Ch. 49

"What are you staring at so intently?" Dante asked Val when he entered the living area and noticed her looking out of the window. "Nothing really," she replied as she turned to face him, "I was just thinking about something. I think I'm going to have to go back to Philly for a few days, since I've got this time off." "I was wondering when you were going to mention wanting to do that," he told her. "I needed time to think first." "To think about what? I know you're curious." "Yeah, I am but I have to be careful here. I'd love to find my father but what do I do if I find him and he has a family? One that doesn't know about his past? Do I have the right to potentially rock his boat? I want to know him, if I can even find him, but I don't want to complicate his life in any way or become an inconvenience." "It's a lot to think about, for sure, especially if he doesn't know about you. Whatever you decide to do, you know you have my support, right?" "Of course I do—I'm counting on it," she said before turning back to the window to continue staring. Deciding to leave her to her musings, Dante went upstairs to the bedroom.

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The next morning, Dante, after coming to a decision, went to speak to his boss. "Hey, boss, got a minute?" asked Dante once he had knocked on Jordan's door and had been granted permission to enter. "Falconeri, good morning. What's on your mind?" "I know it's short notice but I was hoping to be able to take some time off. We just closed a major case and most of my other cases won't be hurt, I don't think, if I'm away from them for a couple of days." "It is very short notice," she agreed, adding, "so what's the deal?" "Over the holiday, Val and I came across some information that may be able to lead us to her father. She has this time off and she's thinking of going back to Philadelphia to see what she can find out. I don't want her to go alone, since I don't know what she'll find there." He paused and waited for Jordan's response. He was somewhat surprised when she nodded her head and agreed, "She definitely shouldn't go by herself. Even I know how important this would be to her. Wow—her father, huh? Is it a strong lead?" "It's a direction, a place to start. So far what we've got is his first name, if it's even him, and the name of a bar. I know conducting a search like this usually takes a lot of effort and time but she has to at least make a start with the time she has and I need to be there for her." "I hope she doesn't get hurt here. Have you considered that he might not want to be found?" "She's thought about it but it's still something she needs to do. One thing about Val that you already know is she doesn't shy away from things just because they're difficult. Whatever's facing her there, she'll deal with it head on." "Ok, well go, with my permission. Tell her I hope everything works out for her." "Or you could tell her yourself," he posed before being silenced by the expression on her face. After a brief staring contest, Dante chuckled and said, "I'll be sure to pass on your good wishes." "Good."

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Upon returning to the penthouse, Dante found Val standing in the open closet of their bedroom scanning her wardrobe, an open suitcase already half full on the bed. He entered the closet and stood next to her for a moment, then bumped her slightly with his hip, saying, "Make some room for me here—I need to decide what I'm taking, too." "What you're taking? What do you mean?" "You didn't think I was gonna let you do this alone, did you? I'm coming with you." "I doubt Jordan—Commissioner Ashford—is going to allow you to-" "She already gave me the time off." "You're kidding, aren't you?" "Nope. Not only did she give me the time, she told me to tell you that she hopes everything works out for you."

"I can't believe it."

"Look, I told you that she didn't hate you, Angel. You disappointed her, that's all, not to mention you compromised yourself and her with your 'mission'. As your boss, she couldn't let you get off scot free. She was pleasant to you at the Thanksgiving dinner, wasn't she?" "Yeah, she was, I've got to admit that." "There you go, then. She's got to be thawing if she's allowing me to go with you on such short notice. Now about this trip—what's the game plan?"

"I was planning, when I thought I was going alone, to fly from here to Philly, pick up the rental car at the airport and check-in at the hotel where I've reserved a room. I guess all you'll need to do is get a plane ticket. If you hurry, you might be able to get a seat on my flight."

"I can't believe you didn't think to get a ticket for me, too. You honestly thought I'd let you go by yourself?"

"No, I didn't think the Commissioner would give you the time off."

"Hmm. Well why don't you start pulling out something appropriate for Philly weather for me while I go online to see if I can book the same flight?" While he got to work on purchasing his ticket, Val began packing Dante's suitcase.

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Sometime later after the end of the forty-five minute flight, Val guided their rental car to the front of the Renaissance Philadelphia Airport Hotel near the airport. They left the car with the valet parking attendant and entered the hotel. The atrium on the opposite side of the entrance to the hotel immediately drew their attention and they smiled at one another in pleasure. Gazing up at the huge skylight above them Val murmured, "I can't wait to see this when the sun is out. The colors are going to be so beautiful!" The lush blue, pewter, green and gold colors of the lobby and atrium areas were an art lover's dream. Perusing the arty, almost Art Deco feel of the lobby, Dante spontaneously proposed, "I know we're here on business but let's have some fun while we're here, too." "Fun, huh? What exactly did you have in mind?" "It's a surprise," he told her, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously. "A surprise? How have you had time to plan one?" "How long is it supposed to take? Have Internet, will plan surprises. Anticipate it." "I will."

