Falling for Dante Read online

  "What are we doing?" I asked between shallow exhalations.

  "That was so hot, I have to be inside you. Right now," Dante answered with a sexy grin, lifting his finger to his lips to lick it like a lollipop. My mouth fell open. "You better shut that pretty mouth, or I'll find a better use for it."

  Taking his hard, velvet length in my mouth sounded fabulous, since I hadn't gotten around to it the night before. I leaned over in my seat to do just that, but Dante came to a skidding stop that nearly knocked me to the floor of the Jeep. I glanced around the wooded area, relieved to find no signs of human life.

  Dante forced his seat back as far as he could and yanked his swim trunks down mid-thigh. His thick, beautiful cock sprung out and he fisted it, running his hand up and down its length several times while I watched.

  "Come here," he growled. He lifted me up and over him, until I straddled his lap before I could manage a protest. Not that I wanted to argue. At this point, I didn't care who saw us.

  He yanked open the glove compartment, which was stuffed full of condoms. I shook my head as several foil packets fell to the floor.

  "Wow. How long do you plan on being gone?" I asked with a giggle.

  "You can never be too prepared."

  "Ah, my little Boy Scout."

  "There's nothing little about me," he said with a smirk as he rolled a condom down his hard length.

  "Thank God, for that," I murmured. I sank down slowly, inch by burning inch, allowing him to stretch me wide. We both hissed our satisfaction when I was seated fully on his lap.

  "You okay?" Dante asked, brushing my bangs out of my eyes.

  "Yes."

  "Then ride me."

  I gripped his shoulders, lifting off him until his engorged tip was almost out and then slamming back down.

  "Oh fuck, that feels good," he groaned.

  I did it again, ignoring the deep twinge of pain. I was still sore from the night before, but nothing was going to stop me from taking every ounce of pleasure he was willing to give.

  He untied my bikini top and tugged my cover-up down until my breasts were exposed to the warm breeze, exhaling his appreciation with a soft sigh. Running his hands up my side, he cupped them and ran his thumbs over their beaded tips.

  "I love your tits," he said before dipping down to suck one into his mouth.

  I threw my head back with a satisfied moan and gyrated on top of him as he suckled and toyed with my breasts. My hips and knees ached from the awkward position, but I pushed past my discomfort, focusing on the pressure building between my legs. Leaves rustled in the breeze, and the distant cry of birds accompanied our heavy breathing.

  Dante threaded his hands into my ponytail and pulled me closer, his tongue breaching my parted lips to tangle with mine. When he forced his hand between our bodies to thrum me with several sure strokes, I lost it. My body spiraled forward, crashing against his, as I succumbed to the hypnotic waves of pleasure.

  "That's right... come for me again," he murmured into my ear. I whimpered and moaned as he continued to thrust inside me, carrying me through the crest of my orgasm. Unable to move, I settled my head against his chest and listened to his heart pound as he gripped my hips and used my body for his own release. With head thrown back and eyes shut, he spilled into me, groaning my name.

  His chest heaved with each of his ragged breaths, and I nuzzled his neck as we regained our hold on reality.

  "I've always wanted to do it in a car," I said with my chin on his chest.

  He cracked one eye open and grinned down at me. "I've always wanted to do you in a car."

  I slapped his chest with a giggle. "You're awful."

  "So, what else is on your bucket list?"

  "What about that one?" Erica asked, pointing to a puffy cloud in the sky. "I think it looks like a bowl of creamy mashed potatoes with a dollop of butter on top."

  The cries of children frolicking in the water drew my gaze. It was late afternoon and less than a dozen people shared the beach with us. After exploring many of the sights along the Road to Hana, we had arrived at Wai'anapanapa State Park, where we had spent the last few hours sitting on the black sand beach of Pa'iloa Bay, talking.

  I shifted on the beach towels that lay on top of the wicker mat Erica had insisted on buying at a gift shop, shielding the sun from my eyes.

  "An orchid," I said with a snicker.

