Chapter 20
twenty
OPHELIA
I ordered two mimosas as soon as the waiter came to our table. Dante just grabbed two waters. I was pretty sure one of his drinks was for me, even though neither of mine were for him.
"Don't most people on dates sit across from each other?" I asked.
"There are no rules for dates."
"I'm pretty sure there are."
"Not for us." He stretched his arm over the back of the bench. "You're the one who told me I have too many rules."
"Fair point." I nodded.
"I have a question," Dante said.
"Can we just not talk? That could be a rule."
He chuckled. "You wouldn't survive it."
I feigned upset. "Don't be an ass."
"Alright. Let's try not talking."
He mimed zipping his lips.
I pressed mine together.
I managed thirty seconds before I spoke up. "Fine, I hate silence. What's your question?"
His mind brushed mine again. "Who knotted you the first time?"
"I'm not stupid enough to answer that. That kind of question gets people killed."
"Were you in a relationship? You must've trusted him a lot, to try it."
"God, no. I've never been in a relationship before.
I've never even been on a date before." I turned my gaze to the napkin holder.
It was cute, like everything else in the restaurant.
The style was quirky and fun, with bright colors and eclectic decor that all looked like it belonged together despite its uniqueness.
Dante didn't respond.
He was waiting. I knew that. I just wasn't enthusiastic about telling him anything else.
Thankfully, my mimosas were delivered then, buying me a few more minutes of freedom from the discomfort.
I drained one before setting the glass down. The alcohol burned, but I hoped it would ease my discomfort a little.
Dante silently passed me one of his water glasses.
I drained half of that too.
The waiter came back to take our orders, buying me a few more minutes before I finally, reluctantly, kept talking.
Mentally, obviously.
I wasn't sharing that story out loud.
And as much as I didn't want to admit it, some part of me liked that Dante enjoyed having my voice in his mind.
"A few years after the prison shit happened, I decided to have a sexual awakening.
It was uncomfortable at first, but there are apps for casual hookups.
I eventually ended up at a sex club. Figured I might as well go big or go home, so I wanted to try everything.
Knotting was one of the last things I went for. "
"Did you have to sign a contract that you were okay with the risk?"
"Yup."
"Damn." Dante paused. "Are you still in contact with the guy?"
"No. I don't even remember his name. I didn't have a phone at all before you forced me to take one, remember? Stop worrying about it."
"You're mine. I'm going to worry."
I took a sip of my second mimosa, already getting warm from the first. "I like that better."
"You like what better?"
"You, saying I'm yours. I like it better than bringing up the mate thing all the time."
"I'll remember that."
I took another sip of my drink.
"You mentioned crazy places you've had sex, before. At the grocery store."
"Of course you remember that. Do you want a list or something?"
"I wouldn't complain about a list."
I shook my head. "If you want me to spill that shit, I need details from you."
"What kind of details?"
"I don't know. Something equally juicy about your sex life. I know your past was full of relationships."
"Relationships that meant nothing to me."
"They were still relationships."
"Alright." He drummed his fingers on the table slowly.
"I don't know. Before I went to prison, I was a very...
respectful partner. I was proper. Polite.
Sex was more of a formality than anything else for me.
It felt good, obviously, but it was never something I thought about frequently, like it is with you. It was usually scheduled."
"Scheduled?"
"Yes."
"Oh my god. How? Why? When?"
He grimaced. "That was the simplest way to make sure it happened."
"You weren't horny?"
"Not really."
"Oh my god," I said again, taking another sip of my drink. "No wonder you never try to instigate sex between us. You don't know how."
"I know how to instigate."
I snorted.
"In theory, it shouldn't be that difficult," he said defensively.
"Not if you're with the right person. Unfortunately, you're stuck with me. Unless you're scheduling hookups with strangers and managing to keep the feelings from leaking through the wall in our minds, which—"
He cut me off. "Will never happen."
"Well, at least you have your venom to help you start things between us. That's a nice biological advantage."
"That biological advantage hasn't exactly been pulling its weight," he pointed out.
"My survival instincts have been outweighing your biological advantage."
"Your life isn't in danger if you fuck me."
"My sanity is, though."
He made a noncommittal sound.
"So, what's the craziest place you've had sex?" I asked him.
"A hotel room."
"Seriously? A hotel room?" I sipped my drink again. The straw made an obnoxious noise as I reached the bottom of Mimosa #2, already pleasantly buzzed. "You need a sexual education."
"Are you volunteering?"
"Of course not. I'll drop you off at a sex club. I develop feelings too easily to go back there."
"That's why you stopped? You started developing feelings for the people you were with?"
"Don't growl at me about it."
I straightened, leaning back against the bench a little.
Dante's arm draped over my shoulders, and I was tipsy enough to snuggle closer rather than lean away.
"Who did you develop feelings for?" he asked.
"They weren't feelings for anyone. They were feelings about the situation, and things I was missing. Physical touch. Connection with people. Snuggling. I wanted more, every time I was with someone. It was too hard on my mind to only get them casually."
"You want those things?"
"Of course I do. I'm a person, even if I'm a walking dark cloud."
"Some of us like dark clouds."
"You just want me to agree to educate you sexually."
"Well, I wouldn't turn that down."
Our food finally came out, and our conversation ended while we ate.
I pounded pancakes until I felt sick.
Dante finished before I did, his arm still draped over my shoulders.
I liked it. The warmth was nice. The weight of it was, too.
Having him pressed against me the way he was made me feel things I usually tried to avoid. Good things.
