by Harper Sloan
I hadn’t seen that coming, and I was less than thrilled by his boldness. Somehow I managed to keep my cool as I smiled brightly at the judges, almost in a daze. We finished our bow, and with hands still clasped went to exit the dance floor.
When Marcus and I reached the edge of the floor, a tingle went up my spine. Instantly I knew that Dante was nearby, because I could actually feel it. When I looked to my left, my eyes locked with his, and my jaw dropped. His blue eyes were stormy, and the look he gave me was terribly dark. I’d never seen such an expression on his face before. He looked incandescent with rage, and I was shocked. I came to a halt to ask him what was wrong, but Marcus pulled my hand and brought me backstage, severing my eye contact with Dante in the process.
After thinking about it, I concluded that Dante was very likely pissed off because of my outfit. He was always a bit weird about stuff like that where I was concerned, but I'd never seen him so angry about it. Thinking it through, I decided that I would just set him straight to the fact that how I dressed was none of his business.
I made a conscious decision not to let whatever was bothering Dante ruin my day. He could stuff his overprotective thoughts. I was happy, I felt accomplished, and it was a moment I wanted to enjoy.
Marcus was beaming at me, his smile lighting up his whole face. He really was hot, and I found myself wishing that what I felt toward him were passion as opposed to detached appreciation of what a handsome specimen he was.
I laughed nervously when he pulled me to his chest and put his forehead on mine. “You were so sexy, Sabrina! Thanks for saving my ass and agreeing to do this with me – you rocked it! I'm sorry if the kiss came out of thin air, but I just went with what I felt right then. You have to know that I've been attracted to you since the moment we met, but I figured I shouldn’t really push for anything until the competition was over. Did the kiss bother you, or are you interested in seeing where this goes?”
It was a lot to take in, and I felt guilty as I shook my head in the negative. “It didn’t bother me, no. But please don’t do it again. I’m interested in someone else.”
“Oh. That’s a real downer." He pouted for a moment, something I found highly unattractive, before pulling me across the room to sit and wait for the scoring. We sat side by side in two of the empty banquet chairs in silence.
When the competition was over, we took our places with the other couples, waiting to hear who the winners were. I was beyond shocked when we took third place in the amateur tango, but I have to admit that it was a thrill. Everything was a blur for the next twenty minutes as we took pictures with the first and second place winners, shook hands with the judges, and posed with our instructor.
Finally, it was all over, and everyone began to disperse. I was anxious to get over to Brooke, Dante and the rest of his family, so I told Marcus that I had to go. Instead of just letting me go, he asked me if I wanted to go to dinner to celebrate.
I was a bit annoyed, and I hoped he wasn’t going to get pushy, especially since I had been very clear when I told him that I was interested in someone else. I told him that I was going out to dinner with my family, and he responded that he would call me soon so that we could go to dinner to celebrate our win. I was non-committal but polite about it since I had no intention of giving him false hope.
Holding up his iPhone he said, “I need a picture of us, from today.” Holding his arm out in front of him, he took a shot of us together with his phone camera. I knew that he was dragging his feet, probably in the hopes of my changing my mind, but that wasn’t going to happen. When I finally put my foot down and told him that I really had to go, he left me with a frown.
I was excited about my win and couldn’t wait to share it with my sister, Dante and his family, so I hurried over to where I had last seen Dante. I waved when I saw Dante, Damien and the girls standing together, and was surprised to see that they all looked somewhat anxious.
My first stop was Brooke, and she gave me a giant hug. Stepping back she looked me over and whistled. “My god, Rina, I had NO idea you could dance like that! It was incredible! I'm so proud of you, sis.”
Dominique and Delilah were next, and they both hugged and kissed me as they congratulated me on the win. Dominique asked, "Where did you learn to dance that like? It was incredible! I want to learn how to do all of that!"
