That's Amore (5 page)

Which he promptly spewed all over the counter when he saw her.

“Are you okay?” She rushed towards him.

Gasping and choking, his eyes watering, Jeff nodded, holding his hand up to keep her at bay.

“Did it go down the wrong way?” Paige looked at the spray all over the counter. “Did you buy paper towels, I hope?”

He took a deep shuddering breath and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “Jesus. I think I bought the wrong size clothes for you, Paige. I’m sorry.”

Not that he looked sorry. He looked fascinated. His eyes were fixed on her chest and his mouth hung open a little.

It was kind of funny in a way. And it was either laugh or launch herself into his arms. Paige went with the laugh. “Better too small than too big, I guess. That would have had me wondering.”

“I always thought of you as thin, you know, but curvy, I mean, I know you’ve got great…” he trailed off, his hands up in the air outlining breasts.

Embarrassment warred with elation, which was wrestling with anger. Finally, she ignored all three, crossed her arms over her chest and said pointedly, “Where’s the baby?”

Jeff’s eyes refocused. “Huh? Oh, he’s in the chair.”

Paige peered around Jeff to the tiny table under the kitchen window. Justin was sitting on one of the black wrought iron chairs, boosted by several hundred dollars worth of suede pillows from the sofa. Not precisely what she would have chosen to have him sit on, but it worked.

“How is he staying up there?” She stepped closer to the baby and put her hand over her mouth when she saw Justin was strapped to the chair by a leather belt.

“Jeff! You belted him to the chair?”

“What? It works, doesn’t it? How else was he going to stay on?” Jeff gestured defensively. “He likes it.”

It appeared he did. Justin was bouncing up and down on the pillows, while the belt held him securely from sliding off. He was shoving pieces of turkey into his mouth and slapping his sippy cup down on the glass table.

Jeff sat down across from Justin with his sandwich. “Don’t you, buddy? That’s right. We men have got to stick together.”

Paige hovered in front of them, amused in spite of herself. It was cute to see Jeff diving right into taking care of Justin, instead of ignoring him or foisting him off on her. This was why she had always adored Jeff Benedetto.

Because he was one of the good guys.

Who owed her a serious, big time explanation. Which she could not bring herself to demand. The answer might be worse than not knowing.

“Sit down and eat with us. I fixed you a turkey sandwich.”

“You did?” Shoot, there was that nice thing again. If he was going to do that, she was going to wind up naked with him. It was inevitable.

No
, she told herself firmly, as she reached for the plate with the sandwich on the counter.
It would be a worse mistake than the first time you slept with him.

“Yeah, I figured if I did lunch, that meant you would have to do dinner.” Jeff grinned at her as she sat down at the chair between him and Justin. “What can you do with that chicken I bought?”

“So you slap together sandwiches and I have to produce a gourmet meal?”

“Hey, you’re the Parmesan Princess. Something must have rubbed off on you.”

Normally she hated to cook. But somehow, in the cozy kitchen with the afternoon sun streaming through the window, with Jeff smiling and Justin babbling, she wanted to cook.

That was the scariest thing of all.

Jeff took a bite of his sandwich and tried not to stare at Paige’s chest. There was no way that shirt had been that small when he had bought it. Yet there it was, stretched so taut he could see the outline of her bra and the beading of her nipples.

He swallowed the turkey in his mouth with a great deal of effort. Paige had never been one for sexy clothes. In high school, more often than not he’d seen her in her Catholic school skirt and white blouse. Then after college, during those few weeks when he had been seeing Paige almost every day, alone, she had usually been in shorts and sandals and those shirts with no sleeves. It had been casual, nothing overtly sexy at all.

This was eye popping. This was a fantasy come true.

It didn’t really suit her. He liked the subtle sensuality of Paige, because she was usually so unaware of her beauty. But this was still quite a view.

“I’ll cook dinner if you promise to stop staring at my chest,” she said.

Busted. “I’m trying, I am, but hell…”

“Don’t swear in front of the baby. And you’ll have to try harder.” She looked like she was hiding a smile, but she was serious nonetheless.

