Page 9 of Possessed (Darker Steamy Shorts #2)
ISLA
Ten Years Later
T he dress is a gift. Something Dante ordered specially made for me, and I should be grateful, but instead it feels like some sort of enemy.
Sleek, black, fitted at the waist and cut daringly low in the front, it's a dress that I would have worn in a heartbeat a decade ago. Now, three kids later, I'm not so sure I can bring myself to put it on.
Dante ordered the dress and planned the date himself.
We rarely go out alone since he trusts basically no one with the kids, but after a hiring process that included multiple background checks and a CPR demonstration, Dante has settled on a young woman he likes well enough so we can have some time as husband and wife.
It's sweet, but I just don't know if I can do it. Dante has barely changed over the past ten years. He's still packed with muscle and sculpted like a god, but I've gone quite a bit softer.
I can hear him coming up behind me before he wraps his arms around my waist. "What's wrong?"
Leaning back into him, I sigh. "It's beautiful, Dante, but it's too tight. I'll look ridiculous."
He doesn't answer right away, but his grip on my waist tightens.
Dante leans down until his lips brush my ear, "I've watched you carry my children, Isla, and every one of these curves is beautiful to me.
You're more beautiful to me now than you've ever been.
And" —he nips the shell of my ear, making me shiver— "I like that you aren't so delicate anymore. It means I don't have to hold back."
Heat floods me from the tips of my toes to the top of my head, and I pivot in his arms to look at him. "You really mean it?"
"Fuck yes, I do. Now put on the dress before I take you to bed instead, and we miss our dinner reservation."
Dante doesn't have to say much to change my mind, but my husband has always been convincing. The heated look in his eyes when I emerge in the new dress banishes any lingering doubts, and it's a head rush to know he's still as crazy for me as I am for him.
The End
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