Designing Woman (The Sloan Brothers Book 2) (18 page)

Guilt unexpectedly got the better of me.  I pulled back and took his face in my hands.  There were times when he looked so naive and innocent that it stole my breath.  I’d never seen that expression when he was with other women, only when he looked at me.  He was looking at me like that now and I couldn’t lie or lead him down a path.  How does that old saying go?  Begin as you would finish?  If I wanted an honest relationship with him, I had to set the example no matter how it turned out.

“Anton, I told you earlier that you didn’t have to give up your place, set a date, or move in here.  I meant that.  I feel like you’re being railroaded into all kinds of things tonight and I don’t want you to feel like that.  Things can stay exactly like they are if you want and we can take this stuff one step at a time.  You told the world you loved me tonight.  That’s enough for now.”

His eyes never left mine, but the color darkened and I licked my lips.  His eyes dropped to my mouth briefly, then went right back to my gaze.

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

“Will you live with me first to see if you can put up with me?”

“Yes.”

So far, so good.  I’d gotten a proposal and an offer of shared living space.  I refused to think about the answers I gave, I had a tendency to think to much.  I was finding that things were less complicated if I followed my heart.  His voice pulled me from my revelation.

“Will you live with me at Deke and Dor’s?”

“No.  They need their privacy like we do.  Are you afraid of all the women that will stop by?”

“Nope.  They won’t come anywhere near here.  You have my word.”

“You’re moving in here?”

“For the time being anyway.  I don’t see any other solution.  I don’t like the idea of you living alone while that maniac is out there, and you won’t live anywhere else.  I liked it better when everyone was under two roofs, but with Austin and Chase back at the apartment, that safety net is blown anyway.”

He looked at his brothers who were conveniently sitting next to their partners.

“Looks like we’re coupled off.  Ladies, while we’re at work, we need you to stick together.  The only reason Mel’ got hurt was because she was alone.  If someone had been with her, he might have hesitated long enough for help to arrive.  No one is alone anymore.”

The men knew they had nothing to worry about with Ayla and me, we worked together during the week and they were with us on the weekends.  The only possible holdout would be my sister and she wasn’t nodding her head or smiling at Anton.  Deacon noticed.

“Dor’?  I’ll be dropping you off here at your sister’s house on my way to work.  You can write in one of her offices and nap in a guest room if you’re tired.  Will you do this for me so that I don’t worry constantly while I’m at work?”

She rolled her eyes and blew her bangs out of her face.  Putting her hands on her lower back, she arched, seeking relief.  Deacon began massaging her lower back as she leaned forward, but his question hung in the air between them.  He wouldn’t be letting this go.

“Dorothy?”

She sighed loudly and he smiled.

“Yes, yes, alright, yes.  Damn it.  Will I ever get time alone again in this lifetime?”

He kissed her temple.

“I promise I’ll take you to a secluded beach before the baby’s born and you can have all the alone time you want.  I’ll stay completely out of your way if you’ll do this for me without fighting me every day.  You have my word.”

She peeked up at him and grinned before winking.  Problem solved.  Their problem anyway.  I still had Anton moving in with me.

We were watching Deke and Dor’, but when that situation resolved and I turned to look back and Anton, he was staring at me, deep in thought.

“What are you staring at Romeo?”

“Are you gonna be alright with my living here?”

“Only one way to find out.  When are you moving in?”

He fidgeted beneath me and I had to suppress a grin.  Even the subject made him nervous.  Bless him.

“Tomorrow’s Friday.  How about I pack my stuff and move in tomorrow night?  We can have the weekend together and lay out the ground rules.”

I cocked my head and twisted my face.

“Ground rules?  What kind of ground rules?”

“Oh you know.  Who does which chores, what I won’t tolerate, what you won’t tolerate, expectations... you know.  Rules.”

“I don’t have any rules, nor do I live by any.  No, wait a minute.  There is one.  I’m the girlfriend here.  There will be no other girlfriends in my house at any time. I’d appreciate it if you remembered that we’re engaged.  That carries certain expectations.”

He squeezed me and his eyes grew hooded.

“I expect to be sleeping in our bed from now on.  With you.”

“All night?”

That hit him where it counted.  He was so used to escaping before dawn, the prospect of waking up with someone else threw him.

