Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of the characters of WTB, I own nothing, no copyright violence intended
Many, many thanks to VioletStella for support and proofreading.
Chapter 1
After grocery shopping Tony went home dragging big paper bags filled with fresh food. He laid all packages on the table and began clearing them when Angela went into the kitchen carrying a bag in her hand as well. They looked in each other's eyes and as always something clicked between the two of them.
"Hi!" They said unison with big smiles on their faces." How was that possible?" Angela thought", only one look and I could kiss the earth under his feet."" How was that possible?" Tony thought," only one look and I'm putty in her hands."
"Looks like a fabulous dinner tonight. Is something special going on?"
"Nothing, really, only you and me, Samantha is staying at Bonnie's overnight, Jonathan is on the school trip and Mona… who knows where and with whom she is tonight?" Tony responded, happy. They hadn't spent an evening alone for a long time but they always enjoyed their time together.
Since Angela got fired from Wallace & McQuade and started her own agency more than a year ago she was extremely busy.
Times were difficult while she tried her best to establish the business. The competition was bigger than she thought; but slowly things got better and better, although the money didn't come in as fast as she wanted to.
Tony tidied up, putting the groceries into the kitchen cupboards. He looked in the last paper bag before rumpling it. On the bottom of the bag adhered a little piece of paper which had almost escaped his notice. Tony picked it out and glanced at it. It was the scratch card from a local lottery he bought at the supermarket and had almost forgotten. Maybe he'd have a little luck anytime. He let it slide into his pocket and started preparing the dinner; an Italian salad with sweet- sour sauce and cannelloni spinaci should be enough. While rolling out the pastry for the cannelloni he hummed the newest Rick Astley song "Together Forever" and secretly he compared the song lyrics with his life. He didn't like pop songs very much but had an earworm from this song.
"You're in a good mood today." Angela gripped a glass and filled it with fresh squeezed orange juice. She looked exhausted and leaned tired against the table. Her twelve hour day stretched her to the limit. If Tony didn't insist on her coming home at a decent time she would stay at the office until her eyes went shut.
"Yeah, classes were great today, the kids squabbled only two times, you are keeping me company in my kitchen… maybe helping me with the salad while I fill the cannelloni with spinach and farmer cheese? By the way, Angela, is that champagne you placed in the refrigerator? Something to celebrate?"
"I want to cheer up; we both worked so hard recently." Angela grabbed for the knife and started slicing the tomatoes. Absently she took one in her mouth. Tony shoved the casserole with the stuffed cannelloni in the oven and looked at her.
"Angela, you are going to lose one of your fingers if you hold the knife like that. Let me show you." He got behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He took her hands and they chopped the rest of tomatoes together. Being so close to her was always a sore temptation and if she hadn't faced her back to him he could have seen the smile on her face. Finishing the last tomato he breathed in the scent of her hair which almost drove him crazy. They laid down the knife together and to his surprise Angela turned around fast, now captivated between his arms. He looked in her beautiful face and perceived a red spot on her cheek.
"There's tomato on your skin, do you want to keep it for later?" He asked her with a low voice.
"Not necessarily," she replied softly.
He couldn't resist and pulled her closer to kiss her affectionately on the cheek. Reluctantly, he let go from her.
"So, you are tomato-free now." He tried to get out of the danger zone noticing that cleansing his boss with a kiss didn't belong to his usual duties.
"Too bad, it was only on my cheek." The answer was a bold step for her and Tony raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Are you sure you want champagne for dinner? You seem to be a little off-center today."
"Tony, I want the delicate Merlot that you bought last week with dinner and the champagne with dessert."
"My food is not so bad that you can't enjoy it when you are sober."
"No indeed, but I want to savor this evening and I want to get the business out of my head."
"What about a shower and we meet in twenty minutes in casual duds?"
"Sounds heavenly."
"Race you to the stairs?"
"No Tony, I have my heels on."
"Ok, I'll help you so we both win." And he picked her up and ran with her to the stairs.
"Tony, let me down, you will hurt your back, I'm too heavy."
"I will never let you down, you know that?"
The double meaning of his words was not lost on her. Tony let her glide down in front of the stairs. They went up the stairs and both turned to their own rooms. Tony jumped out of his clothes and let an ice-cold water jet run down on him. Which was absolutely necessary because he pictured her in the shower at the same time and the brave response she gave him earlier didn't make it better.
