Page 30 of Fearless to Love

“I promise I’ll go check on him,” Holden interrupted. He placed a hand on Dante’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

“Thank you for getting here when I couldn’t. I’ll never be able to repay you for being here for Lily when I couldn’t.” The sorrow in his eyes gutted me.

“Treating her right is all the payment I need.” He gave us a tight smile before he walked away and around the corner of the house.

Pulling me to his hard body, Dante cupped the back of my head and tucked me into the crook of his neck. “I died a thousand deaths as I drove here. The thought that you could be hurt or worse nearly drove me insane with each passing second. I knew I couldn’t call you…” He choked on his words, making the tears cascade down my face like a raging river.

“He would have found me sooner if you’d have called. I thought it was someone robbing the place as he went through the house, but then all of a sudden, the door flew open and there he was. He took off his shoes so I wouldn’t hear him coming.” I bit my bottom lip to keep from sobbing again. “I don’t know how he knew where I was. I was quiet.”

“I’m sure you were. Maybe he was watching from the outside and was tricking you all along. The only thing that matters is the police have him and now you’re safe. I’m not sure if I’m ever going to be able to let you out of my sight ever again after tonight. If Jax and Holden hadn’t—”

“Stop thinking like that,” I cut him off. It wouldn’t do either of us any good if we kept this up. “We can’t keep going over the what ifs. Just hold me and don’t let me go.”

“I promise.” Cupping my cheeks with his hands, he scanned my face intensely. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“My scalp is sure to be tender and I might have a few bumps and bruises, but I’ll be fine.”

Leaning down he lightly brushed his lips across mine before he rested his forehead against my temple. “I love you, Lily. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to tell you. I was waiting for the perfect moment to tell you and the whole way here, I was thinking I might never get the chance. I couldn’t wait a single second longer to tell you how I feel.”

Smiling through my tears, I tangled my fingers in the soft hair at the nape of his neck. “I love you too. I have since the first night I stayed at your place. I said it one night when you were sleeping and I thought it was too soon, but it wasn’t. Our love may be fast, but it’s what’s right for us. I’ll never go another day without telling you how much I love you.”

“I think I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you dancing on top of the bar at Rocco’s. You put your spell on me and have never let me go. My beautiful, siren.”

“You’re my world. I’m never going to let you go.”

Epilogue

DANTE

After Tommy broke in, he was carted off to jail. With the possibility I could have lost Lily, I knew I needed to stop holding back. I knew Lily was the one for me and there was no reason to wait for the social norm. Fuck what others thought. I’d already waited too long to tell her I loved her. If anything would have happened to her, and I’d never uttered those three words to her or I’d never seen the way her face lit up when I told her I loved her, I wasn’t sure if I could have gone on.

The next day, while I was at Flux, I called Luke and asked for his help. I needed an engagement ring, fast, and one that was worthy of Lily. He hooked me up with the perfect place that was willing to FaceTime with me so I could tell them what I wanted and then I could see it with my own eyes. We had arranged for the girls to take Lily for a spa day while the guys helped me set up for my surprise as we tried to make the pool area look like Venice. For our honeymoon, I wanted to show Lily where I grew up and my beautiful country. She had expressed on more than one occasion wanting to visit Italy and see my hometown.

Putting the final strand of lights in the trees, Luke looked over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. I gave him a thumbs up for a job well done. “Are you nervous?”

“Terrified. What if she says no?”

Holden laughed. “We wouldn’t be here doing all this manual labor if we thought Lily would say no. She’s crazy about you, man.”

“She thinks I’m going crazy with the way I’ve been acting, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. I hated forcing her out of the house, but I couldn’t do this with her here, and the longer she kept herself locked away inside the more the night Tommy attacked her would haunt her. She needs to see she’s safe.”

“I couldn’t agree more. I was on set in LA and Alex and Mason were at my house when this…” he looked off into the distance, remembering, “this woman, a stalker, got on the property and threw a rock through the window. Luckily, when I bought the house it had a panic room, and Alex and Mason stayed in there until I got there. She watched as Ashlyn hit the bedroom door with a baseball bat trying to get to her. My brother was visiting at the time and he drove us since there was no way in hell I could have gotten us there safely. I couldn’t get there fast enough. When I heard how scared Alex was…I know how you felt. I beefed up the security there and here. There was no way I was going to take any chances of something like that ever happening again.”

If anyone knew, it was Luke.

“I don’t want to waste a single day with her. How did you propose? Something grand?” I set the floating candles in the pool before we each sat down around one of the tables.

“Nothing grand. I finished shooting early and flew back while Alex was sick. Like you, I was tired of waiting. I pretty much bought out a flower shop and had one of her friends pick up the flowers during the day. When I got there, I decorated the entire downstairs with flowers and candles. She had no idea. I woke her up and carried her downstairs. I’m sure you can guess the rest.”

That I could.

Jutting my chin to Jax, I asked. “How about you?”

“It was at Luke and Alex’s New Year’s Eve party. Gabi came last year, but never made it because of an ice storm. I found her and since her phone was dead and Luke and Alex live in a gated community, we couldn’t get in or call, so I took her back to my place. The rest is history.” He laughed, his eyes lighting up as he spoke about when they’d first met.

Holden let out a long sigh. “I don’t have a great story. Prue and I were high school sweethearts and planned to move away after graduating high school, but my parents had other plans. Plans I wouldn’t go along with. They threatened Prue’s scholarship. I was eighteen and stupid and joined the Marines. All without talking to Prue. When I couldn’t find her, I hired a detective and he found her here. On my first leave after knowing where she was, I found out her father had just passed away. He was her world and I knew I had to be there for her. Prue didn’t feel the same way. She was pissed at me for leaving and never talking to her, and I didn’t blame her. I saw all the medical bills she was left with and propositioned her to marry me. I’d get my trust fund and she’d get a new house with all her bills paid and a nice divorce once my time was up in the military. The only reason she agreed was because she was in shock. It’s not a romantic story.”

“Don’t let him fool you. There’s romance in there. It just came after they were married.” Luke smiled. Every time he smiled, I was caught off guard. He was a normal guy,but when his lips tipped up it was obvious why everyone saw him as one of Hollywood’s heart throbs.

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