Impact (The Fight for Life #2) (28 page)

Today was one of the good ones.

“Merry Christmas, baby,” Juliette whispered against my lips.

I pulled her closer. “Merry Christmas, angel.”

“Do you want to get up?” I asked, nuzzling her neck.

“You stay here,” she said, surprising me. I’d been sure I was about to have Christmas sex.

She pulled the sheet back and leapt out of bed, rushing from the room. She returned holding a long cylinder and I sat up in bed, immediately intrigued.

“What’s in there?” I asked.

“Just a little something I’ve been working on for the past few months.”

Now I was really intrigued. “I’m dying here, Jules.”

She smiled. “This present is really for both of us. I wanted to show you this in private without Bea and Angus.” She scrunched up her nose. “I didn’t want to put you on the spot in front of our friends.”

“Open the bloody cylinder, Juliette,” I demanded, laughing.

“Okay,” she said, pulling the plastic disc from one end. “So bossy.”

I watched her as she pulled a roll of paper out and laid it across the bed in front of me. They looked like architectural drawings. That much I could work out. I just had no idea what they were for.

“One of the financial planning clients I’ve been working with is a local architect. When I was dropping off some forms for her to sign, I ended up chatting to her for ages about local buildings and, well, it got me thinking.”

“Oh yeah?” I looked at the drawings again and zeroed in on a few details. I still had no idea what it was for. I leaned down to take a closer look. “Is this a gym?”

She nodded. “I asked Jennifer to design an all-purpose gym for you with a focus on Muay Thai training.” She bit her bottom lip. “I may have paid Dam a visit to get his input. I know you’ve been trying to move away from the cage and back into the boxing ring, but I think Muay Thai and martial arts is a passion for you. I don’t want to see you give that up, especially if it’s for me.”

“Why haven’t you told me about any of this before now?”

“You’ve had so much on your plate and I wanted to surprise you.” The colour drained from her face and I realised I wasn’t giving her the reaction she’d probably hoped for.

I held out my hand and she moved around the bed next to me. I pulled her onto my lap and pushed the hair away from her face. “You are amazing.” I kissed her lightly on the lips and she relaxed a little. “I am so sorry I’ve been a downer the last few months. This is just a bit out of the blue.”

“Leo. You haven’t been a downer. You lost your mother and a man you trusted the same day you lost your family home.” She looked at me as if I were crazy. “I would’ve been more worried if you’d carried on as if nothing had happened.” She turned to look at the drawings. “This is just an idea for the farm.”

“This is designed to be built at the farm?”

She nodded. “Where the big old shed currently is, I thought.” She repositioned herself so she was straddling me. “Before everything blew up in our faces, we’d planned on living at the farm, but the rest of the details of what we would do out here were all a bit sketchy.

“That’s true. I guess I’ve just been focused on getting through each day rather than what comes next.”

“And there’s no hurry, but we can’t bunk in with Bea and Angus forever.”

“We can’t live in a gym though, Jules.”

She laughed. “I thought we could design a new home together too.” The excitement dancing in her eyes was infectious. “We can recycle the stones from the original farmhouse and build something even more beautiful.” She placed one hand on my cheek. “If this is too much too soon though, it’s totally fine.”

I covered her hand with my own. “I think it’s the most perfect idea I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Her eyes lit up again. “You do?’ She climbed off me and sat down on her side of the bed, pulling the drawings towards her.

“I do.”

“That is great news, ’cause I have more to tell you.”

“Oh God, Jules,” I said, laughing.

“You know Nick’s son sold the Lilydale fight club to a developer, right?”

I nodded. Nick’s son had no interest in the fight game, and as I would never set foot anywhere near that place again, he had sold it to a developer who was going to demolish it and put up townhouses.

“So, apparently the young guys you had started training and mentoring have been commuting into the city gyms, but have been asking around about whether you’re coming back.”

“Really?” I’d been so lost in my bubble of misery, I hadn’t even thought about the guys I’d been letting down.

