Chapter Four
Shelly stood over the kitchen sink drawing in a nervous breath as the scene with Antonio replayed again and again in her mind. Knowing full well that her face was flushed after that moment between them, she silently cursed herself for playing things up as she had. What was she thinking? This was about finding Eve and bringing her to safety again…not about playing around with some handsome stranger. Sure, the thought about losing herself in Antonio had crossed her mind shamelessly over and over again after their initial meeting, but still she had a goal to reach and this wasn't helping. Still…as her thoughts lingered back to the way Antonio looked at her, the way his arms felt wrapped around her…well it was enough to make a woman think twice about keeping focused, but still if she wasn't focused, she wouldn't find Eve and that simply wouldn't do.
"So now where were we," Antonio's voice beckoned her from her thoughts as she spun around to find him standing behind her--this time fully dressed much to her own personal dismay. She stood taller tossing her long, dark hair over her shoulder pretending not to notice how handsome he was or how good he smelled as he stepped in closer towards her. His brow arched with curiosity as she remained silent, "Care to explain to me exactly what you think is going on here today?"
"I'm moving in," Shelly stated matter of fact before turning her attention to the dish towel that lay on the counter beside her. She began to dry the dishes she'd taken the liberty of washing while he'd been changing. "As you can see I'm clearly earning my keep."
"This isn't about earning your keep," he reached out to her touching her arm, his fingers curling over it's slender length as Shelly felt a shiver race inside of her. She closed her eyes silently cursing herself for allowing herself to be affected by the nearness of him as he leaned in closer to her his breath striking against the side of her neck as he lowered his voice a bit.
"Oh," she managed to let out forcing her tone to remain even as his finger tips brushed over her skin, "then what is this about?"
"You tell me," his voice challenged with a hint of flirty temptation as she took in one lingering breath before turning around to face him.
"I already told you that your family would find my living here to be much more believable than my being stuck at a hotel," Shelly reminded him harshly as she leaned back against the sink, "and you have to agree that things are going well so far."
"That's debatable," Antonio remarked searching her dark eyes, "but the real question is how did you know where to find me?"
"I asked around," she shrugged her shoulders simply hoping to come across as casual, "This is a small town and small towns do talk you know."
"I'm well aware of the gossip that goes around in Harmony," he nodded appropriately, "but I must confess that I'm not used to being a part of that gossip."
"Times are changing," she quipped with a confident smile despite the fact her insides were turning into Jell-O at the nearness of him, "besides we had a deal. I help you and you help me."
"Ah yes, back to our arrangement," Antonio nodded appropriately, "You were going to help me regain some pride in your deceptions and you wanted me to help you find your sister, which gets back to my initial question of why me?"
"Why not you," she slid out of his reach crossing the kitchen as she tried to find something to busy herself with, "I mean you seem like a nice enough guy and I could use one of those right now."
"You don't know the first thing about me," Antonio reminded her simply, "and that in itself says something about you."
"How so," she spun around to face him curiosity brewing over her.
"Well for starters, you have made yourself comfortable in my home without my permission and you seem to think I'm the man who can help you here," Antonio pointed out, "and while you're eager to let the world think we're engaged, we know absolutely nothing about one another. I don't know the first thing about you."
"You know I'm a great kisser," she winked at him unable to fight the playfulness building up inside of her.
"Shelly, that's not what I mean," he reminded her as she thought she saw the first flicker of a blush rise over his handsome features, "You know what I'm talking about."
"Oh alright," she frowned slumping down into a chair at his kitchen table, "what do you want to know?"
"For starters what you're really doing here," Antonio walked towards the table taking a chair across from her.
"I already told you. I'm looking for my sister."
"I got that much, but why are you looking for your sister," he questioned further.
"Isn't it obvious?" she gave him a pointed look.
"No, not really. All I know is that you hired some low life to help you find your missing sister, but when that didn't work out, you latched onto me."
"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," Shelly paused contemplating her words for a moment, "Unless you really don't want to be helping me."
"I never said that," he frowned suddenly, "but what I don't understand is why you decided my help was the best there was."
"We already discussed that last night," Shelly pointed out, "I told you I was looking for an honest kind of guy to help me with this as this isn't something I want some sleaze ball working on."
"I understand that," he offered slumping down in his chair, "but I don't understand why you'd go to such lengths to enlist my help."
"I'm doing you a favor, Sparky," she insisted reaching across the table to take his hand, "while I know you're trying desperately to move past your heartbreak, it is written all over you and if you don't let me do this for you, you're always going to be miserable."
