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“I love you, Ina.”
She pulled back and looked up at me with tears falling from her eyes.
“Ye’ve no idea how much ye’ve just made me life ten times easier. Somethin’ as small as this doorbell will make such a difference to me.” She reached up and touched her hearing aids. “Without these, I’m deaf.”
“Don’t worry, country.” I pressed my forehead down to hers. “I’ll be your ears.”
She sucked in a breath. “Dante, I love you so much.” She gripped my neck tightly. “I thought I experienced love, but I didn’t. Never like this.”
“You’re my first love, Ina. Me only.”
“You’re my only, too, honey.”
I licked my lips and said the next thing that came to my mind.
“Move in with me,” I asked. “Please.”
“Yes,” Ina answered without hesitation. “Yes!”
I smiled and leaned down to kiss her, but she paused. “Will you move in with me?” she asked. “We’re always in my apartment compared to yours, and ye did go through all the effort of installin’ me new doorbell.”
“Country”—I rubbed my nose against hers—“ye’ve got yourself a deal.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Date
* * *
“Heard you and Ina moved in together last week.”
I was in the pit of bay four, walking up the steps, removing my gloves and tossing them in the bin as I went.
“Yeah,” I answered Damien in a grumble. “What about it?”
“Nothing.” Damien shrugged, leaning a shoulder against the leg of the lift. “Just making conversation.”
I paused and tilted my head, bewildered. “You want to make conversation with me … why?”
Damien pinched his eyebrows together in annoyance, and I grinned, catching on that he wasn’t here out of the goodness of his heart. More like the goodness of his missus’s heart.
“Lana.” I shook my head. “She wants us to be best friends, huh?”
“Not exactly best friends,” he grunted. “Just not enemies. She doesn’t like that she can’t mention your name without me—”
“Becomin’ a jealous dickhead?”
Damien’s lips twitched. “Precisely.”
“And what?” I crossed my arms across my chest. “’Cause I have a missus now I’m suddenly approachable?”
“A woman you live with and love now.” Damien nodded. “That is what makes ye approachable. Ye were still Date before that commitment.”
I arched an eyebrow. “I’m still Date.”
“No, you’re not.” He rolled his eyes. “You’re Dante now. Date died the night he met Ina O’Shea. Everyone just calls you Date ’cause it’s your nickname.”
I stared at the ugly blond freak of nature and realised that he was fucking right. Christ almighty. That knowledge made me a little unsteady on my feet. I was Date, but I wasn’t at the same time, and it was all because of Ina. That was a lot to swallow.
“Now,” Damien continued. “You’re trustworthy around a man’s woman, which is why I’m trying to make amends.”
That made me bristle. My nickname was Date because I had once been a womaniser and fucked more women than most men could ever dream of, that was all well and true, but I was not a fucking homewrecker. Any woman I ever fucked or messed around with was based on the knowledge that she was single and had no man.
“I’ve never fucked a woman if I knew she was in a relationship.” My eyebrows took a nosedive. “The few dozen times I did, I was as pissed off as the scorned boyfriend or murderous husband tryin’ to kill me once I found out. Don’t insult me. I don’t willingly break up homes. I’m not that man.”
Damien held up his hands. “I’m just being honest, bro. I’ve never seen one man get as much pussy as you do, or did. Trust me, I’ve seen men have pussy on tap, but you’re on another level. Gav estimates ye’ve been with over a thousand women. What man would want his woman around you … be honest? I wasn’t risking my Alannah with you no matter how solid me and her are because … because—”
“Because I had her before.” I finished, noticing his hands flexed. “I understand. If it makes ye feel better, I never loved Alannah, just liked her. What I have with Ina, I don’t even remember past women, and that’s the God’s honest truth. I may have seen Alannah naked and we, uh, ye know, a dozen or so times, but it’s all a blur now.”
I was trying to make Damien feel better, but the bloke looked like steam was about to come out of his ears. “Ina’s gorgeous,” he taunted in a snarl. “One of the prettiest women I’ve ever seen. And that ass? Damn.”
My temper flared. “Don’t be thinkin’ she’s gorgeous, and don’t fuckin’ think about her arse.” I glared at him, taking a step forward. “Don’t think about her at all.”
“It’s a sick feeling, right? Thinking of your girl and another guy?”
I clenched my jaw. “Yes, it is.”
“It’s worse for me,” Damien continued. “Because you actually touched my girl.”