Angela put up her hair and stepped in the shower as well. She thought about the little game in the kitchen. How could this man cause so many feelings in her? She let the warm water run over her body and felt relaxed. After showering she decided to wear light blue sweat pants with a white shirt.
They met in the kitchen again where Tony was setting the table. The Merlot was opened and breathing. He was in grey sweat pants and a white shirt, too.
"Wow, matching clothes?" He asked with a big smile.
"Great minds think alike," she replied by watching him.
They sat down. Tony had set on a candlestick and a vase with a single pink rose on the table. Like always he wanted her to feel good and a little romance could not harm.
"Angela, is there something special you want to talk about? The kids, the agency, your mother… me?"
"You? Good joke, Tony, but I would like to talk about the agency if you were not too bored with that."
"You never bore me, Angela, you can be a wee bit annoying, but you never bore me." He teased her and put some cannelloni on her plate and poured the wine in her glass.
"Tony, I'm losing two very important accounts to Wallace and McQuade. Added together 5 million dollars."
"How could that happen? And what accounts are you talking about?" Tony asked astonished.
"Carrie's Perfume and Gerry's Saucy Lingerie."I have no clue how it happened. It's difficult. The campaigns we are working on are already for Christmas season. If I lose them I'll possibly have to dismiss a few of my employees and I don't want to do that. They all have family and I am responsible for them. Besides they all are good at their jobs and I don't want to lose them to Wallace & McQuade. In addition there is something I don't understand, Tony, when I talked to the advertising manager of Wallace&McQuade it came out that someone has stolen my concepts." Angela leaned back and took her glass in her hand, "that's why I want to distract myself with wine."
"Angela, it's not like you putting your head in the sand and letting this happen. You're a fighter and drinking because you want to suppress difficulties isn't you. There must be a backstabber in the agency, no other explanation is possible. You have to find out who it is!"
Angela deliberated a moment. She couldn't think of a person who would do that to her. Checking the references from every employee she recruited belonged to her basic rules; besides she had a good rapport to every one of them.
"I can't believe it, there's no spy fiction here," she shook her head in disbelief, "it must be something else."
"I can't think of something else. What could it be otherwise?"
Angela took one big gulp from her glass and then a second.
"I've thought about it the whole day and last night and I can't come to any conclusion. I just want to forget it for the weekend, but thank you for listening, Tony. I'm happy that I can always rely on you. May I have more wine, please?"
"Please, stop drinking .You'll get a hangover tomorrow and that won't help. Remember the last time you were tipsy in the kitchen… well, you know what happened then." Tony looked at her a little lost in his reminiscence of her birthday three years ago.
"You kissed me," she said with a smile.
"To jog your memory: You kissed me!" Tony reminded her.
Angela rolled her eyes, signaling the end to another round of this eternal debate. "Tony, dinner was fabulous, I wish we could do this more often… the two of us sitting together and talking."
The wine had loosened her tongue. Angela felt it already but she couldn't do anything against it. That day, a few months ago, when Tony rejected Frankie after the fair she felt a little more secure about her feelings for him and she tried to let him know how she felt. Tony himself wondered about her new founded self-assurance. He liked this new side of her. She looked at him with her warm hazelnut brown eyes and the only thing he could think about was how to help her with that bad trouble in the agency. Tony stood up and started to clean the table and the kitchen. Angela leaned back in her chair closing her eyes and sighing in relaxation. The tension from the last week dissipated from her.
"Tony, what about the champagne?" She asked him a little provocatively.
"Angela, forget about the champagne, we can drink it when we catch your creepy spy. We should go to bed now." Tony tried to knock some sense into her.
"Going to bed is not the worst thing to do." She giggled.
"Angela! What's the matter with you today?" Tony tried to wriggle himself out. The conversation got more and more awkward for him.
"You said that we should go to bed now." Angela giggled even more innocently, knowing exactly how to push him in an embarrassing position.
"You want to tease me? Nice game you're playing with me."
"And we should play it more often." Angela's self-control was gone now. She burst into laughter and couldn't stop. They laughed together, both enjoying the flirtatious situation they were in. When they managed to stop laughing they left the kitchen and went upstairs. Still smiling they said their good nights and entered their rooms.