Chapter 19 Tell Me About the Kiss

Allie

I woke up at the ass-crack of dawn Monday morning to a call from Michael.

"I'm keeping security in place at your house to keep the paparazzi at a distance. There don't seem to be quite as many there today from what they've reported to me, but it's still early so that could change. Can you stay where you are for today? I'd really like to give it at least one more day before you're out in public."

"I need to pick Gracie up. She's still at my sister's house, and she's getting upset because she misses me. We can stay with my parents for a couple of nights, but I need to at least stop by my house today to get some clothes and things for us," I told him.

Michael sighed, and I could picture him rubbing the bridge of his nose the way he does when he's not happy. "OK, I get it, but I want to send a car and driver for you to use for the next few days at least. The driver will double as a bodyguard, and he can get you in and out of your house safely."

I sighed, beyond irritated with the whole damned situation already. "Thanks, I appreciate it. This is such a pain in the ass. I hope some other celebrity scandal comes along soon to distract everybody," I said with a laugh.

"Well, one can only hope," Michael agreed. "Let's just focus on containing this particular shit-show in the meantime, shall we? Text me Ellen's address, and I'll contact the car service. I'll have them there by 8:00, and they will contact you when they're ten minutes away, as always."

"You're a pretty terrific guy, you know that? I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes."

"Eh, make me a batch of those cookies of yours, and we'll call it even. Jayne tried to make them a few weeks ago after you gave her the recipe. My lovely wife has many skills, but baking is not one of them. I'm not sure what she did to them, but the Kings could have used them as pucks in their last game."

I giggled, remembering her call to tell me about it. "I can't believe that you dropped one on the floor and it bounced without breaking!"

"Hell, I think we're lucky it didn't dent the kitchen floor," he groused, and I could hear some kind of commotion starting in the background. "Oh shit, you should definitely not come to the office today. Those assholes are already staked out in the parking lot. Gotta go!"

After showering, I got dressed in yesterday's jeans, the panties I'd washed out in the bathroom sink last night and hung to dry over the shower rod, and a T-shirt I borrowed from Aunt Ellen. Yes, it would definitely be worth the hassle of going to my house to get clean clothes. I called my folks to give them a heads up that they would be having two uninvited guests, then called Hannah, so I could let her know I would be there in a bit.

Dean answered her cell. "She's busy fixing breakfast for Gracie. You doing OK this morning? Have things calmed down at all?" he asked.

"Not really. Michael's sending a car for me, with a driver-slash-bodyguard to keep the horde at bay. I should be there around 9:00 to get Gracie, if that's OK. We're going to stay with Mom and Dad for a couple of days, so I need to stop at the house first to grab clothes and crap for us. Michael said the security company reported paparazzi outside my house still, so I want don't want Gracie around that circus."

"That sounds like a good plan. Totally sucks that they're running you out of your own home though." I heard Hannah call out something in the background, then Dean's slightly muffled voice whining back "I don't wanna ask her that!" After a bit more muffled back and forth with her, he came back on the line with me. "OK, your sister wants to know if the K-I-S-S with N-I-C-O was as hot as it looked in the picture, but just so you know, I really don't want any details, so please just give me a basic yes or no so she'll get off my back."

I started laughing. "I assume Gracie is within earshot?"

"Whatever gave that away?" he asked dryly.

"The short answer is yes, it was," I said.

"Thank you," he said, but his relief at my limited response ended when I added that the kiss was so hot, my panties had melted. I cackled with laughter as he groaned and hung up on me.

The car service arrived shortly after, and the driver and I made good time getting in and out of my house. The guy made an excellent bodyguard. When he stood in front of me, he was so big that I wasn't even visible to the camera guys trying to get a good shot.

I did make it a point to step into their line of sight ever so briefly as I walked back to the car, so they could get one shot of the T-shirt I had changed into while inside. It featured a giant pair of red lips, and the message said, "Why don't you just pucker up and kiss my big fat ass?" I figured it got my point across nicely. Maybe since I allowed them to get one good picture, they would all give up and go home.

The driver made sure no one followed us to pick up Gracie. When I got there, Dean took one look at my shirt and laughed. Then he remembered he was mad at me over the panty-melting comment and told me I was an evil woman who ought to be ashamed of herself for corrupting her poor innocent brother-in-law like that.

I just laughed at him. "Wait a minute. You're the guy who told my baby sister that she was a good 'fluffer' while standing in the middle of my living room! Innocent, my ass."

Gracie raced into the room just then, preventing him from saying anything else. Hannah came in after her, backpack in hand.

"Mommy, I missed you so much!" Gracie yelled, as she jumped into my arms.

I stumbled back slightly as I tried not to drop her. "I missed you, too, sweet pea. Were you good for Uncle Dean and Aunt Hannah?"

"Uh-huh," she said, nodding like a bobblehead doll.

"If I ask them, will they give me the same answer?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

Dean walked over and held out his arms to her, and she leaped out of my arms at him. "Yes, she was an angel, as always. We had lots of fun," he told me, giving her a squeeze and a noisy smacking kiss on the cheek that made her squeal and squirm. "Bye, kiddo. Thanks for teaching me that funky chicken dance."

"Oh Lord, she taught you that?Hannah, did you by chance catch it on video? I'd love to see it!" I laughed, thinking of the stupid dance she'd seen at a wedding recently. One of Alex's cousins had gotten married, and at the reception the DJ played "Do the Funky Chicken" by Rufus Thomas. Gracie had loved it and begged me to teach it to her.

