27
Dante
How can I tell her the truth? Her hand is splayed over my chest, her breathing slow and even.
She’s fallen asleep.
I pull the covers up around our naked bodies. I hadn’t intended to come into her room to have sex with her, but seeing her, knowing that her father poisoned her, I can’t ignore the feelings that stir inside of me.
I shouldn’t feel something for Nikki. It’s dangerous. Loving someone will destroy everything that I’ve achieved.
And yet that ultrasound this evening stole my heart.
She’s having my child.
I can’t ignore the growing feeling in the pit of my stomach, the sensation that when she’s near, I’m distracted. I don’t want to be lost in thoughts of a woman who should be my enemy.
Nikki is nothing like her father. At least as far as I can tell.
She’s smart and cunning, but not ruthless.
It’s a relief to feel her soft breath against my chest as she sleeps. She’s alive. My baby is alive. But for how much longer? What Gino said about her having forty-eight hours to live. How can that be?
I want to punch someone and scream.
Nikki shifts slightly, and my grip on her tightens. I never want to let her go.
Ever.
Could Gino be wrong? Maybe he suspects we’re listening and is feeding us bad information? We only have audio surveillance in Gino’s office. He couldn’t have found the bug.
Do I take Nikki back to the hospital? Going there once was risky. Twice is deadly. If not for her, then for me.
There are men who want me dead. Showing up in the next town over is suicide. I have to tread carefully.
“Dante?”
“I’m right here,” I whisper and rub her back soothingly. I want to lull her back to sleep. Could I be so lucky?
She tries to pull away and roll onto her side, but I don’t let her go. My grip tightens around her waist.
“My arm is asleep,” she says and tries to shift against me.
Reluctantly, I loosen my grip, and she shifts off my body and rolls onto her back. Her fingers graze my hip, her touch soft and lingering even as her fingers glide across my stomach and wander lower.
I trap her hand against my skin.
“If you keep that up—”
“You’ll what?” she interrupts me. A huge smile spreads across her face.
Is she taunting me?
“What will the big ole’ don do?” Nikki asks.
Yes, she’s asking for it.
Why am I surprised?