“Good.” The rough sound brushed my skin with startling intimacy.
My pulse drummed in my ears.
I smoothed a clammy hand over my thigh, unsure what to do or say next.
Do we kiss? Continue the conversation? Go our separate ways?
I stuck with the safest option.
“Well, I’m glad we had that talk. I really do have a work crisis, so I’ll get back to my room—”
“This is your room.”
I gave Dante a dubious stare. Maybe the lack of caffeine had affected his memory.
“I hate to tell you this, but this is not, in fact, where I’ve been sleeping the past five months,” I said patiently. “My room is at the other end of the hall. You made a big show of distinguishing it when I moved in. Remember?”
“Yes, but I think it’s clear the boundaries we set that day are no longer applicable.” Dante notched a dark brow. “Don’t you agree?”
My pulse tripped into overdrive. “What are you suggesting?”
“That we set new boundaries. No more separate bedrooms, no more sneaking out in the morning…” His expression darkened. “And no more contact with Heath.”
Normally, I would’ve chafed at Dante’s attempt to control who I could talk to, but after last night’s debacle, I understood where he was coming from. If he had an ex who was hellbent on breaking us up, I wouldn’t want him talking to her either.
“What a shame,” I said. “I’d planned to invite him over for dinner.”
Dante didn’t look amused.
“It was a joke.”
Nothing.
I sighed. “On that note, if we’re setting new boundaries, I have a few of my own. One…” I ticked them off on my fingers. “No more scowling as your default expression. Your face is close to freezing that way, and I’d rather not wake up to the Grinch for the rest of my life.”
“I’m much better looking than the Grinch,” he grumbled. “And if people stopped pissing me off, I wouldn’t scowl so much.”
“Other people aren’t the problem. Remember when we passed by a dog park around Christmas and saw those adorable huskies? You glared at them so hard they started howling.”
“I wasn’t glaring atthem,” he said impatiently. “I was glaring at their outfits. Who dresses their dogs up as reindeer? It’s ridiculous.”
“It was Christmas. At least they weren’t dressed as elves.”
Dante’s frown deepened.We’ll work on that later.
“Anyway.” I moved on before we veered too deep into an argument about canine fashion. “Back to the boundaries. No more disappearing for weeks at a time with less than forty-eight hours’ notice unless it’s truly an emergency. No more shutting down when you’re upset and things don’t go your way. And…” My teeth tugged on my bottom lip. “We should commit to at least one date every week.”
Most people datedbeforetheir engagement, but we were doing everything backward.
Late was better than never, I supposed.
“If you wanted to spend more time with me,mia cara,you only have to say so.” Dante’s drawl slipped back into a velvety cadence.
My cheeks warmed. “That’s not the point.” Not the whole point, anyway. “We’re getting married in a few months, and we haven’t gone on a single real date.”
“We’ve been on dates. We went to the Valhalla gala.”
“That was a social obligation.”