Page 3 of Auctioned Innocence
Before I can decipher his expression, he melts back into the crowd, leaving me alone with my racing thoughts and heated cheeks.
I force myself to breathe normally.
This is fine. I’m fine.
I just need to stop thinking about that day by the pool last summer…
The water had been cool against my sun-warmed skin as Dante helped me perfect my stroke.
“You’re still too tense,” he’d said, his hands strong and steady on my waist. “Let the water carry you.”
I’d been hyperaware of his bare chest against my back, the rough calluses on his palms.
Nothing like the swimming lessons he’d given me as a kid.
This was…different.
Dangerous.
“Sofia.” Dante’s voice pulls me back to the present.
He’s moved across the room to stand before me.
Up close, he’s even more devastating in his perfectly tailored black suit.
A small scar cuts through his left eyebrow—new, from whatever business he handles for my brother and Mario DeLuca.
I hate that I notice these things.
“Dante.” I’m proud that my voice comes out steady, the same tone I’d use when coordinating an operation. “I didn’t know you’d be here tonight.”
His mouth quirks slightly.
“Your brother’s orders. Apparently I need to socialize more.”
“Is that what this is? Socializing?”
The words slip out with the sharp edge I typically reserve for interrogations, a bit more challenge in my tone than I intended.
“Or are you here working security detail?”
Something dangerous flashes in his eyes. “Careful,principessa.”
“I’m not your princess,” I counter, irritation flaring at the childish nickname he’s used since I was a girl wearing party dresses and bows. “And I’m not little anymore.”
The words hang between us, charged with meaning.
His jaw tightens.
Before he can respond, the dinner bell chimes.
Saved by the bell—literally.
But dinner proves its own kind of torture.
Someone’s twisted sense of humor has placed me directly across from Dante.
Every time I look up, his eyes are there.
