made the kiss your final request, all I could think was that it would be like going back to the real me-passion and death all over again.”
“Then this is what I feel coming from you when I know you’re getting near the edge. You’re trying not to go back to what he trained into you.”
“You can honestly tell? I mean, you can feel me losing control?”
“I see it mostly, usually in your eyes first, but yes I can feel when it’s slipping away from you.”
“How do you feel right now?”
“Safe, Micah, but…”
The soft smile that had started at the corners of his mouth, quickly faded, “But what?”
“I want you to make love to me, but I’d be lying if I said there was no fear.”
“I won’t make love to you. I don’t deserve-”
“I deserve you, Micah Gavarreen. I didn’t marry the monster, I married the man. You aren’t the person he trained you to be and someday I pray you’ll see that because I know you don’t want to be the monster.”
“Leese, I annulled our marriage. I have no right to be in your bed.”
“You didn’t annul my vow and I didn’t break my…” A pain hit me hard and I knew he saw it in my face.
“What’s wrong, baby,” he whispered.
“Micah, it’s been eight months and I’m assuming you-you probably didn’t keep your…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. I couldn’t make love to him if he’d been untrue, because I wouldn’t put the baby in danger from an experience he might have had.
“I didn’t sleep with anyone if that’s what you’re trying to ask me, Leese.”
I didn’t mean to seem so surprised, but I was.
“I don’t want you to think it was because I didn’t try. I don’t want to lie to you. Twice I hired someone to-to satisfy me, but each time I couldn’t. You don’t know how pissed off a hooker gets when she realizes that the man that bought her can’t get turned on by her. I was trying to go completely back to my old life, but I just couldn’t. I told you you’d ruin me for life for this-you’re the only one. Between the lack of sex and sleep, it doesn’t surprise me really that the steroids and amps put me over the edge so easily.”
“Sleep?” I said, cocking one eyebrow at him, “You couldn’t sleep?”
“I told you a long time ago, I can’t get comfortable without you in my bed. Why?”
“I couldn’t sleep either, I…” Maybe it was not the best idea to tell him how I finally solved the problem. “How did you manage it?” I changed the subject.
“It didn’t work quite as well as having you beside me, but I had a lock of your hair that I’d put on the pillow next to me. I’d close my eyes and rest my face against it. It was the only thing that kept me from total sleep deprived insanity.”
“Where did you get my hair?”
“The house you stayed at in north Georgia-you threw it in the trash. I loved your long hair and I can’t tell you how upset I was that you cut it. But, for the record, you’re a beautiful blonde, too. So,” he gave a weak smile, “how did you manage without me?”
I was hoping the cringe wasn’t totally obvious. “You won’t like mine,” I tried to say gently.
“Amytal-and you’re right, I didn’t like it.”
I blinked a couple times, “What’s Amytal?”
“Leese, please don’t lie.”
“Micah, I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
“Five hundred dollars and a stage hand; does that refresh your memory?”
“Is that what that was? I never knew the name and I only took one.”
“That’s a relief. I had him fired right after Cedric showed me the video. I was afraid you were going to get hooked. That’s pretty strong stuff.”
“Tell me about it. One pill and I didn’t wake for twenty-five hours.”
“Why would you do something so dangerous?”
I could tell he was trying not to sound too upset with me, but I was just glad I didn’t have to tell him about my real sleep-aid. I should have known better.
“If you only took one,” he continued, “and that was four months after you left, then how did you… Leese, I can see it written all over your face. You don’t want to tell me. Why?”
“Because you’d probably prefer dope.”
“What did you do?”
“Ryan-I mean, I didn’t ‘do’ Ryan-I mean he was the one who-he became your substitute,” I winced.
“You said you never slept with-”
“I said I never had sex with him, but I slept with him-a lot.” I could see the wheels turning in Micah’s head, so I figured I just keep explaining. “After those first several days and he realized I couldn’t stay asleep, no matter how exhausted I was, he asked how I slept before. I told him you would hold me with your arm around my waist and we’d stay like that all night. The first time we tried it was our last night in north Georgia and-”
“One bed,” he said suddenly sounding relieved instead of angry. “That’s why there was only one bed unmade in the house. Gwen and I thought-well, it seemed obvious that you’d been sleeping together-like sleeping together.”
