Page 3 of Power's Fall

“Fleet Admiral, they’re asking if they should come over,” Regina said, checking the screen of her watch.

Eric looked at Juliette. “Last chance to back out.”

Juliette turned to Devon. “Call in our people.”

“Colum, we need another chair,” Regina said, eyeing the two library tables that had been pushed together to form a conference table with fifteen chairs around it.

“Leave it with me.” Colum scampered off to retrieve a sixteenth.

Franco debated following him and shaking the information out of his friend, but if there was one thing that could distract him from a secret, it was a book, and this was one of the most famous libraries in the world. Franco turned to the stacks as if pulled by a magnet.

Normally, there were display cases running down the center of the Long Room’s main aisle. The tourists who came to see the library first went through the museum rooms that housed the Book of Kells and were then funneled through the Long Room. But Trinity College Dublin was a university first, and Colum had them close the Long Room early today for an “academic event.” Some of the central aisle display cases had been rolled between the stacks, clearing space for the tables.

The afternoon sun poured in through the tall windows, and the room smelled like old paper and failing glue. Franco loved that smell. He drifted toward the bookstacks, which normally were roped off to stop tourists from browsing the collection of old, often one-of-a-kind tomes. He tipped his head to read spines, hands tucked in his pockets to help avoid the temptation to touch.

“I wondered how long it would take for you to start playing with the books.”

Franco turned to his wife, who’d followed him between the stacks. He held out an arm and she came to him, tucking herself against his side. Franco wrapped an arm around her, resting his splayed hand over her belly.

Juliette made a happy noise, but then turned so her back was to the aisle and she was facing the window. The massive bookcases in the Long Room stuck out perpendicularly from the exterior walls, meaning the two of them weren’t exactly hidden from the aisle.

And Juliette wasn’t ready to announce her pregnancy yet.

They’d made it through the first trimester this time, and it finally looked like they had a pregnancy that would last long enough to become an actual baby. They’d had a hard time getting pregnant, and she’d suffered two miscarriages. Fertility issues had eaten at Juliette, and the guilt of thinking maybe one of the beatings she’d endured last year was at fault had nearly killed Devon. All that added to her stress, which in turn made everything harder. Franco had held them together, his love enough to tether both Juliette and Devon, even as his own heart was breaking for her.

Franco slid one hand between them, molding her dress to the sweet bump. It wouldn’t be long before she couldn’t hide it. The only reason she was able to now was that being pregnant had made her breasts huge, so the straight-cut dress was sized to fit her seriously impressive rack, making it loose everywhere else.

“Franco.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

“Staring at my tits.”

“They’re just so big,” he breathed. “Remember that time you almost smothered me with them? Perfect way to die.”

“Franco!” But Juliette was laughing helplessly.

“I bet Colum would let us have sex in here, after the meeting.”

“Is having sex while surrounded by really old books a secret fantasy you haven’t told us about?”

“I don’t think it’s a secret,” Devon said in a low voice as he joined them. “Remember the time we fucked in the rare books room and two members of the trinity we’d called to the altar almost walked in on us?”

“Yes, but these books are older than the ones we have,” Franco breathed, eyeing Juliette as he planned where he’d put his mouth first. Obviously her tits, but did he start with the right or the left?

“We’re about to have a tense, dangerous meeting,” Juliette reminded him.

“I know. Isaidafter,” Franco protested.

Devon’s phone chimed. “Our people are here. Try to keep it in your pants, Franco.”

“But old books…” He dropped his hand from Juliette’s belly.

She was smiling as she tugged on her dress, making sure it didn’t cling to the telltale bump, and turned to leave the stacks.

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