Beauty and The Best (Once-Upon-A-Time Romance) (30 page)

Todd, however, might be.

And that was the big question mark. Was he worth risking her heart for? Her barely-held-together psyche? She’d overcome a lot, but the family thing… The love everlasting, the til-death-do-us-part, that was what her soul ached for. The security of knowing someone was in her corner. Someone would be there to care for her. Love her. That’s what she wanted in the deepest, darkest part of every lonely night she’d ever had.

It also scared the heck out of her.

There’d been a time when not having a family had really bothered her. But then she’d realized it could be useful. When you had no one around who really knew you, you could be anyone you wanted to be. So she’d decided it was up to her to be responsible for every aspect of her life: financial, professional, emotional. She’d knew what could happen when she tried to depend on others who weren’t dependable, and had decided, at the ripe old age of eleven, that she wanted more.

But she knew, eventually, she’d want her own family, someone to love who’d love her back. So why
not
now? Was there a law that said she couldn’t work toward
all
her goals simultaneously?

Other people did it. Even though Mom had taken the wrong train to Happyville with any one of a host of male counterparts, it didn’t mean
she
had to.

Todd wasn’t pushing her away. He’d purposely—on
several
occasions—reiterated his desire for her to stay, had said she was good for him, liked kissing her,
wanted
to kiss her. Plus, she had Mrs. Gray’s seal of approval. He wanted her, she wanted him; when was the last time that had happened?

So, okay, it was risky. She got that. But with the first of her paychecks leaving a hefty sum in her bank account and the promise of more to come, if she had to pick up and start over, it wasn’t as if she’d be destitute. And it wasn’t like she’d never done it before.

And, heck, she was even light on the personal property front due to the fire. It seemed the planets were aligned for her shot at the brass ring. With such indicators, she’d have to be the ultimate pessimist not to take the chance.

She’d take baby steps with this “thing” with Todd. Allow a relationship to happen if it was going to. They’d already passed the “like” stage. He got her and they laughed at the same things. God knew they certainly found each other attractive.

So what if nothing had lasted “F” before in her life? Other people had it all—why couldn’t she?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Seven a.m. came way too early after last night’s dinner where, much to Jolie’s delight, she’d been proven right. The Grays had stayed. With a little cheating on her part (Signore Arena’s already-made homemade sauce and manicotti), she managed to whip up a nice meal. She added her own tasty loaf of garlic bread and a pretty salad—curlicues included. And with ice cream sundaes—whipped cream included—for dessert, Mrs. Gray had the perfect excuse to haul out those baby pictures.

Todd had played with the carrot strips while Mrs. Gray waxed on and on about her son, Charles, and their new grandson, but luckily, she steered clear of The Trista Years, though the possibility had been there. But they managed to escape that, and Todd had had a huge look of relief on his face when they’d left.

Which had been late. Later than folks their age should be out, but they wouldn’t consider staying—as Mrs. Gray made sure to tell Jolie on the sly.

The implication had made for a pretty interesting dream. Unfortunately, with the alarm singing the latest Top 40 hits, she didn’t have the luxury of lounging around in bed replaying it, so she made her way to the kitchen to answer the call of Eggs Benedict.

Todd walked in from the pool, mid egg-poaching, all dripping wet again, and she stared. She couldn’t help it because now she knew exactly how that chest felt against her breasts, the strength in those nicely defined biceps and exactly how she fit against the whole set of gloriousness.

“
Where’s the cat?” he asked.

Not exactly the greeting from her dream, but whatever floated his boat. “In my room. Apparently ice cream acts like a sleeping pill. He snored all night long.”

“
Good.”

She had about two seconds to register the “good” before Todd swooped in and planted one on her. Really planted. That kiss grew roots which wound around her heart then branched into all four limbs.

She did some winding of her own. Her arms went around his neck and, yeah, his muscles were rock solid and his stomach twitched whenever her breasts made contact. Tongues renewed their acquaintance and, if it weren’t for the humming of the blood through her body, she’d swear she’d died and gone to Heaven.

He slid his hands from her waist to cup her face and he pulled back just inches, his mossy green eyes full of warmth and maybe, just maybe, something more. “Good morning,” he said, nudging her nose with his.

“
Is it? I think I might still be dreaming.”

“
If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.”

He kissed her again, a soft one this time. He tickled her lips and she felt that tickle in her tummy, all fluttery and jittery. Then her knees went to mush again.

“
Wow,” she said once she could breathe again.

“
Wow works.” Yeah, that was arrogance in his smile, but who cared? The man was entitled to it.

And since it was her kiss that put the smile there, she was entitled to some of her own.

“
I’ve forgotten how nice it is to get a greeting like that in the morning.” He linked his hands behind her waist.

“
It is?”

“
Honestly, Jolie, is that all I had to do to render you speechless? Kiss you? You should have told me that at the beginning and it would have been quieter around here a lot faster.”

“
Are you saying I talk too much?”

He kissed her nose. “No. I’m saying you talk a lot. There’s a difference. And—”he resettled his lower body against hers and she took a trip into outer space for a moment because there wasn’t much left to her imagination with wet swim trunks plastered against her nether regions—“even though I like the kissing part, I’m missing the chatter. So I think I’m going to have to curb some of the kissing.”

“
Oh no you don’t.” She yanked his hair to bring their faces within smooching distance. “I’ll talk your ear off all you want, but you don’t get to quit the kissing thing until all parties involved agree.”

“
Oh, so we’re involved, are we?”

Good question—and not one she was going to be the first to answer. “Well, if you’re not involved, then who the heck am I kissing? I could swear it’s you.”

“
It most definitely is.” Which he again proved quite nicely.

Until the Canadian bacon started to smell funny. Great. He really was going to sexy himself into starvation.

