Page 71 of Dante
Dante gave a sigh of relief. No arguments, nothing except the agreement that she wouldn’t put him in that position of fear again.
“You know, I’ve never begged for anything my whole life, not from any man, woman, or even God have I considered lowering my pride for. Darling, I was getting ready to beg you for that promise.”
“Now you don’t have to. You won’t ever have to with me, Dante.” Her words slipped from her lips like an oath. “Anything you want from me, all you have to do is ask.”
“Then are we going to take that vacation I wanted to?”
“Yes,” she laughingly agreed.“But I still say Desmond won’t fly us there. He wouldn’t let us near his plane and made us fly commercial to Cancun.”
“This is different. I plan to give him a good reason.”
Slight concern showed on her face. “Like what? Is there someone else who wants to kill us?”
“No. We’re going to be celebrating.”
“What will we be celebrating?” She frowned, wondering if an occasion had slipped her mind. “Neither of our birthdays are near.”
Knowing Dante had fulfilled the promise to his late wife, he was now finally ready to move on with his life and make a new promise. “Our honeymoon.”
EPILOGUE 2
MAKING WINE FROM SUNSHINE
About to get into the car, she saw Dante come through the Caruso family home gate.
“Give me a sec, Maria.” Nadia closed the car door instead of getting inside. “I just want to tell Dante when I’ll be back.”
Narrowing her eyes, she took note of what Dante was wearing as he stepped out of the Cadillac.
“I hoped to catch you before you left,” he said as she approached him.
Nadia didn’t miss the guilty look in his eyes as she brushed a kiss on his firm lips. “You got here just in time. Wait—why are you wearing a different suit than you left wearing a couple of hours ago?”
“Amo spilled his coffee on me. I changed into the extra suit I keep at the Casino Hotel.”
She took a few steps back from him. “That’s the third time in three weeks you’ve had to change your suits because of an accident.”
Dante gave her an incredulous look. “You don’t think I have to change because I’m afraid you’ll smell another woman’s perfume on me, do you?”
“No.” She folded her arms over her chest. “What I think is that you smoked one of your nasty cigars there, and you’re trying to hide the evidence.”
“Nadia …”
“Dante …” she mocked him back. “I tasted the cigar on your lips. I told you I don’t mind if you smoke the occasional cigars, so there’s no need to go to this extreme to hide that you are.”
“I told you I’d quit before our wedding, and I will”—he ran a hand through his thick hair that was peppered with gray more and more each day—“try.”
Nadia reached out to kiss him again much longer this time, not able to resist the stubborn look on his face. “I’m sure you will,” she fibbed, both of them knowing he probably wouldn’t, but it didn’t much matter to her. She was certain Dante used that time to reminisce in his old office and check in on the family business. “Maria, Winnie, and I are going for the final fitting of my wedding dress. I shouldn’t be gone long.”
He frowned at her. “You girls aren’t going alone, are you?”
Striding away, she blew him a kiss from over her shoulder. “We’ll be fine”
“Take my car. Amo will drive yo—”
“You really want Amo tagging along?” she asked, getting in the car. One last look at his face told her he, in fact, did not.
Putting the car in drive, her head was flung back onto the headrest as Maria pressed her heel on top of her foot to speed them away from the house.
