by Elley Arden
“Ready?” she asked.
No. Freaking. Way. He was dead. This was crazy.
She brushed by him without waiting for his answer, splashing his face with a gust of spicy air. Shit. Even her perfume smelled like a proposition.
“Wow.” She stopped on the top step. “Now that’s some car.”
“And that’s some dress,” he said, getting a good look at the way the rayon cradled her curvy ass.
She glanced over her shoulder, eyes wide. “Tony, I’m having second thoughts about this.”
At least now they were even.
* * *
Trish set a shaky hand on the railing and stared at the sex-on-wheels Tony called a car. It was safer than staring at him in that suit.
“I’m a good driver. I swear.”
Nice to know, but she wasn’t worried about his driving. She drew a shaky breath and held it until her lungs burned. “My family is very uptight,” she rattled on an exhale. “They have expectations of me and my dates.”
“And yet you wore those stockings.”
“Tony.” She spun around and leveled him with her most threatening look. “You have to behave.”
He stepped closer and lowered his eyelids. “This is me behaving.”
“I was afraid of that.”
And then he grinned, and she really didn’t care if he upheld one silly societal expectation. As long as he smiled like that, letting the dip in his cheek darken, he’d ease the minds of everyone in the room.
“Come on. We’ll have fun.” He bent his left arm in her direction.
She lifted her hand, but paused before she touched him, thinking about Angie’s fear of Tony and Trish having the wrong kind of fun. But that was Angie’s fear, not Trish’s. She was a grown woman, capable of wrangling her wayward desires in favor of a pleasant, professional afternoon. Looping her arm through his, she tried not to care about the prickles on her skin as the heavy fabric of his suit coat brushed the underside of her upper arm.
“Don’t make me regret this, Tony,” she said as he led her down the porch steps.
When she looked at him, hoping to see his face sobered by her warning, he winked. “No worries, Boss Lady. I gotcha covered.”
Which was an image she didn’t need in her head, but an image that surfaced a few times—despite her best attempts at trampling it—on their way to the country club.
She kept the conversation work-related. He talked about the car. But in the silence lurked those stupid images, particularly one of Tony covering her while they had all sorts of the wrong kind of fun.
“So your people don’t get married in a church?”
Her people. In an odd way she liked that he didn’t call them her family, not that they weren’t her family. They were the only family she’d ever known. But “her people” seemed to fit. She blinked a few times and faced him. “We’re not particularly religious.”
“A Corcarelli isn’t married if he didn’t get married in the church. If he wakes up the morning after a wedding on the beach or at the supper club, he’s just broke as hell and living in sin.”
She stared at him, watching his lips part into a grin. She couldn’t imagine him conforming, following such a rule. Heck, she couldn’t imagine him married. “So someday, will you get married in a church?”
He chuckled. “Marriage isn’t really my thing. Too restrictive.”
She had him pegged on that.
“But I’d like kids,” he continued. “Kids are about the best part of life. Too bad they’re kind of impossible without a wife, unless I want to risk custody battles with an ex-girlfriend who hoped to tie me down.”
His words acted like a vise grip on Trish’s lungs. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t capture enough air to keep calm. She turned her head to hide her exaggerated breathing. And all the while her chest pushed against the bodice of her dress so hard she had to raise a hand to keep her breasts from popping out of the neckline.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, just hot.” She pawed around the door for a handle to open the window.
When she looked at him, he was grinning. “I’m not going to tell you that opening a window won’t help, because you’ll still be hot. That wouldn’t be me behaving. Right?”
She managed a small smile. “Right.” And then she turned her attention out the open window, not caring one bit that the wind whipped the crud out of her French-twisted hair.
She had bigger worries.
