Simone (The Ciprianos of Kellington Book 2) (11 page)

“I got plenty of flak
from the girls for weeks after that celebration. They constantly gave me the
evil eye.” They found themselves laughing at her comment but it was very much
the truth.

“Remember when
everybody had gone to sleep and I came to your room, which actually was
Renzo’s, since he was away at school?”

“Yeah, you came in and
we started to talk. I think we talked for most of the night until I got so
tired that I ended up falling asleep.”

“That time I spent with
you that night, I swear it was the most wonderful time I had ever spent with a
girl. We lay back in bed and we just talked and talked the entire night away.
Then I looked over and saw you were fast asleep while we were in the midst of
talking about Godzilla. I swear
,
I had never seen
anything more beautiful than the sight of your sleeping face. You looked so
peaceful sleeping there beside
me,
I honestly didn’t
want to get out of bed because I thought that if I did, I would probably wake
you up. So I watched you sleep, I even reached out to touch your face. Your
skin was so soft, and so were your lips. I had to touch your lips,” She felt
his fingers tracing along her lips and his touch brought up goose bumps on her
skin. “I know you don’t know this but I’ll tell you now, that night while we
were in bed, Delia, I kissed you.”

Delia sat up for a
moment, shocked by his admission for she never thought that he would have
kissed her without her knowing of it. “It was a small peck on the
lips,
I wanted to just see how it was to kiss you. I moved
in, watching to see if maybe you would wake up, but you never did. You were a
sound sleeper for sure, so I decided to move in and give you a kiss. It was
quick because I didn’t want to wake you up but when I looked at you again, I
decided to kiss you just a tad bit longer. You started to stir a bit and I
moved back as you turned to your side. You even mumbled, ‘Will you stop messing
with me?’ I wanted to die laughing when you said it but I left the bed, put the
blanket on you and turned off the light. I never said anything to you about it.
It was my secret. Until now, that is.”

“Do you go around
sneaking kisses from women who are dead asleep all the time, Mr. Cipriano?”
That was when she felt his lips give a lingering kiss to where his teeth had
nipped at her lips.

“The only person I’ve
ever snuck a kiss from was you.” He smiled in between the kisses.

This was how love was
supposed to be.

Chapter Thirteen

“Now that has to be the
most romantic date I’ve ever heard in my life,” Jaslyn said the following day
at the shop.

Delia was all smiles as
she told her friend about her wonderful date with Simone. Everything had been
so perfect, she thought, and so like Simone to have surprised her the way he
did. “I knew we were going to be going to the movies and all but I really was
shocked that he got Tina to come and cook for us like that. But it was lovely,
Jaslyn, so lovely.”

“So...” Jaslyn moved toward
her, a sly smirk creasing her lips, which made Delia shake her head for she
knew what the next question was going to be. “Did you guys do it?”

“Nope, we didn’t,”

“And why didn’t you?”

“Listen, I just got
over a relationship that was based on a lie and now I found out the man that I
had loved most of my life was in love with me. What is happening between us
right now is a huge step for me. Just like you want to take your time with
Renzo, I want that with Simone as well.”

“I can relate. Things
have been going really well for me and Renzo. But you honestly can’t tell me
that you didn’t want to just take him to your place and just tear off all his
clothes and make love to him.”

Delia shook her head to
keep from laughing but a snort came from her instead of a laugh. Then, with a
sigh and roll of her eyes, she admitted, “Yeah I would have jumped him in a
heartbeat.” She walked away leaving her friend laughing it up at her expense.
It was bad enough that they had been kissing and all, but she’d started
remembering her fantasies of how it would be to make love to the man of her
dreams. She had thought about it after they kissed each other goodnight at her
door. Sure, she could have had him come in, they could have continued kissing,
touching, and holding one another while tearing each other’s clothes off until
they were both naked. Delia could imagine them making love until they were both
too exhausted to move. When she woke up, they would be in each other’s arms
while his breathing would be soft yet calming to her. Lord knows, she wouldn’t
dare move as Delia would be in heaven lying there next to him.

But that night hadn’t
been the right time, it wasn’t the moment for them to go that far.

 
“Delia! Where are you Delia?” The male voice
she could hear shouting was Rodger, calling for her. She stood behind the door
of the office, waiting to hear what else he would say.

“What do you want,
Rodger?”

“I must talk with
Delia, if you don’t mind, Jaslyn. Where is she?”

“She’s gone on an
errand and you are not welcome here anymore after the bullshit you put her
through. Why would she want to talk with you, anyways?”

