Joe’s day couldn’t have been any slower. For the first time something other than Baronessa Gelati was at the forefront of his mind. He’d spent the day going through the motions but not really being there. Even going so far as begging off lunch with his dad and bagging work on the company’s new five-year plan. Instead, he surfed the Internet.
“Got a minute, Joe?” Gina asked from the doorway.
He closed his Internet connection and glanced up at his sister. His brother-in-law Flint was there, as well. “I’m not doing any more press. I don’t care what you’ve convinced Mom of.”
Flint laughed and Gina rolled her eyes. “Nothing like that. I’m taking an informal family poll. Flint wants to do some promo around the annual family reunion.”
“Unless I have to be the family spokesman, I’m all for it. By the way, I think Nick should be the family spokesman. He is the eldest and the COO of Baronessa.”
“Stop using my name in vain, Joe,” Nick said from the hallway.
Joe lifted his hands innocently. “Who, me?”
“Great. I’ll put the plan in motion,” Flint said, heading toward the door.
“Coming, Gina?” Flint asked.
“In a minute.” Gina watched him with her wide violet gaze, and Joe had the uncomfortable feeling he should have left work early.
“Uh-oh, I’m outta here,” Nick said, disappearing down the hall.
His sister paced over to the windows and looked down on the street. Joe knew whatever she was going to say he wasn’t going to like. He put on his toughest face. The one that made everyone leave him alone.
“What’s with that look?” Gina could always read him.
He shrugged. Sure, he knew he had feelings, but admitting them to the family was something he hated.
“Mom said you disappeared from the gelateria last night with Holly.”
“Why were you talking to Mom about me, Gina?”
“I like my brothers to be happy, Joe. You know that.”
“Sure you do. Why the concern?”
“You were acting weird yesterday, even for you.”
“Geez, was that a compliment?”
She smiled. Despite her annoying tendencies, he liked his sister. “I just wanted to let you know I’m here. If you need to talk about Holly or anything.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. Everything’s fine.”
“Joe, everything hasn’t been fine for you since Mary died.”
Joe shuddered. That was the first time anyone in his family had said Mary’s name to him. Why now? Was he changing, or was the world around him different? Gina watched him with an intensity that made him uncomfortable. Italian women were witchy and superstitious. She’d brought up Mary to see how he’d react.
But he remained expressionless.
“Still stone-faced, I see,” she said. “Well, be careful because I know there’s a man behind the stone.” She walked toward the door.
“Gina, did I try to tell you what to do with Flint?”
“No.”
“Then let me do this on my own. I know I’m not Alex but I can handle a woman.”
“Okay, big brother,” she said, walking out of his office and closing the door behind her.
For once Joe didn’t care about his family. Tonight was something between him and Holly—though he knew the evening wouldn’t remain a secret.
Especially since he’d chosen Atlantic Fish Co. for dinner. It was one of Boston’s most favorite restaurants. It had opened in 1978. He liked the place because of the detailed woodwork and murals of the spirit of the sea. Plus they had intimate, cozy booths.
His mother would find out about the date and then the inquisition would start.
The intercom buzzed.
“Yes, Stella?”
“A Ms. Fitzgerald for you on line one.”
Hell, he prayed she wasn’t calling to cancel. If he hoped to get anything done at work the rest of the week, he needed to see her tonight and get her out of his mind. His work had been his solace and suddenly thanks to Holly it wasn’t.
He picked up line one. “Barone.”
“I’m running a little late at the bakery. Where are we going for dinner? Maybe I can meet you there.”
Joe wondered if she was really that busy at work or just looking to direct tonight’s action. Hell, he didn’t blame her. Holly might look fragile but she wasn’t. There was a pure fighting spirit in her that would demand she make the most of their time together.
“We’re going to Atlantic Fish Co.”
“Oh.”
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“I’ve never been there, but always wanted to try it.”
“Why haven’t you gone?” he asked.
“It’s a couple place not a family place.”
“You’ve never been part of a couple?” he asked.
“Not long enough to get to the stage where you go to a place like that.”
Her words sliced through the barrier he’d thought he’d built around his heart, making it beat again. He leaned back in the chair and mentally started making plans.
Tonight was going to be the ultimate in romantic fantasy for Holly Fitzgerald.