"I didn't ask for an invitation out of the world of misery," Antonio pointed out with a frown, "It's not like this is really going to change anything."
"You've already had a world of excitement since my arrival and as you pointed out you're also becoming the talk of the town," Shelly reminded him brightly, "What else do you need to see that things are changing?"
"Shelly, this isn't going to fly with the rest of my family. My mother and my sister are never going to buy the story that I have a hidden fiancée here," he glanced down to her finger tips over his hand, "and beyond that, I don't know the first thing about you other than your name…"
"And that I enjoy dancing especially with you and about kissing…"
"Yes, I know you're one hell of a kisser, but there has to be more than that," he explained seriously.
"Just what did you have in mind exactly," she questioned suggestively deciding to play with him a bit as her index finger swept over the base of his palm lightly.
"Not that," he stiffened against her touch catching onto her innuendo laced words, "at least not yet…"
"So you're hoping for something later than," Shelly arched a curious brow noting the expression that washed over his features as a glimmer of hope rushed through her. So, he really had thought about the two of them together as well. Score one point for her.
"That's irrelevant to this conversation we're having now," Antonio scoffed refusing to let the conversation dwindle into other things, "What I want right now is for you to start telling me the truth and we'll work from that."
"Alright, what do you want to know," she sighed in resignation leaning back in her chair realizing that it was about to become business as usual between them.
"Why is your sister missing," Antonio blurted out hoping to keep the conversation focused between them as he watched her closely.
"If I knew the answer to that question, then I wouldn't be here right now," Shelly admitted before adding, "the truth is that Eve and I didn't have the best of relationships over the recent years. We got into a dispute about something that I'd rather not get into at the moment with you and to make a long story short I hadn't heard from her in a couple of years."
"Hence your need to reconnect?" he raised a curious brow.
"Something along those lines," she nodded simply, "and when I went looking for her back in Port Charles, well things just didn't add up."
"How so," he leaned back in his chair eyeing her closely.
"Well for starters," she ran her fingers through her hair as she took in a breath, "word around town was that she'd died in a car accident."
"Come again," Antonio blinked back at her, "How is that possible if you're here in Harmony looking for her?"
"Well, the more I started to research Eve's supposed accident, I found that there were a lot of inconsistencies about it. First of all the whole story about her being married, well I just couldn't believe that Eve would've willingly married the bozo that the town said was her husband. Granted my sister was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't on the top of that list and that's exactly what she would've had to be in order to have married him."
"Sounds like you had no love lost for your brother-in-law," Antonio noted with a teasing smile.
"According to the gossip in Port Charles, he had a history of cheating on her, so no, I didn't take too kindly to the son of a bitch," Shelly blatantly announced with a shudder, "Of course in knowing that, I knew that he couldn't have possibly been the kind of man my sister would want to stay married to if she'd even gone that far with him."
"So did you talk to her husband?"
"That's the thing," Shelly frowned, "He disappeared. Rumors were flying around about the hows and whys of the situation, but one day he just up and vanished and no one knew anything about it."
"Sounds mysterious in itself."
"The plot thickens though," Shelly explained eagerly, "You see my sister had a friend in Port Charles--a man named Chris Ramsey. They lived together for a while and when Eve and I were talking to one another I got the distinct impression that Chris was someone she trusted and valued, but the thing is, well when I went to talk to him, he was missing as well."
"So you think that Chris and your sister's husband are somehow connected?" Antonio questioned curiously as she shook her head.
"No, from what I heard they hated each other and then well, after my trip to Port Charles, I received this in the mail," she reached into her pocket withdrawing the envelope she'd had inside. She extended it out towards Antonio letting him take a look at it as she explained further, "It's from Eve and if you'll look at the postmark, well you'll see that it was from just a few months ago sent out from a town just north of here."
"I can see that," he skimmed over the letter from Shelly's sister, "but are you sure this is from her?"
"It's her handwriting and well, if you read halfway down the page, some of the things she's talking about are recent events. She's also asking me to forgive her for the fight we had and she's talking about how sorry she is for leaving things undone between us and how she hopes one day we'll have a second chance…" she rose from her chair walking around the table as she looked over Antonio's shoulder, "See right there…"
"I see it," he nodded before turning his eyes up towards her taking a moment to memorize her features as the first hints of her perfume crashed over him bringing about an instant distraction as he struggled for focus, "but if this letter is all you have to go on…"
"No, there's more," Shelly explained holding her finger up for a moment before taking off into the other room. A moment later she returned with an old newspaper article in hand, "Take a look at this."
