Impact (The Fight for Life #2) (22 page)

She returned a short time later, a little out of breath, and even in the dim light, she appeared pale.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I just had a really strange feeling I was being watched.”

I glanced up to the house. “Did you see anyone?”

She shook her head. “It was just an uneasy feeling. I’m sure it’s nothing though. It’s probably just paranoia.”

“Last time I discounted your fear, I was threatened at gunpoint. I’m gonna check it out.”

“Well you’re not leaving me here,” she insisted.

She gripped my hand with both of hers, and we walked the perimeter by torchlight. A bird cry made her jump, and the grip on my hand was cutting off circulation.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Jules.” I eased my hand from hers and put my arm around her shoulders. I didn’t want her to be afraid, but I loved being able to protect her.

“I guess I’m just not used to it.” Her body relaxed into mine. “I’m too citified.”

“Well that’ll change if you decide you can live out here with me, you know.”

Her body froze and my head darted around, looking for the reason why. “What is it?” I whispered.

“You just asked me to live with you?”

“I did, didn’t I?” I turned her to face me. We were standing in the front garden, which was flooded by moonlight. “Well if we decide to move out here, we won’t be getting separate places.”

“I guess not. But here?” Her gaze darted around the garden and up at the house.

“The more time I spend here, the more I realise I can never part with it.” He glanced up at the large sandstone farmhouse, a little eerie in the moonlight, and sighed. “I feel connected to my father here. How can I ever give that up?”

A grin split across her beautiful face. “I love it here too.”

“What’s your middle name?” I asked when I realised I didn’t know it.

“Random question, Leo.”

“Just tell me what your middle name is.”

“Elizabeth.”

“Pretty name.”

“It’s my grandmother’s name,” she whispered.

“Okay. Juliette Elizabeth Salinger. I love you and whether we stay in the city or move out here, will you move in with me?”

I couldn’t resist kissing her because I could never resist kissing my girl. When I pulled away, she was still grinning.

“I love you too and yes, I’ll live with you, Leo…”

“William. After my dad and grandfather.”

She nodded. “Leo William Ashlar. I want to go to bed with you every night and wake up with you every morning. I want you to heat up tomato soup for me and I want to cook you dinner using the vegetables from our very own vegetable garden.” She looked at me with glistening eyes. “I want it all with you.”

I closed the distance between us and kissed her hard on the mouth. The night sky darkened as we lost ourselves in that kiss because we had both said the words that had been like an elephant in the room since she’d returned from overseas. I needed her like I’d never needed anyone before. I wanted to bury myself so far inside her, I’d never find my way out. My heart and soul had belonged to her from the beginning. It was my mind that had needed to catch up.

When we came up for air, she took a step back and unwrapped her cardigan. She pulled her top down, revealing the top of a very sexy-looking bra. She pulled it back up quickly and rewrapped herself in the damn cardigan.

“I told you I had a surprise for you.” She winked and nearly killed me with a seductive smile.

Without thinking, I scooped her up and threw her over my shoulder. Slamming my hand on the doorhandle, I opened the front door and stormed into the entry foyer with one thing on my mind and one thing only. I went for the closest door, the spare bedroom in the front right-hand corner of the house. I’d only ever been in that room a handful of times, but I knew there was a large bed in there covered in a cotton tarp.

“Let me down, you caveman.” She squealed, batting my back while she made her demands.

I flung her on the bed and she yelped as she landed softly on the mattress, a plume of dust rising up around her. “Well this is just like camping.” She giggled, coughing a little.

Standing at the side of the bed and admiring her, I was too driven by the lust that her little sneak peek had sparked to worry about a little dust. “I need you naked, princess.”

“We’re going to do this here?” She glanced around the room.

I nodded, holding on to my senses with a tiny thread of will. Thankfully she started to pull at her clothes as I kicked off my boots. The curtains over both the windows were open and the soft moonlight made her glow. My beautiful girl was spectacular.