  "Why do you think every cloud resembles some type of flower?"

  "Why do you think every cloud looks like something to eat?"

  "I have a newfound appreciation for food," she said pushing her bangs out of her eyes.

  I turned onto my side and splayed one hand across her bare stomach, tickling my fingers across her sun-kissed ribs. "You'd look good with a few more pounds."

  "Tell that to my mom," she said with a self-deprecating snort.

  My hand stilled below her breasts. "Fuck your mom."

  "As much as she might enjoy that, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't."

  "Please never say anything like that again."

  "Sorry," she said with a giggle. "You know my mom has always had a crush on you."

  "That is not something I needed to hear." I shook my head with disgust, but a smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

  "In fact, she told me if she were twenty years younger, she'd give me a run for my money. And then proceeded to tell me how well you've managed your money."

  I flopped onto my back with a disgusted sigh. "That's fucked up."

  She smoothed a hand over my stubbly chin, forcing me to look at her. "Hey, I was teasing you."

  "I know. But I can't stand how women are obsessed with what's in my bank account."

  "Not all women are obsessed with money," she said. "I'm not."

  "That's because you've always had it."

  "So, you think I'm a spoiled princess?"

  "I used to." She smacked me in the chest, an indignant pout pulling at her lips. "Not anymore. But you can't possibly understand what it's like to go without, because you've never had to."

  "True. I've been all over the world and seen a lot of things. I know that the majority of people don't live like me. I can't change what I have. All I can change is what I do with it."

  "What do you mean?"

  She shrugged and watched a boat in the distance push its way through the choppy water. A soft breeze lifted her damp hair, and she tucked it behind her ears before responding. "I want to help people. And with more than their fashion choices."

  "That's great. You'll figure it out," I said.

  "I'm not so sure. I'm not like you. Even as a nineteen-year-old, you knew exactly what you wanted. I'm twenty-three and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up."

  "You're young. You've experienced more of the world than most people will in their entire lifetime."

  "I must sound like an ungrateful piece of shit."

  "That's not what I meant," I said, tugging her closer. "You can use all of those experiences to figure it out. And I know that you will."

  She still seemed uncertain, so I leaned over to seal my words with a soft kiss.

  When the sun started to set, and other people were packing up to leave, we crossed the beach with its imposing black cliffs and lava arches to explore the legendary freshwater caves.

  "Have you heard of the legend of Popo'alaea?" I asked.

  Water trickled down her face and I pulled her against my body, wrapping my arms around her waist. She smiled her appreciation, since she was shivering in the cool, freshwater pool. An image of our bodies joined together reflected off the crystal-clear water. My darker skin blended into Erica's, making it impossible to see the exact point where one of us ended and the other began.

  "No, I haven't," she murmured as she ran her hands over my shoulders and down my back.

  "She was a young princess who was married off to a chief named Ka'akea. He was a cruel man, who decided to kill her in a fit of jealous rage."

  "Geez." Goose bumps brok
e out over her skin.

  "She was able to escape with her attendant and hid in these very caves. The chief and his men searched high and low until the village people reported seeing ghosts at night, looking for food. While searching one day, the chief spied their reflections in the clear water and killed them both."

  "Are you trying to freak me out?" she muttered.

  I chuckled and pulled her closer. "Now every spring, which was when the murders took place, the pools glow red to signify the blood of the innocent princess and her friend."

  "That is horrible. Do the pools really glow red in the spring?"

  "Yep. But it's actually because of tiny shrimp who feed on the algae that only grow during that time of year."

  "Wow. Where did you hear that?"

  "I read about it this morning, when you were with Damian."

  "Thanks for sharing that little tidbit of information that is sure to give me nightmares," she said in a sarcastic tone.

  "Don't worry, I'll protect you. Tonight." The last word slipped out as an afterthought, but stunned us both silent.

  She pushed out of my arms and turned away, focusing on the brightly colored stones that shimmered under the water. With one simple word, I had managed to sum up my intentions.

