Kissing with Fangs (8 page)

“God, I love this man.”

Was that telepathy? Anthony almost broke the kiss to ask her what she'd just been thinking. But how crazy would that sound? He didn't want to scare her. Besides, she might not be ready to commit to those words out loud.

When the time was right, he'd explain that some immortals could establish telepathy with their soul mates. As pleased and hopeful as he was, there'd be plenty of time to explore the details later.

***

Claudia felt more relaxed than she would have expected to on the morning of their grand opening. She credited last night's gymnastics with Anthony for that. Just thinking about him made her smile.

The cook had arrived early and was unwrapping the bakery items when Claudia poked her head into the kitchen. He was fresh out of culinary school and she hoped he'd be satisfied enough with the limited menu to stay.

“All ready for our first day, Chris?”

“
Oui
,” he said with a charming fake French accent. “
C'est bon.
” Then he smiled and winked.

Claudia surveyed the spotless kitchen and realized Chris had everything well in hand.

She lit the candles and inspected the tablecloths, making sure they were clean, and wished Anthony could be there when she welcomed the shop's first customers. But, as usual, he'd said he'd arrive in the early evening.

Where
the
heck
does
he
spend
his
days?

In the five years they'd known each other, she'd never asked. She could sense the information was of a personal nature. Maybe he visited a sick relative. Or perhaps he held another job—something volunteer but close to his heart.

The desire to find out was gnawing at her. Part of her said she had a right to ask, and the other part said she might not want to know. She didn't really want to discuss it with her sponsor, because any normal woman would caution her or tell her to confront him.

Claudia knew Anthony was a good man and had dismissed the suspicions that rolled unbidden through her brain. Anyone who didn't know him might think the worst—like maybe he had a family in the suburbs.

A knock at the door disrupted Claudia's musings. The shop wasn't due to open for another fifteen minutes, but she was grateful for the distraction.

Peeking through the window, she could see the top of Sadie's gray head. Her braids were wrapped Gretel-style across her crown. Claudia had almost forgotten that Anthony's aunt would be arriving a few minutes early to set up her table where she'd read tea leaves.

Claudia welcomed Sadie inside. The elderly woman hugged Claudia and smiled.

“How are you? I've missed your calming presence.”

Claudia chuckled. “I've missed yours too.” It was good to see Sadie's familiar face. Claudia hadn't realized until that moment how important a role the old woman had in the bar before, and she'd bet Sadie would become a fixture in the new business as well.

She watched Sadie wend her way through the tables to the one in the farthest corner. Sadie put her satchel down on the floor beside it. “Is it all right if I pull this one slightly farther away from the others to give my customers a bit of privacy?”

“Of course. Can I help?” Claudia quickly made her way over to the corner table, pulled out the chairs, and grasped one side of the table.

“Just a foot or so toward the back should be fine.”

When they'd rearranged the back corner, Sadie set her hands on her hips and surveyed the whole room. “It looks lovely. Are you sure you don't mind my throwing off the arrangement like this?”

Claudia laughed. “The day I become so anal that I can't tolerate a table being moved a few feet is the day I should hang up my apron.”

Sadie looked her up and down. “But you're not wearing an apron. Come to think of it, aren't you afraid you'll spill something on that gorgeous purple dress?”

“That's what dry cleaners are for. Really, Sadie,” she teased. “Priorities.”

Sadie settled into her chair. “And what
are
your priorities, dear?”

That took her by surprise. Was she being serious? “What do you mean? I was just joking about fashion taking precedence over practicality—although I'm not going to wear an apron. I want the atmosphere to be like a home where I'm the hostess and the customers are my guests.”

“Can you handle all that by yourself?”

“I prefer being busy to being idle.”

Sadie nodded. “Is that what your sponsor told you?”

Claudia's jaw dropped. Anthony wouldn't have told anyone she was in AA, would he? Didn't everyone know what those letters stood for? Particularly the second A for “anonymous”?

“I can see I surprised you,” Sadie said. “And before you ask…no, Anthony didn't tell me.”

Claudia slowly lowered herself into the chair opposite. “You knew that because you're psychic?”

Sadie chuckled. “No. I knew that because I saw you going into the Sacred Heart Church's basement entrance one Sunday evening.
Then
I got my psychic flash.”

“Oh.” Claudia felt her cheeks heat and she hung her head.

“Don't be embarrassed. I'm proud of you. You're doing what you need to do to take care of yourself.”

