NorthangerAlibiInterior (18 page)

“Tony?” Jaden appeared to mull that over as he scanned the other shirt. “Are you sure that’s your name?”

Tony looked down at his hands, and I laughed. “Uh, yeah. I think he’d know his own name.”

“Really? I don’t know why, but you seem like a Jason, or John, or, or a Jack to me.”

Tony stiffened. “That’s funny. Not something you hear every day—someone questioning your name. Uh, what’s the total?” It was obvious he wanted out of there.

Jaden told him the price, and Tony quickly brought out his wallet and paid cash. As he handed over the receipt, Jaden said, “Watch out for her, okay? She looks sweet, but she’ll kill you.”

I glared at him.
Thanks.

Jaden winked. “Oh! And whatever you do, don’t mention the word ‘Twilight’ to her. She may start thinking you’re a werewolf or something.”

That did it! If I’d been closer to him, I’d have given his armpit hair another strong tug.
The moron
.

At least Tony was polite enough not to comment until we were out the door and way out of earshot.

It's in His Kiss

We’d decided to sit on a bench not far from Old Navy to wait for Nora. I had just lathered myself in antibiotic sanitizer, hopefully killing off Jaden’s germs, when Tony came back with some pretzels and asked, “So, have you really known Jaden just a few weeks?”

“A few weeks too many,” I grumbled as I pulled off a piece of the warm pretzel and popped it in my mouth.

Tony chewed a bit more. “So, what’d he mean by that werewolf comment?”

“Uh . . .”
Great. Now what am I going to say?

He smiled and took another bite. “No, wait. Don’t tell me.” He chewed and swallowed. “You thought he looked like a werewolf?”

Looked like one? Yeah, right. Try
acted
like one!
“Something like that.” I quickly bit into my pretzel so I wouldn’t have to elaborate.

“Hmm . . .” Tony chuckled around another bite. “That’s funny.”

“What?”

“Oh.” He glanced over at me and then shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve just always thought werewolves were kind of cool.”

I almost dropped my pretzel. “Are you kidding me? You think they’re cool?”
What in the world? Vampires and werewolves hate each other, don’t they?

“Yeah.” He grinned. “You know, roaming around, getting a chance to run at super-fast speeds, being free and seeing the world.”

“Viciously killing things by instinct—without thought—just because you’re mad?” I replied with a smile. “I can see the potential there, oh yeah. What guy wouldn’t love being a werewolf? Gee, as a girl, I find myself attracted to you already.” I shook my head, thinking he was crazy. “That could be a pick-up line, you know? I wonder how many dates you could get, telling girls you wish you were a werewolf.” I rolled my eyes and pulled off another chunk of pretzel.

Tony laughed and nudged me with his elbow. “Come on—you don’t think it’d work? I bet I could get someone to go out with me.”

“Yeah, right.” I chuckled and tossed the piece into my mouth. “‘Hey, wanna kiss? I have doggy breath.’”

Tony laughed.

“Like I said, that’s just tempting me already. Hot dang!” I laughed too.

“Okay! I get it!” Tony continued to chuckle. “Werewolf is out. I don’t want to know where you found out werewolves have dog breath, but believe me, I’m starting to feel real sorry for Jaden right now.”

It was my turn to nudge him. “Whatever. His kisses were fine.”

“Grr . . . Let’s change the subject. So, what is the ultimate superhero character, then?” Tony asked as he raised his eyebrows, daring me to answer. “Or, wait! What do you see me as?”

Uh—dang! How did this happen?
All at once, I wanted to be as far away from him as I could get. I quickly took another bite and hedged. “Um . . . that’s hard.” Chew. Chew. Chew. “The perfect hero?”
Vampire!
Chew.
Vampire, and you know it!
Chew. Chew. “Gee—uh—”

“Come on, you’ve gotta see me as something.” He turned on the bench so we could face each other. His light brown eyes sparkled with copper flecks.

He is one hot vampire!
I silently gasped and swallowed.