He was blinking rapidly, digesting the question.

“That’s okay Slick.  Take a minute and breathe.  I’m sure there’s gonna be a whole slew of things like this that you don’t see comin’.”

He pulled my face to his neck and I breathed deeply again.  How did he smell like rain?  Anton smelled just like fresh air in a thunderstorm.  I didn’t know they could bottle that, but I swear that’s what I was smelling and I loved it.

“I get to get undressed once and stay that way?  I think I’ll enjoy that.”

I chuffed against his neck and he tilted his chin down as if to look at me.

“What?  You think that’s funny?”

“I think that’s interesting.  One woman and one bed for the rest of your life?  I love you Anton, I do.  But I’m not convinced you can do it.  Let’s see if we’re still together come Monday.”

He hugged me tightly and I could feel him grinning against the top of my head.

“Oh ye of little faith.  I’ll be here a month from Monday babe.  I told you.  I’ve never said the words to anyone else, and I’ll never say them to anyone else.  You’re it for me.  I love you Melody.  We’ll be together come Monday.  Don’t you worry about it sweetheart.”

“I love you too and I hope you’re right.”

I had no way of knowing that we wouldn’t even see Sunday morning together and that had nothing to do with how we felt about one another.

It was our first day back at my place and we were getting nothing accomplished.  Sean and Ayla came waltzing in on time, arguing about something stupid, as usual, but our hearts weren’t in it.  We spent the better part of the morning sketching designs and trying to decide what we’d use for the Spring show that would hit us sooner than we’d be ready for.  We always worked better when we were under the gun and at the moment, we weren’t.

I sent them out to pick up lunch and as I heard the door close, my phone rang.  Unknown number.  The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I knew.  Sometimes something will hit you and without a doubt you know who’s on the phone, or what’s going on, or who’s gonna walk in the door next - you can’t explain it, but you know.

I knew it was Tony Marconi.

“Hello.  Melody here.”

“Hi Melody.  It’s Tony.  Am I interrupting anything?”

“Nah.  I sent the minions out to fetch lunch, so I’ve got a little time.”

Why in the hell had I told him that?  Now he knew Ayla was out there with Sean.  If he were watching my place, like he’d done in the past, he could grab her as she came back.  I mentally kicked my own ass and resolved not to do it again.

“Good.  How have you been?  How’s the foot?”

“I’m good, it’s good, all my body parts are almost perfect.  You?”

“Surviving and making it look easy.  I’ve been thinking about you since we talked.”

I laughed out loud.

“Tony, we talked yesterday.  What’s there to think about?”

“I’d like to be your friend Mel’.  Can I call you Mel’?”

“Yeah sure.  Everyone does.  You wanna be my friend?  Why?”

I could here him settling into something over the phone.  A sofa?  A bed?  Something.

“You’re funny and honest.  I’ve never been able to resist that combination in a woman.  I think we’d make good friends.”

“You need to know that Anton is moving in with me tonight.  They’re all convinced that it’s not safe for me to be here alone...”

“Unsafe?  Why?”

“Oh gee.  I don’t know Tony.  Maybe because I broke my foot kicking you in the balls?  They don’t want me alone here anymore so my boyfriend has agreed to move in until further notice.”

“Boyfriend?  Sloan’s your boyfriend now?”

“Fiance actually.  It happened last night.”

“Wow.  That was sudden.”

“Tell me about it.”

“What about all the women?  He’s with a different woman every time he goes anywhere.”

“Not anymore he’s not.  If you see him doing that, let me know.  Will ya’ Tony?”

“How would I see him?”

“We’re gonna go back to bullshittin’ each other?  You’re not back in Boston, so I’m gonna assume you’re still stalking.  If you’re still stalking, then you’re bound to see me and various Sloans on a regular basis.  If you see Anton go back to whoring around, tell me.  Alright?”

I know I sounded a bit aggravated at the end, but he needed to remember that I wasn’t completely invested in this “friendship” yet.  I knew he was stalking even if he wanted to call it something else.

“If I see something, I’ll tell you.  I promise.”

“Thanks.  See?  That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“You’re gonna be a ball-buster of a friend, I can already see it already.”

“And I cannot believe you just said that after what we’ve been through together.”

“Whoops.  That was almost a bad joke.”

