Chasing Julia (Rhode Island Romance #2) (16 page)

There
were no messages on her phone when the plane landed at T.F. Green the following
morning. After Hannah dropped her off, Julia swung by the office before heading
up to her apartment. Her two assistants were surprised to see her, not
expecting her back until Tuesday. She asked them if there’d been any calls from
Tony Rossetti, but the answer was no. Too anxious to sleep, she took a quick
shower and donned a fresh outfit before returning to the office and diving into
a stack of invoices in a vain attempt to get her mind off of Tony.

The day dragged.
She kept one eye on her phone, the other on the door, expecting to see him
barrel in at any second.

Five o’clock came
and went. She sent her staff home. She called his cell again, but it was still
going straight to voicemail. Finally, in desperation, she called Hannah.

“He’s back,” Hannah
told her calmly, cutting into Julia’s questions. “He called me around three
o’clock. I thought he was going to call you.”

Julia collapsed
into her chair. “Why did he call
you
?”

“To ask if we were
back.”

“He hasn’t called
me. Why hasn’t he called me?”

“I don’t know,
hon.” Hannah’s tone was reassuring. “I’m sure you’ll see him real soon. I’m
guessing he’d rather talk with you in person than over the phone, right?”

“Maybe. Did he
sound upset?”

“No. It was
strange. He sounded very calm.”

Hearing this
worried Julia even more. Calm was the total opposite of how she imagined Tony
would be feeling. “Okay. Well, I’m glad he’s back safe and sound. I guess I’ll
wait until he comes over.”

“I’m sure he’ll be
over soon.”

But he didn’t show.
Julia managed to keep awake until just after eleven o’clock when she’d finally
succumbed to exhaustion and crashed on the couch.

She awoke with a
heavy heart and a sense of dread. The first thing she did was check her phone
for messages. There were none.

A busy workday
loomed. She had three client meetings today and a venue inspection. She was
swamped. She’d try reaching him again after work.

At five o’clock,
there was still no word.

Julia sat at her
desk and stared blankly into space.

She had expected
him to come after her. She’d expected him to come hammering on her door,
demanding entrance and an explanation. A secret part of her had yearned for
that, the heat of a confrontation, the agitation and excitement he aroused
inside of her.

But why
should
he come? Hadn’t he already proven himself to her?

Was he simply
giving her the time and space she’d asked for in the first place? Or, had he
given up on her and was already starting the process for an annulment or
divorce?

The latter
speculation wrenched her heart and filled her with panic.

She was over the
fact that he was Joe’s brother.

She was over the
fact that he was almost six years younger.

He wasn’t a rebound
guy.

He was the real
deal.

She loved him. She
loved him more than she’d loved anything or anyone in her life.

She called his cell
one last time. No answer. She tried Joe’s phone. No answer. She called their
company’s answering service. The operator informed her that Tony was on a
jobsite.

“Do you know
where?”

“I don’t have an
address. It’s in Cumberland.”

Cumberland. Maybe
he was working on his new house.

Their
new house.

She was his
wife
.

God, she was such
an idiot. She’d been wasting so much time.

She closed up the
office and rushed upstairs to take a shower. She shaved her legs and powdered
and moisturized her body. Lingerie went flying around the room as she searched
for the sexy bra and matching panties she’d purchased on a whim a month before.
Then she threw on a pair of jeans and the pink sweatshirt he liked, packed an
overnight bag and headed out the door.

Although it was
just after six o’clock when she reached Cumberland, it was already dark out and
there was a crisp chill in the air; autumn had officially arrived in New
England. As she made her way up the drive, her car headlights swept across
Tony’s truck parked in front of the garage. The front porch light was on,
casting a welcoming glow.

Her heart leapt out
of her chest when the door suddenly opened and Tony stepped onto the porch. He
hesitated for a moment before striding down the front path towards her car. He
opened her door.

“Julia.”

“Hello.”

“What are you doing
here?”

She swallowed a
couple of times, heart in her throat. She looked up at his stern, forbidding
face. Her smile wobbled. “Is that any way to greet your wife?”

He leaned in to push
the release on her seatbelt. Then he hauled her out of the car. He latched his
hands on her shoulders and held her away from him as he searched her face with
narrowed eyes. “Do you
want
to be my wife?”

She lifted her
chin. Her smile widened with confidence. “Yes. Always.”

“Good.” His tone
was curt. He removed his hands from her shoulders and jerked his chin towards
the front door. “Now get in the house. And get in our bed.”

She released a shaky
laugh. “Not a man of many words tonight, are you.”

He took her arm and
spun her around to face the house. He smacked her bottom. Hard. “Go. I’ll be
right behind you.”

In a heady daze,
she walked towards the front door. Halfway up the path, she came to an abrupt
halt. She pivoted around, finding him inches away. His body heat radiated from
him in waves. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he scowled down at her. “Aren’t you
going to carry me over the threshold?” she asked.

The cold, severe
edges of his expression melted away. A warm, fiercely tender light entered his
eyes. He slowly shook his head. “Goddammit, Julia Rossetti. You make it
impossible for me to stay angry with you.”

Without another second
of hesitation, he swept her up into his solid arms and strode into the house.
He kicked the door shut behind them and then proceeded up the stairs, two steps
at a time.

Julia looped her
arms around his neck. Possessiveness, hot and sharp, blazed inside of her as
her gaze traveled across his features. This man was her husband. “When did you
move in?” she asked, her voice trembling with excitement.