I hadn’t considered the one bed visual we’d left behind. “You’re family must really hate me,” I whimpered.
“They aren’t going to hate you for long because we’re getting this whole thing straightened out.”
“NO! I told you I can’t take a chance of D’Angelo-”
“I won’t take any chances, but we will meet with them, even if it’s not in Louisiana. They’ve got to know the truth.” But his thoughts quickly returned to the previous conversation, “I am surprised you managed that with-with him. He didn’t try to change your mind?”
“Micah, he was a virgin, he didn’t even-”
Micah choked on my statement. He sat up tried to catch his breath. I rubbed his back as he gulping air, “You’ve got to be…” he swallowed another breath, “kidding.”
“No, I’m not. He has a girlfriend now, but at the time-”
“I can’t believe it. You must really love me because I would have thought, especially since you would have been his first, that it would have been a turn on for you. Did you ever kiss in bed?”
“Micah! Can’t you just leave it that he is my very best friend and that we didn’t have sex?”
“You kissed in bed, and didn’t have sex?” He sounded amazed. “It’s no wonder he beat the crap out of me. All the frustration of never having you and then I come along and-and take you. I’m surprised he didn’t kill me.” He could clearly see that I was flustered over his comment, but he added a disclaimer. “You realize I would have forgiven you if you had slept with him, right? The night of the party, all I wanted was you back in my arms, and I was certain you had already slept with him.”
“I wouldn’t have forgiven myself, Micah. I’m yours, forever.” Just as I finished saying what was supposed to be a romantic statement, my stomach growled loudly. I laughed, “Time to feed the baby; he doesn’t like it when I skip meals.”
“Stay put,” he stated, leaning over and kissing my forehead, “I’ll fix you something.”
I listened to his clatter in the kitchen, the scents and the sounds of breakfast as he prepared it. I was starving, but I rolled to my side and grabbed the pillow he’d used last night and I inhaled with all the power my lungs possessed. Oh, how I missed the smell of Micah Gavarreen.
I dozed off for a little while, but soon he was whispering my name as I rolled over and sat up. He had the breakfast tray prepared for two as he reached over with his free hand and propped the pillows against the headboard.
He scrambled eggs and added ham, fresh mushrooms, onions, and cheese to make an omelet. He filled two wine glasses with orange juice, and found the mammoth cinnamon rolls I bought at the market yesterday. It didn’t take long to finish everything off as we leaned together, shoulder to shoulder, and ate. The roll was the last to go. Since they were so large, he only brought one and had cut it in half. It was delicious, and I could have eaten the entire thing, but I peeled it off in half-moon rings feeding a strip to him and then a strip to me until it vanished.
Micah didn’t bring a napkin, but he took my sticky, cinnamon bun fingers and placed them slowly, one at a time between is lips and suckled each one clean. It tickled so badly I could barely take it, but it was so unique that I had to do it to him. I took his hand and pulled his index finger across the icing that was left on the plate and then placed his finger in my mouth and slowly clean the sweetness from his skin. He closed his eyes, his breathing becoming faster as I began to repeat the process with his icing-free fingers. He was starting to moan and I knew it wouldn’t be long before the tray would be moved and he would have me in those strong arms.
“Drink your juice,” he said with a deep quality to his voice as he pulled his hand away.
I did as told and placed the empty glass back on the tray. He was being so slow and purposeful as he sipped his drink.
I took the glass away from him and downed the juice. “Move the tray,” I told him as I began to unbutton my blouse.
Instead he rose up, lifting the tray from the bed and left the room. I could hear him in the kitchen rinsing the dishes, but that didn’t matter because it gave me enough time to prepare for him to return. When he stepped into the doorway, I had removed my clothes and was laying on top of the comforter and wondering if he found me to still be attractive with the change to my anatomy. One thing was certain, my breasts felt as if pregnancy had double them in size. He wouldn’t leave the doorway and I wondered if he disliked my nude appearance. I began to feel unsure under his gaze.
“If you don’t like the way I’m-I’m shaped now, I can get under the covers.”
“Leese, you’re perfect-absolutely stunning pregnant. It’s me.”
“Please, Micah. Take off your clothes and get in this bed with me. I need you so much.”
He sighed and approached me, “How can you want me?”
