Angel Unaware (15 page)

Silently, she studied Jack. When he’d finished eating his cookie, he sat down and stared at Dora with a look of total innocence lighting his brown eyes. The look did not alleviate Dora’s suspicions.

Calvin
?
Is that you
? she asked.

Silence accompanied by that doleful, put-upon look.

Calvin, if that’s you, answer me
.

More silence.

Eventually, the dog blinked, stood, and sauntered from the room. Dora frowned. Though she admitted it was a stretch, she wasn’t totally convinced she’d misjudged their furry friend. Calvin had already proven he wasn’t above deception to keep track of her. He’d do almost anything to prevent incurring the wrath of the Council, even if it meant masquerading as a mutt, eating off the floor, and sleeping on a ragged blanket in the laundry room.

Feeling only a tad foolish, she made a note to herself to have a private chat with Jack after Penny and Tony went to bed.

Not a sound broke the silence in the Falcone house. Penny had been in bed for hours, and Tony had disappeared up the stairs a short time ago, mumbling something about a lot of work to be done at the construction site the next day. Dora had waited until she was sure both were asleep and then tiptoed into the laundry room where Jack lay curled on his makeshift bed of old blankets.

She stared hard at the dog, watching carefully for anything that would give him away. “Calvin?”

The dog blinked sleepily, rolled onto his back, and stretched his paws above him, an open invitation to get his belly scratched. Any other time, she would have obliged, but if Jack was indeed Calvin, the thought of scratching his belly was a bit more than she could stand. Until she knew for sure this mutt was not her boss, their interaction would have limits.

It didn’t appear as if he was going to answer her one way or the other.

“Calvin, if that is you, you need to listen to me. Coming here disguised as Penny’s stuffed dog in the flesh was completely insensitive on your part.” She waited for a response, but Jack, resigned to no belly scratch, rolled to his side, closed his eyes, and went back to sleep. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she poked his side with her finger. “Don’t you dare go back to sleep.” He opened one eye, yawned, then closed it again. “Okay, ignore me if you want, but you’re the one who’s going to break that little girl’s heart when you have to go, and you know you will have to leave sooner or later. What then, Calvin? Are you prepared to hurt Penny like that? Will you be able to explain that to the Council?”

“Who are you talking to?”

Dora nearly jumped out of her skin. She swung toward the voice. Tony stood just inside the kitchen door. His gray sweatpants were slung low on his hips, revealing a line of dark hair that ran from his navel and disappeared beneath the waistband. His upper torso was naked. A scattering of dark hair peppered his chest. And, oh, good heavens, what a chest it was. Broad, with a lingering summer tan, and rippling with muscles.

Frantically, she sought for her voice, then for the words to explain why he’d caught her talking to Jack, but none would come. All she could see, all she could think about, was the way his broad shoulders tapered down to his trim waist and how the muscles in his arms rippled with each movement of his body and how his smooth, tanned chest called out for her to touch it with each breath he took.

Finally, she snatched at the first thought that came to mind. “I was … uh … just talking to myself. Getting my plans for tomorrow in order.”

He smiled.

Oh, good grief
!

Her stomach lurched into a dizzy spin. Then, God help her, he winked. “You know what they say about people who talk to themselves.”

Delightful little chills chased up and down her spine. “Uh … no, I don’t.”

Tony walked to the refrigerator, turned back to her, and tapped his temple. “Wacko.” Then he winked again.

Her stomach did another crazy somersault.
Oh, for heavens to Betsy, please don’t do that
.

She sprang to her feet and began fussing with the place mats, straightening each until they were precisely the same distance from the table’s edge. “I thought you went to bed.”

He yawned and stretched his arms over his head. The muscles vibrated across his bare chest, sending her senses into a topsy-turvy spin. “I did, but I woke up and my mouth felt as dry as a desert.” He reached into the open refrigerator and extracted a can of soda. Dora had just enough time to catch her breath before he turned back to her. “What are you doing up so late … besides talking to yourself ?” He smiled again. “Join me?” He held up the can.

Darn
!
I wish he'd stop smiling like that
.

“Yes, I could use a drink.” Maybe the cold soda would put out the fire growing in the pit of her churning stomach and bring some kind of logic to her tangled thoughts. Certainly, she needed something to calm the foreign sensations coursing through her tingling body.

Tony pulled another can from the fridge, closed it, and sat in the chair closest to hers. He popped the top on one of the cans and handed it to her. His warm finger- tips skimmed hers, and the chills running rampant over her body increased. This was not good. Not good at all. Her gaze shifted from the can and locked with Tony’s mesmerizing dark eyes. What, in heaven’s name, was happening to her? How did this man have the power to throw her entire body into confused chaos?

Alarm bells were going off in Tony’s head. He’d heard those bells almost every time he’d gotten close to Dora. And he’d always heeded the warning. This time, he ignored it. This time, he wanted to follow his emotions and not his head.

Reminders of how sweet she’d tasted that night in the Christmas tree lot raced through his mind. Her lips had been so soft, so innocent, so responsive. More than he wanted his next breath, he wanted to feel that again.

Holding her gaze with his, he leaned close to her. As though in a trance, she remained stone still. He could feel her warm breath on his face, warm and feathery soft. Then he realized it wasn’t just her lips he wanted to feel. He needed to feel the entire length of her pressed against him again.

Without releasing her gaze, he took her hands and slowly stood, drawing her to her feet with him. He gazed down into her dark eyes. Her expression accepted his silent invitation. Grasping her shoulders, he pulled her into his arms. Her slight body molded to his without resistance. A deep-throated groan escaped him. He buried his hands in her silky hair and let it sift through his fingers like grains of sand.

