Bedroom Eyes (30 page)

She turned around and bumped straight into Tony. The touch of his hand on her shoulder as he reached out to steady her shot pleasurable shivers of anticipation through her.

“I’m early,” they both said at the same time, then laughed.

“Thanks for meeting me,” Tony said.

He smiled into her eyes in a way that made Penelope wish she had the nerve to suggest they skip lunch and feast on one another. Instead, she nodded and said, “Thanks for asking me.”

Another couple came in and from the rear of the dining room a silver-haired man in a crisp white shirt and black pants entered through a swinging door and hurried forward. He waved in Tony’s direction and led the other diners to a table by the window before heading back. Penelope couldn’t have sworn to it, but she thought the man also winked at Tony.

“A friend of yours?” Then she thought about his family in the restaurant business. “Or a relative?”

“A friend,” Tony said as the man approached.

“So this is the woman!” He took her by the shoulders and kissed her on both cheeks. “Very pleased to meet you.”

“Uh, Lucien. . .” Tony began.

“Only the best for you today, my dear,” Lucien said, with another wink at Tony. “Any woman who sends Tony into such a spin must be the special one.”

Penelope glanced at Tony, expecting to find him writhing in embarrassment. Instead, she found him gazing at her as if he were studying a Renoir.

“Very special, Lucien. Meet Penelope Fields.”

“It’s good to meet you,” Penelope finally managed to say as the older man looked her over as closely as he probably did the fish he purchased for his restaurant.

“It’s good to see Tony at last has developed a sense of taste,” Lucien pronounced. “Just call the front desk when you want your lunch sent up.”

Penelope wasn’t sure she’d heard that right. She shot a glance at Tony, who did look embarrassed now.

Four businessmen came in and Lucien waved and led them to their seats.

“I. . . uh . . . I thought we’d have lunch in a private room,” Tony said.

“That would be an adventure,” Penelope said, wondering if this was another New Orleans custom or if what Tony had actually booked was a hotel room.

He held out his hand and Penelope sighed as he closed his strong fingers around hers. They strolled from the dining area down a hallway that opened to a courtyard in the center of the building.

A fountain splashed amid a jungle of leafy plants, most of them tropical ones Penelope didn’t recognize. Tony paused under the archway. “You know, I didn’t really ask you to lunch,” he said.

Penelope’s heart leaped. Gazing into his eyes, she said, “I would have been disappointed if you had.”

He laughed and pulled her to him. Tipping her chin up, he kissed her lightly on the lips. Then, with a noise like a growl, he deepened the kiss.

Penelope pressed against him, willing her body to merge with his. Breathless, she answered the demands of his lips, his questing tongue. When he broke away, she cried out softly.

“Don’t worry, darling,” he said, leading across the courtyard to a stairway almost hidden by a banana tree, “that was only an appetizer.”

With those tantalizing words, Tony ushered her up the stairs, produced a key, and swung open the door at the top of the stairs.

Feeling incredibly daring, Penelope crossed the threshold. “What a lovely room,” she said, taking in the sitting room done in rosewood and chintz. A love seat faced a fireplace and a table for two sat by a window that opened out onto the balcony at the top of the stairs.

Tony walked in behind her and shut the door. “I’m glad you like it,” he said, and held out his arms.

She stepped into his embrace and lifted her lips for his kiss. Snuggling against him, she slipped her hands around the back of his neck and curled her fingers into his hair.

He pulled her more closely against him and Penelope felt a rush of power as she felt the proof of how excited Tony was. Arching her body, she offered herself to him, an offer he clearly accepted, as, still kissing her, he led them in dancelike steps across the sitting room and down a hallway.

Sanity returned slowly to Penelope as she realized they were only steps from the bedroom. Tony must have sensed that she was beginning to hesitate. Lifting his lips from hers, he said, “You know you can tell me to stop at any time.” His voice husky, he said, “Though you know I don’t want to. And this time I won’t, unless you request it.”

Her breath came faster. His eyes were dark pools she would gladly throw herself into, even if it meant drowning. She touched her tongue to her lips, tender from his kisses. “I want you, Tony Olano. Today. Now.” To herself, she added, And forever.

