A LITTLE BIT OF SUGAR

by Lindsey Brookes

  She laughed as if I was kidding. “What?”

  I reached inside and pulled the bundle of fur the rest of the way out, every ugly ass inch of it. “See.”

  Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God.”

  “Hold on, it gets better.” I pulled out the rest of my work costumes, a belly dancer, a nurse and a clown outfit.

  “No way,” she gasped. “You have to wear these?”

  I nodded. “I should have peed in the cup.”

  My friend looked at me like I was crazy. “Huh?”

  “Never mind.” I flopped down onto the sofa beside her. “I can’t believe I took this job. Tell me moving out from under my parent’s roof is going to be worth the humiliation this job is going to cause me.”

  “It’s so worth it,” she assured me with a smile, but then she wasn’t the one having to dress up like a gorilla. “So will you be delivering balloons, or what?”

  “Sometimes.” I began stuffing the costumes back into the bag. “It depends on what the customer orders.”

  She handed me the bright red clown wig. “You don’t have to do this, you know. We’ll front you any money you need until you find a job you like.”

  I shook my head. “I appreciate the offer, but I want to make it on my own. So if it means I have to deliver a few singing telegrams in stupid outfits until something better comes along I’m going to do it.”

  “Singing?”

  “They’re singing telegrams.”

  She snorted. “You’re kidding, right?”

  I frowned. “I wish I was. You know, I’m beginning to think I’m being punished for something I did in another lifetime.”

  Mia laughed. “I doubt that. Besides, your luck seems pretty good to me.”

  Was she crazy? “How do you figure that?”

  “Come on, Gina, you’ve got the hottest guy in town chasing after you. Where is the punishment in that?”

  She had no idea. Fighting my feelings for Anthony was so hard, but I didn’t want to lose the friendship we had. He was too much of a flirt to hook up with one girl for very long.

  “Anthony and I-”

  “Are just good friends,” Mia answered for me with an exaggerated eye roll.

  “So, where is everyone?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “Carlina’s on a date and Alisa ran to the mall.”

  I pushed off the sofa and grabbed the nylon bag.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Home. My mom’s making a special dinner tonight to celebrate my new job. I promised to make a Florentine cheesecake for dessert.”

  She followed me out to the front door. “Mmm, I love cheesecake. Especially if you’re making it. “Can I come to dinner, too?”

  I laughed. “I’m sure my mom wouldn’t mind. She lives to feed others.”

  “I’m just kidding. I have to work tonight.”

  “Tell you what, I’ll double the recipe and make an extra cheesecake for you guys.”

  Her dark brown eyes lit up. “You’re the best.”

  I snorted. “Tell that to all the employers who turned me down.”

  * * *

  “Gina...Gina...Gina...” my father exclaimed with a welcoming smile when he arrived home that evening.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  He gave me his usual enthusiastic Italian bear hug greeting while I did my best not to drop the plate of cheesecake was carrying out to the dinner table. “I hear you have some good news to share. I’m hoping that you’re going to tell us you’ve changed your mind about moving out.”

  “Dad,” I said with a groan, “we’ve been over this before. I have to grow up sometime.”

  “You’ll always be my little girl. Besides, you’re too young to be out on your own, bella mia.”

  “Mom was already married to you at my age.”

  He followed me into the dining room. “My point exactly. She wasn’t out on her own. She had me.”

  My mom carried in a large bowl filled with salad greens. “I thought I heard you talking to someone in here,” she said when she saw my father.

  He walked over to give her an affectionate kiss on the lips.

  I set the dessert platter I was carrying down on the table next to the salad bowl. “I’ll go check on the garlic bread.”

  The doorbell chimed.

  “I’ll see to the garlic bread,” my mom insisted. “You can answer the door.”

  My sister stepped into the room. “Don’t keep your guest waiting. It’s not polite.”

  My guest?

  Mia? Had her work plans changed? She was the only one who knew about this dinner.

  I walked out to the foyer and opened the door with a smile. “You made it after all.”

  “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Anthony Carboni replied with a crooked grin. “I even cut out of work early. Thanks for the invite.”

  Invite?

  He looked incredibly hot in a pair of thigh-hugging jeans and olive green t-shirt that clung to his muscular chest. “Anthony?”

  “You seem surprised.” A second later, he rolled his eyes. “This wasn’t your idea, was it?”

  “I...uh...well, no.”

  “I should have known something was up when Carla called to give me your message.” He turned his frown to my sister who stood in the dining room doorway.

  “Hello, Anthony,” she said with an innocent smile. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m needed in the kitchen.”

