“What?” Dante blinked. “My dad?”
“Yeah. I mean, here you are wanting to learn to take pictures so you can give him a Christmas present. He must have been a pretty great father if you’re still that close. I wish Caley and Wyatt had that.”
“Yeah, my dad’s something all right.” Dante managed a weak smile. She couldn’t have been further from the truth, but then that was his fault, wasn’t it? Because he’d lied to her from the second they met. “So.” He scanned the room. “Looks like you need a major distraction and I certainly see one. All this unpacking. Can you do with some help?”
“Seriously?” Nissa arched a brow at him. “You want to help me unpack my house?”
“Sure. I don’t have anything else on my agenda. I’m on vacation, remember?” And it would give him a chance to prod her into getting her office up and going. So he could find those pictures and get her in the clear before he moved on.
“Well, if you have your heart set on it, I don’t know how I can refuse. Might give me some time to finally figure out what’s wrong with you.”
“Wrong with me?”
“Uh-huh.” She stood up and gathered her mug and plate. “No man is this perfect. And I don’t mean physically. You’re nice, funny, and actually concerned about other people. Yeah, there has to be some secret you’re keeping. Fair warning. It’s just a matter of time before I figure out what it is.”
Chapter Five
“How could a five-year-old have accumulated more stuff than I have in twenty-nine years?” Nissa deposited the last of her son’s super hero action figures into the cubby on the wall as Dante broke down the final box and stacked it with the others. “At this rate he’ll be a world-class hoarder by the time he goes to college.”
“Maybe he’s just trying to keep up with his sister,” Dante said with what had become a familiar glint in his eye. Nissa had to admit he’d been a good sport about today, helping her unpack her kids’ things, moved furniture in the living room and family room. He’d only looked genuinely confused a few times. “Is your daughter planning a career as a mad scientist?”
Nissa grinned and saw the street lamps blink on outside. “There are worse professions. She’s addicted to those science kits they sell, especially anything having to do with chemistry. I should be grateful she hasn’t developed an affinity for bugs. Yet.”
She’d been so grateful to have something to focus on and occupy her still fractured thoughts, even something as mundane as unpacking toys, clothes and books. She found herself both exhilarated and dismayed at the idea of Dante Thanos unloading her children’s memories, helping her hang the comic book curtains over Wyatt’s bedroom window that overlooked the back yard. Who would have thought he’d have a domestic bone in his body?
She bent down to straighten the collection of books in the wooden crates she’d assembled into storage next to the desk her son would one day grow in to.
“So, Wyatt’s five, right?” Dante tugged the red and blue splotched bedspread taut before he tossed the bright yellow pillows against the headboard. “He’s going to be in Kindergarten?”
“In just a couple of weeks, yep.” She rubbed a hand against the center of her chest as if easing a bruise. Her baby was growing up so fast. “He’s so excited. The move was a good time for him. For both of them, really. I was a little worried about Caley and moving her away from the friends she had, but I think being close to her grandparents is helping. And she loves her uncles and Sabrina. Second grade should be a breeze now with the added support system.”
“From what I hear the schools in St. Helena are great.” Dante bent down next to her as if to examine her organizational skills. “So why are you worried?”
“Who says I’m worried?” But even she heard herself gulp. “I’m not worried. About them, anyway. I just get this wave of terror every once in a while.” She tucked her arms into her body. “Like I’m going to do something wrong and Lance is just waiting to pounce.”
“Your ex-husband isn’t going to take your kids away from you.” Dante’s soft voice washed over her. He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, brushed his fingers against the side of her face. He sat back against the wall and braced his arm on his knee. “How long were you married?”
“Ten years. Exactly.” At his arched brow she added, “He gave me divorce papers for our tenth anniversary.”
Her heart did an unexpected leap at the way his jaw tensed, as if he was chewing on a nail. “Prince Charming, huh?”
