“Francesco said he might be my husband.”
He looks at his cousin who has been drinking vodka like water all night and has yet to seem even a little bit drunk.
“He won’t be. I fixed it. I promise.”
I squeeze his hand as he lies to me, wondering if he thinks I’m so foolish as to believe that he has managed to fix anything when the Cartel is involved but maybe Dante doesn’t understand the trouble that we are in.
Francesco did.
He had followed Sammie and I here because Francesco understood that things were dangerous.
It seemed that he realized his potential bride was important enough to take the time to watch over.
Maybe Dante could learn a thing or two from his cousin.
Maybe I could learn a few things from his cousin as well since he was the only one who had no problem telling the truth.
But I’m tired and sick of causing scenes when I know that isn’t my best fighting tactic. I’m much better at running and hiding away, staying in the shadows as people walk past me without knowing.
So I follow Dante out to the garage, letting him hold my hand and play the white knight coming to take his Principessa home to her castle.
But in reality I’m about to ruin this man, blindsiding him with a side of me he is going to regret meeting because he is playing me for a fool and the only fool here is him.
Dante thinks I’m a mafia princess, I stay away from the business because that’s what good girls do in all the females.
But I’m not a good girl. I’m just a good actress.
He stops in front of the motorcycle I tried to kick him off earlier and I wish I could ask him to take a car instead of getting on the back of it but I know that I’m not going to have much of a choice.
“Wrap your arms around me.” My eyebrow shoots up and I think about flat out refusing but instead my arms wrap around Dante as I slide behind him on the motorcycle, thighs squeezing him. “Hold on, principessa. We’ll be home soon.”
He’s throwing home around like it’s going to solve everything by using one word with me but I’m not going to be so easily swayed.
I never rode on a motorcycle before.
The closest I got was holding onto Tessa as we whipped around an island on a Vespa one vacation. It had been enough to make me never want to ride on one again.
Tessa is our getaway driver because she’s fast and thinks quick. Not because she is a good driver.
But it seemed Dante’s kink was taking away my options.
The best part of the ride is not having to talk. To just be quiet as the world passes us by. It is calming to just fly through Boston at night.
The ride is only ten minutes, Dante being careful with the speed limit and pressing his hands over mine several times as if he was checking to make sure that I was holding on tight enough.
As we wait at a red light, Dante’s hands come back, hooking my thighs as he tugs me closer to him. His fingers stroke the back of my upper thighs as I squeeze onto him, trying not to think about how the soft spot he was touching had my mind spinning.
He gives my thighs a firm squeeze before sliding one hand to the handlebars, lifting his feet as we speed off again. One hand still strokes my thigh for a second before slipping off and instantly making me miss the contact.
Fuck.
My feelings are confused as I fight off the starved way I want him, the hunger he evokes inside of me that feels like I’m burning up from the inside out.
And still I’m furious at him.
“You’re quiet.”
“Would you rather I create a scene in public again? I thought once a day was enough.”
My quick comeback, as Dante helps me off the bike, has him glaring at me. His eyes on me as he pulls the helmet off. His fingers running through my hair and tugging me closer, his lips brushing against my ear.
“I don’t want to fight with you but if you ever disrespect me again like that I will pull you over my knee and spank you in front of everyone to remind you of your place.”
His hand unclenches from my hair as my eyes widen at the threat he had just delivered.
How fucking dare he try to take the upper hand?
But I wasn’t going to speak until we were inside.
I wasn’t going to hold his hand and play nice. I wanted to just change into something to sleep in and curl up on the couch because there wasn’t a chance in hell that I was going to curl up and sleep in bed with the asshole.
Dante reached for my hand, a sound leaving his mouth as I stepped in front of him and cut him off, opening the door to the apartment complex before he could do it.
Hearing his curse as he walks behind me watching me as I smash the button to the elevator, listening to the way Dante breathes behind me, loud puffs of air as he sighed out shifting the helmets that he held to one hand as the door opened and he used his body to push me inside.
I gasp out as he slams a button to shut the door as he slides the pass to the penthouse over the censor and we start heading up.
Dante’s hand is on my hip, his body pushing into mine making me stay flush against the wall.