Lust was overtaking me and I needed to have her immediately. I would take my time with her later, but she’d just said she loved me for the first time since returning home from overseas and formally agreed to live with me. Flashing her sexy bra tipped me right over the edge and I was on borrowed time. I reached behind my neck and grabbed the collar of my shirt, pulling it over my head in one quick movement. She had removed her cardigan and had pulled her hair tie out so her long hair hung loosely over her shoulders. She was a fucking vision and she still had most of her clothes on.

I popped the button on my jeans and unzipped, eager to be completely rid of anything that would get between my skin and hers. My jeans pooled on the floor and I bent over to help wrench them the rest of the way off. When they caught up on one of my feet, I was irritated, extremely horny and in no way prepared for what I was about to see.

I stood up, ready to help her finish stripping, but when my eyes landed on her, my mouth went dry and my heart felt like a jack hammer hard at work against my chest. I had to place my hand over it to make sure it didn’t burst through. Juliette was sexy in track pants and a t-shirt, she was sexy sitting on the couch reading her Kindle and chewing on her thumb. She was sexy behind the wheel of her car, pushing it to the limit with her mad driving skills, and she was sure as shit sexy in a boxing ring, glistening with sweat and determination. However, lying on the bed in front of me was a vision I would find hard to surpass in my wildest fantasies. Her eyes danced with excitement and her knowing grin ended me.

Propped up on her elbows, she had laid herself out for me in some kind of leather lingerie with one leg bent. She was the sexiest fucking thing I’d seen in my life.

“I was told it was inspired by a biker’s leather jacket.” She glanced down at herself encased in black leather triangles I couldn’t even begin to get my head around. “I thought you’d like it.”

“Like it?” I croaked and had to swallow for a little lubrication on my dry throat. My gaze roamed further down her body and my wet dream was officially complete. “Did you think there was any chance I would want to resist you?” I asked with one knee on the bed. “You would be irresistable in a hessian sack, but this….” I prowled my way up the bed to get closer to my prize. When I reached her, I enjoyed a closer look at the lingerie designed to give men heart attacks. “This is the sexiest damn sight, Jules.” I grazed my fingers up her legs then lazily explored the rest of her incredible body.

“I wanted to blow your mind.”

“Mission accomplished.” I couldn’t take any more talking when what I wanted to do was rip the leather from her body and devour her.

So, that’s what I did, except that getting her out of the leather contraption wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped. After far too long pulling, yanking, unclipping, I sat back and threw my hands in the air. “Well, fuck.” I huffed. “You’d have to be Houdini to get out of this.”

She threw her head back against the canvas and laughed. I was unamused and my balls were turning bluer by the second. “I’m sorry,” she spluttered, propping herself up on her elbows and casting her gaze down her body, which was now trussed up like a Christmas ham. She was still chuckling, but thankfully started deftly slipping her body from the lingerie.

“This didn’t go quite as planned,” she said when she was finally naked. “Maybe I’ll go for something a little simpler next time. The lady at the shop—”

I thrust into her and she gasped, ceasing whatever she had been about to say.

“No more talking, baby.” I was officially ready to take her and claim her as mine.

When our bodies were sated and our breathing returned to normal, it dawned on me that it was fucking freezing. “Jules,” I whispered, holding her close to my body.

“Yeah,” she whispered back, nuzzling her nose into my neck.

“I think we should resume this position in the tent.”

She nodded, pulling herself up and redressing. I did the same, noticing the leather contraption was left on the bed. I picked it up and twirled it on my finger. “Nice surprise, babe.”

Her smug smile made me laugh as we headed back outside. When I closed the front door, I remembered why we’d been out there in the first place rather than heading straight to the tent.

Possibly having the same thought, she glanced around the front garden and up to the deserted road. “It’s so quiet.” For some reason, she whispered.

“It’s just you and me, Jules.”

She looked into my eyes, lit up by her beautiful smile. “Always.”

I woke the next morning with Jules safely cocooned into the crook of my arm. I didn’t think I’d ever slept so soundly in my whole life.

Out of the blue, I felt Jules’s body shaking against mine. I was pretty sure she was trying not to laugh. “What’s so funny?” I asked, tightening my arm around her.

She propped herself up on my chest. “Nothing.” She smiled and kissed me.

I pushed her back gently. “Tell me what was so funny.”

