Chapter 25
After work, Deacon stopped by the department store to pick up a couple of extra dress shirts, since he’d all but ruined the only one he’d brought with him. While he was at it, he got a couple of new pairs of khaki shorts so he’d have something fairly decent to wear when he saw Julia.
Julia.
Julia.
Julia.
She was all he’d thought about during the endless day at work. If he hadn’t already figured out that she was special, he would’ve known it simply by how much he thought about her when he wasn’t with her.
At home, he showered, shaved and put on one of the new shirts and shorts. When he was ready, he went down the stairs to the yard, where Blaine was supervising Ashleigh on the swing set while holding Addie. She let out a squeak when she saw Deacon coming.
He held out his arms to her, and she leaned toward him.
For a long moment, he waited to see what Blaine would do. Finally, his brother handed the baby over to Deacon, albeit begrudgingly. “There’s my buddy. How’s it going?”
Addie patted his face and tried to pull his hair.
“Watch out. She’s grabby.”
“That’s okay,” Deacon said, besotted by the tiny girl who looked up at him with big trusting eyes. She had Blaine’s eyes, he realized, which meant she had his eyes, too. Funny how family and genes worked that way. Deacon made the barfing sound that had amused Addie the other day.
Sure enough, she cracked up, so he did it again.
“Where you heading?”
“To Julia’s.”
“Spending a lot of time with her.”
“Yep.”
Blaine took a sip from a beer and then glanced at Deacon.
“Something on your mind?” Deacon didn’t really want to know, but he was enjoying the minute with Addie as well as watching Ashleigh swinging, so he put it out there.
Blaine hesitated for so long that Deacon figured he wasn’t going to say anything.
“Tell me about the fight,” Blaine said.
Deacon hadn’t expected that. “You really want to know?”
“That’s why I’m asking.”
“My friend Sherri… Her ex-husband harasses her nonstop, and even though she has a restraining order against him, there’s not much she can do about the harassment because they have joint custody of their kids.
He came into the bar, drunk and spoiling for a fight.
I intervened because I heard him say something awful to her and was legitimately afraid he would kill her with the way he was acting.
And in case you’re wondering, even after everything that happened, I don’t regret it. ”
“Were you seeing her?”
“Here and there, but it wasn’t a big deal. We hung out a few times. After working the domestic unit in Boston, I know trouble when I see it, and he was looking for trouble that night.”
“Hmm.”
“What does that mean?”
“I really hate having to apologize to you—ever—but especially twice in one week.”
Deacon laughed, which made Addie laugh. God, he was crazy about her. “Sorry to force you to confront your inner a-hole.” He glanced at his brother. “I’m not the stupid kid I was when I lived here and you had to clean up my messes all the time.”
“I see that.”
“Do you? Do you really?”
“I do.”
“Well, that’s progress.”
“Bring Julia to dinner tomorrow night around seven.”
“Okay…”
“Give me my daughter back.”
“She likes me better than you.”
“Don’t push your luck. I can still put you on your ass.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
Because he had much better things to do than scrap with Blaine, Deacon gave Addie a noisy kiss on the cheek and handed her over to her dad. He took perverse pleasure when Addie immediately leaned toward him, holding out her arms.
“Sorry, sweet girl. I know you like me better than Daddy, but Uncle Deacon has to go. I’ll see you tomorrow, though.”
“She does not like you better than me.”
“Keep telling yourself that. See you, Ashleigh.”
“Bye, Uncle Deacon.”
“My work here is finished.” He flashed a cocky grin at his brother and headed down the driveway, whistling a jaunty tune that was sure to annoy Blaine.
He walked quickly through town, wanting to get to Julia as fast as he could, but not wanting to get there sweaty and disheveled. As he went past the Beachcomber, Evan McCarthy was coming down the steps.
Deacon stopped to say hello. “How’s it going?”
“Great, you?”
“Doing well.”
“Heard you’re the new harbor master.”
“Yep. It’s a fun way to spend a summer.”
“I’ll bet. Hey, listen… About Julia…”
“What about her?”
“I thought I might hear from her after last night. Dude, she is crazy-talented. All I can think about is recording that voice of hers.”
“She hasn’t said anything about it. Not to me, anyway.”
“Hmm, well, tell her I’d really love to talk to her.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Let’s grab that beer soon.”
“Absolutely. See you.” Deacon continued on his way, walking a little faster now that the Surf was within sight.
The second he walked through the front door, he heard her…
That voice sent chills down his spine. My God, she was talented.
He followed the music into Stephanie’s Bistro and stood in the back, watching her, listening to her, riveted by her.
Evan was right. She was crazy-talented and destined for big things if that was what she wanted.
Why did the thought of her chasing big things scare him?
Maybe because he’d only just found her and the possibility of her being anywhere but right there with him was something he couldn’t bear to consider.
Hell, if she ran off to chase the music dream, there was nothing at all to keep him from going with her.
Jeez… Had it really come to that? Would he chase around the world after a woman? If that woman was Julia, hell yes, he’d chase her to the far corners of the globe if it meant he got to be with her.
The realization stunned him, leaving him spinning as he tried to wrap his head around the magnitude of what’d transpired in the days since he first saw her.
But as he listened to her pour her heart and soul into “Your Song” by Elton John, all he knew was that he wanted her in his life.
He wanted her heart and soul to belong to him, and he wanted to give his to her.
He loved her.
Oh my God. I love her. That’s what this was. How else could he explain the overwhelming feelings he’d never had for anyone else?
Indeed… How wonderful life is while she’s in the world.
When she finished the song, the room exploded into applause that startled Puppy awake.
