Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 127249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Sav nods at me before taking Anya’s arm. “We’ll see you there.”
Anya smiles. “Jazz told us she didn’t want a table planning. I’ll keep you a seat. The girls would like to sit close to Noah.”
Sav chuckles. “No doubt to get up to mischief.”
Dante grins. “We’ve done worse at their age.”
Sav only grunts as he leads his wife outside.
We’re the last people left. It’s nice. Tranquil. I love coming here when I need a little peace and quiet. I still have my own key. The bishop reckoned it was a good idea while I was helping to oversee the renovations. No one has asked me to return it.
Catching the way Dante is looking at me, I ask, “What?”
He cups my face. “You’re insanely beautiful, you know that?”
“You’ll make a girl blush,” I tease.
He remains serious. “Even more so when you’re pregnant.” His gaze plays over my face. “You always have a haunted, melancholic look in your eyes.”
“Do I?”
He brushes a thumb over my cheek. “But when you’re pregnant, you get this soft look that’s closer to something like peace.”
“Maybe I am at peace.”
He slides his hands down the curve of my neck before bringing them to rest on my shoulders. “Are you?”
The question sounds tormented. If my eyes are haunted, his are always awash with an inextinguishable need for redemption.
“Dante.” I lean against him. “Kiss me.”
He smiles. “Are you begging me?”
Reaching up, I press my lips to the corner of his mouth. “I’ll say please too.”
“Told you you’d beg,” he boasts, letting me feel the full impact of that sexy dimple in his cheek.
Yes, long ago, just after he’d found me, I refused to kiss him, and he swore that one day, I’d beg him to. Today is that day.
“If you kiss me, Dante Morici, you’ll never ask me if I’m at peace again.”
“Yeah?” He arches a brow. “And why’s that?”
“Because you’ll know how much I love you. If our past hasn’t changed that, nothing will.”
He grabs my face between his palms, searching my eyes with a feverish light burning in his. “If there was anyone who could survive me, it was you.”
No longer denying me, he kisses me like only Dante can, like he kissed me the first time and every other time after that—as if it’s our last.
I moan in protest when he pulls away.
“I love you, Tatiana Morici. Everything has always been about you. If you’ve ever doubted that, don’t.”
“How can I? You show me every day how much you love us.” I place a hand over my belly. “Me, Noah, and her.”
Taking my hand, he intertwines our fingers. “I better get you to the car. You shouldn’t be standing so long.”
Sweeping me off my feet, he cradles me against his chest.
“Dante?” I say as he carries me to the exit.
He smiles that dangerous, disarming smile that makes my knees weak. “Darling?”
“What do you do with all the panties you tear off my body?”
He only smiles wider.
I thread my fingers through his hair. “I really want to know.”
“I don’t tear everything. You make me sound like a caveman.”
“They don’t make it to the trashcan. I’ve looked.” I shrug a shoulder. “I’m curious.”
“I have a whole drawer just for your used panties,” he says offhandedly, not showing a stitch of shame.
I feel myself blush like a teenager. “You’re a beast.”
“Most likely.” He climbs down the steps, carrying me into the sunshine of a splendid summer day. “But I’m your beast.”
His words warm me inside more than any love declaration can.
Our love is not the fairy tale kind. Our brand of love is the kind that shines brighter than the darkness through which we had to find our way to each other.
* * *
THE END