CHAPTER TEN
Where was the buzzing coming from? I slid my hand out from under my warm covers and slammed it on the bedside table, looking for the alarm. After hitting it at least three times, the buzzing continued. What the heck?
I flipped the comforter off my face to find my room was still dark. The dull pink hue of the rising sun usually pressed in through the blinds by now. The buzzing started again and I glanced over at my phone. Its lights were flashing and it was vibrating on the pillow beside me.
I pressed the call button and jammed it against my ear. “Yes?” And I didn’t sound at all pleased about it.
“Liza.” Aja’s voice sounded so rushed that I sat right up and blinked away the sleep.
“What? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah...ah,” she paused and my heart dropped. “Everything is fine, but you might want to get down here to the paper before Mr. Wiggins has a chance to see this.”
“To see what, Aja?” I clipped my words, already jumping from the covers and stumbling into the bathroom.
“You just have to come see.”
Somewhere between stuffing my toothbrush in my mouth and fishing for my contacts I mumbled another, “What?”
“Just come. And bring Gram with you.”
The phone beeped, signaling the call was disconnected, in my ear. I finished my teeth and hair, dabbed on enough makeup to hide the last several sleepless nights since Tony left, and pulled on a pair of jeans and the first sweater I came across hanging in the closet. The pale pink did nothing for my complexion, but with a crisis of epic proportions looming, so it appeared, I didn’t take the time to change.
I knocked on Gram’s door ten minutes later with coffee already in hand and a bagel for her to eat on the way, knowing she’d never agree to leave her place without breakfast first. I knocked again when she didn’t answer, then a third time, before my phone buzzed in my pocket.
“Are you coming?”
“Yes,” I almost yelled back at Aja before schooling my voice to a more pleasant tone. “I’m at the shop but can’t find Gram.”
“Leave her then.” She insisted. Even in the rush, I could read enough into her voice to know it wasn’t panic or fear I heard, but some other urgent cry.
“I thought you said I needed Gram?”
“Just come. You’re going to miss it.”
The phone clicked off again and I tucked it into my pocket, left the bagel bag on the stoop, and stole the coffee for myself. Five more minutes, and I found the front door to the office still locked. I’d thought about knocking, knowing Aja had to be inside, but that might scare her so early, so I slid my key in and flicked the lights on. Aja wasn’t at her desk or in the break room making coffee, which is where I found her most days.
“Liza. That you?” Her voice came from the hallway to the right that led to the rows of cubicles. She must have been near mine by the distance in her tone.
“It’s me,” I called, already making my way down the hall. “What is going on, Aja?”
“You’ll see.” She chuckled then, and the fear that had churned my stomach for ten city blocks and the last forty-five minutes subsided.
“I hope you pulled me out of bed for something go—” My voice froze in my throat as I rounded the last turn into my cube and found her standing in the corner...and him sitting in my chair.
Tony. I thought I’d said it aloud, but when he didn’t turn to face me, I said it again, louder. “Tony.”
The chair spun a quarter turn and he faced me from where he’d been typing on my computer. His dark suit seemed crisp and freshly pressed, but his hair fell limp over one brow and his eyes soft with fatigue. “Bella.” He stood and reminded me how short I was compared to his height. His arms wrapped around me, and I fit into his chest as if we were still standing on the observation deck and the last couple weeks of separation hadn’t happened.
I waited until he let me loose to speak. “What are you doing here?”
He stepped away just enough to look down into my eyes. His grin warmed me from the inside, just as his hug had from the outside. For a second, everything else melted away, leaving only me and Tony. But then Aja made a movement from the corner, and the whole room came back into focus.
“Alifonso admitted what he did.” Tony sat back down and turned to the computer. “It took some convincing, but he finally told me about the agreement he made you sign.” He glanced back at me for a second. “He’s not a bad guy, but he took his job a little too seriously.”
My mind whirled before Tony pulled me down in his lap and wrapped his arms around me in order to continue typing. I looked at the screen. “Facebook?” I asked. He had a page up with his picture in the profile, but no posts as of yet.
“It’s banned in Monterra, but here I’m free to do what I want with it.”
“He’s been here since six. He knocked on the door as soon as I came in and asked if I’d help him set it up.” Aja shifted in the corner, as if being with us made her uncomfortable.
“Strange to think my mission here a couple weeks ago was to connect with the technology age, yet I have to ask for help to set up a social page.”
“But—” I turned as much as I could in his lap to face him, only catching his profile—“what will your cousin say?”
A laugh reverberated through his chest and rocked me in my seat. “The king is in Monterra, not here. And if it comes to choosing between him and the woman I loved, he’d say go for it.”
Tony clicked on the status bar and typed in: Successful trip to NYC. Even took in the sights with Liza Johanson.
“How do I ‘poke’ her?” He cocked his head toward Aja.
“You mean ‘tag’ her?” Aja stepped from the corner and fixed the post so my name stood out in bold.
“Great. Now for the picture.”
“Picture?” I asked.
“Here.” Aja leaned over us and clicked on my files. The cube shrank with so many people, and I held my breath until she found the file she needed and moved away. Having Tony so close, being so intimate by sitting on his lap, if I wasn’t so confused about what was going on, I’d have told Aja to leave so I could turn around and kiss him.
Tony dragged the file to his page and our selfie appeared.
“Tony...you can’t!”
Before I could argue any further, he clicked the post button, putting our relationship out there for the world to see.
“He doesn't have any friends yet,” I started and stood, reaching for Aja. “He can still take it down before anyone sees. We can’t let him do this.”
Aja pointed behind me and smiled. When I turned, the screen filled with hearts and thumbs ups. Thousands of them. “Doesn’t take long for a prince to collect Facebook friends.”
