by Mimi Barbour
At one point he reached out and fingered the ruffled sleeve of her feminine blouse.” You’re really into wearing the girly clothes now.”
“Susie at Lord & Taylor helped me choose a new wardrobe for work. Do I look okay?” How pathetic, asking him for affirmation. Her bottom lip disappeared under her teeth.
“Sure! Fine. What’s with the makeup? You trying to snare some poor slob?”
“Only poor slob I see around here is you.”
“You trying to snare me?”
“In your dreams.”
“You’d be surprised at my dreams, Runt—ahh, Anna.” Her uncharacteristic smack on his leg caught him off guard. She twisted to look out the window and hide her grin. Inadvertently, she saw him watching her, a stunned expression on his face. Her heartbeats accelerated and her breath caught in mid sigh. His aversion for her gender had never involved her before. Was he beginning to see her differently? Hopefully as a woman? Maybe as an attractive one?
The restaurant they chose was one of their favorites. The atmosphere of young-modern mixed with class made the place desirable. Both being pizza lovers, they quickly decided to order a large so they could squabble over who got which piece. Annie preferred cheese, olives and artichokes and—surprise—so did Tyler. She also loved mushrooms, feta cheese and lots of different meats. Three guesses who was partial to the same.
The restaurant owner, overhearing the choices for table eight, came out of the kitchen to see if his favorite couple was seated at their special booth.
“Hey, dudes! Figured it was you two. Haven’t seen you in here for a while. Ya moved on to fancier digs or something?”
“Hey, Dominic, what’s up?” Tyler stood to man-hug him, arms around each other with a one-sided meeting of their bodies. Then he pumped the reaching palm, following through with the various hand-shaking maneuvers.
“Hi, Annie. How ya doin’?” Dominic leaned back and surveyed her, his gentle hands lifting hers and spreading them wide. “Wow! Girl, you look hot!” He bent down and quickly smooched her cheek.
As she lifted her face to give him easier access, she lowered her lashes to hide her shocked gratitude. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the sour look that flashed across Tyler’s face for a few seconds.” Thank you, kind sir! Started a new job and keeping pretty busy. How’s life with you?”
“Things’ve been real good. I’m short on help here. Could use some new waitresses, but otherwise I got no complaints.”
Annie rubbed and patted the floury hand resting on the table in front of her. “It’s been too long, Dom. I’m so happy to see you.”
“Backatcha, Annie.”
A visit with Dominic, who was one of Tyler’s Keepers, put an added spark into the evening for Annie. This twenty-five-year-old was the direct opposite of Lea’s boyfriend. Annie and Tyler favored him because he deserved their respect. And he’d never forgotten or failed to admit that it was Tyler who’d dragged his sorry ass from the gutter, slapped him into school and helped him become the man he was today—an entrepreneur and a businessman.
Dominic co-owned this thriving restaurant with an unknown, silent partner—and the bank. Well, mostly the bank, according to what he’d told her, but he was steadfast about making his payments, even paying extra when business hit a peak now and then. A demon for hard work, she knew the goal of becoming his own man summarized his ultimate dream.
The overall change from bad boy to respectable had wrought other alterations in the man himself. He no longer wore skater clothes to match a scruffy look. His face was clean-shaven, filled out and eye-catching. Dark Italian features accentuated by the white cook’s uniform he wore in his establishment caught many a female eye, both customers and staff. But Annie knew it was his upbeat personality that hooked them.
Once the steaming, scrumptious pizza arrived, Dominic returned to the kitchen to let his friends enjoy their food and to help the other cooks catch up on any backlog of customer orders.
Whiffs of artichokes, mushrooms and cheese had Annie salivating and hurrying to pick off the feta pieces to eat first. Tyler’s half would disappear rapidly and she knew what that meant. He’d start eyeballing hers. Two large, salt-ringed margaritas placed in front of them to help wash down the food made them both glad they’d left the car at home.
After some steady face filling, Tyler got around to asking Annie the question she sensed he’d been shying away from. “So, Anna, tell me, how’s the new job?”