“You’ve got to stop asking yourself how and start realizing why: I love you. I’ve loved you since I started falling for you in Pensacola. I loved you in Louisiana and I loved you in Palm Beach. I loved you in Georgia, and Colorado Springs and even in L.A. Why be surprised that I love you here in California?”
I reached up and began undoing his shirt and suddenly he was over me, frightening me to retreat among the pillows.
“But you’re afraid of me,” he confirmed as he held me in his steady, green gaze.
“Yes, I am. But you’re going to change all that right now. I only have one request,” I said with a shaky voice as I continued opening his shirt.
“Tell me, baby,” he breathed.
“Don’t bite me.” He used to bite me gently and it felt wonderful, but since the attack the idea of his teeth on my skin terrified me, “You left a couple scars the last time.”
“Show me,” he whispered.
I rolled my right shoulder forward and showed him the fine pink crescent and then over my left toward the back of the base of my neck resided its twin. He moved to come up behind me as he brought his mouth to cover the spot on my neck. He kissed it so gently and let his tongue roam over the reminder of what had been so violent between us. He kissed and caressed all the way to the mark on the right and repeated it with deliberate slowness. He lowered me back onto the pillows and then stood and finished removing his clothes. He gathered me against himself slowly as I gasped at the warmth of skin on skin.
I never had experienced such deliberation, not even on our wedding night. It was incredible as he stripped away the painful memories of our last encounter and filled me with more desire and need than I knew existed in the human body. The doctor had been right. Every touch, every kiss, the scent of his skin, and the taste of his tongue against mine was magnified to a place beyond my comprehension.
His body joined with mine and took me on the longest building, gradual ascent to climax I’d experienced. I tried to raise my hips to quicken his stroke, but he wouldn’t permit it as he brought me there at his intentional pace. I don’t know what I was saying by the point I reached the top, but I was loud and breathless as we crested.
What amazed me, as we lay locked in the lover’s embrace was that, even lying on me, he never lowered his weight. It was as if he was floating gently at the point of skin to skin contact. The baby moved and I heard Micah’s mirth as he felt it against his own stomach. “I think he wants his space back,” he snickered against my neck, but then he pulled back slightly and stared into my eyes. “I love you with all my heart, Annalisa,” he said, kissing my neck once again and then rising to his feet. “Is your shower big enough for two? I’d love to wash you and then tuck you into bed.”
“You have no idea how good that sounds to me, right now.” It was mid-afternoon when we finally snuggled into the bed in our favorite position, but this time his arm was across my hip so as not to crowd the baby. We didn’t wake until sunrise the following morning. He rolled out and said he was making breakfast, again.
“You’re going to spoil me,” I teased.
He turned and looked at me very seriously, “I owe you a lifetime of spoiling.”
“I accept,” I giggled. “Oh, but man, I’ve got to go pee!”
I came out of the bathroom and heard him on his cell phone as he prepared breakfast.
“…yes, all of you,” he was saying. “Do you think I’d ask if it wasn’t important? Tomorrow morning at Dad’s casino-by ten a.m. Yes, it does and you’ve got to hear it.” He hung up and then turned to me. “Leese, I didn’t ask you, but we need to meet with my family. We can fly there in a couple hours, or we can drive there in about eleven, but I’d like to eventually get you back home. I’ve talked to your mom a couple times and, unless she’s as good at hiding things as you are, she doesn’t know about the baby.”
“No, she doesn’t. How long would it take us to drive to Florida?”
“A week at a slow pace, five days if we travel ten to twelve hours a day. Why?”
“I was thinking, after we drive to Vegas, I’d like to drive to Colorado Springs and see Ryan.”
His head snapped up from the food he was preparing to look at me, “I need to see him, but I don’t know how well it’s going to go. Our last meeting wasn’t very-friendly. I don’t even know if he’ll let me in his house.”
“I think he’ll be willing, if I talk to him first. I’ve wanted to call him anyway. Do you mind?”
“Of course not.”
I took my cell phone and went out on the front porch. The air was crisp enough to make me step back inside to grab my cashmere sweater hanging on a hook by the front door. I sat in the rocker and dialed his number. It was a Tuesday morning in early May and I guessed that Candace might be at school. It was 7 a.m. California time, so that meant it was 8 in Colorado. Perfect timing since she has to be at school by 7:45.
It was going on four rings when he answered the phone and sounded out of breath, “Leese?”
