14. Nina
14
NINA
Nina
M y scrapes healed within a few days. While it was scary to be caught by two men, no lasting trauma bothered me past that first night. It was like I told Dante. Men preyed on women all the time. That wasn’t any excuse, claiming it was the status quo to tolerate and get used to, but there was nothing I could do to change the general mindset the everyday, common men held against women.
Being caught by the bikers and handed over to Reaper did scare me, and as long as I remained in this fake relationship with Dante, I was safe. I’d avoid that fate for as long as I could.
Instead of going back to how it was that first week, Dante was more present. At least in passing. He was still busy—always on the phone or taking off to talk with people. Several times, I spotted him meeting with Franco and Romeo near the pool. The one day I walked out there, prepared to swim, I found them seated at a table under a large umbrella. I'd never wrapped myself back up in a towel and bolted back into the house faster than that moment. My bathing suit wasn’t too skimpy, but it wasn’t the definition of modesty, either. I simply felt bad that I might have interrupted.
After that incident, though, it seemed like Dante was trying to encounter me in his massive house. He came home to eat dinner with me. We didn’t speak. Franco and I carried on chatting the little that we did since he was at the house more than Dante. Still, Dante was there.
And again, when I headed to the gym, I passed him while exiting it. Another time when I wanted a snack, we bumped into each other near the kitchen. They all seemed like innocent episodes of happenstance. If I believed in coincidences, I would’ve claimed that was the case for our run-ins.
Maybe he was planning it. I didn’t know. But in the week following that dinner, when I told him to act like he wanted to be with me, I wondered if he thought I meant it literally.
“He has to know that I meant it in terms of the pretending to date scenario,” I told Tessa on the phone. “Right?”
“I don’t know.”
I gnawed on my lower lip, heading downstairs to make lunch for myself. Maybe Romeo or Franco would stop through and I could whip up a sandwich and salad for them. Dante told me just yesterday that I didn’t need to put my foot forward and contribute to the household. He reminded me that they hired staff to keep the house running. But I’d gotten used to being here and feeling like I was “with” the Constellas, and it was natural to want to share a lunch with the others.
“When I put him on the spot and said he had to act like he wanted to be near me to make this fake dating believable, he told me to be careful what I wished for,” I told her.
“ Ooh . Sounds naughty.”
“But he was joking.” He had to be. “This sexual tension between us hasn’t faded, but he took an out from acting on it. That night, he saw me to bed, and there is no way he missed how I was looking at him.”
“How?” she asked.
“Like I wanted him to devour me. Like I wanted to devour him. Horny, Tessa. I was turned on from how he’d been acting earlier, and I looked like a horny woman who wanted his fine ass.”
“The night that those guys cornered you?” she asked, incredulous. “Of course, he didn’t take you up on any sexy time. You’d just been scared.”
Not really. I knew that Dante was in the building, that Constella guards were near. It was also the night that he cared so much about what happened that he killed those two men.
“It’s just so confusing now.” Half the time, I thought he wanted me, and the other half, I was convinced that he wanted to be married to his businesses and organization with no time to spare for anything or anyone else. “All these encounters and happening to bump into each other.”
“Well, what do you expect? You’re living there like roommates already.”
I guessed I was expecting that he’d treat me like he did before, that mixture of teasing me and wanting me but keeping his distance anyway.
Eva strode through the first floor, her narrowed gaze settled on me. Like every other time I saw Eva in his huge house, I prepared for another bit of the mean-girl act. It was clear that she disliked me. While I wouldn’t hold it against her for being protective of her uncle and cousin, she had to learn to back off. I wasn’t here to ruin them. I didn’t want to cause issues with anyone.
She seemed impervious to understanding that, no matter how polite and open I was with her.
“I’ll call you later,” I told Tessa. I didn’t need Eva hearing about my mixed feelings about Dante. As far as she knew, I was his girlfriend whom he seldom gave attention to.
