Page 71 of Delivery After Dark
Every cell in her body was attuned to him sitting two feet from her, gripping the steering wheel with both hands as if he didn’t trust himself to touch her while he was driving.
He stared intently at the road as a muscle in his cheek pulsed with tension.
Knowing he wanted her so much made her acutely aware of her own power, which was another thing that was new to her. Sure, she felt powerful in her own little domain at the studio, but in the rest of her life? Not so much.
The five-minute ride from the hotel to her home was among the most erotically charged interludes of her life, and they didn’t so much as look at each other or exchange a single word.
It was the knowing… What they were capable of together, what would happen the second they were behind a closed door… And the wondering… What might this become? Was this what she’d been looking for all this time?
As they went up the stairs to her place, she felt his urgency moving her forward from behind. Her hands didn’t want to cooperate as she tried to put the key into the lock.
He took the key from her and got them inside with the same haste he’d shown on the stairs, nudging her forward and following her in, kicking the door closed as he reached for her.
Nothing like this had ever happened to her. Not even close. She wanted to fully experience every second of it, but it was happening so fast, she almost couldn’t keep up with him as clothes were tossed aside and hands were touching her everywhere he could reach as they fell to the floor right inside the door.
Holy. Shit.
* * *
Julia had been on pins and needles since her noon appointment at the clinic when she’d gotten confirmation of what she already knew. Her set at Stephanie’s had seemed endless as she counted down to Deacon coming to pick her up and take her home so she could finally tell him the news.
Her heart did a happy little jolt when she saw him come in, smiling at her the way he always did. No one had ever been so happy to see her. While she was working, he’d been over to visit their new nephew at his brother’s house. Julia couldn’t wait to hear how that had gone. She looked forward to meeting baby Adrian tomorrow on her day off.
Soon, Stephanie’s would close for the winter, and his harbor master duties would be vastly reduced for the off-season. The winter had become her favorite time of year because they had more time to hibernate together. He oversaw police department training in the fall and winter, so he was still busy, but not like he was in the summer.
As she did every night, she ended her set with “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” the song she thought of as theirs, especially since she’d sung it for him at their secret wedding after the storm in which she’d nearly lost him.
Hearing that song, Pupwell lifted his head off the bed she kept for him under the piano, knowing it was time to go home. She loved that he recognized the song and knew what it meant.
This season with Deacon and Pupwell was the happiest time in a life that’d been full of trauma, starting with her abusive father and continuing through an eating disorder that’d nearly killed her once upon a time, not to mention a few terrible relationships with men who turned out to be far too much like her father. All that felt like a long time ago now that she had her little family to go home to.
And it was about to get even better. She couldn’t wait to tell him the news.
“Thank you so much for coming in, everyone,” she said to the full house. “I’ll be off for a couple of days but back at it on Thursday. I’ll see you then.”
She never got tired of the applause from an enthusiastic audience. At one time, she’d been afraid to perform in front of people, which was another thing her asshole father had tried to take from her.
He was in prison, where he belonged, and she tried very hard to never think of him or the way he’d treated her, her mother and siblings for years. Each of her siblings had carried deep trauma into adulthood—and each of them had found a way to overcome it, for the most part, anyway.
Everyone was worried about Johnny, though. He hadn’t been himself since he’d come back from the mainland after taking care of their youngest brother, Jeff, who’d been seriously injured during the hurricane. And Johnny wasn’t talking to any of them about what was wrong.
She emptied the tip jar that overflowed with cash and tucked the bills into her purse to count later.
Deacon met her at the stairs to the stage, taking Pupwell’s leash from her and leaning in for a kiss. “Hi, honey.”
“Hi there. How was the visit with Adrian?”
“Awesome. He’s so cute. Wait until you see him.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Tiffany said to come over any time tomorrow.”
“I want to sleep in, and then we can go over there.”
“I can’t wait to sleep in. I’ve been thinking about that all day.”
He’d been incredibly busy in recent weeks as they hauled and winterized most of the harbor master boats and prepared to hunker down for the long, cold winter.
