Simone (The Ciprianos of Kellington Book 2) Page 9

  She was getting a kiss from her first love…again!

  Chapter Eleven

  When he gave her that kiss, it awakened a part of Simone that he’d long felt was dormant. When their lips touched it was something that he had been dreaming about feeling again.

  “Look at you two all hugged up and kissing like you are.” Jaslyn smiled while he heard Delia giggling.

  “Well, it’s been a long time coming, you know.” Simone sighed deeply, his hand still holding onto hers.

  “All I know is that I am happy that you both have come back together. I honestly never knew that you two were as close as you were. I mean she told me that Andrew and you were good friends along with the rest. But she never told me about you two.”

  “And why didn’t you tell her about us?” Simone questioned.

  “It was just something that I didn’t think to mention, plus those moments we had been together were mine to keep.” Her head rested against his shoulder which was also a welcome comfort to him.

  Renzo came back to the table, a smile across his face when he saw them sitting together like they were. Simone couldn’t help but smile because he knew what his brother had been thinking at that moment. “So, what can I get you all today?”

  “How about a bottle of your best red wine, bro, and of course get whatever the ladies want,” Simone told him.

  “You didn’t tell him what you wanted for lunch.” Jaslyn reminded him.

  “Oh, I already know what he wants to eat.” Renzo left the three of them once more.

  “So, I will pick you up on Saturday, what time does the movie start? Do you know?”

  “I think I said at seven, but I can check when I get home. So what else do you have planned for me?”

  Simone had to laugh a bit while Jaslyn looked on. “What makes you think that I am going to tell you what I have planned for you, Deedlebug? You’re just going to have to wait until it happens.” Kissing her forehead, he saw his brother come over with a bottle of wine and four glasses in one of his hands. Getting up, he helped his brother with the glasses while he opened the bottle of wine. Filling the glasses half-way, Simone handed each woman a glass as he and his brother took the last two.

  “A toast,” Renzo said, looking toward him. “Here’s to new beginnings and a love that was thought long-lost but never really was. I wish all the best in the world for you two because you honestly deserve each other.” Raising their glasses they all toasted together before taking a sip.

  Sitting back next to her, Simone continued talking about their plans for Saturday. The entire time they sat there, he held her hand in his. “You know, when you called asking me about whether or not I still cared about you, I have to say I was scared to even tell you,” Simone admitted, seeing the shock come over her face.

  “Well, how do you feel now that you’ve told me?”

  He kissed her soundly on the lips which made her smile. “Does that answer your question?”

  “Ummm, I don’t think so, maybe if you could persuade me a little bit more,” she told him playfully.

  Moving toward the side of her face, he nuzzled against her to whisper in her ear, “Maybe I’ll show you that later on, baby.” He elicited a high-pitched giggle from her, only adding to the fun for him. The sound of her laughter like that was something he had often dreamed of hearing.

  “I swear, you two are just adorable.” Jaslyn looked at them, still smiling. She probably was right about how they were acting but Simone really didn’t care. For the first time in his life, he was genuinely happy and fulfilled. He had the love of his life by his side and he knew that things would only get better between them now. Just as long as they had each other, then things would go their way.

  “You know, you should call your mom and let her know.” Jaslyn suggested and he watched Delia go into her purse and pull out her phone.

  “Oh no, if we tell Mom about us, we have to do it face-to-face, you know.” Delia nodded in agreement. Soon, Renzo and a waitress came with their food and the couples began to eat lunch. Later on, they talked about letting Filomena know about Simone and Delia being together.

  “Oh, she’s going to have a fit, you know that, right? I mean, she knows that you both were made for each other, anyway. I can just see her now, all crying and spouting out Italian and hugging you both.” Renzo ate some of his pasta and chuckled a bit.

  “You want to do it later on today?” Delia asked.

  “Sure, I can meet you after work. I’ll stay around here and help you out Renzo, if that’s all right?”

  “You know it’s all right, bro.”

  “Or, you can come and help us out, we need some of the furniture dusted as well as some pieces moved. We can always use you with us, Simone.” Jaslyn mentioned.

  Delia added, “Yeah, you can come and help us out and then we can go together to your mom’s afterwards.”

  “That sounds great, I’ll just stay with the ladies today, bro, and help them out.” Simone smiled while continuing to eat his food.

  When Simone and the girls made it back to the shop, he was immediately put to work by them. Never in his life had he dusted, much less polished, so much furniture. One piece of furniture, a beautiful mahogany armoire, had so much dust on it that he literally found himself sneezing uncontrollably. “Are you all right?” shouted Delia from the front.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, just got caught in a dust storm back here.” He coughed, waving some of the dust around him which only made things even worse. It started to get into his throat and made him want to retch because it was tickling the back of his throat now. Trying his best to keep his composure, he found it to be no use so he made his way toward what he thought was a door that would lead outside but when he tried to open the door, it wouldn’t open.

  “Simone?” shouted Delia from behind him as she came down between the furniture. As she walked toward him, she motioned for him to walk with her toward another door, which led them to the bathroom. Grabbing a washcloth from the towel rack, she immediately wet it and wiped off his face. The coolness seemed to calm down his coughing as she wiped down his face and along the back of his neck. “Dust bunnies got to you, huh?”