“How ’bout I help you?” His eyes playfully traced my features. “Do you think I have laser vision, like Cyclops? Or quick comebacks and super card-throwing action, like Gambit?”

Tony was grinning like mad, and I was having a really hard time focusing.

“Uh—an X-Men fan. Okay.”
Seriously, is there a hotter guy in the world?

“Focus.” He chuckled and raised his eyebrows.

Dang! He heard me, didn’t he?
“Ahem. Well, I don’t see you as either, actually.”

“What? You’re kidding! Those two are the best.” He scooted closer. “Okay, tell me it’s Superman, then. I could handle that.”

“Superman?” I scrunched my nose.

“Ah, come on! You don’t like Superman, either?”

“No! I love Superman! Really. I even like the X-Men. I was picturing you as someone else, that’s all.”

“Who?”

I looked down and fiddled with what was left of my pretzel. “I don’t want to say.”

Tony gently reached under my chin and brought it up. His eyes darkened, and for about ten seconds his gaze locked with mine—it was so intense I could hardly breathe. “Is he a good guy?” he finally asked.

I nodded slightly. I couldn’t speak if I wanted to.

“Is he somewhat good-looking?”

Edward? Um, yes!
And then it hit me.
How cute is Tony? He wants to know if I think he’s hot.
I licked my lips and found my voice
.
“Oh yeah.” I really nodded that time. “He’s seriously hot.”

Tony’s eyes flew to my mouth. “Thanks,” he all but whispered. “You’re pretty hot yourself.”

Really?
Warm, delicious fuzzies exploded inside me. Never had any guy been as wonderful as Tony. Never.

“Claire?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“You’ll see.”

“What about Nora?”

“Just a sec.” Tony jumped off the bench and stopped a guy and girl who were holding hands about ten feet from us. He was talking so quietly, I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

What’s he doing?
Nervous, excited butterflies took the place of the warm fuzzies.

Within seconds he was standing in front of me again. “Okay, there is one. Let’s go.”

“One what? Seriously, are we just gonna leave Nora?”

He had my purse and his bag already in his hand. “We’re not leaving the mall. There’s just someplace I want to take you. Nora’ll call me when she wants to find me. Honest, we always shop like this.” He held his hand out. “Now, come on. Hurry.”

Smiling, I slipped my hand into his and allowed him to pull me up. “Well, lead the way then.”

And he did—right to one of those cool little photo booths.

“Ta-da! Here we are.”

“No way. We’re going in there? Really?” I giggled. It was just too cute. “This was the surprise?”

“Yep.” He sounded awfully proud of himself.

I entered the small booth and scooted over, waiting for Tony to put in the money and start the machine. I’d never realized just how small these booths were until Tony came in and sat next to me.

“The first set is just for practice, okay?”

“Okay.”

I smiled for the first photo. Tony slipped his arm around my back, and I leaned in toward his chest for the second one. By the third one I was grinning at him, because he had said something stupid to make me laugh—I don’t even remember what. It didn’t matter, because by the fourth flash, the look he gave me could’ve melted ice. Neither one of us was smiling in that one. We had both stopped and stared at each other. I knew anyone could tell by the pictures that something serious was happening between Tony and me—something I don’t think either of us could’ve predicted, had we tried.

“Wow,” was all he said when he saw that last picture.

I knew it was coming. I was still humming from the powerful vibe he and I had created together. You could feel it—it was that strong. But even then, with the photo staring me in the face, I wasn’t prepared for the seriousness of how attracted I was to him. It was so obvious, anyone could see it. I knew Tony could.
And that’s an embarrassing thought. Mortifying, actually.

“Do you mind if I keep this?” he asked.

“I—uh—”
Is that a good thing? Or does he want to take it home and burn it? I didn’t think I could bear having that picture burned
. I was going to need something to look at when I headed back to Farmington.

“I’ll let you have the next set, I promise.” His smile was sweet, and he looked so genuinely happy with the thought of keeping the photo, I couldn’t tell him no.

