I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter, and if you want to be with me, it won’t matter to you either. It’s in the past.” At least I hope it is.
Dante places his fork down gently and takes a deep breath, his jaw flexing. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He holds out his hand to me, and I stare at him, slipping my hand into his. “I promise you’re safe with me, Luna. I would put myself in harm's way before I ever let it touch you.”
I smile softly. “I know, and that kind of scares me, too, because this feels too good to be true. I mean, have you looked at yourself in the mirror, Dante? You’re incredibly handsome, and on top of it all, you’re extremely thoughtful as well. You stuck up for me, and every woman at the gym today, with that creep when you didn’t have to. Please tell me there’s something wrong with you, because you’reabsolutelytoo good to be true.”
Dante’s eyes widen, and he gives me a sly smile, chuckling. “That dickhead deserved to have his teeth punched down his throat, but then I wouldn’t have been able to take you to breakfast, so I let him off with a warning.”
I slip my hand out of his, “I just need more time. I hope you understand.”
Dante nods, picking his fork back up. “Completely. I’m a patient man, Luna. I’m willing to wait for what I want,” he smiles, and goes back to eating his breakfast like I didn’t just reject him. He’s justsitting there, happily shoveling his eggs and bacon into his mouth.
I pick up my spoon and start to eat my yogurt, truly bewildered by the man in front of me. Dante is unlike anyone I’ve ever known. It makes me excited to get to know him better, and I’m glad my rejection hasn’t changed his feelings towards me. I smile into my bowl of yogurt, trying not to let out the excitement that's building inside me.
Maybe the universe is finally on my side.
We finished our breakfast in relative silence, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence; it felt natural. As if we’ve been friends for years, and one of us has just flown into town to see the other. It’s nice.
When the server comes, Dante lays down his card, and I try to protest. “No, please let me cover breakfast.”
“Absolutely not. I asked you to breakfast, I'll pay. That’s the rules.” Dante hands his card to the server, and they quickly disappear.
“Who’s rules? I can pay for breakfast.” I cross my arms over my chest, cocking my brow.
“My rules,” Dante says in a teasing tone. “Don’t like it, ask me on a date, and then I’ll let you pay.”
He gives me a wink, and I can’t help but laugh. “Okay. I’ll remember that.” My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and see it’s a VidTok notification, which reminds me of a to-do on my list. “Shoot. I have to run. I have some other stuff planned today, and I need to get going.” I stand from the table, shoving my phone back in my pocket.
“Let me walk you back to your car.” Dante stands, following behind me as we leave Abby’s.
Dante keeps his hands to himself on the short walk back to my car, but I can feel his eyes on me constantly. When we arrive at my car, he asks for a hug before he leaves, and I can’t resist. “Thank you for breakfast,” I say as I lean into his hug. I breathe him in; his musky and smoky scent is slowly becoming one of my favorites. I need to find a candle like this.
Dante pulls away first. “Have a good rest of your day, Luna. Text me when you’re home.” I nod as he walks away, smiling, only turning around when I’m out of sight.
I hop in my car and turn the engine on, sitting in the silence. I have my foot on the brake, about to shift into drive, when I hear an engine rev. I see Dante flying out of the parking garage next to the gym on his motorcycle. He waves as he zips by, and I can’t stop the way my pussy clenches at the thought of being on the bike with him again.
Calm down, girl. We just politely rejected him for a reason.
I need slow…for now.
I’ve showered, done my makeup, and now I’m setting up my filming equipment on my desk. I unfold my ring light andclip my phone to the mount. I sit in front of my camera, fussing with my hair until I feel it looks decent enough. I turn the ring light on and press record on my camera.
I wrote a mini-script to stay on track during the video, emphasizing that my relationship with Wolfy is professional. “Hello, everyone! I’m back from my short hiatus! I won’t beat around the bush about the elephant in the room, that is, Masktoker WolfeInSheepsClothing, cosplaying as Detective Liam Moore from Vera’s Vengeance.” I take a second to do some dramatic pauses and exaggerated faces for the girlies. I’ll splice it together later, but people on VidTok love it; it’s good for content. “Now that that is out of the way, what a way to come back to social media! I was just as surprised as everyone else, which leads me to a few points I'd like to make. I love the video. Personally, I think Wolfy did a fantastic job. I’ve seen a few comments insinuating a ‘relationship’ behind the scenes, and I want to assure everyone that nothing is going on behind the scenes. I didn’t ask him to make the video, but I’m grateful to anyone who makes content with my characters. It makes me want to cry when I see all you bookish babes doing Vera cosplays, and that goes for anyone who wants to cosplay as Liam as well. So, thank you again to Wolfy for cosplaying. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should! But in other exciting news, as some of you have seen, I was named Best Selling Author in the Boston Sunday Times today,” another pause for dramatics. “I can’t begin to thank all of you enough. It’s because of all of you who have read and loved Vera’s story and recommended her to all the other dark romance baddies out there that I get to live my dream. I couldn’t have done any of this without you guys. I’m very proud to call you all my Vengeance Vixens!” I hit the stop button on my recording and sat back in my chair.
Vengeance…Vixens.
The name rolls around in my head, and I have an epiphany so strong it feels like I’ve been struck by lightning.
Book three in the series is the last one, so what if Vera finds a woman trapped in one of her victims' houses, and sheagrees to train her as some sort of apprentice assassin? Book three ends, and I start a new series under the apprentice called Vengeance Vixen, and they're an elite squad trained to deal with child sex crimes.
Oh my god.
I press save on my video, and it goes into my drafts. I flip my laptop open and start a new document.
I need to start writing right now before I lose it. I have a fire under my ass right now, and I’m not letting it go out; book three here I come!
Dante
Igrunt, pushing the last safety bar in place on Luna’s window. I push my hair out of my face, and she quietly slips into the room, but I make no notice that I know she’s watching me. I feel her eyes scanning head to toe, trying to commit this moment to memory. I smile to myself and work on the window a little longer so she can enjoy the view.
