That's Amore (6 page)

Which made Jeff a creep, plain and simple, out for one thing only. The S word.

Paige stopped trying to wipe the pudding off of the suede pillow Justin had been sitting on, and tucked her hair behind her ear.

Her mother had warned her about the Benedetto boys, and she had been right. Bad boys took advantage of good girls like Paige. Chocolate. Vanilla.

Ugh. She threw the last dirty towel in the trash and wandered into the living room.

The shower was running. Paige cocked her ear. The shower? Didn’t Jeff know better than to put a baby in the shower? When he had said bath, she thought he understood you were supposed to plug the tub and fill it with water.

Already annoyed with him, herself, and the whole situation, Paige stomped into the bedroom to set him straight. She knocked on the bathroom door.

There was no answer. She opened the door and got hit in the face by a vaporous cloud of steam. The room was empty.

Panic set in. Had Jeff been ignorant enough to put the baby in the shower and
leave
him? She knew they would wind up killing Gina’s baby. Hadn’t Jeff heard that babies can drown in inches of water? Didn’t he ever watch Oprah?

She flung the shower curtain back, her heart in her throat as she prepared to face tragedy.

What she encountered was not a tragedy.

It was a gift to woman kind.

A very naked, very muscular, very wet Jeff was holding a smooth skinned Justin on his hip while he doused them both with the spray.

Water was dripping off Jeff’s nose and jaw, running down his broad chest to disappear into his… ohmigod.

Paige fell back against the bathroom wall, rattling the towel bar as she clung to it for support.

Jeff turned and his eyes went wide. “Paige! What are you doing?”

“I thought you were going to give Justin a bath.”

He shrugged, which sent a ripple effect throughout his shoulder, bicep, and chest. “I thought this was easier.”

She couldn’t think of a thing to say, just stood there in pure female adoration for the irresistible combination of a masculine man cuddling with a chubby naked baby.

“Did you need something?” he asked after a second, his eyebrow going up.

“No, I just was worried that Justin was in here alone.” Then without having any control over them whatsoever, her eyes dropped below his waist.

Holy cannelloni.

“We’re getting water all over the floor.” Jeff shifted Justin to his other arm as they both stared at her in question, their black hair sticking up in matching spikes.

“Oh, right, sorry. I’ll let you get back to
things
.” Paige reached out and pulled the curtain closed, her face burning in embarrassment.

In a semi-comatose state she wandered into the living room and sank onto the couch, the image of Jeff hot, hard, and wet playing repeatedly in her mind. Her mental VCR seemed to be stuck on rewind and play. Over and over she saw him, Justin’s little naked bottom resting on Jeff’s solid hip.

Reaching for her purse, she flipped the stomach of her shirt up and down to create a breeze. She was sweating like Johnny Romano in his silk shirt.

Paige dragged her cell phone out and dialed Gina’s number.

“Frank?”

“No, it’s Paige.”

“Where the hell is Frank? That bastard hasn’t even called looking for me once.”

Paige was distracted from her own problems by the pressing nature of Frank’s jerkiness. “Does that surprise you, Gina? Frank takes you for granted.”

Gina sniffed. “Poop. I think you’re right. If he doesn’t start showing some concern pronto, that’s it. I’m cutting him off.”

“Are you serious?” Paige asked in astonishment. In four years she had never heard Gina even so much as suggest ending things with Frank.

“Yeah, I’m serious. I’ve got a kid now. I need to show him how to act. Better he see me in no relationship than in a messed up one.”

That statement alone almost made seeing Jeff naked recede from her mind. Almost.

“That’s great, Gina. I’m proud of you.”

“So how’s it going? You and Jeff doing some tonsil tasting yet?”

Gina had such a unique talent for turning everything into something crass.

“Listen, that’s why I called. I need you to get me out of this. I’ve got to either take Justin to your mom’s or you’ve got to let your brothers come and rescue you. I can’t stay here with Jeff.”

“Why not?”

She darted a glance towards the bathroom. The door was still tightly shut. “I saw him naked,” she blurted into the phone. “And I liked it!”

There was no sound for the next three minutes but Gina’s hysterical laughter.

Then her alleged best friend, sister of her heart, and lifelong troublemaker, said quite clearly, “I’m not telling you where I am. There’s still time for Frank to come around. Besides, you and Jeff are like pizza and pepperoni. You’re meant for each other. Ciao.”

EFF WRAPPED JUSTIN in a soft, white towel and rubbed his arms dry absently. He eyed the spiky hair on Justin’s head. “Sorry, kid, you got the Benedetto cowlick, didn’t you?”

Jeff tried to smooth it all down, but one piece stayed standing at attention right on the crown of his head. Giving up, he set Justin on the floor and dried himself off.

Man, Paige was getting to him. Throwing that shower curtain back, just checking him out oh-so-casually. She had glanced down once, but that might have been just vulgar curiosity.

Unlike the desperate ache that he was suffering from.

The ache he couldn’t and wouldn’t act on until they settled things between them. He thought they were getting along well, and actually enjoying each other’s company, but the tension was always there.

That funny little barrier between them that had been erected when he had walked out on her with no explanation.

He was the one who had to fix this, pull down that wall.

And not because he wanted to sleep with her. Though he really did want to sleep with her.

But because he had hurt Paige and he owed her the truth.

He put his jeans back on, but left his shirt off. The room was steamy and damp and he wasn’t all the way dry. Scooping Justin and the towel up, he walked into the living room barefoot, his feet sticking to the hardwood floors.

Paige was on her cell phone, discussing something business like. He heard the words stock, rate of return, and the DOW, and he tuned out.

