She packed up her laptop and research (which were far more important than personal items, since she needed to finish her seminar paper), located her purse, and made it to the front door just in time to greet the arriving taxi.
Gabriel was going to be surprised.
The Professor ordered the cabbie to wait for him before exiting the taxi. They’d parked down the street from the house he was interested in, so as not to attract attention.
He walked down the street slowly, noting the numbers on the houses. It was a residential neighborhood on Staten Island, populated by old, small homes.
Then he saw it.
The house itself was unremarkable—small and white with a detached garage and a short, paved driveway. It was situated on a very small lot, with a tiny fringe of lawn that separated the front of the house from the sidewalk. A new-looking black Mercedes was parked at the curb.
Gabriel stood, two houses down, watching.
To his surprise, the front door opened and a man with gray hair exited. The man turned his body, coaxing an elderly woman. After she’d closed and locked the door behind them, he took her arm and painstakingly escorted her down the front steps.
Gabriel approached.
The woman must have been hard of hearing because the man’s voice was raised, but not in anger. Gabriel heard something about a doctor’s appointment and Joey’s birthday party.
The woman caught sight of Gabriel and stopped, staring over at him.
He slowed his pace, finally pausing on the sidewalk across the street.
This was his moment.
Now was his opportunity to speak to her, to demand answers to questions, to reveal himself.
The man she was with glanced in Gabriel’s direction, then began tugging at the woman’s arm, his voice still raised.
The woman turned away from Gabriel and obediently followed her escort to the Mercedes, where he opened the door and patiently waited while she situated herself.
The man seemed oblivious to the Professor’s presence as he closed the car door and rounded the vehicle. He started the car and drove away.
Gabriel watched the Mercedes turn the corner and disappear out of sight.
Chapter Sixty
It was well after midnight when Gabriel entered his hotel room. He was world weary and tired, his hair disheveled, his tie askew.
Without bothering to switch on a light, he threw his winter coat over a chair and kicked off his boots.
(It should be mentioned that his boots were almost, but not quite, bad-assed, given that they were worn with a suit.)
Just as he was removing his tie, light streamed from the lamp on one of the nightstands.
“What the—”
Gabriel’s curse was interrupted by a feminine voice. “Sweetie?”
His eyes focused on the sight of Julianne, naked in bed with tousled hair. Her dark eyes were soft and sleepy, her ruby lips parted, her voice deliciously husky.
She looked like a sex kitten.
“Um, surprise.” She waved.
With a cry, Gabriel ran toward her, crawling across the bed and placing his hands to her face so he could kiss her. He kissed her long and he kissed her well, their tongues touching until they were both breathless.
“What are you doing here?” He pushed her hair lovingly back from her face.
“Delivering the charger cord for your iPhone.” She pointed to the forgotten item sitting on the nightstand.
His long fingers slid to the back of her neck, where they massaged her skin. His eyes gleamed.
“You flew to New York to give me my phone cord?”
“Not just your phone cord. I also brought the attachment that plugs into the wall. You know, in case you wanted to charge it through an outlet.”
He kissed her nose. “I really missed that cord. Thank you.”
“Did you miss the attachment?”
“Absolutely. I was very, very lonely for it.” His lips curved into a half-smile.
“I was worried about you. We kept missing each other on the telephone.”
Gabriel’s expression shifted and his eyes looked tired. “We need a better form of communication.”
“Smoke signals, perhaps?”
“At this point, I’d accept passenger pigeons.”
She gestured to the table that held the strawberries and chocolates, some of which had already been consumed. “I ordered room service. I’m afraid I started without you. I didn’t expect you to be so late.”
He moved so that his back was against the headboard and pulled her into his lap, tucking the sheet around her naked body so she wouldn’t catch cold. “If I’d known you were waiting, I’d have come home hours ago. I was on Staten Island and then I went to Brooklyn to see our old apartment.”
“How did it go?”
“Everything seemed smaller than I remember it—the neighborhood, the building.” He brought their foreheads together. “I’m glad you’re here. I regretted my decision to come on my own almost the moment I left the house.”
She breathed deeply, inhaling his scent. She smelled Aramis and coffee and something that could have been soap. But she didn’t smell smoke.
“You’re quite the secret agent, Julianne. I had no idea you were coming.”
“I left a message for you with the concierge. When I arrived, he had one of the porters escort me.” She gazed around the room. “It’s a beautiful room.”
His lips twitched. “I would have booked a suite if I’d known you were coming.”
“This is far nicer than I could have imagined. And it has a breathtaking view of Central Park.”
His arms tightened around her. “So now that you’re here, what am I going to do with you?”
“You’re going to kiss me. Then you’re going to take off your suit and show me just how much you missed your phone cord.”
“And the attachment.”
“And the attachment.”
“I hope you napped on the plane.” Gabriel grinned before bringing his eager mouth to hers.
Chapter Sixty-one
Gabriel was still inside her, their bodies entwined. Julia was running her fingers lazily up and down his back as he held himself above her.
“You’re my family.” His thumb traced the curve of her cheek.
Julia’s eyes met his.
He continued, his voice a husky whisper. “All this searching, all this anxiety, when what I was looking for was right here.”
“Darling.” She pressed her palm against his jaw.
“I’m sorry I got lost in my head and shut you out.”
“Sweetie, you needed to find out more about your family. It was part of your healing.”