Salvatore, as a man, didn’t matter to me. I’d never really cared about him. It was more of what he symbolized. He was every stupid guy who got my pulse racing and turned me dumb. Every jerk who didn’t know how to be faithful. Every dog who pursued me relentlessly to get what he wanted and then moved on, leaving me brokenhearted.
It made me feel old and tired. I wanted so badly for things to be different. I didn’t want to keep falling into the same trap over and over again. I was like Charlie Brown, running down the field toward that football, and even though Lucy had yanked it out of my way a million times before, I convinced myself that this time would be different. This time she would let me kick it.
I needed to stop running for the ball. She’d never hold it in place. I would always, always fall flat on my back.
I was going back to my room, packing my things, and vowing that it would all be different when I got back to Colorado. No more of this. No more letting men treat me like dirt. No more mistakes.
Dante stood on the other side of the massive ballroom doors. “Why are you crying?”
I reached up to feel a couple of tears on my face. I hadn’t even realized that I was crying. “It’s dumb, and it doesn’t matter,” I told him, wiping them away. I couldn’t explain that I wasn’t crying over Salvatore but about how my life was turning out. He took me by the hand and led me over to an alcove, where a stone bench was covered by a red seat cushion. We sat down.
“It matters to me.” He took both of my hands in his. The concern in his eyes was enough to make me start crying again. Which made me inexplicably angry, and something shattered inside me.
I didn’t want him to touch me, and I pulled my hands away. “You were right, okay? I should have listened to you when you told me about Salvatore. Do you know how humiliating it feels? To be constantly cheated on? What’s wrong with me?”
He grabbed me and made me look at him. “There is nothing wrong with you. You’re amazing.”
I was taken aback by the force behind his words. “Then why do I keep letting this happen? Why do I keep choosing men who will hurt me?”
“Because you haven’t found the right man.”
I let out a laugh. “Much like Babbo Natale and La Befana, he doesn’t exist.”
“He does. You need someone like me. I would be your hero, if you’d let me. I would never, ever hurt you.” I wanted so badly for him to be telling the truth. I wanted to believe him.
I just couldn’t.
Without warning, he kissed me. I should have stopped him or told him no. But his kisses were to comfort me, to reassure me. His thumbs wiped the leftover tears from my cheeks, soft and delicate in a way that made me want to cry all over again. I felt an aching sweetness that made me want to surrender. A melting tenderness that turned my insides to jelly.
“You are so beautiful,” he said before he kissed me again. “So smart, so wonderful, so beautiful.” He kissed, nibbled, and teased me in between each phrase.
“You said beautiful twice,” I murmured against his mouth.
He pulled back with a dazzling smile. “That’s because you’re extraordinarily beautiful.”
Said the prince who dated the most beautiful women in the world. I mean, I knew I was pretty, but in comparison? “Uh-huh,” I replied.
“You are.” That definitive tone was back. He held me close. I loved when he touched me like this, the electrical current buzzing between us, making me forget everything else. He smoothed my hair, caressing my face. “You are. Inside and out. I wish I could show you. That you could see yourself the way I see you.”
No one could have denied that Dante had game. That he always knew the right thing to say and when to say it. But before I could call him on it, he set out to prove his words true and the world exploded as he pressed his lips forcefully against mine.
If he had been gentle and reassuring before, that was all gone. Now there was only heat and need and desire. Wanting to taste and be tasted. It was like being caught up in the most intense lightning storm, as the flashes of electricity crashed inside me over and over again. My heart beat so hard in my chest, like it was struggling to get closer to him.