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Chapter Eleven
- Noemi -
“WELCOME HOME, NOEMI.”
I didn’t believe him. His words reminded me of the quiet Dante of my youth, but the tone of his voice was anything but welcoming. I felt like a scolded schoolgirl. I felt guilty and like I’d been warned. It wasn’t a welcome home as much as it was a warning of what may occur now that I had returned. I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned against the counter.
I wouldn’t, couldn’t, let him frighten me. I belongedhere. It was my hometown as much as it was his and I had a right to be there. Did he really think he could say a few cryptic, hurtful words to me, and I’d be so scared of him that I’d never return to my home? Was he that arrogant? Dante’s character was complex. His arrogance shouldn’t have astounded me. He was commanding, owning a room the minute he walked into it. Self-assured. Confident. And overwhelming. And breathtaking. And ...
I couldn’t keep doing this to myself. One minute I was angry and hated him. The next, I wanted nothing more than to have let him keep leaning over me, pushing my back against the cold granite the way that he had. He was trying to intimidate me, yet I had never felt so safe there in the cage of his body. I felt like I belonged there and that was a terrifying thought.
I had to be done worrying about it for the day. I needed something to keep my mind off how Dante Calegari was always on my mind! Thanks to him, I had one of my goals for the day completed. I wouldn’t freeze to death when I went to bed tonight. But what I really wanted was for Dante’s body to warm me, just as it had moments ago.
I was a fool. I should have felt intimidated and threatened by him. But I didn’t. I didn’t lie when I said he didn’t scare me. Dante made me nervous, anxious even, but that tremble that had coursed through me when he bent me over the counter wasn’t from fear.
Sweet Lord, I needed a distraction. Anything to keep my mind off how easily I had bent to Dante’s will.
I messaged Lilly. “I need food. Can we use your car to go grocery shopping?”
A thumbs up emoji came back, and I grinned, but I sure wasn’t stepping foot into the Calegari house again that day. Then I remembered I’d committed to dinner. Well, damn Dante Calegari. He was just going to have to deal with it. I was home and I was staying there.
Dinner was still at least six hours away. I’d regroup by then. I would prepare myself to walk back into his house and let him know that he didn’t intimidate me.
***
LILLY CAME STRAIGHTover. What was supposed to be a quick trip to the grocery store became lunch and a visit to the salon. She gave me Gabriel’s message that the HVAC repairman wouldn’t be at my house until four, so we had some time to “play,” as she called it.
“You play all day,” I accused. I took another forkful of my crab salad and mentally sighed from the heavenly taste of it. There wasn’t anything like it in England, and while there were very British things that I would miss about Great Britain, like authentic fish and chips, there was nothing like New England seafood.
“What do you call what you’re doing these days?” I couldn’t help but tease her.
“Blogging. Brand Ambassador. Influencer.” She shrugged. “It’s fun and I get to work and shop. What could be better?”
Lilly had managed to find a way to do what she loved and make some money from it. She didn’t make a ton of money, and she didn’t need to since Gabriel and Dante supported her, but she had managed to figure out how to put ads on her blog and over the last few years, she’d expanded her business.
Lilly was quiet for several minutes before she spoke tentatively. “Do you know what I really want to do?”
I put my fork down. She sounded serious and I loved that she had something that made her think.
“I want to open a store. You know. My own shop. Lilly’s Closet, or something like that. I have my fashion degree, and plenty of followers. A little boutique downtown. I could do it, you know. I think I could make it work.” She said the words hurriedly as if I were going to talk her out of her ambition.
“I believe in you, Lilly, and I think it’s a fabulous idea. That would be so perfect for you!” Truthfully, the idea excited me, too. I wanted to see her fulfilled and writing about fashion wasn’t nearly enough for her. “Are you seriously considering it?”
She nodded. “I am. I think Gabriel or Dante would invest in it with me, of course, because I don’t have the capital to get it started, not on my own, but yeah... I think I want to do it.”
“They’d help you. In fact, I think they’d be eager to.”
“Because I’m a spoiled little princess?” She cocked a brow at me.
“No, because they like seeing you happy and if you’re this excited about something, they’re not going to hold you back. They love you.”
She smiled. “Yeah. I have to admit, they’re great brothers. You should see the necklace Dante just brought me from Spain.”
So that’s where he’d been. It wasn’t like he and I had a chance to have a real conversation about anything. We’d been too busy sniping at one another.
“I’m going to talk to them about it in the next few days. Dante said he was going to be home for a while before he had to leave again so now’s the perfect time. When he goes away on business, we’re never really sure how long he’ll be gone.”
“What exactly does he do?” I couldn’t help but ask. I knew he wasn’t in the family business, because Gabriel ran the company that their father used to run. I didn’t understand much about it. “Mergers and acquisitions” Gabriel had once told me. To someone who preferred knights and castles to contracts and revenue, I hadn’t asked for more details.