I smiled at her compliment as I told her what studio I'd been going to. "You should totally do it if you're interested, Dominique, but I'd advise not being a total idiot like I was and throwing yourself into it so fast. I burnt out hard, and I'm finished with it now, probably for a long time."
I could feel the tension hanging over us and I wondered what the hell was going on. I reached Damien next, and even he was more subdued than usual. “Sabrina. Wow. I’m impressed. You look beautiful, as always.” He hugged me, but he had a look in his eyes that was strange.
Finally, I reached Dante. The look he gave me would cause water to freeze in an instant. Glaring at me he said, “Sabrina. What a performance.” The inference on the word performance was downright glacial.
Gesturing to my outfit he continued, “I’d no idea that you weren’t going to be dressed. Don’t you think you should have warned us that you would be damn near naked?”
My eyes bulged as I simultaneously heard four gasps. Suddenly I understood why everyone looked uncomfortable. Dante had probably been in full outraged protector mode over the entire time.
Standing tall, I stepped forward so that the two of us were as eye-to-eye as we could be, considering that I was about 5’8 in the heels and Dante was 6’2.
“Screw you, Dante. I know you’re over protective, but this is a step too far, even for you. I’m dressed entirely appropriately for the event. I’m also wearing more than your last three girlfriends combined on any given night. My ‘performance’ was a dance. I wasn’t shaking it for dollar bills. You know what? Go pound sand! I won’t be spoken to like this by you or anyone else. I’m going home. Let me know when your attitude improves dramatically. Otherwise, go to hell.” I pivoted and walked away, beyond pissed off with his behavior.
I was almost at the exit when I heard running footsteps behind me. Dante grabbed my hand and spun me around so that I was facing him, and then he put a hand on each of my shoulders. “Rina, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be an asshole. Please don’t leave.” His eyes begged for forgiveness, melting my bones even though I was really angry.
Normally I’d have let it go, but he had really pissed me off and I wasn't about to be treated like an idiot. Glaring up at him I hissed, “I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but you better get a hold of yourself. I’m not a child, nor am I one of the Dante-bots. You aren’t my protector, and you aren’t my father!”
Running his hands through his hair, he hung his head. “Jesus, Sabrina! I don’t think I’m your father. I certainly don’t think of you as a child. I’m sorry. I guess I’m just stressed out. Let’s go out to dinner with everyone as planned. We can celebrate your win.”
Oh shit, our families. I’d forgotten all about them in the heat of the moment, and I felt like a total idiot. No one had ever made me as angry as Dante had right then. Stepping to the left, I looked past him to where the four of them were standing and staring at us, wide eyed.
Stepping back I looked at Dante again as I tried to decide what to do. He looked sincere, and I felt as if he meant his apology. “Fine. I need to go home, shower and change. I suggest you take that time to calm down. I’m not eating with you if you start acting like that again. You can pick me up at my house in an hour, and I'll ride home with Brooke after the movie, as planned.” I turned and left before he could say anything else, because I was still too pissed to stay.
Fortunately, there was almost no traffic and I was back at my house in Brentwood rather quickly. I had forty-five minutes to get ready for dinner, so I headed straight for my bathroom.
I was in and out of the shower in about fifteen minutes and ten minutes after that I’d fini
shed drying my hair. I styled it into a high ponytail and used the curling iron to make it flip up at the bottom. I applied dark kohl to my eyes to create the ‘cat eye’ style and then finished with mascara, a dash of blush and light lip-gloss.
I’d picked out a beautiful silk Akiko kimono dress for dinner. It ended above my knees, and I loved the way it hung on me. I added my tan Burberry platform espadrilles and a pair of gold hoops to complete the ensemble and I was just spraying myself with my favorite perfume, J’adore, when the doorbell rang. I was a lot calmer than I had been earlier, and I hoped Dante was as well.
I was relieved when I opened the door and found that he was smiling. He'd brought me a beautiful bouquet of white roses, and he handed them to me with a smile. "These are a peace offering. I'm really sorry I was such an asshole earlier. I didn't mean to take my feelings out on you."
