Page 61 of The Prices We Pay
Until being a SEAL on a night raid in Aleppo five years ago changed the very fabric of my being for the second time.”
“We had intel that an abandoned building was where some locals were keeping children hostage. There was one night that we knew all of the rebels were supposed to be gone on a mission of their own. Knowing that was as good of an opportunity as we were going to get to save those kids, we moved in. What should have been a simple extraction turned into an absolute bloodbath. The entire thing was a trap. The kids were gone, and the building was full of rebel soldiers. We didn’t make it twenty feet inside before an ordinance exploded. It killed half of our men and wounded the other half, including our troop chief and my best friend, Charlie. By the time I came to, I was the only one standing, but I had so much shrapnel in my back that I could hardly move. Just taking a step had me screaming in pain. But that wasn’t even the worst part. No. The worst part was standing in the middle of that room—in that fucking building—knowing that the only reason we even wentin there was so that we could help save children’s lives and listening as my brothers screamed out in agony around me. Watching as the ones that were dead continued to bleed out onto the floor. Begging my body to cooperate so I could save Charlie. So I could get to him, and he could go home to his wife and kids. But no matter how much I wanted too—” My voice cracks as my own tear streams down my cheek. “No matter how much I wanted to move to get to him, I couldn’t. I couldn’t make sure he was okay. My body was in shock from my own pain, and I couldn’t move.”
I choke out a sob as I vividly recall the most horrible day of my life. Letting go of my hands, Joe stands from her chair and climbs onto my lap. Straddling me, she buries my face into her chest as I cry.
A few minutes go by before I’m able to get myself together enough to tell the rest of the story. But I leave my head where it is. The feel of her hand rubbing the back of my head and the sound of her heart beating against my ear provide me with the comfort I need.
“Charlie was lying there, screaming my name. Over and over again, all he did was scream for me to help him. I hear the noise in my nightmares.” I take another deep breath. “I may not have been able to move most of my body, but one thing I was able to do was shoot my gun. So, once the rebel team came in, the two other guys who could still shoot their weapons were able to hold them off long enough for our rescue team to arrive. After they cleared them out, they were able to get to us. I’m not sure how long we were trapped in that room. It felt like days, but in reality, I’m sure it wasn’t more than thirty minutes. The wounded, including me and Charlie, were medevacked to the nearest military hospital. Sixteen of us went in that day, and only seven of us came out. Charlie ended up getting an infection in his leg that the doctors couldn’t get under control. It spread to his internal organs before they could stop it. He died in the hospital a week later.
“My back eventually healed, but my mind didn’t. The Navy wouldn’t clear me to return to the line of duty without a clear mental health assessment, so I was eventually medically discharged.Eventually, I got hired by a private security firm here in the city. It paid like shit, but I was at least still helping people the best way I knew how. Vittori Enterprises threw a huge party to launch a new rebrand of a company they had just bought. There were so many guests that the company had to hire the security firm I was working at to keep an eye on the crowd. Long story short, there was a small incident with a man and a gun, which I was able to spot in time. Luca was so impressed that he offered me a job for the company’s security on the spot. One afternoon, Luca saw the shithole apartment I was living in and basically forced me to come to live with him, Enzo, and Sebastian. A few months later, when Luca took over as CEO and named Enzo COO, one of the first things they did was make me head of security. I had more than proven myself, and they knew I could do the job. I’ll be forever grateful for it. Because they’re my family now. And I’d do anything for them. My life now has a purpose again. What I do as a Horseman is enough to make what happened to me in Aleppo feel like a path I was supposed to take in life rather than just somefucked-up thing that happenedtome. It led me here. To them.”
I lift my head from her chest and look her dead in the eye. “To you.”
31
Josephine
Dante’s up and moving before I have a chance to process what he just said. With my arms around his neck and my legs around his lean waist, he pins me to the wall next to my desk. I let out a groan as my body thuds against the wall.
His nostrils flare, and the muscles in his jaw flex as he stares down at me. His fingers dig into my ass as he holds me against the wall, and I can’t help but wish that his tight grip will leave marks on my skin for me to stare at long after this moment is over.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” he murmurs so softly that I wouldn’t have heard him if his faceweren’t directly in front of mine. I can feel the hurt flash over my face, but he clarifies, “I don’t know if I’m capable of loving you the way you deserve to be loved, Joe.”
