That's Amore (12 page)

It was either Jeff Benedetto or it was no one.

After ten years of caring about him, and sharing two wonderful nights with him, it was no longer a possibility that another man could have that place in her heart.

Which meant the convent idea was starting to sound like a real possibility.

Or she could be a modern old maid at twenty-six.

Put that on her resume.

With a sigh, she pulled on her red business suit that she had picked out so carefully the day before. She would get out of this apartment, see Justin safely delivered to Gina, and head to work, where she was appreciated, needed, and treated like an adult with a brain in her head.

With a little luck, and about a decade or two, she might even be able to forget the last twenty-four hours had happened.

Ten minutes later, she was as ready as she was going to be with no make-up bag or a blow-dryer. The heels were a plus. Taller, she somehow felt stronger.

With a deep breath she unlocked the bedroom door and went out into the living room. Ignoring Jeff, who jumped up out of his chair, she went straight to Justin, who was toddling around with a bottle of juice hanging out of his mouth.

“Good morning, cutie. Let’s get you packed up and take you to your mom’s, okay?” Justin let her pick him up and settle him on her hip.

Despite the tension that had her shoulders nearly up to her ears, Paige smiled at Justin. He was adorable and it had kind of been fun getting to know him.

Ripped open chin, zero sleep and all.

Maybe she was more ready to be a mother than she had thought.

Then it occurred to her the only way she was going to be a mother was through artificial insemination.

The tender moment soured.

“Paige.”

“What?” she snapped as she turned around.

“We need to talk.”

“No, we don’t.” She felt along Justin’s bottom to see if his diaper was full. “Did you change him?”

“Yes.” His eyes pleaded with her, but she wasn’t in the mood to be swayed by bedroom eyes and rock hard biceps.

“Then it’s time to go. I’m taking him to Gina’s.” Though she felt like just leaving Jeff there to fend for himself, she forced herself to be polite. “Is there somewhere I can drop you off?”

Jeff looked like he was about to say something, his hand reaching for her. Then he dropped it, and his voice was neutral. “Sure. You can drop me off at the construction office.”

Disappointment surged through Paige, then annoyance. She should be glad he wasn’t going to force the issue, but it rankled that he had given up so easily.

She was hopeless.

“Fine, let’s go,” she said through gritted teeth.

“What about all the food we bought?” Jeff sat down and put his worn work boots on.

“I’ll come back for it.” In about a week, when the smell of Jeff was eradicated from the apartment. “But you might want to take those condoms with you now.”

That flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. Jeff’s mouth was gaping like a hooked trout at her chilly outburst, but after a second, he stood up and got the box from the end table. He shoved the whole thing into his pocket.

It didn’t fit, and the rectangle-shaped bulge mocked her, the feel of Jeff leaning over her flashing through her mind.

They walked down the stairs in silence, and Paige concentrated on the baby, bouncing him so he would laugh. When they passed Mary’s art gallery door, she knew her face must be the color of a maraschino cherry. The promise of a million dollars wouldn’t have enticed her to look at Jeff right then.

When they reached the sidewalk, Paige blinked, the bright summer sun blinding her as the heat wrapped around her with pulsing intensity.

There were people everywhere.

And ohmigod, where was her car?

“What the…” Jeff voiced her own sentiments.

The entire block of Mayfield Road was covered with vendor stalls, and all the restaurants, shops and galleries had their doors wide open. Hundreds of people meandered in and out of the shops and through the street.

“It’s the Feast,” Jeff said.

He was right, Paige realized. She had seen the signs earlier in the week. And everyone growing up in Little Italy knew that life stopped for the Feast of the Ascension, and the neighborhood became one gigantic festival of food, fun, and gossip.

Fishing her sunglasses out of her purse, she clutched Justin and said in desperation, “But where is my
car
?”

Jeff shielded his eyes from the blazing sun and spotted a very prominent No Parking sign on the road in front of the apartment building. Whoops. “Uh, they probably towed it. They can’t have any cars on the street with the Feast going on.”

Paige was an adorable picture of righteous indignation. Jeff couldn’t help but admire her, her blond hair still wet from her shower, loose over her shoulders and falling into soft wisps around her face.

If he hadn’t been such an idiot, she could have been his. Twice over. Well, she had been his twice over. But he wanted her to keep. Every night.

Which that wasn’t a good thing to be thinking about in broad daylight on the street. He stuck his hands in his pockets to give his jeans a little adjustment.

Paige seemed incapable of speech. “But… but…”

“We can walk to my mom’s. It’s only a block.” And Paige probably wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. Not that he could blame her. He wasn’t real crazy about himself right now either.

She nodded and they started walking.

Only to be stopped before they got two feet by Mrs. Castenetti and Mrs. Bodziony.

“Little Paige!” Mrs. Bodziony swooped down on Paige and grabbed her face with both hands while Jeff watched in amusement.

Jeff thought Mrs. Bodziony was going to double cheek kiss Paige, but instead, she said in a fierce voice, “What’s this I hear about you spending the night with one of those Benedetto boys?”

Hey. He was one of those Benedetto boys.

Paige gasped.

Before he could defend himself and his brothers, Mrs. Castenetti whacked him on the arm, causing him to jump back, startled. Jesus, for an old lady, she packed quite a punch.

“And you! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! You’re lucky Paige’s father isn’t here to see you disgracing her like this.”

“Uh…” What the hell was the proper response to that?

And the old lady had a point about Paige’s dad. It occurred to him for the first time that Mr. Lombardi might still have a connection or two in the neighborhood. He looked around carefully.

No men in suits swooping down on him yet.

“It’s not what you think,” Paige said. “Jeff and I are babysitting Gina’s baby.”