Tony Corcarelli wasn’t an option for her baby-making plans. He was Angie’s brother. Trish squeezed her hands together hard enough to dig her fingernails into her skin. Angie would go ballistic if she knew Trish was thinking like this. Angie would remind Trish that Tony was a screw-up. He lived in a shoebox in a neighborhood famous for drunken bar fights. He drove a Harley, for cripes sake. His tattoos alone were enough to make Trish’s mother faint. He’d never stepped foot on a college campus. He made up words like “whaddya” and “dontcha,” and his family was the same—not that she didn’t like his family. Trish loved his family, but the idea of her family, knowing his family was half of her child, well…
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she choked out.
“Is there booze at this wedding? Not that I’m drinking anything but tonic water. You, on the other hand, look like you need a drink—or two. Relax,” he said, giving her thigh a pat. “I’ll take good care of you.”
And he did.
“So what do you do for a living, Mr. Corcarelli?” Aunt Constance eyed him like he was more delectable than the wedding cake.
After being softened by his polished charms for four hours, Trish suspected he was.
“I own a furniture upholstery business.” He grinned.
“Oh yes, I could tell you were a business owner. You have that air about you.” She made an awkward sound, half giggle, half whimper.
Trish gripped the stem of her champagne glass and looked over her shoulder so she could cringe.
“It’s a lovely wedding, and your daughter is a beautiful bride.”
Again with the silly sound, but this time, instead of cringing, Trish smiled at her aunt. “Speaking of the bride, we should offer our congratulations while she’s free. Excuse us, Aunt Constance.”
Trish tugged on Tony’s arm, but not before he took Aunt Constance’s hand and smoothed it between his palms. “You take care.”
The woman swayed a bit, prompting Tony to clutch her elbow and steady her.
“Ooh, my. Low blood sugar,” she giggled. “Time to cut that cake.” She waddled off with her head held high. It was a familiar scene.
Apparently Angie was right about unrelated vaginas and their reaction to Tony.
“What are you doing?” she asked, tugging Tony across the ballroom floor, not at all aware of where she was taking him.
“What do you mean what am I doing?”
“You’re laying it on a little thick, don’t you think?”
“You said behave.”
“I did, but don’t…” Trish attempted to swallow the unrest that had plagued her since their car ride, “try so hard.”
How was she supposed to stop looking at Tony like a potential father for her baby if her family didn’t stop fawning over him? It was the suit. She groaned into her champagne glass.
“Whaddya say?”
Whaddya. Exactly. “Nothing,” she grumbled.
“Antonio, dear.” Trish’s mother excused herself from a small group and cornered Tony. “Would you suggest linen for an ottoman?”
“No, ma’am. I wouldn’t. Linen may resist pilling and fading, but it soils and wrinkles.” He leaned closer, as if he was going to whisper in her ear. “And that’s not the kind of fabric you want handling feet.”
“Just as I suspected.” She grabbed hold of Tony’s Trish-free arm and squeezed. “Thank you for taking my side on this. Oh, Rosemary.” She let go and fluttered back to her group.
Trish frowned. “She could’ve asked
me.”
“I think she wanted to touch my bicep.”
Like Trish was touching his bicep? Her palm flattened against his arm, while her fingers stretched to his triceps. A thick wool suit coat and broadcloth shirt weren’t enough to mask the feel of his muscles, contracting beneath her hand.
She had to stop this slow slide out of sanity…fast.
“Let’s dance.” She let go of him, dropped her glass on a passing table, and powered through the crowd to the dance floor.
If she could keep him moving to this God-awful jazz music, she could get him sweaty enough to remove his coat and roll up his sleeves. One look at Tony’s tattoos, and the DeVigns would be lining up to protect Trish from the hoodlum.
Not that he was a hoodlum, and not that she needed protection from him. It was more like she needed protection from herself.
When she reached the dance floor and turned around, she half expected Tony to have returned to their table. After all, she’d never known a guy who liked to dance outside of the requisite slow dance. Even now, the dance floor was filled with poky ladies and a couple half-soused old men.
But Tony was right behind her.