He answered her by picking her up and cradling her in his arms, the way he’d done the day she fainted. She kept her eyes fixed on his face, watching the emotions playing there. She saw passion, she recognized desire, and though it might be her own foolish imagination taking over, she thought she detected something stronger, something closer to caring and affection, evidence that to Tony she meant more than just a one-night stand.

The bedroom of the suite was even more impressive than the sitting room. Tony set her down beside a second fireplace next to a four-poster bed. He pointed to the opposite side of the room and Penelope saw why. A huge square spa-type tub occupied the space between the bedroom and the bathroom, designed to encourage indulgence and intimacy.

“Oh, my,” Penelope whispered.

Tony encircled her waist and pulled her back against him. “What do you say,” he said, nibbling on her ear and working the buttons on her blouse at the same time, “we feast on one another, then play in the tub?”

Penelope swallowed. There was no point in losing her sense of adventure now. Tony kissed the back of her neck and freed her hair.

The expression
carpe diem
flitted across her mind. Seize the day, indeed! Slowly she turned so they were standing face-to-face. She traced the path of his mouth with her little finger, then, in slow motion, unfastened the rest of the buttons of her blouse as Tony watched appreciatively. In a sultry voice she never imagined she’d hear from her own mouth, she said, “What do you say we play in the tub first?”

“Whatever you say.” Tony slipped her jacket from her arms and her blouse came off with it. She kicked off her sensible pumps then worked off his shirt and jacket as they moved together toward the tub. He turned the faucets on, then shimmied her free of her skirt and pantyhose.

Wearing only her underwear, Penelope stood shyly in front of Tony. Still half-dressed, Tony scooped her up in his arms and sat on the edge of the bed, holding her. “Repeat after me,” he whispered. “I, Penelope . . .”

“What are we doing?”

“Shh, trust me,” Tony said. “I, Penelope . . .”

With a smile, she said, “I, Penelope . . .”

“. . . am the most beautiful woman . . .”

“. . . am the most beautiful—stop, Tony! Mrs. Merlin is already lecturing me over my ego.”

“You have a talking cat? Never mind. Just try the words and see how they feel.” He freed the catch of her bra and nuzzled his lips to her breasts.

“. . . I am the most beautiful woman . . .” Penelope caught her breath as Tony suckled her nipple. She parted her lips, and her breath finally released itself in a gaspy moan.

“Oh, yeah,” Tony whispered, “the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“. . . in the world,” Penelope repeated as Tony lowered her to the bed, stripped off the rest of his clothing, and managed to make her panties disappear all in what seemed like one smooth motion.

The water spilling into the tub nearby provided accompaniment as Tony’s kisses made her body sing. Penelope gasped and flung her hands above her head as Tony stoked a path of fire in her body with his kisses. His tongue, warm and wet and greedy, was everywhere. On her breasts, her nipples, her throat, her eyelids. Then, as the passion built within her, he moved lower, to the heat between her legs.

“Tony!” she cried out as he kissed the inside of her thighs, then traced a path closer and closer to the most intimate spot of her body.

“Yes, my lucky penny?” He lifted his head and gazed at her with eyes dark and stormy with desire. With the palm of his hand, he covered her mound and trailed a gentle finger beneath the curly hair to part her inner lips. Teasing, probing, stroking, he created the sweetest and yet in some ways the most frightening sensations she’d ever experienced.

She called his name again. He paused. In a serious voice, he said, “If you change your mind, you only have to tell me.”

“Oh, no,” she said in a breathless voice. “Don’t stop. Not now! I feel as if I’m about to lose total control of my senses and you know”—she heard the wonder in her own voice—“that’s truly a beautiful thing.”

He smiled and lowered his mouth to where his hand had been. She trembled with desire as his mouth imitated his fingers.

Tony slowly trailed off his kisses, then slid onto the bed alongside her and took her in his arms. “Perhaps we’ll leave that adventure for another day,” he murmured.

“Whatever you say,” she said, caught between a desire for him to continue kissing her in exactly the way he had been, and the need to answer the insistent hunger claiming her body.

“I don’t usually carry condoms to lunch,” Tony said, nibbling on her ear, then reaching down to the floor where he’d dropped his trousers, “but I knew today we had to be together.” He laid a packet on the bed beside them. Lifting up on one arm, he said, “Something came over me today, Penelope, and no matter what, I had to be with you. God forgive me if I’m doing the wrong thing.”

