A Little Holiday Temptation Page 11

  Setting the bottle of water on the counter she went to her studio and pulled the drop cloth off her work in progress. It was a portrait of Erik in the nude. He was sitting in the classic pose of The Thinker by Auguste Rodin. There was nothing explicit about it. But the lines and planes of his body were very seductive. He didn’t know she was painting it. She’d done it from memory. She knew his body intimately and loved it not only because she loved him but because of its symmetry. She didn’t know how he would react to it. She had no intention of ever selling it or even allowing it to be shown at Damon’s gallery. This was a gift for her. It would hang in her bedroom when it was complete.

  She heard Erik’s key in the lock. They had exchanged keys more than a year ago for safety purposes. If either of them were in trouble and couldn’t answer their door the other would have a means of entry. They even knew each other’s security codes. She smiled at the thought. That should have tipped her off that she and Erik were meant to be more than just friends. How implicitly they trusted each other.

  “Babe, I’m home!”

  She hastily covered the painting with the drop cloth before hurrying to him. Erik was already coming out of his overcoat when she got to the foyer. She helped him off with it and hung it up then went into his arms for a long kiss. It was during the kiss that her hands wandered to his head and she discovered his hair was damp. “Is it raining?”

  “No, it’s snowing,” he said, grinning.

  “What!” Ana ran to the window to look out. Sure enough snowflakes drifted down covering the city with a white mantle. She was delighted. Erik came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “We’re gonna have a white Christmas, after all.”

  The weather service had been doubtful the last few days whenever they tuned in to the forecast.

  “Looks like it,” Ana said, smiling happily.

  * * *

  “You call this a cabin?” Ana asked Erik as the hired car pulled into the driveway leading up to what Ana thought looked more like a Swiss chalet than a cabin. It was dark out but she could see that the multilevel house was at least three stories and must have been five thousand square feet or more. Were those Christmas lights she saw in the windows? Snow was coming down pretty heavily but she didn’t think her eyes were deceiving her. “Who decorated it?” she asked Erik, who was being suspiciously quiet all of a sudden. He’d chatted all the way from the airport.

  The driver stopped the SUV fitted with snow tires in front of the chalet’s awning. “Did you hire someone to prepare the house before we arrived?” Ana asked, looking at Erik. These vacation rentals sometimes had people who stocked the refrigerator for renters, cleaned and aired out the house and changed the bed linens. Why not decorate it for the holidays, too? “What’s wrong, cat got your tongue?” Ana asked irritably. Something was up. She hated surprises and was learning, fast, that her fiancé loved surprising her. The way he’d sprung the ring on her had been hard enough on her heart. What girl picked out a ring from Tiffany’s in her man’s office?

  She reached for the door’s handle. The driver had already gotten out and was getting their luggage. Erik grabbed her hand before she could open the door. “Sweetheart, no matter what happens the next few minutes remember I love you.” He looked at her gravely.

  Frowning, Ana regarded him with a worried expression. “Now you’re making me nervous. What have you done?”

  “Let me get the door for you,” was all he said before he got out and jogged around to her side of the SUV to open the door and help her out. He made sure she didn’t slip on the snow as she stood on shaky legs. She hugged herself in her warm coat. The car had been warm but it was freezing out here. The driver was busy piling their luggage on the portico. Solar lights lit the path to the door. Erik rang the doorbell.

  “Why are you ringing the doorbell?” asked Ana. “Don’t you have the key?” Erik had handled the reservations for this trip. She assumed if he were renting a cabin the key would be sent to him prior to their departure from New York or someone representing the owner would meet them either at the airport or here with the key. Which hadn’t happened, so where was the key?

  “I don’t need a key,” he said cryptically.

  Ana heard someone coming to the door. In fact it sounded like the rumble of several excited voices approaching.