Maybe she wasn’t in school.
“Hey, what are you doing? I didn’t catch you at a bad time, did I?”
“No, I was in the shower when I heard the cell go off. God, it’s great to hear your voice. I’ve missed you so much. I don’t suppose you’d want to tell me where the hell you’re at, would you?”
“Sure I will. I’m in Gualala, California, and I’m staring at the Pacific Ocean right now.”
“Not standing on the edge of a cliff, I hope.”
I laughed, “Please stop thinking of me as suicidal. I’m fabulously happy.”
The line was silent.
“Ryan?”
“Did you meet someone?”
“Yes, I did and he’s very special,” I said, my free hand cradling my small bulge.
“Are you sleeping with him?”
Someone else might have found that question too forward, but Ryan had no reason to play coy. “Yes. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so intimate with someone in my life.” Sharing one body was as intimate as it gets, I laughed to myself.
“Sadarius?” he questioned.
“No, you nit wit-that was tabloid trash; you know that. You’ve-you’ve never met him before, but you will.”
“I will? Like when?”
“How does three or four days sound?”
“You-you mean it? You’re coming back to Colorado Springs?” I could hear the elation in his voice.
“Only for a day. We’re on a trek back home to Florida.”
“Really? But what about… Are you sure you want to go back to Florida?”
“Well, I want Mom to meet him. She’s going to be really surprised.”
“Damn, it’s good to hear you so freaking happy. I told you someday God would make sure you got the happiness you deserve. See you in a few days, baby girl. I love you.”
“I love you, too. See you then.” And I hung up. Okay, so I didn’t tell him about Micah, but my mystery man would be my first line of defense to get him to listen to me.
We cleaned out the cottage and locked it up, and pulled Dobrey’s Jeep into the tiny garage. I followed Micah to drop off the rental car and we were off in my Aero. I let Micah drive, because I didn’t think I’d be able to sit that still for ten or eleven hours. The scenery on the first part of the trip was spectacular, I’d seen it on the way out here, but my frame of mind had been much different, now I was seeing it with new eyes. Micah seemed to enjoy giving my Aero a chance to stretch out and there were miles of roadway before us.
It was 9 p.m. when we pulled into Las Vegas and drove to the Nuova Immagine hotel and casino. It had been an older building, but Micah explained how his father sank millions into renovations and now the building was elegant and classy, and was turning a steady profit. We made our way through the casino, several men nodding as Micah passed, and I knew this must be a mob hot spot.
“Micah Gavarreen,” he stated at the hotel desk. “I called this morning.”
“Yes, sir,” the young woman responded. “We’ve been expecting you. Please enjoy your stay,” she said as she placed the room keys in his hand.
The elevator doors open and we stepped inside. I clutched Micah’s arm as we began moving. He gave me a concerned look.
“I don’t trust these things anymore.”
“You have no idea how safe you are here,” he smiled, kissing my forehead. “You might as well be staying at the White House for all the security we have.”
“I’m afraid I haven’t developed a ‘safety’ feeling around the mob yet-at least not with the experiences I’ve had.”
“I don’t blame you,” he whispered, “but you are safe.”
We stopped at the top floor and went down the hallway to our room. He unlocked the door and we stepped into the penthouse.
“Wow, look at the view,” I marveled as I approached the wall of glass overlooking the bright lights of Vegas. “Do you come here much? I noticed a lot of people in the casino seemed to recognize you.”
“Every once in a while, just to relax and gamble a little.”
“Do the people downstairs know D’Angelo?” I didn’t want this ending badly.
“D’Angelo doesn’t come here. He’s much too busy in Louisiana. Besides, these are friends of my dad, and Dad runs with a whole different caliber of people than the likes of D’Angelo.”
“I thought-I mean from what you told me-D’Angelo was a friend of your personal family.”
“He was at one time, but things changed between them and now they barely speak. You’ve got to be tired, Leese.” He changed the subject. “Do you want me to have some food sent up and then we can go to bed?”
“I’m not tired or hungry, but bed sounds wonderful,” I gave him a sexy smile.
He didn’t seem to catch my drift at first, but then his eyes lit up.
“Oh… Shower first or second?” Before I could answer he took me in his arms and gave me a long, sensual kiss.
It was so wonderful to be spoiled by him.