Antonio's eyes fell upon the paper to the faces before him. Shelly leaned over him again pointing to the face before him as she explained, "This is Chris Ramsey and here he's with this man, but when I look closer," she motioned to the shadowed faces behind the two men, "I know that's my sister."
"Shelly, can you be sure," Antonio strained to get a better look at the image before him, "I mean there are so many…"
"Do you have a magnifying glass?" she questioned eagerly as he looked up at her.
"Over there," he motioned to the drawer across the way as she stepped to retrieve it. He turned his attention to the clipping once again instantly recognizing the face beside Chris Ramsey as none other than Julian Crane.
"Okay look," Shelly returned handing him the magnifying glass, "take a good look at that."
"Shelly I…" Antonio reluctantly took the magnifying glass to make her happy as his eyes fell upon the page once again. Upon taking a closer look, he found she was staring right back at him in print. "It's you."
"No, it's not," Shelly argued with him, "It's Eve and she was here in Harmony less than a month ago for that party the Cranes were having. If I can track down Julian Crane and have a meeting with him somehow then I'll get one step closer to finding my sister. However, I'm learning that getting instant access to the Crane family isn't the easiest thing in the world to do."
"It's easier than you'd imagine," Antonio turned to face her once again as his eyes lifted up towards her.
"How do you figure?"
"Well for starters, you've already encountered a Crane already," Antonio explained simply.
"No, I haven't," she argued with him, "In fact the way I see it, I'm going to have to find a way to get to this Julian character and see exactly what Chris was doing with him…"
"Shelly, I know how we can do that," he explained reaching out to her, "and while you're not listening, the truth is you've already met a Crane."
"Antonio…" she frowned as he rose from his chair.
"Shelly, Sheridan is a Crane," Antonio blurted out simply.
"What?" she blinked back at him, "You mean your ex is…?"
"A member of the Crane family," he nodded in response, "Granted, she's not like the rest of them in a great many ways, but she's a Crane none the less."
"Do you think she can help us get access to Julian?" Shelly questioned eagerly.
"He's not exactly her favorite person in the world, but she might be willing to help considering you are my fiancée," Antonio pointed out thinking over the situation, "Granted I don't know what kind of help she'll be, but given that she's got a good heart if she knew what you were looking for, I'm sure that she'd be able to offer her assistance and despite my reservations about the situation, well Luis is a police officer."
"No cops," Shelly blurted out almost immediately upon the suggestion, "There's no way I'm bringing any of them into this."
"Why not," he paused seeing the look upon her features, "Shelly, what aren't you telling me?"
"I'd just prefer for us to do things our own way without them screwing things up for us," she offered seeing the doubtful expression on his features.
"Shelly," his voice rumbled with disbelief as she finally let out a reluctant groan.
"Oh alright," she muttered, "the truth is that I don't want the police involved because they don't take too kindly to me."
"Any why is that?"
"Because I used to be one of them myself," Shelly confessed with a sigh, "I was a cop before I started looking for my sister."
"Really?" Antonio's eyes widened in surprise as he gave her a brief once over, "That explains a lot. Although if you're an ex-cop, then why were you slumming with a private investigator like you were with last night?"
"Because I left my department on bad terms," she saw the concern flash over his features, "and no it's not what you're thinking. My commanding officer got a little fresh with me to put it politely and I wound up breaking his jaw in about five places," she revealed watching him wince upon her words, "Truth be told I didn't even know that a jaw could break like that, but in the end I was the one who got disciplined as it was a boy's club so I decided that I wouldn't deal with that kind ever again."
"I don't think Luis would even think to question that," Antonio began thinking over her confession.
"Even so, I don't like the guy," Shelly frowned deeply, "I know he's your brother and all, but considering he's already suspicious of us and our relationship, I really don't want him involved in this."
"We might have a problem then because I don't think Sheridan will keep something like this from him…not knowing what the real story is."
"Then we won't tell Sheridan the real story. We'll just find a way to get the answers on our own," she decided firmly, "What do you say?"
"I say you're going to land me in some serious trouble here," Antonio decided after a moment's contemplation, "and considering that you're clearly equipped with the skills do to this on your own, well I don't understand why you need me."
"Isn't it painfully obvious," she reached out to him brushing her fingers against his shoulder, "we need each other right about now."
"Do we?" he lifted a curious brow turning to face her fully as he glanced down to her hand upon him.
"You tell me," she urged leaning up on her toes as she felt his arms slide in around her waist almost immediately pulling her in against him in a surprising motion.
"I think you're very tempting," Antonio admitted unable to resist the urge to keep her in his arms as she looked up to him with surprised eyes.