Such a vulnerable confession from him comes as a shock. Dante is a man who stands as sturdy as the Empire State Building, a man who takes pride in being the anchor for everyone, preventing them from drifting out to sea. Hearing him admit that he is worried about not loving me in the way he thinks I need means that hewantsto love me. He wants to try this with me. With them. With us.
And that’s enough for me.
“Dante,” I say softly. “The fact that you just said that to me means you’re more capable of loving someone the way they deserve than you realize. The way you love a person has no set definition or guidelines. You have a capacity for love that I’ve never seen in another person. Not even Enzo. And he loves everybody.” Dante laughs at my joke, but his hold on me doesn’t waver. “You are constantly worrying about the people you love most. You want them safe at all times. You bring me foodand coffee every morning because you know I’m always rushing out the door. You put fresh pens on Enzo’s desk every other day because he chews through them. Even though Sebastian is safe at the penthouse most of the time, I notice when you check on him several times a day to make sure he’s okay, and you watch Luca like a hawk every moment of every day. You may not be sure, Dante, but I am. I see it in your actions, day in and day out. You know how to love.” I remember the words of the man who inspired him to join the Navy all those years ago. “All you have to do is reach out and take it.”
And fuck, do I want him to.
I want him to take the chance.
To take me.
In the span of a split second, Dante makes his decision. And like something out of a romance movie, he keeps me pinned to the wall as he kisses me with everything in him. He kisses me like I’m the air he needs to breathe. Like I am someone he has waited his whole life for.
And in a way, I think I’ve been waiting for him too.
For a man to make me feel as safe as he does whenever he’s near. For a man who doesn’t do anything for me because it was convenient but rather because he thought about what I would need. For a man who wouldn’t kiss me because the moment he did, he was afraid he would love me in all the wrong ways.
But I know that’s where he’s wrong. If one thing is certain, it’s that Dante DeLuca will love me in ways I never knew I wanted to be loved. He will protect me always—mind, body, and soul.
“Fuck, Joe,” he mumbles against my mouth before kissing me again.
Pulling his mouth from mine, he kisses across my jaw and down my neck. He drags his tongue along the length of my collarbone, and I drop my head back against the wall as the sensation causes my core to ache with need.
Unwrapping my arms from his neck, I fist the front of his shirt, and with a firm tug, I rip it open, causing buttons to drop to the floor between us. No longer giving a fuck about staining my satin pants, I grind unashamedly against him as he continueshis assault on my neck. My hands roam his bare chest, dragging the tips of my fingers over the lines of his muscles and running them through the light patch of chest hair between his pecs.
Using only one massive arm to hold me against the wall, his other hand begins unbuttoning my blouse, careful not to wreck it as I did his. I wouldn’t be surprised if his gentleness was due to him knowing this is one of my favorite tops. Once the top opens, his dark gaze immediately lands on my white lace balconette bra. It lingers for a moment, and his eyes meet mine once again. With a small dip of my chin, he takes that as all of the permission he needs.
Spinning us away from the wall, he clears the contents of my desk with one arm. I flinch as my brand-new laptop shatters to pieces as it hits the ground. “Sebastian will have a new one here by the end of the day,” he mumbles, clearly not giving a fuck.
Dante lays me atop my now bare desk and stares down at me, his shirt hanging open and his broad chest heaving for breath. Slowly, his hands undothe clasp of my slacks, and he pulls them down my legs. He gently folds them and hangs them over the back of one of the armchairs. He motions for me to sit up, and he slides my blouse down my arms, folds it, and lays it next to my pants. I can’t help but smile at the tenderness of his actions. It’s a stark contrast to how people usually perceive the giant, scary bodyguard.
But I have to admit… I like that I’m one of the few people he allows to see this side of him.
Rubbing the center of his chest, Dante’s eyes peruse every inch of my body, dressed only in a matching white bra and thong set, as if he were trying to commit the way I look right now to memory. Much like I’m doing him.
