"Tony? Tony, are you still awake?" 'Please let him still be awake,' she thought.
"Yeah, Angela, what do you need?"
"Well I was just looking around, and I realized the towels must be outside the door somewhere. I think I saw some on the bench by the bed."
He picked up the towels from the bench. "Oh, yeah, you're right. I guess I didn't realize they were the only towels. Are you, uh, presentable?" He knocked lightly.
"I'm totally covered up, it's fine."
"Okay, I'm comin' in."
"Here you go, Ange - I - oh." He stopped cold, and stared, unable to speak. She was submerged in the sudsy bubble bath, her hair pinned loosely on top of her head, save for a few stray curls that tumbled onto the nape of her neck. Her face was glistening, her skin luminously bathed in the warm candlelight.
She scrunched up her face. "I know, I'm frightful. My hair is a mess."
"No - I - Angela, you look...ethereal. Radiant. Like a goddess," he breathed.
She blushed, "Tony, you've seen me in the tub before. Actually...you've seen me out of the tub before," she teased.
Oh god. What? Was this a dream? Why was she reminding him of that...now?
He swallowed. He had to get out of there. "I'm just...I'm going to give you your privacy. I'm going to go lie down." He was grateful that some part of his brain was spitting out words without coherent thought attached.
"Okay. I might fall asleep in here, Tony. The copper keeps the water warm - this is the best bath of my life," she said dreamily, seemingly unaware of his supreme discomfort.
"Yeah, I bet," he managed. "I'm going to run downstairs for just a second, but if you uh, need anything else, I'll be back in five minutes. Possibly asleep though." He shut the door and promptly walked out of the bedroom in the direction of the main living room on a mission. He had to get them separate rooms, or this was going to be one long, excruciating trip as "friends."
"Tony?" Angela shook him gently. He was sleeping so soundly that she hated to wake him, but she knew her punctual friend would want time to freshen up before they needed to be downstairs. "Tony, it's time to wake up." Tony's eyes fluttered open to see Angela in a fluffy robe, hair wrapped in a towel, sitting perched on the side of his bed.
"Was that - am I - dreaming?" He said, blinking.
She smiled. "No, Tony, it's 4:30. You've been asleep. We have happy hour and then dinner, remember?"
"Gee, I guess I really conked out for awhile there, huh?"
"Me too. I dozed off in the tub. That was a sublime bath - I might have to take it home with me."
He smiled. "You did seem to be enjoying that tub," he grinned, feeling his arousal creeping back on. "I uh, went downstairs and asked Rosa what was going on with our rooms. She said she's sorry, but she thought we were together. Something was lost in translation when we talked on the phone back home. There aren't any other rooms because the famiglia is here, so unless I want to sleep in the barn, unfortunately, you're stuck with me, kid."
He left out the fact that he had basically begged Rosa for anywhere else to sleep - anything would do. Surely there were some servants' quarters? He'd asked. He may have been able to exercise monk-like restraint two years ago at the motel by Kissing Rock, but he wasn't sure his willpower would be able to handle 4 nights in the same room with Angela. He also neglected to mention that Rosa said she had even given them the "Camera dell'amore" because Maurizio and his bride were out in the guest house.
"Well, you're not sleeping in the barn. And I appreciate you checking. Truly, there are few people I'd rather be stuck with. We will be fine, Tony. We're in Italy, for goodness sakes, I doubt we'll be spending much time here. It's a massive bed. We live together. This is not a big deal."
"Yeah - not a big deal. Good. I'm glad you feel the same way," he lied. In an ideal world, there was nothing he wanted more than to share this bed with Angela, nipping and kissing every inch of her until the sun came up over the craggy vista out their window. But he couldn't - it would change everything. Right? Right. Definitely that could not happen. But what if it could be something more? Something permanent? Couldn't they just...no. She was his boss. How he felt, or she felt, was irrelevant. Right?
"You sure? You don't seem okay," she said, interrupting the argument pinballing across his thoughts.
"I don't know, Ange. You're...you, and I'm...me. I just. I don't know." He avoided her gaze. Of course he wanted to stay with her.
"Well, we certainly don't have to do anything we don't want to do," she said, the corners of her mouth twitching playfully. Tony's mind was now just a spinning top. Did she mean they didn't have to behave if they didn't want to? Or they should be able to keep themselves in check? He wasn't positive, but he was pretty sure she meant the former.
"That's true, that's true. We don't. We are perfectly capable of being adult about this," he said carefully, keeping it purposefully vague.
"And thanks for the towels. My other option was waiting until you were asleep and tiptoeing out to grab them myself." That image formed in his mind and again he was struggling to think. What was wrong with him? This happened on occasion at home, but fleetingly, and he was always able to smoothly recover. The lack of sleep was messing with his mind, he thought; hopefully they could make tonight an early one. Thank goodness he'd brought a few books to read.
"Of course. I see you uh, found a bathrobe."
"Yep, in the closet. See, it's just like home. I'm always in my frumpy bathrobe at home," she joked.
"You are far from frumpy. I've always loved you in a bathrobe," his eyes twinkled. He put a hand behind his head and cocked an eyebrow at her, "You even conduct interviews in that outfit, as I recall," he said, tugging on the tail of her tie for emphasis.
She smiled at the memory. "That's right, I do. But only for very special prospective employees." She patted his leg. "I'm going to finish getting ready, but there's a dressing table over there I can use. The bathroom is all yours."
"I'm on it."
"And Tony?"
"Yeah, Angela?"
"We're both adults. Nothing's going to happen; we don't want it to. Let's just enjoy this time together, as friends."
"Of course. I'm already enjoying it," he admitted truthfully. He met her eyes. "Really enjoying it."
Angela's heart did a little skip. They remained locked in a long, pensive gaze before she could reply. "Me too."
