Katia

 

The next morning, Dante was crankier than usual. I drank my cappuccino in silence punctuated with sighs as I flipped through my emails.

 

“I have a charity event this afternoon, followed by a party in the evening,” I mused out loud. “Are you coming with me?”

 

Dante glared at me. “You know that’s part of the bargain. You can’t just leave me behind. I’m your bodyguard,” he spat.

 

“And you were so good at it yesterday,” I said lightly.

 

I didn’t mention what had happened after we’d come home from the shopping trip. Absolutely nothing. Dante hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of me for the rest of the day, and while I’d wanted to kiss him again, I’d come to my senses right after returning to my condo. Dante stood out among the sea of pink and gold furnishings, and it occurred to me how silly it was that I had such desire for him. After all, he was nothing like the men I was used to dealing with.

 

I’d always had a type—metrosexuals, usually blonde, blue-eyed, and the kind of guy who would scoff at Ralph Lauren from a mile away. My last boyfriend, Antonio, had been a gorgeous, misogynistic Italian guy. We’d had so much fun together, touring villas of Italy and France, sipping vintage champagne.

 

I’d hated his comments, and hated his cheating even worse, but he’d actually been the one to break up with me because I refused to give up my career. Now, I wondered whether I was going to be able to find a guy who was able to keep up with me. And Dante definitely isn’t that guy, I realized.

 

“What do you do, anyway?” Dante asked.

 

I frowned and blinked. “What do you mean?”

 

“Like, do you do anything valuable?”

 

“Of course,” I snapped. “Everything I do is valuable. You know that,” I added in an obvious tone of voice. I gestured around my kitchen, furnished with all of the latest gadgets and technology. “I mean, how else would I be able to pay for all of this? Someone thinks I’m good at contributing to society.”

 

Dante rolled his eyes. “You’re a spoiled brat. I bet you don’t even know what charity is getting the money from your event later.”

 

I stared him down. “Of course I do,” I replied. “It’s the Youth Diabetes Charity. I always go to their events.”

 

Dante snorted. “Yeah, because a bunch of kid diabetics definitely need an ex-beauty queen hanging around. What the hell do you do, cut a ribbon with big gold scissors?”

 

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not that kind of event,” I informed him. “It’s a silent auction, all benefiting diabetes research.” Admittedly, I had little idea about what actually lay ahead this evening. Most Wednesdays, I had an alternate agenda.

 

I’d been visiting the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles every week for the past five years. I didn’t want to tell Dante though. I hated the idea that he’d probably take credit for my charity. Besides, it was personal.

 

“Well, I’m sure it’ll be over soon, and then you can get back to shopping,” Dante said curtly. He opened the Los Angeles Times and flapped the paper, so it shook noisily. I cringed; I’d always hated that sound.

 

“Shut up,” I mumbled. “You don’t know anything about me.”

 

“Surprise me,” Dante said. He was glaring at me, his cobalt eyes blazing light fire. “Seriously, Katia. I wanna know. Do you have one good bone in that body of yours? Or is everything a fucking game to you?”

 

I stood up from the table, pushing back with both of my hands. “It’s none of your fucking business,” I snapped.

 

I closed my eyes and tried to think of Arielle telling me to relax. But even after a series of five deep breaths, I wasn’t feeling better. I flashed my eyes open at Dante and glared at him. Suddenly, this was war.

 

“What?” Dante joked. “You forget that you have a waxing appointment later?”

 

I picked up my phone and called Anya. “Anya, you’re going to have to cancel my appearance at the Diabetes event,” I said coolly. “I’m doing my usual Wednesday work this week.”

 

“Katia, they’ve already sent you a thank you basket for agreeing to attend!”

 

“Well, send it back. I don’t need another iPhone or meal delivery thing anyway. You know, they’re never really gluten-free.”

 

Anya sighed. “Katia, are you sure this is wise?”

 

I didn’t answer for a moment. Instead, I kept my eyes locked on Dante’s, staring at him until he shrank away.

 

“Yes,” I said confidently. “This is exactly what I want. Now, call the Children’s Hospital and please tell them they can expect me at the usual time.”

 

“Okay,” Anya said nervously. “But I think you should at least call them or send a note or something, Katia. They were expecting you.”

 

“I’ll go to the next three of their events, free of charge. You can tell them for me, can’t you, Anya?”

 

I hung up before she could answer and smirked triumphantly at Dante. Originally, I hadn’t wanted him to know about what I did every Wednesday; at least, I didn’t want him to know why. But somehow, I had this stupid burning urge to make him believe that I wasn’t the spoiled, rotten brat that he thought. I wanted him to know why I was always acting the way I did. I had a feeling that if he knew, maybe he’d understand.

 

“You don’t know anything about me,” I said to Dante, resisting the urge to gloat. “But you’re about to find out.”

 

“Oh, yeah?” Dante rolled his eyes. “Lemme guess, you go to the Children’s Hospital so you can flirt with all the single dads?”

 

“Shows how much you pay attention,” I said sweetly. “And besides, at least I’m not a criminal.” I raised my eyebrows. “Like you,” I added with unneeded clarification.

 

# # #

 

Three hours later, Dante and I walked into the lobby of the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. The secretary, Shelly, dropped her jaw when she saw that it was me.

 

“Oh my God, Katia!” She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug. “I had no idea you were coming today. Anya said you had an event.”

 

“I thought I did,” I said with a small smile. “But this is more important to me, Shell.” I grinned, and it was genuine this time. “I couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing my girls for a week.”

 

“They’re going to be so thrilled,” Shelly gushed. “They were all so sad when I told them that you wouldn’t be coming.”

 

Turning to Dante, I raised an eyebrow and gave him a look as if to say, “See.” I noticed that after that, Dante couldn’t quite meet my eyes.