“Call with your lover?” Eva guessed.
Why can’t you go back to the other house? I just didn’t want to deal with her. Those first few days, she helped get me a wardrobe and necessities, where she assumed I was a poor nobody to provide for. Maybe that was the reason for her defensiveness. She assumed I was taking advantage of Dante’s wealth.
If he were my sugar daddy, that would sum it up.
On her tour, she pointed out the extravagant guest house that she called home on the property. Romeo lived in another.
After those initial days, though, I didn’t have to put up with her much.
“No, Eva.” I sighed, peeved that she’d test me and accuse me of having a lover. The only man I wanted to label as that was Dante. More and more, I dreamed and fantasized about him.
“Would you like to have lunch with me?” I offered, determined to act like the bigger person, killing hatred with kindness and all.
“No.” She crossed her arms, looking me up and down and no doubt annoyed that I still wore the clothes I picked, generic, casual clothes, not the designer crap she had delivered here for me.
The bell rang before she could speak another word. I glanced toward the front door, then wondered if George would get it. I wasn’t prohibited from ever opening the door, but no one ever rang the bell. Everyone who came here had to be approved by the men at the gates, and everyone who fell in that category typically parked and entered the house through the garage connection.
“Who’s that?” I asked her.
“What, am I a psychic now? I have no clue.” Eva smirked at me. “Did you invite someone over?”
Argh! Stop already. “No, I haven’t.” I didn’t know the damn address to give to anyone.
“Should I wait for George?” I asked her.
“God, you’re so clueless. He’s off today. He has a doctor appointment.”
I nodded, wincing. “Right. That root canal appointment.” I shrugged, striding toward the door and hoping it was nothing I’d need to deal with. My stomach growled, and I would get hangry at any second since I worked out hard this morning downstairs.
After I undid the locks and put my faith in the fact that no one could come here without passing the gates, then also the perimeter guards patrolling the perimeter, I pulled open one half of the old double doors.
A slim brunette stood there expectantly. Her sneer suggested disdain at seeing me answering. Despite the breeze in the air, her styled hair remained perfect and smooth, in place. Beneath her expertly applied makeup, her skin glowed, but the too-puffy lips she curled in annoyance were so fake that I wondered if she could tell she was moving them.
“Hello?”
Her face twisted some more, contorting her cringe into a grimace. “Excuse me?”
What? I raised my brows. “Hello?”
“Why aren’t you in uniform?” she demanded.
“Uniform?” I glanced to the side, catching Eva’s eye. She remained to my right, out of sight from this visitor at the door. Rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, she stayed out of it.
“I don’t have a uniform,” I said slowly, wondering if she was unhinged or lost. “Can I help you?”
“Aren’t you a housekeeper?”
I sighed, losing patience. “No. I’m not. No solicitors, please.” Slowly closing the door, I chalked this off as an oddity. How a saleslady got past security was beyond me.
“What?” She slammed her hand on the door, keeping it open. “I’m not selling anything.” She held a bag up. The crinkly paper sticking out of the container showed that it was a baked good of some kind from a fancy bakery. “I’m here to see Dante.”
“You are?”
She huffed. “Yes. For our lunch date.”
I narrowed my eyes. If anyone could be claiming a date with that man, it would’ve been me. Falsely, in the name of make-believe, but still. He was mine .
“No, you’re not.”
She dropped her jaw. “ Excuse me?”
I set one hand on my hip. “You’re not here for any date with him.”
“Says who?”
I shot her an amused look. “Me.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“His girlfriend.”
For several minutes, she laughed so hard that tears leaked out of her eyes. I stood there, waiting until she calmed down. Trying to shove inside, she shook her head. “Get out of my way.”
I slapped my hand on the doorframe and locked my elbow. It served as a very physical blockade that prevented her from coming any closer.
“No.”
“You are not his girlfriend.” She shook her head, like the joke was on me.
