A Soul Mate's Promise by Robin H Soprano Read Free Book Online Page B

and Tony come out to join me. Sal sits next to me at the end of the lounge chair. In less than a minute, he is almost nose to nose with Toby, who maneuvered himself in between us with a whiney growl.
    “Okay, enough.” Sal chuckles. He puts his hands up. “What’s the deal with your dog? Why doesn’t he like me?”
    I giggle. “You gotta give him time. He’s just used to me and Tony. I guess he’s a little over protective.”
    “You guess? This dog is like a trained Navy Seal! Where’d you get him?”
    “You know it was the strangest thing,” I began. “Not long after Rich and I started to break up, I was walking on the beach one morning and this dog ran up to me. No collar on him, and I thought, how weird a full breed shepherd pup wondering alone on the beach. He followed me home. After a few hours, I realized he was trained and everything! Your dad told me to give him a name and some love, so I kept him. I took him to the vet and they said judging by his teeth, he was about one year old and very healthy.
    “Oh really?” Sal says with a smirk. “And Pop told you to keep him? Hmmm…” He glanced at his dad from the corner of his eye as he spoke. “Interesting.”
    I wonder what that look is about, but I’m too cozy to really care. “Yeah, I’m glad I did, because he has been a wonderful companion for me.” Reaching down to give Toby a little scratch between his ears. “Really, Pop? He was just wander…”
    “Ahemm!” Antonio clears his throat, cutting off Sal’s sentence., “..Ahh..does-a-anybody want something sweet? Ahh.. ahh.. I gotta ice-a-cream inside. Sal, go get-a-the ice cream…”
    “Oh, none for me, I’m so full, and I’m enjoying my wine,” I say, still curious about what’s going on between them.
    “Yeah, me either Pop,” Sal says, still giving his dad a questionable look.
    “Okay, then no ice cream,” he cuts in. “Did you bring-a-the copy’s of your papers from Leonard?”
    “Yes, I have them,.” Sal says as he gets to his feet. In a moment he’s back with them and hands them to his father.
    I sigh loudly. “I almost had a panic attack when I looked at them.”
    “Ah,” Tony shrugged. “Don’t worry, Caro. It’s all right.”
    “Sal actually helped me to calm down,” I say, giving Sal a smile.
    “Did he?” Tony asks as he’s reading the paperwork.
    “Yeah, it was nice,” I say with a little laughter in my tone. “Very gentlemanly, coming to my rescue and all.”
    “Oh really, Son? You helped her huh? Good…good….”
    The two men exchanged looks a few more times. I don’t want to pry so I ignore it.
    We drink wine, laugh and chatted the afternoon away. Tony’s asleep in his chair by the time the sun disappears.
    “Maybe you should put him to bed,” I whisper to Sal.
    “Yeah, Pop’s just can’t hang like he used to,” he jokes. We chuckle quietly.
    “I guess I should probably go,” I say, struggling to get to my feet from the lounge. Toby gets up, too. “Tell Tony thank you for a great afternoon. Everything was wonderful.”
    “Hey, ahh, Let me walk you to your door. Please.”
    “Okay,” I say with a shrug, “if you really want to.”
    Sal walks me with Toby flanking behind, over the stone path, back to my lanai and over to the French doors that enter the backside of the house.
    I put the key in, unlock the door, and flip on some lights. As I turn to thank him, Sal snakes an arm around my waist and gently pulls me into him.
    Looking into my eyes he slowly dove in, bent his head and gave me a warm, soft kiss.  I’m stunned, then my blood seems to boil at the same time my knees get weak and I relax and lean against him. As the kiss gets more intense and deeper, I put my arms around his neck. I don’t want it to stop. After a long moment, he puts his hands on my face and slowly pulls away, keeping our foreheads together.
    “Are you okay with this?” he whispers.
    I can’t speak. I nod my head. In the pale light, he smiles, bends to