“I wondered if you’d ever ask.”
His frown couldn’t be misinterpreted. She decided to ignore the message.
“Actually, I love it most of the time. There’s so much going on that I have to stretch myself to keep up, but the challenge motivates me and the people have been super friendly. I have a personal assistant, Sara Knight, who keeps me honest and has saved my dainty derriere a number of times.”
“You have your own Girl Friday? Sweet! Should I grovel?”
“Genuflecting or begging for my autograph would be enough to satisfy my inflated ego. I also have a huge office with my own small washroom in one corner and a tiny walk-in dressing area next to it, in case I need to make a quick change for evening presentations or working dinners.” Was she bragging? Probably!
“Get out, you do not.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Show off!”
“Suck it up, Tyler. Do you really think I’d lie about such inconsequential things?” She stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes.
“You’re sooo not funny. Tell me, what’s the name of the company? I’ve only ever heard you talk about the business as Hugo Montero’s place.”
“You must have heard of Montero’s Shoes. He’s almost as big as Reeboks.”
“Right! Now that you mention it, I have heard of them. Didn’t Nike acquire Reeboks a while back? Goes to show you, even the giants have to watch out for bigger ones.”
“Montero’s is very successful. I don’t believe he has anything to worry about.” She bit off the rest of what she’d like to add.
“Tell that to Reebok.” He looked up and saw her glare. “Sorry!” The word had attitude.
Her voice softened. “Tyler, be happy for me. It’s a great place to be employed. My salary is twice what I made before. I’m finally implementing my master’s degree, and already I’ve met so many new people that I’m feeling a lot more confident. Even the dinner parties and business functions aren’t as awful as I’d dreaded.”
Annie tried to placate the frown away from Tyler’s face, but she hated the whining note in her voice. Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned the dinner parties. Actually, they were job-related, boring and filled with workaholics twice her age. Thank goodness Hugo put in an appearance at most of them. Not wanting to downgrade her job in any way to Tyler, she hesitated. After all, she didn’t want to give him ammunition for saying “I told you so.”
Tyler wagged his hand in front of her face. “Yahoo! Anyone home?”
“Sorry. My mind wandered for a minute. What were you saying?”
“Honey, actually, I’m very happy for you. Wherever you work shouldn’t matter. What does matter is if you’re content. Ignore me. I’m just being a jerk, trying to talk you out of making new life choices. My only excuse—us guys hate change. It’s embedded in our DNA. But I do want to apologize. You’re obviously being challenged. You’re pleased with your new career and that’s what I’ve always wanted for you. So ignore me if my lip sticks out when my favorite pal isn’t available. Okay?”
“Okey-dokey!” She grinned in the same goofy way that used to get the kids laughing, and it made her remember. Her favorite sound in the world had to be the infectious giggling of little children. She missed that and them—a lot. But she couldn’t tell Tyler. He’d understand her feelings. He usually did. But he wouldn’t or couldn’t understand her decision to give it all up in order to do something different and be someone else.
She glanced around the busy place and focused on the lovely plants that were new since the la
st time they’d come. A huge lit fishpond in the shape of a round glass dome in the center of the room, encircled by trailing ivy and other greenery, gave one the impression that the fish were swimming in a forest pond. It was ingenious and brightened the room immeasurably.
The bar area had recently been changed, also. On the wall behind the huge long counter, round mirrors interlocked and hung next to each other. They added space by reflection, thus exposing the new track lights twice. She applauded the renovations and made a mental note to tell Dominic what a lovely job he’d done redecorating the place.
Tyler recaptured her interest by reaching over to take her hand. He rubbed his thumb up and down the center of her palm. What was he up to? Shivery reactions made her stomach jump and had her legs closing tightly. Her lip, imprisoned between her teeth, controlled her instinct to pant. She surveyed his features and then lowered her gaze. The yearning to sigh long and loud, sort of like a moan, all but made her crumple.
