My reaction is completely irrational and over the top, especially after seeing Matteo, but I’m so off kilter it isn’t funny.
“Baby, what the fuck are you doing?” Dante appears in front of me.
“Where were you? Jesus, Dante, no one was here!” I scream so loud, I hurt my own ears.
He scoops me up off the shower floor and into his arms, twisting around to reach the faucet so the shower starts warming up.
“Layne, look at me,” Dante commands. His dominance cuts through my panic, and my eyes jump to him. He uses his designation to make it impossible for me to look away from him. “We all came to see you when we got home. We said we would. Valentine and I crashed next to you for a while, but then he sleepwalked to your bedroom. I slept beside him becausehe’s exhausted, and when he’s that tired, he gets weird when he wakes up. Matty went to his room because he’s exhausted, too, but mostly everyone went their separate ways because you were snoring like a damn steam train.”
He twists me around so I’m straddling his lap, not letting me hide any of my mood from him.
“I promise we came in and tried to wake you up. When we go back in there, you might notice the flowers beside your bed and the cupcake Valentine drove to Belmondo to get you. Or it might be Matty’s note he wrote, telling you to come suck his cock when you wake up. When I woke up about thirty minutes ago, I was kissing your face until things in my head got pretty heated. I started thinking I’d just fuck your ass until you woke up, but then I was feeling guilty about doing that on your special day when you clearly needed sleep. I went up to the gym, tried to workout, but ended up fucking my fist and coming so hard, I had to get the mop and bucket. But Matty, Val, and I were here with you.”
He talks and runs his hands over my face and through my hair. I’m still caught up in my head, thinking I’d never see them again. I need the mental grounding of the touches he provides.
“Maybe leave a note on my forehead next time?” I suggest quietly.
He smiles, one of his big, blazing smiles. “Or maybe I should have just slid into your ass and fucked you in your dreams.”
“Yeah maybe.” I close my eyes, tipping my head back, and he brushes clumps of wet hair from my face. “Shit, Dante, I totally imagined the worst.”
“Everything went off without a hitch. We weren’t even injured. Although, Valentine got pretty fucked off at one point.”
I open my eyes in question.
“Okay, maybe Matty and I were winding him up a bit, but it’s good for him to remember he’s about to be the Boss of the Cosa Nostra.”
As I snuggle under his chin, he tells me more about what happened.
“It really did go as we planned,” he says, leaning us both back against the shower wall. “We got back here probably an hour or so after we left, but we went down to the basement after checking the cameras. You were fine. But, I mean, I was doing that every ten minutes as it was.”
“There are cameras in Valentine's room?”
“Cameras everywhere, Layne.”
I hum, reaching up to lick a stream of water tracing down his throat right over his scent gland. Dante’s scent adds a hint of Amaretto to the water as I swallow him down, feeling better again.
“While we dealt with Diego and Rosa, we watched Vitale’s mistress’s house burn to the ground. Which was pretty entertaining.”
“Hmm, glad I didn’t know about that part. You know Rocco burned my house down?”
“Yeah. Which is where I got the idea.” Dante laughs, and it vibrates through his chest. “Whereas you, my darling wife, survived, the people in my fire did not. Truth is, though, they were dead before I lit the match.”
“Good. And everything went well with Diego and Rosa?”
“So well. If today was next week, I would have taken you down to see our evil and torturous ways.” He pulls me away so I can see the nefarious glee in his sky-blue eyes.
Dante is being Dante. And that helps me more.
“I’m good now.” I stand up. “Can I make you breakfast?”
“Of course you can. Otherwise, I can make you breakfast,” he promises as he climbs to his feet.
“Together?” I suggest.
“It’s the way life will be for us, so it makes sense.”
I go to climb out, and Dante grabs me, hauling me back under the shower spray.