“If you want to start your own gym, you already have a base to start from. Plus I’d like to keep up my boxing training, so I could use the gym too. Zac has said he would come out here once a week, and he and Juni are even looking at property out this way. They want more space for when the baby comes along.”

“Wow, Jules. You have this all worked out.”

“I’ve given it a lot of thought.” She winked.

“What about you though? Working at Angus’s financial planning firm is hardly your dream job. “Where are you on that?”

“I was never going to be the big career girl, and despite being so devastated for you with what you’re dealing with, I am so happy here.” She beamed, and I think I fell even more in love with her. “I like working in the smaller office and I’m meeting really interesting people who value me. I’m boxing with Zac and you’re going to be my navigator in the upcoming Targa High Country rally.”

“I am?”

“You’ll love it. Trust me.”

“I’ve been in a car with you and I’m still willing to do this. That’s love for you, baby.”

“You know more than what job I do or what hobbies I have, I have you.” She picked up my hand and kissed my palm before placing it on her face and leaning against it. “Loving and being loved by you is like having a dream I never dared dream come true. The rest is just an exciting adventure that I’m open to completely.”

“Best Christmas ever and it’s barely started.” I pulled her into my arms and claimed her mouth, pulling the thin straps off her shoulders.

“Leo. Jules,” Bea called out to us and knocked on our door. “Get up. We want to open presents.”

I groaned, and Jules fell onto her back, laughing. “Come on. We’ll have to save that present for later.”

We headed out of our room hand in hand. “This way, babe.” Instead of going into the lounge, I guided her towards the front door. “Where are we going?”

“It’s been a rough couple of months, Jules, but it didn’t stop me getting you something for Christmas, and I’m even more confident about it than I was before you showed me your ideas.”

I opened the front door and ushered her out ahead of me. Parked in front of the house was my Jeep attached to my Christmas gift for Jules.

“A caravan?” She squealed so loudly I had to cover my ears until she was far enough ahead of me I could risk dropping my hands.

“Well I know how much you love camping, and you said you wanted to visit your grandparents in Queensland, so I thought we could make it a road trip.”

“Then we could live at the farm in it while we build our home and the gym?” She bounced on the spot, barely able to contain her excitement.

I cocked my head to the side. “That part just fell into place perfectly this morning.”

“Does this mean you’re moving out?” Bea and Angus appeared behind us.

“Looks that way,” I replied. “You’ve been amazing having us so long.”

“You could’ve stayed as long as you wanted,” Angus said, slapping me on the back.

“I don’t want you to go,” Bea said, linking arms with Jules. They had become as close as sisters over the past few months. Her best friend, Sia, had returned from overseas, but I couldn’t remember whether she was sticking around or not. It was like I’d been floating round in a bubble for the past few months.

“We won’t be far away,” I said.

Five years ago, my world had changed from colour to black and white when my father had been ripped from my life. Despite the horrors I’d faced culminating in the deaths of my mother and Nick, two people I had once loved, I’d been given closure. With that closure came hope, and with hope came the colour, brighter than ever.

“Did you know that mythology influenced the naming of many objects in the night sky?” I asked. I knew how to turn my crazy girl on.

She smiled. “No. I did not know that.”

“The planets all have names from Roman mythology.”

We’d thrown a massive bonfire party and the last of our friends had just left. It was a cold night, but that never bothered Jules. She was wrapped up in her warm jacket and she was cocooned in my arms.

“Tell me more.” She turned and leaned her back against me, looking skyward. I heard her sigh contentedly.

“Mercury is named after the speedy messenger god because it revolves fastest around the sun, and you already know that Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, shines the brightest.”

“I love that.” She sighed again.

“I can keep going if you like?”

“Of course. You can keep going all night if you like.”

I chuckled and tightened my arms around her. “Mars is named for the god of war because it appears blood red, and Jupiter is the single most important god, so his name was given to the largest planet in our solar system.”

“I am fascinated by all of this, you know?”

“I have gotten that impression.” She elbowed me gently and I kissed her neck.