“I'm not exactly embarrassed. More like ashamed. I had no business working in a bar for so long.”

“Did you drink the profits?”

“Of course not!”

“Then you have nothing to be ashamed of. Anthony wouldn't have trusted you with his business if you weren't doing your job. And now he's trusting you again.”

“That's just it. Somehow I managed to work sober, but when I got home I'd drink the rest of the night away.”

“And now you have something better to do with your evenings.”

Claudia gave Sadie a grateful smile. “Yes, I do.”

“I still worry about you.”

Claudia's jaw dropped. She didn't know whether to be insulted or just accept that people would be concerned for a while. Maybe Sadie was just honest enough to say it out loud.

“But not for the reason you think,” Sadie added. “I knew you and Anthony were fighting a growing attraction to each other. I figured it would only be a matter of time before Ruxandra discovered it.”

Claudia groaned and rolled her eyes. “I don't know what to do about her.”

Sadie reached across the table and took Claudia's hand. “Let Anthony handle her. It's the only way.”

The little bells over the front door tinkled, letting the women know they had a customer.

Before Sadie let go of Claudia's hand, she whispered, “Good luck, dear. I'm here if you need me for anything.”

Trepidation that Claudia hadn't felt earlier suddenly enveloped her…until she looked over to see who had come through the door.

“Brandee! Angie!” She rushed over to her first customers. They had been her employees at the old bar, and now she thought of them as dear friends.

Things
might
work
out
okay
after
all.

Claudia hugged Angie and Brandee in turn, then invited them to sit anywhere. She took two square menus over to them and grinned like an idiot. Realizing they needed a minute to look at the offerings, she flitted off to the cash register.

The little bells tinkled over the door again and a woman she didn't recognize entered. She was dressed like a Victorian lady in a long dress full of lace and ruffles. A huge, foppish hat covered in flowers and vines partially hid her face.

“Um… Welcome to the Boston Uncommon Tea Room. Sit anywhere you like,” Claudia said brightly.

The hat nodded.

As the woman found a table, Claudia grabbed a menu and followed her.

Brandee looked up and caught sight of the woman, and her eyes rounded, as if she were ducking school and about to get caught. She tried to hide her face behind the nine-by-nine-inch card.

Hmmm…I wonder what that's about.

Just as Claudia was about to hand the woman her menu, the bells over the door tinkled again. In came more familiar faces. She grinned and waved to Kurt and Tory.

“I'll be right back to take your order,” she said to the stranger.

The woman held up one finger. “No need to rush off and come back. I know what I want.”

“Oh. Of course. What'll it be?” Claudia said as if still in the bar, but then gave herself a little mental slap upside the head.
Reach
back
to
your
refined
upbringing, dumbass.
Her casual manner must have come from seeing the old bar's regulars walk in.

“I'd like the raspberry and chocolate scone with Devonshire cream and a small pot of Darjeeling tea.”

“Wonderful choice,” Claudia said. As she jotted down the order and strode toward the kitchen, she wondered how the woman had managed to order something on the menu without even reading it.
That's weird. Maybe every tea house offers those items.
She made a mental note to ask Chris to come up with some signature offerings.

“Sit anywhere you like, guys,” she tossed over her shoulder. Kurt and Tory headed right over to Angie and Brandee, taking the table beside them.

It seemed like old home week when Claudia returned. The guys were chatting with the girls, and Sadie stood between the tables with her hands on Tory's and Angie's shoulders. Claudia hated to break up the animated conversation, but she didn't want to ignore customers, either.

“Have any of you decided what you want?”

“I want a job,” Angie said.

Claudia was taken aback. “Seriously? I thought you were bartending at one of the local hotels. One of the
nicer
hotels.”

“I was…I mean, I am. But my boss there is so hoity-toity. I miss everyone here. Maybe you could use someone part time?”

This was the answer to a prayer. The only other employees Claudia had hired were a couple of students who could only work evenings.

“Think about it,” Tory said. “As I recall, you became the bar's manager because you were a klutzy cocktail waitress. It was bad enough when you bathed someone in beer, but imagine spilling hot tea in a customer's lap.”

Claudia's cheeks heated. It was true, but she'd hoped her sobriety would result in a steadier hand.

The bells jingled again.
More
customers.

Angie nodded to the front door. “It looks like you could use some help. I've already handed the guys our menus.”

“Hey. I was just about to…”
Whoa. Take your pride and shove it,
she told herself.