“Almost?  I would inquire into the health of said organs, but we’re not close enough yet.”

“Oh so you’ll injure them, but you won’t ask about them.  Doesn’t that sound a little backwards to you?”

I collapsed on the sofa and laughed.  I was actually enjoying myself.

“Probably, but I’m backwards about a lot of things.  You’re fun to talk to Tony.  I never would have believed that.”

“Why?  You think I’m all Boxer and Dom?  I’m a decent guy Mel’.  Remember you’ve only heard her side of our story.  For someone that’s deathly afraid of me, she stayed with me a long time.  Don’t you ever stop and ask yourself why?  I’m telling you, all she had to do was safeword me.  That’s it.  Never happened.”

“So you say...”

“Did she tell you she used it and I didn’t stop?”

He had me there.  Hell, he had HER there.  I’d found out enough about the life when I was researching Pierce’s gift to know about safewords and the like.  He was right and it made me uncomfortable.  Ayla had never mentioned using her safeword and now it felt too weird to ask.  Why would I suddenly be curious after all this time?

“No she didn’t.  She never mentioned it.  I don’t even know what her safeword is.”

“We went with standard words.  Red meant stop, yellow meant back off a minute.  Simple words.  Easy to remember.”

“I can see that.  Doesn’t mean I wanna talk about it, but I can see it.”

“Sorry Mel’.  I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.  I guess I feel the need to explain this to someone who’s willing to listen.  She even did a number on my parents.  They believed all the bullshit and wouldn’t let me explain anything.  Me!  Their own son!  Can you imagine what that felt like?”

“No Tony.  I can’t.  I’m sorry.”

I heard his breath hitch and knew he was on the verge of some kind of breakdown.  He didn’t sound angry, he sounded upset.  Hurt.  Disappointed.  He’d been accused of everything under the sun and nobody - not even his own parents -would listen to him.

I looked at my watch and made another decision before I found myself over-thinking it.

“You wanna meet for a drink?”

He sucked in a quick breath.

“What?  You’d meet me for a drink?  Really?”

“Yes, really.  If we’re gonna do it then I have to leave now before they get back or I’ll be trapped here.  Nobody knows we’re talking.  If they knew, I’d be grounded without phone privileges.”

He laughed and I was glad I could lighten his mood.  I couldn’t explain it other than to say, I felt sorry for the guy.  I’d been the black sheep in my family my whole life and I felt some weird bond with this guy.

I know it sounds stupid, I’m fully aware that what I was about to do was potentially dangerous.  I also knew that if any of the Sloans or Warren’s found out, my ass was trashed.  I didn’t say I was smart.  Nothing about this was smart.  I had a dying curiosity and Ayla was still pissed at me for choosing Anton over her brother.

Okay I’ll admit it.  I was a little pissed off myself.  She’d been around me long enough to know my hang-up on Anton.  Now she turns on me when shit is getting serious?  What kind of friend does that?  She leads this guy Tony right to our doors and wraps him up in our lives, forcing us to live differently.  Then SHE has the nerve to get pissed at ME because the guy I’m crazy about finally proposes and I accept?  No.  Sorry folks, but no friggin’ way.

If she was hiding that little mean streak, what else was she hiding?  How much of the story was her version and how much was cold hard facts?  I already knew he didn’t torch the bar or trash their apartment, who else had she and her brother pissed off?  Was there someone else out there that we needed to be afraid of?

Only one way to find out.  Process of elimination.  As crazy as it sounded, I was going to start with Tony.

“Mel’ do you wanna meet me somewhere or do you want me to pick you up?”

“I still can’t drive with this bum foot.  Give me an address and I’ll meet you there.”

He rattled off an address and the name of a bar in Queens.  I had to leave right then or I’d never make it before they got back.  I looked at my watch.  At this time of day it would easily take me at least thirty minutes to get there, the bridge would be a nightmare.

“I’m leaving now Tony.  Give me thirty minutes, it’s lunchtime.  I’ll meet you there.”

“I owe you for this Mel’.  You’re the first person that’s been nice to me in a very long time.  I appreciate it.”

“I’m not there yet.  Wish me luck.  If I’m intercepted or something goes wrong, I’ll call you back.”

“I’ll meet you there.  Bye.”

“Bye.”