“Alright, alright.” He dragged his eyes back to his plate and focused on the crumbs of his bread. He could do this.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you I called Sal and Sam while you were in the shower. They’re on it. They’ll track down Frank, Vinnie Cucuzza, or Gina, whoever they can find first.”

“Should we call the police?” Paige nibbled at her sandwich, suddenly worried about Gina all over again. The whole thing seemed so farfetched and unreal.

“I don’t think so. Not yet. We’ll see what my brothers come up with. And Gina’s fine. When I talked to her before, she sounded like she was actually enjoying herself.”

“She wants Frank to miss her, so he’ll marry her.” Repeating Gina’s words out loud, they made even less sense than they had when she had heard them the first time.

Jeff snorted. “She needs to tell that bum to take a hike and find some other woman to mooch off of.”

“I take it you don’t like Frank?”

“The guy’s irresponsible, unmotivated, and he’s been stringing my sister along for four years.” He nodded towards Justin. “And he doesn’t give a darn about Justin. Not really. He never asks to see him. It’s always Gina pushing for them to do things.”

“I know. That’s how I feel. But Gina loves him.”

“How could she love somebody like that?”

Paige pictured Frank, with his beady eyes, mono-brow, and bowlegged swagger. “I have no idea.”

Jeff stood up. “Oh, well, maybe when Frank doesn’t miss her, she’ll finally see the light this time.” He opened the refrigerator. “I bought pudding. You want some?”

“Pudding?”

“Chocolate or vanilla?” He held the containers up for her to view.

“I haven’t had pudding since grade school.”

“Then good thing I bought it. You’ve been missing one of the joys of life.” He set a chocolate pudding down in front of Justin and pried the lid off.

Justin’s fingers went right in, and started smearing pudding all over the table, his mouth, and the front of his shirt.

“Shouldn’t he have a spoon?” Paige watched Justin finger paint his cheek in horror.

“I don’t think he can use a spoon. He can barely get things into his mouth as it is.”

Jeff gave her a vanilla, and himself one of each.

“Why did you give me vanilla?”

“You look like the vanilla kind.”

“Really?” She reached over to the silverware drawer, and pulled two spoons out. “How can you tell?”

“You’re traditional. Sort of prim. Classy.”

Somehow none of that sounded like a compliment. “So what’s chocolate?”

“Outspoken. Impulsive.” He took a big bite of his chocolate and licked the spoon clean. “Voracious.”

Chocolate sounded more fun. Vanilla sounded like the good girl you brought home to meet your parents. Chocolate sounded like the girl you fantasized about and had wild sex in an elevator with.

Which was probably why she’d never had wild sex in an elevator.

“I could be chocolate if I wanted to.”

His eyes danced with mirth. His mouth turned up in a lazy grin. “I wouldn’t want you to be
all
chocolate. They’re high maintenance. But mostly vanilla, with bits of chocolate swirled in for a surprise here and there… mmmm, delicious.”

It sounded mouth watering to her. But were they talking about dessert foods or something else entirely? Paige had no idea.

She did know she wanted to be delicious to Jeff, that she wanted to make him have a taste, then want another.

Without thinking, she reached over and dipped her spoon into his chocolate, lifting up a hefty portion. She licked it off slowly, her tongue sliding up and down through the cold smooth pudding.

Jeff’s eyes darkened to basic black. He leaned forward and put his spoon in her vanilla and ate a bite, watching her.

Then he said, “What do you think they taste like mixed together?”

“I don’t know. Like milk chocolate?” She licked her lips.

Jeff dipped his finger into the chocolate, then the vanilla. “Come here and I’ll give you a taste.”

Paige shivered. Oh, he was good at this. Making her irrational and consumed with lust. So good she wasn’t going to say no. She leaned forward.

Jeff’s finger touched her bottom lip, sliding pudding across her, back and forth. Paige darted her tongue out to taste, and caught his finger with the action.

They both drew in their breath as the mood shifted from flirtatious to sensual. Jeff followed her tongue back into her mouth with his finger. She sucked it, cleaning every last drop of pudding off, her eyes half closed. His finger was warm, hard, and tasted sweet.

Paige let a moan slip out.