Holly changed clothes five times before settling on a slim-fitting dress with little cap sleeves. It was a designer knockoff she’d purchased in an outlet mall. But for tonight she’d splurged on the Enzo sandals she’d had her eye on all season.
She spritzed her body with perfume and checked her appearance one last time before heading for the door. The doorbell rang just as she opened it.
“Ms. Fitzgerald?” the deliveryman asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“These are for you.” He handed her a lovely bouquet of orchids, calla lilies and a pink flower, which she didn’t know the name of. The scents assailed her and she closed her eyes for a minute to enjoy the fresh-cut flowers.
The deliveryman started to leave. “Wait a minute,” she said, reaching for her handbag.
“It’s all been taken care of,” he said and, whistling, walked away.
She closed the door and sank to the deacon’s bench along the wall. There was a card. She tugged it free of the pick and turned the paper carefully over in her hands.
She was shaking a little, she realized, and tears burned the back of her eyes. No one had ever sent her flowers. Not her dad when she’d graduated high school. Not her brothers when she’d won the contest. No one had ever thought to send her flowers except Joe Barone. The man who’d told her that he wanted her for only one night.
The note was in his bold, brash handwriting.
Cinderella had until midnight to enjoy her prince, but the magic doesn’t have to end for us.
The Joe she’d come to know wasn’t the kind of guy who’d feed a woman a line like that, but in her heart she knew she wasn’t the kind of woman who could have a red-hot affair.
She had commitments. Commitments to her family and the bakery. Commitments to herself, she realized. But there was nothing that would stop her from enjoying this night with Joe.
The phone rang. She debated answering it, not wanting reality to intrude. But in the end the chance that it could be her dad decided her, and she picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“It’s not too late for me to pick you up,” Joe said.
“Where are you?”
“About a block from your place.”
“I feel like I’m being manipulated. The Atlantic Fish Co. is across town.”
“You aren’t being manipulated. I’m just being gentlemanly.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. Around men she’d never been as confident as she’d like to be.
“Hey, would I lie to you?”
Would he? “I don’t know.”
Silence buzzed on the line, and she wondered if she’d offended him. It was just that he was a guy who’d learned not to risk his heart, while she might not be looking for happily-ever-after but still believed it existed.
“I guess I’ll just have to prove to you that you can trust me.”
She shivered at the sincerity in his voice. Oh, God. She was in over her head. “Thanks for the flowers.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I didn’t get you anything,” she said.
“Your company is gift enough.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
“Why?”
“I might think you mean them. And we decided to go slowly.”
“I am going slowly.”
“Nothing seems real since the moment we met,” she said more to herself than to him.
“I disagree,” he said.
She waited.
“Everything finally seems real to me.”
Hearing that was sweeter than the flowers he’d sent her. Sweeter than the dinner at Boston’s most romantic restaurant. Sweeter than the fire he’d started in her last night. “Oh, Joe.”
“Oh, what?”
“I just don’t want to disappoint you,” she said at last.
“Are you riding with me?” he asked, changing the subject.
She thought maybe Joe didn’t really know what to do with her. It made her feel better to think he was as unsure as she was. “Okay.”
She disconnected the phone before he could say anything else. She went into the kitchen and got a vase for the flowers, then put them on the counter. The setting summer sun streaming through the window was hot and she closed her eyes for a minute, enjoying its warmth for the first time that day.
The doorbell rang again and this time she hesitated. She’d spent the entire day trying to convince herself he was nothing more than a date, but her heart beat quicker as she walked toward the front of her house. Her pulse raced as she saw his silhouette through the front window.
Everything feminine in her awakened and she realized that these reactions were what she was afraid of. Not Joe or the date, but the way her sentimental heart would react to flowers and a romantic dinner. He’d already told her he wasn’t her forever man and she needed to remember that.
She opened the door. Joe was backlit by the setting sun, so the expression on his face was unreadable. But he took a quick breath and reached for her. His fingers trailed down her arm, stopping at her hand. He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles before lifting her hand to his mouth and dropping a warm kiss on the back of it.
“You are beautiful tonight.”
Sensation spread up her arm, making her insides puddle. She was uncomfortable not only with the sensuality he wove around her so effortlessly but also with the sophisticated man standing in front of her. His suit was not a knockoff but a hand-sewn Italian one.
“You are making me feel like Cinderella tonight,” she said.