“Okay.” I grinned up at him.

“Are you ready for the next set?”

“Sure.” I turned around and stepped back into the booth, willing my hands not to shake with nervousness as Tony put the money in.
I can do this. I’m just going to smile and look natural and enjoy myself. This set is for me, anyway. I’m going to want proof to show my friends that I actually knew this guy
.
I took a deep breath just as Tony climbed in the booth, smiling.

I watched him nervously, not sure if he was going to put his hand behind my back again or not.

He didn’t. Instead he caught my gaze and sat down facing me. His smile fell. We were so close, our knees were forced outwards, and they were still touching. I knew I should turn and smile for the perfect picture, but I couldn’t look away. I didn’t
want
to look away.

I blinked as the first flash went off. When I opened my eyes, Tony was still staring at me. By the time the second flash came, he asked me, “Can I kiss you?”

Yes. Please.
“Only if you want to.”

The third flash caught his lips hovering just above mine. My eyes were closed, but he was still watching me. The fourth flash exploded just as his lips captured mine.

My heart soared.
Tony Russo is kissing me!
I couldn’t believe it.

When we broke apart, he grinned widely, and I rubbed my lips together, enjoying the tingling sensation. One thing was very certain—no matter what I had thought earlier, Tony Russo was not a vampire. His lips were too warm and soft.

All at once I felt crazy cool, like the most beautiful girl in the world. My heart was racing, and my cheeks were red—I could feel them, but I didn’t care. Tony Russo had just kissed me.
Me!
Out of all the girls he could have chosen, he chose me.

He shook his head a bit and then looked around, as though he’d forgotten we were in a photo booth. When he caught my eyes again, he grinned a devastatingly hot grin. “Now those pictures, I’ve gotta see.” He grabbed the strip of photos as soon as they came out of the machine.

His arm was around my back and clasping my shoulder as we both chuckled at our faces in the moments before the kiss. I grew all warm and fuzzy again when I saw the way Tony’s eyes watched my closed ones. There was something meaningful about that look—I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it was something especially wonderful.

“Wanna trade?” he whispered in my ear as he brought out the other strip of pictures.

“No way.” I chuckled, grateful for the pictures I had. You could only see half of Tony, but it was such a special moment, it made up for not being able to really show him off.

“What are we going to do?” he quietly asked as he slipped his hand from my shoulder to my arm.

I knew what he meant—he didn’t have to explain himself. We hardly knew each other, and I lived a gazillion miles away. Not the best start to a relationship.

“I don’t know.” Unbelievable sadness washed over me.

Tony muttered something under his breath and pulled me into him. I relaxed into his warm, strong hug. “Whatever happens,” he murmured into my hair, “I’ll never forget you. I couldn’t, even if I tried.”

“Well, I know one thing we can do,” I said as I snuggled closer to him.

“What’s that?”

“Get to know each other.” My hands drew lazy circles on his back. “You know, our likes and dislikes.”

“Good idea.” He straightened up a bit. “You ask the first question, and then we’ll both answer it.”

“Oh, um . . . I don’t know.” I pulled back a little to look up at him and then asked the first question that popped in my mind. “What’s your favorite color?”

“Easy. Orange.”

“Orange?” That surprised me. “Really?”

“Yeah, I like it. It’s bold and friendly at the same time.” Tony stepped back and held my hand, then slowly guided me over to a bench against the wall. “So, what’s yours?”

“Silver.”

“Silver? Cool. That’s different.”

“You were expecting me to say pink, weren’t you?” I laughed.

“I didn’t know what to expect. But I like silver.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, my turn. What’s your favorite movie?”

“Twilight.”

He smiled and nodded. “Hence the werewolf fascination.”

“Eew!” I bumped him with my shoulder. He retaliated by bringing his arm around me and pulling me up against his side. “For your information,” I informed him, “I happen to like the vampire. As a matter of fact, I think he’s the perfect super—”
Oh my gosh! What am I saying? He’ll freak if he realizes I thought he was a vampire!