Sadie caught her eye and gave her a slight nod.

If
I
don't take Angie up on her offer, I should fire myself.
“Can you start right now?”

Angie laughed and jumped up. “You betcha.”

Claudia ripped the order pad and handed half of it to her. “Grab a pen from behind the counter and have at it. Give the orders to Chris in the kitchen.”

Brandee ordered a cup of Irish breakfast tea and plain salad, reminding Claudia she was lactose intolerant. The guys asked for coffee and cucumber-watercress sandwiches. Kurt joked that he just ordered them to find out what the heck a watercress was.

The day progressed smoothly and Claudia's prediction about a slow start couldn't have been more wrong. Every regular from the old bar and a bunch of new faces showed up. Had Sadie known this was going to happen?

The one thing that really baffled Claudia was why the woman wearing the giant hat was staying all day. She sipped her tea slowly and nibbled at her scone. Claudia checked on her regularly and was always dismissed with a wave of the woman's gloved hand.

Eventually, Claudia talked her into a fresh pot of tea, figuring the other one
must
have
grown cold by then.

When she picked up the pot with both hands, heat seared her.
“Yikes!”
She quickly set it down and blew on her fingers. Chelsea, one of the evening waitresses, rushed over. “Are you all right?”

Claudia inspected her fingers. They stung and were dark pink, but not red or blistered. “I—I think so.”

Chelsea mumbled under her breath, “You'd better get a good tip after that.”

The strange woman rose and faced them. “You want a good tip? Here it is… Try picking up teapots by the handles, numbnuts.”

Stunned, Claudia watched the woman glide to the cash register, drop a twenty-dollar bill next to it, and saunter out the door as if nothing had happened.

***

Anthony straightened his tie, using the shop window as a mirror. He was anxious for some inexplicable reason. He trusted Claudia completely, and Ruxandra had promised to stay away, so what could possibly go wrong?

Breezing into the small office sandwiched between the checkout counter and the entrance to the kitchen, Anthony spotted Claudia rubbing something onto the palm of her hand. As soon as he caught sight of the tube of ointment with the Red Cross symbol on it, he rushed to her side.

“What happened? Are you all right?”

Claudia sighed. “Yes. I was just stupid. I picked up a hot teapot by the base instead of using the handle.”

Anthony took her hand in his and inspected the burn. “I'm no doctor, but I'd say it's a minor burn. No blisters. Does it hurt?”

She shrugged. “Not as much as it did a few minutes ago. It's just a dull throb now.”

“I'll take you to the emergency room, just to be sure.”

Claudia held up her glossy hand. “No! They might try to give me pain medication. I won't take anything addictive.”

“Won't Kurt's protection spell take care of that?”

“I don't know, and I don't want to take any chances with my sobriety.”

“You're amazing.” Anthony lifted her palm to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her fingertips and another on her wrist. Then he kissed his way up her arm until he met the column of her neck and nibbled his way up to her jaw. She giggled and scrunched her shoulder and jaw together as if it tickled.

He captured her lips in a passionate kiss and she twined her arms around his neck, kissing him back just as fervently.

When they broke the kiss, she grinned. “You kissed me like Gomez Addams kissing Morticia.”

“Who?”

“Morticia. You know. From
The
Addams
Family
?”

Anthony shrugged. “I've never heard of them. Do they live around here?”

Claudia laughed. “No. It's a TV show. You probably missed the reruns, but it was hilarious. Someday I'll pull up an old episode on my computer and we can watch it together.”

“That would be nice.” Doing
anything
with Claudia sounded good—especially if it inspired more hot kisses.

“So I imagine you want to know how our first day went, other than this slight mishap.”

“Absolutely.” Anthony took the chair beside the desk and let Claudia sit in the larger one behind it.

“It was surprisingly busy. We saw many of the old regulars from the bar, as well as new faces. There was a whole group of ladies all wearing red hats. We had to push some tables together, but it worked out just fine.”

“Red hats?”

“Yeah. They weren't all the same type of hat…like they weren't all wearing red berets or anything. Just fashionable hats for the—um, older female set.”

“Ah, yes. I had heard we might be visited by the Red Hat Society.”

“It's a society?”

“Yes. As I understand it, they just get together to have fun. A member spoke to me about the upcoming grand opening when she saw an ad.”

“Ah. So the online ad worked.”

Anthony looked at her sideways. “I thought we weren't going to circulate flyers or put ads in the newspaper.”

Claudia grinned and shrugged. “I didn't do those things. I used the Internet. We had a little money left over because Kurt provided the candles.” She touched his hand. “I just want you to succeed.”

“And I wanted to start slowly so you wouldn't be overwhelmed.”

She sighed. “Maybe you were right. But Angie came to my rescue.”

“Angie? Our Angie?”

“Yup. Apparently she doesn't like her job at the fancy-schmancy hotel, so I hired her on the spot. She's happy. I'm happy. And I hope you're happy.”

Anthony remembered having to mesmerize the bartender who almost cried wolf—or “werewolf,” as it were. It was the bar's closest call to being outed as a paranormal meeting place, and what a disaster that would have been.

“I think she'll work out great,” Claudia continued. “Whether it's tea or beer, she has a steady hand. I've never seen her spill a drop of anything. Me, on the other hand…”

True. Time to change the subject again.
“So, it looks like the crew is getting back together.”

She chuckled. “Seems that way.”

“And how did Sadie do?”

“I think she had a good day too. Some of the Red Hat Society ladies had their tea leaves read and said they'd tell their friends.”

Just then a shriek came from the tea room. Both Anthony and Claudia dashed out of the office to see what had happened.

The door was wide open and a furious Ruxandra stood on the stoop. She was trying to step inside, but her foot kept bouncing off an invisible barrier. She had just raised her fist, as if she was about to smash through it.

Bloody
hell.
Anthony strode out the door, grabbed Ruxandra's arm, and dragged her a few feet down the sidewalk.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?”

“I'm trying to enter a public restaurant,” she spat.

Anthony crossed his arms. “And why do you think you can't?”

“I don't know, but I imagine you and your
whore
have something to do with it.” She pointed through the window at a shocked-looking Claudia. “What is she? A witch?”

Anthony dragged Ruxandra to the nearest side street and rounded the corner with her.

When they were out of sight of the evening crowd, he growled. “Why did you come? You
promised
you'd stay away.”

Ruxandra folded her arms and turned up her nose. “I found a loophole.”

“A what?”

“A loophole. You made me promise to stay away from
your
tea room. But as I see it, any restaurant that invites the public in is a
public
place. And I didn't promise
the
public
I'd stay away.”

“Unless the public signed the deed, it's not the public's tea room. It's
my
tea room…and as I recall, you promised to stay away from my tea room.”

“Are you sure it doesn't belong to you and your little whore?”

Anthony had to use every fiber of his inner strength to keep from grabbing her around the neck and ripping her head off. Through gritted teeth he said, “Do. Not. Call. Her. That.”

She whipped her hair over her shoulder. “Why not? You pay her, don't you?”

“I pay her to manage my business.”

“And you set her up in a nice apartment in a building where, you admitted, your name is on the deed. What do you call her now?”

“A renter.”
Shit. How did she know about that?
Suddenly he was glad Claudia had insisted on paying rent, but
dammit, Ruxandra knows where she lives.

Rounding the corner, Kurt stopped and opened his eyes in surprise. “Ruxandra. I didn't expect to see you here.” He took a step back and eyed her appreciatively. “Wow. You look…stunning!”

She smiled and touched her hair a couple times. “Why, thank you, Kurt.” Then she turned her angry gaze on Anthony again. “See? Other men appreciate my beauty.”

Kurt laid a hand on her arm. “Oh, Ruxandra. You're so much more than mere beauty.”

Careful, Kurt. Don't lay it on too thick, or she'll see right through our ploy.

But Ruxandra seemed to be eating up the compliments. “Really? What else do you like about me?”

“Well, for one thing, you're loyal. To a Marine, that means everything.” He lifted his sleeve and exposed his tattoo. “See? Semper Fi.”

“Semper what?”

“Fi. Short for
fidelis
. It means always faithful.”

She narrowed her gaze on Anthony. “I wish everyone felt that ‘fi' was important.”

“And I wish everyone kept their promises.” Anthony and Ruxandra stared each other down. At last, Anthony cleared his throat. “Well, I should be getting back to the shop.”

Ruxandra's hand shot out and grabbed his arm. “Not so fast. You haven't told me how you performed that little trick with the door.”

He yanked his sleeve out of her grasp. “And I don't intend to. Consider it a warning. Stay away.” As he stormed off to make sure Claudia got home okay, he heard Kurt ask Ruxandra to a movie.