Deacon cheered louder than anyone. He would never forget the exact moment when she saw him there or the flush that overtook her cheeks or the way she shyly acknowledged the audience as she gathered Puppy into her arms and stood to leave the stage.
Everyone wanted to talk to her, but she was laser-focused on him as she came toward him.
Deacon held out his arms to her, and she walked into his embrace as if she belonged there, which of course she did.
He kept his arm around her as he escorted her from the restaurant and walked her upstairs, noting the way she trembled as he held her.
He managed to get her keys from her bag and get the door open without releasing his tight hold on her. The second the door closed behind her, he put his arms around her and the puppy as she continued to tremble.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. After a long pause, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I did it.”
“You certainly did.”
“I didn’t think about it or obsess about it. I just went in there and I played, Deacon. Do you know how huge this is for me?”
“I think I do. I’m so, so proud of you. Your music is incredibly beautiful.”
She pulled back to look up at him, her eyes sparkling with pure joy. “I love it so much. It was my favorite thing ever until…”
He kissed her. “Don’t go there, darlin’. It can be your favorite thing again. Just like before.”
“It’s one of my favorite things. I have a couple of new ones, too.”
Cocking his head, he studied her intently, wanting to memorize the way she looked as she overflowed with happiness that had been so very hard-won. “Is that right?”
“Uh-huh. Puppy is one of my new favorite things.”
“He’s one lucky puppy to be among your favorites.”
“You are, too.”
“I’m a lucky puppy?”
Her smile lit up her face and filled him with a ridiculous amount of happiness. “You’re one of my new favorite things.”
“Am I?”
She nodded and went up on tiptoes to kiss him.
Since Deacon had been dying to kiss her for hours, he fell into the kiss like he’d found gold at the end of a long rainbow.
Puppy let out a squeak of indignation that made them both laugh.
“I guess he doesn’t like it when Mommy and Daddy squish him,” Julia said. “Hold that thought.”
“I’m holding on. Just barely.”
She giggled at the face he made and went to put Puppy in his crate, leaving the door open so he could get out if he wanted to.
He curled up in a ball in his bed and sacked out.
Julia returned to Deacon, offering the shy smile that made his heart ache with love for her.
He wanted to tell her he loved her, but he feared it was too soon.
Rather, he set out to show rather than tell, undressing her, holding her, kissing her, caressing her with tender reverence.
He lowered her to the bed and knelt on the floor in front of her, taking in the sight of her open and vulnerable to him.
Knowing how difficult it was for her to be vulnerable, he wanted to be worthy of the amazing gift she’d given him.
He kissed the inside of her leg, dragging his lips over her inner thigh and making her tremble again, but for different reasons this time.
He slid his hands under her ass and lifted her, giving her his tongue in sweeping strokes that made her gasp and moan and squirm.
It thrilled him to give her pleasure, and he wanted her out of her mind with it.
He wanted her to forget anything and everything that wasn’t him and them and the incredible connection they’d found in each other.
He kept it up until her body went stiff in the second before she came with a sharp cry of completion that thrilled him.
Moving quickly, he freed his hard cock from his shorts and drove into her to ride the waves of her orgasm.
That sparked a second wave for her that had him fighting to hold on so he could make this even better for her.
“Deacon…”
“What, darlin’?”
“You… That… Wow.”
“Mmm, you’re so hot, so sexy, so sweet.” He bent to kiss her lips, cheeks and throat before he drew the tight tip of her left nipple into his mouth.
Her inner muscles clamped down hard on his cock, making him groan as sensation flooded his entire body. The words he wanted to tell her burned to get out, but he held on to them. He wanted to be sure she was ready to hear them before he told her.
His Julia was so strong in some ways but fragile in others. He loved her fragility as much as her strength. He loved everything about her.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “Need a condom.”
She kept him from withdrawing. “It’s okay. I’m protected.”
Hearing that triggered a ferocious wave of need that took him right to the edge of complete madness.
When he couldn’t hold back any longer, he pushed into her and held still, letting the incredible wave crash over him, taking him up so high, he felt invincible, especially when she came, too, her fingers digging into his back as she held on to him.
He wanted her to always hold on to him, to lean on him, to let him be there for her.
As he came down from the highest of highs, he breathed in the scent that belonged only to her.
With her arms and legs wrapped around him, Deacon understood so many things that had eluded him up until then.
This feeling was why people rearranged their entire lives to be together.
It was why they did whatever it took to make it work so they’d never again have to be without the person who made them feel that way.
“Am I crushing you?”
“I love it.”
“I do, too.” He raised his head so he could see her face and was stunned by what he saw.
She loved him, too. He had no doubt whatsoever.
“Julia…”
“Hmm?” She reached up to fix his hair and then ran her fingers over his face and lips.
That was all it took to make him hard for her again.
She laughed and wiggled under him, letting him know she was fully on board with round two.
“I, um…” He wanted so badly to tell her how he felt, and he’d never wanted that before. If anything, he’d gone to great lengths to avoid feeling things that would change everything. But this…
“Are you okay?”
“I’m so much better than okay. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. This… with you… It’s just…”
“Amazing.”
“Yes,” he said, overcome with relief that she felt the same way he did. “It’s incredible. You are incredible.”
“We are. We’re incredible together.”
“I agree. Want to go steady?”
She laughed as hard as he’d ever seen her laugh and loved every second of that joyful sound. “Does that mean we’ll be exclusive?”
The question shocked him. “We’re not already exclusive?” The thought of her doing this with anyone but him made him crazy.
That brought more laughter. “Of course we are, you dope. You didn’t really think…”
“No.”
“I hope not.”
“So yes to being exclusive?”
“Yes to being exclusive. Yes to everything.”