“If you keep scowling, your face will freeze that way.” I attempted a light tone, but it came out embarrassingly breathy.
His eyes flicked up. “Very f—” The abrupt break in his sentence charged the air, as sudden and devastating as a lightning strike.
My steps faltered, then halted altogether.
Every nerve ending sparked with awareness, sending goosebumps down my spine and oxygen out of my lungs as our gazes met.
Dante didn’t take his eyes off mine, but his attention somehow touched every inch of my body until it came alive, like a black and white film thrown into technicolor.
“You look…” He paused, an unidentifiable emotion passing over his face. “Nice.”
The dark, velvety pitch of the wordnicesent a thrill through my veins.
The mirror next to him reflected what he saw—an ivory beaded lace gown that bared my back and shoulders and fell to my thighs in a graceful line. Intricate, thickly woven patterns over strategic areas saved the dress from being completely see-through, but it would’ve still bordered on scandalous had it not been for the elegant cut.
The outfit bared miles of skin and made me look almost naked from a distance, but one didn’t dress to blend into the surroundings at Valhalla.
They dressed to stand out.
“Thank you.” I swallowed my hoarseness and tried again. “So do you. The twenties suit you.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Thank you.”
He held out his arm. After a brief hesitation, I took it.
Silence wrapped around us as we took the elevator to the lobby and slid into the backseat of the waiting Rolls-Royce.
I smoothed a hand over my skirt, unsure what else to do.
“How’s work?” I asked when the silence stretched into uncomfortable territory. “I’ve barely seen you all week.”
“Missed me?” Amusement lengthened his drawl.
“As much as a sailor misses scurvy.”
Surprise burst through me at his laugh. Not a chuckle, not a scoff, but an honest-to-God laugh.
The rich sound filled the car and seeped beneath my skin, where it transformed into a bloom of pleasure.
“You truly come up with the most flattering comparisons.” His dry tone contrasted with the sparkle in his eyes.
My stomach swooped like I’d just plunged down the slope of a rollercoaster.
The sight of a laughing, unguarded Dante was utterly catastrophic for my ovaries.
“It’s a talent I honed growing up.” I tried to focus past my body’s unwilling and, frankly, annoying reaction to a simple laugh. “During boring social events, my sister and I played a game where we had to come up with a good animal comparison for each guest. Alice Fong was a rabbit because she only ate salads and was constantly twitching her nose. Bryce Collins was a donkey because, well, he was a stubborn ass. So on and so forth.”
My cheeks heated. “It sounds silly, but it helped us pass the time.”
“I don’t doubt it.” Dante leaned back, the picture of casual insouciance. “What would you liken me to?”
A dragon.
Glorious in his power, terrifying in his anger, and magnificent even in repose.
“If you’d asked me before our truce, I would’ve said an ill-mannered boar,” I said instead. “Since we’re being nice, I’ll upgrade you to a honey badger.”
“The most fearless animal in the world. I’ll take it.”