Page 18 of Hers to Claim

“But it made yours so much more difficult.”

Cisco held her hand to his face. “Like I told you that night, I lived with it every day, no matter what.”

She sighed. “I love you.”

He kissed her hand. “Siempre, mi amor.”

“Can you give us a minute?”

Cisco nodded. “Of course. I’ll be outside if you need me.” He turned on one clawed foot and walked to the door, nodding at Dante on his way out.

Once the door closed behind him, Mari looked at Dante. “I’m sorry I did that.”

He met her eyes after a long, awkward moment. “I can’t pretend I understand, and it hurt my feelings a lot when you didn’t call, but I hope you know that hurting you was the last thing I ever wanted to do.”

“It wasn’t you; it was him.” She took a breath. “I knew that I would try to find you, because you’d given me a taste of something so beautiful, but if I went after you there was only one way that was going to end.”

He nodded, but there was still a wounded look in his eyes. “I wish you’d told me.”

Her lips trembled when she tried to smile. “You would have tried to help me.”

He let out a soul-deep sigh. “Yeah, I would have.”

“And that would have made everything so much worse.”

He grumbled. “Okay, I get it. The whole situation was fucked up, and neither of us could have fixed it.”

“I’m sorry that I didn’t come find you after he died.”

“I’ll admit it was a little bit of a hit to my ego, but not your fault since you didn’t actually remember.” Dante smiled, his dimples flashing. “I hope now that you do, you might have chosen differently.”

“I would have looked for you, eventually, although the last few weeks have been kind of a whirlwind.”

“Ouch.” His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Right to the quick, every time.”

She grinned, catching his playful mood. “Only because kissing it better after feels so good.”

His laugh was warm and rich. “You’re right about that.”

An idea of a way she could potentially solve a problem and spend more time with this sexy unicorn suddenly occurred to her. “So, you work for Esmé?”

He nodded. “When she asked for volunteers to come fill the vacancies over here, I raised my hand first thing. A shamelessattempt to see you again without breaking the promise I made to you.”

The fact that the promise clearly meant so much to him convinced her it was at least worth asking. “And you’re a submissive for hire?”

“Yup. A full list of my services is available on the app.” He winked. “But I’ll give you the highlights. Not much on my no list aside from pony play.”

Mari nearly choked on a laugh. “No. People do not really ask you for that?”

“Oh, honey, you would be surprised how many.” He rolled his eyes. “Frankly, it’s offensive. One guy asked if he could wear spurs while he fucked me.”

Once she got another fit of giggles under control, she straightened her shoulders. “And could I hire you, like long term?”

Dante tilted his head. “Not a thing I would usually say yes to, but I’m intrigued.”

She swallowed back the embarrassment that rose, though she couldn’t help the blush that heated her face. “There are things I want to explore, and Cisco said he would teach me, but I have reasons for not wanting to go down that road with Rio.”

He searched her face for a long moment. “Considering everything I’ve heard about what went on here before Esmé took over, I’m not surprised.”

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