Since they had arrived in the earlier part of the evening, Dante and Val decided to order room service and then sketch out the rest of their immediate plans. "Unfortunately," Val was saying after having swallowed a bite of her pan seared salmon, "it seems as though the club doesn't exist anymore, so that's going to make finding anyone who remembers it a challenge."

"Footwork. Now you're gonna get a chance to see what I was talking about before. Pounding the pavement, going from place to place, talking to all kinds of people, just to get one lead. We'll approach it the way we would if it was a case. Start with the most obvious and work backward." "Then I think we should start at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre. It'll be open in the morning, and someone there might know something, or be able to give us a direction to go in." "Sounds good. So what's on tap for the rest of the night, then?"

"The hotel has an indoor pool that I've been itching to get in ever since I saw it. We can do a bit more research now into the places we'll be going to tomorrow and then later on, go swimming."

"You know how to swim? I didn't know that. Did you pack suits for us?"

"Yeah, I did. And what, Philly kids aren't supposed to know how to swim? That's one of the things my friends and I used to do during the summer—go swimming at the Y."

"I guess you'll get a chance to show off your skills, then. Looking forward to it. Let me check out the local map so I can see where we're actually gonna be." He pulled out a map of the city and began plotting a course from the hotel to South Broad Street and the theatre.

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Dante wholeheartedly approved of Val's little black bikini, he decided as he took in the low cut top and the straps on the sides of the bottom. That was, he approved until he noticed how many eyes she had drawn from the men lounging on either side of the pool and their appreciative stares. Seemingly oblivious to the attention she was drawing, Val reached up and pulled her hair into a quick top knot, which she secured with an elastic hair band. After watching her do some unconsciously provocative stretches, Dante was more than ready to get her into the pool and away from lustful eyes. "Let's get in—hurry up, Angel," he urged, slipping into the water from a sitting position on the pool's edge. "I'm actually going to swim, Dante—you should have done some stretches first if you plan to swim, too. You don't want to cramp up." "I'm gonna ease into the swimming part but I really think you should join me." "Fine." With a little hop, Val made a clean dive into the water. Resurfacing, she laughed as she blinked the water out of her eyes, noting, "It's been a while! The shock of diving in is always the worst part for me. But this water feels divine. I love swimming in warm water. Why were you in such a hurry for me to get in , though? You wanna race me or something? First one to the other end wins?" "No, that's not it. I don't like the way some of these guys are looking at you, that's all."

"Looking at me?"

"Yeah, like they've already had the main course and they want you for dessert. I just discovered something about myself and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I don't like other men looking at you, especially when you're wearing next to nothing and looking all hot."

"Should I not have worn the bikini?"

"You should be able to wear whatever you want to, Angel, so, no, the bikini is fine. I guess it's my inner caveman coming out. I mean, they see what I see, don't they? You're gorgeous. I should be proud that they wanna look and I think I am, mostly. There's another part of me that wants to push their faces in for even daring to look at you with 'that look' in their eyes. That's not your problem, though, it's mine. Forget about it—let's just swim." Val couldn't help but gaze around the pool area after she heard his words and sure enough, there were a few men who were casting glances in her direction, some innocently appreciative and some with a slightly deeper intent. Even though the water was warm, she shivered involuntarily. She hadn't been thinking about other men when she got dressed. Her thoughts had solely been on enticing one man. Ultimately realizing that she couldn't control anyone else's actions, she mentally shook off their attentions and concentrated on her breaststrokes as she began swimming toward the other end of the pool. Someone was suddenly swimming near her and for a moment, she thought it was Dante. Her heart rate increased as she automatically began racing faster to the other side. She wasn't sure what made her stop swimming but she did, her inner alarm bells abruptly ringing madly. Treading water, she looked around for Dante, who was moving in her direction. The man who had been pacing beside her turned back as well, and swam toward her with a smile. Scooping his dark hair back away from his face, he murmured, "You look like a mermaid—you swim beautifully. I couldn't resist moving in alongside you."

