Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“I thought, if I could just make it to the door, I could get help for my mom. I remember it being so smoky that I couldn’t see where I was going. The firefighter who rescued me found me a few inches away from the door. My father must have heard the sirens and shot himself.” She paused briefly, then her tone returned quieter. “You know the sickest part?”
“No.” The Mafioso didn’t want to, either. He wouldn’t be able to make the son of a bitch pay for whatever Nadia was about tell him. If the man were alive, Dante wouldn’t even order the hit. He would have done the job himself.
“Even when I found out my mother was dead, I hated him just as much for killing himself. I was left with no one. No one who would care how I was treated in foster care. No one who would care if I was lonely. No one who would answer a call in the middle of night if my car broke down.”
Dante finally understood what Nadia was explaining to him before she even did. “Haley would pick up the phone.”
She nodded, glad he understood. “Haley bought me my first cell phone. I’ve had people ask me why I’m friends with her. I say the same thing every time. I can’t understand why she’s friends with me.”
He reached out to take her hand with his tanned one. “How do they respond?”
She curled her fingers, holding his back. “I don’t know, because I leave after saying it and cut them out of my life.”
“That’s why you asked me what I thought of her.” Dante now smiled, expecting no less from her. “You were prepared to cut me out of your life if I said the wrong thing.”
“It would have been a deal breaker, yes.” Nadia smiled back, not making any apology for her feelings.
His breath hitched in his throat at the sight. “Well, in that case, I like her … almost as much as I like you.”
“Oh, really?” Nadia snuggled closer to him on the couch.
“Mmhmm …” Dante chuckled, letting his lips get closer to hers. “A lot.”
“Well, I like you, too,” she breathed.
He moved his lips closer. “How much?”
“A lot.”
He captured her lips; it was the first kiss he’d had in years, and this time, he hoped it would be the last first kiss he would ever have to give …
The kiss was more than she could have dreamed of. She knew it wasn’t something he so freely gave. He had given his body to her that night on the yacht, but never as an act of love, like the hand held in hers or a simple kiss. That was something she knew he held tightly in his heart, only ever given to his wife.
Deepening the kiss, Nadia was too afraid he would change his mind and pull away, so she positioned herself on his lap, hoping it would hold him there with her forever.
However, it would be Nadia who had the sense knocked into her.
Pulling her lips away, she was able to think clearly. “Wait. I meant when I said we can’t ever even start whatever this is … I can’t find out what it’s like to have you in my life, only to lose you.”
He snuck another kiss on her lips. “Well, it’s a good thing I gave it up, then.”
“You what?” she asked, pulling her face back to look at him.
“I let Lucca have what he’s always wanted,” Dante said, as if the words weren’t a big deal.
She knew better to know that they were a big deal. It was obvious the family had been the only thing Dante truly cared about for years. “I-I can’t have you doing that for me.”
“I didn’t do it for you … I did it for me.”
Her heart melted into a puddle, much like she was becoming in his arms with each word he spoke.
Dante’s ice-blue eyes seemed to slowly defrost. “I can’t bury another woman in my life because of my choices. I will not allow it.”
“Oh. That changes things,” Nadia said breathlessly when he lifted her up and walked them to her room. She felt his strength with the ease he carried her. Dante Caruso was an indomitable man. He was used to wielding his power in Kansas City, and Nadia had seen people cower when his name was mentioned.
Had she been swayed with the attraction she was feeling to accept him so easily into her life just because he said he was letting his son take over for him?
“I don’t like that look on your face.”
Nadia didn’t try to hide her trepidation.
“You’re lucky Haley likes you, or I wouldn’t have let you in the door. I would have made you at least take me out to dinner a couple of times. I don’t want you to think I’m easy because I slept with you so quickly.”