He was way too excited to be having a drink with a relative stranger.  I felt bad for him again.  I had to get that emotion under control.

The place was a dive.  The neighborhood was too.  Even the cab driver looked at me rather dubiously and asked if I was sure I wanted to get out here.  I checked the address once again on my phone and got out.  I tossed a fifty at him, I figured he’d earned hazard pay, and told him to keep the change.

I didn’t even have to go in to know that I was overdressed.  The walking cast made jeans impossible, skirts were my only alternative.  I could take the cast off to put the jeans on, but they never fit over the damned thing.  I had a knee high black boot on one foot to match my calf length gray wool skirt.  My black silk blouse matched the boot.  I’d pulled my hair back into a braid and I quickly took out my diamond stud earrings.  No use inviting trouble.

Once I entered, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim atmosphere.  I couldn’t help but think that this is where dreams came to die.  The place reeked of stale beer and cigarettes and the only sounds that were heard included a sports show on the TV over the bar and the clack of pool balls somewhere in the room.  Conversation was either discouraged or unnecessary.

I scanned the room and other than myself, there were only a handful of people present.  The only female I noticed was a waitress with black hair that had been teased sometime in the last two weeks.  She wore impossibly tight, impossibly short black shorts and a red halter top that bared her back enough that her tattoos were clearly visible.  The grinning skull with the red eyes matched her ensemble.

She walked away from a booth and there he was.

I walked towards him and he stood with a smile on his face.  I’d forgotten how large he was.  If I did attract attention, I knew that once I was seated with him, no one would bother me.  Having a boxer for a stalker did have it’s perks.

I plastered the sincerest smile I could muster onto my face and limped to the table.  His smile grew as I got closer and before I could utter a greeting, he put his arms around me and lifted me in a hug.  Unsure of the etiquette involved in meeting a dangerous man in a dive bar, I hugged him back.  Why piss him off before it became necessary?

He lowered me gently to the floor and motioned to the padded bench across from his own.

“Melody, you look beautiful.  Thanks for coming.”

I tossed my purse in first, then slid into the booth.  My phone was in my skirt pocket and just as I sat down, it buzzed.  I held up one finger in his curious face and fished it out, checking to see who was calling.  Anton.

Tony must’ve known by the look on my face it was important, and I put the finger I was holding up against my lips while I took the call.  If I didn’t answer, he’d continue to call just to drive me insane.

“Hi babe.  What’s up?”

“Mel’, where in the hell are you?  Sean and Ayla got back to your place and you were gone.”

“A fabric supplier I was trying to track down called while they were gone and he was only going to be in town for the day before he left again.  He’ll be gone two weeks and I needed to meet him today.  I hopped in a cab and I’m with him now.  Tell Sean not to pop a blood vessel, I’m fine.  I’ll be home in a couple of hours.”

“Do I need to send a car to come get you when you’re done?”

That was easier than I thought.  I expected twenty questions and an ultimatum.

“Nope.  I can catch another cab.  Don’t worry babe, I’ll see you tonight.  Is everything okay with you?”

“Everything’s fine.  I made an appointment with the same jeweler Deacon used for Dorothy’s ring.  I’ll see him this evening, but I should be home by eight.  Okay?”

“Not a problem.  I’ll plan dinner for nine.  Have a good day babe.  I’ll see you later.  Love you.”

“Love you too.  Bye.”

I ended the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket.  When I looked across the table, Tony was studying me closely.

“What?”

“I thought you and Sloan were just friends with benefits.  What gives?”

“He decided we were engaged last night.  Now it seems it’s full steam ahead.  The Sloans are like that.  Once they make up their minds about something, they don’t rest until it’s a done deal.”

The waitress placed a glass of white wine in front of me and I thanked her before looking at Tony in question.  He blushed and shrugged.

“In my experience, most women are wine drinkers.  Especially in the middle of the day.  Would you like something stronger?”

I took a sip of the wine and it was surprisingly good.  My smile was genuine this time and he smiled in return.

“White wine is perfect.  So tell me what you’ve been up to.”

His smile dimmed slightly and I realized how it must’ve come across.  I felt the need to backtrack.

“It’s an innocent question Tony.  I meant nothing by it.  It’s right up there with ‘how have you been’, and ‘what’s new’.  Relax.”