Page 16 of Dante

For a long minute I don’t move.

My body is calm.

But my mind is not.

I just brought myself to orgasm thinking about a man who clearly resents me in his life.

Entering Mary’s room was a mistake. I had no idea of its repercussions.

Will Dante never allow me to share his bed again?

Will Dante send me away? Back to my parents?

I force myself to stop the negative thinking. In the bathroom, I splash cold water on my face.

Then I pull on jeans and a sweater and call Angie.

“It’s Gina. Want to get some coffee?”

CHAPTER 7

GINA

After crossing the street to the Starbucks, I order coffee and a buttery croissant to share with Angie.

In a perfect world, she’ll tell me that Dante loves me and I’m ridiculous for thinking he’s hooked on his dead wife.

And I want to tell her everything that happened between us last night. I want to ask if it’s “normal.”

Everything he did seemed so odd. Even weirder than the passion scenes I’ve read in the books Alice recommended.

It takes effort, but I force myself not to spill my guts. As head of the New York organization, Dante deserves respect.

I can’t rant about him to Angie, even if she is his cousin.

I find an empty booth near the window and slide in.

From here, I distract myself by watching New Yorkers spring up from the green below-ground subway stations.

Once inside the Starbucks, I see two girls my age with NYU sweatshirts gossip over a latte. To my left, a man shouts financial instructions to his broker.

So this is New York.

Just then, Angie bursts through the door.

Today she sports a cropped black leather bolero jacket and tight black leather jeans. Red lipstick and sunglasses complete the look.

She’s a dead ringer for the character Marisa Tomei played in that classic film My Cousin Vinny.

“Thanks for coming.” I leap up to give her a hug. It feels so good to have a friend.

“My pleasure. And look, you got me coffee,” she says, guzzling it down.

“I see you’re the kind of person who runs on adrenaline,” I note with a smile as we sit.

“A hundred percent. So tell me, how was the wedding night? I hear Dante is quite the stallion.”

“How would you hear that?”