Page 94 of Knocked Up by My Dad's Mafia Boss

“I will be.”

I nod. “Well, I’m here. If you need me.”

He smiles. “Thank you,cara mia.Get some rest. You’ve been ill.”

Alarm sounds in the back of my head. Papa knows I’m still not feeling well. I’m not exactly hiding my pregnancy symptoms well. I’ll have to do better.

I just nod again and slip back into my room, lying down on the bed and staring up at the vaulted ceilings. I can’t stop thinkingabout Dante, seeing those blank blue eyes in my mind’s eye. I toss and turn for a couple hours before I get up.

I head downstairs first, making a sandwich. I bet Dante hasn’t eaten.

I’m not going to tell him I miss him. I’m just… checking in. Tonight couldn’t have been easy. Killing an old friend.

Just because he pushed me away doesn’t mean I can’t care about him.

Right?

I pad back upstairs and knock softly on his door.

“Come in.”

I step inside with the plate. He’s sitting on the bed, leaned forward with his forearms on his thighs. Dante looks up at me, surprise widening his eyes. “Samantha.”

“I thought you’d be hungry.” I place the plate down on the bed next to him.

He looks down at the plate. “I don’t know if I can eat.”

I bite my lip. “I heard what happened.” He doesn’t respond. “It had to be hard for you.”

He’s quiet for a long moment, and I put my hand behind me on the doorknob, planning to slip back into the hallway. I hesitate.

“It wasn’t.” Dante’s words are flat and sudden.

I blink. “What?”

He looks up at me, eyes still too empty. “It wasn’t hard.”

“Of course it was.”

He shakes his head. “Should have been. Wasn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because he knew about us,” Dante nearly whispers, looking straight ahead instead of at me.

I gasp, unable to stop myself. “What?”

He doesn’t meet my eyes. “He knew about us. Had a photo. Called you a piece of ass.” He chuckles shakily, running a hand through his hair. I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. “So no, it wasn’t hard on me. It was easy. Because I’ll kill anyone who disrespects you,tesoro. Do anything to keep you safe.”

I let out a sound almost like a squeak. I can’t stop myself from crouching down in front of him, cupping his cheek with one hand. “Dante.”

He squeezes his eyes shut and turns his face into my hand, his breath ragged. I lean forward and kiss him, gently, slowly licking across his bottom lip.

He groans against my mouth, kissing me back fervently, as if this is just the opening he’s needed. He sweeps me up into his arms, deposits me on his lap.

I straddle him instinctively, my fingers threading through the hair at the nape of his neck as I kiss him again. His hips surge up beneath me and I can feel him growing hard.

He growls softly when I nip at his bottom lip. He grabs me by the throat, not hard, just enough to hold me away from him sothat he can meet my eyes. “Don’t do this to me,tesoro,” he says brokenly.