Courting Justice Read online

  She grabbed her bathrobe and quickly slid it over her naked body, tying it around her waist. “How was your run on the beach?”

  “Fun. You should have come with me.”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “Thanks to you, I didn’t have any energy.”

  He chuckled. “You want to blame me for that?”

  She did blame him. “Yes.”

  He had definitely started it before they’d finished eating dinner last night. That had been the beginning of their lovemaking. Afterward, he carried her downstairs and they stripped each other’s clothes off before continuing things in bed. Later that night, he called the resort to have dessert delivered. And for the finale, he had poured wine all over her and lapped it up.

  “If you’re not starving and can hold off eating breakfast for a minute, I want to take you someplace with me.”

  She arched her eyebrows. “Where?”

  “It’s a surprise, and I think you’ll like it.”

  Now he had her curious. “All right.” She quickly moved toward the bathroom to get dressed.

  * * *

  Angelo could tell by the look on Peyton’s face that she liked this place. He had discovered it while out jogging, and from several conversations with her, he knew that a secluded spot like this would become her favorite.

  The area was on a remote part of the island with a private lagoon hidden behind marshland that extended out from one of the pristine white sandy beaches. He had been jogging along the beach, not paying much attention to what was beyond the six feet or so of coastal grasses on the other side. When he’d heard the sound of rushing water, he stopped and pushed aside the Typha reeds to reveal what was the most beautiful lagoon he’d ever seen, surrounded by palm trees, natural vegetation and a coral reef. He asked one of the resort groundskeepers about the property and was told that it was privately owned by a family living on the island. Although the resort had tried negotiating with the family for years to buy it, they had refused all offers to sell.

  He watched as Peyton dropped down in the sand and looked around, amazed by the sheer beauty of the spot. He knew how she felt since he’d been bowled over upon first seeing it as well. It was small but simply breathtaking.

  “It’s so calm here. So peaceful,” she said moments later.

  He had to agree. This was like having a little piece of heaven. He told her that it was owned by a family who refused to sell it to the resort.

  “I can’t blame them,” she said, letting the sand filter through her hands. “It’s beautiful here. I could have used a place like this a few weeks ago, after the stressfulness of my last case.”

  “I can imagine,” he said. Angelo knew the man-hours that went into preparing for trial, not to mention the time spent in the courtroom. He knew that in addition to Peyton’s beauty, she was smart as a whip and invested time and energy in every case no matter who the client was. According to Sam, Peyton had gotten a scholarship to go to Yale, but had left in her sophomore year to be closer to home and her grandmother. After law school, she had turned down a six-figure job at a well-known law firm in D.C. Instead, she had taken a job in Chicago that paid less than half of what she could have been making.

  She took on cases Mac and Sam had concerns about and put her all into every case, winning many of them. She didn’t know it, but he’d followed most of her cases. And it always amazed him how she pulled it off even when victory appeared doubtful. In his mind, she was the kind of lawyer the media should be focusing on, not him. But she fought for the underdog, and took on those cases that didn’t matter to the media. But to her, they did matter.

  He sat on the ground beside her, feeling tired. They had stayed up making love last night and when they did grab a few hours of shut-eye, they’d awakened with the urge to mate again. The desire had been mutual and each coupling had been even more explosive than the last.

  The only reason he had left their bed to go jogging was to give her body a rest. She was like an addiction he couldn’t kick. And when she’d told him how she felt when they made love, their passion seemed like the most natural thing. He’d never gone to sleep still embedded in a woman, and it was as if that’s where he was supposed to be.

  “Would you like to come back here for a picnic before we leave?” he asked, glancing over at her as he leaned back, cradling his head in his hands.

  A huge smile lit her lips—lips he’d tried devouring last night.

  “Do you think we can?”

  “Yes.” No need to tell her he already had a plan in the works to make it happen.

  “Then, yes, I’d love to. Thanks for sharing this place with me,” she said, glancing up into the sky. “It’s rare when I can just go somewhere and sit and enjoy nature’s beauty.”

  She chuckled. “I thought of buying some land in Oklahoma, on the outskirts not far from Luke and Mac’s, and building a place. But the first time I heard one of Luke’s men mention something about a mountain lion being spotted in the area, I changed my mind. That’s all I need is to have to tangle with a mountain lion or some other wild animal.”

  Angelo smiled, thinking that if it came to that, he’d put his money on Peyton. There was no doubt in his mind that she could handle herself.

  “But first things first,” she said. “We have to go back to the resort and tackle Lela. I’m sure she’s fit to be tied that we’ve been missing in action for the past few days.”

  He shook his head. “No need. Lela’s gone now.”

  She raised a brow. “Gone?”

  “Yes. I had management ask her to leave.”

  “Why?”

  His jaw tightened. “That day that I was looking for you, she cornered me in an elevator and began taking off her clothes.”

  “Wow! Evidently she didn’t learn her lesson with that NFL player.”

  “Evidently.”