He put Justin on the floor and went off in search of the diapers. Justin immediately escaped the towel he was wrapped in and crawled off at a fast clip, his knees making squeaking sounds on the wood floor.

Jeff jogged to the kitchen, his sense of danger kicking in. That’s all he needed was Justin taking a leak on the floor while crawling. He’d be back at the store buying sixteen different bottles of cleaning supplies and a mop, since he had no idea what worked best on potty accidents.

God, had he just actually thought the word
potty
? There was something really wrong with that.

Jeff had to clamp the pack of diapers between his legs to pull one out, since they air-packed them so tightly. He had it half out when a thunk from the other room came, followed by a low wail rising up and reaching window breaking levels.

“What happened?” He rushed back in to find Paige had pulled Justin up off the floor and was holding him close against her chest. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. He just was crawling, lost his grip, and hit his head on the floor.” She dropped a kiss on Justin’s still damp head. “It’s okay, sweetie, it’s okay. Auntie Paige is here.”

Justin’s cries trailed off and he nestled in between her breasts, drawing in a deep shuddering breath.

Jeff was jealous of his nephew.

He was also having some kind of prick in his chest at the sight before him.

Paige was beautiful. Inside and out.

“I should have called you,” he blurted out, coming towards her.

“What?” she glanced over at him in surprise, rocking Justin back and forth.

“After that night, I should have called you.” He reached her and touched a wisp of her hair resting on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

She didn’t bother to act ignorant as to what he was talking about. She didn’t try and act like it didn’t matter. Instead, her lower lip quivered and she said in a quiet voice brimming with hurt, “Why didn’t you, Jeff? I don’t think I pressured you or anything.”

“No, that wasn’t it.” Hell, how was he supposed to explain this?

He pulled his hand away from her. He had to know why she had picked him three years ago, out of all the guys who probably would have loved to have slept with Paige. Knowing about her virginity had been the cause of a lot of guilt for him in the last three years.

He asked her, “Why didn’t you tell me it was your first time? If I had known, I would have handled things differently.”

Her eyes went wide. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t
want
you to act differently. I wanted to be with you and that was all.”

Like he had wanted to be with her. But it wasn’t the same. He had been older, she had been his little sister’s best friend. He should have been able to control himself.

“I felt like the biggest jerk, Paige. Like I had just seduced you or something. I mean, if you had waited all that time, you must have wanted it to be special, with someone you really cared about.” Dammit. He wasn’t making any sense. He stepped back and raked his hand through his hair.

“I did. I was.” She gave him a bewildered look, her hip jutting out further to accommodate Justin’s weight as he began to drift off into sleep. “You must have figured out by then that I had a crush on you.”

Had he known that? Maybe he always had. But it still made him feel that strange combination of exhilarated and horrified at the same time. He was wrong for her. Why couldn’t she see that?

“I don’t know if I knew that or not.” In those days, he’d been thinking more about his feelings than hers. “But I’d always had a thing for you.”

“Then why didn’t you call me?” There was moisture in her eyes.

Hell, if she cried, he was going to lose it. He would pull her into his arms, make love to her, and never let her go. Which was a bad idea.

“Because I wasn’t good enough for you, Paige. You deserved better.” He fought the urge to touch her and shoved his hands into his jeans.

“You remember that crystal bowl and figurines my mom had that she set out in the living room? It was heirloom stuff from Italy and my brothers and I weren’t ever allowed in there because she was afraid we would touch it and break it. That’s what you always were to me, Paige. Look, but don’t touch. That night, I couldn’t stop myself. I wanted you so much…”

Had wanted her enough to bypass common sense and strip her wet clothes off piece by piece.

Her voice was tight, her eyes now shining with anger, not hurt. “I’m not crystal. I don’t break. And whether or not you were good enough for me was my decision, Jeff, not yours.”

With that, she turned and left him standing there, feeling like a huge fool. He’d tried to apologize and all he had done was tick her off. But what had he expected really? That they could be friends?

That seemed impossible given that there was always something standing between them.

Like his erection.

Paige didn’t know whether to be furious or ecstatic. She was a combination of both as she went into the bedroom and carefully laid Justin down on the bed to nap.

It was a balm to her wounded ego, not to mention a jolt to her libido, to find out that Jeff had been attracted to her for a long time before their night together. It was good to know she hadn’t somehow fantasized to the point of thinking he was interested when he wasn’t during those two weeks they had been meeting every night.

At the time she’d thought she hadn’t been wrong about the way he had looked at her, with interest and desire, and it turned out she had been right. But his silence had left her in serious doubt for the last three years.

So he admitted now he had been attracted to her.

Yet she was still so mad she could spit. The nerve of that creep to think he knew what was best for her.

People had been doing that her whole life.

It was the only downside of being adopted. Her parents had wanted her so badly and had waited so long to have her, that she became the center of their lives the minute they had brought her home.

She had been cooed over and cuddled and cosseted until she had become shy and terrified of disappointing everyone who mattered to her.

It had taken four years of college and a lot of growing up to come to the point of understanding that she needed to please herself first.

That’s why when she had met Jeff again by accident in the bakery, she had allowed herself to admit the way she’d felt about Jeff. She had tried to let him know she was interested in him, even if her attempts had been muted and bumbling.

She had known what she wanted, there had never been any doubt in her mind about that. That night she had wanted Jeff. And she would have made love to him again if he hadn’t left.

Of all the presumptuous, arrogant, chauvinistic things to do…

Paige stomped off into the kitchen where she could at least have the outlet of slamming some pans around.