Page 53 of Dancing with the Devil

“So first you sneak away from him, then you force him to spend time with you?” He raised a brow at me.Oh, right. That. I may or may not have snuck away from Cesar when I wanted to pop into a lingerie store. But, I eventually found him again, so it was a win-win. And nothing bad happened.

“Yes…” I slowly trailed off.

“Nirah, Cesar is not here to be your friend or keep you company when you’re bored. He’s here to protect you.”Yes, ofcourse.“We won’t have this conversation again,” he sternly said, and although I wanted to protest, I knew he was right.

* * *

After getting ready for dinner, Rosalia found me wandering around in the hallway and flashed me her most polite smile.

“Dinner is this way, Miss Nirah.”

When I reached the dining room, Antonio was sitting at the head of the table—obviously—as he spoke to one of the helpers. The seat to his right had been set, so I walked over, and his helper pulled the chair out for me. I thanked him, and he excused himself, leaving us.

“Are you mad at Cesar?” I asked, and he turned his head to me.

“You should be worried whether or not I’m mad at you,” he replied.

“Youcan’tbe mad at me, De Luca,” I flashed him my most innocent smile and he rubbed his tongue on the inside of his cheek, desperately trying not to break out in a smile.

We almost had our dinner in comfortable silence until I realized that silence was a nonexistent concept to me. And he didn’t seem to mind one bit.

After the table was cleared, he reached into the breast pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a black velvet box. When he placed it down in front of me, I slowly leaned back, eyeing the little box.

“It won’t explode when I take it, right?” I asked, and he shook his head. Trusting him, I slowly reached forward and picked it up. “So I won’t be covered in chocolate when I open it?”

“No.”

“Confetti?”

“No, Nirah. You won’t be covered in anything.”

Holding the little box a great distance from my face, I slowly pulled the top back, and my eyes grew wide as I stared at the most beautiful diamond I had ever seen in real life.Woah.

“It’s your engagement ring,” he clarified, and I slammed the little box closed, snapping my head up to him.

My reply was breathless. “No.”

“Yes.”

I opened the box again, catching the sparkle before shutting it and darting my eyes back to him. “No”

He seemed to find amusement in this situation and only tilted his head to the right.

“But is it supposed to be this big—is it supposed to have this many diamonds?” I asked.

“Yours does,” he effortlessly replied, making me look down at the ring. A smile of pure excitement found its way to my lips before slowly fading.Nirah, you know you can’t take it.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I know it probably costs a fortune, but I can’t accept this.”

Without a word, he took the ring from me and slipped it onto my finger. “I bought you an engagement ring, and you’re going to wear it,” he sternly said, the dominance in his voice taking me aback.Like I said, the more I find out about this man, the more I like him. But… I’ve never gotten something so expensive before. Or anything special for that matter.

With deep contemplation, I stared down at the ring, and my lungs tightened in my chest as I slipped the ring off my finger.

“Can’t I just get a ring pop instead?” I hesitantly asked, and his brows drew together.

“What?”

“You know…”