"I'm still waiting for a list," Dante said, when I finally set my fork down and leaned against him a little more.
"You're going to be waiting a damn long time."
"I shared the juicy information you wanted."
"To match the juicy information I shared first."
He made a noise of disagreement. "Mine was longer."
"You're also more possessive."
"Don't act like you would be okay with me fucking another woman, Angel. You might not want to be possessive, but you are."
"I'm not." It was a lie. A tipsy lie, at that.
"So if one of my exes walked over here and said hello, you'd feel nothing?"
"Not a thing."
"Want to test that out?"
"Why is that suddenly an option?" I looked around, suddenly a little suspicious.
"She tried to flag me down a few minutes ago. I didn't make eye contact, but I can if you want. She's one of the few who never stopped texting me."
"Even after the prison?"
"Mmhm."
I sat up a little straighter. "Your exes have been texting you? How many of them?"
"Only three."
Three women had actively pursued my mate since we'd sealed our bond.
God, I wanted to kill them.
"Do they know you're mated?" I asked.
"I doubt it. Most people don't. It hasn't been in the news, and I've been fighting and going to charity events on my own."
"Wow, you have a shitty mate."
"I have a perfect mate. She just doesn’t want to accept that she's mine."
I made a face. "Fine. Bring your ex over, so I can tell her to fuck off."
Dante lifted a hand. I followed his line of sight, and saw a woman spring to her feet and stride over.
She was polished.
Slim, strong, and wearing a pressed, white blouse with a pencil skirt. Her hair was blonde, she had olive skin, and she looked completely put together.
Perfect.
The woman was perfect.
Why was she in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant? I wasn't sure. They had thousands of reviews, so maybe it had taken off on social media or something.
But Dante had scheduled sex when he was with this woman. He'd broken up with her. Ended whatever they had.
He hadn't chosen me, but he was still mine, even if I had been trying to ignore that fact.
My chest still tightened when she approached.
The woman slid into the booth, right across from us. In the position she would've occupied—and had occupied—when she was with my mate.
I set my hand on Dante's thigh, under the table. The alternative was to let her see the dark threads that would start flying off my fingers at any moment.
"Dante! I've been trying to get in contact with you since you escaped the penitentiary," the woman gushed, leaning over the table just enough that she didn't ruin her perfect posture. "You didn't answer my texts. How are you doing? Do you need anything?"
"I'm fine, Titania."
"There must be something I can help with. A date, to get you reacquainted with society? Or—"
"I can handle my mate's needs just fine," I interrupted.
She blinked.
I'd definitely made it awkward.
Whoops.
The feel of Dante's pleasure curled through the flimsy wall between our minds. I couldn't, and didn't, pretend to dislike it.
Titania looked between us. "You're mated?"
"Happily." Dante's voice was calm.
Guilt made my stomach clench.
He wasn't happily mated. That was a lie.
"There was no announcement," she said. "Online. If you were mated, someone would've posted about it. You're always alone. I—"
Dante interrupted her far more smoothly than I had. "Dark angels aren't the sort to broadcast their relationships across the city. I'm sure the news will spread eventually."
Titania blinked once.
Then again.
She finally, stiffly, stood up. "Congratulations."
She went back to her table quickly.
I leaned against Dante. "So maybe I'm a little possessive."
“I fucking love it."
“I know. I can feel how horny you are through the bond.”
“You can feel it another way, if you want.”
I smacked him lightly on the thigh, and he gave me a small grin.
My heartbeat picked up in response.
He never looked at me like that. Like he was happy to see me. Like he enjoyed being around me. No one did.
It was different.
I looked back at the table, focusing on my glass of water and lifting the straw to my lips. Whatever buzz I'd had earlier was gone.
"You never told me how long it's been since you were with someone."
"I fucked you a few weeks ago," I said, knowing that wasn't what he was asking.
His chuckle made me warm.
I wasn't surprised at all when he didn't push for information. The man had clearly learned that the key to getting me to talk was just to shut up until I was uncomfortable enough to start rambling.
"Eighty-something years," I finally admitted, still sipping my water.
Dante's entire body stiffened.
"I don't know the exact number. I haven't been keeping track or anything."
"It had been that long before I went down on you in solitary confinement?" he finally asked.
"Yep."
An unfamiliar emotion reverberated through the bond that connected our minds.
Discomfort.
Or guilt, maybe?
"Don't feel bad for me. I had plenty of sex before that. I think I'm more experienced than you, even after my intentional dry spell," I said.
"I'd need to see the list of all the places you've had sex, to decide whether or not that's accurate."
"You're developing an obsession with that list."
"Of course I am. I want to upstage everyone else you've ever been with."
"That seems like a pointless goal."
He lifted an eyebrow. "Would you want to be the second-best woman I've been with?"
God, no.
I'd kill someone.
Or just fuck him until he'd forgotten everyone else.
Which... may have been his point. Or his plan.
"Alright, maybe it's reasonable," I acquiesced. "I'll try to come up with a list. But for the record, I don't remember sex ever feeling as good as it did when you knotted me in my studio."
"Good." His lips brushed my temple. "Let's get going."
I agreed, and he flagged down the person who had served us.
"I think I won our bet," he added.
He had definitely won. I hadn't believed him about people staring, but literally everyone in the restaurant looked at me when I walked in. They'd barely noticed the gigantic vampire king behind me.
"You did." I turned my head and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before sliding out from beneath his arm. "Congrats."
His amusement made my lips curve upward. His hand sprawled over my hip while we walked out of the restaurant.