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“Eggs Benedict,” he answers, and I pause, absorbing that. I remember what they are and nod.
“They are.”
ChapterFive
Dante
I’m so glad we played twenty questions and got to know each other’s little quirks. I wouldn’t have otherwise known that eggs Benedict are her favorite. And that her favorite color is purple; it’s why her hair is the lilac color right now.
When the doctor and I were checking her over for injuries, I also noticed the birthmark on the back of her neck. Something about it keeps niggling the back of my mind. A memory or something, but I can’t place it now.
I watch her carefully eat and help her when she will let me. It still guts me that she asked if I was the one who hurt her. I know why she did. I look down at my broken knuckles, not remembering hitting the men, just slashing my knife and ending their lives.
“Are you okay?” McKenna’s soft voice breaks me from my thoughts. I look at her and smile.
“Of course. You’re awake and looking beautiful. I couldn’t be better.” I try to relax my body that went tight remembering her lying there broken and beat.
“You’re lying. You were just…” She pauses. “You were growling is the only way to describe the sound that came from you. And I look like hell. I don’t have to look in a mirror to know I look awful.” She waves her left hand down her body. I rise from my chair and lean over her. She is so attuned to me. It’s the only way she would have known I was upset at the restaurant and now. I don’t remember making a noise though. Something about my doll makes me lose control of my carefully contained temper.
“La mia bambola,you are always beautiful to me. As soon as I saw you, it felt like the sun shining on me. For a man like me, that is important.”
“What kind of man are you, Dante?”
I want to keep my family and past from her, but she deserves to know. I lift her left hand and drag my lips across the ring on her finger as I stall for a moment. I know she will try to push me away when I tell her what kind of man I am and who my family is.
“Remember,bambola, you are mine and promised to be my wife.” The little white lie slips past my lips. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her. “My family is very important here in Northern Italy. We don’t think it’s why you were attacked, but I have a friend looking into it. I’m a hard man. Most people fear me, but you have never.”
She looks back at me and doesn’t say anything. She waits for me to continue, and I like that about her. My feelings are growing and will only become more intense, but I can’t tell her that until she has time to heal more.
“After my sister was taken, I left the family. I work at my vineyard and the other businesses I run.” That is one of the biggest things I worry about. What if my job as a hitman has come to hurt McKenna? What if she was targeted because of me? It’s why I thought of leaving her. But my father is correct. The only way to truly protect her is to bring her into the fold of the family. She is my greatest weakness…and strength.
“What kind of businesses do you have? I know you probably told me before, but now I don’t remember. I feel things though. Like when you told me your family is important, I knew what you meant. It’s all right here.” She touches her forehead. “We just need to find the right key to unlock my memories. We don’t know what it will be.” She repeats what the doctor said about her memories.
They are locked up there in her beautiful mind, and it only takes the right key to open it. Or she could never recover them. I don’t know which I prefer, but I’ll take all or part of her. Whatever she gives me. I’m a greedy bastard. I want all of her and can’t wait until we get back to my villa, where she will be all mine. The doctor said we could go home as early as tomorrow.
“Of course, I have the vineyard and winery. I do import and export too. Plus, I have another business, where I take care of problems for people.” I kiss her knuckles. Her poor fingers are bruised from being stomped on and from trying to deflect the blows.
She pulls her hand from me and holds it to her chest. “Will you ever answer my questions completely? I asked you how long we’ve known each other and you didn’t answer that. Now you talk in a circle around your businesses. Dante, I can tell you I don’t know who I was before, but me now, I don’t know who to trust or what. However, I’m going to fight for me from now on.” Her little chin tips up, and even amongst all the bruises, I see her beauty and fight. I see the woman who peeked out every once in a while that day.
I reach for her hand again. “Trust your heart and feelings. I’d never hurt you purposely.” She starts to pull away again, and I hold up my other hand. “I say purposely because, yes, my family or jobs could put you at risk, but I’ll protect you. You are a fighter. You fought to get free from your past before. You fought to become this beautiful woman lying before me.” I wave my hand down her body. “I can tell you we didn’t know each other as long as others would have before they became engaged. But we knew. You and I are meant to be together. You are mine. Don’t ever forget it.”
I watch as she carefully pulls her swollen split lip between her teeth and gently bites it. I want to bite it. I want to squeeze her neck like I did before the attack, but I don’t know if she will be into that now. I stand up over her, letting go of her hand. I brace my large body over hers and cage her to the bed with my arms. I lean down and kiss her forehead. Her broken, bruised, cute nose. I move to her lips and sip from them before she opens and I take the kiss deeper. I’m about two seconds from pushing away her tray and climbing on the bed to put her body under mine when a throat being cleared causes me to pull away. I turn to see my father standing there and some of his guards standing behind him.
He's got a smirk on his face as I growl at him for interrupting us. When I pull away, I don’t hide that I have to adjust myself. But I look up at the cute squeak and see my doll blushing, her eyes focused on my crotch.
Ignoring my father, I lean back over her and kiss her ear. “All for you,la mia bambola.”I sit back down and take her hand in mine.
“I see you are eating,la mia bella, che presto sarà figlia.” My father moves to the bed. “I’m Mattia Lupo, Dante’s father. We didn’t get to meet before your attack. And I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances that we have to meet. But I’m so proud to call youfiglia.” He reaches for the hand I’m holding, and I don’t want to let it go.
She’s smart enough, she figured out what my family is, but having it pushed into her face right here with the Capo standing in front of her might be too much. She pulls her hand from mine and reaches out to shake my father’s hand. He takes it and flips it to kiss the back of her hand.
“What did you say in the beginning, and what isfiglia?” she asks him, enunciating perfectly. It makes me wonder if she spoke Italian before.
“I called you my beautiful soon-to-be daughter.Figliais daughter. I know my son calls youbambola. I’d like to call you daughter, if that’s okay?”
She tips her head to the side for a moment, thinking, and then smiles. Even with all the bruises, I feel like the sun is shining on us. She brightens the darkness that surrounds me. “Of course. I don’t have family, so I’d love it.” I look at her, and she turns to me with her eyes wide. “Wait! You didn’t tell me I don’t have any family, but somehow I knew.”
Movement over her shoulder stops me from responding to her. My father is looking at the back of her head. The bandage on her head has her hair pulled up, exposing her neck.