"Sometimes they say that the best thing to do with temptation is to give in to it," Shelly blurted out immediately forgetting her ideas about finding Eve, about discovering more about the infamous Julian Crane as Antonio's strong arms wrapped around her more securely. She felt the warmth of his breath fall upon her face causing a shiver to race over her already excited skin. She felt him brush his thumb over her cheek, easing his fingers into her hair as he held her tighter.
"I thought we were keeping this strictly business," he whispered leaning in towards her as her pulse raced in her chest at the nearness of him.
"There's a thin line between business and pleasure," she confided tapering her fingers off over the center of his chest as she tried to remember how they'd even come to their embrace after such serious talk about Eve. Still as his touch beckoned her, she tilted her head up towards him savoring the ease at which him holding her came to the both of them.
"I don't know how much help I'll be to you if we cross over that line together," Antonio admitted in a sexy sigh.
"We are supposed to be engaged you know," Shelly pointed out simply with a shivering inhale as she leaned back against the table feeling the warmth of her over him.
"So we should probably do something about this physical attraction thing, then huh?" he questioned before dropping light kisses upon her luscious lips.
"Most definitely," she nodded eagerly, her hands pressing over the front of his shirt decidedly, "I mean it can't hurt to explore it a little bit, could it?"
"What about your plans for us today," he questioned easing his finger tips over her spine as they tapered off beneath the bottom of her shirt, feeling the warmth of her skin burning him like a wildfire as an immediate surge of desire flooded over him.
"They did involve us getting to know one another better," Shelly confessed capturing his lips urgently as she began to pull open his shirt a bit, "and what better way to do that then well," a hint of a mischievous smile slipped over her lips, "sex."
"Since you put it that way," Antonio teased back sliding the her shirt up over her body as she raised her arms allowing him to discard it before he collected her once again devouring her lips in a hungry kiss.
"I knew you'd see things my way," Shelly purred against his mouth as she felt him urging her back onto the table top. She wrapped herself around him feeling him hoist her up in his arms before she was seated before him. Her eyes met his seeing the desire reflected in him as she eased his shirt down over his shoulders wanting nothing more than to explore the contours of the perfect chest that flooded her mind since her arrival earlier this morning. She leaned forward pressing feathery light kisses over the muscled contours of his body as his fingers threaded through her hair.
"This is crazy," he breathed as he pulled her lips to his in an urgent kiss.
"Do you want to stop," she questioned wrapping her arms around him fully as his hands crushed her against him.
"God no," he admitted pushing her in over the table as she pulled him down with her lavishing him with kiss after hungry kiss. His mouth eased over her silken skin, tasting the fire burning beneath her as his lips danced over her shoulder, across her collar bone, back to her sensual mouth again as her nails scratched lightly over his back. The moment was too good to be true, too powerful to be happening to him, he tried to reason as he realized he'd wanted nothing more than to be with this woman who'd uprooted his life and turned his world upside down. Kissing her was like heaven and being in this moment ready to be with her in every sense of the word was mind blowing, but before Antonio could completely absorb himself in the ultimate fantasy that Shelly offered, a squeal rose through his kitchen breaking through the moment.
"Antonio Lopez-Fitzgerald," rang through the kitchen as he almost immediately pulled away from Shelly.
"Mom," he gasped surprised to find his mother standing in the doorway as her horrified eyes took in the scene before her.
"What in the world are you doing," she questioned as she hugged little Ethan in her arms turning her grandson away from the scene before her. "Did you forget about our plans for lunch?"
"Mom I…" he drew in a nervous breath trying to still the furious pounding of his heart as he looked to Shelly, who seemed completely mortified as she hopped off of the table seeking out her shirt. "I didn't realize that was today…"
"Obviously," she gave him an expectant look as her eyes fell upon Shelly once again.
"Look," Antonio began as he silently cursed himself for not thinking to lock the front door. This was the last thing he'd wanted his mother to walk in upon and now as Shelly remained behind him, he took in a breath knowing that he was probably going to burn in hell for his deceptions, but still that was the only way to rectify the situation, "Mom, I'd like you to meet Shelly, my fiancée."
"Your fiancée?" Pilar's eyes widened in surprise as a gasp fell from her lips.
"It's a pleasure meeting you. Antonio's told me so much about you," Shelly spoke up, her face red with embarrassment as she suddenly realized that judging by the expression on Pilar's features that winning her over was not going to be as easy as it was with Miguel. Suddenly for the first time she wondered if she was in over her head as the thought of Antonio's mother finding them together completely horrified her and judging by Pilar's reaction to her, the feeling was clearly mutual which could only mean trouble.
