There’s not a damn thing you could do right now to turn me off.
He found me beautiful. He appreciated what others hadn’t. So while I’d been made to feel unsure about my body in the past, Dante was different. Dante wasn’t John, Courtney, Cassidy, or any of my old bullies. Dante wasn’t Bradley. My view of myself wasn’this.
I made my way downstairs. Dante wasn’t in the library, but I decided to wait for him there. Giddy, I bounced over to his bookshelves and scanned them. The shelves were built right into the wall, and they went from the floor to the ceiling, which had to be at least fourteen feet tall. A rolling ladder was the only way someone could reach those higher shelves, which were just as full as the lower ones. Dante hadn’t been lying when he’d said he had more books than a bookstore. Even the public library would be jealous of his collection.
“What do you think?”
At the sound of Dante’s voice, I quickly spun around. He sat down a wine bottle and two glasses before placing a small plate of fruits, cheeses, and crackers next to it on the coffee table. While the food and drink looked great, my mouth watered over a different sight.
Dante had changed into light gray sweatpants. That was it. I’d seen Dante shirtless in music videos, photos online, or during concerts, but I’d never seen him shirtless this close. His bare torso was even more muscular in person, and his dark skin was flawless. When he bent over to arrange the food, I spotted a large ram skull tattoo spanning the skin of his upper back and shoulder blades. Flames wrapped around each bicep in black ink, and a dusting of hair ran from his navel to below the waist band of his low-riding sweatpants.
Heat engulfed my body and settled where I now pressed my thighs together. It was almost like he could sense the intense, needy reaction to the sight of him, because his eyes snapped up to meet mine from where he was still bent over the table.
I sucked in a hard breath and quickly turned my back on him. “What do I think about what?” I cringed at how rough my voice came out.
Dante appeared at my side and leaned his broad shoulder against the bookshelf beside me. His woodsy and clean scent wrapped around me, making my body buzz with even more desire. It didn’t help that he cocked his head toward the bookshelves with a knowing twitch of his lips.
“What else? What do you think about my shelves? Can you work your magic on them and make them pretty like yours?”
“Oh,” I croaked, mentally slapping myself for thinking he was asking about my thoughts onhim. “Yes. I mean, it will be a project, but I think it will be a lot of fun.”
“Can’t wait. In the meantime …” He pointed over my shoulder. “I think that section will be the one that interests you the most.”
I followed him and took great pains to not stare at his perfect ass … though I did sneak a glance. Or two.
The section he brought me to made a smile stretch across my face, and I instantly looked over the many romance titles.
“You know me so well,” I laughed, pulling one off the shelf to read the back. The fantasy romance sounded right up my alley, and my immediate interest must’ve been obvious.
“Want to borrow it?” he chuckled.
“Yes, please!”
I sat the book with my belongings before pulling out our books from earlier that day. We settled in the seating area. He got a fire going while I sat back on the couch, facing the large hearth.
“Do you prefer sound or silence while reading?” he asked.
“Sound, for sure. I always have music or a show going while I read.”
“Say no more.”
He pressed a switch by the fireplace, and the bare wall above the mantle slid up to reveal a TV tucked into the wall. Without a word, Dante went to a streaming app and wordlessly started up one of my favorite Korean dramas. A warm match lit inside me. He didn’t have to remember the shows I loved, yet … he did. He took the time to not only listen when I spoke but tohearme.
Dante sat on the floor between the coffee table and couch. The show and crackling fire filled the room with their soft sounds. I nestled back and opened my book while he dove back into his.
There was a certain sense of comfort and intimacy that came from sitting with Dante while we each immersed ourselves in our own stories. There wasn’t this uncomfortable pressure to carry on a conversation or to give him my undivided attention. There wasn’t an expectation to be a certain version of myself to appease his needs.
Instead, there was a sweetness in the silence between us, yet there was no shortage of beingtogether. I’d be fully engrossed in an action-packed scene only to feel a tap on my knee as Dante held a strawberry up over his shoulder, his eyes still glued to his own book. I’d lean forward to accept the fruit or cracker or whatever else he held out for me. He’d chortle or scoff under his breath while reading certain scenes, and I’d peer over his shoulder to see what drew the reaction out of him. We existed unapologetically as ourselves. I’d never felt this level of comfort with another person. I’d never felt safe in my own skin or mind. I’d never felt solight.
Eventually, I stretched out to lay on my stomach, my head near Dante’s shoulder. I propped my book on the couch and my head on my fist, gripped by the slow burn romance unfolding before me. When the couplefinallykissed during a heated argument, I kicked my feet lightly behind me and squealed happily under my breath.
“That’s a fun reaction,” Dante said, turning to look over his shoulder at me. “What—”
“Shh!” I quickly said, placing my finger over Dante’s mouth without looking away from the book. “They’re finally kissing!”
His lips lifted behind my finger. He turned back to his book, and I dove back into the toe-curling romance in front of me. The passion in the scene drew me in like a fish on a hook, and the more I read, the more a part of me craved it. I craved to be kissed, touched, and loved like this, but that had never been a reality for me with Bradley. Maybe it never would be.
“Well, that’s a somber expression to have when reading about two characters finally fucking.”
