Dante felt it was more than one could ask of a man to focus on rowing a boat while he had such a beautiful, curvy goddess sitting across from him.

Yes, he had imagined that Ella had an amazing body, but seeing the real thing in person, curves outlined perfectly by her tighter clothing, was almost too much for a dragon to take.

When they were in the middle of the lake, he dropped the oars and looked around them, trying not to openly gawk like some youth.

“You know,” she said, pushing her hair back with one hand, letting it wave behind her in the wind, “my sister always used to come out here with dates, but this is my first time.”

“The men you grew up with were losers,” Dante said.

“Thanks.” She laughed, and he caught his breath at her beauty, looking so free and open out here on the water with the wilderness all around them.

An unexpected ripple hit the boat, and they both leaned forward to catch each other on the shoulders, trying to steady themselves. When they looked up, they caught each other’s eyes, and the moment seemed to slow as if time itself stopped.

Her eyes closed as if she wanted him to kiss her, and Dante was happy to oblige. For a moment, she clung to him, letting the wind whip around them as she held the kiss, but then she pushed back, looking ashamed.

“I need to stop this. I’m not in some fairy tale. I’m going to get tricked.”

He caught her face in his hands, trailing one down to her waist, cupping her gently, making sure she wasn’t afraid. To his surprise, she didn’t pull away from him, just averted her eyes.

“Look at me,” he said. She did. “Ella, I meant what I said about wanting to win you over.”

“But how am I supposed to believe you? I’ve been tricked before.”

“Is that what Cliff did?”

She hesitated and then nodded, and the pain in her big brown eyes was too much for him to stand. He held her against him, his hand running lightly over her hair as she rested against his chest. Then she pulled back, tucking a curl behind her ear as the rest streamed free in an unruly mass. “Trust isn’t easy for me.”

“But you want me,” he said. “I can feel it.”

She nodded. “But it’s just… Yes, the fantasy of romance is amazing. And I like kissing as I see it in books. And as it happens with you. But if things go further… I know it’s not like that. Men don’t make love like they do in the books. It’s not some hot fantasy.”

Anger curdled inside him, but he pushed it aside to focus on her. “And you know this from experience?”

She nodded.

“Then they didn’t do it right,” he said.

“I know,” she said. Then she looked out at the shore and the mountain beyond it. “But I don’t have anything else to compare to.”

He hmphed and began to row them back to shore. The wind was picking up, and he didn’t want to be caught out here. He didn’t want to downplay whatever had happened to her, but how could he tell her that sex could be good without coming off like a total douchebag?

When they docked, he tied up the boat and helped her up, catching her in his arms as she stepped onto the platform.

For a moment, the feel of her soft sweater, her soft body, was almost his undoing.

Then the tension broke, and she stepped in front of him to walk back toward the house. “Time for lunch. I’m hungry, aren’t you?”

He bit his lip. Oh yeah, he was hungry all right.

He caught up to her, finally knowing what he wanted to say. “Wait a second, Ella.”

She turned back to him curiously.

“How about this?” he said. “You don’t have to let up your trust. Let me win you over. Let me woo you. And then only let me into your heart if you want to.”

She nodded slowly. “Fine.” She started toward the house again, looking flustered.

“But I guarantee you won’t regret letting me have a go at that curvy body,” he couldn’t resist adding with a grin. “I’ll make your romance novel heroes seem like ice cubes compared to how I’d set your body on fire.”

She looked at him for a second and visibly gulped before whipping around to head back to the house.

But he could swear he saw a hint of a smile on his mate’s face just before she tried to hide it.

* * *

After lunch, the rest of the day went by fairly quickly and, thankfully, without incident. But no matter how she tried, Ella couldn’t shake Dante’s proposal from her mind. Couldn’t forget the way his gaze had looked when she’d agreed to something as crazy as letting the already-incorrigible man “win her over.”

But despite her fear that something would happen, something bad, Ella knew she was even more afraid that she would fall for the too-cocky, too-perfect Dante. Because regardless of his foibles, the man had too many pros too count.

Starting with that amazing body, she thought as she tried to suppress a gulp as he sat next to her on the bed. Tonight he was wearing a casual pair of checkered pajama pants with a T-shirt that hugged his muscles and allowed her to see every outline of his chest and shoulders.

She’d already settled in herself and was trying to distract her burning mind from thoughts of Dante and onto her book.

To her surprise, he pulled out a romance novel from the nightstand on his side of the bed and began to read.

“Where did you get that?”

Dante glanced away from the pages, cool as a cucumber. “Your family has a pretty big book collection. I found this tucked away with a few others in a corner behind the couch. Someone must have been trying to hide them,” he said with a slight grin.

She noted the cover again and instantly recognized it as one from a tiny collection she tried to hide in the family library for times when she wanted to read when she was younger or when she was home for summer breaks during college.

Ella felt her temperature rise, and as it did, Dante’s grin widened.

But rather than argue, she let out a slight huff and turned onto her side, away from Dante’s smugness, and opened her book again.

There’s something between us. Do not deny me your feelings any longer, Cecily. The words from the page poured into her mind at breakneck speed as she tried to ward off thoughts of golden eyes and perfect lips.

But as she continued to read, she found herself slowing down as she reached a sexy scene between the two protagonists.

Her breath caught, the faintest whisper of air leaving her lips in a gasp as his fingers intertwined with her hair and his other hand found the button of her blouse.

