23. Victoria
23
VICTORIA
Thursday, September 12, 8:30 AM
I have class today, but my first one is Modern Literature and I had every intention of skipping until Dante remembers it’s a school day and wakes me up with a rough shake.
“Up, princess. You have class.”
“I’m playing hooky.”
He mercilessly rips the comforter off the bed, leaving me to violently shiver as the chilled air sinks into my skin.
“No, you’re not,” Dante commands. But—to what I’m sure is going to be his ultimate disappointment—he can’t force me to go anywhere.
“It’s just some gen ed class,” I whine, curling into a ball and trying to contain as much of my body heat as possible. “Let me sleep.”
“Victoria…” And there’s that superior, pompous tone of his again, the one that says he’s sure I’m going to fall in line.
“Dante…”
“Get your ass out of bed. I’ll take you to your dorm to freshen up.”
“Negative, Professor,” I retort back, exhaling a soft sigh from my lips. “I’m trying to sleep. I’m going to ignore this phase of my life. You’re going to have to deal.”
“What did I say about calling me ‘professor’?” His voice is raspy and the growl makes me shiver for a whole different reason.
“Um…”
“You can’t stay in this bed forever.”
“No, but I don’t want to get up until I have a better understanding of all this. It’s a lot to process.” I can still feel Dante sitting on the bed next to me, but he doesn’t respond. “It would help if you told me how you’re going to get the last two million dollars we owe without me having to get pregnant.”
“Would that be so bad?”
He literally has no idea and I pop my up head from the comfort of my pillow to crack an eye open to look at him. “Why do you say things like that? Are you just trying to rile me up so I get up and go to class?”
“Yes.”
Dickhead.
“Didn’t work,” I reply, tucking back into my circle of warmth.
“A pregnancy would be easiest, Victoria. I don’t know if my contact will come through.”
“I don’t want to bring a child into this world. Especially not if it will be in danger from the moment it’s born.”
“I would never let anything happen to either one of you.”
“How can you promise me that? We aren’t going to stay married, and—no offense—but I don’t allow my exes to hang around.”
“You let Liam.”
“I was weaning Liam off,” I counter. “But then he got me involved in this mob shit and that plan fell to pieces.”
“If we go to Paris?—”
I jolt upright, trying to puzzle through what he could mean. “What do you mean if we go to Paris?”
Dante’s brows knit together in a small scowl. “If you’d stop interrupting, I could explain.” I press my lips together and after a moment he continues. “I need to find a way to get you that passport you wanted. But my nephew’s shitty little friend isn’t nearly reliable enough. If he ratted you out to Liam, he can’t be trusted.”
“You mean…like us leaving without paying back Angelo?”
“That’s a perfect world scenario. But whether we pay him back or not, I’m not leaving until he’s dead.”
Dante doesn’t even flinch as he freely spells out his plan to murder a man. My blood runs cold. “You can’t.”
“I can,” he states matter-of-factly. “And I will. He murdered my brother.”
Shit.
I knew Liam’s father had been murdered, but dealing with my own issues meant I never stopped to think how knowing his brother was murdered would make Dante feel. What it would mean to meet with the very man responsible for taking part of your family away. What it would take to agree to follow that man’s orders.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter, reaching for his shirt and balling it into my fist in silent comfort. “We’ll do whatever you want to do.”
“Is that so?” Dante pushes back. “Because you seem to have an opinion on everything.”
“Am I not allowed to have one?”
“That’s not what I said. But I’d love it if you’d come to me when you have doubts so I have a chance to address them.” He groans, chucking a finger under my chin and bringing my eyes up to his. “However, I can’t—won’t—tell you everything. You’re a liability. If the cops catch on to this shit, I don’t want you to know anything.”
“Why? Because you think I’ll rat you out?”
“No, because I don’t want you to have to lie for me.”
I don’t get this man.
I really don’t.
One minute, he’s an asshole. And the next, he says something so thoughtful it causes my brain to short-circuit.
He really wants to save me from this.