Shelly stood over the kitchen sink drawing in a nervous breath as the scene with Antonio replayed again and again in her mind. Knowing full well that her face was flushed after that moment between them, she silently cursed herself for playing things up as she had. What was she thinking? This was about finding Eve and bringing her to safety again…not about playing around with some handsome stranger. Sure, the thought about losing herself in Antonio had crossed her mind shamelessly over and over again after their initial meeting, but still she had a goal to reach and this wasn't helping. Still…as her thoughts lingered back to the way Antonio looked at her, the way his arms felt wrapped around her…well it was enough to make a woman think twice about keeping focused, but still if she wasn't focused, she wouldn't find Eve and that simply wouldn't do.
"So now where were we," Antonio's voice beckoned her from her thoughts as she spun around to find him standing behind her--this time fully dressed much to her own personal dismay. She stood taller tossing her long, dark hair over her shoulder pretending not to notice how handsome he was or how good he smelled as he stepped in closer towards her. His brow arched with curiosity as she remained silent, "Care to explain to me exactly what you think is going on here today?"
"I'm moving in," Shelly stated matter of fact before turning her attention to the dish towel that lay on the counter beside her. She began to dry the dishes she'd taken the liberty of washing while he'd been changing. "As you can see I'm clearly earning my keep."
"This isn't about earning your keep," he reached out to her touching her arm, his fingers curling over it's slender length as Shelly felt a shiver race inside of her. She closed her eyes silently cursing herself for allowing herself to be affected by the nearness of him as he leaned in closer to her his breath striking against the side of her neck as he lowered his voice a bit.
"Oh," she managed to let out forcing her tone to remain even as his finger tips brushed over her skin, "then what is this about?"
"You tell me," his voice challenged with a hint of flirty temptation as she took in one lingering breath before turning around to face him.
"I already told you that your family would find my living here to be much more believable than my being stuck at a hotel," Shelly reminded him harshly as she leaned back against the sink, "and you have to agree that things are going well so far."
"That's debatable," Antonio remarked searching her dark eyes, "but the real question is how did you know where to find me?"
"I asked around," she shrugged her shoulders simply hoping to come across as casual, "This is a small town and small towns do talk you know."
"I'm well aware of the gossip that goes around in Harmony," he nodded appropriately, "but I must confess that I'm not used to being a part of that gossip."
"Times are changing," she quipped with a confident smile despite the fact her insides were turning into Jell-O at the nearness of him, "besides we had a deal. I help you and you help me."
"Ah yes, back to our arrangement," Antonio nodded appropriately, "You were going to help me regain some pride in your deceptions and you wanted me to help you find your sister, which gets back to my initial question of why me?"
"Why not you," she slid out of his reach crossing the kitchen as she tried to find something to busy herself with, "I mean you seem like a nice enough guy and I could use one of those right now."
"You don't know the first thing about me," Antonio reminded her simply, "and that in itself says something about you."
"How so," she spun around to face him curiosity brewing over her.
"Well for starters, you have made yourself comfortable in my home without my permission and you seem to think I'm the man who can help you here," Antonio pointed out, "and while you're eager to let the world think we're engaged, we know absolutely nothing about one another. I don't know the first thing about you."
"You know I'm a great kisser," she winked at him unable to fight the playfulness building up inside of her.
"Shelly, that's not what I mean," he reminded her as she thought she saw the first flicker of a blush rise over his handsome features, "You know what I'm talking about."
"Oh alright," she frowned slumping down into a chair at his kitchen table, "what do you want to know?"
"For starters what you're really doing here," Antonio walked towards the table taking a chair across from her.
"I already told you. I'm looking for my sister."
"I got that much, but why are you looking for your sister," he questioned further.
"Isn't it obvious?" she gave him a pointed look.
"No, not really. All I know is that you hired some low life to help you find your missing sister, but when that didn't work out, you latched onto me."
"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," Shelly paused contemplating her words for a moment, "Unless you really don't want to be helping me."
"I never said that," he frowned suddenly, "but what I don't understand is why you decided my help was the best there was."
"We already discussed that last night," Shelly pointed out, "I told you I was looking for an honest kind of guy to help me with this as this isn't something I want some sleaze ball working on."
"I understand that," he offered slumping down in his chair, "but I don't understand why you'd go to such lengths to enlist my help."
"I'm doing you a favor, Sparky," she insisted reaching across the table to take his hand, "while I know you're trying desperately to move past your heartbreak, it is written all over you and if you don't let me do this for you, you're always going to be miserable."
