AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"What?" I say, looking up and smiling back.
"Like this." He turns until he's facing me, putting a hand on my waist to pull me close. "Being with you like this. Easy."
"Me too, Dante," I whisper, looking up at him. We're in the middle of the sidewalk, and though there isn't heavy traffic either way, it's clear he wouldn't care if there were.
"You know I'd do absolutely anything for you, yeah?"
"I know that, baby," I say, combing back that chunk of hair. "I'd do the same."
"Never want that." I smile because I knew he'd say something like that. "I never want you to do that. You've given up enough for my family's shit. Now we're gonna be our own little family, and you're not giving up a single thing ever again."
"Dante—" I start, ready to tell him that's not how things work. That's not how I want us to work.
"Come," he says, cutting me off and stepping back. He grabs my hand, tugging me into the store we stopped in front of.
"Why are we going in here?" I ask as we enter the fine jewelers. "Dante."
"I need to pick something up."
"Dante."
"Hello, Mr. Romano," the man at the desk says with a big smile.
He knows Dante.
Or a version of him, at least. I try not to smile at the use of his "other" name.
"Hey, Julius, how's it going?"
"Better now that you've walked in, I assume," he says, and I laugh out loud. "Is this her?" he asks, and I look up at my man, wondering how on earth he has such a repertoire with a jeweler out in Lake George. Dante looks down at me with that boyish smile and taps my nose.
"I've been stocking up for you," he says.
"Dante!"
But he doesn't answer.
Instead, he walks over to a case of thin gold chains.
"This one. Can I see it?" he asks, pointing to a particularly delicate one. Julius walks over and takes it out, laying it on a velvet tray and going over the details, but Dante isn't listening.
Instead, his hands are at his neck, undoing his own gold chain.
Then he's removing it, slipping the St. Christopher off into his hand.
Then he's slipping the flat, gold medallion onto the more delicate chain before he moves behind me, fastening it to me.
My hand goes to it, and before I can even say anything, Julius has a mirror before me.
I should have my eye on the expensive, thin chain.
I should be looking at the medallion.
But I'm looking at Dante standing right behind me, his mouth to my ear.
"St. Christopher. My mother was very Catholic, old school. It's for protection from sudden death. She gave me this."
"Dante—"