If he didn’t, we wouldn’t be fighting about it every two seconds. He wouldn’t be so adamant about getting me to calm down and accept the breadcrumbs of his plan that he’s willing to share.
“Do you think we could get out of the States without paying him?” I ask curiously. “After you…”
“Well, he’d be dead, so what’s six million worth to him then?”
“I don’t want you to get caught up with the rest of his people,” I explain. “I understand why you want to…do what you want to do. But what are you really willing to risk? Without you, I’m stuck here.”
“Without me, you’d still have a passport. I won’t go after Angelo until everything is in place for you to leave.”
“I won’t just abandon you.”
The comment flees my lips before I can stop it, but I know I wouldn’t be able to leave him behind, not without feeling like I was betraying him.
I fell asleep last night with his assurances playing on a loop in my mind. Dante doesn’t want to leave me to suffer at the hands of Lombardi. He couldn’t walk away knowing I’d pay the price.
How could I ever abandon him to the law or the Lombardi mob when he’s sacrificed his chance at freedom for me?
“You would if you had to,” Dante states firmly. “That would be part of the plan.”
“Plans change.”
Dante’s eyes narrow and I can see his steely determination. “Mine don’t. You will have a way to escape before I move on Lombardi. There will be no choice but to execute it. You will do as I say. Do you understand me?”
No.
But this mob shit isn’t my area of expertise. I don’t know the first thing about how to save this man from this godawful mess—or himself.
“I need you to say the words princess,” Dante bears down, seemingly reading my mind. “You’re not going on any rescue missions.”
“You did.”
“I’m me. Once upon a time, this was my whole world. I know how to survive it.”
“I don’t agree with your plan,” I retort softly. “Mine is for both of us to go to Paris.”
“I don’t want to go to Paris.”
“You just told me earlier that we ? — ”
“That’s to get you set up,” Dante asserts. “To make sure that you’re?—”
“Hell no,” I argue. I thought we were a team, partners, not a one-man show. “We’re in this together.”
“If Angelo is dead and you’re out of danger, that’s it. We’re done.”
My chest deflates and I don’t even understand why. Dante is like no one else I’ve ever known, and for some reason he draws me to him like a moth to a flame. He took hold of my life, wrapped it up tightly in his hands, and now he’s working to save not just my life, but my dream. But he barely knows me and he definitely can’t stand me. He can’t wait to be rid of me.
I shouldn’t be all that surprised.
Something is broken in me. Flawed. It’s too easy for everyone I meet to dismiss me or throw me away. The only time I’m the focus of attention is when someone sees a way to use me for their own gain. Although that’s not an accurate description of Dante’s game, it doesn’t make the pattern hurt any less.
I bob my head in reluctant acceptance because the lump in my throat won’t let me speak. My feelings don’t matter—the mission is still the same.
Get out alive and live your life freely.
“Why do you look like your puppy just died, princess?” Dante mutters softly, only adding to the morbid irritation and sadness weighing on my chest. “This is what we both wanted.”
“Will you promise to be safe? I don’t want to have to live with your death on my conscience.”
A low chuckle rumbles from his chest and he nods. “I can do that.’
“Promise it.”
“I promise.”
“Mean it,” I chide lightly. “You seem like the kind of guy who ignores orders and does whatever he wants.”
“Normally, I do. I don’t have to answer to anyone else.”
“I’m your wife,” I remind him. It’s my turn to pull the same card he enjoys using whenever I disagree with what he says. “Even after we divorce and you find another bride, I will always be your first one.”
“My only one,” he replies instantly. “We’ll let you keep the title, princess.”
“That’s depressing. You should live a life with someone that you love.”
“That doesn’t sound appealing in the slightest.”
I’d ask why, but I know I won’t get a straight answer. “Then you should live this marriage up. At least you can say you’ve been there and done that.”
“And I’m having such a wonderful time.”
I can’t help the giggles that burst free at his dry tone. “I think that’s an unfair assessment when I haven’t even been your wife for twelve hours. You haven’t gotten a chance to experience the full range of benefits yet.”
“Like?”
