Page 232 of Anti-Heroes in Love Duet

A portly man with jowls like a bulldog entered the room behind a row of glass counters and clapped his hands loudly. “Dante! I wondered when I will see you again and here you are.”

“I brought a special woman to the only place I would ever go to buy her something as treasured as she is to me,” Dante explained, tucking me into his side and leading us forward to the back.

The shop was a smallish rectangle with a U-shaped formation of glass cases holding glittering jewels and jewelry. I stared at a sapphire the size of a pistachio and blinked.

“Of course, a beautiful jewel for a beautiful lady.” The man Dante called ‘Cat’ rubbed his hands together in glee and then grabbed a pair of spectacles from a case on the counter. “Now, what does the lady like, huh? You like rubies, pearls, diamonds?”

I looked up at Dante. “What’s going on?”

He grinned, picking up my left hand to press a kiss to my plain gold band. “You didn’t think I would leave it at this, did you? I am proud of my wife, Elena. I want anyone who looks at you to see that you are unmistakably mine. We need a big jewel for that so here we are at Gatto’s.”

“I have the best,” the shopkeeper said with an immodest shrug.

I smiled at him, but not at Dante. “I don’t need anything else. This is perfect.”

Once, I’d wanted an engagement ring the size of a baby’s fist. The bigger the better. I’d pass by Tiffany’s on the way to work sometimes and look in the window, fantasizing about which gorgeous diamond Daniel might buy me.

Now, all I could focus on was my desire to see Dante a free man, unencumbered by the RICO case or bail jumping. Everything seemed trivial in comparison.

“Indulge me,” he suggested with a roguish smile before turning to Gatto. “Bring us some rubies and pearls, maybe a few gray diamonds if you have any.”

Gatto nodded enthusiastically and raced into the back.

“What about you, then? You want everyone to look at me and know I’m taken by my shiny ring. Shouldn’t you have one too?” I asked, loving the idea of stamping him with a brand.

His eyes sparkled. “Feeling possessive?”

“Always.”

“Okay. You can choose what you like and I’ll wear it.”

“Careful, Dante,” I teased, moving away to look at some of the male rings in the display case to the left. “What if I get you a pink or purple stone?”

He leveled me with a look that dared me to fuck with him. “Then I will wear it and spend the rest of our lives punishing you for every single time someone makes a rude comment about my ring,va bene?”

I swallowed thickly, my thighs tingling even though I was sexually exhausted. Still, I was a tiny bit tempted to do exactly that.

“Elena…” he warned.

I laughed, hands raised in innocence. “I promise, I won’t.”

While we waited for Gatto, Dante took a quiet phone call and I focused on the rings in the case. My gaze snagged on a large gold band studded with a single, pristinely perfect obsidian stone.

“Ah, yes, that is lovely,” Gatto agreed as he passed by with a covered tray of jewels. “Come and choose yours before you pick anything. You might want to match them.”

I followed him, hooked through the heart by the sight of those beautiful gemstones.

My hand went to my mouth as I bent over the tray as he set it down for me.

There were six rubies and red diamonds in varying shades from pink to purple to deep, blood red but each of them was enormous. There were four large pearls, black, cream pink, and white along with tiny seed pearls that Gatto suggested could be arranged framing the main choice.

And then there were the black and gray diamonds.

“They can be cut into any shape,” he said as Dante joined me.

My husband, I still couldn’t believe I got to call him that, bent over the table with me and whistled. “Excellent selection,amico.”

“Only the best for you.”