AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’d rather do something else,” I say, tracing a pattern on the tabletop with one finger.
Madi snorts. “Kylie, if you’re going to get out of the spa you’re going to need more attitude than that. Come on, give me a smack-down! Tell me what you really think.”
Oh, boy. I straighten my back, lifting my chin so I glower right over Madi’s head. I can’t look her in the eye. I try to think of what she’d say if our places were reversed, then land on exactly what I want to do. I glance around the bakery to make sure we’re alone, even though there have been no customers for twenty minutes.
“I want some goddamned fucking fun!” I declare, thumping my fist on the table. I meet Madi’s gaze as her grin widens. “I’m gonna put on a sexy dress that shows off these great tits and we’re going dancing, bitches!”
Instantly, I wonder if I’ve gone too far with the “bitches,” but both Sam and Madi holler with laughter. They both clap their hands and cheer me on.
Bolstered, I throw back my hair and grin. “And I’m going to dance with the first hot guy I see! Hell, I might even sleep with him!”
My girls cheer even louder. I’m flushed with daring as I dance in my seat. I did it! I declared my intention and I was forthright about it! Triumph surges through me…until the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. A sense of foreboding takes root as my head slowly turns, only to be met with a pair of angry dark eyes.
Dante stands in the doorway of the bakery. His hand is still stretched out, holding the door open. First I feel dizzy, then heat rushes into my face.Why can’t I seem to break eye contact?
The judgment in those dark eyes is more than I can take. I shrink back into myself. How much did he hear?
His nostrils flare and his jaw clenches. He stalks past us, tearing his eyes away from me. I can almost see the thoughts in his head.
She’s a loudmouth like the rest of them.
“You gonna just stand there brooding?” Madi challenges him.
I groan as I glance back up to see Dante at the counter. His expression has utterly smoothed out, but the contempt he throws her is obvious.
“Don’t let him slow your roll,” Sam whispers to me.
“Do you want something?” Madi demands, getting up from her chair.
“Coffee.”
Madi’s mom starts to come to the front, but Madi waves her back and gets the coffee for Dante herself, all but shoving it in his hand while raising an imperious brow. “Here. Now waddle your penguin ass out.”
Rather than leaving, though, Dante chooses a table at the wall and sits directly facing us, his cold gaze on me as he drinks his coffee.
Madi rolls her eyes with a groan as she plunks back into her seat. “Ignore him. He is just jealous that he doesn’t know how to have fun.”
“So where should we go dancing?” Sam says, deliberately turning her back to Dante. “We could run up to the city. We’ll have our pick of clubs there, with VIP service to boot. All Asher has to do is make a call”
I nod along, even though I’m not all that into the idea of dancing anymore. It’s… whatever. But once we’re away from Dante, I’ll be better again. For now, I try to pay attention to the conversation. I’m distracted, though, and my gaze continually flickers to him.
His presence seems to reach out around us. After the situation that happened with Knox the other day I can’t help but feel like the Dante Lewis I knew was long gone. Or maybe it was just that I didn’t really know him at all. My idea was simply a delusion. A messed-up fantasy that he is the dream guy I have always wanted.
To think that I had always imagined him touching me, running his hands down the length of my body as he forces me into submission. The tantalizing image of him bending me over, my arms tied behind my back as he spreads my legs and takes every inch of me by force.
Even now, thinking about it as I catch him staring at me, forces me to press my thighs together in an attempt to control myself.
Who does he think he is, coming in here? Perhaps he is here because he is trying to prove a point. Maybe me ruining his suit is just what he needs to have a reason to get back at me.
Because for the life of me, I don’t understand why he didn’t just leave.
Or why it is that every time I look at him those sinful eyes of his are planted directly on me. Eyes that seem to say so much even though all I ever really received from him is silence.
The longer he is in the cafe, the more uncomfortable I become. And no matter how much I try to ignore him by interacting with Madi and Sam, I can’t. The task itself is impossible.
He is impossible. Like an addiction that I can’t get rid of.
As time ticks on, the bakery begins to grow busy again. Madi unfortunately has to excuse herself to take on the task of helping her mother while Sam and I continue to catch up. That is until a tap on my shoulder causes me to turn and come face to face with Henry Myer.
