The Devil of DiRisio
Page 17
“You’re crying,” I told him as we stared into each other’s eyes.
“So are you.”
“Am I? I didn’t realize.”
After I got my cast off, we took a real honeymoon. One of Will’s teammates loaned us his beach house in San Marino and we spent a week taking long walks and just enjoying each other’s presence.
When we returned to Rome, we fell back into the daily grind. Will had games, practice, and classes. During my hospital stay, I caught up on all my classes and finished my schooling so I didn’t have to worry about that anymore, but I had to put in extra practice to rehabilitate my ankle.
I knew I would eventually have to see Damian Karl again. We still owed DiRisio six performances. I didn’t know how I would react to seeing him or how he would respond to my marrying Will. I didn’t have to wait long to find out, though. A few days after our honeymoon, Will and I were taking a swim when the doorbell rang. After I lost a quick round of rock, paper, scissors, I jumped out of the pool and went to answer it. I thought it would be Anna Marie. She said she would be dropping by to show me a few of the items from the new line of clothing Raffaele was designing. But when I opened the door, it wasn’t Anna Marie.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked Damian Karl as he stared at me soberly. He didn’t respond. “What do you … ” I started to ask him what he wanted, but the last time I did that he just said he wanted me. “If Will sees you, he’ll freak.”
“You married him,” he said with painful resignation.
“I did.”
“I tell you I love you and then you go marry him?”
“Damian, you didn’t love me. You just wanted what you couldn’t have.”
“I loved you. I still love you.” Damian’s fiery blue eyes filled with sorrow and regret. For a second, I felt sorry for him, I actually began to think I’d made a mistake in marrying Will. But then I realized that Damian was just playing his head games again.
“If you love me so much, why haven’t I heard a word from you in almost eight weeks. You said you’d call me every day. You didn’t call me once. Great way to show your love.” Damian didn’t respond.
I felt I had adequately made my point. I was just about to slam the door in his face when he said, “I called you every day for 55 days. Sometimes two and three times a day,” he said with an expression of shock singed with confusion.
Damian whipped out his phone and handed it to me. “I called you at least a hundred times and left just as many messages,” he said as I scrolled through his phone log. Sure enough my number was there an extraordinary amount of times. I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t gotten a single one of the calls.
“Damian, I don’t know –” Just then, I heard Will get out of the pool and ask who was at the door. My pulse quickened. I couldn’t let Will know Damian was here, he’d flip out. But I didn’t want to run Damian off either, when he so obviously needed me. I just stared at Damian’s smoldering blue eyes brimming with pain not knowing what to do. Then I heard the door to the patio open. Will was coming into the house.
Suddenly, Damian cupped my face and pressed his lips to mine. Then, with a possessed look in his eyes, he whispered, “This is not over. I don’t care what I have to do in this life or the next, you will be mine.” Then he left.
The Saint of Petersburg, the final book in Dancing Dream series.
Coming June 2012
About the Author
Leslie DuBois lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband and two children. She currently attends the Medical University where she’s earning her PhD in Biostatistics. Leslie enjoys writing stories and novels that integrate races. Her other novels include Ain’t No Sunshine, The Queen Bee of Bridgeton, Guardian of Eden, and La Cienega Just Smiled coming Nov 2011. Visit her website to learn more.