Chapter 6
Dante stared up at the ceiling, his mind racing.
Surprisingly, he wasn’t spending the entire night wondering what his mother was really doing in Befana Bay.
If he had to guess, it was because she needed money.
There was no doubt that he’d find out soon enough.
He just hoped he could get her out of town before Mateo found out she was there.
His stepbrother had a gentle soul and was never able to resist Gwen’s manipulative tactics. Every time she rolled into their lives, all she managed to do was anger Dante. But Mateo? She tore up his heart every time.
There was no doubt about it. He’d have to get her out of town the next day one way or another. Even if it meant handing her a stack of cash and driving her to the airport.
With his mind made up about what to do about Gwen, his thoughts turned to Prim Easton.
She was unlike any woman he’d met before.
At first he’d thought she was just a shy, sweet thing who just been unlucky in the dating world.
He’d genuinely wanted to save her from a crushing blow at the bachelorette auction.
If there was anything he hated the most in the world, it was seeing someone with a kind heart being bullied due to no fault of their own.
He’d gone through that enough when he was just a kid and had no control over his living situation or the fact that both his mother and stepfather were neglectful as sin.
He'd admit it; he had a bit of a savior complex. Mateo had been accusing him of overstepping for years when all he’d been trying to do was help.
But it turned out that Prim Easton had a backbone he hadn’t exactly seen coming.
The way she’d held her own against his mother and then stepped in at the last moment to save him from having to share his studio apartment with her…
Well, Prim had managed to steal a tiny piece of his heart.
Most people he knew would have backed away from that situation as quickly as possible.
But not Prim. Nope. She’d put herself right in the middle of it, opened her home to him, and she’d done it all while shooting virtual daggers at the woman who’d made Dante’s childhood a living hell.
Once again, he wondered what his life would have been like if he’d met Prim five years ago.
Would he be married to the fiery witch who was anything but meek?
The image of the pair of them walking hand in hand in Befana Bay ran through his mind, and he felt his lips curl into a soft smile. Damn, he loved that image.
If only he hadn’t been burned by Shari, the woman he’d thought was the sweetest person on earth, one who’d never hurt a fly.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
The sound of soft footsteps carried into the living room from the hallway. Dante sat up on the couch to find Prim creeping down the hall in what looked to be some sort of silk robe, her hair tied up into a messy bun.
“Having trouble sleeping?” he asked.
She let out a yelp and jumped nearly a foot in the air. “Oh, my goddess,” she said, clutching her chest. “You scared the sass right out of me. I thought you were sleeping. Did I wake you?”
“Oh no, not the sass,” he teased as he switched one of the lamps on, illuminating a soft glow of red, yellow, and green light from the glass lampshade. “How else am I going to be entertained?”
“Very funny. Seriously, did I wake you up? I was just headed into the kitchen for some water,” she said, looking remorseful.
“No, you didn’t. I was just having trouble sleeping.
My mind won’t stop racing,” he admitted as he admired her sexy, rumpled look.
The black silk robe had what looked to be pink cherry blossoms on it, and it hugged every curve.
Meanwhile, his hands were practically begging to tug her locks out of that bun so that he could run his fingers through her thick hair.
He wanted to explore every inch of her, get lost in everything she had to offer, so that he could turn his mind off and just feel something other than rage and regret for a while.
“Dante,” she said thickly.
He got to his feet and moved to stand right in front of her. As his hands dropped to cup her waist, he said, “Yes?”
“If you don’t stop looking at me like that”—she pressed both of her hands to his bare chest, sending shivers of desire everywhere—“I don’t think either of us are going to get very much sleep.”
“Would that be such a terrible thing?” he asked, staring into her heated blue eyes.
He saw so much desire there, he felt like some sort of mystical magnet was pulling them together.
He could almost believe that she’d put a spell on him, except he’d already experienced what her magic felt like back at the restaurant, and it wasn’t anything like what was happening between them at the moment.
“N-noo,” she stuttered. “Not terrible. Definitely not. But a mistake? Probably.” She started to take a step back, but Dante tightened his grip on her waist, gently holding her in place.
“We can recover from a mistake, right?” He dipped his head, stopping just a few inches shy of his lips meeting hers. “I really want to taste you, Prim.”
She practically whimpered, making him want her even more.
He let out a soft groan before asking, “Can I kiss you?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her eyes locked on his lips.
It was all the permission he needed. Dante pulled her to him until her body molded against his and then closed the distance, tasting first her top lip and then her bottom before gently parting them with his tongue.
She was sweet like honey, just as he knew she would be, but when her tongue met his and her nails dug into the back of his neck, that spiciness he knew she possessed hit him like a shock wave.
His entire body was taut with need as one hand reached up and pulled her hair out of the tie, causing her locks to fall to her shoulders.
As he buried his fingers into her curls, the other hand slipped to cup her round backside.
Prim deepened the kiss, responding with a heat he never would have expected even twenty-four hours ago. They kissed until they were both breathless, and Prim finally pulled away with a gasp. “Oh,” she said and then groaned as he sank his teeth gently into her bare neck. “Dante?” she panted.
“Yes, gorgeous,” he whispered, dropping open-mouthed kisses along her collarbone.
“If you keep that up, I don’t think I’m going to be able to control myself much longer.”
Dante responded by nipping her skin and tugging her hair gently.
“Dammit,” she breathed. And then she grabbed the hand that was still plastered to her ass and tugged him down the hall to her bedroom.
The voice that had been in his head ever since he’d left Salem, the one that told him not to get involved with anyone, much less Prim Easton, was blissfully, completely silent as he followed her into her private sanctuary.
Everything about the bedroom screamed Prim. The bed was covered in a pink bedspread with florals while her sheets were black satin. Naughty and nice. She was everything he hadn’t known he’d always wanted.
When she got to the side of the bed, she turned to him. “You’re not going to regret this tomorrow, are you?”
“I won’t if you won’t,” he said, already reaching to untie the belt of her robe.
“I don’t know if I can promise that,” she said, watching as he gently opened the silk fabric.
“Me neither, honestly,” he said, his voice husky as he took in the black and pink lace slip she wore underneath the robe. Her porcelain skin peeked out from underneath the sheer lace, driving him nearly mad. “But I promise I’ll try.” He dipped his head, his lips covering the nape of her neck.
“Good enough for me,” she whispered and then reached for his boxers.