Page 15 of Dante
“Dramatic?” he asked with a raised brow.
“No”—you freaking prick—“silly.” Yep, that was a much better word.
“Okay, then, what were you beingsillyabout?”
Nadia went to open her mouth but couldn’t think of what to say.
“I’ll wait here all day ‘til you tell me,” he threatened, crossing his arms.
Clearly, there was no getting out of it. He wanted to know what caused her distress.
Shit, the crossing of his arms drew attention to what he was wearing now. Dante had changed into a looser white button-up shirt that revealed the top of his tanned chest. His black slacks were now a navy pair of …khakis?No one in Kansas City would ever believe Dante Caruso would be on a yacht inkhakis, yethere he stood, and Nadia had to admit the casual look made him appear somehow younger, fresher and, regretfully, even hotter.
When he was about to take a seat on the bed, she gave in to his relentlessness.
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes with a sigh, heading over to open the closet door. “I didn’t scream out of fear. I screamed in frustration because the only clothes available to me this weekend belong to”—she pulled out a yellow see-through dress—“Sherry”—she then revealed a red dress with the sides cut out—“Cherry”—now she headed toward the chest to open the forbidden drawer, grabbing a handful of string bikinis that she let rain back down into the chest—“and Missy!”
Stepping closer, he took a good look at the contents in the drawer. “This is why you’ve been locked in your room all day?”
Okay, when he said it that way, while he looked at her likethat, it did sound a bit dramatic … silly … or somewhere between both.
“They’re just bathing suits, Nadia,” Dante told her simply, like it wasn’t a big deal. “We’re in the middle of the ocean, for Christ’s sake. Just try to chill out this weekend and enjoy yourself. You’re safe here.”
Unconsciously, Nadia took a deep breath, feeling relief wash over her almost immediately at his words.
“Plus, I promise you, no matter what clothes you wear, it’ll be tough to break your”—Dante stared at her a moment, clearly thinking of the right word, until he did—“uptight façade.”
Nadia’s mouth practically dropped to the floor. “I amsonot uptight.”
“Really …?” Dante lifted his tanned fingers to the first fastened button of his shirt. “You sure about that?”
“What are you doing?” she quickly stammered out, taking a step back.
Smiling now, the mob boss finished unbuttoning his shirt, revealing his cotton white tank top that clung to his now apparent muscles underneath. Holding it out to her, his smile only grew wider. “Use this as a cover-up.”
Nadia cleared her throat, both of them knowing she had just eaten herI’m not uptightwords about as fast as they had come out. “Thank you,” she said kindly, taking the shirt from his grasp.
“You’re welcome,” he said, clearing his own throat.
It was as if, just as soon as she had seen his ice-blue eyes become warmer, they turned freezing cold once more as his smile suddenly disappeared. She began to wonder what she had said or done to warrant the quick change in his demeanor.
Unfortunately, his voice went just as cold as he headed for the door, “I’ll see you at dinner.”
Staring at the door that had just been slammed shut, Nadia was simply dumbfounded.
AndI’mthe dramatic one?
Dante’s jaw set in a fixed position as he left the room and went up the first flight of steps. He couldn’t remember the last “kind” act he had given, and the fact that he just kept doing them with a woman whom he was beginning to find attractive, more and more by the second, made a weird feeling creep in his gut. Was it …guilt?
Unfortunately, Amo and Leo had come into the inside living area. Even more unfortunate, they didn’t miss a beat.
Amo was the one to ask the obvious. “What the hell happened to your shir—”
“Shut it,” was all Dante said as he began climbing up the other steps to go put on another shirt. He knew how it looked, but he also knew it looked much worse than what had actually happened.
Right?
It was that fucking guilt that had him asking. Damn, he should have just let her stay in her room all fucking weekend.Why did I have to go make sure she was all right?It was all Amo’s fault because he had said he had heard her scream.
