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“No, she places speed bumps, so I never get lost.” Quietly, Nadia took a seat beside him on the couch.

Dante watched her mouth open to say something else, but then she closed it, deciding not to. “What were you going to say?”

Nadia had to clear the sorrow out of her throat before she could begin. “My father killed my mother when I was child. If I hadn’t hidden in the laundry hamper, he would have killed me, too.”

His son had been right; she so freely started to give her story away, so there was no need to search for it anywhere else. The contents of that folder would have never been as rewarding to know as she continued.

“I was so petrified he was going to find me that I wouldn’t breathe. Then I smelled smoke and heard another gunshot. The smoke made it harder for me to stay quiet as I started to feel myself choking. If I hadn’t been afraid he would hear me coughing, I wouldn’t have jumped out of the hamper and started running.

“I thought, if I could just make it to the door, I could get help for my mom. I remember it being so smoky that I couldn’t see where I was going. The firefighter who rescued me found me a few inches away from the door. My father must have heard the sirens and shot himself.” She paused briefly, then her tone returned quieter. “You know the sickest part?”

“No.” The Mafioso didn’t want to, either. He wouldn’t be able to make the son of a bitch pay for whatever Nadia was about tell him. If the man were alive, Dante wouldn’t even order the hit. He would have done the job himself.

“Even when I found out my mother was dead, I hated him just as much for killing himself. I was left with no one. No one who would care how I was treated in foster care. No one who would care if I was lonely. No one who would answer a call in the middle of night if my car broke down.”

Dante finally understood what Nadia was explaining to him before she even did. “Haley would pick up the phone.”

She nodded, glad he understood. “Haley bought me my first cell phone. I’ve had people ask me why I’m friends with her. I say the same thing every time. I can’t understand why she’s friends with me.”

He reached out to take her hand with his tanned one. “How do they respond?”

She curled her fingers, holding his back. “I don’t know, because I leave after saying it and cut them out of my life.”

“That’s why you asked me what I thought of her.” Dante now smiled, expecting no less from her. “You were prepared to cut me out of your life if I said the wrong thing.”

“It would have been a deal breaker, yes.” Nadia smiled back, not making any apology for her feelings.

His breath hitched in his throat at the sight. “Well, in that case, I like her … almost as much as I like you.”

“Oh, really?” Nadia snuggled closer to him on the couch.

“Mmhmm …” Dante chuckled, letting his lips get closer to hers. “A lot.”

“Well, I like you, too,” she breathed.

He moved his lips closer. “How much?”

“A lot.”

He captured her lips; it was the first kiss he’d had in years, and this time, he hoped it would be the last first kiss he would ever have to give …

* * *

The kiss was more than she could have dreamed of. She knew it wasn’t something he so freely gave. He had given his body to her that night on the yacht, but never as an act of love, like the hand held in hers or a simple kiss. That was something she knew he held tightly in his heart, only ever given to his wife.

Deepening the kiss, Nadia was too afraid he would change his mind and pull away, so she positioned herself on his lap, hoping it would hold him there with her forever.

However, it would be Nadia who had the sense knocked into her.

Pulling her lips away, she was able to think clearly. “Wait. I meant when I said we can’t ever even start whatever this is … I can’t find out what it’s like to have you in my life, only to lose you.”

He snuck another kiss on her lips. “Well, it’s a good thing I gave it up, then.”

“You what?” she asked, pulling her face back to look at him.

“I let Lucca have what he’s always wanted,” Dante said, as if the words weren’t a big deal.

She knew better to know that they were a big deal. It was obvious the family had been the only thing Dante truly cared about for years. “I-I can’t have you doing that for me.”