"I didn't ask for an invitation out of the world of misery," Antonio pointed out with a frown, "It's not like this is really going to change anything."
"You've already had a world of excitement since my arrival and as you pointed out you're also becoming the talk of the town," Shelly reminded him brightly, "What else do you need to see that things are changing?"
"Shelly, this isn't going to fly with the rest of my family. My mother and my sister are never going to buy the story that I have a hidden fiancée here," he glanced down to her finger tips over his hand, "and beyond that, I don't know the first thing about you other than your name…"
"And that I enjoy dancing especially with you and about kissing…"
"Yes, I know you're one hell of a kisser, but there has to be more than that," he explained seriously.
"Just what did you have in mind exactly," she questioned suggestively deciding to play with him a bit as her index finger swept over the base of his palm lightly.
"Not that," he stiffened against her touch catching onto her innuendo laced words, "at least not yet…"
"So you're hoping for something later than," Shelly arched a curious brow noting the expression that washed over his features as a glimmer of hope rushed through her. So, he really had thought about the two of them together as well. Score one point for her.
"That's irrelevant to this conversation we're having now," Antonio scoffed refusing to let the conversation dwindle into other things, "What I want right now is for you to start telling me the truth and we'll work from that."
"Alright, what do you want to know," she sighed in resignation leaning back in her chair realizing that it was about to become business as usual between them.
"Why is your sister missing," Antonio blurted out hoping to keep the conversation focused between them as he watched her closely.
"If I knew the answer to that question, then I wouldn't be here right now," Shelly admitted before adding, "the truth is that Eve and I didn't have the best of relationships over the recent years. We got into a dispute about something that I'd rather not get into at the moment with you and to make a long story short I hadn't heard from her in a couple of years."
"Hence your need to reconnect?" he raised a curious brow.
"Something along those lines," she nodded simply, "and when I went looking for her back in Port Charles, well things just didn't add up."
"How so," he leaned back in his chair eyeing her closely.
"Well for starters," she ran her fingers through her hair as she took in a breath, "word around town was that she'd died in a car accident."
"Come again," Antonio blinked back at her, "How is that possible if you're here in Harmony looking for her?"
"Well, the more I started to research Eve's supposed accident, I found that there were a lot of inconsistencies about it. First of all the whole story about her being married, well I just couldn't believe that Eve would've willingly married the bozo that the town said was her husband. Granted my sister was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't on the top of that list and that's exactly what she would've had to be in order to have married him."
"Sounds like you had no love lost for your brother-in-law," Antonio noted with a teasing smile.
"According to the gossip in Port Charles, he had a history of cheating on her, so no, I didn't take too kindly to the son of a bitch," Shelly blatantly announced with a shudder, "Of course in knowing that, I knew that he couldn't have possibly been the kind of man my sister would want to stay married to if she'd even gone that far with him."
"So did you talk to her husband?"
"That's the thing," Shelly frowned, "He disappeared. Rumors were flying around about the hows and whys of the situation, but one day he just up and vanished and no one knew anything about it."
"Sounds mysterious in itself."
"The plot thickens though," Shelly explained eagerly, "You see my sister had a friend in Port Charles--a man named Chris Ramsey. They lived together for a while and when Eve and I were talking to one another I got the distinct impression that Chris was someone she trusted and valued, but the thing is, well when I went to talk to him, he was missing as well."
"So you think that Chris and your sister's husband are somehow connected?" Antonio questioned curiously as she shook her head.
"No, from what I heard they hated each other and then well, after my trip to Port Charles, I received this in the mail," she reached into her pocket withdrawing the envelope she'd had inside. She extended it out towards Antonio letting him take a look at it as she explained further, "It's from Eve and if you'll look at the postmark, well you'll see that it was from just a few months ago sent out from a town just north of here."
"I can see that," he skimmed over the letter from Shelly's sister, "but are you sure this is from her?"
"It's her handwriting and well, if you read halfway down the page, some of the things she's talking about are recent events. She's also asking me to forgive her for the fight we had and she's talking about how sorry she is for leaving things undone between us and how she hopes one day we'll have a second chance…" she rose from her chair walking around the table as she looked over Antonio's shoulder, "See right there…"
"I see it," he nodded before turning his eyes up towards her taking a moment to memorize her features as the first hints of her perfume crashed over him bringing about an instant distraction as he struggled for focus, "but if this letter is all you have to go on…"
"No, there's more," Shelly explained holding her finger up for a moment before taking off into the other room. A moment later she returned with an old newspaper article in hand, "Take a look at this."