Mrs. Bodziony gave Paige a hard stare that made Jeff squirm. Paige, who used to be so shy and acquiescent, stared the lady down without blinking. Jeff got turned on by Paige all over again. She had definitely grown into quite a woman.

Finally, Mrs. Bodziony just shook her finger and said, “There’s a confessional with your name on it, young lady. You need to go and use it.”

Then the two women left, heading for the lemonade stand.

“Damn.” Jeff shuddered. “That was scary.”

Paige didn’t answer him. He was clearly still ranking somewhere in the area of freezer mildew right now with her.

The smell of sausage wafted over to him. Jeff’s stomach growled loudly. He had skipped breakfast. As they started walking again, he spotted the Italian sausage sandwich booth.

“Do you mind if I grab a sandwich?” He was close now. Another foot and drool was going to be spilling down his front.

Paige wrinkled her nose. “You want an Italian sausage sandwich at ten o’clock in the morning?”

“There aren’t time restrictions on Italian sausage. I could eat one anytime, anywhere.” Like now. He started towards the booth, his feet following the call of his mouth and stomach to grease.

Paige followed him, which surprised him a little. At least she seemed resigned to his presence now, even if she grimaced every time she looked his way.

But he wasn’t about to force it. If Paige didn’t want to hear his apology, there was nothing he could do. He wasn’t the guy of guy to pressure a woman. He would just have to accept her decision to hate him and spend the rest of his life as a bachelor.

Which sounded as fun as having bran cereal right now instead of a sausage sandwich.

“Three seventy-five,” the man at the sausage booth said after he placed his order.

Jeff looked up and recognized him. “Hey, Dave, how’s it going?” He had played football in high school with Dave’s brother.

“Not so bad. Helping out my dad here.” Dave threw his thumb over his wide shoulder.

Jeff went into his pants pocket to get his wallet. The box of condoms was stuck, snug against his leg and preventing him from pulling his money out. “Hang on a second.”

He used two hands, trying to pull the pocket forward with one, and reach behind the box with the other. Dave stared at him, eyebrow raised.

Paige said, “What are you doing?”

“I can’t get my money out.” He tugged and pulled. Nothing.

Paige rolled her eyes and shifted Justin to the other hip. “Do you need some money?”

Her impatient tone annoyed him. There was no way in hell he was borrowing money from her.

“No.” And he solved the problem by pulling the box out of his pocket and slapping it down on the counter in full view of everyone in the booth and the half dozen people in line behind him.

Pocket freed, he reached in for his money while Paige made a strangled sound.

Dave grinned. “Big box.”

That he was never going to get to use. Ever. They would completely biodegrade before Jeff would need them. He nodded in acknowledgment and handed Dave a five.

Paige was wheezing.

Dave said, “You need some water, Paige?”

“Thank you,” she said between labored gasps.

Jeff wondered if he should thump her on the back or something.

As Paige reached over the counter for the water Dave was handing her, Justin leaned over and picked up the box of condoms.

Jeff grabbed for them, but Justin tipped the box over and they spilled out across the pavement. Two long plastic rows of soldiered condoms on the ground for all the world to see.

The urge to laugh was overwhelming. Now Jeff was the one doing the wheezing. As people snickered and giggled, he bent over and said, “Whoops. Don’t want to lose those.”

Water hit him in the arm. “What the…?”

He turned around and saw Paige with water dribbling down her chin and onto her blouse. She had sprayed him with her spewed drink. He bit his lip to try and suppress a grin, but it erupted anyway.

Paige glared at all the snickering customers then looked pointedly at the condoms he was clutching in his hand, dangling down his leg.

“You do realize that I’m going to have to move now,” she said through gritted teeth, her cheeks tinted a pretty pink.

After stuffing the condoms back in his pocket, he bit his Italian sausage and groaned with pleasure. “Don’t overreact.”

They moved away from the booth and Paige whispered fiercely, “Don’t overreact? Everyone in the neighborhood knows we slept together!”

He didn’t think Mary downstairs and two little old ladies and Dave at the sausage stand counted as everyone, but it did seem to be news that was spreading.

“I don’t think that we’re the only two people to ever have spent the night together.” He spoke around a mouthful of sausage and bread. “Jesus, it’s modern times. Half these people walking around here probably slept together last night.”

Paige walked next to him, but her shoulder was turned away like he had cooties. Her hair had dried in frizzy little waves and she kept smoothing it down with her free hand.

“The difference is, no one knows that they did.
Everyone
knows that we did,” she said in a not-so-quiet voice.

“So?” He shrugged and would have reached for her hand had his not been full of food and hers occupied with Justin. “It was a helluva night together. I wanted it to be more. I still want it to be more. I’m not going to deny that to anyone.”

“Jeffrey Antonio Benedetto.”

Every muscle in his body froze. Holy hell. He knew that voice. His childhood was full of that voice. The power it had wielded still gave him occasional nightmares. Wincing he turned slowly and saw her. Four feet and eleven inches worth of fire and righteousness.

He’d never been one for praying, but he sent one up now.

Then tried to conjure up a smile and a look of innocence as he met the eyes of his all-knowing Italian grandmother.

AIGE DIDN’T HOLD BACK her grin. She couldn’t have planned this better. Let Jeff suffer now like she had at the food stand.

She still could not believe he had pulled that box out of his pocket and thrown it up on the counter. Was he trying to ruin her life?

Either that, or he didn’t understand the effect of scandalous behavior on a woman as opposed to a man. His friends would just clap him on the back and tease him. She was going to have to deal with reprimands and catty advice from women every time she showed her face in public from here to eternity.

At least now he looked miserably uncomfortable. It was something.