Page 26 of Tony

Watching her face as his words washed over her, he saw the smile that he had sought, move from her beautiful mouth to her sparkling eyes. “And I’m going to make a promise to you, baby. I may be rusty about letting anyone know what I’m thinking, but I never want to see that worry and doubt in your eyes again, so I’ll work to make sure you know just how much you mean to me.”

Pulling him in tight again, she once more pressed her cheek against his chest, hearing his strong heartbeat.

Several hours later, after securing the cabin and a last, longing look backward, they pulled out of the driveway.

* * *

Pulling into the driveway of her little, Victorian house, Sherrie noticed that Tony was still right behind her. She had wondered if he would head straight to his place.I don’t know where he lives.She got out of her car, looking at the plowed driveway, including a shoveled sidewalk leading to her front door. She turned around, exclaiming, “Someone plowed me out!”

As he climbed down from his SUV, he had a grin on his face.

Stunned, she said “Do you know who did this?”

By that time, he had made it to her and held her tightly as they walked to the door. “Yep,” he answered.

“Well are you going to impart this knowledge on me?”

He took the keys from her hand and opened her front door. “I asked the guys to make sure everything here was secure for when you came back.”

“Secure?” she said, watching him hit the keypad of a new…security box?“Tony? When did that get put in?”

“I had Jobe and Vinny come over here yesterday to get you set up with security and they said they made sure your driveway and sidewalks were shoveled. I’ve got to make sure you’re safe.”

She could tell this was really important to Tony, and she knew why. In an effort to lighten the mood, she stood with her hip cocked, tapping her foot, and glared. “That’s very high-handed of you.”

He looked down at her snapping eyes and said, “Yep.”

“All you have to say is ‘yep’? And how did you know where I lived? And how the hell did they get into my house?” She began to push back on his chest.

“Not letting you get yourself in a snit, baby,” he announced, scooping her up and walking into her living room. Sitting down on her sofa, he maneuvered her so that she was straddling his lap. Staring into the face that first captured him a year ago, he noticed the thin line of her mouth.Oh shit.

“I found out where you lived after rescuing you last year. I just…wanted to know. I told myself at first it was because I wanted to make sure you were safe. But then…I just wanted to see you sometimes. Didn’t take long to see that you have few outside lights and no security.”

Ignoring that he had been noticing her for a year and stalking her, she pounced on his last statement. “But I do. I have a deadbolt on my front and my back door,” she announced.

“If it was so good, then how come my boys were able to get in here so easily?” he quipped.

“Be...be…because, they know how to break into stuff,” she stammered.

“Yeah. And…” he continued.

“And what?”

“Darlin, if they can get into your house easily, to put in a security system, then someone who did not have good deeds on their mind could have gotten in just as easily.”

At this, Sherrie looked down. “I knew when I had that lousy apartment, in that crappy neighborhood, dealing with Charisse’s druggie, prostitution life spilling over into mine that I needed to be cautious. But when I moved here,” she said with a soft expression as she looked around, “I felt safe. Clean. Like a real person and not just some poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks.”

Tony’s eyes roamed around the quaint room. When he had first seen that she had moved, he assumed she would move to an upscale condo; so when he drove by the little house he was surprised. An older, Victorian home with the look of a gingerbread house. It was blue with white shutters and a matching white front door. The wrap-around porch was painted white as well.

Now that he was more intimately acquainted with her, he knew that it was perfect. The pencil skirt, coiffed hair, and heels that she wore for work were part of the image she wanted to project. But when she came home…a little house, set back from the road with a picket fence around it was…just her.

“You’ve got a nice place here,” he said, sliding one hand up to the back of her neck. Gently pulling her down, his lips met hers. A soft kiss. One that speaks volumes without shouting.

She melted under his embrace, then gave a little mewl when they separated. Licking her lips, tasting him, she smiled. “It’s an old house and it has taken some work to get it fixed, but I love it. I have sunk all my money into it.” Blushing, she added, “That’s why I had to go as cheap as possible on the funeral…I just didn’t have the money saved up for a rainy day.”

Looking around, she smiled again. “I know this sounds silly, but when I was little, I saw a doll house that looked almost just like this. One of our foster families had it for their daughter. Charisse and I could look but not play with it. So I would just sit for hours, not touching it, but imagining what it would be like to actually live in a house like that.”

Tony’s heart lurched for the little blonde girl, sitting and staring at a playhouse and not being able to play with it. Reaching up, he smoothed her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. Rubbing her cheek with his thumb, he vowed to take care of her always.

---