Antonio's eyes fell upon the paper to the faces before him. Shelly leaned over him again pointing to the face before him as she explained, "This is Chris Ramsey and here he's with this man, but when I look closer," she motioned to the shadowed faces behind the two men, "I know that's my sister."
"Shelly, can you be sure," Antonio strained to get a better look at the image before him, "I mean there are so many…"
"Do you have a magnifying glass?" she questioned eagerly as he looked up at her.
"Over there," he motioned to the drawer across the way as she stepped to retrieve it. He turned his attention to the clipping once again instantly recognizing the face beside Chris Ramsey as none other than Julian Crane.
"Okay look," Shelly returned handing him the magnifying glass, "take a good look at that."
"Shelly I…" Antonio reluctantly took the magnifying glass to make her happy as his eyes fell upon the page once again. Upon taking a closer look, he found she was staring right back at him in print. "It's you."
"No, it's not," Shelly argued with him, "It's Eve and she was here in Harmony less than a month ago for that party the Cranes were having. If I can track down Julian Crane and have a meeting with him somehow then I'll get one step closer to finding my sister. However, I'm learning that getting instant access to the Crane family isn't the easiest thing in the world to do."
"It's easier than you'd imagine," Antonio turned to face her once again as his eyes lifted up towards her.
"How do you figure?"
"Well for starters, you've already encountered a Crane already," Antonio explained simply.
"No, I haven't," she argued with him, "In fact the way I see it, I'm going to have to find a way to get to this Julian character and see exactly what Chris was doing with him…"
"Shelly, I know how we can do that," he explained reaching out to her, "and while you're not listening, the truth is you've already met a Crane."
"Antonio…" she frowned as he rose from his chair.
"Shelly, Sheridan is a Crane," Antonio blurted out simply.
"What?" she blinked back at him, "You mean your ex is…?"
"A member of the Crane family," he nodded in response, "Granted, she's not like the rest of them in a great many ways, but she's a Crane none the less."
"Do you think she can help us get access to Julian?" Shelly questioned eagerly.
"He's not exactly her favorite person in the world, but she might be willing to help considering you are my fiancée," Antonio pointed out thinking over the situation, "Granted I don't know what kind of help she'll be, but given that she's got a good heart if she knew what you were looking for, I'm sure that she'd be able to offer her assistance and despite my reservations about the situation, well Luis is a police officer."
"No cops," Shelly blurted out almost immediately upon the suggestion, "There's no way I'm bringing any of them into this."
"Why not," he paused seeing the look upon her features, "Shelly, what aren't you telling me?"
"I'd just prefer for us to do things our own way without them screwing things up for us," she offered seeing the doubtful expression on his features.
"Shelly," his voice rumbled with disbelief as she finally let out a reluctant groan.
"Oh alright," she muttered, "the truth is that I don't want the police involved because they don't take too kindly to me."
"Any why is that?"
"Because I used to be one of them myself," Shelly confessed with a sigh, "I was a cop before I started looking for my sister."
"Really?" Antonio's eyes widened in surprise as he gave her a brief once over, "That explains a lot. Although if you're an ex-cop, then why were you slumming with a private investigator like you were with last night?"
"Because I left my department on bad terms," she saw the concern flash over his features, "and no it's not what you're thinking. My commanding officer got a little fresh with me to put it politely and I wound up breaking his jaw in about five places," she revealed watching him wince upon her words, "Truth be told I didn't even know that a jaw could break like that, but in the end I was the one who got disciplined as it was a boy's club so I decided that I wouldn't deal with that kind ever again."
"I don't think Luis would even think to question that," Antonio began thinking over her confession.
"Even so, I don't like the guy," Shelly frowned deeply, "I know he's your brother and all, but considering he's already suspicious of us and our relationship, I really don't want him involved in this."
"We might have a problem then because I don't think Sheridan will keep something like this from him…not knowing what the real story is."
"Then we won't tell Sheridan the real story. We'll just find a way to get the answers on our own," she decided firmly, "What do you say?"
"I say you're going to land me in some serious trouble here," Antonio decided after a moment's contemplation, "and considering that you're clearly equipped with the skills do to this on your own, well I don't understand why you need me."
"Isn't it painfully obvious," she reached out to him brushing her fingers against his shoulder, "we need each other right about now."
"Do we?" he lifted a curious brow turning to face her fully as he glanced down to her hand upon him.
"You tell me," she urged leaning up on her toes as she felt his arms slide in around her waist almost immediately pulling her in against him in a surprising motion.
"I think you're very tempting," Antonio admitted unable to resist the urge to keep her in his arms as she looked up to him with surprised eyes.