“Want to go out on Sunday and spend my money with me? I have some extra bucks this month from fluky investments that came through, and I figure it’s about time I got myself some real nice living room and bedroom furniture. I’m sick of that old brown couch and the mattresses-piled-on-the-floor caper. And I’m sure that old futon, the one my frequent overnight guests get stuck with, is more than ready for the dump. I’d be willing to let you drag me to Lord & Taylor to shop, if it means you’ll come with me.”
Now what was he doing? This touching wasn’t part of their earlier relationship. But oh, God, let it be part of the future one. Thoughts popped into her head, thoughts she desperately tried to hide from his keen gaze. Urges to lean over and kiss his soft mouth made swallowing difficult. She could hardly breathe. Not trusting her voice, she nodded her head.
“Does that mean you’ll come with me?” He nodded his head in rhythm with hers—up and down. A grin split his face.
What the hell was she doing to herself? She groaned and switched her nodding to the negative. “I can’t go with you, Ty. I just remembered the work I planned to do this weekend. In fact, I intended to go to the office so I’d have access to my files. I’m really sorry. Maybe another time.”
She snatched her hand away from his and put it under the table to hide the fact that she was cradling it in her lap. It wasn’t possible that a caress could be burned into the skin, but if she became fanciful, she could almost believe a T emblazoned her lifelines.
* * *
Tyler had watched the conflict reflected on Annie’s features. She was with him one moment but locked inside her head the next. He’d watched yearning replace pride and then fade to acceptance. Her whole demeanor changed afterward, and he could hardly drag a word out of her.
They’d walked quickly to the bus stop, no meandering and no checking the store windows, nothing. She’d studiously avoided looking him in the eye.
Frustration gnawed his insides like an insect burrowing into flesh, and he knew what caused it. Ever since Annie had made her big announcement, he’d been feeling out of sorts. Many an hour passed with him getting damn belligerent over her new lifestyle. Sometimes it made him feel small, but not enough to stop. Knowing she was out there with no protection from the assholes of the world worried the hell out of him.
When she’d called earlier, he’d made up his mind. He’d try and work the old magic on her. After all it had worked on a lot of other women, hadn’t it? The days she’d been inaccessible had been unadulterated bullshit.
It was past time for him to come clean about these growing feelings. It frightened him that her new lifestyle could break the strong friendship bonds they’d had and isolate her. He couldn’t take that chance.
Look how she’d fixed herself tonight. Not that she wasn’t pretty before. But with her new hairstyle and makeup, and the feminine clothes she wore—well, now, she looked fricking gorgeous. His appreciation got all caught up in his previous woman-hating feelings of distrust. He kept reminding himself Annie didn’t behave like other women. Annie could be trusted.
While sitting beside her on the bus, the closed look on her face warned him that the moment for him to spill his guts had come and gone for this evening. Other men might not be so in-tuned to the women they cared about, but he’d had a lot of lessons. He sat dejected and let his mind wander back a few years to the last time he’d had issues.
He hadn’t had a lot of girlfriends, growing up. His “one girl at a time” personality saw to that. Therefore, his relationships tended to last and last. The girl he’d spent the better part of his teen years with finally admitted to being primarily gay and to using him mostly to allay suspicion at their school. Kissing and petting were permitted, but understandably, sex hadn’t been high on her agenda. Since he’d been brought up to respect girls and their boundaries, he endured wordlessly. Needless to say, he’d been pretty nerdy by the time he’d hit university.
Again he’d teamed up with a controlling chick who’d kept him on a short leash for the next few years. By this time, his appetite for sex had grown, and her alluring body heated him up every minute they spent together. Unfortunately, he’d picked a girl with little or no desire for intercourse. Hang-ups from a childhood with too many sick stepfathers kept her from actually enjoying sex. She’d played a malicious game where she blamed all their problems on his incessant carnal masculine needs—as she so delicately put it. Then she’d dumped him and moved to California as soon as she got her degree. His luck with women certainly didn’t provide him bragging rights.
