Page 4 of Bedding the Baby Daddy

Aurora shook hands, nodded her head, laughed politely in the right places. And then three minutes later she was drifting away from them, having said her goodnights.

She found herself in the back hallway toward the coat check, staring at a blank spot in the air. What the hell had just happened? She’d just met the woman that Gio was going to take home and make love to tonight. More than that, she’d just met Gio’s future wife. She just knew it. She felt it in her bones. She was no psychic, not like her mother, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have above-average intuition.

Aurora felt a nauseous panic race through her. Gio’s woman was so pretty. Sweet and kind. Rose. The prettiest flower there was.

“Aurora?”

She gritted her teeth at the gravelly voice that instantly sent shivers down her spine.

“What?” she couldn’t help herself from snapping as she turned and faced Dante in the dim light of the back hallway.

He raised his hands in surrender. “I didn’t come back here to irritate you. Are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Aurora studied him in the bluish light, her blurry vision suddenly painfully clear. The noise of the party faded away as shadows cut across his face, accenting his sharp jaw, bottomless blue eyes, and dark brows. He was so big he damn near took up the entire hallway. He was so big, in fact, that he made Aurora feel small. Which was saying something, because she’d never been delicate or petite, even as a child.

The scent of him—soap and detergent and whiskey—drifted toward her in the small space and her pulse started racing. In that moment, for the first time ever, she willingly opened herself up to the attraction he made her feel and considered the possibilities…

She cocked her head to one side, studying him, and his brow furrowed like he was trying to figure out her mood.

A thought was uncurling inside her. A dangerous thought. But an interesting one nonetheless. Why should Gio be the only one getting busy tonight? She could damn well do with some good old fashioned sweaty sin. It had been long enough.

And maybe it would help. But only if it was hot. She needed something hot enough to burn these feelings of jealousy and loss right out of her.

So, the question was whether or not Dante Callaghan would fumble in the end zone or if he’d give it to her right. Her eyes dropped to his large hands tucked halfway into his pants pockets. They moved to the confident width of his shoulders. And lastly, they focused on the noticeable bulge behind his zipper.

Her eyebrows raised. Well, even if he was terrible in bed, she could work with that.

“Was it all talk?” she asked him, her voice husky and seductive even to her own ears.

He frowned and cocked a brow. “Excuse me?”

She took a step toward him. “All the pretty words you’ve had for me over the years. Was it talk? Were you ever going to do something about it?”

Dante’s eyes immediately narrowed in comprehension while the rest of him remained perfectly still. “Are you asking me to do something about it?”

Aurora slowly shrugged one shoulder, feeling the fabric of her dress tighten around her breasts. She was feeling reckless and needy and like her soul might just dry up tonight if she didn’t feed it something. And right now, what she wanted to feed it most was Dante Callaghan.

“For some reason, yes. I am. So what do you say?”

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