"Sometimes they say that the best thing to do with temptation is to give in to it," Shelly blurted out immediately forgetting her ideas about finding Eve, about discovering more about the infamous Julian Crane as Antonio's strong arms wrapped around her more securely. She felt the warmth of his breath fall upon her face causing a shiver to race over her already excited skin. She felt him brush his thumb over her cheek, easing his fingers into her hair as he held her tighter.
"I thought we were keeping this strictly business," he whispered leaning in towards her as her pulse raced in her chest at the nearness of him.
"There's a thin line between business and pleasure," she confided tapering her fingers off over the center of his chest as she tried to remember how they'd even come to their embrace after such serious talk about Eve. Still as his touch beckoned her, she tilted her head up towards him savoring the ease at which him holding her came to the both of them.
"I don't know how much help I'll be to you if we cross over that line together," Antonio admitted in a sexy sigh.
"We are supposed to be engaged you know," Shelly pointed out simply with a shivering inhale as she leaned back against the table feeling the warmth of her over him.
"So we should probably do something about this physical attraction thing, then huh?" he questioned before dropping light kisses upon her luscious lips.
"Most definitely," she nodded eagerly, her hands pressing over the front of his shirt decidedly, "I mean it can't hurt to explore it a little bit, could it?"
"What about your plans for us today," he questioned easing his finger tips over her spine as they tapered off beneath the bottom of her shirt, feeling the warmth of her skin burning him like a wildfire as an immediate surge of desire flooded over him.
"They did involve us getting to know one another better," Shelly confessed capturing his lips urgently as she began to pull open his shirt a bit, "and what better way to do that then well," a hint of a mischievous smile slipped over her lips, "sex."
"Since you put it that way," Antonio teased back sliding the her shirt up over her body as she raised her arms allowing him to discard it before he collected her once again devouring her lips in a hungry kiss.
"I knew you'd see things my way," Shelly purred against his mouth as she felt him urging her back onto the table top. She wrapped herself around him feeling him hoist her up in his arms before she was seated before him. Her eyes met his seeing the desire reflected in him as she eased his shirt down over his shoulders wanting nothing more than to explore the contours of the perfect chest that flooded her mind since her arrival earlier this morning. She leaned forward pressing feathery light kisses over the muscled contours of his body as his fingers threaded through her hair.
"This is crazy," he breathed as he pulled her lips to his in an urgent kiss.
"Do you want to stop," she questioned wrapping her arms around him fully as his hands crushed her against him.
"God no," he admitted pushing her in over the table as she pulled him down with her lavishing him with kiss after hungry kiss. His mouth eased over her silken skin, tasting the fire burning beneath her as his lips danced over her shoulder, across her collar bone, back to her sensual mouth again as her nails scratched lightly over his back. The moment was too good to be true, too powerful to be happening to him, he tried to reason as he realized he'd wanted nothing more than to be with this woman who'd uprooted his life and turned his world upside down. Kissing her was like heaven and being in this moment ready to be with her in every sense of the word was mind blowing, but before Antonio could completely absorb himself in the ultimate fantasy that Shelly offered, a squeal rose through his kitchen breaking through the moment.
"Antonio Lopez-Fitzgerald," rang through the kitchen as he almost immediately pulled away from Shelly.
"Mom," he gasped surprised to find his mother standing in the doorway as her horrified eyes took in the scene before her.
"What in the world are you doing," she questioned as she hugged little Ethan in her arms turning her grandson away from the scene before her. "Did you forget about our plans for lunch?"
"Mom I…" he drew in a nervous breath trying to still the furious pounding of his heart as he looked to Shelly, who seemed completely mortified as she hopped off of the table seeking out her shirt. "I didn't realize that was today…"
"Obviously," she gave him an expectant look as her eyes fell upon Shelly once again.
"Look," Antonio began as he silently cursed himself for not thinking to lock the front door. This was the last thing he'd wanted his mother to walk in upon and now as Shelly remained behind him, he took in a breath knowing that he was probably going to burn in hell for his deceptions, but still that was the only way to rectify the situation, "Mom, I'd like you to meet Shelly, my fiancée."
"Your fiancée?" Pilar's eyes widened in surprise as a gasp fell from her lips.
"It's a pleasure meeting you. Antonio's told me so much about you," Shelly spoke up, her face red with embarrassment as she suddenly realized that judging by the expression on Pilar's features that winning her over was not going to be as easy as it was with Miguel. Suddenly for the first time she wondered if she was in over her head as the thought of Antonio's mother finding them together completely horrified her and judging by Pilar's reaction to her, the feeling was clearly mutual which could only mean trouble.