Dora peered up at him from eyes as dark and mysterious as the night sky. Then she closed them as if waiting for the kiss she knew was coming. Tony lowered his head until his warm breath mixed with hers and his mouth was a fraction of an inch from hers.

“We shouldn’t,” she murmured, her eyes still closed, her lips straining toward his.

Gently, Tony stopped her words with a finger on her lips. “Yes, we should.”

He removed his finger and replaced it with his lips. She tasted just as he’d remembered: sweet, pure, eager, and oddly innocent. Tenderly, he cupped her face in his hands and rained butterfly kisses on her mouth. She strained to hold him still, to anchor his lips on hers. Then he stopped moving and devoured her mouth in one hungry, demanding kiss.

Dora laced her arms around his neck and hung on, returning his kiss with all the strength she could muster. She felt his hands on her back, smoothing and exploring. Then one slipped around to her front and cupped her breast.

She couldn’t breathe. She’d never before felt anything like the sensations buffeting her, and she wanted them to go on forever and ever and ever. As though reading her thoughts, Tony tightened his arms and deepened the kiss. Her heartbeat raced to alarming speeds. Had it not been for his arms, her knees had grown so weak, she would have melted at his feet.

A sharp bark pulled them apart abruptly. Jack stood beside them, his ears back, a ridge of fur standing on end from his head to his behind. He continued to bark loudly until Tony stepped back and released Dora.

“Damn dog,” Tony mumbled. “Has no romance in his soul.”

Robbed of the ability to speak and the support of Tony’s arms, Dora could only grab the back of the chair closest to her to keep from collapsing at Tony’s feet. Her head was swimming along with her senses. Her knees felt like jelly, and her hands shook uncontrollably. Her breath came in short gasps.

“I …” was all she could say when the power of speech returned.

Tony held up his hand to stop anything more from her. For a very long moment he studied her with an expression of regret and then, as though coming to a decision, shook his head. He picked up his soda and left the kitchen.

Dora peered down at Jack, who had returned to his bed, curled into a ball, and closed his eyes.

“Damn dog,” she mumbled, then flicked off the light and headed for her room.

CHAPTER 11

Saturday afternoon found Dora, Tony, and Penny sitting around the table eating lunch. Rather than having to meet Tony’s gaze, Dora paid undue attention to the arrangement of the sandwich and pickle on her plate. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted that Tony also seemed overly absorbed in his food. Only Penny, unaware of the tension between the two adults, ate her peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a relaxed air about her.

To break the tense silence, Dora got up and grabbed the mail off the counter. She handed some to Tony and two envelopes to Penny. “Looks like you got mail today, sweetie.”

Eager to open her mail, Penny laid aside her sandwich and took the envelopes. Hastily, she tore the first one open. It was a Christmas card with reindeer across the front. The lead deer had a bright red, glowing nose. Penny opened the card and read silently for a moment.

“It’s from Grammy and Grampa Stevens. They sent me money.” Penny held up the crisp twenty-dollar bill her paternal grandparents had included in the card.

Carefully, she laid it aside and attacked the envelope flap on the other card. This one had a picture of a tiny mouse making a snowman. Once more, Penny read to herself.

“It’s from Aunt Lisa.” Her forehead furrowed. She passed the card to her uncle. “What’s this mean?”

Lisa
? Dora recalled all the negative things both Millie and Tony had said about Matt’s absentee sister. Why was she suddenly contacting Penny out of the blue? A bad feeling settled like a lump of lead in Dora’s stomach.

Tony took the card and read to himself. Stunned surprise registered on his face. “Well,” he finally said, handing the card back to her, “it appears as though your aunt will be paying us a visit.”

Penny continued to frown. “Why?”

“I’m afraid she didn’t say. All she said was, ‘See you soon.’”

Her mind busy trying to figure out why Lisa would come to see Penny when she hadn’t even acknowledged her existence all this time, Dora hadn’t been paying too much heed to the conversation going on between uncle and niece. She did, however, note that Penny didn’t seem to be particularly excited about a visit from her aunt.

Totally dismissing the impending visit from an aunt she’d never met, Penny tucked her Christmas money in her jeans pocket. “Dora, can you take me Christmas shopping today? I have money now, and I need to get my teacher a present and one for you and one for Uncle Tony.” The child looked at Dora, waiting for an answer.

Distracted by the parade of persistent questions and an unease that she couldn’t understand, Dora only half-heard Penny.

“Dora? Are you okay?” This time it was Tony’s voice that beckoned to her. She jumped slightly and turned to him. “Penny’s talking to you.”

“Yes. I’m fine.” That was, if anyone could call the state of her forebodings fine. She turned to Penny. “Yes, sweetie, what is it?”

“I need to go Christmas shopping.”

Dora smiled. She had never been Christmas shopping. “Sure. If you want, we can go today.”

The idea of walking through all the gaily decorated stores lifted her spirits and cleared her mind of Lisa like a brisk wind…that was, until she looked at Tony and he smiled and the emotions he had the innate power to produce flooded through her.

This has to stop
, she told herself. For the thousandth time, she reminded herself this was not what she’d been sent there for. In fact, Calvin had explicitly warned her against it. Determined to banish her wayward thoughts, she shook herself mentally.

To occupy herself, she began clearing away the lunch dishes. But abolishing thoughts of her sexy employer was easier said than done, especially when Tony brushed against her when he brought his dishes to the sink, and the tingles raced up her arm and spread through her entire body.

Again she pushed the disturbing sensations aside and faced Tony. Now that she’d cleared her mind of him and could think about what had taken place at the table, she had to ask about Penny’s reaction to her aunt coming to see her. “I couldn’t help but notice that Penny didn’t seem terribly excited about her aunt’s impending visit.”