  "Erica, what's wrong?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

  "Nothing."

  I wrapped my arms around her waist and she stiffened. I wanted to tell her that it was all going to be okay. That I would never leave her or hurt her, but that wasn't the truth. "I'm sorry. If this is too much, we can go back."

  "No, I get it," she choked out, even though I knew she didn't. She felt something for me. And while I might have felt something for her beyond the physical, I had no intention of acting on it.

  "Do you?" I asked, spinning her around to face me.

  "Yeah. This is temporary."

  "I wish I could give you more."

  She nodded and broke eye contact, staring down at our feet. I wanted to fill every tiny crevice of hope she had allowed to form in her heart. But I couldn't. "Erica, look at me."

  "It's okay," she said, trying to feign cheerfulness.

  "Do you want to stay the night at Travaasa?"

  She thought about it for less than ten seconds and I swore my heart stopped beating. I wasn't even close to being done with her. But I would respect whatever decision she made. When she nodded, I dragged in a deep, relieved breath.

  I cupped her face and kissed her until she was clutching and clinging to me. "Have you ever had sex on a beach?" I asked.

  "Besides the cocktail, no. Are we going to have sex on the beach?"

  "Nope. It's totally overrated. Sand gets everywhere."

  The next afternoon, a subtle melancholy invaded the Jeep. The drive back was the exact opposite of the drive to Hana. Dante had kept his hands stationed at ten and two like he was taking a driving test. Every effort I made to engage in conversation, he met with crisp civility.

  I tried to convince myself that it was due to mutual exhaustion. After enjoying a delicious meal, the night before, hand-prepared in our suite at the hotel, we had relaxed in Adirondack chairs by the beach. The domesticity of it all had lulled me into a peaceful contentedness.

  When the chill of the night had seeped into my bones, I had settled onto Dante's lap. We had snuggled in silence. A silence I had been afraid to break, in case the dreamlike state we had entered would somehow disappear. Dante had gathered me in his arms and carried me back to bed where he'd made love to me over and over, with a slow and seeking tenderness that scared me. Like he had been saying goodbye.

  After we had arrived back at the Four Seasons Resort, Dante valeted the Jeep and stomped to my suite. He lingered in the doorway, and I caught him staring at the bed where it had all begun. The tightness in my chest was unbearable, and I coughed to break the silence.

  "So, you leave tonight?" I asked.

  "Yeah."

  "Do you want to grab dinner before you take off?"

  "I'm going to order room service, pack my bags and maybe try to catch a nap."

  I rocked on my heels and schooled my features, hoping he couldn't sense my sadness. "Oh, okay."

  "I had a great time," he said with a half-smile.

  "Yeah, me too," I whispered.

  "Take care of yourself," he said, turning to leave.

  "That's it, huh?"

  The smile on his face fell. "What were you expecting?"

  I opened my mouth and snapped it shut since I wasn't sure how to respond. What had I been expecting? He'd made it pretty clear that there was no future for us beyond this stolen weekend.

  "I don't know," I said with a shrug. "More..."

  With a grimace, he shoved his hands into his pockets, gazing out the windows at the ocean in the distance. "I can't give you anything more."

  Fierce disappointment clogged my throat, but I refused to cry in front of him. "Why not?"

  "Because I'm not built that way. Never have been."

  "That's a copout."

  He strode closer with fists clenched at his sides. "No. It's not."

  "Because of Keandra?" I asked, matching his hard stare with one of my own.

  "No, because it's pointless. Growing up, I watched my mom hold on to men who treated her like shit so she didn't have to be alone. Horrible men who showed their affection for her kids with their fists."

  I'd suspected as much from things he'd said over the years, but I was unprepared to deal with the well of emotion the confirmation caused. "You're not your mother and you're not those men."

  He scrubbed a hand down his face and shook his head with disgust. "And then I watched your brother get fucked over by the woman who was supposed to love him. So bad, he drank himself into a stupor every day for three months straight. I was the one who had to watch that shit. I was the one who had to drag him out of bed and make him eat, even though he screamed at me to let him die."