Smiling at him, I said thank you before I went to the kitchen and put the arrangement in a vase. I loved that he'd put the thought into knowing that he needed to really apologize, and I smiled as I put them on the living room table.
When I turned back to him he was standing in the middle of the living room staring at me. Seeing that I had caught him staring, he chuckled. "Damn, I just got so busted ogling you. Rina, you look gorgeous. Nice dress.”
I chuckled as I raised my shoulder and said, “Oh this old thing?”
“Oh sure, that old thing.” He laughed as he said it and I was happy to see that he was back to being his normal charming self. After he helped me lock up, we headed straight to the restaurant. The ride to the Monsoon Café in Santa Monica was pleasant. Dante gestured to the iPod that was permanently attached to his radio and told me to put on whatever I wanted. After a few minutes of searching, I chose The Eagles’ greatest hits, and we sat in companionable silence listening to the music.
Brooke, Damien, Spencer, Dominique and Delilah were already seated when we arrived at the restaurant. They were all a bit tentative as Dante and I sat down, but once they saw that we were okay, they started acting normally again. By the time our dinners arrived, we were all totally relaxed and enjoying ourselves. The sushi was delicious and we were all having a fabulous time sharing rolls with each other while we made each other laugh.
As we were all finishing up eating dinner, Dante gestured at me with a grin. “Since some of us have recently lost a lot of unnecessary weight, I suggest that we all order dessert.” I could only laugh at how silly he was being because it was classic Dante – always wanting to take care of everyone. It was like a full time job with him; one that he took very seriously. Besides, I didn’t need to be persuaded to order dessert, because the banana tempura at Monsoon was one of my favorite things. When it arrived at the table I enthusiastically dug in.
The meal came to an end and we all went our separate ways. Damien and Spencer both had “dates” (a generous term since they were both as bad as Dante) so they begged off for the night. The rest of us were going to be meeting at Dante’s to watch a movie.
I drove with Dante back to his house, grumbling along the way about how stuffed I was. Once we arrived at the house, Dante headed to the theater room to set up the movie, and I grabbed bottles of water for everyone. I knew we were all too stuffed to eat popcorn, so I didn’t bother making any. As the minutes went by, I was surprised that the girls hadn't yet arrived since we had left at the same time. I didn't want to admit it to him yet, but it was making me anxious. My biggest fear was that something horrible would happen to Brooke.
Dante’s phone rang a few minutes later and sure enough it was the girls. I was relieved to know that everything was fine, but they had stopped back at Dominique’s apartment to grab Brooke's car, and Dominique’s neighbor was having a party. Delilah explained to Dante that they had decided to stay with their friends. It was unlike them to bail on us, but Dante and I decided to watch the movie anyway. After a quick discussion, we agreed to watch in the living room instead of the theater room since it was just the two of us.
I'd situated myself on the chaise portion of Dante’s enormous leather sectional while he put the movie in. I was all stretched out and ready to watch. It was nice that it was just the two of us. Normally, some or all of our siblings were in the house too, so this was different. We spent a lot of time alone together, but normally not at his house, at night.
About ten minutes into the movie, I started fidgeting. My feet were sore from all the dancing, and they were bothering me. Sitting up, I scooted forward and took my Burberry platforms off.
Dante must have been watching, because he commented when I winced as I pulled the shoes off. “Did you hurt your ankle or something?”
Sighing, I shook my head. “No, nothing like that, it’s that my arches are sore from all the dancing. I’m sure the fact that I wear heels every day anyway isn’t helping."
Glancing at my feet he said, “As a man, I love your footwear. They are HOT with a capital H. You have incredible taste in shoes and lord knows you have a ton of them, but I don’t know how you walk in those things.”
I laughed at that, because to men high heels were always a mystery. It really wasn't that hard to walk in them, but men never believed that. Putting the movie on pause he wandered out of the room for a few minutes before returning with a bottle of lotion. Taking the seat next to me on the couch, he patted his lap. “I’m at your service. Give me your feet and I’ll rub them.”