“He was. Once. We were high school sweethearts, cliché as that sounds.” She sat on the hardwood floor and folded her legs. “Only boy I ever dated and yes, he was charming. Star of the debate squad, class president, honor roll. Golden boy on a quick ride to the top. What could possibly go wrong?”
“What did go wrong?”
“You mean other than me being blinded by the pretty promises of happily ever after?” She sighed. “We grew in different directions. Cliché, I know, but I was looking for something meaningful, in my life and in my marriage, while he got caught in the trap of appearances and wealth. I think my fighting him on the direction he wanted to go surprised him.”
“Why does that sound like you think this was your fault?”
Nissa shrugged. “Because part of it is. I was trying so hard to be what I think he wanted, I wasn’t being myself. He thought he was getting a tag along, a throwback to June Cleaver. A woman who would go along with whatever he had planned. It took me far too many years to realize he didn’t give one thought to what I wanted. I almost left him, actually. When I was a senior in college. My advisor recommended me for this amazing job in Los Angeles, set me up with an interview and everything. Lance and I had this huge fight. He was studying for the bar and was being considered for this internship at a big law firm, but for once I stood up for myself. I said I’d do what I needed to do for me and if he didn’t like it, tough. I felt sick the whole drive down, thought it was just nerves, you know?” She smiled. “Turned out to be Caley introducing herself. I fail to understand why they call it morning sickness when it can last all day.”
“So you stayed with him,” Dante said. “Did you get the job?”
Nissa’s breath caught in her throat. “Sorry.” She blinked the sudden rush of tears away. “I just realized Lance never asked me that question.” And yet a man she’d known mere hours had. This so wasn’t fair. “Yes, I got it. Not that it mattered. My priorities changed and despite his subsequent lack of interest, Lance seemed thrilled about the baby.”
“He should have been.” Dante’s hand kept curling into a fist, his knuckles whitening.
Nissa couldn’t stop herself. She reached out and took his hand in hers. “It wasn’t all bad. How could he be when he gave me two great kids? I might have a lot of regrets and I might have wished I’d done things differently, but if I had, Caley and Wyatt might not be here, so.” She shrugged again. “The good far outweighs the bad.”
“Is that when you started freelancing?”
“Mmmm.” She nodded as the warmth of his skin seeped through her. “Just because I wasn’t taking the job didn’t mean I was going to give up on my passion. I shifted my plans, did my research and just dived in. I did pretty well for a while, especially with nature photography. Some kids had pictures of movie or rock stars on their walls. I had Ansel Adams prints. There’s so much power in film, in locking down a moment in time that never happened before, will never come again. I couldn’t walk away from that, so I found a way to make it all work.”
“While Lance what? Just went on about his merry way with his career? You ceased to matter?”
“Until someone better came along.”
“Please don’t tell me with his secretary. He can’t possibly be that predictable.” He turned his hand over and slipped his fingers through hers, sliding between hers and she shivered.
“Better. The boss’s daughter. Arabella Beaufort.” Why did she always want to add a kicky Southern accent whenever the woman’s
name passed her lips. “As pretty and perky as you can possibly imagine a twenty-two-year-old can be. Her waist is about the size of my wrist and she teeters around on these needle-thin heels—oh.”
Dante leaned in, brought her wrist to his mouth and brushed his lips against her skittering pulse. “You mean this wrist?”
Parts of her that had grown cold years ago instantly warmed. She couldn’t tell the difference between shivers and tingles, not that she’d want either to go away. He drew his gaze from their hands up her torso to her face, the light in the blue depths shimmering with aroused amusement.
“Oh, wow.” She bit her lip and squirmed as if he’s initiated her launch sequence. She had images of throwing herself at him, of diving her hands into that thick mane of dark hair and seeing what else that mouth of his could do. “You, um, you really know what you’re doing, don’t you?”