  Before I could demand an explanation from her, she was gone. I turned to Anthony. “I can’t believe she called you at work.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I was pretty much done for the day anyway.”

  “It appears my sister’s joined forces with my dad in playing matchmaker.”

  “Good.”

  “Good?”

  “I can use all the help I can get where you’re concerned.”

  “Give it up, Carboni. There is never going to be an ‘us’.” Even as I said it, I was drawn to the scent of him. Musk mixed with a hint of spice. Leaning forward, I sniffed softly and then looked up at him, brow raised questioningly. “Aftershave? You got a hot date later?”

  His smile widened. “If I’m lucky.”

  A twinge of jealousy moved through me. Before I could reply, my mom called us into the dining room.

  Along with the salad and cheesecake, the dinner table held a steaming platter of stuffed manicotti, a large bowl of seasoned green beans, and a basket of freshly baked rolls.

  “Sit there,” my mother said to Anthony. “Next to Gina.”

  Aunt Lorna came into the room and took her usual place at the table as we settled into our seats across from her. “So glad you could join us for dinner tonight, Anthony.”

  “I appreciate the invitation,” he said, his gaze shifting my direction.

  “Can’t keep your eyes off her?” my aunt said with a knowing smile. “Can’t say that I blame you. She’s a pretty one.”

  If I could slide under the table, I would. Talk about being obvious.

  “How could she not be?” Anthony replied with a grin. “I mean look at her mother and her aunt. With those genes, beauty’s guaranteed.”

  My mom and Aunt Lorna ate it up. But that shouldn’t surprise me. Anthony Carboni was one smooth operator when it came to women. I couldn’t let myself forget that.

  “You’re too sweet,” my mother said giddily as she reached for her napkin. “I’m so glad you could join us tonight.”

  “A guy would have to be crazy to turn down one of your home-cooked meals.”

  Now that wasn’t a line meant to flatter. It was the truth. Anthony’s mother didn’t spend much time in the kitchen anymore. Not since she’d started going through her mid-life crisis with Lance.

  But Anthony’s flattery did have my mother smiling from ear to ear. Complimenting her cooking was a surefire way to her heart.

  “You know you have an open invitation to join us for dinner anytime.” She looked to me. “The place just won
’t be the same with both you and Gina living somewhere else.”

  Like my friends, he had found an apartment and moved into it the week before. While I missed seeing him every day, he hadn’t moved that far away. A few blocks at most. And he still came into the restaurant to eat whenever I was working.

  “Gina’s moving out?”

  I nodded. “I’m moving in with Carlina, Mia and Alisa.”

  “The place won’t be the same,” my father pouted. “First you, now Gina. All my family’s leaving me.”

  “You still have me,” my sister chirped.

  “Of course we do, honey,” my mom replied.

  Their words drifted past me unheard. All I could focus on was my father referring to me and Anthony as family, knowing if they had their way he really would be.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “Gina can tell us all about her new job while we have some of that delicious cheesecake she made?” my mom announced as she passed out dessert plates and forks.

  Just when I’d begun to think I would make it through dinner without the subject of my new job coming up. I should have known it was too much to hope for.

  Anthony looked up at me in surprise. “You found another job?”

  He didn’t have to sound so surprised. “Yes.”

  “She’s in the entertainment business,” my mother announced for me.

  “Entertainment?” my father repeated.

  “Singing telegrams,” Carla said with a grin.

  “Who said anything about singing?” I demanded, my cheeks heating with embarrassment.

  “Mom said you were delivering telegrams and the only ad in the paper for that required singing, too.”

  “You forgot to mention that part,” my mother said. “But then you were probably too excited when we talked to realize you had left that out.”

  Excited was far from what I was feeling about my new job.

  “Singing telegrams, huh?” Anthony said.

  I watched his sexy mouth twitch as he fought the urge to grin right along with my pain in the butt sister. “It’s only temporary.”

  “Does it pay well?” my aunt asked.

  “Enough to help me pay the bills. And I’ll be getting tips on top of my salary.”

  “They might pay more to make you stop singing,” Carla muttered past a mouthful of cheesecake.

  “Who asked your opinion anyway?” I demanded.

  “She’s not all that bad of a singer,” my mother said in my defense.

  Anthony opened his mouth to speak, but I shut him up with a stiff elbow in the ribs. “Not a word.”

  He chuckled and shoved another bite of dessert into his mouth. “My lips are sealed.”

  When we finished eating, Anthony helped clear the table. “I really should get going,” he said when the last of the dishes were brought in to the sink. “Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Stewart. It was delicious, as usual.”

