I’m so used to having space that when he demands my attention I clam up.

“Ilaria.” The rumble of his voice seems urgent. His hand is on my wrist and he’s forcing me to look at him again.

All I can think about was how I spent the afternoon kissing him and pretending to be a happy couple in love. A normal couple who didn’t have to sign a marriage contract to make their parents happy. Just a couple of fools who are happy to be with each other.

It had been so good to pretend that we were normal but it was time to face the truth we would always be smoke and mirrors.

“Give me your phone number. I’m going to send a car for you at 4:30 and I want to have your number.” I hand it over and watch him type on it before he sends a text from my phone to what I assume is his phone.

My mind is spinning and I just want to crawl under the covers and hide.

“Are you done?”

His dark eyes look at mine and I see him bite his tongue before handing the phone back to me.

I fake a yawn hoping he sees I need space and frowns when Dante wraps his arms around me, bringing me against his body and making me melt against him.

“I don’t know what’s going on in your head, little principessa but when we get home tonight we can work out whatever monsters you have in your mind.” He kisses my forehead and I frown at the softness of it, stepping away from him again.

“I don’t have monsters in my head. Just a stubborn old Demon.”

He smirks at that and I know I’m just getting myself into more trouble with everything I’m doing but I can’t stop myself when it comes to him.

I can’t stop what’s happening and it’s all too quick and too much.

And I just have to go with it because I’ve already signed my life away.

13DANTE

I’ve been away from Ilaria for about two hours and have been very aware of the fact that she wasn’t near me. Hating every second that I had to spend without her.

She just fit beside me, this puzzle piece that clicked in with my life, and made me crave the warmth of her presence.

I like being around her to the point it scares me how much I enjoyed it.

She had sent me a text that she was finishing getting ready and should be here in twenty minutes.

I had been distracted to the people setting up, looking at the clock ,and waiting for her to arrive ever since that text. There was plenty for me to be doing for tonight, lots of last minute checks of the Inferno but all I could think about was what she was going to be wearing.

I was wearing the shoes she had bought me for our photoshoot, seeming to register for the first time she had used her own money instead of explaining it was her fathers card to anyone as she checked out. Not expecting me to pay for anything as she shopped and never even looking at me for my opinions.

She had her own money somehow and I was thinking back to how she had money with what had to be a municipal government salary.

It had to be an allowance.

Or maybe her mother left her some money when she had passed?

Ilaria had been taking care of things for so long for her father that I wondered when the last time someone took care of her was.

It was long overdue.

I wanted to take care of her, let her know that she didn’t have to do everything by herself. But it had been only 24 hours and everything felt like it was in this full force pedal to the metal feeling for me.

My mother was right about Ilaria, she was a treasure.

And I wanted to cherish her like she deserved.

Standing up, I pushed away from the desk, grabbing the glass of scotch and quickly downing it with a soft hiss as I left the office to do a final walkthrough of the restaurant before Ilaria got here and made my head swim with thoughts of her.

I was riding the elevator up, thinking of Ilaria and wondering what she was wearing again.

She had left me a suit that was a deep burgundy with a black silk lapel and a black suit that I would usually wear for something like this.

I wore the burgundy because I liked that she had got it for me.

The way she had bought me something without me knowing, having clothes sent to my office, giving me options, knowing how much this night meant to me all while she had only known me for twenty four hours.

She is an angel.

As the elevator dings and I’m about to step off, I freeze as I watch Ilaria walk in.

My heart falls to my stomach as I see her and beats in such wild erratic beats I wonder if I’m dying.

All that chocolate hair in soft waves, half pinned on one side with diamond pins. No sweet curls for me to pull at but I can’t even be mad when Ilaria’s looking like such a vision.

She’s in a black floor length dress with a slit that comes up high on her left thigh. The dress is off her shoulders, with small little off the shoulder sleeves, cut so her breasts are pushed up and on display in a way that is both sexy and appropriate.

Her heels are the same color as my suit, silk strap ribbon tied up and in bows at the back of her calves. A small clutch in her hand in the same burgundy color. Her makeup is simple but her lipstick is bold and eyelashes dark.

She is the definition of breathtaking. If I opened up the dictionary there would be a picture of her at this moment.

Ilaria is a goddess and I was ready to drop to my knees and give her the proper worship she deserved.

“Congratulations, Demon.”

Her nickname for me makes me smirk, clinging to hope that she is at least trying to build some intimacy with me.

She walks to me, swiping at my suit, like she is trying to put this picture together of me as I’m still wrapped up in her beauty, drunk off the smell of her champagne bubble skin as she reaches for my wrist, tapping my watch.

“Is this sentimental?”

I’m thrown off but shake my head no as she reaches into her bag that I realize hadn’t been closed, pulling out a box as she holds it out to me, waiting for me to take it.

She got me a present.

The idea of her buying me so much when all I’ve gotten her so far was a couple cups of coffee throws me off.