She scrunched up her nose. “I already told you that sometimes I get an uncontrollable urge to laugh when I’m either really happy or really scared.”

“You really laugh when you’re scared?”

I nodded. “Yep. It’s weird and often quite inappropriate.”

“So were you happy or scared just now?”

Her blue eyes brightened. “I’ve never been so happy in my whole life. I guess there’s still a little fear associated with it, but I’m really starting to believe in our happy ever after.”

“Believe it, baby.” I kissed her, pushed her on her back and quickly made her forget what we had just been talking about.

When we emerged from the tent a while later, Jules stretched her arms above her head and yawned. “God, I love it here.”

“So you’re not having doubts about moving out here with me, then?” I asked.

“I can’t wait,” she said, wrapping her arms around my waist. “What’s our plan?”

Still holding her close to me, I glanced around the garden, across the fields and up to the house. I felt an overwhelming sense of calm that I had shared my tightly guarded memories with Jules. “You have to see out your notice at work so I’m thinking we make the permanent move after that. What will you do with your apartment?”

“I’ve already talked to my father about giving it back to him. I know it’s in my name and I can do with it as I please, but it symbolises who I was, not who I am or who I want to be.” She pulled back a little and met my gaze.

“What did he say?” I asked.

“He appreciated the rationale behind my offer, but said it would make him happy if I kept it as a nest egg for my future.” She cocked her head. “I am going to be an unemployed bum in a few weeks so I guess I shouldn’t be too self-righteous.”

“You’ll work out what you want to do and I’ll back you up one hundred percent.” I kissed her nose. “Come on. I’ll make you a coffee.”

We spent the day pottering around the farm discussing what we needed to get done before we moved in.

“Are you ready to head back to the city?” I asked as the light started to fade.

She scrunched up her nose. “Not really, but I guess we should.”

“Do you miss the cage?” she asked, seemingly out of the blue when we were packing up the Jeep.

I stopped what I was doing and turned to face her. “Where did that come from?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve been thinking about it a bit lately.”

“Why?” I asked, hesitantly. I really needed to tell her about the fight I’d agreed to.

“I’m just concerned you gave it up for the wrong reasons.”

“Look, Jules.” I took a step towards her. “Before you start telling me I’m some big martyr, you should know I’ve agreed to go back into the cage at the next fight night.” I studied her face for any negative reaction. “They are short a few fighters.”

“You don’t want me to come, do you?” She shook her head, appearing resigned.

I closed my hand around her forearms. “I really don’t.”

She stared into my eyes and gave me a beautiful smile. I wondered why I’d been so nervous about telling her when she was being so understanding until she spoke. “I’ll think about it and get back to you.” She pulled her arms from me and patted my cheek with the palm of her hand. The little smart arse winked at me.

“You’re not coming, Jules.”

“Zip it, caveman.” She raised her eyebrows and smirked. “I’m a big girl with my own avenues for getting a ticket and I love watching you in the cage.”

Fuck!
“Babe. Please. The last time you went, you were attacked and I won’t be able to concentrate if you’re in the crowd.”

“I get it, but you have to relax. The guy who attacked me wasn’t just a random guy and all that stuff with my mother is over.”

“I will never stop wanting to protect you, babe.” I cupped her face in my hands. “I know you are independent and strong, but you’re mine and we’ve been through a lot. I’m not going to apologise for being over protective.”

She sighed. “Fine.” She then rolled her eyes so I knew she wasn’t thrilled about her concession.

On the drive home, I called my mother on the hands free and informed her I’d give her the money in a couple of weeks. I had some investments I could sell, but would also need a win at fight night.

The next few weeks flew by, and before I knew it, my last day at Donoghue’s working for Heath had arrived. Knowing I was leaving a safe and secure job without a solid plan on top of Leo going back into the cage tonight had sent my anxiety levels through the roof. I wasn’t in a great mood when I arrived at work, but had to put on a happy face for my well-wishing colleagues. I’d had my replacement sitting with me for last week—an arrogant yet mildly amusing British backpacker. I knew I wasn’t leaving Heath in safe hands, but I’d done the best I could.