“
Oh, no!” Jolie pulled out of his arms to turn off the flame and catch the hollandaise right before it scorched. Didn’t matter though. Lightly scorched or burned, once hollandaise went bad there was no redeeming it.

So now she had rubbery poached eggs, burned bacon, and hellacious hollandaise. What a day this was shaping up to be. Oven mitts, clanking pans, banging oven door, their quiet interlude was shattered. And then the smoke detector kicked in.

“
It’s never a dull moment with you, is it, Jolie?” Todd laughed as he grabbed a dishtowel and swatted the smoky bacon air away from the detector. “Don’t tell me. Excitement Jolie?”

“
Ha ha, very funny. I wanted breakfast to be perfect.”

The alarm went silent and Todd flung the towel over one shoulder. He took the pan out of her hand, removing the mitts with it, then tilted her chin up. “It is.”

The heck with scorched hollandaise. Her skin was on fire, her bones were melting all over again and pretty quickly they were in another lip lock that could’ve gone on forever, if not for the little pitter-patter of petite paws. Well, actually, claws on limestone tiles. And said claws pouncing on her sandal-clad foot and Todd’s naked one. (The man did like naked in the kitchen.)

“
Boots!” they yelled in unison as they jumped apart.

Boots, the little meddler, catapulted into the air, executing a perfect full-twisting inward somersault, and landed on all four of his black, claw-bearing paws as if nothing had happened.

“
I think that cat’s got it in for me,” Todd mumbled, rubbing the naked foot.

“
Or perhaps he thinks our time would be better spent with you at the easel and me on the… sofa?”

“
Fine, you can have the sofa. But you’ve got to promise not to fall asleep. It’s a pretty comfortable sofa.”

“
Cross my heart, witches’ honor, Girl Scout promise, take your pick.” She made the accompanying hand motions and got him laughing again.

“
I pick getting changed out of these wet clothes. I’ll be right down.”

She wasn’t going to think about him stripping off his clothes. Nope. Not her. “I’ll whip up some French toast in the interim.”

“
Really, Jolie, Whe—”

“
I know, Wheaties would be fine. But sorry, buck-o, you’re stuck with a hot breakfast.”

A moment—or maybe an eternity—of silence before his wicked, wicked grin reappeared. “A
hot
breakfast. Ah, how well you know me.” And on that note, he sauntered out the doorway.

Did
she know him well? She knew he kissed like nobody’s business—and that she’d like to keep it nobody’s business but her own. She knew he was a decent guy who had a bad thing happen to him. She knew he had reached a turning point in his life and she admired that he wasn’t afraid to move forward.

And… she knew that she’d fallen in love with him.

***

Todd took the stairs two at a time. He hadn’t had this much energy for as long as he could remember. Well, in the last two years, anyhow.

He stripped off his bathing suit in the shower, marveling that he hadn’t made a conscious decision to not leave it in a wet heap on the floor as he usually did, but had just done it. Jasmine had nagged him all last summer, but back then, he couldn’t seem to remember even the simplest of things.

But now, with Jolie here, it was like he’d gotten a new lease on life.

He grabbed the shampoo and worked it into a lather. Oh, he knew it was his attraction to her that had woken him from two years of just existing. He wasn’t going to kid himself that it was something he’d done, some decision on his part. There was just something about her. She was so wide-eyed in spite of how shitty the world had treated her, so hopeful, so ready to believe, that his psyche couldn’t help but tap into those emotions.

Today, for the first time in too long, he’d woken with a smile on his face. It’d been all he could do not to open her door and wish her a good morning, but they weren’t at that point yet.

He ran the soap down his body and had to re-think that. A certain part of him was
there
, but that was just a physical response—although, he wasn’t going to knock it. Jolie had brought on the first physical response he’d had since the funeral. Another thing to thank her for.

He had a lot to thank her for, though it wasn’t the reason he’d kissed her. No, he’d kissed her because he’d
had
to. Because he’d wanted to—nothing more, or less, than that. Which said a lot.

But, hell, he didn’t want to blow this. She wasn’t a light affair kind of woman and he wasn’t in any emotional shape to examine forever; he’d been up front with her about not knowing where this “thing” between them was heading.

But did anyone ever really know where it was heading? With Trista, he’d been pleasantly surprised that a woman of her background would go out with him; he’d asked her mainly to give himself incentive to “show her” when he made it big—someone from the other side of the tracks.

But then she’d been real to him. She’d been her own person and had given him a chance.

The same kind he wanted to give Jolie.

Todd leaned his shoulder against the tiled wall and let the water sluice over him, cleaning the chlorine residue from his skin.

That it also felt like a cleansing of his soul wasn’t something he could ignore. He’d carried the pain with him for so long, had wrapped it around himself to keep out the world. Yet somehow, with her smart phrases and her soft admissions, and that incredibly upbeat outlook of hers, Jolie had found a tiny gap in the pain and wormed her way in.

He wasn’t going to let her get away.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Staring at the man she’d suddenly discovered she was in love with put a whole new spin on posing for him. There she was, staring at him while he concentrated so intently on the canvas and not on her, and all she could think about was what she was going to do about her new-found feeling.

First and foremost, she couldn’t tell him. It was one thing to risk her heart in the privacy of her own body and soul, but to put it out there for public trampling, well, she wasn’t that brave. No matter the reward.

For all she—and he—knew, she could be Rebound Girl: the girl a guy went out with right after the love of his life broke up with him and he had to prove to himself he still had “it,” whatever “it” was, and that Old Girlfriend didn’t know what she was missing and he’d show her. That would be Rebound Girl and Jolie so did not want to be her. Since all the parameters were right for rebounding, she’d just stay mum on the whole subject and see where it led.