What a day it had been! Beth spent a solid hour on the phone with the alarm company, another detective came by the shop to confirm the information she gave to Detective Warren (although she suspected he really came in for the free cup of coffee, not that she minded at all), and all the ladies who came into the shop were in a tizzy. They all fawned over Beth, concerned for her safety, the poor thing all alone in that big building, it gets so dark here at night, they all shook their heads sadly. Antonio wasted no time in rising to the occasion, her knight in shining armour, he winked and flexed his muscles vowing with great seriousness to protect his sweet lady. The ladies blushed and gawked and agreed that Beth was certainly in safe hands.
"I'll keep my eye on her, have no fear," he said to a giggling 70 year old, she swatted playfully at his arms and took her shopping bag of navy blue wool.
"Well, then dear, I should knit you something."
"I would be honored," he said.
"He's a good sport," Sara said to Beth chuckling.
"Good sport? I think he's enjoying himself a little too much," she replied rolling her eyes, she raised her voice and added dramatically, "Any excuse to show off the guns, huh, babe?"
He grinned, "Just putting these kind ladies as ease, knowing that I can handle any intruder and keep their precious yarn provider safe and sound."
"It really is all about the yarn," Sara agreed. "Hey you two get out of here, don't you have dinner plans?"
"Oh yeah! With all the excitement, I forgot all about it!" Beth said checking the clock, they were planning on meeting up with Nattie and TJ for dinner. Ever since being randomly put together as a tag team, the three of them had been travelling together and getting along famously. Nattie was dying to meet the woman who had the Swiss Superman wrapped around her little finger. "Do we have time to shower?"
"Oh we have time for anything you want, liebe," he said wagging his eyebrows.
"Seriously, get out of here, please," Sara said.
"Are you sure you are going to be ok locking up tonight? I'll call Ashley and have her come in to help."
"No worries, the gossip made its way to the husband and he's going to be waiting outside for me. Now get out of here I'm tired of looking at your man staring at your ass."
Antonio feigned embarrassment, "Who me? I'm a gentleman, I would never..."
After triple checking that Sara would be OK the rest of the evening in the shop, they made their way up to the apartment, "So, after showing off the goods all day, you got anything left for me?"
"Prinzessin, these guns are all yours," he said wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips against hers. He playfully slapped her ass, "mmmm, she's right though, I was staring at your ass all day."
"Well, now that its just the two of us," she said pulling away from him, "What do you want to do?" She walked towards the kitchen wiggling her hips.
"You said something about needing a shower?"
She shook her head, "Antonio, I'm scared."
"I know, meine Prinzessin, I know, you would be foolish not to be scared."
"I saw him! I was in my shop, cleaning up after the knitting class and I SAW HIM. I mean, I only saw a shadowy figure, at first I wasn't even sure it was a person, but even Einstein was spooked! And the alarm at Steve's didn't even work, the company is trying to say it was disabled but the police are telling Steve that wasn't the case. I mean, Steve tells us they stole all his valuable collectibles, autographs and shit and the most expensive thing I have is a 2 ounce skein of handspun, hand dyed wool from a farm in upstate New York and that's hardly worth breaking in for, I mean, the ladies all love to pet it, but but but…." She trailed off, her voice rising to a high screech that sent Einstein skittering off to find a safe hiding place. She let out a sob, "I'm scared. What if, what if he thinks I saw him clearly and comes back to kill me!"
"Ok, ok, liebe, calm down, you scared the tail off poor Einstein," he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back, "First off, this is not CSI or NCIS or whatever crime drama you watch late at night with a container of Ben and Jerry's, no one is going to come and kill you," she humphed against his shirt, he swallowed a chuckle, knowing it wouldn't go over well in the slightest, "And before you started going off the deep end, you made a very valid point, your shop has nothing of high value, nothing worth stealing, Steve's has by far the most expensive and valuable inventory in the whole shopping district."
She sniffled at little and squeezed him tightly, "OK, maybe you are right, but, can you hold me a little bit longer?"
"Natürlich meine Prinzessin," he said kissing the top of her head, "Of course."
By the time Beth was ready to let Antonio let go of her, they had to scramble to get ready in time to meet Nattie and TJ at the restaurant. When they pulled up in front Beth shook her head, "A sushi place? You wrestlers and your sushi."
He shrugged and ran around to open her car door, she grinned at him, "I may never get used to that."
"Such a shame really, I saw you reach for the door handle, poor liebe never met a true gentleman before." He looped his arm through hers and led her to the waiting area where TJ and Nattie were sitting making lovey dovey eyes at each other. She rolled her eyes and thought to herself, these two are so in love and people online are trying to make it like she's gonna leave him, silliness, such silliness.
TJ looked up as they approached and jumped up to pull Antonio into a bro hug, while Nattie threw her arms around Beth as if they had been friends for years, "Beth! I'm so happy to finally meet you! Antonio literally talks about you nonstop."
Antonio gave her a crooked little grin and shrugged, "Guess I don't need to make any introductions." They exchanged hugs and were escorted to their table.
Nattie and Beth chatted excitedly while they let the men be manly and order for the table, "You know, partner, this may have been a big mistake," TJ said looking at the two women. They hit it off instantly and were sitting with their heads together laughing.
He nodded his head, "FACT!"
The two women stopped talking to look at Antonio with raised eyebrows, only to shake their heads and go back to their conversation.
"Should we even try to get into this, or nah?" TJ asked.
"Nah. You want to hit the gym in the morning?"
He nodded and thanked the waiter as their appetizers were placed on the table, "Yeah, let's hit the Performance Center and do some work in the ring."
"Good idea. Hunter and some of the others will be there, let's show them who the next tag team champs should be."
"And help out some of the developmental kids too," Nattie added before turning back to Beth.
"How did she do that? She totally wasn't even paying attention to us." Antonio said to TJ, who just shrugged his shoulders.
"It's a woman thing," Beth said with a laugh.
Nattie laughed too and said "And that's a…"
"FACT!" they all said together.
"That was so much fun," Beth said as they walked up the stairs to the apartment. "Nattie is awesome."
He locked the door and set the alarm code before pecking her on the lips, "Ja, liebe, it definitely was."
"I can't believe we stayed so long that they kicked us out, I've never had that happen before."
He laughed, "You get used to that when you are strolling into diners at 11 PM after shows, sometimes we get kicked out before we even get to order."
"So that's why you carry an extra suitcase of Quest bars and protein powder?"
"And Caffeine and Kilos ground coffee," he added very seriously, "hotel coffee is downright terrible."
"And this is why I love you so much, you totally have your priorities in order."
He leaned down and kissed her lips, softly at first, but as soon as she sighed and wrapped her arms around him, he pressed his tongue into her mouth, kissing her deeply and passionately, making up for all the kisses he missed while he was away. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist and gripped his shoulders tightly, "And I love you more that I can ever say, no matter how many languages I learn."
She toyed with the top button of his shirt and smiled coyly, "Well, you do a pretty good job of showing me how much you love me."
"Pretty good? Just pretty good? Are you implying that I could do better?" he said squeezing her ass.
She shrugged, trying to keep her face neutral, "You said it, not me."
He kissed the curve of her neck, dragged his tongue to her ear and pulled her earlobe between his teeth before whispering in her ear, "Want me to pin you against the wall or should I carry you to the bedroom?"
She shivered, "Yes," she said her voice catching in her throat.
He grinned "As you wish liebe."
