Chapter 1
Tony sighed as he tried to keep his body as still as possible, which was almost impossible with Angela lying next to him in this tiny uncomfortable twin bed at the Hidden Hollows motel. As much as he tried, and as emotionally exhausted he was from everything that had transpired today, his mind would not let him rest. Not to mention that every time Angela moved in her sleep and touched him, it sent sparks shooting throughout his body.
Tony still couldn't believe that the beautiful woman lying beside him was the same awkward and shy girl that had been his first kiss all those years ago. He knew from recent experience that Angela was still a great kisser as she had demonstrated when she kissed him during their drunken flour escapade in the kitchen only a few months ago. Ingrid definitely still had that extra set of lips, Tony smirked to himself, which only made him more uncomfortable now being so close to her. How on earth was he going to survive a whole night in bed with her like this?
"Tony," Angela said as he turned his head to see her sleepily looking over at him; their heads sharing the one lumpy pillow that hadn't been destroyed earlier when the roof caved in on Angela's bed bringing a wall of water with it. "Is everything ok?"
As soon as Angela asked the question, she couldn't help but wonder if Tony was as cognizant as she was of just how close their bodies were in this little, and as Tony had pointed out earlier, narrow bed. While she'd been able to fall asleep almost instantly, thanks in part to feeling so content and secure lying next to Tony as well as because of the emotionally-charged events of the day, her dreams had been fraught with images from the past year of all the times the magnetism between the two of them became almost too much to handle. It started almost from the minute she opened the door to Tony's handsome and smiling face that first morning. Not to mention when they'd had that discussion in the upstairs hallway, late that first night, culminating in Tony's declaration about never sleeping with his employer. Angela smiled ruefully to herself as that had basically gone out the window within their first five months together when they both woke up in Samantha's bed and, of course, because of their current predicament.
Her dreams also played back images of when Tony had walked in on her stark naked in her bathroom and as embarrassed as she'd been, she'd also felt a little thrill because it was obvious in his eyes that he liked what he saw. And then of course, when they'd ended up with that catered dinner for two where she'd draped herself all over Tony as she told him her story about bouncing down the stairs in nothing but her slip and then a little later, he was draped all over her as they played basketball in the back yard before her date finally showed up. Not to mention the twinge of jealousy she felt when Tony took a liking to her sorority sister Trish. To this day, she didn't like to think about what went on between the two of them during their stop at the Fairfield Inn.
All of this happened before Christmas, which is when their friendship really started to blossom as she helped Tony clean out his father's apartment. He was so vulnerable and sad that it almost broke her heart. That, of course, was followed by their dancing of The Lindy on Christmas Day. The way he held her and then flipped her around still made her a little breathless when she thought about it. Nothing compared though to when Michael moved back in forcing Tony and Samantha to move out. The days that he was gone were some of the longest of her life; it almost scared her how much she missed him. And those feelings only intensified when Tony kissed her in the kitchen on her birthday. Now, here they were, practically nose to nose trying to pretend everything was normal. Fate just seemed to keep finding ways to push them together.
"Everything's fine," Tony responded interrupting Angela's thoughts. "Just trying to get comfortable. Sorry if I woke you."
"You didn't. I'm having trouble getting comfortable as well," Angela responded, her eyes slowly meeting his.
"You sure looked it a few minutes ago when you were sound asleep," Tony said teasingly. And incredibly beautiful he thought to himself.
"Well, I just felt so safe and secure next to you," the words popping out before she could stop herself.
"Ay-oh, oh-ay, however I can be of service," Tony responded trying to lighten the mood. But it was too late. Somehow their faces had inched closer and closer together during this exchange and before either one of them could pull back, their lips and tongues were hopelessly intertwined.
Tony, breathing heavily, eventually pulled back a fraction. "Angela, I know we agreed earlier that things are good between us the way they are. But, with everything that's happened today, hell, everything that's happened this past year, maybe fate is trying to tell us something…" he finished, his voice trailing off.
Angela looked into Tony's eyes now dark with desire, surely a mirror of her own, and decided that she was tired of fighting the obvious attraction between them.
"Things could be good between us the way they aren't," she reiterated breathlessly before slowly leaning over and capturing Tony's lips in a way she'd been dreaming about ever since their drunken night in the kitchen…