  The door was swung open and her mother and father stood there smiling at her. Elle, Dominic and Sophia and Matteo, each of them with a child, not far behind them. Ana screamed and launched herself at her parents whom she hugged together, with her in the middle and a parent on either side of her. She let them go and regarded them. Everyone was dressed casually. Her father had an apron on over his clothes. It’s obvious who’s been delegated to do the cooking, as usual, Ana thought with a smile. “I just spoke with you a few hours ago. You couldn’t have come from Milan in that short time!”

  Her mother helped her out of her coat and hung it on a nearby hall tree.

  “No, baby, you phoned my cell number. We were here all along,” Natalie said, smiling warmly. Natalie’s rich brown skin glowed with good health and her dark brown eyes shone with happiness.

  Ana hugged her brother, Dominic, her sister, Sophia, and their spouses as her mother continued, “Erik wanted to surprise you so we flew in yesterday. The house was all ready for us. Everything provided. We’ve just been enjoying ourselves getting ready for your arrival.”

  Ana kissed each niece and nephew, longing to hold the babies, but reluctant to take them out of the comfortable embrace of their parents’ arms. Elle must have read her indecision on her face and thrust her four-month-old son, Dom, into his aunt’s arms.

  “Here, take him,” she said. “Hold him close to your chest. He loves bosoms.” She glanced at her husband, Dominic, when she said that and Ana laughed as she cradled her nephew in her arms. He grinned up at her looking for all the world like a miniature replica of her brother, dimples in his cheeks and curious glint in his light brown eyes as if he knew that life was a mystery he was going to have a ball solving.

  She bent and kissed his chubby cheeks, “Hello, little Dominic, I’m your auntie Ana.”

  Her two nieces, Ariana and Renata, were both two but Ariana was a few months older than her cousin, Renata, suddenly felt the need to exert their claim on their aunt Ana since they had known her longer. They each latched on to one of Ana’s legs and refused to budge. Then, sensing he was being left out of the fun, six month-old Matteo, in his father’s arms, started crying and reaching for Ana.

  Ana laughed happily. “It’s good to be loved!” And holding little Dom to her chest she bent close and kissed Matty who stopped crying and stared at her, then looked at his mother.

  “Oh, no, he’s confused,” laughed Sophia. She and Ana could never be mistaken for twins but, being sisters, they did closely resemble each other. They had the same golden brown skin, golden brown eyes and full lips. But Ana was taller and wore her hair in a wavy style while her sister preferred a braid, which hung nearly to her bottom.

  Erik came into the house while all of this was going on after taking care of the driver’s tip and bringing in the luggage. A smile of satisfaction tugged at the corners of his mouth. Ana was happy. He owed Abby a debt of thanks, which would be reflected in her bonus this year. He’d asked her to work a miracle, and she had.

  Seeing that Erik had entered the house, Ana gingerly handed the baby back to Elle. As he closed the door, Ana came up behind him and as soon as he turned around she walked into his arms and kissed him with all the emotion she was feeling at that moment. That kiss left no doubt in his mind that she was grateful for his gesture.

  Carlo loudly cleared his throat. Seeing his baby girl kiss a man like that was too much for a father to bear. Even though he knew, logically, that he would eventually have to let go of her, it wasn’t that time yet. “Come, Ana, you and your old man are making the panet
tone together this year. Plus, there’s dinner to get on the table.”

  Ana was so accustomed to helping her father prepare meals at home that the thought of slipping into the routine now was a very pleasant one.

  Ana smiled up at Erik before turning to join her father, “Ti amo,” she said.

  “I love you, too,” Erik said, his love for her emanating from every cell of his body.

  He was welcomed into the Corelli family’s embrace while he watched his fiancée put her arm through her father’s and accompany him to the kitchen.

  When Ana and Carlo were out of earshot, Natalie helped Erik out of his coat and hung it next to Ana’s then she gave Erik a hug and said, “Forgive Carlo, but in this family he wears the apron and he’s not ready to cut the strings yet where Ana is concerned.” She peered up at him. “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you. He does. He just doesn’t like it when you get too close to his daughter in his presence. It’s primal. You’ll understand when you’re a father of a daughter.”

