CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I STRUGGLED TO REEL in my smile as I held Dante’s hand, walking up the pathway from the parking lot of my complex toward my building. Tonight was exactly what I wanted, what I needed. After the movie, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at one of his favorite Mexican restaurants, then drove up to Griffith Observatory, where we simply marveled at the excitement, hope, and dreams that made up the city of Los Angeles. We even danced under the stars to no music at all. It was the perfect end to the evening.
Dante far exceeded every single one of my notions of what a first date should be like. I’d only expected dinner. Never did I anticipate being completely swept off my feet, of him putting so much thought into the evening. He’d set the bar ridiculously high. I doubted anyone else would ever be able to treat me to a first date as perfect as this one, but that didn’t matter. As I stole a glimpse of Dante and admired his silhouette, I knew this would be the last first date I’d ever go on.
We approached my apartment and he turned to peer down at me, his eyes filled with adoration. I sighed, butterflies flitting in my stomach. It was like we’d never kissed, never had sex. The anticipation of his next kiss made my insides coil and tighten.
“I had a wonderful time tonight, Dante,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck as he brought my body closer to his.
“As did I. In the history of first dates, this will always be my favorite.” He gradually inched his mouth toward mine, the warmth of his breath causing the muscles in my core to clench.
All evening, I’d only been treated to an occasional, simple kiss, nothing deep, passionate, or all-consuming. That was what I needed at this moment. A kiss that swallowed me whole, that broke me into pieces, that consumed my soul.
When I couldn’t take the buildup any longer, I grabbed the back of his neck and forced his mouth within a whisper of mine, the proximity of his lips tickling my skin. “Kiss me, Dante,” I pleaded.
“With pleasure, Eleanor.” Instantly, his lips were on mine, his hand on my back pressing me tighter against him as his tongue caressed my mouth, begging for permission to enter. I opened for him with a moan, his tongue tangling with mine. We’d kissed thousands of times, but this one was much more charged, more electrifying, more intense. It didn’t matter how many more of Dante’s kisses I’d be the lucky recipient of. I’d always remember this kiss…the kiss Dante treated me to when he kissed me goodnight after our first date. I always dreamed what a goodnight kiss would feel like, what it would do to me. I imagined it would be the perfect mix of tender and passionate, of respectful and erotic, of sensual and desperate. This kiss was all those things…and more.
Dante slowly pulled back, his intense eyes unwavering as he kept his gaze trained on me. With each second we spent together, all my concerns regarding what the future held for us slowly disappeared little by little. Maybe I was making a bigger deal of the situation than was necessary. At the end of the day, the only thing that should matter was Dante’s love for me, and mine for him. If our love was strong enough, wouldn’t it weather any storm the universe threw at us?
“Come inside?” I looked up at him with pleading eyes.
Dante subtly shook his head. “Not tonight.”
“But—”
He pressed a finger against my mouth, hushing me. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I do. So bad, Eleanor. But I don’t want you to think I only want to spend time with you just to get you into bed. I love you. You. Not your body. Not the look on your face when you’re close to falling over the edge.” He gripped my body tighter, his eyes growing darker, more heated, more carnal. He lowered his voice, his lips gently brushing against my neck. “Not the tears running down your face when you’re on your knees and you take every last inch of me into your mouth.” He abruptly pulled back, his jaw tight and muscles clenched as he took heavy breaths, struggling to reel in his need. “I just love you. I know it’s a difficult concept for you to grasp, especially after everything your parents have put you through, but it’s my mission to prove to you that you are so loved, that you’re deserving of that love.”
“Is this about what you overheard my mother say?” I asked in a small voice.
“It’s about everything. Yes, I want you to see that your mother’s spiteful words have no bearing, that they hold absolutely no truth. More importantly, I want to give you everything you’ve never had. You’ve never had a real first date.”
“And you’ve given that to me,” I protested.
“I also want to give you that excitement of when we’ll see each other again. I want your stomach to flutter when I walk into your work unannounced. When I send you flowers just to put a smile on your face. When you arrive home after a long day to see I’ve already prepared dinner for you. Those are all things you do when you’re in a relationship. I’ve never done any of them, but I want to do them for you. Like I said earlier, I’ve taken you for granted. I won’t do that anymore. So, as much as I want to, I’m not going to come inside. Just like I wanted our first date to be special, I want the next time we make love to be special.” He ran his hand along my face, pushing a few waves of hair behind my ears. “I want to know I have all of you, your body, your heart…and your future.”
Seeing the passion in his expression, I could only answer one way. “Yes, Dante.”
A slow smile grew on his lips and he leaned down, kissing my nose before stepping back and releasing me from his hold. He grabbed my hand in his and placed a gentle kiss on the knuckles.
“I’ll be thinking of you all night.”
“When will I see you again?”
“Soon,” he said with a smirk, turning from me.
“You’re really going to leave and not tell me?”
“This is all part of dating. But know this… I am more addicted to you than any drug. I won’t be able to stay away for long.” He winked, then continued walking toward the parking lot. “Buonanotte, amore mio.”
“Buonanotte, amore mio,” I repeated before calling out to him once more. “Dante?”
He glanced over his shoulder.
“If you wanted to take things slow, why did you tell me not to wear any underwear?”
A salacious smile lit up his face, his eyes sparkling. “I just wanted to see if you’d do it.” His grin widened, then he added, “Ti amo.”
“Ti amo, Dante,” I murmured with a sigh, watching him disappear from view. When I heard the roar of his engine, I stepped into my lonely apartment, blown away by all the flowers that now covered nearly every available surface…one flower for every day I’d known Dante, just as he promised.
As I got ready for bed, part of me hoped he’d knock on my door at any minute. But no knock ever came. And for some reason, as I crawled under the covers and snuggled against the pillows, pretending they were Dante, I was more satisfied and sated than if he had been beside me.