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“Bull. Shit. What did I have to offer you? I had nothing. No formal education. No fine clothes. I barely spoke English.”
She looked at him in shock. “I can’t believe that’s what you thought of yourself.”
Heat tinged his cheekbones. “Then why did you leave?”
“Why would I stay?”
“That isnotan answer,” Dante growled, hanging on to his patience with the thinnest of threads.
She seemed hesitant to respond at first, but then she let out a sigh of resignation. “After Cliffy died, a part of my father died too. H-he didn’t see me anymore and nothing mattered. I grew up knowing the heir had passed, and I could never compare to my brother. When I met you, you… made me feel seen. I felt out of place in my own family, but when I was with you… everything fell into place.”
He experienced the same emotions with her. His life had been in tumult, but seeing her that day at the restaurant changed his perspective. He ached to capture her laughter and glow. He couldn’t believe his good fortune when she agreed to go out with him.
“Eventually, our lives fell apart because you were too busy building your empire, and I didn’t fit into your life either.”
The hollowed-out sound of her voice caused a twisty ache in his chest.
As a teen in Caracas, he and his crew often courted trouble, and he constantly stressed out his parents. Coming to this country had been a way for him to start anew, change the course of his life, and lift his family out of financial crisis.
“My mother often told me, ‘You need to make something of yourself.’ That’s what I was trying to do, but in the process, I alienated the woman I loved. Maybe I had become too focused on success, but I thought I had more time.”
He didn’t expect her to bail so soon. Why didn’t she give him moretime?
“You never had to shine shoes, or take odd jobs to pay the bills, or labor for twelve hours in the hot sun with only a thirty-minute break to eat.” As he spoke, he moved closer, his voice heavy. “I worked for less than ten dollars an hour and wasgrateful. Before I met you, I shared a two-bedroom apartment with four other people to save money. When I purchased my first property, there were six of us in a three-bedroom because I needed to save for my next purchase. I wanted to give you the life you were familiar with, but I wanted that life too,” Dante admitted.
He saw compassion and understanding in her eyes. They had both been lost and reaching out to each other for happiness. Instead, they’d been deeply wounded, leaving each other damaged and scarred.
“What happened to us? How did we fail so miserably?” Annabelle asked in a soft voice.
Dante mulled the question, letting the silence lengthen between them for a time. “We were young and dumb.”
The corners of her mouth jerked upward. “Now we’re older and dumb?”
They both laughed, quietly at first and then with more energy. The moment of levity was rare between them and expelled the tension and emotion clogging the room.
When they stopped laughing, Annabelle folded her arms across her abdomen. “Thank you… for the perfume bottle. I really mean that. It’s beautiful.”
“You’re welcome.”
Neither of them moved.
“I um, I guess I’ll go back to my room now.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dante said, the thickness in his voice betraying his physical response to her.
Annabelle licked her lips, as if they’d suddenly gone dry. “Why not?” she asked in a soft voice.
Dante walked slowly toward her and stopped within reach. “The great Dante Escarra has not given you permission to leave.”
19
Annabelle froze as Dante prowled closer, heart hammering in her chest with anticipation. She knew what was coming, and deep down, this was what she’d wanted for the longest time.
When his mouth finally closed over hers, she swayed against him and sighed with intense satisfaction. Her arms went immediately around his neck, and their lips pressed together in a hot and needy kiss.
No one kissed like Dante. No one touched her like Dante. She drowned in his mouth, tiny tremors rippling through her as his hands gripped her ass and forced her into deeper contact with his hard length.
They quickly dispensed with their clothes and tumbled onto the huge bed, limbs intertwined and warm flesh gliding against warm flesh as they moved in feverish exploration.
