Page 78 of Humility

“How about flattery and a lot more sex?”

I rolled my eyes at the teasing comment but was tempted to grab the spatula and beat him with it.

“He’s not wrong. You take my breath away, always have,” Dario said, setting the mixing bowl down and coming around the island. The closer he got, the faster my heart pumped. Dario stopped in front of me, and I stared up at his handsome face. He looked much more rugged than when they left for the US, but it suited him. He was undeniably sexy.

“I’m going to smack you,” I said.

“I deserve it.”

I smacked him across the face as hard as I could, and it echoed loudly in the quiet room. I shook my stinging hand while his head hardly moved.

“Do you want to do it again to the other side?”

“Tempted, but no, that hurt.”

Dario grabbed my hand and brought it to his mouth to lay soft kisses all over the reddened area that was still sensitive from me burning myself.

“Don’t worry, Amorina, you could slap me every day, all day, for a thousand years, and it would never equal the agony I felt losing you. I didn’t think my heart would ever heal, yet seeing you here is like a balm to my aching soul.”

“Wow, who knew Dario was all…like that?” Enzo said, but Dario ignored him.

I knew. My body heated with his pretty words and intense stare. Dario was a poet and loved to paint, but no one ever saw that side. To the world, he was a bodyguard who would kill you in the blink of an eye, but with me, he’d always been different.

“I’m still angry, and I don’t know when I’ll get over you sneaking into my room. Or letting him.” I stuck my thumb in Angelo’s direction.

“I know.”

I knew it was Angelo’s idea, but Dario didn’t throw him under the bus. He didn’t even look his way. His loyalty to those he loved was something I cherished.

“You know I haven’t decided to take you or Angelo back?”

Angelo made a disgusted sound, and I glared in his direction, but he continued to cut up fruit and didn’t look at me.

“I do.”

I nodded.

“How’s the shoulder?” I touched his arm near the bandage, and he shrugged, not looking away from my face.

“I’ll live. Can I hug you?”

I nibbled my bottom lip and knew every touch I shared was another step closer to falling down the rabbit hole to a strange world once more. It didn’t matter. I nodded and fell into his warmth. It felt like no time had passed as I wrapped my arms around Dario and closed my eyes.

“I’ve missed you,” Dario whispered in my ear. “Can we talk privately later?” I nodded into his chest as I held back the tears.

It wasn’t fair to have had them in my life for such a relatively short time, and yet they had plagued me ever since.

Kissing the top of my head, he pulled back, and the corner of his mouth turned up. “I’m making pancakes just the way you like. Would you like a coffee?”

“That would be great.”

Angelo popped a berry into his mouth and winked at me but said nothing else. There had to be a country where his sexy arrogance was criminal, and I could have him locked up.

I looked over at Enzo, and he cleared his throat. “Are you going to explain yourself? Was any of what happened real, or were you playing a part for Angelo?”

“No, I swear that’s not how it happened…I….”

I held up my hand and stopped him from continuing. “I don’t want to hear about it right now.”