Page 15 of Beautiful Beasts

He turns and looks down at me. His eyes rapidly search mine for a moment. He lifts his free hand and gently brushes my face, his skin warm against my cold cheek. His touch is so gentle it makes me ache for him.

“I will make sure that this world doesn’t destroy you too, Sweetheart. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you before, but I am here now, and I am not going anywhere.”

I nod because I don’t know what else to do right now. “Why are you showing me this, telling me this?” I ask, even though part of me is scared to hear the answer.

He takes a deep, shaky breath. “Because I want you to know you are different,” he says softly.

“What do you mean?” I ask, searching his face.

“I have been with a lot of women, Bella. I have tried to fill this emptiness inside me, but I have never been able to do it, not until you,” he says calmly. His eyes filled with desire and anxiety.

“But I didn’t do anything,” I argue. If anything, I have made things more complicated for him.

He shakes his head and gives me a small smile as he leans in, resting his forehead against mine. “You have changed everything.”

“Dante?” I whisper.

“I need you to watch over the white roses for me. I will need to start going back out, making sure my businesses are running smoothly, and I need you to make sure these roses survive. Do you think you can do that for me?” He pleads and asks at the same time.

I nod. “Of course.”

“Good girl,” he whispers, making my core pulse with his praise.

He pulls back and looks into my eyes. I see tears forming in his eyes as he shakes his head and takes a deep breath. “My mother was the only woman I have known who truly has loved me for me. Until you. You have spread me open like a fucking wound, Bella. You are my weakness,” he declares with pain, desire, passion, and anxiety.

“I’m sorry,” I apologize.

He shakes his head. “Don’t be sorry. You have shown me that I can feel again. I am thanking you, Sweetheart.”

I suck in a deep breath, not knowing what to say exactly, so I say the first thing that comes into my mind. I lean into Dante, my lips now almost touching his. “I’m falling in love with you, Dante Calloway. All of you, every piece of you.” I pull back to look into his eyes.

His eyes rapidly search mine, and his hand moves from my face to my neck. He wraps his fingers around my throat, pulling me back into him. He tightens his grip on my throat. “I am already in love with you, Bella Lawson,” he proclaims with confidence and desire.

We both close the distance, our mouths clashing together in a dangerous mixture of fire, love, and darkness.

11

Dante

Second Week Together

I rest my back against the bedframe. Bella is snuggled into my side, and her legs are intertwined with mine. I never thought in a million years that I would be cuddling in bed with a woman that I can say I am in love with. Everything has happened so fast that, at times, my head feels like it is spinning, but I wouldn’t change a fucking thing.

Her affection for me has increased since we confessed our feelings for each other last week. If my mother were still here with me, she would like Bella. She would understand my obsession with her and my need to make sure she remains mine.

It is easy to lose things in this life and to stop seeing what is fucking important. I do not plan on making that mistake. I am not my father, even though he did everything he could to turn me into him before he died. Before Bella, sometimes, when I looked in the mirror, I saw his face staring back at me. But now, she is my reason not to give in to the wrong kind of darkness.

Bella will no longer be safe when the others in my world learn about her. Others will try and take her from me and will try and use her to get what they want from me. If, for some reason, they did get their disgusting hands on her, I would do anything to get her back, even stepping down from being King. What no one understands yet is she is my everything.

Everything has moved so fucking quickly in the last few weeks, and a normal person would not be feeling what I am feeling right now. A normal person would not feel what Bella confessed to me at the roses. Love is not supposed to be logical, but society believes there is a right and wrong way of loving someone, which is full-blown bullshit.

Nothing in my life has been slow, so why would my feelings for Bella be any different? Why would I deny myself her? Why would I allow someone else to come in and try and take my fucking place?

The simple answer is I fucking wouldn’t. I don’t give two fucks what others think is right and wrong. Everything about my life, who I am, and what I am, is fucking wrong.

My mind is telling me to keep her at a distance, but my heart and soul need and desire her more than anything else. Even if I tried to walk away from her, even if it was to save her from me, I know I can’t fucking do it. I am a selfish fucker, and I would rather us destroy each other than be apart.

I place my laptop on my lap and open it, putting in my passwords. Now that Bellas lives here, I need to put in more cameras around my property. I don’t want anyone to be able to come into the house who is not invited.

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