  I wound my hands around my churning stomach. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that."

  "Of course, you didn't. Damian hid that from you and your parents." I reached out to comfort him, but he recoiled as if my touch might burn him. "You and I both knew what this was. Meaningless sex."

  "That's bullshit." While it may have started out that way, I knew I hadn't imagined our connection. "It wasn't meaningless to me," I whispered, staring down at the floor because I hated the hardness in his eyes.

  "Shit," he swore, spinning away and taking several steps toward the door. "What did you think was going to happen? That we were going to ride off into the sunset together?" He turned back around and pierced me with a mocking grin. "Get your head out of the clouds, Pip."

  My childhood nickname skipping off his tongue in a sneer was like a hot poker to the chest. "Fuck you, Dante."

  "No thanks. I've had my fill." Callousness was something I'd rarely seen Dante display. It blindsided me, white-hot pain slicing through me.

  "Get out," I gritted.

  "Erica..."

  The regret I heard in his voice angered me more than his harsh words. It gave me hope. And hope was dangerous, like a lit firework that might explode in my hand at any second.

  I forced a smile. "Don't worry, I won't mention any of this to Damian. We can go back to how it was before."

  "Barely contained contempt?"

  "What more do you want from me?"

  "I want us to be friends."

  An offer of friendship was normally something to celebrate, but after the last forty-eight hours, it was lacking. "I'm not sure I can do that."

  With a deep sigh, he trudged towards me. "Give me a chance to prove I can be your friend."

  I knew I was settling. Since I planned to move to Seattle, the continued awkwardness between Dante and me would only hurt my brother. I needed to get over my adolescent crush, even if it always simmered in my heart, waiting to boil over.

  "Okay."

  Relief softened Dante's eyes. "Really? You'd be willing to try?"

  Swallowing down
the lump in my throat, I nodded. Dante stepped closer and extended his arms like he might hug me, but I stopped him with a hand on his chest. The smile on his face fell, and he took a step back.

  "Have a safe trip home," I managed.

  "You too," he said, as he backed towards the door. "Let me know if you need any help with the move."

  "Okay."

  With one last fleeting smile, Dante slipped out the door. I wanted to climb into bed and cry for the next twenty-four hours, but I worried Dante's scent might still linger on the sheets.

  My phone had died the night before so I plugged it into the charger by the bed. I hopped into the shower and tried to wash away the stench of disappointment wafting from my pores. Flitting memories of Dante's hands and mouth on my body, from the night before, came rushing back. When we had arrived at the Travaasa Hotel, Dante had pulled me into the shower and washed me from head to toe and then made me come with his mouth while I writhed on the stone shower bench.

  Tears seeped from my eyes and joined the water circling the drain. I would never forget our weekend. It was chock-full of memories that I would cherish once I moved past the grief of losing my heart to Dante.

  The sound of my phone ringing ripped me from my thoughts. I brushed away my tears and hopped out of the shower, surprised to see Lila's pretty face lighting up the screen.

  "Hi, Lila." I wrapped a towel around my dripping body. "How are you?"

  "Erica, I have been trying to get a hold of you since yesterday," Lila said, hysteria creeping into her voice.

  Foreboding chills skittered down my spine. "What's going on?"

  "It's Jake. He was jumped last night coming out of a club."

  I stumbled to the bed and slumped down. "Is he okay?"

  "No. It's bad. He's in a medically-induced coma."

  "Shit." I sank my head into my hands. "Did they catch the mugger?"

  "The police are saying whoever did this didn't steal anything. They think it might have been a hate crime."

  Brent's text from the day before flashed before my eyes and a heavy weight settled into my stomach. In my lust-induced haze, I had forgotten to text Jake to warn him. I had no doubt that Brent had something to do with this.

  "Can you call his family? The police tried to contact them, but they refused to come," Lila said.