  Erik chuckled. “Thanks for the tip. I’ll behave myself accordingly.”

  “See? I knew you were a smart man,” said Sophia. She hugged him, too. Then she stepped aside for Elle to embrace him. Erik had considered Elle a sister ever since their parents were married. “Hello, sis,” he murmured against her ear. “Motherhood definitely agrees with you.” Elle had given birth to Dominic, Jr. a little over four months ago. Tonight she looked wonderful in a red long-sleeved wrap blouse over black slacks. She’d lost all the baby weight except for a little around her middle. She smiled up at him, “I have to agree with that.” She glanced back at her husband. “If he had his way we’d have a house full.”

  Dominic shook Erik’s hand. He couldn’t help remembering that the first time he met Erik, he had pulled him aside to say that he had had a crush on Elle for years but she wouldn’t give him the time of day because she was such good friends with Erik’s sister, Belana, and hence considered him a brother. How time manipulated events. Now Erik was going to be his brother-in-law!

  “Good to see you again,” Dominic said. “I hope this will give us a chance to get to know each other better.”

  Sophia interrupted to introduce her husband, Matteo, whom Erik had not met before.

  After shaking hands with Matteo and hearing his thick Italian accent Erik realized that there was quite a multicultural mix in this house tonight. He was African-American, as were Natalie and Elle. Carlo and Matteo were Italian and the offspring of Carlo and Natalie: Dominic, Sophia and Ana were half Italian and half African-American. To say nothing of the four children whom he hadn’t been introduced to yet who also had a mixture of African and Italian blood.

  Ariana and Renata regarded Erik with the assessment of little girls who although they don’t yet understand it felt drawn to male beauty. They each took one of his hands and Erik smiled down at them respectively and said, “Hello, ladies.”

  “Meet Renata and Ariana,” Natalie said, laughing softly at how easily her granddaughters had accepted Erik. “Come back to the entertainment room. We were in there watching a movie with the children when you rang the bell. While Carlo prepares dinner.”

  In the kitchen, Ana had washed her hands and put on an apron. Her father talked while he checked the pots on the stove and peeked at the roast in the oven. “So, how are you enjoying being an engaged woman?”

  Ana was instantly on alert. Her father might have been asking an innocent enough question. On the other hand it could be a loaded one. How she answered would make all the difference in the world. “We were friends for a long time before we considered anything romantic. He knew he had to be patient with me.”

  “You’re a little shy,” said Carlo dismissively. “You’ve always been that way.”

  He had moved over to the center island, which had been cleared of everything except the ingredients he needed to make the panettone. Ana joined him and watched as he began sifting flour into a large bowl. “No, it was more than that, Daddy. I didn’t trust my own judgment anymore. Erik knew that and didn’t try to push me into a relationship even though, he told me later, he’s been in love with me all along.”

  Her father set down the sifter and looked her in the eyes. He had known she had gotten her heart broken by that actor. He couldn’t remember his name. As a rule he avoided gossip about his daughter like the plague. Gossip was insidious. Tabloids made up lies about celebrities. Terrible lies that any relative of the subject of such tales didn’t want to hear.

  “Has he behaved like a gentleman the whole time?” he asked.

  “Yes, he did,” Ana replied sincerely. “He’s been my best friend for two years.”

  “And when did you know you loved him, as well?” her father wanted to know.