“Because I have
something to get squared away with
her
and I need to
talk with her about it all.”

“What is it you want to
get squared away with me, Rodger?”

She came from the
office and stood next to Jaslyn who said, “You don’t have to talk with him.”

“I know I don’t have
to, but I want to hear what bullshit line he’s going to try and cough up.” She
could tell he had gotten frustrated by her comment but Delia didn’t really give
a flying fuck how he felt. It was nothing compared to how she had felt.

“Can we talk somewhere
in private?”

“No, we can’t, and you
have,” looking over at the grandfather clock, “just five minutes to tell me
what the hell you want.”

“I want you back with
me, Delia. I had a long talk with both my parents, especially my father. He
really liked you a lot more than my mom did and he hated that this had gone
down like it did. He told me that he didn’t even know that my mom was going to
tell you all of that.”

“But you went along
with it, you could have stopped her before you guys even got into the car and
told her that you weren’t going to do what you all did to me.” Delia reminded
him.

“I didn’t know she was
going to do all that, Delia. You’ve got to at least believe me on that.”

“Well, I don’t, and you
have three minutes left.”

“Well, I didn’t know. I
had talked with her about you going to lunch together and she said that she had
something to talk with you about. When I decided to go with her, she never told
me a thing about what she had planned on doing.”

“Why am I having such a
hard time believing him, Jaslyn?”

“Everything that he has
basically said so far has proven to me that he’s still a little boy despite the
fact that he left his home and got out on his own. You still were a momma’s boy
all along.” Jaslyn told him shaking her head.

“Listen bitch, I’m here
to talk with Delia and not to hear you mouthing off at me.”

“Rodger, get the fuck
out of our shop now! How dare you talk to my friend that way?” Delia couldn’t
believe him, for he had never raised his voice like that to Jaslyn before. But
of course, that had been when they were still together. There was no telling
what secrets he had been hiding from her all this time, for now what she was
seeing before her was the true side of his personality.

“Listen, all I wanted
to do was talk to you in private and not in front of your friend so she could
put her two cents in. Why can’t we talk alone, for Christ’s sake?” he pleaded
with her.

But what came through
the door made both women smile, for there stood Simone along with Renzo and
Federico. “I think the ladies told you to leave,” Simone demanded as the three
men walked closer toward a now shocked Rodger.

“Wait a minute. Aren’t
you that lawyer who came to the jail?”

“Yeah, I am, and I
think the ladies asked you to leave. Actually, you have no reason to be here,
you don’t work here any longer and I know that Delia hasn’t anything else to
say to you, do you, Delia?”

“Not anymore. His five
minutes are up and he had the nerve to yell at Jaslyn.” Delia told him as she
saw Renzo move in a bit closer but being held back by Federico.

“I think for your
safety, it’s best for you to go right now and not come back, much less call
this shop or Delia, ever again.” Simone told him with the enraged look of a
madman.

Delia had never seen
such anger being projected from the brothers as there was at that moment. She
knew that if Rodger was to do something stupid he wouldn’t have a chance.
“Rodger, do what they say. Go and live your life and let me live mine now. It’s
over between us. Anything that you do from now on is only going to get me more
upset and you more aggravated. It’s time for us to both move on to better
things with other people.” She looked over at Simone who nodded in agreement.

“Are you sure about
that Delia? Because once I’m gone, that’s it,” Rodger told her. That was when
Federico went to the door to open it, and like some kind of greeter motioned
his arm toward the entrance. She heard him chuckle a bit.

“I guess you didn’t
have to answer it for me, then.” Rodger looked over at her for the last time.
In a way her heart kind of tugged a bit for this was the man who she had loved
and who she had thought loved her just as much. He gave her a small wave and
said, “Goodbye, Delia, and I’m sorry.” And with that he walked out of the door
that Federico closed behind him. After that it seemed like all eyes were on
her, waiting to see what she was going to do or say next. But all Delia could
do was sigh, running her hand on the back of her neck while her other arm
wrapped around waist.

“Sweetheart, are you all
right?” asked Jaslyn.

She nodded as Simone
immediately came over to her, holding her in his arms. Immediately she felt
comfort and ease.

“How did you guys know
that he was over here?” Jaslyn asked Renzo and Federico.

“Actually, I did. I was
talking with one of my friends across the street and saw him pull up in a brand
new black Aston Martin Vanquish. I’ve never seen one so brand new and I went
over to tell Ren and Simone about it. We all came out and looked it over and
that’s when we heard the shouting from the shop. Naturally, we came in and saw
what was going on.”