  He snickered a bit but nodded when she smiled as she continued looking over his face. God, she was beautiful, he thought, even though she looked so concerned about his well-being at that moment. He didn’t realize just how much he had been coughing it up back there. “Maybe you need to wear a mask, I know there are some pieces back here that we haven’t dusted in a while, so of course, there is plenty of dust.”

  “Yeah, I think that just might work in my favor, don’t you agree?” Simone replied.

  Nodding, he watched her go to a cabinet to grab a face mask. Immediately he put it on and asked, “How do I look?”

  He noticed her trying not to giggle but she finally said to him, “I’m sorry, but you look funny as hell with that thing on.” She immediately started to laugh as she pushed him toward the mirror. He started laughing himself from behind the mask. “Paging Dr. Cipriano, paging Dr. Cipriano, you are wanted in surgery!”

  “Oh Lord, ha ha ha!”

  He rolled his eyes but looked back at her, still smiling and laughing it up at his expense because he had lost the ‘dust bunny war’. “Keep it up, young lady and I’ll come and operate on you.” He began tickling her, which only caused her to squeal and laugh against him while he held her. Eventually he stopped while she slowly calmed her laughter but he couldn’t help but smile behind his mask, for this woman he had always loved was now his once more. Pulling up his mask Simone kissed those smiling lips of hers, nipping them a bit as she softly moaned. He held her around her waist, and her arms immediately wrapped around his neck which made him hold her even more intimately. His roaming hands traveled along the curves of her body, curves that he had constantly dreamed of touching, which was now reality. She felt so soft and warm he thought, especially when he caressed her breast, which caused her to catch her breath. He noticed her looking u
p at him, resting her head against his chest as his hand gently continued holding her breast.

  “We better get back to work,” she told him.

  “Not just yet, let me hold you just a little while longer.”

  She softly told him, “You know we have forever to hold each other like this. No need for rushing, but we do need to go and finish up with work.”

  Giving an exasperated sigh, Simone nodded, pulled his mask back down and went back to dusting furniture.

  * * * *

  Delia could hear the phone ringing as she made her way back toward the front of the store but Jaslyn got it before she could. “Thanks for calling Timeless Treasures, this is Jaslyn speaking, how may I help you?” Jaslyn immediately looked Delia’s way with a concerned look on her face. Delia wondered what was wrong until she saw Jaslyn mouth the words, “It’s him.”

  Her heart sank a bit when she realized that Jaslyn was saying it was Rodger calling. She kind of figured he would try something so crazy as to call her. Shaking her head, Jaslyn went on to tell him, “I’m sorry Rodger, she’s not here right now and if she was, I don’t think she would want to talk with you in the first place.” Hanging up the phone, Jaslyn asked her, “Do you believe the nerve of that guy for him to keep calling up here after all he did to you?”

  “People will try to do anything. Guess he wanted to apologize to me even though I’d never accept it from him.” Delia declared, rolling her eyes at the idea.

  “I wouldn’t even worry about it because you have an amazing guy back there who cares for you deeply. Rodger knows he screwed up greatly when he lost you.”

  “You’re right, but did it ever hurt though to know that after all the time we had been together, he considered that it was nothing more than him sowing his wild oats.” All she could do was just shake her head because she didn’t want to get herself upset over all that had happened. But soon a hand came and touched hers, looking over she saw Jaslyn’s hand on hers, grabbing it softly and assuring her that everything would be all right. The tears welled up in her eyes but she had to compose herself for she didn’t want Simone to worry or question what was going on if he came up their way. “Thanks.” Taking a deep breath, Delia continued with her paperwork.

  The phone kept ringing as more customers called for items that day, which for Delia was a welcome sound. More customers meant more items getting out of the shop, more money in their pockets, too. “You know we are going to have to get another mover,” Delia told Jaslyn after looking back to see how Simone was doing.

  “That I know. I need to call the paper to see about getting an ad in for a mover. Maybe Renzo knows of someone who might need a job.”

  “Yeah, that could work. Ask him, and if he doesn’t know of anyone, then we’ll put the ad in.” Delia suggested to her friend.

  “How much more dusting do I need to do?” Simone voice was muffled from behind the mask.

  “Don’t tell me that you’re done? You’ve got a lot more to do back there.”

  “The dust is killing my sinuses, bad.”

  “Why don’t you go on, Delia? His eyes do look bad and he probably needs some fresh air anyway. This is good, though, you know?”

  “How is this good?” Delia wondered.

  “This way, at least you know you can’t get him to do any dusting.” Giving them a wink, Delia shook her head while Simone moaned.

  “Come on, you big baby, let’s head over to your mom’s.”

  “I am not a big baby, Deedlebug,”

  “You are too.” Delia smiled, getting her purse from behind the counter. “Now come on, you big baby, so I can tell your mom how you acted today while dusting off some furniture.” She grabbed his hand and the couple headed toward the door and out to their cars. “I’ll follow you,” Delia told him, getting into her car and starting it up.

