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They stood there gazing at each other. Neither of them saying anything for a few minutes. As if she’d caught a sudden chill, Anna shivered.
“You cold?”
“A little. But I hate to leave. I love it up here.”
Nicholas pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, willing his body heat into hers.
She tilted her head up at him. “Mmmm, you’re nice and warm.” Her eyes drifted shut as she let out a dreamy sigh of contentment.
Nicholas glanced around the observatory. Since no one was paying any attention to them, he leaned over and kissed her while her eyes were still closed.
As much as he hated to, a few minutes later, he led her back to the elevator. Back on the 7th floor, they exited the elevator, strolled through the lobby hand in hand back into the banquet room.
“Ah, there you are, Nico. I wondered where you had gone to.” Tony looked over at Anna. “Do you mind if I steal my nephew away for a few minutes?”
Anna glanced up at Nicholas. “No, not at all.”
Nicholas leaned toward her and spoke in a tone meant for her ears only, “Don’t leave the ball, Cinderella.”
“I make no promises. Especially if you aren’t back here before the stroke of midnight,” she whispered back into his ear.
He pulled back, chuckling. With a wink and a nod, he took one step, stopped and angled himself slightly toward her and said, “I promise I’ll be back on time, Cindy.”
Uncle Tony looked over at Anna and back at him with a frown. “Cindy? I thought her name was Anna.”
“It was a joke, Uncle. She knows what I mean.”
“Oh, okay. Sorry to take you away from your date, but there’re some people I want you to meet.”
“No problem.” He followed his uncle across the room even though where he really wanted to be was with Anna. In the far corner, three men watched as they headed toward them. “As outgoing as Anna is, she won’t have any trouble entertaining herself until I get back.
♥ ♥ ♥
Anna watched Nicholas until he was out of sight. His poor uncle thought he had her name wrong when Nicholas called her Cindy. If she would have thought fast enough, knowing Cindy was short for Cinderella, she should have said no problem Mr. Charming. But she hadn’t. The temptation to flee and leave one of her heels behind before he came back ran across her mind. But she decided against it and instead wove her way through the maze of tables, stopping every so often to talk to some of the others guests.
“Anna.”
Anna turned to find his Aunt Savia striding toward her.
“My friend Loretta…” Savia pointed toward a group of women. “The one over there wearing the I Dream of Jeannie costume.”
With no trouble, Anna spotted the costume and when the woman turned, she recognized her immediately as one of her regular customers. Anna waved to her. Loretta smiled at her and did a finger wave back. Within a second the other three women standing with her looked over at Anna.
Anna smiled again and waved at all of them.
“Loretta tells me you own that quaint hot chocolate shop downtown. Is this correct? Sì? No?”
Though her Italian was a little rusty, she understood that sì was yes in Italian, so Anna responded using the same word. “Sì. I do.”
Savia clasped together her well-manicured hands covered with sparkling diamonds. “Meravigliso! I come to your place Monday then. To place an order.”
It would indeed be meravigliso--wonderful--to see Savia again. Anna liked her. “I would love that. Not because of the order, but it would give me another chance to see you again.”
Savia patted Anna on the cheek with her soft hands. “I like you. I wish our Nico didn’t live in New York.”
“New York?” Anna titled her head. “I thought Nico, I mean Nicholas, lived here.”
“No. No. No.” Savia waved her hand. “His practice is in New York. My Tony, he need his help with a case, so Nico, he come to help him. Such a good man that boy is.”
Anna’s heart dropped into her heels. “Oh.” Pulling herself together, she smiled and said, “That’s really sweet of him.”
“That is our Nico. Anyone need help, he come. No matter what.” Her love for her nephew was evident in her tone and in the softness in her eyes. “Well, amica mia, I need to go tend to my guests. I see you Monday, sì?”
Amica mia. My friend. It blessed Anna that Savia considered her a friend. “Sì, amica mia.”
With another pat on the cheek, Savia turned and walked away, greeting several guests as she headed to wherever it was she was going.
Even though Anna felt extremely blessed that she had made a new friend, knowing Nicholas lived in New York and wasn’t here to stay, ebbed away at her Christmas cheer.
