Page 100 of The Tempted
Chapter Six
June 2005
I was walking down 18thAve with my two best friends, Kristen and Michelle. We were on our way to Da’Vinci pizzeria for Sicilian slices and vanilla chip ices. It had become a weekly tradition, being as we came from over protective parents who wouldn’t let us do shit. Every once in a while, I’d be allowed to sleep over at one of their houses. But they could never sleep over mine. I really couldn’t argue the fact, what was I supposed to do—beg their parents to understand their daughters would be safe because daddy installed bulletproof windows?
“Oh my Jesus! Look at him,” Michelle exclaimed as she nudged my side with her elbow. I went to smack her hand away until I noticed her peering over the rim of her glasses. Her open mouth stare made me stop and turn to see who grabbed her attention.
My head was so far up my ass I hadn’t realized that we were across the street from one of the café’s my father owned. La Bella Café was an establishment you could get a killer cappuccino at and score a brand-new television or whatever electronic they were peddling out of the backroom. They must have scored big last night because Anthony was sweating as he unloaded the U-Haul. His white t-shirt clung to his body like a second skin, exposing all the ridges and muscles hidden beneath the cotton fabric.
“You didn’t tell her?” Kristen asked surprised.
“Tell me what?” Michelle enquired, working her way out of her Anthony induced trance.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell her!” Kristen said, but I was too enthralled with Anthony to give a damn she was about to spill my secret. “She schemed a date out of Anthony Bianci last Friday.”
I watched intently as he lifted the hem of his t-shirt, revealing his chiseled abdomen as he lifted the shirt to his face to wipe the sweat from his brow. I whimpered slightly at the sight, biting down on my lip before I embarrassed myself in front of my friends. I didn’t know what it was about him, sure, he was fucking hot, but it was so much more that attracted me to him. I think it was the mysterious blue eyes seeming hard at first glance but when you looked into them, you could see they were just a front. There was a good-hearted soul behind those icy baby blues.
“You went on a date with Anthony Bianci and didn’t tell me? How the hell did you even pull that off with your father not knowing?” Michelle asked in bewilderment.
“Actually, my father set it all up,” Well sort of. I shrugged my shoulders as I kept my eyes glued to Anthony, his arms flexing as he lifted another box. “My dad asked him to drive me and Mike to the movies and I struck a deal with Mikey to get lost.”
“Scandalous!” Michelle declared.
“So come on girl, how was it? Was he broody the whole time? Oh my God! Did you kiss him? You totally kissed him! How was it? Oh my God.” She slapped Kristen’s arm.
“She kissed Bianci!”
I peeled my eyes away from Anthony as he disappeared inside the café and looked back towards my friends. Kristen looked as if she was going to throttle Michelle which made me giggle.
“Calm down Michelle, it’s not that serious,” I sighed. “He was broody at first but then he warmed up,” I said, smiling. “I caught him staring at me out of the corner of his eye a few times,” I smiled, as I recited the highlights of my date with Anthony. “Oh, and you know how I always mix in Reese’s Pieces into my popcorn? Well he calls me Reese’s now,” I said, grinning like an idiot.
“Swoon,” Michelle said, giving me her undivided attention.
Kristen rolled her eyes before looking at me expectantly. I grumbled at her knowing she was making me jump to the point of how the date had ended so miserably.
“Then what happened?” Michelle asked.
“Then he took me home and told me it wasn’t a real date,” I glanced across the street as he emerged from the café again climbing into the back of the truck to grab another box.
“What do you mean it wasn’t a real date?” Kristen asked sounding perturbed.
“What would he call it? He paid for your ticket and everything.”
“Anthony said it wasn’t a real date because he didn’t know it was a set up in the first place. He was there because my dad ordered him to do so not because he had asked me out.” Repeating his words angered me, not because I believed them to be true but because I knew they were nothing other than big fat lies. He could say whatever he wanted but I was the one there with him, the one watching him steal glances at me. When he dropped me off, I saw him glancing over my shoulder to see if my parents were home. He wanted to kiss me goodnight but was too worried about my father. I know it. I could see it written all over his handsome face. In fact, it’s time that Anthony Bianci admits once and for all he wants me.
“A, where are you going?” Kristen whined.
I didn’t bother answering her as I hurried across the busy avenue, not paying much attention to the cars honking at me as I crossed in the middle of the street.
“Watch where you’re going girl!” An angry driver shouted out his window. I was creating a scene on 18thAvenue but I didn’t care. I was determined to get Anthony to admit what we both knew.
Anthony lifted his head to see what all the commotion was about and found me stalking towards him. His eyes widened as he gripped the box in his hands and looked at me blankly. He jumped off the truck about to ignore me and turned around to carry the box into the café.
“Hey Bianci,” I shouted, taking the final steps towards him closing the space between us. He turned around to face me and lifted one eyebrow.
Without so much as a second thought I lifted my hands to his face, standing on tip toe and grabbed him, pulling him towards me sealing my mouth over his. I cradled his face as my lips worked his, softly but firmly, as I got a feel for his mouth. My tongue sneaked along the seam of his lips, demanding he invite me inside. The butterflies in my stomach exploded into a frenzy when his lips parted for me, my tongue slipping between his delicious lips for that first taste of him. I wasn’t highly experienced, I had never even had a serious boyfriend. I could count on one hand how many guys I had kissed, you know with tongue. It didn’t matter though, kissing Anthony was second nature. He could probably tell how inexperienced I was but for me that kiss was everything. It had exceeded any expectations I had. It was perfect.
I’d never forget about our first kiss; a few things would always linger in my mind. The first was how he tasted, just like Big Red gum, my favorite. The second was he didn’t back away. It didn’t matter that my father or one of his associates could see what we were doing, he kept kissing me. The third was that he dropped the heavy box he was carrying right on my foot.
