86 - All I Want is Everything

“I’ll tell her,” Dorothea promised into the phone with an indulgent smile.  “And I’ll let the kids know to expect you tomorrow.  Be careful, Jon.”  Disconnecting the call, she laid the phone on the table and turned to Tony.  He had closed the studio today, giving them another long weekend, and come to join her for a late breakfast after the kids went to school.  “You’re not going to believe this.”

Tony nudged his glasses up and looked her questioningly.  When Jon called, he had already been there for a while, but Dorothea had been on the phone with him for nearly twenty minutes.  It was difficult to piece everything together from only one end of the conversation.  The nearest he could figure, Jon found Petey and was now on his way somewhere.

“What is it Babes?”  He held his out his open palm, silently asking for her hand.  When she gave it to him, Tony brought it to his lips for a kiss.

She smelled like wildflowers.  Thinking back, he realized that, subconsciously, he’d always associated wildflowers with Dorothea.  Even as a sixteen year old girl hanging around their family room, she carried that same scent with her.  Being the younger brother, by four years, Tony had usually gotten kicked out when she and Jon were there at the house.  But, even after she’d gone home for the night that soft floral scent had lingered in the sofa cushions and embedded itself into his adolescent memories. 

“This is so big, I almost feel like there should be a drum roll,” Dorothea was chuckling in disbelief. 

With an accommodating nod, he obliged her by drumming his fingers on the tabletop, giving it an imaginary rim shot before she revealed, “Petey’s name used to be Patience Heinz.  As in Teresa Heinz Kerry’s daughter, Patience Heinz.  As in Senator John Kerry’s step-daughter.”

Tony's jaw went slack and his eyebrows flew up into the middle of his forehead.  “No fucking way!  Petey is so far removed from what I imagine all that political bullshit to be.”  That quiet, quirky little Goth being a member of a prominent political family didn’t even seem possible.

“I know!”  Dorothea proceeded filled him in on the details of how Jon tumbled across Petey at the fundraiser, that they’d talked, Petey’s affiliation with MENSA, and that Jon and Petey were ‘officially’ in a relationship now.  She also told him how her suspicions had been confirmed, and that Daniel was responsible for Petey’s New Year’s incident.

“Jon said there was more, but it pissed him off to talk about it.  To me, that screams that Daniel has done something to Petey that we don’t know about.  Jon’s going to help her tie up some loose ends and then escort her back to New York.”

Tony could honestly say that he was relieved – both at the news Petey was safe and that Jon was in a relationship.  Yes, his brother said he was cool with the Tony and Dorothea being together, but the evidence that Jon had moved on made Tony feel better.  He didn’t feel as guilty that way.

“What was it you were supposed to tell Steph?”  He could only assume the teenager was the mysterious ‘her’ that Dorothea was supposed to relay a message to.

Dorothea shook her head and smiled that indulgent smile again.  “I’m supposed to let her know he got the girl.  She’s definitely Team Petey. He told me that she gave him hell about getting off his ass and finding her, so he wants to make sure the tenacious teen knows she can back down.”  She looked at him from under her eyelashes, adding, “He also said he’ll be here tomorrow to pick up the kids for the weekend.”

Tony was the one smiling now.  “Oh, yeah?”  They’d had so few opportunities to do the dating thing.  If the kids were home, Dorothea wanted to be there with them.  She wouldn’t go out and leave her kids to their own devices without a compelling reason.

He stood, using his grip on her hand to bring her with him.  Work roughened hands hands lifted to push through the hair she always wore loose, and it drifted through his fingers as soft as sable.

“Seeing as you find yourself with a free night, would you like to go out?”

Her chin tipped up with a womanly smile, and she slid her hands up the front of his long-sleeved Harley-Davidson tee, coming to curl over the tops of his shoulders.  “Are you asking me on a date?”

Burrowing under the back of her sweatshirt, Tony flattened his palm over the warm, bare skin of her lower back.  He used his position to bring her a little closer, his own smile shining down on her.  “As a matter of fact, I am.  Are you saying yes?”

“I am,” she echoed, bringing her smiling lips to his and brushing them softly together.

Tony groaned and deepened the kiss, teasing her tongue into his mouth and stepping into the field of wildflowers that was Dorothea.  She wasn’t coy.  She didn’t play games.  She was merely quietly confident in taking what she wanted, and offering the same to him.

Embarrassingly enough, it took about two seconds before the physical results of the kiss were pressing into her belly.  Tony had been thinking about their rendezvous on the couch all week, wondering when they might get a chance for a repeat performance.

The kids are at school.  It’s just the two of you here, alone in the house.

“Babes?” he breathed, moving his kisses to rain across her cheeks.  “Do you realize how much you turn me on?”

She pressed herself more firmly against him with a sultry laugh.  “I think I have some idea.”

“Good.” He was peppering the other cheek with butterfly kisses.  “Then it won’t be a surprise when I say I wanna make love to you.”

The sweetest, most feminine sigh of appreciation slipped from between her lips to warm his cheek.  It was one of those rare moments where Dorothea let her guard down, and allowed herself get a little bit swept away.  He loved that he could do that to her.

