CHAPTER SEVEN
Nothing said speed dating like coffee. Gram thumbed her nose at my idea of fifteen minute dates one right after the other so Tony could make the most of the few days he had left. Not that her opinion mattered from under the covers of her fake sick bed.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Aja sat opposite me at Perks on the upper end of 5th Avenue and sipped her third coffee of the morning. “I’ve always wanted to help your Gram, but this is too much.”
“Think of it as speed dating, the coffee house edition.” I handed over a list of ten names and the times each would arrive. I’d carefully mapped the plan out. Each girl had a minute to introduce themselves and three to tell their history with six or seven for questions before Tony dropped the whole ‘I’m a prince’ line, leaving us a solid five minutes to decide if they were freaked or excited and send them on their way before the next showed two minutes later. The timeline needed work, and Tony showed concern for forgetting a name or needing a bathroom break, but on such a short timeline, we had to be practical.
Alifonso and Aja were playing the part of just a typical New York couple out for a cuppa while also being undercover timekeepers and reaction recorders. I would watch the door for the next girl and keep tabs on Tony’s reactions to each.
“Is this really how Americans do it?” Tony sat with the mug of tea I’d gotten him and eyed me from the side where I sat by the door.
“Not exactly, but you said you needed to make a quick decision, so here it is.” Not to mention, ten dates in one afternoon would get him hooked up with a match and away from me before I could fall any harder for him than I already had.
He turned just enough for me to make out the worry creasing his eyes. “And I’m not going to become tabloid fodder sitting here in the open?”
I bit back the laugh that rolled up my throat. “Last week, three celebrities met for coffee here and there wasn’t one mention of them anywhere. I only know this because I happened to stop in for a cup the same time they were sitting at the back table. Think of Perks as an extension of Monterra in the paparazzi scene. Besides, isn’t that what Alifonso's for?”
Alifonso turned away from whatever Aja was saying with a bemused expression. Given the chance, I had the feeling he’d rather attack a photographer than spend the next three hours rotating women in and out of his boss's life like herded cattle. I felt the same, but something in what Tony had said a few nights before on the Empire State Building Observation tour got to me. A desperation I felt down to my bones. He didn't want a wife, he needed one. He also needed to please his sister and his family and this was the only way. Plus, I smiled as the thought snaked through my memories, he’d said he only needed to appear to be in love with her. He could fake a relationship for as long as needed to get Pre’s engagement going, then they could end it without ruining anyone’s chance at love.
All we needed was a woman willing to play princess for a few months, who could be professional about the relationship, and also able to understand it would have a definite beginning and end.
Alifonso groaned under his breath and turned back to Aja, who hadn’t stopped chattering away in at least the last five minutes. “I’m not a chaperone.”
The little bell above the shop door twinkled and all four pairs of eyes rolled to the door. A man in a pink sport coat entered and waved at a group of similarly dressed men gathered around a table.
Tony took a deep breath and I sensed his relief. “We could cancel. You still have time for a couple traditional dates before you leave for home.”
“No.” His voice sounded muffled by the hand he rubbed over his chin. “This is the best way. We’ll make it quick.”
“Good.” I eyed the door and studied the woman standing on the other side. I’d only seen pictures of Ruth Calloway in the Town and Country magazine Gram kept around to keep up with the lives of possible clients, but the woman opening the door wearing a flowing black dress and her blond hair in perfect curls, was her spitting image. “Because your first date just arrived.”
I glanced at Aja to get her attention, then cut my eyes back to Ruth. Aja shut her mouth with a snap and tossed her head, signaling Alifonso to turn.
I had just stood to greet Ruth before introducing her to Tony, when Tony caught my hand and pulled me back down to my seat. “No, Liza. If I’m going to do this, I’m really going to do this. Alone.” He stood and approached Ruth, taking her by the arm and leading her to a table away from all of us, and my heart dropped in the cold abyss of my chest.
****
“How much longer?” Aja set with her elbows on the table and her chin in her palm.
Looking at Alifonso, I was sure he’d look just as bored if it weren’t for the constraints of his job. “She’s the last.” I nodded at the bubbly redhead Gram had added to my list at the last minute yesterday just before I’d made the calls. I had to admit, she was the most suited to Tony's description of a match, even if I wasn’t sure her flippant behavior would have the royals eating from her hand any time soon.
“Her time is up.” Alifonso checked his watch and started to stand until I laid a hand on his shoulder. Even though he’d threatened to end things enough times already that I’d had to move to their table to keep him calm, this was the one time I wanted to let him go.
“They’re hitting it off. Give them time.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Alifonso grunted.
I glanced at Aja. “More coffee?”
“Sure.” She lifted her head. “I’ll get it.”
“No.” I stood before she could and glanced down to the top of Alifonso's head. “You stay here and keep watch on things. I’ll be right back.”
Aja glanced at Alifonso and back to me, and by the slight nod she gave me, I knew she understood. About the same time I reached the counter, I heard the howl of laughter erupt from the corner table and turned to see Red and Tony stand. He held her hand to his lips and she leaned in to kiss his cheek. He hadn’t kissed any of the nine hopefuls that came before. At times, he hadn't even stood for their goodbyes.
He glanced in my direction and I turned sharply back to the barista to order. From the corner of my eye, I watched as they walked to the door. Red left, and before long, I felt Tony at my side.
“Can we sit and talk?” His hand landed on mine, and I hadn’t noticed until then that I was shaking.