"No, I was too busy laughing to even think of recording it," she said, giggling at the memory of her huge manly former college linebacker husband flapping, strutting, and pecking like a chicken. "She even put a feather boa around his neck, so he'd look more like a chicken!" She said through her giggles. I laughed until I had tears running down my cheeks. Dean just chuckled, not overly embarrassed at being the butt of the joke.

Once we'd all settled down, Gracie said her goodbyes, and I hugged them both, thanking them profusely for taking care of my daughter. I quickly explained to her that Mr. Marco was going to be driving us around for a few days, and that we were going to have a sleepover at Grandma's. I simply told her that the camera people wanted to get pictures since they had seen me on TV with Nico. She'd had brushes with the paps before when we were out with him, so she understood.

Nico texted me as we drove to my parents' house.

Nico: Good morning, Sunshine. Hope I didn't wake you. We're at the airstrip getting ready to take off, but I'll call you as soon as we land. I really want to see you this afternoon.

Me: No, you didn't wake me. Michael did that, at 6:09 to be exact. I've already picked up Gracie, and we're staying at my folks' house for the couple of days at least. Be safe, and I'll see you later.

It was almost 10:30 by the time we pulled into my parents' driveway. I assured Marco that I wasn't going to go anywhere for the rest of the day, but he insisted he was supposed to stay there on-duty, at least until we were sure nobody had discovered we were there. He sat down in one of the rocking chairs on their front porch, apparently planning to use that as his sentry post for the time being.

My parents greeted Gracie and me with big hugs. It quickly became apparent that they had decided to ignore the whole redheaded bitch thing, and instead focused on The Kiss. That's how my mom referred to it. The Kiss. She made it sound like an event of epic proportions, like The Super Bowl, The Academy Awards, The Kiss.

"So, about The Kiss," she started the moment Gracie went to go play in the room they kept for her.

"Ugh, Mom, do we really have to talk about it?" I asked, with the tiniest bit of whine in my voice.

Dad looked pointedly at me. "Yes, baby girl, as much as I'd rather not, we do really have to talk about it. Are you two an item now?" he asked.

"I don't know that I'd call us an item, Dad. We're more like friends who had a little too much to drink." He rubbed his midsection and looked like I was giving him indigestion. I probably was.

"Oh, sweetie, it looked a lot more serious than that," Mom practically gushed at me. "I've seen friendly kisses, and I've seen drunken kisses, and then there was the scorching hot lip-lock that man laid on you!" she exclaimed.

"Aaaaand, I'm out," Dad said quickly, hurrying out of the room before he was subjected to any more of this conversation.

"Wait, Dad...take me with you!" I called out to him teasingly.

Mom huffed. "I don't know what his problem is. He's apparently forgotten that he's laid a few scorching hot lip-locks on me over the years."

"Aaaaand, I'm out too," I said with a groan. "I need to be fed and caffeinated if we're going to have this discussion.

Mom followed me into the kitchen, where I raided the refrigerator for a snack while she poured us both glasses of iced tea.

"All right now, spill it. What's going on with you two?" Mom demanded, as she sat down at the table.

I put down the caramel dip I'd found in the fridge and grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl on the counter, then washed and sliced it as I tried to explain the situation to my mother.

"So, you think he only kissed you because he was drunk?Did he say he doesn't want to pursue a relationship with you or are you just assuming he doesn't?" she asked when I had finished talking.

"Come on, Mom, I don't need him to come out and say it," I scoffed, scooping out a spoonful of dip onto a plate with the apple slices. "We've been friends for years, and he's never ever tried to kiss me like that before."

"Well, you've never tried to kiss him before either, and I think you'd like to be more than friends. Why can't the same be true of him?" she pointed out.

I rolled my eyes so hard that I'm pretty sure I got a quick glance at the inside of my skull. "Mom, I'm not Nico's type. I know it, you know it, Nico knows it...hell, the whole western world knows it by now. So, no matter what I might or might not want, we are just friends."

Mom shook her head slightly. "You're selling yourself short, Allison Rose, and I thought we raised you better than that. Just because Nico was drawn to a certain type in the past doesn't mean diddly-squat. Did you ever consider that he was only drawn to them because those where the kinds of women who were around?" She continued more gently, "I've seen the way he looks at you, and I've seen the way he acts around you. And I definitely saw the way he kissed the beans out of you. I think he wants to be more than friends, honey."

She stood up, having clearly said her piece on the subject. She patted my arm as she left the room, leaving me to contemplate her words as I finished my snack.

A couple of hours later, Nico called to say they had just landed, and that he was on his way over. A few minutes after that, my mom came in to let me know that she had just gotten off the phone with Nico's mom.

"Angela called and asked if we could bring Gracie over for a visit. Nick's mom is there, too, and would love to see her. I told her that we would take her over for a few hours, while you stay here and relax. We probably won't be home for dinner. I think Nick is planning to fire up the grill. You know how he and your father both get that 'Have fire. Must cook meat.' caveman mentality going on when they're together anywhere near a grill." I smiled, because yes, they did tend to do that.

They pulled out of the driveway, driven by Marco, about five minutes before Nico arrived. My first impulse when he'd called was to run upstairs and put on a little more make-up and fix my hair, maybe put on a nicer shirt. I stopped myself as soon as my foot touched the second step. What the hell was I thinking?It was just Nico. It was fine. No big deal. I did take the time to run a brush through my hair though. It was looking a little messy.

I had the front door opened before Nico even closed the car door. He hadn't waited for the bodyguard to come around to open it for him as he was supposed to. Nico took the front steps two at a time, and I stepped back into the house, so he didn't bump into me. He wrapped an arm around my waist as he backed me up even further so that he could swing the door closed behind us. Without a single word, he pulled me close and buried his face in my neck, inhaling deeply.