His breathing was slow and deep, and his hold on me was soft, so I knew he was enjoying peaceful sleep. I pulled away slowly, trying to slip out of the bed undetected. He was a light sleeper, so getting out of his embrace wouldn’t be easy. I heard his breathing shorten just as I escaped, his hand narrowly missing me as my feet found the floor.
“Baby,” came his melodic voice, “come back to bed so we can talk.”
I laughed as I headed into the bathroom. Talking is not what we’d end up doing if I got back in there with him. I used his comb to get the tangles out of my hair and then used his mouthwash to make sure I didn’t have morning breath. I studied his toothbrush for a moment. I knew he wouldn’t mind, but I decided against it.
I opened the bathroom door to find him leaning against the door frame, still in his boxers and looking even better than when I saw him in the darkness. “You know that should be illegal, right?”
“What?” he stated innocently, eyebrows rising.
“To look that good,” I laughed, still watching his muscles as they flexed and rippled.
He made a deep growling sound, not one of anger, but of need as he pulled me into his arms. His heated mouth gently covered my own, begging my lips to part and let him explore. My hands slid around his thick shoulders and onto his back as I returned the passionate kiss. His granite-like body pressed me against the wall as our moral brakes began smoking against the inability to slow down.
“Are you hungry,” I whispered in his ear, hoping we’d find a reason to stop what felt so absolutely marvelous to both of us.
“Mmm-yes, baby, I am,” he rumbled his reply. His hips thrust against mine in an apparent showing of exactly what he was hungry for.
I inhaled involuntarily and deep as he pushed against me. My left hand turned his face to me as I found his lips. My right hand slid lower, past the hard abdominals, moving down the sleek muscles that were just above the rim of his low-rise boxers.
“Leese, if you go any lower, I’m going to rip every piece of clothing off you right here and right now.” His words were quick and forceful, telling me he sincerely meant what he was saying. I had to choose to let this happen, or to wait as we had planned. My hand slid around to his hip and then upward to his waist.
The sound of control returned to his breathing.
“I can’t be apart from you, Micah-even if it’s just a distance of a few miles from my house to the hotel. I can’t really sleep unless you’re holding me and-”
“I know,” he murmured softly, slowly backing off from pressing me against the wall, “after you got here last night and we went to sleep, it felt like the first time I’ve slept in months. It’s like I was finally-”
“Comfortable,” I finished for him.
He pulled away so I could see his face. A soft smile played with the corners of his mouth, “Exactly.”
“Maybe we should change the date of the wedding?” I whimpered wanting him to come back to pressing me against the wall, the floor, the bed; I didn’t care where as long as he didn’t take his body back.
He placed his lips on mine, but it was only a brief kiss as he pulled away, “No, we can wait.”
I let my hand return to the place that threatened to put him over his ability to control himself, “Are you sure we can wait?” I teased.
He gripped my hand firmly to prevent me from crossing a dangerous line, “Yes, but-”
“I want you to stay at my house,” I blurted. “I can’t stay away from you-not now.”
“Leese, I don’t think your mom is-”
“She already asked me if I wanted you to stay at the house,” I quickly added.
His brows rose, “She doesn’t think we’ve…”
I shook my head, “No, but she did-she was certain until I told her what a gentleman you’d been with me.”
He smiled. “Good. At least you are helping me get a better reputation. I wondered what she must think about me.”
“She thinks you’re fantastic, but…”
“But what?” His face getting that concerned look.
“I think she-she thinks you haven’t been in the mob very long.”
“Is that what you told her?”
“No, I haven’t discussed your-your former career with her. I don’t think she even realizes how much money you have. Not that she cares about stuff like that, but if she knew I think she might start to wonder.” I didn’t want to finish by saying that she’d begin to wonder how many people he killed to earn all that money. “I mean she doesn’t have all the answers, but neither do I.”
“Do you need all the answers?”
He tried to tell me many times how horrible he was before he met me, but I didn’t want to know then, and I certainly didn’t want to know now. I’d seen a glimpse of it when he killed Ricky and Jack right before my eyes, and that was frightening enough for one lifetime. “No. If you want to discuss it someday I’ll listen, but you won’t change the way I feel about you, Micah.”
He was getting ready to rebut me, but I quickly added, “Pack your stuff, please. Come home with me. We don’t have to sleep together, but I would just like having you in the house. Please,” I added once more for emphasis.
He leaned into me and put a final slow kiss on my mouth, “All right, but if your mom even hints that she’s uncomfortable with me being there, I’ll be back here at the hotel before you can start begging me not to go.”
“Deal.” I knew she would welcome him into our home. Mom understood me well enough to know that if I decided Micah was the man for me, there was no need to worry about the rest.
He packed and checked out and then followed me back home.
I never expected Mom to be angry when I walked into the house, and I was afraid Micah would turn tail and run, but he was very patient as Mom let off a little steam.
“All I’m saying, honey, is what if something had happened? You took off from here without telling me that you were going. You didn’t call Micah until you got to his hotel. What if something happened between here and there? I would have thought you were with Micah, and Micah would have thought you were home. Who knows how long it might have been before we started looking for you.”
“You’re absolutely right, Nadia,” Micah interjected, as if he was suddenly seeing what she was so upset about. “It could have ended in disaster if something had gone wrong.”
I rolled my eyes. Now I was getting scolded on both sides. “But-”
That was as far as Mom would let me go. “I’d rather have Micah stay here at our house, Leese, than for you to go traipsing off in the middle of the night to discuss your bad dreams.”
I finally smiled, “Yeah, I think that would be best.” I turned to look at him as he forced his smile to stay hidden, “Couldn’t you just stay here in one of our spare rooms?”
“Only if Nadia doesn’t mind me-”
“Of course not, Micah,” she cut him off before he could finish the sentence. “We have five extra bedrooms, besides the apartment down by the pool cabana. I know you two are…” A light blush crossed her cheeks, “…are saving things for your wedding night, but as far as I’m concerned-and God as well I’m sure-you’ve already made the important commitments to each other-but I do understand the waiting thing,” she added to make sure it didn’t sound like she was giving a blanket blessing to run upstairs and throw ourselves into bed.
I kissed her cheek, “I love you, Mom.”
By late afternoon we were seated on the pool deck watching Kimmy splash around with a friend that had come over to play. Mom was in the house calling a caterer to have dinner brought in tonight. I told her Micah and I could handle the cooking (Mom, unfortunately, was a terrible cook), but she said we’d save that for tomorrow night and let someone else do it tonight. She actually said she was considering hiring a live-in chef since everything was over concerning Robert. She was now living without the constant foreboding fear that everyone that came into our home was suspect. She returned to being the happy person she had been before grandpa died.