“Breakfast in bed. A beer with a football game.”
“I don’t watch American football.”
“Soccer then,” I return because who the hell cares? As long as I don’t have to sit there and watch it with him, I’m good. “A beautiful woman in your bed who’s smart and talented.”
“I think I could go find one of those somewhere—” I smack his chest playfully. He’s so full of shit.
“Good one, Dante. I almost believed you there for a second.” He smiles at me and I can’t help but stare in awe at how absolutely amazing it looks on him. “You are human.”
“Unfortunately so. All sinful and unworthy of marriage to a princess.”
I scoff lightly. “You act as though you’re some highway bandit.”
He lifts his shoulders. “More or less.”
“You saved me, Dante,” I reply with a shake of my head. “I’d say that was very knightly of you.”
“That gets me nowhere,” he says as if no good deed of his has ever gotten him the recognition it may have deserved. “I’ve always found that looking out for yourself is vital to survival.”
“And look at you not following your own advice.”
His gaze sharpens and I listen to my own words. Maybe he did make a deliberate choice to ignore his own advice and rescue me instead. I wonder why. “Don’t think of it that way, princess. Because if I die then it’d be on you.”
And you’ve never thanked him once.
My gaze falls helplessly to his lips and my tongue flicks across my own mouth. I’m painfully aware that my interest is obvious to anyone with eyes. There’s no way Dante can’t tell that I want to kiss him.
I refuse to let a lack of courage deny me this opportunity. Sure, he may reject me, but at least I’ll be able to say I tried.
That I tried to tell him I am not only drawn to him, but that I’m truly grateful for his help. Without him, I know I would currently be in the hands of the mob, paying off an obligation that was never mine.
Compelling myself to move, I shift closer to Dante’s body. I’m half-surprised that he doesn’t stop me from stretching towards him, but I pause for the briefest of seconds. It’s the only chance I give him to stop my progress before I close my mouth over his.
Gently, I take his bottom lip between mine.
Dante doesn’t move, letting me take this moment for myself. Giving me a chance to offer whatever I’d like in response to all he’s done for me.
I don’t need to do this.
But I can’t help but want to.
Dante might be off-limits because he’s my professor, but we crossed that line long ago. It may be taboo, but we said I do and now we’re here together. In bed as husband and wife.
And I don’t regret it.
I may be nervous about what’s ahead for me as we work to get Angelo Lombardi his money, but I’m not nervous about this. Not really.
Dante’s mouth shifts under mine, the slight brush of his lips bringing me back to the moment and sparking a hunger in my belly. I press closer, taking the kiss deeper, and I can feel the moment all his resolve falls to the wayside.
His tongue slides inside my mouth, confident and demanding as he steals a taste of me while flooding me with his own smoke and whiskey flavor. I groan as my body buzzes and my mind goes fuzzy. All I can think about is how he’s taken over my kiss.
My awareness boils down to my desire to get closer.
To the feel of my fingers still twisted in his shirt. The gasp that floods my veins with oxygen after he pinches my bottom lip between his teeth. The pulse of heat when he tangles his tongue with mine.
To the craving that fills my core.
A craving for more of his filthy kisses. A craving to satisfy my curiosity about what level he’s on when it comes to sex.
Liam never made me feel this way—ravenous, bold, out of my mind. Dante can piss me off in under a minute, but his arrogance and domineering attitude is definitely not a turn-off.
I’m greedy for his scowls, for the angry glare of his dark eyes staring back at me. His attention is a high I never expected and I want to revel in it for as long as I can.
“That’s enough, princess,” he scolds, pulling his mouth away as I let out a soft whimper. There’s no animosity in the words, more of a soft warning. As though he’s making sure I understand what will happen if I don’t obey his cautionary words.
But I understand more than enough.
I understand what I want. What I’m asking.
So, I don’t stop.
Instead, I mimic his actions and do to him everything he’s done to me. We’re on an uncharted course of licks, kisses, and small bites and it’s glorious.
Intoxicating.
And maybe Dante was right.
I couldn’t keep up with his ass if I tried.