Sweat slicked their skin despite the breeze. Enzo became aware of the stickiness between them, and the fact that he’d collapsed on Tony. At least he hadn’t dropped his full weight on him.
“You okay?” Enzo asked, nuzzling Tony’s cheek.
“Better than okay. I’m not waiting years to feel this again. I want you to do that to me every chance we get.” Tony’s grin was loopy, his expression one of a blissed-out man.
“You’ve got it.” Enzo eased his cock free, making sure to keep the condom from sliding off.
“There’s a plastic bag in the back seat you can toss that in, or I will.” Tony stood. “Oh, wow. I’m going to feel you for days—and that’s not a complaint. “
“Good. I lost it with you,” Enzo admitted. He walked to the rear passenger door, opened it and found the plastic bag. After he disposed of the condom, he made sure there’d be no spillage then closed the car door. Tony approached him and Enzo mourned the fact that Tony had put his briefs back on.
“Wil you shift now? If you don’t have time or—” Tony gasped.
Enzo was a fast shifter. He could turn into his wolf, or into his human, in a second. It wasn’t the norm for most of his kind, and sometimes he wondered if his mother’s drug usage had played into that. Logically, he didn’t believe it could have. Shifting quickly wouldn’t be harmful and anything caused by maternal drug addiction would have been bad.
So he was just fast and he bounced around, tail wagging, rump in the air, his wolf ready to play.
“Wow, you’re stunning.” Tony held out one hand. “May I?”
Enzo was too hyped up to be calm. He’d been unable to find time to get back to his beastly side in months and the wolf wanted to have some fun. He lunged, yipping and keeping his tail moving, scenting for any fear coming off Tony.
There was none. Tony’s burst of laughter when he threaded his fingers through Enzo’s fur was soothing and he calmed, rumbling merrily as he was petted.
“You want to run?” Tony asked.
Enzo barked and leapt around Tony.
Tony made a shooing gesture. “Go ahead. I’ll wait. I’ll also listen for your phone.”
At the reminder that Nat was home alone, Enzo’s human side told his wolf to chill. The internal battle was brief and his wild side got a ten-minute all-out run after he bounded over the fence.
The area has ripe with scents, almost all of them shifters, and he wondered if the place was some sort of reserved space for them. San Antonio had several shifter parks, so it was possible.
He returned to Tony and bounced once, shooting up into the air and coming back down a man. “Whoa. That’s always fun.”
Tony gawked at him. “I can’t believe how fast you do that. Are all shifters able to turn so quickly?”
Enzo preened. “Nah, I’ve never met anyone as fast as I am. Not that we have competitions. Well, okay, sometimes we do, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been challenged to a shift-off.”
“That’s so cool.” Tony reached for him. “I’m not going to lie. I’m jealous. I wish I could turn into something amazing like you do and see what it’s like.”
Enzo went into his arms. “I wish you could, too, but only because it’s what you want. I read an old, old book about werewolves turning people into their kind. It was a horror story, and not something that would be published now days. Too politically incorrect and could start shifter-fear and persecution. But I thought that part could have been romantic, if the book hadn’t made all the werewolves into animalistic psychos.” To be able to turn someone he loved into a wolf like himself, if that person agreed. Not that he was saying such a thing to Tony.
“Where’d you even find such a book?” Tony asked, nuzzling his cheek.
Enzo’s thoughts scattered. There were things he’d rather do than discuss an old book, and he could be a few minutes later.
Chapter Eleven
Tony looked at the calendar and tried not to sigh like some lovesick fool. He and Enzo had been seeing each other for two and a half months now, which had amounted to a handful of dates. Every time he was in Enzo’s arms, leaving was harder than it had been before.
He missed him. It was difficult having to wait so long in between dates, but at least he and Enzo talked and texted daily.
Tony smiled, anticipating hearing from Enzo when he was on the bus going to his job at Georgie’s. Enzo’s pride kept him from accepting many rides from Tony. Instead of letting that get to him, Tony appreciated Enzo’s independence and strength. He imagined there’d be people who would take advantage of his money, or try to. Not Enzo. They split the cost of their dates most of the time and Enzo would call him out if he thought Tony was trying to go cheap on his behalf.
