Page 39

THIRTY-EIGHT

Inaya

“The case is closed.”

“Closed?” I repeat, staring at Dante. It’s not that I don’t trust him. I do. I’m convinced that I didn’t hear him correctly because it sounds too good to be true. I know he didn’t kill my mother, but I was sure the detectives digging into his past will uncover some of the things he actually did.

The baby kicks as if celebrating the good news with us. It’s all surreal. The possibility of everything being behind us seems like a hill we’d never climb. Some chatter grabs my attention, causing me to look around at something else out of the ordinary. The restaurant. Dante and I haven’t eaten out together since he was transporting me during my kidnapping.

There wasn’t anything romantic or date adjacent to that day. Now, my husband is at a fancy public restaurant with me because he wants to be. It doesn’t stop the assassin inside of him from scanning the place every other minute but baby steps.

His hair is combed out of his face and his beard is neatly trimmed as usual. But the custom black suit he wears makes me melt. If this last trimester didn’t have me tired and very visibly pregnant, I would tell him to meet me in the SUV.

As if knowing what I’m thinking, his dark gaze moves up my arms as if he’s caressing them and pauses on my cleavage for a beat before our eyes connect.

“Behave, Inaya. We’re having dinner. You wanted this…what did you call it again?”

“Babymoon.”

“That’s it.”

“I’m surprised you forgot with your super memory.”

He gives me one of the smiles that are only reserved for me. “I have to be paying attention to remember.”

I shoot him a middle finger because it feels appropriate, pulling a short-lived chuckle out of him before he moves back into business mode. “They arrested Carlos because more evidence points to him than me. His sloppiness led to a quick conviction. Life.”

“And the other stuff?” It’s my way of asking about Father without saying it.

“Pending. Located, but not an issue at this moment.”

He must still be hurt badly. I know Dante wants to go in for the kill, but he’s too careful to be so rash. He must make sure that it isn’t a trap. His skill set while still terrifying is kind of sexy.

“And that is why we’re away from the others.”

He nods as he takes a sip of his water. Dante is not big on alcohol; the only time I’ve ever seen him drink was the one time I asked on the island. He’s not into sugary drinks either, he rarely drinks anything beyond water. His level of self-discipline never ceases to amaze me. It was fascinating to watch from afar, but it’s sexy now. Especially knowing that I’m able to make some of that control slip. Okay, my mind is back on asking him to meet me in the SUV. I’m sure I can figure out how to maneuver around my belly.

“No.”

His one succinct word is both annoying and arousing.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“As a person who studied you intensely before ever making contact, I know what you’re thinking.”

I shake my head with a smile. “Yup. I’m definitely crazy.”

Dante tilts his head, somewhat confused by what I said. He waits for the server to finish refreshing our bread and butter before questioning me.

“Why are you sure you’re crazy?”

“Because,” I start as I lean in to whisper better. “There’s nothing arousing or normal about being stalked yet knowing that you were watching me…” I pause to release an aroused sigh. “Gives me so many sex fantasies.”

Dante's dark eyes give me a hard stare, but he doesn’t respond or allow his expression to let me know what he’s thinking. While I’m still learning about him more and more every day, he’s pretty much still a vault of emotions.

When he speaks again, it’s all in Spanish. I have little to no Spanish proficiency, and his tone isn’t giving me any context clues. It doesn’t matter, knowing that he can fluently speak multiple languages is just another turn on. I need help.

Our server appears with our food just as he's finishing what he’s saying. I’m amused to see her blush. Clearly, she understood what he said even, if I didn't.

“Ana?” he says, stopping her in her tracks. Her blush deepens, and she looks in his direction without looking at him. “Give us our stuff to go and the check, please.”

I never thought I’d see the day when he genuinely talked to a stranger politely, although his eyes were on me the entire time he spoke to her.

Ana walks away with her orders, and I smirk at him. “What happened to eating out?”

“You,” he responds. We both taste our food since we’re waiting for it to be boxed up, but my mind is 100% in the gutter. “You’re the reason we rarely leave home.”

“Well, sue me for being attracted to my husband.”

A smile plays out on his face, and he fixes me with a wicked stare as Ana boxes our food. My heart speeds up in a way only Dante can cause. We leave hand in hand; it’s a simple contact, but it somehow heightens my desire to feel his fingers slide against mine as we walk. It doesn’t take long for us to get back to our vehicle; the valet had it in the front, but it also means that I cannot satisfy my urge to ride him.

Night air cools my skin just a bit for clarity. It doesn’t help to be lust filled when he has to drive. Dante unravels our fingers and unbuttons his jacket as he makes his way to the driver’s seat.

The valet closes the door behind me just as Dante enters. He leans over and takes a slow kiss is the exact opposite of the urgency inside of me. Afterwards, he pulls off into the night with his hand on my thigh. Underneath the desire, there’s a happiness that I’m almost afraid to feel. Everything is working out so well that I’m waiting for a fall back into chaos. The thought leaves me once I realize that Dante’s hand is between my thighs.

I roll my head to the side to look at his profile. He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth once he realizes that I’m panty less. They’re so pointless right now, since they feel like they’re trying to cut off my circulation.

I arch my back and open my legs more at the first tingle of pleasure

“What…what did you say to me…in Spanish?”

He glances in my direction with another smile. “I’ll tell you once you’re naked.”

His assurance just heightens my experience, but the tease won’t give me what I need to cum. I’m so hungry for completion that I’m naked before he can close the door to the bungalow. We’re on a beach vacation taking our relationship in an odd full circle. I’m not here to die this time. We’re not far from Andrea’s complex; he's only twenty minutes from the beach.

Dante’s eyes take in my nudity as he continues to tease me by slowly undressing. Once he’s done, he grabs the tie he opted not to wear and moves in my direction. The anticipation has my heart racing until I swear he can hear it.

“What did you say?” I repeat my question in a near whisper.

He turns me away from him, and my palms support me on the cool wood of the wall. On instinct, I push my ass out to give him better access and my belly room. I whimper from the silkiness of the tie going around my neck.

His beard tickles the part of my neck just under my ear as he leans in to respond. “I said you continue to tempt me like I’m not willing to go to jail for pulling you onto the table and fucking our baby out of you.”

My inhale is sharp as he penetrates me in tune with his last word. My entire body shivers from the contact, and this is exactly how I want this week to go. An activity that normal couples will do, followed by the kind of fucking that makes our child want to vacate my body. The higher I get, the tighter the tie becomes. This must be one of the perks of having an assassin in love with me—he knows how to take me to the edge of insanity without going for the kill.

I’m so wrapped up in the pleasure he’s giving me that I don’t have the energy to scream or cry out in any capacity. It’s like my entire body ceased from the pleasure until I broke apart. Dante turns me and hits me with the wild kiss I craved earlier while we claw at each other as if we still have clothes to remove. I walk him back to the bed and push him down so I can get the ride I want. He hasn’t cum yet and I’m all too happy to get him there.

His groan gets me every time as I take him to that uncontrolled space I love so damn much. I hear some vibrating in the distance, but we don’t stop until we’re both satisfied. We look up when the phone for the room rings. Only one person knows exactly where we’re located, and he wouldn’t call unless it was absolutely necessary.

I roll off Dante onto my back to catch my breath while he grabs the phone.

“Yeah? Okay. I’m grabbing my cell.”

Both Dante and Andrea are paranoid enough to never have a conversation on a hotel phone. Dante steps outside, and I can’t hear much over the roar of the ocean, but his tense posture confirms my fears from earlier.

I watch until he returns to our room. His face is serious, but I see more annoyance than fear.

“Carlos escaped.”