“Well, that was some speech,” She spun around, eyes flashing. “But let me ask you,marita mio, who are you to suggest I’m shallow enough to walk away just because you lost your temper? Give me some fucking credit, will you?”
I pushed off the doorjamb, swallowing. “I was just trying to…”
“Apologize?” she snorted. “Well, as apologies go, that one was shit. I need you to listen to me, very carefully. I am not your father.” I opened my mouth to argue, and she held up her hand. Like Pavlov’s dog, I snapped my lips shut.
“I will never leave you. I will never betray you. I will never sell you out. I made you a promise—from first dark breath to last dying star, what is joined tonight may never part. Remember?”
“A promise made under duress,” I muttered and would have said more, but her glare shut me up for good.
“This does not work between us if you doubt me at every turn. If you doubtyourself. There has to be trust, and that trust has to hold us together, even through the darkest times.Especiallythrough the darkest times. If you can’t trust that my loyalties lie with you, then no words will ever convince you of the truth. You have to believe, in your heart, I will always choose you, Dante. Just like I know you willalwayschoose me.”
I exhaled hard, a fierce, sudden pressure squeezing my heart until I was dizzy.
“I do understand, I really do.” Her eyes gleamed brightly. “Everyone in your life has let you down, except for Gabriel and Nico.Everyone. Both of us are short on trust, but we can rely on each other.” She stretched out her hand. “Let’s build a new family, Dante. Me and you, Gabriel and Nico. My brother. And maybe it won’t look like everyone else’s family from the outside, but we can fill this house with love. A safe place we all want to come home to at the end of the day.”
Every part of me was shaking.
This was… impossible. She should be kicking me to the curb for how I behaved.
People like me didn’t get second chances.
In this world, people like me didn’t get chances at all, yet here I was, staring at my future. A wife I loved, offering to guide me out of this tangled black hole I was trapped inside.
It was far more than I deserved.
I blinked my burning eyes. “Sounds good to me,” I said gruffly as I slipped my hand into hers. “I fucked everything up today. And I’ll probably fuck up again.”
“Well, I snuck out and came back with my brother, who was supposed to think I was dead, so….” She shook her head, smiling. “Gods, we’re a pair, aren’t we?”
“We are,” I agreed, pulling her to her feet, pleased to see she wore only a pair of black panties and a bra. The bruises had almost faded; all she needed was to feed, and they’d be gone. A tremor of pure lust went through me at the thought of having her at my throat again.
“Have I told you how beautiful you are? Or how you take my breath away?”
“Not in the last twenty-four hours, but I am all ears, husband. Let the groveling commence.”
“You want groveling?” I tipped my head to the side, suddenly serious. “I’ve never groveled in my life.Ever.” I walked her backward a step, my fingers capturing her wrist. “Do I really look like the sort of male who would beg foranything, Emberline?”
“No,” she said quietly, an edge of something in her voice that made my heart clench even tighter.
“In all my days, through all my pain, I’ve never begged, Emberline,” I tightened my grip, her pulse thundering against my palm. “Begging goes against my nature, you see. Goes against every bit of my pride.” I leaned close enough, our lips touched.
“And I am, if nothing else… a proud male.”
39
EMBERLINE
I’d only meant it as a joke, I thought miserably, yet here we were, back to being on opposite sides of some invisible line that always seemed to keep shifting.
“But for you…”
My heart stopped beating when Dante dropped to his knees and pressed his lips to my palm, his mouth warm and wet and real. Then he looked up at me, emotion glowing in his brilliant blue eyes like twin flames.
“For you, Emberline, I will always kneel because my pride is nothing against how much I love you. How I worship you. How the fucking sun rises and sets for you. I think…” He paused, as if choosing his words. “I think my life only began the day I saw you.”
“You mean the day you stole me at the altar,” I choked, tears flooding my eyes, turning him hazy, which was a shame because he was really magnificent, down on his knees, a mountain of pure muscle staring up at me with equal parts hunger and adoration.
“That day, yes.” His smile was gentle. “And every day after.”