She nearly missed the grin on his face as he released her hand, reached out and gripped her around the hips to pull her onto his lap. Nissa gasped as her knees hit the floor on either side of his thighs. The feel of him under her, even with two layers of clothes between them—or maybe because of them—flipped whatever dormancy switch she had into overdrive and left her entire body humming. His hands slipped up to her waist, inched beneath her tee, his bare fingers so hot against her skin she felt as if she’d been branded.
When he pressed his fingers hard into the base of her spine, she arched forward, a moan escaping her as she tried to catch her breath. “You know.” She bit her lip as she slid forward, more solidly against him. “I should probably tell you I haven’t done this in a while.”
“Good.” He kept one hand on her butt while the other caught the back of her neck and drew her mouth down to his.
“No, I mean…oh, God. Mmmm.” Her lower body had developed a mind of its own. Her hips rocked back and forth, urged on by the gentle pressure of his hand. “Lance always said I wasn’t very good. That…I was…too…”
He stopped, his mouth a breath from hers. She gripped her hands hard into his shoulders, torn between drawing him closer and pushing him away. She shouldn’t be doing this. This was all kinds of wrong. She barely knew him, but nothing in her life before this moment had ever felt so right.
“It’s an inadequate man who blames the woman.” His eyes sharpened and she touched his face. The prickly barely there whiskers scratching her heated fingertips. “Besides.” He brushed his lips feather light against hers. “Your ex-husband is a prick.”
The laughing sob that escaped from her lips acted as a pressure valve and for that moment, she didn’t care what secrets he kept. “Are we really going to do this?” She whispered the question against his lips, wanting, needing him to kiss her.
“We are. But not here.” Once again he gripped her hips and before she knew what was happening, he was on his feet and she’d locked her legs around his waist. “I want your bed, now.”
“Down the hall—”
“I know where it is.” And then he kissed her.
*
Nissa’s unrepressed squeal as he dropped her on her bed may very well have been the most wondrous and arousing sound Dante had ever heard in his life. The vibrations of her voice hit him right below the belt and erased any rationality he might still possess. Making love to her was the absolute last thing he should be doing, but his desire for her, his attraction to her, had grown throughout the day. He had a job to do and this wasn’t it. Getting involved with her was the worst possible decision he could make and yet, there wasn’t one he wanted to make more. His gentle attempts to get her into her office to unpack had gone ignored which, if he was honest with himself he had to admit came as a relief. He wasn’t ready to leave her.
Not that he’d expected to play an odd version of house for the rest of the day. Although…there was something to be said for the way the day was about to end.
Which was probably why he took an extra few beats to simply look at her sprawled out on the mattress. Her tee shirt had hiked up and exposed her stomach, slightly rounded over the band of her jeans. Her breathing was labored and caused her full breasts to constrict against the confines of her bra. Her honey blonde hair spilled out around her head as she drew her hands to her mouth, a combination of nerves and excitement shining in her round eyes before she gasped and sat up. “Crap.”
He planted his hands on his hips. “We need to work on your dirty talk.”
“Ha ha. No. I, um, don’t have any…” her face went passion pink. “Oh, wait. Maybe in the —”
He ducked his head to his chest, trying not to laugh as he followed her into the bathroom where he found her digging through yet another box.
“Oh, come on, I have to have kept some. Three and half years might mean they’ve expired but—”
Holy hell. Dante leaned against the door frame. Three and a half years? “Nissa.”
“Yeah, hold on. I’ll find some.” She bent over so her head and shoulders disappeared into the box. “If I have to dig to—”
“Nissa.” He dug into his back pocket.
“What?!” She tipped her head to the side and turned frantic eyes on him. Her gaze shifted to the foil packet between his fingers. “Oh. Well.” She shoved herself upright and smoothed her hands down her hair. “I guess I should have assumed…wait. Did you expect this to happen?”
Expect? No. Hoped? “Would you believe I was a Boy Scout?”
“No, actually, I wouldn’t. So, I guess this puts us back on track.” She walked over to stand toe to toe with him. Forget how her voice vibrated. He could feel the tremors rolling through her like she was the San Andreas fault. She plucked the condom out of his hand. “How many of these did you bring? You know, so I can plan ahead.”