"Um, thank you." Sensing her discomfort he went on to say, "When I saw you I knew I had to introduce myself. I'm Jean-Louis Arseneau. And you are?" He reached for her hand. "You've gotta be kiddin'," Dante grated out as he swam up to them, adding, "If you saw her then you saw me, so whatever you're tryin' to do, I'd choose 'Option B' if I were you." "I was trying to say 'hello'. Is she your property, then?" Jean-Louis asked with a smirk. Dante and Val spoke simultaneously. "'She' can speak for herself, thank you very much-" "Is she my property—no. Is she my woman? All day long. You got no shot here." The two men glared at one another before Arseneau relented with a chuckle as he turned back to address Val with, "I only wanted to make your acquaintance. I wasn't aware, however, that you had a watchdog at your side. Another time, perhaps?"

"Not likely," Val politely but firmly responded.

"A pity," he told her before swimming away. They watched him for a moment and then Dante looked at Val, shaking his head. "I've gotta give it to him, he's bold as hell. I can't believe he came right up to you like that, as if he didn't know-"

"Didn't know what—that I was your 'woman'?" she asked, placing her arms around his neck and reaching up to stroke the back of his head. She smiled at him, causing him to laugh at himself. "I guess that was a bit much, huh, callin' you my woman like that?" "You've got a little jealous streak going on, don't you? I've never seen that side of you before. You did kind of sound like you were gonna drag me off to your cave any second there, but you know what? I kind of liked it."

"You liked that?" he whispered in her ear as he put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer and then softly kissed her lips.

"A lot," she whispered back, returning his kisses with firmer ones of her own. The water gently undulated around them as they deepened their embrace. Moments later, Dante abruptly jerked from her, stating in a low voice, "I want you."

"I want you, too. Maybe we should go do something about it."

"We could, but as soon as I get out of the water, everyone else at the pool is gonna know how much I want you. I've got a mini crisis on my hands here, Angel." "I've got a similar problem myself. Now the question is do we boldly get out of the water like two people who obviously want each other and walk over to our robes, or do we tread water until our mutual 'problem' subsides?" He pulled her even closer to his body and rubbed against her, asking, "Does this feel like it's goin' away any time soon?" Gently rubbing back she answered, "I sincerely hope not. What do you wanna do?" Pausing momentarily, Dante made a decision. "Fortune favors the bold, right? I want you; I don't care who knows it. Let's go upstairs." They swam for the side of the pool and hoisted themselves out, splashing water on the tiled floor as they made their way to their robes and pool shoes. Deliberately choosing not to acknowledge the eyes that were tracking their movements, Dante put his arm around Val and guided her toward the elevator. The couple who got on the elevator with them glanced in their direction and then looked quickly away. With shielding her man on her mind, Val moved from Dante's side to stand in front of him. He laughed as he pulled her close, breathing into her ear, "I'm not sure how much of a solution this actually is, baby." They stopped on the third floor and the couple hurriedly disembarked without a backward glance. "Why do I get the feeling that they thought we were a couple of perverts?" Val wondered laughingly after the doors closed and the elevator began moving again. "Might have somethin' to do with the fact that we're wanderin' through the hotel with robes on and I'm hard as a rock. Can't be sure, though. I wonder if there's a camera in here?"

"I'm pretty sure there is. Why?" He backed her into a corner, replying, "'Cause I'm about to give whoever's watchin' a show." He used his body as a shield, bending toward her as he began fumbling under her robe. "DON'T YOU DARE! I mean it!" she exclaimed, her eyes darting wildly around the ceiling as she tried to spot the camera or cameras watching them. "No?" "No." "You're no fun, Angel." "I'M no fun? What—you think I wanna get arrested for indecent exposure? How perfect, a cop and a cop-to-be getting arrested for indecent exposure in an elevator!" "The way I was plannin' to do it, there wouldn't have been any exposure, but the indecent part—I'll give you that one." They finally arrived at the eighth floor and made the way down the balcony to their room. Using the keycard Dante had retrieved earlier from the toe of his shoe, he opened the door wide to allow Val to enter. "So what's next on the agenda?" "Shower first, and then we'll see. C'mon, Just Mine. Let's go get wet."

"I thought you already were wet, Angel, somethin' I coulda checked for myself when we were in the elevator, if you'd have let me." He flashed her a wicked grin when he realized he had rendered her speechless, watching her gawp wordlessly at him. "Teasin' you is so much fun, Val—don't know why I get such a kick out of it, but I do." Val couldn't think of an appropriate response as he took her hand and pulled her down the hall to the bathroom so she decided not to try. She thought instead that she would give him her reply in the shower where they were more evenly matched. Her mind percolated with several ideas and she found herself grinning as well. Now she was in the mood to do some teasing of her own…

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