“Sure.” I forced a smile and hoped the tears I felt in my eyes weren’t showing. “Let me finishing getting Aja’s coffee and I’ll—”
Aja stood at my side before I could finish. “Alifonso had a call and had to leave. He said he’d meet you at the hotel, Tony.”
I glanced between the two. “Is he allowed to leave you like that?”
Tony laughed. “He’d not attached to me, if that’s what you mean. Though it must have been something serious to send him off like that.” He looked to Aja. “Did he happen to mention what was going on?”
“No.” Her voice held concern. “Only something about a problem. His face turned red about a minute into the call, and I felt like he’d have screamed at the person on the other end if he could have, if that helps.”
“I guess you’d better get back and find out what happened,” I suggested.
“It can wait.” Tony took the coffee from the barista and handed it to Aja, before handing over his card to pay. “I’d still like to talk to you. Do you have time to walk with me back to the hotel?”
Aja took her to-go cup and ducked back to the table for her coat and bag. She waved a goodbye from the distance with concern written in her eyes.
I sent Aja a look pleading for her to save me, which she missed, and I watched her walk out the door. “Sure.” I looked back to Tony. “I’ll grab a train from your hotel.”
Knowing the second I made the suggestion he’d come back with the command of allowing Alifonso or one of the other shadows to drive me, I shook my head. “No. I’ll let one of your guys take me.”
Tony grinned. Not the grin I’d seen him pass to Red, but a grin nonetheless, and it made the butterflies in my stomach wake up and flutter. “Thank you.”
I reached for the front door but his hand came around my back and he grabbed the handle to hold it open. A gust of New York cold blew across me, but I barely felt the chill from where he blocked it. “Thanks for what?” I asked after we’d cleared the door and the congested sidewalk in front of the shop. By this time in the afternoon, the avenue was always crowded with tourists and shoppers alike, which made it impossible to hold a conversation. I waited a couple blocks before I slowed enough to stand beside him. He held out his arm and I looped mine through it and held on, breathing in his crisp clean scent which blocked the smog stench of the streets.
“Why did you thank me back there?”
He smiled, a move I’ve learned is more for stalling than amusement. “First, for not arguing about the car. And second, I didn’t think today would work.”
“But it did?” The butterflies instantly turned into angry hornets and stung from the inside. How could I not want him to find the one, or one close enough to be her, after everything we’d been through?
“It did.”
A couple more hornets stung from within, and I swallowed to hide the pain. “It was the last one, wasn’t it. You two looked like you hit it off. She’s from new money but—”
I stopped talking and his arm tightened into his side, pulling me closer, until one of my heels left the ground to keep up with his gate. He didn’t go far before he pulled me off the sidewalk and into the entry of a closed store, my back pressed against the bricks and my chest pressed into his. Our eyes met in the middle and something hungry and passionate sparked in his.
“You did a fine job, but none of those women will do. I realized the one I wanted was there the entire time, only a table away, and I was too chicken to tell her.”
“Oh.” No other words would come. Instead, I simply gazed into his eyes, which stared at me as if I were the last steak in the world and he the hungriest man.
“I’ve been stupid, Liza. Stupid enough to count you out because I thought there was no possible way you’d be interested in a guy like me, in a life like the one I lead. But I never asked. I never gave you the chance to tell me yourself.”
If he hadn’t been so close, I was sure my legs would give out and I’d crumple in shock.
“Liza.” He cupped my cold cheek in his warm palm. “The only woman I truly saw in that coffee shop was you.”
I blinked, squeezed my eyes closed tightly, then opened them again to see if he’d still be standing there. He was. With a stern and concerned look upon his face, his chest rose and fell against my own, and pressed my back harder into the bricks behind us. I couldn’t force the words to come, so I nodded before his finger hooked under my chin and he pulled my face up to meet his.
I closed my eyes again and his warm lips touched mine, brushing along them for a few seconds, before pressing harder to open them. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on, knowing I’d never find my feet again. It didn’t matter; I wouldn’t need them. I’d be walking on clouds for the rest of my life if I could open my eyes and make myself believe this was all real. Tony Ferraris was kissing me!
“Antonio.” A stern voice bit into my ear, and I flashed my eyes open just quick enough to see Alifonso grab Tony by the arm and lead him toward the street. I wanted to scream, but the second the urgency hit, so did the realization that something was wrong. Something only Alifonso could stop, and me screaming on the street would only cause more concern.
A shadow caught my arm the second I stepped forward to follow Tony. I pulled my arm back, ready to fight, until I recognized the man’s face from the hotel and Gram’s shop as being one of Tony’s men.
“Take her home,” Alifonso commanded.
Tony twisted free from him. “No. She goes to the hotel with us.”
The two shared a stare that could freeze a New Yorker in place, but Tony finally gave in and looked back at me. “Ricco will see you home safe. I’ll call later and explain.”
A black SUV pulled up to the curb and a man popped out to block the pedestrian traffic for Tony.
I struggled to free myself from Ricco, but he didn’t budge. “Is everything okay?” I shouted at Tony’s back. He didn’t hear me over the crowd, or he ignored me, but Alifonso turned back. “No. Everything's not okay.”
I froze in place at the intense look on his face and the impatience in his voice. He shut Tony’s door and jumped in the front seat, and before I could blink, the SUV sped into traffic, leaving me behind to watch as the taillights faded away.
The crowd passing by bumped into my shoulders and knocked me to the side, but I couldn’t stop staring toward the direction the vehicle had disappeared. A sinking feeling settled into the pit of my stomach. He’d just kissed me, so why did that one kiss feel like the beginning of the end?