* * * *

That son of a bitch
decided to come back, Simone thought, he had some nerve. He was holding Delia
close and rubbing her back to comfort her. “I can’t believe he brought his ass
back over here.”

“Neither can I, and I
was shocked he called me a bitch like that. Honestly, we saw the true Rodger
today, I’m just glad he’s gone for good.” Jaslyn declared.

“Same here,” he heard
Delia mumble. “Thanks so much you guys, for coming over.”

Simone looked at her,
moving a strand of hair from her face until he could see that smile. “Now,
that’s better. I don’t want to see you down like that again. I only want to see
a smile. Listen, I’m glad I came over because I’ve got to head back to the
office to handle some paperwork that needs my signature and all. I’ll call you
tonight, all right?” And with a kiss on her forehead and a hug, he left the
group and headed out toward his car which was parked in the parking lot of
Filomena’s. He wasn’t going back home, at least not yet, he thought while
clicking the unlock button of his key fob to his car. Once he got inside and
started it up, he drove out of the parking lot and headed to his mother’s
house. He had called to ask her for a favor that he had been cooking up in his
head for a long time, now.

It didn’t take him long
to get to his mother’s house. He was surprised that he hadn’t gotten pulled
over by the cops because he had been going so fast. But he had been excited
about all he had been thinking about for the past day or so. It had been a
dream of his, really for years, as far as Delia was concerned. Now that he had
her in his life once more, he wanted to do something that was so special that
it would be with them forever in their memories. His mother had told him that
she would be in the garden waiting for him. She had also told him that she had
made some of her famous cheesecake so of course he was going to take the
opportunity to be the first to grab a slice before his brothers did.

Walking along the stone
path that would lead him toward the garden, he called out, “Mom, I’m here!”
Soon he came upon the small table and two chairs, already set up for tea.

“Hello darling,” He
looked over, seeing his mother bringing over two saucers with slices of
cheesecake. “Sit on down and pour the tea.”

He watched her come
over, pulling out her chair for her as she sat down. As he began to pour her a
cup of tea, she asked him, “Now, my son, why did you want to talk with me
today?”

“I’ve been thinking
about recreating something here in the garden for a date with Delia.” He
noticed the surprised look on his mother’s face as she spooned some sugar into
her cup.

“Like on your first
date together?”

“I want to try and do
it tonight. I just need to know where I can get those lanterns we had up all
over the garden that time.”

“Tonight? My goodness,
my dear, that doesn’t give me much time. Well, I can make a few calls but I
know we can get things fixed up here before tonight so you don’t have to worry
about that, sweetheart. I can handle the decorations as well as the food since
you would like to recreate that night.”

“Great, I also am
planning on buying her this dress that I saw in a shop here in town. It looks
somewhat like the dress she wore that night. But I don’t know what her dress
size is, though.”

“Well, I can remedy
that problem, go and get the phone from inside.” He watched her take another
sip of tea. “Go on now, go and get the phone.”

He walked inside toward
the kitchen and grabbed the cordless phone from the dock. Simone wondered what
his mother was planning to do when he brought it back to her. Sitting back down
he watched her dial and wait for someone to answer. “Hello, Delia, how are you
doing, my dear? Oh good, that’s wonderful. Listen, a friend of mine brought me
this beautiful cream-colored jacket and skirt outfit. It’s a size twelve, do
you think you’d be able to wear it?” There was a long pause and a couple of
uh-
huh’s
and
then laughter. “Well I’m glad that you told me because I was going to bring it
to the shop. But I think I know someone who could wear it. I’ll talk with you
later dear, I’m going to call you back after I call up Doris.” He heard his mom
say goodbye while clicking the button. “She wears a size eighteen.”

Simone laughed while
leaning over to kiss his mother’s cheek. “Thanks, Momma.”

“I think she’s going to
be in for a wonderful surprise.”

“I need to call up the
boutique and get them to box the dress for me.” He grabbed the phone and called
to make the arrangements for the shop to send the dress to her job with a note.
“Yes, make sure that the letter states ‘I’ll be picking you up at seven for
dinner and make sure to wear the dress along with that beautiful smile.’” He
looked over at his mother who patted his hand with approval. “And make sure you
have it sent to the address I gave you, Darlene. Thanks so much, goodbye.” He
hung up the phone and with a raised cup he exclaimed, “Salute!”