“Escrow closed
today,” he said, not one bit out of breath as he reached the upper landing. “My
crew helped me move everything in. In fact, I was just putting the bottom sheet
on our bed when I heard you drive up.”

She tweaked the
comma of soft hair at his nape. “Perfect timing.”

He pushed open the
door to the master bedroom.

A king-size
mahogany sleigh bed stood in the corner.

“Nice bed,” Julia
said breathlessly.

“Thought you might
like it.”

He strode towards
the bed and tossed her into the center of it. Her body gave a little bounce on
landing.

“Ooh, nice
mattress. Firm but not too firm. I like it.”

“Take off your
clothes.”

She held his gaze,
her blood sizzling at the promise that burned in eyes, the promise of every
deliciously wild and wicked thing she ached for. She shivered. “It’s a little
chilly in here,” she said in a sultry, teasing voice. She eyed the fireplace where
a pile of fresh kindling was waiting to be ignited. “Did the previous owners do
that?” She nodded at the pre-made fire.

“I did.” A corner
of his mouth twitched. “Stalling?”

“Not at all. I just
remember you saying how much you’d enjoy snuggling with your wife in this room
while a fire crackled in the background.”

“So I did.”

He opened the glass
doors to the fireplace, struck a match and set the kindling alight. He waited a
few moments until the flames grew stronger. Then he closed the doors and stood
up.

He tossed a down
comforter on the foot of the bed. “For later,” he murmured.

He kicked off his
shoes. Then he began to unbutton his shirt. “Hurry up,” he ordered. “Get
naked.”

She tugged off her
sweatshirt and tossed it in the corner. “I love it when you get all bossy like
that.”

One dark eyebrow arched.
“Do you? I thought you didn’t like it when I get all—what did you call
it?—he-man bully.”

She toed off her
sneakers and rolled off her socks. They followed the same trajectory as the
sweatshirt. “I was lying to myself.”

He removed his
shirt and dropped it to the floor. His eyes lingered on her purple satin and
lace bra. “That’s a very pretty bra.”

She trailed her
fingers along the left shoulder strap and down to the demi cup. She touched the
place where her nipple was poking against the satin. “Isn’t it? I was thinking
of you when I put it on.”

“Take it off.”

“Yes, sir.” She
reached behind her to undo the fastenings. Slowly, very slowly, she let the bra
fall away from her breasts.

He reached for the
buttons of his jeans. “I’m only this way with
you
, Julia. I can’t help
myself. I want to claim you, put my mark on you. You make me wild.”

He brushed the
knuckles of one hand along the rigid outline of his erection as if to emphasize
his declaration.

She followed the
motion of his hand with avid interest. Her mouth parted on a breath of
anticipation. “You make me wild, too. I’ve never felt this way before.” She
lifted her eyes back to his face.

He stepped closer
to the bed, the intensity of his gaze making her body sing. “You’ve always been
the good girl, the perfect friend, the perfect daughter. But I’ve sensed for a
long time that there were darker passions burning inside of you.”

She threw her bra
aside and rose up on her knees. Her gaze returned to his fingers. He’d undone
the top two buttons of his jeans. She licked her lower lip. “Come closer. Let
me do that.”

He moved to the
side of the bed until his thighs brushed the edge. He swallowed visibly, and
his eyes went half-hooded as she inched closer to him and cupped his crotch.

“Oh,
my
,”
she murmured.

His startled laugh sank
into a groan of pleasure as her knuckles brushed along his naked groin. Julia
kept her eyes on his as her fingers undid the rest of the buttons. She watched his
eyes widen and the pupils dilate as she tucked her hand inside his briefs and
wrapped her palm around the base of his penis.

“
Baby
,” he
breathed. “You sure?”

“Very sure.” She
slid her hand slowly, teasingly along his length before bringing both hands to
the waistband of his jeans and briefs and tugging them down with unveiled
impatience.

He helped her shove
his clothing down to his knees. His penis arched up towards his flat stomach,
fully aroused, the purplish head glossy.

This was
hers
,
Julia thought. All hers. She was going to enjoy playing with it, loving it. A
sense of daring and adventure filled her as she thought of all the pleasure she
could give him as she mapped the intriguing topography of his body. She slid
her hands slowly up his lean torso, fingers sifting through the light matt of
hair on his chest. She lowered her head and took him into her mouth.

“Holy…Sweet…
Jesus
,”
Tony hissed between his teeth as she tasted and nibbled and sucked.

For a while, there
wasn’t any sound in the room other than his harsh, staccato breaths and gasps
of pleasure.

When she cupped his
testicles, he brought his hand to her head, fingers tugging at her hair,
pulling her away. “As good as this feels, baby, that’s all I can take right
now. I want to be inside of you when I come.”

Julia sat back on
her haunches. She wiped her hand across her mouth as she watched him kick off
his jeans and remove his socks. When he bent over, the bulbous head of his
penis grazed his concave bellybutton.

Feeling desperate
to have him inside of her, she hurriedly unzipped her jeans and flopped onto
her back so she could remove them. She felt his hands cover hers as he took
over the task. The jeans went flying. Tony dragged her forward to the edge of
the bed and placed his hot palm on the crotch of her panties.

“They match your
bra,” he murmured with appreciation.

She wiggled her
hips. “Take them off.”

“Oh, I plan to. And
I plan to buy you lots of matching bra and panty sets. A different color for
every night of the week.”

“You mean you don’t
want me waiting at the door for you each night stark naked? I thought that
might be more your style.”

His eyes glowed
with laughter and desire. “Where’s the thrill in that? Undressing you will be
half the pleasure.”