The idea of what Nissa Lafferty might have planned for him erased any coherent thought remaining in his brain. “I have the box in my car. That work okay?”
“Definitely okay.” There was that uncertainty again, as if she was about to walk through the fire knowing she’d be burned. She grabbed his hand and tugged him back into the bedroom, not stopping until the backs of her knees hit the edge of the bed. “Hang on.” She tossed the packet onto the mattress and grabbed the hem of his shirt. “I’ve been wanting to do this since I first saw you in the park. You don’t mind, do you?” She replaced the fabric with her hand.
“As you wish,” he managed as every inch of him went hard.
“You really have to stop doing that.”
He wouldn’t. Not as long as his words made her eyes dance like that. He was a man used to being in charge, of taking the lead both in and out of the bedroom. But witnessing Nissa Lafferty come to life before him made him realize he was more than willing to surrender control. She could do whatever she wanted with him…for as long as she wanted.
Until he left. But for now, for these moments, these hours, he could have everything he wanted.
He lifted his arms as she drew his shirt over his head, locked his jaw as she smoothed her hands over the expanse of his chest, down his arms, skimming her fingertips along his wrists before returning to the button of his jeans. Dante clenched his fists, determined not to touch her because he knew the second he did, there would be no stopping himself from taking over. All he wanted to do was touch her, kiss her, to lose himself inside of her as he pushed her over the edge.
“I didn’t think men like you were real.” Her amazed whisper shot through him like a bullet and drove the breath from his body. “I’m still not sure you are.” She lifted her face, her gaze to his and as she did, her hair spilled over her shoulders and down her back. Her hands trembled against him as she hesitated at the zipper. “How can a man like you want me like this?”
As the innocent words slipped from her lips, her hand cupped him and squeezed. The amused glint in her eyes shifted as a low growl erupted from the back of his throat. “I think you’ve answered your own question.” He stepped forward and she fell back on the bed, her hand abandoning his cock as she grabbed hold of him and pulled
him with her. He made quick work of her tee, flinging it to the floor as he stared greedily at her full breasts spilling out of the practical white cotton bra. He flattened a hand on her stomach, felt her muscles tighten under his touch as her legs parted and her back arched. He pressed his lips against the side of her throat, inhaled the flowery scent of her skin before abandoning the last of reason and kissed her.
She tasted like summer. Hot and sultry, sun-baked perfection and as she curled her legs around him, opened her mouth to him, he knew he’d turned down a road with no return route. He curved an arm around her waist and rolled, pulling her over him as he reveled in her surprised gasp. Nissa lifted her mouth and as he watched, the uncertainty on her face transformed into one of feminine challenge.
“Are you sure?” He reached for a strand of her hair, part of him hoping she’d say no. This was so wrong for so many reasons, but he knew one thing for certain: he’d never wanted a woman the way he wanted Nissa Lafferty.
“I don’t want to think about it,” she whispered as she tilted her head to the side. “I just want to feel. I want something for me.” Nissa squeezed her thighs around his hips and leaned forward until their mouths barely touched. “I want you.”
The hell with it. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her the rest of the way in, capturing her lips with his as his other hand roamed down her almost bare back, over the band of her bra, down her spine. Over her jean clad butt…
The odd vibration caught him off guard. It took him a second to realize what it was and when he did, he couldn’t help it. He laughed. “Your backside is buzzing.” He kissed her neck.
“No kidding,” she panted.
“No, Nissa.” He smiled against her skin as a laugh rumbled through him. “Your phone. It’s on vibrate. And I’m not fond of competition.”
She groaned and slapped a hand on her butt, her brows knitting as she pulled her cell free. After a glance at the screen, she dropped her head forward and sighed. “The universe hates me. Don’t move!” She planted her hand flat on his chest and held him on the bed. “Hey, Caley-girl. What’s going on?”
Love In Focus Page 5