The next few years he’d used his discontent as an excuse to sleep with as many women as he could. Finally, he’d put an end to that nonsense, also. Being a six-foot-two-inch male “goody bag”—a stupid name a pretty one-nighter tagged on him—meant he’d never had trouble getting female companionship.
But the sick reaction afterwards, the feeling of being a cheap commodity, unfulfilled, never experiencing deep emotions left him empty, and so he’d stopped that foolishness. Burnt out on romance, he’d grown a pretty thick chip on his shoulder and a real dislike for the feminine creatures of the world.
Then he’d met Annie, and his life changed. His little tomboy had pleased him, and keeping romance out of their friendship had made everything perfect. But no more. Maybe it had taken her changing to wake him up, but he was wide awake now.
They arrived at her door, the silence saturated thick and heavy. He couldn’t let the evening end with her coolness and all his undeclared yearnings brewing between them.
“Are you over your pout yet?” The words popped out before he could bite them back.
“Me? You hardly said a word after I refused to spend Sunday with you. I never knew you could be so moody.” She pushed her small frame right in his face, a reaction not normal in his playmate. It pissed him off, her newfound, unpredictable quirks.
“What? You totally shut down and ignored me. And, let me tell you, I didn’t appreciate it, either.” Before he stopped to think, he had swooped her up and into his arms. Controlling the muscles that wanted to squeeze tempered his attitude somewhat. First he kissed her shocked eyes shut. Then he attacked her mouth—her closed mouth.
She never moved. Her hands caught between their two bodies stayed motionless. He softened his lips and used all his expertise to sweeten the caress. He licked her mouth, his tongue flicking at her until she caught on and opened so he could enter. Then he kissed her with such longing channeling from his mouth to hers that afterwards, as he watched her lush eyelashes glued to her cheeks, he saw they took an unusually long time to open.
And when they did, slowly, very slowly, her tanzanite eyes were unfocussed, dark with desire and huge with shock. Slightly reassured by her reaction, he grinned, one side of his mouth rising slowly, and said, “Had a great time. Thanks, honey.”
He lowered her gently so her feet were firmly back on the floor. Then, before he could blow it, he escaped into the nearby stairwell and closed the door on her confused, stunned face.
Chapter Eight<
br />
“Anna, do you have any plans for tonight? I came by two passes to the newest musical playing at the Imperial Theatre. My neighbor and her husband got a call that their grandchild had arrived earlier than expected, so they passed the freebies to me.” Sara stood in the office doorway waving her tickets. “Let’s face it; the heap of chores ahead for both of us today justifies a treat for later. Rather than going alone, I’m happy to share.”
“I’d love to Sara, but I can’t. I’ve been dying to tell you my news. Sergio Ruiz invited me to dinner. I can’t believe how many times I’ve had to refuse him due to prior commitments. I’m surprised he’s been so patient. Tonight was the first time we were both free.”
Sara glanced down, but not before Annie saw a frown replace the smile she’d previously worn.
“What is it? Sara, every time I mention his name, or you pass on a call from him, negative vibes explode. Something about him gets to you, doesn’t it?”
Sara lifted her shoulders. “Hey, it’s your choice. He is very good looking. Have a wonderful evening, but be careful, okay?”
Annie watched Sara turn, as if someone had approached. “What?”
Shrugging, her assistant answered. “A tall, very attractive stranger just walked towards your office, got a furious look on his face and changed his mind. Weird. Now what were we talking about?”
“About your warning me to be careful tonight. It sounds pretty ominous. Do you know something I should know? Something you’re not telling me?”
“If I knew anything for sure, I would tell you. Look, don’t listen to me. I’m an old mother hen, that’s all. Oh, before I forget, Hugo wants to talk with you later. He says he’ll come to you and he won’t take up too much of your time.”
“He always says that, but then I can’t get rid of him. He must work at home all night long to keep caught up, because he doesn’t appear to spend many daytime hours in his office. Ï guess he needs to fill his evenings somehow since his wife is gone. His kids are young enough that they’d be in bed early. Have you ever met his kids? They went to the daycare center where I used to be employed. They’re smart, uniquely unspoiled and cute as can be.”