“Are you sure you can dance in that dress,” he said, leaning his mouth so close to her ear his breath fluttered the curls at her temple.
“Stop it,” she hissed, but there was little bite behind her words. The playful swat and nervous smile probably had something to do with that.
Shaking off the little thrill of having his lips so close to her face, Trish fisted her hands and lifted them to chest-height as she bounced on the balls of her feet. “Heavyweight linen would work fine for an ottoman used in a formal living room.”
He stood there, not moving a muscle, not shedding a single bead of sweat. “Formal living rooms are a waste of space.”
“Says the man who lives in a shoebox.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “How would you know what I live in? You’ve never been to my place.”
And she was going to keep it that way. “Dance. You look silly, standing there, watching me.”
“I like watching you.”
Zing! No little thrill that time. Her body nearly puddled at the truckload of heat he dumped over her. “Tony,” she warned, but some errant impulse caused her to spin, showing off her grooving backside.
When she spun back around he was dancing, not the drunken flail of her sixty-something uncles, but a cocky toss of his head, and a smooth roll of his hips.
Who was sweating now? Beads tickled between her shoulder blades. Maybe her dancing was to blame. Although that would be pathetic—she hadn’t been moving for more than five minutes.
He reached up and loosened his tie.
That-a-baby, she thought, remembering she was on a mission to prove that Tony Corcarelli was 100 percent wrong for her and her future plans.
But then he grabbed her hand, pulling her fast and hard against his chest.
“Hey,” she protested, wiggling against his palm on the small of her back, but as she did, she realized her legs rested on either side of his thigh, and the fabric of her dress strained against his knee.
“What? You too old and stuffy for a good grind?” He gripped her right hand in his left hand as he lowered them both to the floor.
Her knees shook. Her heart raced. A steady stream of sweat spilled down her spine. She couldn’t imagine how undignified this looked…which was exactly why she stayed. In his arms. With his body nearly infiltrating hers. If Tony wasn’t going to shed the suit coat and brandish those tattoos, he could at least make a tawdry exhibition out of her, horrifying her family and dispatching them to her aid.
It was a plan she was certain would work, until the band lambasted her with a slow song, and Tony nuzzled his cheek to hers.
If the twinges in her stomach were any indication, this night was not going to end well.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tony didn’t drink a drop of alcohol, so why was his head spinning? He stared at the beautiful woman sitting across the table from him. Tiny curls, wet from the sweat of their dancing, clung to the sides of her head. Her skin glowed a happy pink from the exertion. And he wondered—against his better judgment—if she looked like this after sex.
“Where are you kids headed after this?” Dr. DeVign swiped a white napkin across his mouth and then tossed it on the table.
“No place. This is it.” Trish’s eyes were wide as she nodded. “Such a great night. So tired. Big day tomorrow. Huge.”
Tony hadn’t just flustered her, he’d nearly incapacitated her. He knew it the moment she broke from his arms at the start of the slow dance only to come back here and take a seat in silence next to her mother.
“Very good. I have quite the day, too. Dolores, shall we give our best to the bride and groom, and be on our way?” Dr. DeVign didn’t allow his wife to answer. He stood, lifted his jacket off the back of his chair and extended a hand to Tony. “It was nice meeting you, young man. Make sure Trisha gets home safely.”
“Yes, sir,” Tony said, standing to return the healthy grip.
Mrs. DeVign latched onto Tony’s arm. “Don’t rush out on our account. I’m sure you have time for one more dance.” She looked at Trish, who was looking anything but eager to take her mother’s advice. “Right, dear?”
“Leave the girl alone, Dolores.” Walking behind Tony, Dr. DeVign took his wife’s arm and led her from the table, pausing briefly to place a kiss on his daughter’s forehead.
Tony watched the older couple fade into the thinning crowd, and then he slipped his hands into his pants pockets as he smiled at Trish. “How ’bout that dance?” he asked, even though he expected a refusal.