  “So with Lela out of the picture there’s no reason for us to pretend to be in a relationship, is there?”

  “I think you need to understand something, Peyton,” he said calmly, glancing over at her.

  “What?”

  “All pretenses between us stopped when we made love.”

  She pushed a lock of hair from her face. “You’re really hung up on that ‘claim me’ thing, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I guess I am.” He had news for her. He was more than just hung up on it.

  She gave him a long-suffering look. “Okay, for how long?”

  “How long?”

  “Yes, for how long? How long do you intend to be in this possessive mode?”

  Angelo suddenly saw his future flash right before his eyes. He saw her in a long white wedding dress, and with a baby in her arms, and then…

  She snapped her fingers in front of his face, making him blink. “What on earth are you thinking about that has you smiling all over the place?” she asked him.

  He decided to be honest with her, at least somewhat. “I saw my future flash before my eyes.”

  “Really?” she said, evidently intrigued. “What was it? An upcoming case or something?”

  He shook his head. “No—something a bit more personal…my wedding day.”

  She threw her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. “Your wedding day? I didn’t know there would ever be such a day. I hope I’m around to see it.”

  “Actually, Peyton, you will be around to see it.”

  She tilted her head to look at him. “How can you be sure of that?”

  He stood and smiled down at her. “Because in my premonition, you were the bride.”

  Chapter 16

  Peyton suddenly got a funny feeling in her stomach as she studied Angelo’s face. She couldn’t tell whether he was serious or just pulling her leg. Moments later, when his lips eased into a smile, she
figured he had to be kidding. “The bride? Yeah, right.”

  He held his hand out to help her up. “I take it you don’t believe me.”

  She rolled her eyes as she came to her feet to stand in front of him. “Angelo, you don’t believe yourself. Why would I be the bride at your wedding?”

  He chuckled, and she tried to ignore how the sound sent shivers all through her. “I guess that means we’re getting married one day.”

  She began walking beside him as they strolled back toward the lighthouse. “No kidding. I guess that also means the tooth fairy is real.”

  He stopped walking and turned to her. “Anything is possible.”

  Yes, anything was possible. However, she wouldn’t hold out for his crazy premonition, because it wasn’t going to happen. She hadn’t decided if she would ever marry, although the thought briefly crossed her mind whenever she would see Mac and Sam with their husbands, and how happy the two men had made them. But she just didn’t see herself as a candidate for the wedded-bliss thing.

  First of all, she worked crazy hours, too crazy for a husband who probably wouldn’t understand or accept the amount of time she spent at the office. Second, the thought of a man crowding her space was a major turnoff. Granted, she and Angelo had spent the last few days at the lighthouse together, but she liked her space.

  They began walking again, and he asked, “So what are your plans for today?”

  She glanced over at him. He was changing the subject, which meant that bride stuff had been total nonsense, after all. In a way she was glad. Yet another part of her was disappointed. Why? “I haven’t thought much about it. I’m going to have to get used to having people around again.”

  “We can always find another place to escape to.”

  She stopped walking and placed her hands on her hips. “Excuse me, Mr. Di Meglio, but we didn’t escape anywhere. I was looking to spend some alone time, and you…”

  “Found you, and we spent some wonderful time together,” he interrupted. “Right?”

  She couldn’t deny it and wouldn’t. She nodded. A slight smile replaced her frown. “Yes. They were nice.” They began walking together again.

  “You never said what you planned to do today.”

  No, she hadn’t because she didn’t have any plans. “Not sure, although I’m sure there’re a lot of activities going on at the resort that I’ll check out.”

  “That we will check out.”

  This we stuff was beginning to hit a nerve. “I hope we aren’t getting clingy, Angelo.”

  “Um, clingy like this?” he said, reaching out and grabbing her around the waist and pulling her body against his. He was solid and being pressed against him felt right. She could remember how solid and hard this same body felt against hers while naked.

  “Peyton.”

  He whispered her name, and the sound seemed to caress her skin, clear her head and revitalize her. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts, and they were standing so close, her legs were brushing against his.

  She opened her mouth to answer him and evidently that’s what he’d been waiting for, an opening to slide his tongue inside. He slanted his mouth against hers and began devouring it with a hunger that astounded her, yet begged her to reciprocate. And when he cupped her backside to bring her closer to him, she felt the hardness of his erection. Instinctively, her body reacted as she placed her arms around his strong shoulders and kissed him back with all the pent-up passion he was stirring inside her.

  A part of her brain was saying this must be madness. But another part responded to this most intense kind of pleasure. At first she wanted to think the reason she was responding to Angelo with such intensity was because she’d put her social life on hold for a while, and now she was dealing with years of sexual denial. But deep down she was having doubts. Could any man other than Angelo make her feel this way? Make her do things she’d never done before without thinking twice about it? Make her share her innermost thoughts and feelings?