Ella found herself curling the sheet around her more tightly as she pressed on. Normally, she just skipped the sexy parts in her books, interested more in the plot twists and dramatic reveals instead. But reading a romance like this by yourself was a whole lot different than reading it with a six-plus, muscular specimen of a man with the face of an angel and the body of a Greek statue sitting next to you on the bed.

All of a sudden, the words weren’t simply words. They were a possibility. And as she devoured each one slowly, her imagination raced with ideas of what Dante could be doing to her, maybe even right now. Lustful, sensual visions that made her heart race with want.

Dante had said explicitly that she was the one in control. That he would pursue her only to the extent that she wanted to be pursued.

And it was clear that he was attracted to her, despite her own reservations and serious doubts to the contrary.

Perhaps it was time to take a step in the direction of her own wants for once? To make an effort to put the past behind her, along with all its bad memories and frightening nightmares that had kept her from ever letting another man into her life.

She peered behind her to see Dante flipping a page, but not turning away from the worn-out volume she’d read years ago.

If there was ever a man worth taking a chance for, it was Dante for sure.

Ella tried to ignore her own body’s reaction to her thoughts and instead went back to the book. But reading more wasn’t helping, and instead, she just got more aroused and jealous of the two characters getting it on in her story when she could be doing the same with the male model in the bed next to her.

Just the way Dante looked at her couldn’t be faked. Like a person stranded in the desert looks at a fountain of water. Or the way he kissed her, insatiable in its desire yet completely controlled, listening to her wants and wishes and not forcing himself into her life like others had tried to do. Or even how blunt he was when they first met, holding nothing back from her and speaking without artifice.

Ella realized that if the rest of the week went by and she didn’t at least give this a chance, she would always regret. How many chances did a person get to live out a fantasy like this? Once, if ever?

No, Ella wasn’t going to let fear run her life anymore.

She closed her book and set it on the nightstand.

Steeling her resolve, Ella turned over to the other side and scooted next to Dante on the bed, who seemed entirely caught up in reading and nothing else right now.

She nestled in close to his arm, enjoying the feel of the hard muscle there, and tried desperately to think of something to say, since Dante didn’t seem to even realize she was there.

“I was thinking, um, maybe I would take you up on your offer,” she said, hoping he’d catch on.

“About what?” he said, not looking away from the book.

“You know. What you said earlier today. On the dock.”

“Oh. That,” he said, finally looking down at her. Seeing those piercing gold eyes made her pulse thump in her veins. She saw a teasing twinkle there, but his face remained oddly calm.

Not what she’d expected from someone who’d been flirting like crazy with her.

Had she been hallucinating?

He closed the book. “Win you over? Woo you? We can arrange another date…”

“No,” she choked out, hating her body for being on fire already. “The other things.”

“Ohhh,” he said. “I see. Stuff like this.” He held up the book.

She gulped and nodded, too turned on to care about her pride anymore.

In one quick, feline movement that was too smooth and light for his substantial size, Dante tossed the book aside and leapt over her, pinning her against the bed, straddled by his taut thighs, all his impressive height over her.

“I thought you would never ask,” he said, surrounding her on all sides with his huge body, his crisp masculine scent like icy mountain air with just a hint of sunshiny warmth.

“What do you mean?”

“I could sense you were…” He cocked his head. “How do I say it?” He grinned. “Wanting me.”

She groaned in embarrassment. “You’re kidding me.”

“No. I just couldn’t be the first one to act,” he said, lowering himself and whispering into her ear. The feel of his hot breath was ticklish and arousing, waking her body in places she never knew existed. “I had to wait for you to come to me, like I promised.”

“How did you know, though?”

“Little things,” he said, interrupting her, running a hand lightly over her side. The touch was so soft yet intense, lighting up each nerve ending in a trail. So different from anything she’d felt.

She had to hope it would keep being different.

She had to keep the past at bay.

“Like what?”

“Little hitches in your breath as you looked over at me. Slight squirms as you tried to resist,” he said, hooking a finger lightly at the top of her pajama pants, teasing the skin there. If this was a prelude, then what he was about to do was going to be very, very good.

“You notice things like that?”

He tilted his head, a cocky gleam in his eyes. So gorgeous, so tan. “I notice almost everything about you. When are you going to get that?”

“It just makes no sense, because I—”

“I don’t want to hear you say anything else about yourself unless it’s a good thing. I don’t want to hear you be mean right now.”

She went silent at that. When had she become so cruel to herself in her head? When had she started to internalize all the words of the bullies until she couldn’t even see whose words were whose anymore?

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think you were beautiful. Inside and out.”

“You barely know me,” she exclaimed.

“Then let me know you better.” At that, his mouth covered the tip of her earlobe, kissing it as liquid warmth coursed through her body, igniting her senses with an incredible, forceful lust.

“Yes. Do that,” was all she could reply before his lips moved from her ear to her mouth. But this time she wasn’t holding back. She immediately gave in, letting him inside as his tongue caressed the inside of her mouth, slick and strong as it entwined with her own tongue.

While they kissed, his hands found hers, pressing her gently into the bed, encompassing and protecting her so wholly that her entire world seemed to begin and end with Dante.

I’ll make your romance novel heroes seem like ice cubes compared to how I’d set your body on fire. His words from before echoed in her mind as he owned her with the things his mouth could do.

And then his hand found the button of her sleep shirt, and Ella knew he hadn’t been exaggerating. If anything, he’d been underplaying the situation, and she was about to find out how much.