She shook her head. “I really am tired.”
So was he….tired of skirting around the obvious attraction, but what was their alternative? Angie’s steel-toed boot in his ass as she kicked him out of her garage, guaranteeing he’d lose his space to work—should Trish ever feel comfortable enough to hire him again.
He walked around the table and pulled back her chair, and when she stood, stopping inches from his chest, her face never lifting, he felt like a freaking martyr for putting the brakes on whatever was happening between them.
Tony hated brakes. He liked to go like hell, then back off the gas and coast until he came to a nice, easy stop.
“Thanks for coming with me tonight.” Trish still wasn’t looking at him. Instead, she pushed in her chair, fussed with a wedding favor, and smoothed the wrinkles from her dress. And then she walked to the door. Unlike her parents, she didn’t exchange goodbyes with the bride and groom or a single relative, but she did nod sweetly at the wait staff, clearing plates from a table near the door.
She was a complicated creature. Tony was used to Ma and Angie, two women who put family above all others and told it like it was, whether he liked it or not. He was also used to overly eager twenty-somethings who clung to him at the bars, saying all sorts of things that made him blush. Him. Blush. Which wasn’t easy.
It also wasn’t easy to figure out where Trish DeVign fit in that mix.
She walked ahead of him, making a beeline for Vin’s car. Normally, he’d ogle her ass and legs in the low streetlamp light, and imagine the shock on her face if he told her he wanted to see her in nothing but those heels. But tonight wasn’t normal.
He stopped alongside Vin’s $150,000 Ferrari.
See? Not normal.
After they settled into the car, Tony banished the uncomfortable silence with a twist of his wrist, firing the engine. The purring soothed his scattered thoughts, but didn’t quiet them. For lots of reasons, he didn’t want to screw up. Aside from avoiding Angie’s temper and the loss of income, Tony liked Trish. He liked the way she didn’t throw herself at him, and he liked the glimpse of playfulness beneath the professional exterior. In fact, he liked the combination so much he’d call her the marrying kind if a man was so inclined. Which he wasn’t. And because he wasn’t, anything beyond a goodnight kiss to T
rish’s cheek was out of the question.
The best thing he could do was get things back to normal.
“Are you mad at me because I said formal living rooms are a waste of space?” he teased.
She smiled, a smile that crinkled the skin around her eyes more than it curled her lips. “No. I’m not mad at you. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“Like decorating formal living rooms.”
She chuckled, but she also gnawed the inside of her bottom lip. Being raised by a bunch of women made him an expert in female, nonverbal communication.
“If you want to talk, I’m good at listening,” he said, gripping her headrest and twisting for a better view as he backed out of the parking spot. “Plus, I know what it’s like to have a lot on my mind. Maybe I can help.”
Her inhale and exhale echoed inside the car. “Tony, I’m sorry. I must seem silly, brooding about my little problems when your family is dealing with Nonna’s illness.”
“Problems are problems.” He hugged the shoulder of the road, not wanting to take any chances with the oncoming traffic and Vin’s car.
“Some problems are bigger than others. Angie said the cancer is inoperable.”
These days everybody wanted to talk about Nonna. Her treatment. Her wish list. How much time she had left.
Tony hated funerals.
Sweaty hands gripped the steering wheel as he stared into oncoming headlights, trying not to relive every gory, emotional detail about his father’s funeral, but the memories were strong enough to make him wince.
“I wish there was something I could do,” Trish said, laying a hand on his thigh. His muscles contracted at the warmth of her palm.
He stared harder at the passing traffic. “Yeah, that seems to be the sentiment. “
“And that’s the reason for the list.”
“Yep. But that list’s sort of become a thorn in my side.”
“Why?”
“Because damned if I know what to do. I highly doubt a ride on a Harley’s going to cut it, and I don’t think she wants an upholstered rocking chair. She wants me to become a priest…” Trish laughed. “Exactly, or get married and have babies.”