Accepting help wasn’t always a bad thing. He and Enzo had squabbled about it once and now, on occasion, Enzo would agree to let Tony give him a ride somewhere and twice in the past month he’d asked for Tony to pick him up and take him wherever he needed to go.
His cell rang with the tone he’d picked out just for Enzo and Tony’s pulse sped up. “Hello?”
“Hey, how’s work?” Enzo sounded happy.
Tony didn’t think he’d be so cheery if he’d worked six hours at the hospital then another three at the gas station. “Good. Boring. I’ve got a meeting with potential clients in an hour and I need to land them for the company. Need to get more urban planning done. How about you?”
“Same old. Had one guy try to make a beer run with a case of Michelob, but he tripped going out the door.” Enzo chuckled. “His subconscious was working against him. It knew he should have grabbed some Bud.”
Tony wrinkled his nose. “Ew, no. You like Bud over Michelob?”
Enzo made a gagging sound. “Have you ever seen me drink either one of those? I don’t even like beer. For all I know, the dude made the better choice.”
“Except for the whole attempted-stealing thing,” Tony pointed out.
“Yeah, that part was idiocy, although addiction can turn people into someone else,” Enzo said. “This dude, though, he started bawling when the cops got there and said he’d done it on a dare. College kid, and now he’s going to have a record. That place prosecutes all shoplifters, no matter how small the theft.”
“That sucks. One minute of stupidity and it’ll haunt him for a long time.” Tony felt bad for the kid. “I had a friend in high school who told me he shoplifted all the time just for fun. Nothing expensive, and he had money. It was the thrill he was after. As far as I know, he never got caught. Sorry, had to ramble there.”
“Mom used to shoplift,” Enzo shared. He’d been talking about his mom and Anderson more lately, opening up to Tony about things that had happened when they’d been in his life. “She got caught a few times, but she’d turn on the tears and no one ever prosecuted her. That started when she began using again.”
Tony wanted to ask what had happened, why Enzo’s mom and Anderson had left. Enzo hadn’t ever gone into detail about it.
Asking him while he was riding on a bus, surrounded by people who could overhear, wasn’t the appropriate time for Tony to pry.
“I wanted to let you know, I finally got a whole Sunday off, so if you still want me and Nat to go to your family’s Sunday dinner, we can do it this weekend, actually.” Enzo muttered, “Excuse me,” to someone, then resumed talking to Tony. “Nat’s up for it. She’s been after me to get part of the day off.”
“But you’ve got the whole day? Want to get together Saturday night?” Tony held his breath as he waited for the answer.
“You remember the talk we had about staying over, I mean, spending the night together, at either of our houses?” Enzo’s voice carried a hesitant note and Tony wasn’t sure what to expect next.
“Yes, I do.”
Enzo coughed or cleared his throat—Tony couldn’t tell which, but he could sense Enzo’s nervousness over the phone.
“Enzo? You know I’m fine with whatever you want.” Tony wanted more, but he wouldn’t p
ush.
“Yeah, but I…I think I’d like to move things to the next level. If…if you want to stay over Saturday night? I, um. I get off work at eleven. If you didn’t mind picking me up and taking me home?” Enzo paused for a second. “I can take the bus, though, and if you’d rather not stay over, I won’t get bent out of shape.”
Tony made a silent whoop, pumping his fist in the air. “I’d love to. As it happens, this is my folks’ weekend to have Ina spend the night. Will Nat be cool with it?”
Enzo snickered. “Oh yeah. She’s been nagging me about me being ashamed of her or something. She knows I’m not. It’s just her way to get me to ask you to stay over. She wants me to be happy.”
“She loves you.” And so do I. Tony knew it without a doubt. He wasn’t certain where Enzo stood on that emotional matter, however, and wasn’t ready to spill that truth just yet.
“She does. She wants to get a part-time job, a few hours a week for spending money. I give her an allowance, but she said she’s old enough to make her own money. I tried arguing with her.”