  “Glad you liked it,” she said.

  He turned to me. “Walk me out?”

  I nodded and walked with him to the front door.

  “Thanks for inviting me to dinner,” he said with a grin when we stepped out onto the porch.

  “Still dreaming, I see.”

  He reached out to tuck a long auburn curl behind my ear. “Always.”

  His touch combined with the huskiness of his voice made my legs weak. “So how do you like your new place?” I asked, trying to direct my thoughts elsewhere.

  “The privacy’s a plus.”

  “For all your hot dates?” I muttered, feeling a surge of irritation.

  “Could that be jealousy I hear in your voice?”

  “Hardly,” I replied stiffly. “I could care less about your ever-revolving love life.”

  Anthony moved to lean back against a porch post, crossing his arms. “Liar.”

  I forced a laugh, but his nearness had my heart pounding. “You really need to stop using so much industrial strength glue on the job. The vapors are messing up your brain.”

  “So you weren’t looking up at me a second ago like you wanted me to kiss you?”

  The question drew my gaze to his lips. “No,” I responded hoarsely. There he went again - playing with my head.

  “Prove it.”

  My eyes snapped up to meet his. “Prove what?”

  “Kiss me and prove that there’s nothing going on between us.”

  “Fine, if it’ll help you get over this stupid fantasy you have about the two of us.” I’d give him proof. Rising up on my toes, I pressed my lips to his, intending a quick, passionless kiss. But Anthony took me by surprise and slid his fingers through my hair, kissing me back like I’d never been kissed before.

  My arms wound up around his neck, drawing him closer, deepening the kiss. I completely forgot I was standing out on the porch where anyone could see us until Carla opened her bedroom window to yell out, “’Bout time the two of you hooked up!”

  I pulled away, my heart pounding furiously. Wow. Heat pulsed in my cheeks and other places lower on my body. I’d never felt anything like this in my life. Like I’d just eaten a seven-course meal and was still starved for more.

  “We aren’t hooking up,” I yelled back, but it was too late. My sister was gone. Probably racing off to tell my family what she’d just seen.

  Grinning triumphantly, Anthony moved to the porch steps. “I’ll pick you up Saturday around 10:00.”

  “Saturday?” I muttered, still caught up in the kiss we’d just shared.

  “Our date,” he prompted.

  Cedar Point. I had completely forgotten about that with all the job hunting I’d been doing. Not to mention the hours I’d put in working at the restaurant. While Anthony hadn’t backed out of our date, he had pushed it back a couple of weeks to fit into his busy work schedule.

  “I’ll be ready.”

  “See you this weekend.” Turning, he started down the steps.

  “Anthony...”

  He stopped and turned, meeting my gaze. “Yeah?”

  “You don’t have to do it. Take me to Cedar Point, I mean. We can go somewhere else.” I had to let him off the hook. I liked him too much to see him suffer like I knew he would if we went there on our date.

  “Not a chance,” he replied without even a moment’s hesitation. “That’s where you wanted to go, so that’s where I’m taking you. See you Saturday.”

  I watched him walk away, feeling things I’d never felt before. At least, things I’d never allowed myself to feel. I was in so much trouble.

  * * *

  “How was dinner?” Alisa asked when I called my friends that night.

  I dropped back across my bed. “It was all right.”

  “Something’s up. I can tell.”

  “Anthony was there,” I said, running my fingers along the paisley pattern on my comforter.

  “It’s not like he hasn’t eaten at your place before. What’s the big deal?”

  “The big deal is he kissed me.”

  “Anthony kissed you?” she shrieked, forcing me to hold the phone away from my ear.

  “Actually, I kissed him first, but only because he dared me to. He wasn’t supposed to kiss me back and be so good at it.”

  “You liked it!”

  What woman wouldn’t? Besides, I had fought this thing between us for so long, kissing Anthony had left me both excited and confused.

  “I want details,” she said, before I could respond. “And don’t leave one single thing out.”

  “Ooh, what are we gossiping about?” I heard Carlina say in the background.

  “It’s Gina,” Alisa replied. “She kissed Anthony tonight.”

  “She kissed him?” Carlina said in surprise.

  “He dared her,” my friend explained. “Hold on a second. Let me put this on speakerphone.”

  “Gina!” Carlina exclaimed.

  “Hey.”

  “Wait until Mia gets home and hears this,” Alisa said excitedly.

  Just talking about the kiss Anthony and
I had share had me feeling that odd rush of excitement all over again.