This time when I pushed up to jump from his lap Tony didn’t pull me back down. His eyes tracked me across the small cubicle as I paced. When I looked up, I found humor in his eyes. “This isn’t funny.” I softly smacked his knee, then realized I’d just assaulted a prince. “I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No.” He stood and placed a hand on each of my shoulders until I felt his weight holding me down. Comforting me. “You should have done this.”
His lips dropped to mine and I turned my face to take him all in. My eyes snapped shut and my mouth parted. His hands grabbed my waist before encircling me, and I reached for his neck, holding on for dear life as he leaned me back. Before I knew it, he held my top half horizontal to the floor and kissed me so deeply I wasn’t sure I’d ever breathe again. I gave in to him, feeling his soft lips on mine and the fine stubble of his cheek brush against my tender skin. The smell of him, mint and spicy cologne and something that was all Tony, tickled my nose. He moved one hand up to cradle my neck, and I lifted my fingers to play in the loose strands that brushed over his ears.
Tony. Heaven. The low hum started again and I focused on Tony’s heat to ignore it, but the more I forced myself to let it go, the lower it got until I felt it more than heard it. Colors flashed in front of my closed eyes—greens and purples and blues, and the warmest oranges and yellows I’ve ever seen.
My eyes shot open to find Tony’s eyes closed, his face soft, his nose right next to mine as he continued to press his lips into mine. The buzzing grew to car alarm decibels, and my heart beat so wildly in my chest I was sure he could feel it too.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Gram step into view. She smiled, and her gray eyes twinkled in the dull office light.
When Tony let me go, he held one arm close and I gladly leaned into his side for stability. “Gram, “ I whispered. “I can hear it.”
“I know.” Her smile deepened. “I felt it this morning and came searching for you, only to run into him.” She took Aja by the arm and they disappeared outside.
Once they were gone, I turned my attention back to Tony and the kindness in his eyes. “What just happened?” I whispered, not sure if he’d even be able to explain it.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest so that I had to look up into his eyes. “Alifonso told me what happened. His job is to protect the royal name at any cost, and instead of letting you know I’d been called away for a few days, he made you believe I’d left you.”
“He did more than made me believe.” I trembled in his arms, thinking of the intimidation Alifonso had used. Tony held me tighter and the shaking began to ease.
“Alifonso has been reprimanded for his behavior. He’s been made second in command until he can prove his loyalty also contains common sense again.” He locked his gaze onto my own and his mouth turned into a frown. “But Alifonso isn’t the only one to blame.”
“What?”
As if to assure me, he squeezed again. “You could have called. Or even texted. I left you the number. How could you believe I would have treated you the way I did on our one night alone, and then left without even saying goodbye?”
A sick feeling waved through my stomach. “I didn’t want to believe.”
“But you did.” He kissed the top of my head. “Good thing your Gram never did.
She called me a couple days ago. I couldn’t get back here until I’d squared away business in Monterra, and she swore me to secrecy.”
“She did?”
He nodded. “I’m glad she did. When you didn’t call, I thought I’d misread you. Or, worse, scared you off.”
I reached up to push the stray hair away from his brow. “You couldn’t scare me off.” Though I’d never been more scared of a person in my life. Then another thought slammed into me and I pushed back against his chest for freedom. “But,” I began, as I circled the tight cubicle, searching for the right words. “The palace. The family. I’m not at all what you hoped to bring home, and I’m not all that sure I could ever leave New York without Gram and—”
He pulled me back into his lap and his lips cut off my words. I sank into him, knowing the argument still riding my lips needed to be addressed, but he felt so good. So right. I gave in and leaned into him until our lips parted and he let me go.
“And the paper.” I started right back where I’d stopped. “I know you have them in Monterra, but they need time here to replace me.”
“Freeze.” Tony grinned. His arms came around me again and my head sank into his chest. “You’re not going anywhere, bella.”
I lifted my head enough to watch his lips move.
“My business in Monterra was to work out a partnership between the country's technology industry and a group in Manhattan. My cousin wanted to hire a consultant to go between the two, but I convinced him having a guy on the inside would be better.”
“So, you’re staying here?”
His eyes danced and my heart did a little flip in my chest. “Not here exactly.” He looked up and surveyed the place. “I’m afraid Manhattan is as close as I come. I’ll take over the suit at the Palazzo Margherita until things become more permanent.”
“Manhattan?” I stepped away from him and rounded the corner of my desk but stopped at my chair before sitting. “I don’t know. I’ve heard those subways can be dangerous. I’m not sure I’ll be able to visit you all the way across the island.”
I’d meant to look up at him under my lashes and give him one of those practiced coy smiles from the old black and white movies, but the second my eyes landed on his, playing games came second to feeling his lips on mine again.
Tony stepped behind my desk and dropped one heavy hand to each of my shoulders. “Then you’ll just have to let Alifonso make amends by driving you around. Nothing is coming between us. Not an overzealous security detail, or a train station, or an overcrowded island.” One hand moved to the back of my head and I leaned into him. “I came here to find you. I’m not letting anything stop me from getting to know everything about Liza Johanson.”
His lips came down on mine—warm, soft, sweet and with the scent of mint and Tony. Near the backs of my ears, the buzzing started slow, then revved up in tempo until it surrounded us both. I grinned against his mouth, and when he finally pulled back, I saw the question in his eyes.
“What?” he asked, narrowing his gaze on mine.
I glanced to the hallway for a second, knowing Gram and Aja were in earshot somewhere right down the hall. “Nothing really. Gram was worried she’d lost her touch.”
I half expected Tony to say something, but his lips parted and fused to mine again. He didn’t need to say it; I didn’t either. The giggle down the hall confirmed it for us both. Gram had known all along how to bring a reluctant match together. It just took a little convincing on my part to believe in the magic of finding true love.