Nadia leaned over the side to frown down at him. “I’m a bit bus—”
“It’s important,” he urged as ice-cold fear had him promising to seek the nearest confessional right after he turned her ass the same color as the red-hot rage streaking through him. “How did you get up there?”
“I climbed.” She lightly walked to the side of the plank farther away from him, and he saw her swing a leg over the metal bar and begin to climb down.
Swiftly, he went to hold the bottom of the ladder that had been hidden from his view by a large pillar.
She jumped down the last two steps, then Nadia’s jubilation collided full force with his fear.
Taking her by the arms, he jerked her into his. “What in the fuck were you thinking to be up there? You could have broken your neck,” he blasted her. “I told you I didn’t want to lose another woman I love, and you’re up there, prancing around like you’re going to win the gold medal on the balance beam!”
“I-I’m sorry.” Nadia snuggled into his chest instead of pushing away. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Scare me? You took ten years off my life, and you’re going to pay me back for each one of them.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” she asked politely, twining her arms around his waist.
“I want us to go away for a couple of weeks.”
Nadia shook her head. “Look around. This is a madhouse.”
“Haley can take care of anything that needs to be taken care of.”
“That’s true,” she said after a few moments of thinking. “To tell you the truth, I think she would rather I disappear so I will quit spending money.”
“So, you’ll go?” he asked hopefully.
“Depends. I have no desire to get on a boat ever again. The last time, we almost got blown to smithereens.”
“We could fly to a Greek island?” he suggested. “Desmond has a plane.”
Nadia laughed. “I don’t see him letting you borrow it anytime soon.”
“I’m sure he would.”
“I wish I could be a fly on a wall for that conversation.” Raising her chin from his chest, she gave him a critical glance. “You really were worried about me, weren’t you?”
“How could you tell?”
“You haven’t let me go, and everyone is standing around, watching us. I think some of the workers are afraid for me.”
Dante shot an icy glare around at the onlookers. “I wouldn’t hurt a hair on your head.”
“I didn’t think you would.” Using her shoulder, she nudged him to turn to the side. “You want a tour?” When he still didn’t let her go, she nudged him again. “Come on. I want your opinion on an idea I have.”
Dante tried to pay attention as Nadia pointed out several areas where the workers were making repairs, or the changes Nadia and Haley wanted. Concentrating was difficult because he still was picturing Nadia carefree walking on the plank feet above the floor. One small slip, and Nadia could have been seriously hurt, if not killed.
He was unable to take his eyes off her as she explained Moonbeam’s future plans, and all he could think was that all those future plans would have been snuffed out with one slip of her tennis shoe.
The realization he had come full circle with Nadia overlapping the love he had shared with Melissa slapped him in the face. Neither circle was stronger or weaker than the other. He would be just as lost if Nadia had fallen as he had when he had lost Melissa. Love couldn’t be measured by length or depth. No, what he was feeling was more intrinsic and simpler than that. The other person’s happiness had to go above your own. He had been a selfish, stingy bastard even before Melissa’s death, and it had only grown worse afterward.
Having Nadia walk away from him because she refused to accept any potential thing that could bring unhappiness to her life was a self-defense mechanism she put in due to her childhood. You could see she only wanted to start each day with a smile, and regardless of how tired she was at the end of the day, she only wanted it ending with a smile, too.
“This is the area I wanted to show you.”
Dante saw a group of construction workers had taken out a portion of the wall to install doors. Carefully, they walked over lumber to make their way outside.
The area sat snugly between two curves of the mall. Each of those curves had their own separate exits. There were even more workers out here. Another wall was being built opposite of the one they had gone through.
“This is going to be our tranquility garden. The kids can come out here to relax, or just to have some time alone.” Nadia grabbed his hand. “I want to plant different types of trees here. The ceiling is going to be like a conservatory, so they’ll be able to sit outside despite the weather. Can you imagine sitting out here in the winter when it’s snowing?” she asked breathlessly.