Tony could imagine how that went over. “Hard to win that argument when you started working at fifteen.”
“Exactly what she said,” Enzo grumbled. “I worked to take care of her. She told me she wants to do the same thing.”
“That’s admirable of her, don’t you think? You raised her right, as my mom would say.” Tony swiveled his chair around and looked out of the window. His office was on the second floor of the building that the company he worked for owned. The view was nice for the most part, but he didn’t pay attention as he listened to Enzo.
“I get that. I do, and I don’t think having a part-time job will be bad for her. I just worry, I guess, and she’s growing up so fast. She’s signed up for summer college courses that she can take while still in high school. A tandem-credit thing. She’ll start college as a sophomore. Can you imagine how you’ll feel when Ina’s doing all this?”
Tony closed his eyes. Ina had her scans and checkup next week. She’s going to be fine. “Are you trying to make me feel old? I’ll be almost fifty then.”
“A very sexy almost-fifty.” Enzo grunted. “Gotta go, at my stop. I’ll see you Saturday night. Talk to you later.”
“I miss you.” Tony rubbed his eyelids, trying to chase away the sting behind them. He was stressing over next week and he did miss Enzo, but he’d tried not to pressure him.
“Hey,” Enzo whispered. “I miss you, too. Wish I could see you sooner. If you and Ina feel like dinner at Georgie’s, y’all would be welcome.”
“We’ll be there. Ina never says no to Georgie’s and she’s been wanting to see again. She told me since she has to share her toys, I have to share you and let her talk to you.” Tony chuckled. “See you tonight.”
“Tell her she has to dance with us,” Enzo said. “And so do you.”
“Hey—” Tony opened his eyes and glared at the phone. “Hanging up before I get to argue is not fair.”
But he was happier than he’d been before talking to Enzo. Tony carried that good feeling with him throughout the day and he’d have sworn it helped him land the clients he’d been trying to bring in. They weren’t the usual sort for the company. Aabid and Rahim Tawil wanted his help in developing a community for people who suffered from dementia and other diseases that stripped them of memories. Tony was excited to get started on the project and honored to be a part of it.
He couldn’t wait to tell Enzo about it, but he’d have to. He didn’t want to send a text for this. If he was lucky, Enzo would get a break and could spend it visiting with him and Ina.
“Look at that grin. You must have landed the account you want,” observed Brenda, one of his coworkers with whom he often collaborated. “Or are you in love? Maybe both?”
“One of the two, for certain. Got the contract for the memory village. Can’t wait to get on that.” Tony stopped at her desk. “You want to work with me on it? We make a winning team.”
“We do and yes, I’d love to. So that smile is all for the account you nabbed?” Brenda pressed.
Tony wasn’t going to confess his love for Enzo to anyone but the man himself the first time he said it. “I’m happy. That’s what matters.”
“True enough.” Brenda patted his forearm. “You let me know when to meet you and go over the new account. If it’s okay, I’d like to look over the contract and any notes you’ve got.”
“I’ll email them to you right now, then I’ve got to go. Ina’s at my sister Deena’s house and if I leave her there too long, Deena will have her cussing like a sailor.” Tony headed back to his office. He emailed the information to Brenda, then left to get Ina.
He hadn’t been completely joking about Deena teaching Ina bad words. It wouldn’t have been on purpose, but Deena cursed more than anyone Tony knew. He’d brought it up once and Deena had informed him that cussing was her favorite coping mechanism. When he’d asked what she needed help coping with, she’d just told him that was personal.
She was a good sister and aunt, so bad words weren’t as big a deal as some people might have thought they should be. Ina was also very smart and she was capable of learning what she could and couldn’t say.
Deena surprised him by not uttering a single curse word while he was picking up Ina. “Was she good?”
“Daddy, I’m always good,” Ina answered, looking at Deena. “Right, Aunt Dee?”
“Right-o, super girl. You’re the only reason I might ever consider having kids. I could get lucky and have one like you.” Deena kissed Ina and hugged her. “Think I’m out of luck, though. You’re one of a kind.”
“I am, but you could have a baby that’s almost as good as me.” Ina nodded at her own words. “You can do it.”
