122 - You Got the Deal

“Dorothea?”

Jon had specifically asked him not to do this, but Tony couldn’t get away from it.  He was halfway to his truck, determined to go on with his day just like always.  Then, when she’d kissed him and said, “Be careful”, the guilt began to mount.  He wanted her to be careful, too, even here at home, but he couldn’t tell her that without explaining why.

Now she looked up from her laptop in surprise, immediately frowning when she found him in the doorway.  She was at the dining room table with a cup of coffee, he knew, enjoying the calm after the storm of getting the kids off to school.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, dropping her reading glasses on the table.

Her crystal ball was in full working order.  Hell, maybe he had trouble written on his face, he thought, sliding his jacket off and draping it over a chair.  He didn’t know.

“I have to talk to you.”  He sat sideways in the bright yellow dining chair next to hers, leaning in, his arm resting along the back of hers.  “Daniel turned up at Jon’s yesterday.”

“And…?”

“And he hit Jon with a stun gun.  Knocked him unconscious for about an hour while he searched the apartment for that stuff he’s wanting from Petey.”

Cocoa eyes widened in alarm.  “Is Jon okay?”

He couldn’t keep from curling warm fingers around the nape of her neck.  Her hair was piled on top of her head this morning, leaving it bare.  “He says he’s fine, but he didn’t really want you to know it happened.  The reason he decided to tell me was…”  His thumb pressed gently into the rock-solid muscles of her neck.  “…so that I could stay on my toes and make sure you and the kids stay safe.”

“What exactly does that mean?  Safe how?”  

“Well…”  Here came the sticky part.  “We don’t think there’s any reason for Daniel to come here, but, just the same, there’ll be twice as many security guys here at the house.  Then, anytime that you and the kids are off-property, you’ll be accompanied by one of the guards.”

She was pissed.  It was written in big bold letters by the way her brows knit together and her mouth puckered. 

Too damn bad.  Better safe than sorry.

But, to his great surprise, her annoyance wasn’t about Jon, Daniel or subjecting herself to the increased security measures.  “What about you?  Why aren’t you on that list of people to be ‘accompanied’?”

“Babes, I don’t need a guard,” he explained, still gently kneading her neck.  “I assume you know I’m licensed to carry a concealed weapon.  I’ll have my Glock on me until this is all over.”

She stiffened under his touch, sitting up ramrod straight in the chair.  “You’re going to what?”

Take a deep breath.  You knew she wasn’t going to like this.  Make it okay for her.

His open palm glided over her shoulder blades in a mollifying gesture.  “I’ve done all the training, gotten all the certifications, the whole nine-yards.   I’m good with guns and I’m safe with them.  I won’t wear it here in the house.  I’ve got a strong box that I’ll hide away in the guest room closet, away from the kids.  There’s nothing to worry about.”

She gaped at him with astonishment.  From that look, he may as well have just announced that he was the long, lost love child of Elton John and Diana Ross.

“Worry?” Dorothea’s tone went cold as ice and her face contorted with something in the range of contempt.  “Why on God’s green earth would I worry?”  She slipped out from under his touch, rising to her feet and moving to the end of the table.  Tense fingers gripping the back of the chair there were the only indication that she was anything but calm.  “You’re carrying a fucking gun because somebody in our immediate universe is dangerous enough to try and kill your brother.  Someone who knows what you look like and your connection with Petey and Jon.  There won’t be a minute you’re outside that damn gate that I don’t worry, you idiot!”

“Dorothea…”

“Tony…” she interrupted mockingly, rising to her full five-feet-six inches and squaring her shoulders.  “Don’t placate or condescend to me.”

“Then stop being hysterical.”

“If I were hysterical, I’d be screaming and crying. I’m mad.  Learn to recognize the difference.”

He shoved his chair back, and was at her side with four deliberate strides.  Tony was reaching for her when she warned quietly, “Don’t touch me right now.  I’m mad enough to beat the crap out of you.”

With a growl of frustration he dropped his hands to his side.  “Dammit, Jon didn’t even want me to tell you because he said you’d go ape shit.”

“I guess he learned something during the last thirty years,” she muttered bitterly.

“But…” he forged resolutely ahead, turning a deaf ear on her bitchiness.  “…I’m not going to keep secrets from you.  That’s not what we’re going to be.  If I don’t tell you something, it’s going to be because I damn well forgot or didn’t think about it, not because I’m hiding it.  We’re in this – all of this – together.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re any less of an idiot,” she snapped.

“Nothing’s gonna happen!”  He was starting to get exasperated, not knowing how to assuage her anger.  “It’s all overkill in the precautionary department, but I – and Jon – don’t want to take any chances when it comes to you and the kids.”

“And I…” Dorothea took the heel of her hand and bumped him hard in the shoulder.  “…don’t want you taking any chances when it comes to you.  Just because you have a dick doesn’t mean you’re invulnerable.”

That was the last straw.  His hand shot out to grab her arm and haul her forward to stumble into his chest.  “Feel that?” he asked, nodding down to her splayed palms on his chest.  “That’s me, and I’m not going anywhere.  Nothing’s gonna happen.”

“Because you’re taking a guard with you, too,” she decreed stubbornly, chin tilted up at an impudent angle.  Dorothea wasn’t backing down an inch and, he had to admit, she was beautiful in her ferocity.

