“Why didn’t you tell me you burned your feet too? These look worse than the hand!” he snapped as he gently cupped my bare feet in his rough hands.
“Dante, I’m good. Just stand up, okay? I’m fine.” I moved my feet from his grasp and pulled them up to tuck under me, folding my legs and trying not to wince at the slight sting of my feet brushing my legs.
“You’re not fine! Stop saying that!” Dante snapped as he rose to his full height and glared hard at me.
“Easy, Dante. Just take a breath and calm down. Cara looks okay to me. I know you don’t want to scare her,” Dio intervened.
Dante looked to me with horror and then backed up a couple of steps away from me.
“No,” I told him as I met his eyes and kept eye contact. “You didn’t scare me, big guy. I know you wouldn’t hurt me. I would never be scared of you.”
“I’d never hurt you, or let anyone else either, love. I just want you to be safe,” he uttered. All I wanted to do was take the awful look from his face; a look of uncertainty and fear that he had done something to scare me.
I slid off of the counter and walked right over to him, wrapping my arms tight around his waist and clinging to him witheverything in me, needing him to feel how much trust I had in him.
“The only thing that I feel when I’m with you is safe, always,” I whispered to him. I wasn’t sure he’d heard me until he held me even tighter against him. I dropped my painful arm from around him once I was sure he had relaxed some, not regretting the angry throbbing from my shoulder one bit, knowing it was worth it to soothe Dante. I kept my other arm around him though, and held him tightly.
“Dante, why don’t you help Cara back up to her room? Dario and I will clean up here and lock up,” Rafe spoke up. I turned my face against Dante so I could see my brother, and I smiled to him gratefully. I was so relieved he understood what Dante needed right then, and that he was able to put it before his macho, protective instincts.
“Try to get some sleep, Cara. Your body needs to heal,” Dio spoke up.
“I’ll stay with her until she falls asleep,” Dante cut in, then he was guiding me from the kitchen.
“You know you don’t have to walk me to my room, right? I can make it back up there myself,” I told him, but I didn’t try to pull away from the arm he had wrapped around me, tucking me in tightly to his side.
“I know, but I’m gonna do it anyway,” he sighed, and when I looked up at him, he looked so tired and worn out.
“It’s been a tough couple of days, huh?”
“I don’t like when my family is being threatened.”
“No one likes that, but we’re all here and safe now. It’s okay to take a breath and allow yourself to rest,” I told him, praying he would listen to me. I wasn’t sure he’d slept at all the night before. He’d been so amped up and filled with rage after they all found Gia and I.
The way he had snapped when he saw I was hurt, and laid into those bodies with his blade – it should have terrified me, but it hadn’t. Yes, Dante had gone feral, drenched in blood and roaring in anger, but it had been for me. It had been for Gia. It had been for his family, who it was so obvious he would do anything to protect. Maybe he was a little unstable, maybe even unhinged when pushed, but he wouldn’t hurt the people he cared for. All he would ever do was protect them. Protect me.
“You’re not safe. There’s still a threat against you and I won’t rest until I’ve eliminated it,” he growled. “I can’t lose you. You’re too important to me.”
“Me? You hardly know me?” I scoffed.
“I know you’re mine. Nothing and no one is ever taking you from me.” He pulled me even tighter against him and surrounded me with both arms as we continued moving up the stairs.
“You can’t just decide I’m yours, big guy. I mean, I like you and all, but we only met less than a week ago,” I argued, but there was a smile on my face at his craziness.
“I knew it as soon as I saw you. You are mine. You were made for me, and you need me too,” he went on easily.
“I do, huh?”
“To protect you, and to keep an eye on you. You’re tough and strong, but you’re too brave, and you don’t take care of yourself right. You need me.”
“Well, you’re direct. No one could ever accuse you of mincing your words,” I laughed awkwardly.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like Dante. He was everything dark, dangerous, and sexy in one devastatingly handsome and muscle packed package. But he was older, and I wasn’t exaggerating when I told him we barely knew one another. For him to tell me he knew he wanted me the second he saw me was just insane, and I couldn’t process it, let alone find any sensible response.
“What’s the point in that? I prefer honesty,” he shrugged.
“Me too,” I agreed. “But you might have to give me some time to catch up to where you are, Dante. Like I told you, I like you. More than that, I trust you, which is a huge thing for me. But so much has happened, and I’m just trying to figure out who I am in this new life. I’m going to need time.”
“You can have time, love, but I’m not going anywhere. And you are mine. I won’t let you walk away from me.”