  Ana hadn’t even told Erik about the moment she realized she loved him. She began to recall the instant in which her emotions transformed from “like” to love for Erik. They were jogging in Central Park one Saturday morning in May of last year. She tripped and fell. She still didn’t know what she had tripped over, just her own stupid feet she guessed. But she twisted her ankle and Erik had picked her up and carried her to a nearby cab and had taken her directly to the emergency room of the closest hospital. He had refused to leave her side for three hours while they waited. It seemed a twisted ankle did not warrant quick treatment. He had told her funny stories about his visits to the emergency room when he was a kid. He had not always been such a good athlete. When he was a boy he was clumsy, awkward, and constantly hurting himself. Once playing baseball he got hit in the face by a fly ball. Another time he and a neighborhood friend decided they were going to become Noble Prize–winning chemists. They mixed the wrong chemicals and nearly choked to death on billowing black smoke. They were lucky the mixture hadn’t exploded in their faces. The smoke had stained the walls of his bedroom, though, and the entire room had to be repainted. His father banned him from using his chemistry set in the house after that. Lucky, too, because the next time he’d used it, he had indeed caused an explosion that resulted in the detached garage being burned to the ground.

  “Your father had to have taken away your chemistry set then,” she’d exclaimed in disbelief.

  “No, but he did make me clean the debris out of the garage so it could be rebuilt. It took me three weeks. I was the one who decided to give up the chemistry set and turn my attentions to something safer, like computers.”

  “He has a doctorate degree in computer science,” Ana told her father now. Her expression grew wistful. “I couldn’t help loving a man who had been such a geek growing up and had turned himself into such an accomplished person.”

  “You respect him,” said Carlo.

  “Yes,” Ana said softly.

  Carlo picked up the sifter again. “This is good,” he said, “the fact that you respect him as well as love him. That will be good for your marriage because the intensity of romance you feel right now won’t last. Sometimes you will feel such passion you will think that you’ll die if you spend an hour apart. Then again sometimes you will wish you’d never met him.” He chuckled. “I can see by your doubtful expression that you don’t believe me. Take my word for it. Marriage is a lifelong commitment and it isn’t something to be trifled with. When you say ‘I do’ to Erik you have to mean it. So many marriages end in divorce because the couple was not truly committed to each other before they tied the knot. Then they start living together and closeness breeds contempt. You will begin to find out personal things about him that you didn’t know before you married him.”

  “What kind of things?” asked Ana, her tone light, matching her father’s.

  She figured he was trying to scare her into thinking twice before marrying Erik. She knew her father would be a hard sell no matter whom she decided to marry. No one, in his opinion, was good enough for her. He had felt the same way about Sophia’s choice in a husband even t
hough Sophia and Matteo had dated for over five years before Matteo proposed. Poor Sophia had assumed that Matteo was reluctant to propose because she was such a strong-willed woman, plus she earned more money than he did and probably always would. Matteo owned a landscaping business. He worked wonders in gardens. He was a sweet, caring man who fell in love with Sophia, and then found out she stood to inherit millions, a prospect that was quite daunting to a simple man like him. Sophia, however, would not let him go. She was of the mind that it was better to be loved by a man of modest means than to be used by a rich man. She didn’t need her bank account bolstered. What she needed was a man who adored her, and she got him.

  Carlo looked intently at his daughter. “That he farts in bed and talks with food in his mouth,” he said jokingly, “Things that irritate feminine sensibilities. Men can be quite barbaric at times. At those times you have to remember that you love him and overlook the small things.”

  Ana laughed abruptly. “I was wrong. You’re not trying to convince me to think twice before getting married, you’re giving me advice.”

  Carlo put a hand over his heart. “You thought that your old man would do such a despicable thing? I feel hurt!”

  “I didn’t expect you to be so accepting of Erik,” Ana said truthfully. She could tell by the pent-up laughter in her father’s eyes that he wasn’t really upset by anything she’d said. “You made Sophia cry when you told her she shouldn’t marry Matteo.”

  “I only said that because Matteo wasn’t sure of himself,” Carlo explained. “In order for a man to commit to a woman, he must first know his own heart. Matteo was afraid he wouldn’t fit in Sophia’s world. He doubted himself. Now he knows we love him for who he is, not for what he can bring to the table. Their marriage is solid. I didn’t get that feeling from Erik. He knows what he wants. He was patient enough to wait for you. That says a lot about a man.”