“Less well known are the names of the Galilean moons of Jupiter. The four largest are named after mythological women: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. They were all desired and subsequently taken by force by Jupiter. Unsurprisingly, they revolve around him.”

She turned her head and scrunched her nose up. “Ugh. That’s not fair, is it?”

“Life isn’t always fair, Jules, especially in the myths.”

“Look.” She squealed, pointing to the sky, startling me with her sudden outburst.

“What?” I asked, my eyes following the line of her arm up to the clear night sky.

She gave me a nudge. “A shooting star. You have to make a wish.” Her navy eyes sparkled in the moonlight.

“I don’t need any wishes.” I kissed the top of her head. “I have everything I need right here.”

“You’re a sweet talker, Leo Ashlar.” She whispered, turning in my arms to face me. “You still have to wish on a shooting star. It’s the law.”

I chuckled. “Hate to break it to you, Jules, but it’s not even a star.”

“Do tell.” She used her husky voice and raised her eyebrows.

I swivelled her around, and holding her firmly against me with my left arm, I pointed my free arm to the sky. “They get called ‘falling stars’ or ‘shooting stars’, but they actually have nothing to do with stars.” I feathered kisses along the back of her neck and was now more than ready to call it a night and whisk her off to bed.

“Well what are they, then?” she asked breathlessly.

Not wanting to let my girl down, I answered. “The visible streaks of light like you just saw are meteors. They’re interplanetary bodies that burn up as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high velocities. The air friction vaporizes them into the white-hot streaks of light.”

“I love it when you talk dirty.” She ground her backside into my crotch and I was just about done for.

“You are insatiable. Lucky I have an endless supply of astronomy trivia to keep you happy.”

She turned, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I am happy. You know that, right?” She placed her gloved hand over my heart. “I’m happy when we’re together. It doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing. We belong together, Leo.”

Her words resonated with my soul. “It’s the only thing that matters to me, Jules.” I pushed a strand of her hair that had fallen across her face behind her ear. “You are the most important person in the world. You are my everything.”

With eyes brimming with tears, she whispered, “I love you, Leo.”

“I love you more.” My mouth crashed down on hers, devouring her body and her soul through our joined lips. I belonged to her and she belonged to me. Nothing would ever change that. We were connected on a level no one could touch. We were soul mates.

“Let’s go inside.” I kissed her forehead and took her hand, leading her back towards our house—the house we’d built from the ashes.

We didn’t speak as I led her through the back door. We kicked off our boots and removed our coats, placing them on the hooks in the utility room before walking quickly down the hallway. The sexual tension heightened with every step. I was concerned I might spontaneously combust at any second. Our bedroom just seemed too far away, and I chuckled when she stripped her clothes, dropping them one by one along the hallway. She was reduced to underwear by the time we reached our bedroom door at the front left corner of the house where the spare room used to be in the original farmhouse.

“Slow down, princess.” I chuckled as I scooped her up and carried her towards our bed, kissing her neck and loving the sound of her whimpering groans.

“I need you naked five minutes ago.” She groaned again as I sucked a little harder on her neck.

“I’m going to enjoy torturing you for a while yet I think,” I said against her lips then took the opportunity to deepen the kiss.

She ran her hands through my hair and held my head as she opened her mouth for my insistent tongue. I lowered her to the bed and came down on top of her.

“You’re a bit feisty tonight, babe.” I hovered above her, pinning her hands above her head. “I’m a sure thing, so just relax and enjoy it. Okay?”

Her cheeks reddened, but her body relaxed and I released her hands.

“Close your eyes, Jules,” I demanded firmly.

She did as she was told and I stopped a moment to admire the incredible beauty lying on the bed before me, blonde hair splayed out around her like a halo. My angel. I was so hopelessly in love with this girl, and I would be forever grateful that she was a permanent fixture in my life. I kissed the swell of her breasts, one then the other as her nipples screamed for attention. Snapping the front clasp of her bra, I tugged the lacy material from her body and flung it across the room. She opened her eyes briefly and I gave her a stern look.