She smiled up at him, reveling in being wanted by the man she craved. “It’s the right thing,” she said softly.

“Yes!” Tony ripped open the condom packet and worked it on himself. Penelope must have stared, because Tony grinned and lifted her hand to assist him. Feeling very bold, she watched their joined hands, trying not to think how he would ever fit inside her.

The protection in place, Tony eased over her. “You know it can hurt a little at first, but I promise you I’ll make that up to you. In a hundred ways, a thousand ways.”

She nodded and wrapped her arms around him.

He moved slowly, entering her only enough that she felt the size of him.

She widened her eyes. “Oh, my,” she said.

Tony lowered his head, captured her lips, and began to move in a slow and sensuous dance in, then out a bit, then more deeply into her body.

Penelope cried out against his lips and arched her back, urging him inward. He accepted the invitation, entering her in a swift movement that registered momentarily as pain, then quickly transformed to more marvelous sensations as he thrust in and out, creating spirals of pleasure that she gave herself up to.

As their joined bodies moved as one, Penelope lost all sense of time and place. She knew only Tony, his mouth on hers, his hands caressing her face, her hair, her breasts as he brought her ever so slowly but surely to a peak of passion.

“Tony,” she cried out, amazed at the shimmering waves overtaking her body and seeming to flow out from some magical place within her.

He thrust more quickly, his eyes closed now, his hands around her shoulders in a fierce grip. Faster and faster he moved, and then as his body shuddered, he called out her name and dropped to the bed beside her.

“Sweet, sweet, Penelope,” he murmured, cradling her against his chest. “Did I hurt you?”

She smiled and snuggled more closely. “You gave me only pleasure,” she said.

Her senses returning somewhat to normal, Penelope realized the water still gushed into the tub. She turned her head lazily to look, just in time to see the water lapping at the edge of the huge tub. “Tony, the water!”

He dashed for the spigots and stopped the water before it spilled over the sides. Then he walked back to the bed, gazed down at her, and said, “How about a bubble bath?”

An hour later, Penelope lay on her side on the bed, sated from their second lovemaking. Tony had just slipped off the bed and was collecting their clothing. Turning to him, she smiled and said, “Thank you for the most wonderful lunch I’ve ever had.”

He winked, and started pulling on his clothes. “Sorry to eat and run, but duty calls.”

“Oh,” Penelope said, sitting up. Something about the abrupt way he was dressing made her nervous. “We haven’t eaten yet.”

“No time. I’ll tell Lucien to send something up for you.”

“I don’t want to eat by myself.” Penelope rose from the bed, feeling very naked. She found her underwear and she, too, began dressing. “Not in a room this romantic.”

“Romantic?” Tony shrugged into his jacket. “Hey, babe, it was a nooner. That’s all. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

He couldn’t have wounded her more harshly had he tried. Penelope jerked her head as if she’d been slapped. Not even a one-night stand, simply a nooner. She turned her back on him and struggled into her clothing, tears welling in her eyes, tears she refused to let him see.

“Penelope—”

“Don’t say another word. Not one word!” Penelope grabbed her jacket and her purse and, without looking at Tony, stormed to the sitting room, out the door, and down the steps.

Halfway to the front entrance, she heard Tony behind her. Lucien stopped him and she heard the older man say, “Tony-O, tell me you didn’t mess this one up.”

She didn’t wait to hear his response. Instead, she hurried back to the office and threw herself into work, unable to meet the questions and concern she saw in Jewel’s eyes.

Precisely at eleven minutes after eleven, Penelope rose from the rug on her living room floor, stretched, then crossed to the table where the altar lay waiting. She’d informed Mrs. Merlin earlier that she was taking no chances and had allowed almost an hour to find her place of peace.

After the day’s roller-coaster ride in which she’d gone from the heights of passion to the depths of rejection, Penelope didn’t trust the spell to work without extra time to cleanse the hurt from her mind.

Mrs. Merlin studied her from her post on the altar. “You’ve been awfully quiet tonight. Before I go, I want you to know that if you want something badly enough, you can usually get it.”