Chapter 46: Moving Forward

Richie’s silly smile morphed into such a smile of unadulterated joy that Julianna couldn’t help but touch his mouth, her own smile so big it hurt her cheeks. After staring at him a heartbeat or two, Julianna launched herself into Richie’s arms, and crawled onto his lap, straddling him. “I love you,” she said, before crushing her mouth to his.

Richie stood, not breaking the kiss, carrying Julianna into his arms. He felt her stiffen as he headed back to his room. He gently broke the kiss and looked at her. Julianna nodded slightly, the desire in her eyes trumping the wariness he saw there. Richie kissed her gently and continued his journey. He noticed she had kept her eyes closed this time. Julianna whispered in his ear, “I don’t want to know which room is yours. I’m just not ready for that yet. Just take me there, my love. Take me there and make me forget.”

Richie whispered back. “Your every wish is my command, love.” He walked quickly, not wanting to wait a moment longer. Kicking the door closed with a slam behind him, he crossed the sitting room into his bedroom. He unceremoniously dropped Julianna onto the bed, making her squeak.

“Don’t bruise the merchandise, Sambora,” she groused, opening her eyes. The laugh in her voice died out as she saw Richie in front of her, kneeling by the bed.

“What I can promise you,” he said, his voice thick with emotion, “is that I love you, and I want to be with you. I want to stay with you here at your cottage and I want to go with you when you leave for the city. I want to spend as much time with you as I can.” He took her hands in his, never breaking eye contact with her. “I want to cook with you, play guitar with you, sing with you, make love with you, go to sleep with you, wake up with you – all of it.” He kissed her hands. “There are a couple of things I left out earlier. I need to tell you these things, but I don’t really want to.” He sighed. “I’m a very protective, maybe over-protective, partner. I’m also very jealous, and a bit possessive. I know that’s not good, but I can’t help it – that’s the way I am. If you have any second thoughts or doubts, right now is the time to deal with it.”

Julianna nodded somberly. “I can understand that, and I’m glad you told me.” She sighed herself. “Look, I still have major trust issues, and you think you’re jealous? Baby, I’ve cornered that market in the last couple of years.” She shook her head. “I still tend to see ghosts and memories around every turn. There are times when they overwhelm me, and I withdraw completely. There are times when I am single-minded and it will be on my work. If you can handle the times when my attention and focus are on my work and not on you, or learn when to step back and let me deal with my shit my own way rather than hover, the rest of it doesn’t matter. After the things we’ve been through separately, we can work out the other stuff together.”

She reached for Richie, pulling him into her arms. “I sense this isn’t going to be easy, that we’ll have bumps on the way. But, we’ve been honest with each other about some very difficult things. If we can keep doing that, and try to keep that always in the forefront of our minds, well,” she pulled back a little to smile wickedly and shrug nonchalantly. “Nothing is guaranteed, but I’d say we’d have a better shot than most.”

Richie laughed. “Very romantic sentiment, Julianna. Do you moonlight as a writer for Hallmark? ‘We have a better shot than most.’ Jesus, I love you, woman. Your sense of humor is just perfect.” He gave Julianna a slow once-over. “So many things about you are just perfect.” He pulled her back in close and kissed her neck, scratching his five o’clock shadow on the sensitive spot between her neck and collarbone making her giggle. They made quick work of each other’s clothes and crawled into bed together, arms wrapped around each other.

Richie pulled Julianna underneath him, and slipped gently into her body. “I love you,” he whispered, as he moved above her slowly. He kissed her face; butterfly kisses that made Julianna sigh happily.

“And I love you,” Julianna answered, her legs tightening around Richie’s waist. She trailed a hand down the side of his face in a gentle caress.

Their lovemaking was tender and slow; neither wanting this first joining as true lovers to end. As with all good things, however, it had to. The release came, taking them over the edge together, as they whispered words of love to one another. When they were finally sated, they drifted off to sleep, wrapped around each other; with smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts.