Chapter 11

After assuring Sid that she could manage on her own tonight, Sid agreed to close up so Cilla would have time to get herself ready. It was just going to be casual evening and she had no trouble with casual.

She rushed up to her apartment and showered quickly. She unwound her hair from its knot and found it was still damp. She ran the dryer through it and brushed it until it shone. Donning her favorite faded jeans and a pale pink t-shirt she tucked her bangs behind her ear and headed to the kitchen to pull together some sort of appetizer.

By 6:45 Cilla had her table set, fresh salsa and toasted pita chips were on a platter waiting patiently on the coffee table, a pot of water was on the stove and a sauce of italian sausage, black olives, garlic, olive oil and fresh diced tomatoes was simmering. She had even brought a plate of desserts up from the shop. As she was selecting some music, the knock she was expecting came.

Opening the door she found herself nearly stuttering. He looked just as amazing tonight in jeans faded nearly as bad as hers and a pale blue t-shirt as he had last night in his white dress shirt and black pants. He had a bottle of wine in one hand and an enormous bouquet of spring flowers in the other. "Hi there." She stepped aside, "hi yourself. Come on in."

She shut the door behind them and turned to find Jon standing in the middle of the room, his back to her. God he has an amazing ass. She shook her head, come on Cil, don't blow it. "Are those for me?" He turned to find her gesturing to the flowers. "Oh yeah, here." He handed them to her "I didn't know what kind were your favorite, but I thought those looked nice." She smiled, "I don't really have a favorite. No one's ever given me flowers before."

He watched as she rummaged for a vase to put the flowers in, damn she looks good in those jeans. He scanned her up and down, the glint of sliver at her pretty bare feet stopped him. A toe ring, damn. He found body jewelry to be especially sexy. She moved to the sink with a glass pitcher and arranged the flowers. "Anything I can do to help?" He felt slightly useless just standing there watching.

She looked over at him, he looked out of place here in her little apartment. "You could open the wine. Corkscrew is in the drawer to your left." He rummaged in the drawer and opened the wine. She got out two goblets and they went and sat on the couch.

Cilla jumped up almost as soon as she sat down. Jon grabbed her glass before it fell to the floor. "Where's the fire?" She gave an embarrassed smile, "I forgot the music. I had just loaded the player when you knocked." She moved over to the well-loved CD player and pushed play. The tinkling sounds of the piano filled the room as she sat back down next to him. He crunched on a chip as she settled herself, "this is delicious." She sipped her wine, "thanks, I wasn't sure what you liked, but this always seems to go over well." He rested his hand on her leg just above her knee, "I eat pretty much anything."

The heat from his hand seeped right through the worn denim of her jeans and settled in a place she didn't want to think too hard about. "Glad to hear that." He smiled, "Cilla you need to relax. I'm just a regular guy." She sipped her wine, "I know, but it's still hard to believe that you're here in my apartment and interested in me."

Jon thought about that for a minute, "what did he do to you?" Cilla jerked her eyes to his, "who? What are you talking about?" He took her glass and set it on the table before taking her hands in his, "there has to be an ex somewhere in your past that made you doubt yourself. The other day in the Park you said you were nobody special. Cilla, everybody is special in their own way. So, what happened? Why are you so afraid?"

She pulled her hands from his and stood, pacing to the kitchen and back before looking at him. No one had ever questioned her about this before. How could he be so perceptive? "My ex-husband. We divorced several years ago. He had issues." She turned back to the kitchen and turned the pot of water on. Jon came up behind her, "issues, what kind of issues?"

He turned her to face him, "did he hit you?" Cilla looked down at the floor, not wanting to answer the question, but wanting to be honest with him. She looked back up at him, "just once, but he loved to use his words to beat me down."

She walked over and picked up her wine glass, taking a deep drink. "Sid took me in after Charles hit me but I ended up going back. He swore up and down that he was sorry and we were good for a while, but then he changed. He'd yell at me about stupid stuff like the toilet paper going the wrong way on the roll or that the pillows on the weren't on the bed the right way or that my shirt was the wrong color. It all depended on his mood on that particular day. When I served him with divorce papers he went ballistic. He actually thought I was leaving him for Sid. Somewhere along the way Charles got it in his head that Sid and I were sleeping together."

Jon nearly laughed at that but the look on Cilla's face stopped him. "I'm sorry Cilla, at least you had Sid to help you through. A lot of people don't have someone as loyal as he is."

Cilla moved to the stove and stirred the pasta, "I know." She turned to look at Jon, "Sid is my Richie. He's always there when I need him; just like I am for him. I'd lay down my life for him. He'd do the same for me. Nearly has more than once because of Charles." She waved her hand wanting to end this particular conversation "now you know all about poor Cilla Preston. Sorry you asked?"

Jon shook his head and moved closer to her, "not at all. Makes me want to find out more about you actually. You're a strong woman Cilla, and more special than you give yourself credit for." She nearly snorted, "I'm just plain old Cilla Preston Jon, you're the special one, not me." He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. Cupping her face with one hand he tilted her chin up so he could look at her, "I'm not going to argue with you about this. I'm just going to have to show you just how special I think you are." He lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers.

Cilla's eyes slid shut as his mouth met hers. He nibbled along her bottom lip, tracing it with his tongue, waiting for her to catch up. She parted her lips and he delved inside, tasting her fully for the first time.