“I can. But do I want to? I like having my one-on-one Ina time.” Deena touched the tip of Ina’s nose. “Think about that, sugar.”
“I will.” Ina waved. “See you later.”
“You bet you will. Sunday, sugar.” Deena followed them to the door. “Love y’all.”
“Love you, too,” Tony and Ina chimed in unison.
Tony winked at Ina. “How would you like to eat at Georgie’s tonight? Enzo’s working.”
“Finally!” Ina squealed. “I didn’t get to talk to him last time except to say hi!”
“It was packed and he had other customers to wait on,” Tony reminded her.
Ina scowled. “But we’re special, right?”
“To him, yes. To his boss and the other people waiting for him to take their orders and all of that, nope. If we hold him up from working, he could get in trouble.” Tony opened the car door. “But he did tell me you and I are going to have to join in the dancing tonight.”
“Yay!” Ina clapped. “We get to dance!”
“We do.” Tony sucked at dancing, but he always felt so self-conscious when trying, he couldn’t relax. Tonight, he’d give it a shot and remember it was all in the name of fun.
Ina chatted about her day with Deena most of the drive to Georgie’s. She squealed again when she saw the sign for the place. “We’re here!”
“We are.” Tony parked, noticing the lot wasn’t even halfway filled. He’d have thought, even on a weekday evening, there’d be more customers. Last time he’d been there, someone had been celebrating a birthday and the large group had been seated in Enzo’s area. It’d also been a Saturday. “Hm.”
“What’s hm, Daddy?”
“Oh, I was just thinking about boring stuff.” He took the keys from the ignition and unbuckled. “Going to get the usual?”
Ina bobbed her head. “Mac and cheese and chicken fingers!”
He didn’t see how she stomached those. Both were mushy and bland. Then again, when she’d been undergoing treatment, bland had worked best for her.
Tony got out then opened the rear driver’s side door and unfastened Ina from her car seat. “Come on, dumpling. We’re going to have fun.”
“Dumpling? What’s that?” Ina asked as s
he held his hand.
“It’s just something my Grandma Alice used to call me and I’d forgotten until now. It’s like when Aunt Dee calls you sugar, or I call you honey.” Tony led her to the front door. “It’s also a food. Grandma Alice used to make the best chicken and dumplings.”
“Where’s Grandma Alice now?” Ina darted in when he opened the door. “How come I don’t know her? Is she in Heaven?”
“She is. I wish you could have met her.” Tony made a mental note to share stories about Grandma Alice with Ina. He smiled at the host. “Hi, Albert. Can you seat us in Enzo’s section?”
“Of course. It’s a lot slower tonight, has been lately, which worries me, but—ignore my oversharing. Enzo’s only got one table to wait on, so he’ll be right with you. Do y’all need menus?” Albert rolled his eyes. “I know you do, sweetie. You love the puzzles on the back of it.” He placed the paper kids’ menu in front of Ina. “I’ll give you two packs of colors tonight, too. Here you go.”
Ina thanked him and took the crayons from him. “Oh, I love red. And blue. And green! I love all the colors!”
“You’re an awesome little girl.” Albert grimaced. “Wow. I’m not doing my job well tonight. I didn’t even grab y’all’s water and silverware. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ve got them, Albert. Don’t worry about it.” Enzo squatted, bringing himself eye-level with Ina. “I thought you didn’t want to come here anymore. Your dad hasn’t been bringing you.”
“Hey, now, that’s not—”
“He tells me no most of the time,” Ina narc’d, whispering as if Tony couldn’t hear her. “He says you got to work and we can’t get in your way.”
“Y’all will never be in my way.” Enzo stood. “I’ll grab your drinks and silverware. Albert’s been distracted tonight. So has Janet. Makes me wonder if something’s up. I’ll be right back.”
Tony glanced around the restaurant. There weren’t many people in it.
“What did Enzo mean, Daddy?” Ina had her head bent, the tip of her tongue sticking out one of her mouth as she carefully filled in a petal on the flower she was coloring.
Mr. September Page 8
