“Would you kiss me?”
A streetlight cut across his face, giving the illusion that his pale eyes were translucent. She could still read his reaction—a mixed one. Part of him wanted her with a deep, primal hunger that he didn’t bother to disguise. Another part, one she suspected he would have hidden from her if he could, hesitated. She knew why. He’d guessed she wanted to compare his kiss to the one Constantine had given her. And he’d be right.
The time for pretense was over. She needed to know the truth, once and for all. Either she had serious feelings for David or she didn’t. For the past three months she’d thrown herself into the relationship, hoping against hope that desire would flare to life. That The Inferno would strike with him, the way it had with Constantine. She knew for a fact that could happen. Even so, she couldn’t create a fire without combustible materials. At the very least she should feel as if she’d struck a match when they kissed. Generated a hint of smoke. Created a flicker or two of flame. Something. If not, the only honorable course was to end things between them.
David took his time. Reaching for her, he drew her as close as possible given the console between them. He cupped her face and leaned in, taking her mouth slowly, then more passionately. His breathing grew ragged as the moments slipped by and his fingers thrust into her hair so he could control and deepen the kiss.
It took every ounce of self-possession to keep from jerking free of his hold. His touch felt wrong. Wrong on every conceivable level. No matter how hard she attempted to fight it, there was only one man for her. And he wasn’t the one kissing her.
Even so, she didn’t fight him or pull back, despite the muffled instinct urging her to do just that. For some reason it felt as though she’d left her brain on the terrace at Dantes, trapped within that dense summer fog. More than anything she wished she could curl up and go to sleep. Maybe a drive wasn’t the best option.
It wasn’t until he groped for the fastening of the halter top of her gown that she stirred. “No, David.” He pulled back, a protest blazing across his face. Before he could say anything, her cell phone rang, loud and strident within the confines of the car. It cut through the drag of exhaustion, giving her a moment of clarity. “I need to get that.”
“No, you don’t,” he argued. “For once in your life, ignore your family.”
“I’m a Dante, David,” she explained gently. “You know it doesn’t work that way. They’ll worry if I don’t answer.”
She took the call, but instead of one of her brothers as she expected, it was Constantine who spoke. “Where are you, piccola?” he asked.
“With David. We’re going for a drive.”
A brief silence, then, “Tell him to take you straight home.”
“Is that an order?”
“There’s something you should know about David, Gianna. It’s important. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t.”
She might have argued, but with David sitting there listening to every word, she decided to choose prudence for once in her life. “I’ll call you later when it’s more convenient.”
“I’m leaving Dantes in another few minutes. I’ll wait outside your place until I hear from you.”
She sighed. “It might be a bit. David and I…” She spared her date a brief glance, not the least surprised by the anger sparking in his gaze. Could he hear Constantine’s voice, tell it wasn’t one of her brothers who’d called? Or had he guessed what was happening based on her responses? “We need to talk.”
“Going to dump him?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Everything about you is my business,” he responded with devastating simplicity.
She flipped the phone closed and dropped it in her purse. “David—”
“Don’t.”
She fought through her exhaustion, attempting to find the kindest, gentlest words possible. “David, let’s be honest with each other. We’ve been dating for three months. If we shared something that could have become permanent, we’d have felt it by now.”
“We have felt it,” he argued. “You can’t deny you feel something for me. You’ve just allowed Romano to confuse you. Give me a chance, Gia. Give us a chance.”