I stared her down. If she was looking for a pushover, she wouldn’t find one now in me. I wasn’t Dante’s anything, not really, but this was the role he expected me to carry out. I had no idea who this woman was, so I bet I had to maintain this falsehood with her, too.
“He’s waiting for me,” she insisted hotly.
He’s not even here, idiot. He’d left an hour ago, stopping in the gym when I was halfway through my workout to tell me he was going to a meeting. At that time, I was surprised but touched that he told me anything.
“You don’t have to report in to me,” I’d teased, sweaty and gross on the treadmill.
He’d simply shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “Maybe I want to.”
More confusing words.
“He’s not waiting for you,” I told the woman at the door. “And he’s not interested in your gift.” I looked at the bakery bag in her hand.
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are,” she snarled, “but he’s not with you or anyone but?—”
I slammed the door in her face. Since a scream of pain didn’t follow, I assumed she reared back out of the way before it literally hit her in the nose. Curses and shouts came muffled through the door, but I was done. If she kept up that noise, a guard would escort her off the property.
I was too damn hungry to bother with it. Turning to head to the kitchen again, I slowed my steps at Eva’s mocking slow clap.
“Nice to see you’re not a pushover.”
I looked at her, not betraying my emotions. If I didn’t engage with her cattiness, I was sure she’d go away sooner or later.
“You stood your ground.” She followed me, not giving up on my speedy walk to the kitchen.
“Vanessa’s never pleasant to put up with, but slamming the door in her face…” She laughed darkly as I reached the kitchen and opened the fridge. “That was brilliant.”
“Vanessa, huh?” I asked as I peered in the fridge. Now I had a name. The next time I ran into Dante in the house, I’d make sure to ask him what the hell was up with her stopping by like that.
“Yeah. Vanessa Giovanni. You sure showed her.”
I shrugged. Dante gave me a role, to act as his girlfriend, and I damn well would follow through with it. “Want a salad?” I glanced back at Eva now. She stood with her hip propped against the edge of the island’s counter.
She exhaled, like she was bracing for saying something more. “Nina, why are you dating Dante?”
I mentally groaned, not wanting the third degree again. She bombarded me with all kinds of questions about our relationship, but fortunately, Dante overheard her and set her straight with vague answers.
“Because I can’t blame Vanessa for laughing at the idea of your dating my uncle.”
I huffed as I set veggies on the counter. “Gee. Thanks.”
“Nothing personal,” she said.
“Oh, I’m sure it is.”
“You’re just not his type. That’s a fact.” As I looked up at her, she raised her brows, haughty like a know-it-all. “You are not Dante’s type—at all. Yet you’re here.”
I did jazz hands, just to piss her off. “Here I am,” I sing-songed. “That’s a no on a salad, then?”
“No. No salad. Nina, why is my uncle wasting his time dating you ?” She stared at me directly, giving me no option to hedge the question.
I bit my lip, tempted to just tell her. That I wasn’t dating him, although I wished I were, so badly. That I yearned for his kisses and missed his seductive, filthy looks.
While I blurted out the truth to Romeo and admitted that Dante and I were pretending to be together, I was nervous to share that same uncensored truth with her. I didn’t know if I could trust Eva, and I wasn’t confident or brave enough to take a leap of faith and try to. I still wondered if I was wrong to confide in Romeo the little that I had, but so far, nothing had come back to me from that. Dante hadn’t come to me, demanding to know why I told his son the truth.
Besides, what the hell can I say? Oh, I’m here because he wants me to look like his girlfriend. It’s supposed to be an act, but I really wish it were the truth.
My desire for Dante was only deepening, and I realized my interest in him was like a ticking bomb. The longer I faked it, that I was merely here to pretend, the more my affections solidified and strengthened.
Sooner or later, something would snap. Something would have to give.
But I wasn’t giving Eva a morsel of truth now.
“Because he wants to date me.” I shot her a flat look that warned her that I wouldn’t say another damn word about it.