  For the past few days she had been introduced to a hunger the likes of which she’d never known before. Was it her or was it him? Did he have this sort of effect on all women or just the sexually deprived ones? And Lord knows she’d been deprived and sexually unfulfilled. She’d never known an orgasm could make her feel this way. She’d been simply amazed at the way her body became so wet and lubricated at the slightest provocation from Angelo. She’d heard about it happening to some women, but never imagined it could happen to her. But all it had taken was Angelo’s should-be-outlawed fingers stroking her G-spot at the right time and in the right way.

  When Angelo broke off the kiss she pulled in a deep breath. He kept his mouth close to hers. “I love the way you taste, but not just here,” he said in a whisper, taking his tongue and trailing it from one end of her lips to the other. “I like tasting you all over, licking you all over. Remember when I poured the wine over you last night?”

  How on earth could she forget? He had licked it off of her body, but deliberately poured more of it between her legs, letting his tongue linger between her thighs as he licked it off. But that hadn’t been all he’d done. Even now the memories sent shivers running through her body.

  “Do you know what I suggest?”

  She shook her head, momentarily unable to speak. She swallowed. “No. What?”

  “I suggest we go back to the lighthouse and eat. While we were away I arranged for the chef to prepare breakfast. It should be ready now. I think we should go back and eat and then go to bed and enjoy each other. I promise we’ll be out of the lighthouse by noon.”

  God, the man was a master of seduction. The sound of his voice alone could make her do anything he said. The thought that he had already planned everything should have ticked her off. But what could she say when it was precisely what she wanted to do anyway?

  She stared at him and saw the smile that tugged at his lips. They were lips she’d gotten to know over the past few days. Lips that had gotten to know hers as well. There wasn’t a part of her those lips hadn’t touched, tasted and devoured. And his lips had certainly left their mark on places that made her blush just to think about.

  “What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours, Peyton?”

  She couldn’t help but return his smile. He had a way of bringing out the naughtiness in her. “I’m thinking about your lips.”

  “What about them?”

  “How much pleasure they give,” she said, easing her lips closer to his.

  “Do they?”

  “Mmm-hmm. Especially when they touch me in certain places. Your lips and tongue should be outlawed.”

  His soft chuckle sent blood rushing through her veins. She suddenly stuck her tongue out and snaked it around his lips to cop a taste of him. “I want to learn how to do all the things you do with your tongue.”

  “Do you?”

  She nodded. “I think that maybe tonight I’m the one who should have the wine bottle.”

  The smile on his lips widened from corner to corner. “Baby, you’re on.”

  Too late she’d realized what she had done. She’d made plans for them to continue what they’d started. With Lela out of the picture there really wasn’t a reason. She met his gaze and almost drowned in the dark, sexy eyes staring back at her. She knew at that moment, that yes, there was a need, and it was growing inside of her by leaps and bounds.

  “Come on, baby.” He took her hand in his, and they silently started walking back toward the lighthouse.

  * * *

  Angelo returned to his room back at the resort with a huge grin on his face. To say he had enjoyed breakfast with Peyton was an understatement. Once he’d gotten her in bed, he had made her forget all about leaving the lighthouse. Even though he made sure they checked out on time, they still had time to indulge in more sexual play.


  He was definitely looking forward to tonight, especially after Peyton outlined what she had in store for him. He glanced at his watch. They would meet for dinner around seven and then afterward he planned to bring her to his bedroom since it was larger. After dropping Peyton off in her room so that she could take a nap, he still had time to rest after a game of tennis. He needed to be well-rested for tonight.

  He was about to head toward the bedroom when his phone rang. He hoped it wasn’t Sam calling again. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and was relieved to see it wasn’t Sam, but Lee Madaris.

  Since his sister Sam had married into the Madaris family, he’d grown close to the Madarises, especially his brother-in-law Blade’s cousin, Lee. They had hit it off right away and since they both enjoyed skiing, they had taken a number of ski trips together. “Lee? What’s going on?”

  “Just checking to make sure you got my text about the contracts. They will be ready for our signatures in a couple of weeks.”

  Angelo smiled. “Yes, and I’m ready to sign.” Lee and Angelo were partners in a resort hotel development in Dubai.

  Lee chuckled. “So am I. I’m looking forward to getting away for a while. I need the change in scenery.”

  Angelo nodded. Lee was anxious for the resort to be built, and the contract had already been awarded to Madaris Construction, the company owned by Angelo’s brother-in-law Blade. Others in the Madaris family were involved, including Jake, the youngest uncle in the first generation of seven brothers, along with Mitch Ferrell and Sheikh Rasheed Valdemon, both of whom were close friends of the Madaris family.

  Angelo and Lee talked for another ten minutes or so before ending their conversation. Angelo was just as excited about the Dubai deal as Lee was. The building Slade Madaris had designed was simply elegant and would be one of the most expensive resort hotels the Madaris Construction Company had ever undertaken.

  After the phone call, Angelo’s thoughts returned to Peyton, and he was definitely looking forward to tonight.