  She had to admit that she was a nervous wreck, even though Delia knew that all they were doing was telling his mother that they were going to be a couple. Why would she be so nervous, then? This was a new start for her and Simone, even though it had been a long time coming. When she got to the light, her cell phone began ringing and without looking at it, she took it out of her purse to answer it. “Hello?”

  “Delia, please don’t hang up on me, I need to talk with you.” It was Rodger and he sounded desperate as hell, she thought.

  Quickly she clicked the phone off and threw the phone onto the passenger seat. The phone rang once more but she didn’t bother to answer it as she continued to follow Simone’s car toward his mother’s home. By the time they arrived, the phone had rung about three separate times in a row and when the fourth time came around, she decided to answer it so at least she could put a stop to his calls. “What do you want Rodger?”

  “Listen, Delia, I want to apologize for having you arrested. I told my mom to not press charges against you and that you had every right to be mad at me and my mom. Honestly, I didn’t want it to be this way.”

  “Well how did you want it then? Honestly, I would have thought you would have been a man and stood up to your parents like you did when you wanted to be out on your own. But when it came to money, it seemed you wanted to go along with the plan that was presented to you.”

  “I am so sorry, Delia. I didn’t want this but I do want you in my life.”

  “You can’t be serious.” She got out of the car when she saw Simone walking toward her. He looked concerned as he listened to her talking on the phone, obviously he could tell that something was wrong. “After all the bullshit, all the heartache you brought me, you’ve got the nerve to call and say that you want me back into your life. Give me a break, Rodger, there is no way in hell that I would ever think of getting back with you. Why don’t you take those millions of dollars of yours and buy yourself a trophy wife.”

  “I don’t want anyone else but you Delia. I’ve already told my parents that I want you and only you. We’ve had too much history together to let something like this go.”

  Delia sighed, slowly shaking her head while Simone watched. He immediately took her into his arms. She looked up at him, into those brown eyes of his that would make her melt when she looked at them. “Well, I’m sorry Rodger, but I don’t want to be with you anymore, not after the way you treated me and made me look like a complete fool in front of people. Not to mention, giving your mother the satisfaction of watching someone who she deems lower than her, get torn down. Nope, I don’t want that in my life, Rodger, and I don’t need you in it either. So please, from this point on, leave me alone. Don’t bother to call or bother to come by the shop, much less my place. It’s over with us and I’m trying to move on with my life after what you’ve done to me.”

  Just when she was about to say the last word, it was Simone who grabbed the phone from her instead. “She’s going to get her number changed after today so no need to call and if you bother to try and come by her job or home, I will have you arrested myself. Who am I? Well, I’m her new man.” Looking at the phone, she saw him hit the power off button and immediately throw the phone out into the wooded area near his mother’s home. He looked back at her, and of course she was smiling, and he kissed her forehead softly. “Let’s go, sweetheart.” They both walked hand-in-hand toward the back where the garden was. “I called Mom and she told me that she would meet us in the garden, she’s tending to the flowers.” He opened the gate to the garden as they walked along the stone path, “Mom, we’re here!” he shouted.

  “Hello, I’m over here by the roses!” They heard her shout back as they continued to walk toward the sound of her voice. When they found her, she was sitting on a small folding chair. Her clothes were kind of worn and Delia knew that these were clothes that she wore when she was tending to the garden. Her attire was set off with a big floppy hat to keep the sun off her skin along with some garden gloves. When she saw them standing there, she smiled and said, “Why, hello, you two. Come, I’ve made some tea.” Delia watched Simone help his mother rise as they walked back toward where the t
able was already set with a pitcher of iced tea and three glasses. They all sat down and Simone filled their glasses. “Delia, sweetheart, I am so happy that you are well and out of jail. I was worried sick about how this would affect you. I would have done the same thing to that mother of Rodger’s. Honestly, I can’t believe she would condone such things like this. Anyway, what brings you both here today?”

  Delia looked over at Simone, who was just as nervous as she was. He quickly took a sip of tea, coughed a bit and then said to his mother, “Well, Mom, I finally told Delia how I felt about her, we had a long talk about it and we are going to be seeing each other now.”

  A squeal of delight came from Filomena’s mouth and a smile spread all over her face. She made her way over to Delia and took the younger woman’s face in her hands as she began spouting out words in Italian. Delia couldn’t help but laugh a bit as well as tear up while hugging Filomena.

  “This is a blessing indeed, I knew that eventually you two would get back together. This indeed is a sign from God that you two were meant for each other. And now it’s coming true for both of you, I swear I’ve never been happier in my life to see you two together.” Filomena told them as she motioned for Simone to come over and join them. Immediately she took both their hands together, cupping the two as she told them, “I wish you both the best in whatever you do. You have finally found each other again after being apart for so long. I’ve always wanted you two to be together because it was meant to be. Now you have this chance to be together, don’t let it get away again. Again, this is a sign from God, letting you both know that this was meant to be, between you two. Now you need to determine what and how you want to go about getting what you both want in life. I know you both are strong and determined people so I know that you both will be fine, just as long as you have each other.”