Lifting his face, he noted with pleasure that her eyes were already soft and fudgy, molten with want.  He felt himself melt along with them.  “Spend the rest of the morning in bed with me.  Let me love you.”

She skated an open palm down his face, and nodded, touching their lips together again.  “But you have to let me love you back.”

His heart did things a grown man of his age would never admit to – somersaults, back flips and cartwheels.  It was still surreal sometimes, the way time and the universe had aligned to bring them to this point. 

“If I have to,” he teased with an easy smile, locking their hands together and leading her from the kitchen.

☠ ☢ ☠

Some time later, they  found themselves ensconced in the big bed, limbs and sheets all tangled together in a happy, sated knot.  Tony was spooned around her, feeling both possessive and possessed.  He grinned against her bare shoulder.  Who knew he would like being possessed?

“I love you,” he murmured against her skin.

“Mmm.”  She snuggled back into the furry wall of his chest.  “I love you, too.  You make me remember that I like sex.  A lot.”

“I see where we are,” he chided with a punishing nip on the ball of her shoulder.  “You were just looking for a boy toy.  I can’t believe I’m a cougar’s prey.”

Her lean body shook with laughter against him.  “Yeah, you’d better watch out for the predatory old woman.  Next thing I know, your mommy will be pounding on my door, demanding to know why I’m corrupting her innocent baby boy.”

It was his turn to laugh.  “The only thing saving you is that I’m not the baby boy.   Or innocent,” he added wryly.   “I was corrupted a long time ago, hanging backstage at the shows.”  His smile faded a bit.  “Babes?”

“Hm?”

“Is it okay?  Us being here in this bedroom?  Or is it weird?”

Because it felt a little weird to him, knowing his brother had…

God, don’t go down that road.

“Not weird at all.”  Her hand came to rest atop his on her stomach, and she wiggled her fingers in between his until their hands were clasped together.  “This room was completely redecorated and got some minor remodeling a year ago.  I had the window seat added, changed everything from blue to green and got some new furniture pieces.  It’s my bedroom.  Nobody else’s.”

Tony nodded against her, but didn’t speak.

“Hey.”  She jostled his arm and looked at him over her shoulder.  “What’s wrong? I can hear you thinking back there.”

He was thinking.  Thinking things that were… completely unacceptable at this stage of the game.  Like how he wanted a ‘their’ bedroom, and all the steps it was going to take to get from here to there.  A lot of details needed tending to before he could let his mind entertain those kinds of thoughts.

The physical separation because of his traveling shouldn’t be a big deal – for her anyway.  She was used to being left alone, even if he wasn’t used to leaving anyone behind.  Tony always broke it off with the woman of the week before he left town to avoid the hassle. 

This was going to be…  He could already feel the first tugs of discomfort.  This was gonna be different.

Even so, that was the least of their worries.  The actual logistics of intertwining his life in California, her house and money, and the kids were much more intricate.  Those weren't things that would fall magically into place overnight. 

Hell, he still had to see if his mother was going to blow a gasket over this.  His parents liked Dorothea.  That wasn’t an issue.  No, if they flipped out on anyone, it was going to be him – for doing something as inappropriate as falling in love with his brother’s wife.   It was how they would always think of Dorothea.

Might as well get that fun outta the way.

“I’m going to talk to Mom and Pop today and mention that we’re seeing each other.”

She squirmed and twisted in his arms until she had flipped over on her other side, facing him.  “You’re worried about what they’ll say.”

It wasn’t a question, and her uncanny ability to read people freaked him out again.  She knew things she shouldn’t.  If he didn’t love her, he would think she was a creepy witch.

“No, not worried.  I just think it’s better to let them say whatever it is that they’re going to so I can stop wondering what it will be.”

A thoughtful hand stroked along his bare shoulder and down his chest.  “Do you want to do it together?  I can invite them over here for dinner.  It’s been a couple weeks since they’ve seen the kids, and I’m sure Carol is ready for her grandchild fix.”

There was Dorothea, looking out for everyone else again.  He wound her in a tight hug and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

“No, that’s okay.  I don’t want to turn it into a big production, because honestly, it’s none of their business who I’m seeing.  I’ve never bothered keeping them in the loop of my love life.  The only reason I’m even mentioning it now is because it’s a different situation.  I’ll be nice and tell them before they find out at the next family function.”

It’s another step down the road.  Everybody needs to get used to the idea, so we can get to the next stop.                

                                                                                        

He wanted to get to the next stop.  Risking his mother’s wrath would be worth it.  And even if she pulled the classic Mom routine and was… difficult about the situation, Tony had another bright spot to focus on, besides Dorothea.

At some point, Jon was going to have to let their mom meet Petey.

Tony grinned against the top of Dorothea’s head.

“We could always wait until Jon takes Petey to meet them and tag along.  Our relationship wouldn’t be a blip on the radar in the wake of that.”

“Tony!”  She poked at him lightly.  “I like Petey.”

“Hey, I like her too, but if Petey was there, you and I could have sex on the floor and Mom wouldn't even notice.  She’s not gonna be able to take her eyes off Jonny’s new girlfriend.”