I was momentarily stunned, and considered flat-out saying no. Letting him massage me didn’t seem like a great idea because there would be landmines everywhere. I was very easily aroused around Dante to begin with, and his touching me would make it worse. Still, I didn't want to draw attention to the fact that I was skittish about him massaging me, so I swung my legs up onto his lap and smiled. “Thanks Dante, you’re the best.”
I leaned back against the sofa, my feet in Dante’s lap, and I watched as he rolled up his sleeves and then pumped some lotion into his hands before he started rubbing them together. Right then and there I should have put the brakes on. They were the sexiest hands I’d ever seen in my life, and watching him rub them together was wickedly erotic. My pulse spiked from that alone, which wasn't a good sign.
He picked up my left foot and gently started rubbing the lotion from the tip of my toes to the bottom of my calf, paying particular attention to my arches. Just those little touches and I was lost, completely off kilter and turned on. I told myself to stay calm even as I drank it all in and made plans to use my vibrator the minute I got home.
To say that it was extremely intense would be a ridiculous understatement. He was very, very good with his hands, and it felt like jolts of static electricity were running up my leg, each pass of his fingers sending a current right to my aching sex. The minutes passed in silence as he massaged, and I tried to keep my wits about me. When he switched to my other foot, I felt like I just might combust. I needed him to stop, but no words were coming out of my mouth. There was really no polite way to say, “Please stop massaging me before I dry hump your leg.”
It was fast becoming a serious problem. The more he massaged, the more turned on I got, and I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning. The more time that passed, the harder it was to stay still. I’d never gotten so turned on so fast, and I could literally feel my panties getting wetter by the second.
The air in the room felt heavy, and it was a struggle to remember to breathe in and out.
A flush of embarrassment washed over me when I realized that I wasn't doing as good of a job as I normally did of keeping Dante in the dark about my lust for him. I could only hope that he was focused on my feet and couldn’t tell what was happening with me.
Raising my eyes to him, I checked to see if he was noticing what was happening, only to find his eyes blazing back into mine. The look he gave me was pure combustible heat, and it left me with absolutely no doubt that he felt whatever was happening too.
He shook his head as though he was trying to clear it, and returned to massaging as I closed my e
yes and tried to process what the hell was happening—and my reaction to it. When he rubbed the arch of my foot again, I couldn’t help it, and I moaned. My eyes snapped open, and I prayed that maybe he hadn’t heard me.
His hand slid from the arch of my foot up to my left ankle as his other hand gripped my right ankle. Using my ankles as leverage, he jerked me toward him. I wasn’t dumb and I knew what that meant. Clearly, he had heard me. I was trying to process all of that as he bent forward and kissed first one knee, then the other.
I took a shocked breath and my jaw dropped as I stared at the top of his head. Raising his eyes to mine, Dante asked, “Rina. I want this. Do you?”
The line was shockingly easy to cross.
Looking him straight in the eye I answered honestly and without hesitation. “Yes. God, yes.”
From that moment, there was no uncertainty on either of our parts. There was no awkwardness. It just was.
“Thank fuck. I’ve dreamt of this for so fucking long,” he said as he returned to kissing and licking my legs. He started at my ankles and worked his way up along every inch of the skin between my ankles and my knees.
Scooting forward, he placed my right leg over his shoulder and then pushed my dress up to my waist. I shuddered when he made a feral sound of appreciation when he saw my little yellow panties.
His breath was choppy, just like mine. It was a sight to behold, Dante turned on. I felt as though I was about to explode just from looking at him. His nostrils flared as he breathed me in, and I knew he had no doubt about how aroused I was. With no preamble, he put his hands on my panties and ripped them apart, the silk all but disintegrating in his hands. It was the sexiest thing I'd ever seen, and I shivered as I let out a moan.