“No,” was his stubborn counter, ignoring the thought.  “I’m going to take every reasonable precaution, but there’s no point in a body guard.”

She remained singularly unimpressed, flatly proclaiming, “You take somebody with you, or you’re not going.”

It would be the easiest way to diffuse the situation, but, even if he wanted to, there were things at the studio he had to do.  He was going to finish up this thing today and couldn’t – wouldn’t – leave it dangling.

“No.”

The word was no more out of his mouth than he was flat on his back, focusing on the high, textured ceiling.  He couldn’t tell you how he got there, other than it hurt when he hit and the air left his lungs.

Dorothea put a foot on either side of his hips, dropped to her knees and planted her fists –not lightly – in his chest.  Her face appeared above his with a determined scowl.

“Then you’re not going.”

He was incredulous.  “Did you just use one of your karate moves on me?”   While he was both mortified and outraged, he was man enough to admit her dominance turned him on a little.  There had been no late night tryst for them last night and he had some built up frustration.

“No.” Her butt dropped heavily onto his groin with the sarcastic reply.  “I used The Force to drop you on your ass, Obi Wan.”

The Karate Kid was about to find out that he did his own fair share of physical activity.  He wasn’t a runner like Jon, but Tony spent a fair amount of time in the gym and had done some Mixed Martial Arts training.

Five seconds later, Dorothea was the one on her back, hands pinned above her head, with Tony’s hips forcing lightly against hers on the floor.  The increase in his heart rate had little to do with the physical exertion and a lot to do with the way her lips were parted in breathless surprise.

“You wanna get physical with me, Babes?” he asked huskily.  “Bring it on.”

“I hate you.”  The words carried no heat – at least not the heat of anger.

“No you don’t.  You hate that your mad just turned into horny.”  He knew it as clearly as if he’d used her crystal ball. 

“Same difference.”  She rocked her pelvis into his, smirking when she found him hard. 

Their tongues dueled fiercely as he kissed the smirk from her face.  “We’re about to have sex on the dining room floor.  Is anybody gonna come in and catch us?”  One hand kept hers prisoner and the other curved over a full breast, kneading it firmly, not really caring about the answer.

He wasn’t the only one who didn’t care.

“Not knowing is half the fun,” she breathed, arching into his touch, eyes locked with his.  The passion she’d put into her anger was now channeled in a different, much more pleasurable direction.  She was wild and wanton beneath him.

Her nipple stood firm under his touch, and he rolled it under his thumb with a wicked grin.  “I didn’t know my Babes was such a bad girl.  You like a little excitement, huh?”

“Why?  You think you can excite me?”

Releasing her and rolling away in one smooth motion, he had her lounge pants and panties down around her ankles with the next motion.  Impatient fingers skated down her mound, finding the heated flesh already slick. 

“Guess I can,” he murmured cockily against her neck, a finger easily slipping inside her.  “Seems only fair…” Tony took his free hand and guided her palm to rest over his hard fly.  “God knows you excite me.”

Shoving and pulling their clothes, most of them were merely pushed out of the way in their near frantic coupling.  Dorothea dug her nails into him, Tony biting sharply at her shoulders and breasts as the adrenaline, anger and frustration culminated into a whirlwind of desperate passion.  It was a battle of wills as to who could push harder, demand more… dominate.  They each fought to bring the other to submission but, ultimately, they both succumbed to the same explosive demise.

Lying in the disheveled mess of the aftermath, he lovingly dragged his lips and tongue over the bite marks he’d left behind.  “I thought I was too old for bad girls,” he teased.  “I was wrong.”

But Dorothea wasn’t amused.  While he thought the amazing sex had ended their disagreement, she had merely been temporarily deterred.  “Tony…”  She rolled over and clasped her hands around his head, holding him still so that he could see the sincerity in her eyes.  “This is me.  I keep it hidden for the most part, but I’m a closet worrier when it comes to the people I love.  It’s almost a compulsion.  For God’s sake, don’t purposefully make it worse.  Take a damn guard with you.  Please?  It’s an extra set of eyes so that you don’t miss something.  That’s all.”

Always calm, always in control – or so she would have the world believe.  Dorothea kept so much bottled up.  He’d known she was vigilant when it came to the kids’ safety, always watching and taking precautions, but he hadn’t realized… 

Tony tenderly trailed his fingers along her jawline, humbled that she would bare her vulnerability. It dictated at least a compromise.  Where was the breaking point between what he felt was reasonable and her fears?

In the end, there was no compromise.  Her peace of mind came first.  But this shit had better not drag on.  Jon had to finish this.  It was very quickly becoming a monumental pain in the ass for everyone.

“Alright,” he sighed.  “One of ‘em can ride along with me, but…”  He nipped lightly at her fingers.  “I just want you to know that, now, Jon’s not only gonna be pissed for telling you, but he’s gonna call me a pussy.”

Curling her fingers into his hair, she pulled him in for a long, steamy, wet kiss.  His heart was pounding and her lips were shining glossily when she eased away, saying quietly, “And I just want you to know that sex with him was never like that.  All that strength and raw physicality…  You’re as far from a pussy as they come Anthony Bongiovi.  Tell your brother to go fuck himself.”