“That was my intent.” He closed her front door and led her down the walk to his car.
She didn’t say a word as he seated her and walked around to the driver’s side. For this one night she’d forget that in the real world a man like Joe wouldn’t really be interested in her. For this one night she’d simply enjoy the fantasy.
“Want to stop by Baronessa’s for dessert?” Joe asked as they exited the restaurant.
It was nights like this that made living in Boston worthwhile. The breeze was warm and blew over his skin. Being with Holly sensitized him, making everything seem magnified a hundred times. It was unnerving.
The Atlantic Fish Co. had added to the charm of the evening. Somehow, dining there had created just the romantic atmosphere he’d been hoping for.
She stopped him on the sidewalk, reaching out to grab his hand. Hers was so small in his, he was reminded once again that it was the man’s job to protect his woman. But Holly wasn’t his…at least not yet.
“I have gelato at my place if you’d rather just go there,” she said softly.
Her husky voice brushed over his senses like a match to kindling. The warm breeze around him stirred up his senses. He tugged her closer, so that her body was pressed neatly to his side. Her dress was a fantasy and a nightmare at the same time. Light and frothy, it moved around her as she moved. And he wasn’t the only guy who noticed.
Telling himself he had no claim on her didn’t work. No matter how much he tried to fool himself into believing that this attraction between them meant nothing, he knew better.
“Let’s go,” he said.
He seated her in his car and drove quickly through town. Frank Sinatra played quietly in the background. Normally, he favored hard rock but he’d decided tonight called for something else. So he’d broken down and called Alex, figuring even though his brother had settled down with Daisy, the old ladies’ man would know what to play on a date.
But in the end it had been their father’s advice that Alex had passed on. “The old man swears by Sinatra.”
Joe had been reminded again today how much his family really cared for him. Alex had given Joe a list of recommendations for CDs and told him how glad he was that Joe was finally dating again. It was scary to realize that he hadn’t been fooling anyone with his stoic mask.
Every damn song on the CD had to do with love—the very last thing he wanted to confront while Holly was in the car with him. From now on he was listening to hard rock.
“Is this Sinatra?” she asked.
“Yes, one of his early recordings.”
“I’ve never listened to his stuff much.”
Joe took his gaze from the road for just a minute. “You can’t grow up Italian and not listen to Old Blue Eyes.”
“I can imagine. So what was it like being one of eight children?”
“Craziness most of the time.”
“For me too. But the boys were younger so I could distance myself a little from them.”
“Did it work?” Growing up, he’d felt protected being surrounded by his siblings and parents. Everything in his life had seemed charmed until Mary’s sickness.
“Probably not as well as I’ve always thought it did.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. Holly was an enigma. Frail and ethereal on the outside, tough as nails on the inside. Except there was a part of her that was very soft. That part was clear in her eyes tonight.
“Just that even when I was the older sister pretending to be bothered by the boys, I still spent the majority of my time at home with them. I’ve always liked taking care of my brothers.”
“Do you take care of your family?” he asked. She’d carefully kept the conversation away from her dad tonight and he knew it had been deliberate. But because there had been subjects he too hadn’t wanted to discuss, he’d let her.
“Most of the time.”
“Who takes care of you?” he asked. She looked like someone who needed pampering and had never been indulged.
She was silent for a minute, her serious face illuminated in the flashing lights of the street lamp. “I do.”
“Have you ever thought about letting someone else do it?”
“Have you?”
He braked to a stop for a traffic light and glanced over at her. He didn’t like how easily she saw into his soul. “I’m a man.”
“Oh, so it’s different for you,” she said. Her words sounded solemn, but he sensed the laughter beneath them.
“Of course it’s different. Men are expected to suck it up and shoulder on.”
“Women are too.”
“But no one thinks less of you if you lean on a man.”
“I think if two people really love each other then leaning on each other is the best thing in the world.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in love.”
“Of course I believe it exists…for some people.”
“Not you?”
“I don’t know. I can’t fall in love now.”
“Why not?”
“Dad’s health insurance is still iffy and I’ve got obligations to fulfill. Love takes time and effort. Two things I don’t have.”
Joe concentrated on driving, pulling into her neighborhood and finally her driveway. “Maybe you haven’t met the right man.”
“There’s no maybe about it.”
“Really?” he asked. “Then what about me?”