Bambi beamed at me, the same wide, gorgeous smile as her daughter, before pulling me into a quick, tight hug. “Grazie, Elena.”
I nodded awkwardly as she pulled away and then turned to follow Adriano down the hall to Dante’s office. I hadn’t had a chance to explore the entire apartment before, but it struck me just how large it was when we passed several closed doors on the way to the room Dante used as his office at the very end.
“Buona fortuna,” Adriano grumbled as he opened the paneled black door for me to walk through.
I frowned over my shoulder at him as I passed through, but he was already closing the door in my face.
When I turned around, I noted vaguely that the entire room was once again done in rich blacks, the only color popping from the spines on the books lined on the floor-to-ceiling shelves on two of the walls. But I didn’t have time to catalog more because Dante was leaning against the front of his palatial desk with his arms crossed over his broad chest, his features set into a dark scowl.
“You must really like black,” I quipped lamely because the buzzing tension around Dante seemed to increase with each breath I took as we stared at each other across the large room.
“Vieni qui,” he ordered brusquely.
Come here.
My lips flattened. “Don’t order me around. I’m not one of your soldati.”
“No,” he agreed on a low purr that was more threat than seduction. “Vieni qui, lottatrice mia.”
Come here, my fighter.
I hesitated, my mind battling with the impulse to obey. My teeth clenched so tightly my jaw panged, but finally, I moved closer, stopping an arm span away from the tense mafioso.
“What?” I demanded mulishly, feeling like a child called to the principal’s office to atone for her misdeeds.
Dante studied me with those liquid black eyes, his entire body clenched with the force of holding back the anger that toiled beneath his surface.
“I heard you met a man today,” he said finally.
Instantly, I went to take a step away from him, but Dante was already moving, knowing me well enough to stymie my flight. His hot hand curled around my wrist, engulfing it in his meaty palm. He didn’t say another word, but he watched me with those predatory eyes, those hungry animal eyes that said he wanted to eat me up for his next meal.
The adrenaline sluicing through my limbs pooled warmly in my gut and seeped lower, heating the place between my thighs I hadn’t felt the urge to touch in months.
“Who told you?” I made the mistake of asking.
Dante bared his teeth. “You should have told me. Do not be angry with Adriano for doing what I asked.”
“For spying on me?” I snapped, leaning closer to the angry Made Man even though I knew it was dangerous. Fear and excitement tangled in my chest, dancing together in a way they never had before. I felt alive with sizzling energy, restless with the need to poke at the growling bear before me until he snapped.
The perverse side of me wanted to see what would happen when he did.
“For watching out for you,” he ground out, pushing off the edge of his desk so that our bodies collided, my slight curves yielding to his iron edges.
My nipples beaded so tight they pulsed as they brushed against his upper stomach.
“I can take care of myself, Dante. I don’t need to be watched like some child,” I argued, raising up to my toes in my high heels to get even closer to his sneering mouth.
“Like a child? No. A child has more sense than you sometimes,” he countered cruelly. “Ma dai! Do you know the man you gave your number to, Elena?”
“Does it matter? Unlike you, he was a gentleman.” I never raised my voice, but I found I was nearly yelling at him, the slim space between our snarling mouths filled with our comingled breath hot as dragon fire.
“Gentiluomo? That man was Gideone di Carlo,” he growled, cupping my shoulders in his hands to give me a little shake. “The same man whose brother is trying to assume leadership of the fucking Cosa Nostra. The same man whose family nearly murdered your sister. The same family who tried to kill me at my own party.”
I blinked, shocked by the revelation.
Dante continued, battering into my defenses ruthlessly. “I told you my enemies would want to use you against me, Elena, and I told you to be careful. Instead, you give a man who wants me dead your fucking phone number.”
Anger leaked from the puncture wound in my pride. I sagged slightly in his hold and pinned my eyes over his shoulder to avoid his censorious gaze. “I didn’t know.”
He sighed harshly, his warm, wine-scented breath against my face as he surprised me by hauling me tight against him in a sudden hug. His arms nearly crushed me, fury still palpable even in the tender expression. “For a smart woman, you can be very blind.”