The wolf gets what he wants, and I was just the lamb, too overpowered by who he was to do anything else.
He came back to the room not much later with all my favorite foods, dressed in sweats and a T-shirt like he didn’t have anywhere else to be.
“A new list?” I held it up, a small smile on my face.
“Sure. You needed some help.” He shrugged, completely unfazed. The man didn’t embarrass easily, didn’t think he overstepped, and definitely didn’t question himself.
I loved it all.
“I have a whole phone full of ideas to help me. I even bought a book to read on it.”
“Should we read it together?” He handed a quesito over to me, and a smirk teased my lips at the way he catered to me.
“No, Dante. I have to go to work, and I have to do these things on my own.” I sighed around the food as I took a bite. The flakiness of the pastry rivaled some of the best things in the world.
“Without sharing the experience, the joy is lost,” he murmured.
“Who told you that?”
“Just a switch up of theInto the Wildstory.”
“What was that story?”
“He went searching for meaning in the wild and found that ‘happiness is only real when shared.’”
Dante sat next to me and took a big bite out of his own quesito while we mulled over the quote. I wiped my mouth as I stared at his, hypnotized by how his lips wrapped around each piece of food.
“Maybe I’m being selfish with my happiness, and you should come along for some.”
“Maybe.” He nodded, but he didn’t push me.
“Well, I want to see bioluminescent water. Have you heard of it? The water lights up this magnificent blue.”
“Blue?”
“Yes, but you have to ferry out to a small island. Oh, and there’s a sculpture that my book said I have to visit before I’m done here.”
He grabbed the list from where it was lying on the bed and started to scribble notes. Then he pocketed it.
“You’re keeping the list you made me?”
“I made the list forus.”
My heart fluttered at just that one word, and I bit my lip, glancing away from him and trying my best not to feel more than I already did for my childhood crush.
“When do you plan to be done here, Lamb?”
“With my food?”
“No.” He chuckled. “With your trip. With Puerto Rico.”
I hesitated with my answer, knowing exactly when my contract with the hospital ended but not at all sure if I would be ready to go home by then. “My contract was for three months.”
“That wasn’t my question.” He popped the rest of the pastry into his mouth and wiped his hands on his sweats before rising to stand right over me. Then he placed both hands on either side of my hips on the bed. “When do you plan to settle down, Lilah? When does my lamb turn into a sheep?”
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t think I ever want to be a sheep.”
He hummed and dragged his nose across my neck. “You ever want to settle? To be happy with the good girl you are?”