Jeff swore. He pulled his finger back and grabbed her shoulders. He was hauling her forward, his intent to kiss her obvious. He was so close, so warm, smelling like sunlight and dessert, and she wanted to sink into that kiss with a lifetime of desire.

It was tempting. She hadn’t faced temptation this great since Gina had asked her to toilet paper Mary Fran Antenucci’s house in the seventh grade.

Even though Mary Fran had been a snot, who had sneaked into the boy’s bathroom and had written Paige’s number on the wall as a “good time,” Paige had resisted the urge to take revenge.

She couldn’t resist Jeff’s kiss.

He was so close she could feel his breath teasing across her lips.

Then he said, “Dammit!”

Paige jerked back, startled. “What?”

She saw what was wrong before he could even say. There was chocolate pudding sliding down the side of his face, dripping off his eyelashes and dangerously close to ducking into his ear.

Jeff shook his head at Justin. “Hey, kid, do you mind? I was kind of busy.”

Paige giggled and stood up, both amused and relieved. She wasn’t sure she was ready for a kiss. One kiss and she would be probably be on her knees begging for more. And more.

“I’ll get you a paper towel.”

As she handed it to Jeff, she eyed the two of them. Jeff’s face and finger were sticky, and just about all of Justin was covered in a brown film. He had even managed to spike his hair up with drooly pudding fingers while she and Jeff had been… distracted.

“I think Justin needs a bath. Between this and the diaper fiasco, he’s not exactly fresh.”

“And I need a shower.”

Paige started clearing up their lunch plates. “Okay, let me give him a quick bath then you can shower.”

“I’ll give him a bath.” He undid the belt and picked Justin up. “I have a feeling this guy splashes. No sense in both of us getting soaked.”

Justin stuck his hand into Jeff’s mouth. Paige nearly dropped the plate she was holding when Jeff pretended to eat Justin’s hand, causing the baby to give a squeal of delight.

This was dangerous to feel this way. Like a hot air balloon had gone up in her chest.

Jeff prompted Justin by waving his own hand. “Tell Auntie Paige see you later. We’re going for a bath, big guy.”

Justin flapped his hand in an interpretive wave.

Paige struggled to produce a smile. The words Auntie Paige had just reached into her chest and ripped her heart out.

She was in love with Jeff. She always had been. Since she was thirteen years old and he had rescued her from Sam and Sal’s taunting.

There had been a time when she would have married Jeff in a New York minute. She could have really been Justin’s aunt. But Jeff had never even come close to asking her to marry him. He hadn’t lasted beyond one night.

She was falling to pieces here. Impatience ripped through her. How could she be falling for him like this?

God, a couple of nice gestures and some smoldering looks and she was ready to cook him pasta and have his babies.

The pudding cups went into the garbage and she scoured the table with a sponge and far more vigor than was needed.

This is exactly what had happened last time. Only she had been a lot more naïve then.

It had started by accident. She had just graduated from college and was living at home for a few weeks looking for her own apartment. Away from college friends, and isolated from Gina by her relationship with Frank, Paige had found herself with time on her hands.

She had taken to strolling out along Mayfield Road every night to get out from under her mother’s somewhat smothering love and attention.

One night she had seen Jeff in the bakery. They had walked together and had talked a little.

The next night they had met again.

And the next and the next.

Neither of them claimed they were anything more than accidents, just two strollers who bumped into each other, but it was intentional on both their parts, she was sure. Some nights they had gone to dinner or a movie and sometimes they just walked or got pastries from the bakery and shared them.

After awhile, Jeff had even started saying, “See you tomorrow, Paige.”

It had been wonderful, a blissful two weeks of friendship and something else that was growing and changing.

Then one night they had gotten caught in a summer thunderstorm. They had run to Jeff’s apartment, which was right down the street, and had stumbled in, drenched and laughing. When he had kissed her, it had seemed like the logical next step for them to take.

And when she had surrendered her virginity to him, she had done so eagerly, with love and the knowledge that she could trust Jeff to respect her and care for her.

Only to wake the next morning, in his apartment, completely alone with a note from him saying he had to go to work and that he would call her.

Well, three years later he still hadn’t called.

And here she had almost gone and made the exact same mistake. That pudding kiss wouldn’t have stopped there and she knew it.