by Mia Madison
Table of Contents
Epilogue
You Ain’t Leaving
What He Looks Like Naked
Drive You Wild
Keep Dante Happy
Half Italian Already
Tontay
Sorry, Kid
Oblivion
Glamorous
My Kind Of House
Throw Something
Sitting Duck
Unfit Mother
Think Like A Nun
Or Possibly Anything
Harder
Infatuation
Fall For Him
I’m Scared
Hold On
I’m The Destination
You Chose The Wrong Way
Both Of You
Also by Mia Madison
About the Author
Dreaming Dante
An Adamo Story
Mia Madison
DREAMING DANTE
Copyright © 2017 by Mia Madison
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Contents
1. You Ain’t Leaving
2. What He Looks Like Naked
3. Drive You Wild
4. Keep Dante Happy
5. Half Italian Already
6. Tontay
7. Sorry, Kid
8. Oblivion
9. Glamorous
10. My Kind Of House
11. Throw Something
12. Sitting Duck
13. Unfit Mother
14. Think Like A Nun
15. Or Possibly Anything
16. Harder
17. Infatuation
18. Fall For Him
19. I’m Scared
20. Hold On
21. I’m The Destination
22. You Chose The Wrong Way
23. Both Of You
Epilogue
Also by Mia Madison
About the Author
1
You Ain’t Leaving
Summer’s arrived with a vengeance this year. It’s early June and feels like August, the sun merciless in a pale blue sky. It’s going to be a scorcher of a day.
My little girl, Sophie, is sleeping peacefully in her car seat, but it’s only a little after eight in the morning and I’m already sweating. I’m not convinced the shades over my rear windows will be enough to protect her with my A/C barely working.
When Gilda, my trusty car, starts overheating, I take it as a sign from the universe that I should stop for the day. I slow to a crawl just as we reach a town at the base of some mountains. It’s pretty, and clean, and there are trees everywhere.
My mood picks up. I should be able to find a park somewhere, let Sophie play in the shade, and maybe even get a nap. Tonight, when it’s cool – or at least less hot – I can push on.
Not that I have any idea where I’m going. I only know I haven’t run nearly far enough.
First things first. I need to find a gas station where I can get some water for Gilda, and maybe a quart of oil. We’re on what looks like the main drag in town, coming into the business district, but I don’t see any stations. Then, on the right, a sign comes into view: Revved Garage / Parts / Café.
The café (which is weird — since when does a garage have a café?) is close to the street, while the garage and parts store are set back behind a decent-sized parking lot. I make the turn into the lot and ease toward the parts store. They’ll have oil there, and if I’m lucky, water too.
When I nose into a parking slot and shut off the ignition, Gilda’s engine shudders to a halt with an ominous clanking sound, and steam rises from the hood. Damn. I can’t afford repairs. “Please, Gilda,” I whisper. “Hang in there a little longer.”
Climbing out, I open up the back door to get Sophie from her car seat. She’s still asleep, her skin flushed from the heat, and guilt stabs me. I’m definitely going to find a park with some nice big shade trees.
“Hey, darling girl,” I croon softly, unhooking her car seat. “Let’s go inside and get some water for Gilda, okay? And maybe some for us, too.”
Sophie comes awake as I check her diaper. By the time I set her on my hip, her big brown eyes are taking in everything around us. I carry her to the parts store and push through the door, a jangling bell announcing my arrival.
It’s blissfully cool inside, and I wonder if maybe they’d let me help out for the day, just so Sophie and I could enjoy the air conditioning. There’s a long counter with no one behind it, just rows of shelves covered with every imaginable car-related thingie in the world, or so it seems to me.
“Hello?” I call. There’s no reply, but I sense more than hear movement. A moment later, a man appears from between two sets of shelves. I can’t help staring, because he’s one of the biggest specimens of manhood I’ve ever encountered.
He stands well over six feet, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, clad in jeans that stretch across his massive thighs and a black t-shirt that clings to his enormous biceps. His hair is thick and dark, and his eyes are like molten sable.
Rough-hewn features make him more rugged than handsome, but his charisma more than compensates for any lack of conventional good looks. He’s not my type … but he’s the most impressive man I’ve ever seen.
His gaze sharpens when he takes in me and Sophie, and I have the strange, uncomfortable feeling that, like Sherlock Holmes, he can somehow deduce everything about me at a glance. But his words are ordinary enough. ”Help you?”
His voice is deep and resonant, sliding over my senses like warm velvet. Something stirs in me, an awareness I can’t put words to. It disturbs me on a primeval level, and I shove it away to focus on the moment.
“Hi. My car’s heating up. I need to let her cool off a little bit, and then put some water in the radiator and check the oil. Is there someplace my daughter and I could wait?”
To my alarm, he comes around the counter toward me. “Let’s take a look,” he says, heading toward the door.
“No, that’s all right. I can take care of it. I just need a waiting room, and maybe somewhere to get a glass of water?”
He halted at my words, and now he’s standing less than a foot away. Up close, I can see the silver threads in his hair and the lines around his eyes. He must be forty-something, a lot older than me.
It doesn’t lessen his impact one bit.
“You know cars?” he asks.
My eyes narrow. “I know how to put water in a radiator and add oil.”
“I’m guessin’ that means no.”
Infuriating man. “Never mind. I’ll go somewhere else.”
He blocks my way. “You’re not goin’ anywhere.”
I glare at him. “Excuse me?”
“Is the car overheating or not?” He says it slowly, like I’ve been knocked on the head. Odious man.
“I just said it was.”
“Then you ain’t leaving.”
2
What He Looks Like Naked
He folds his arms and scowls at me. “You always this much of a pain in the ass?”
The nerve of the man. “Could you not speak that way in front of my daughter?”
He looks at Sophie. “Sorry, kid.”
Sophie, who’s usually shy with strangers, giggles at him. The man smiles back at her … and my heart stutters.
The smile takes him from striking to devastatingly sexy. I get tingles in places that haven’t tingled in quite some time.
With an effort, I will my unruly body into submission and focus on what’s important. “I just need a waiting room.”
The man shifts his gaze to me, and there’s something working behind his eyes that makes me nervous. But all he says is, “You can wait in the café.”
I don’t want to wait in the café. I’ll have to spend money, and I’ve barely got any left. “There’s not just a regular waiting room?” I try again. “Some chairs in the office?”
“No.”
Jerk. “Then please get out of my way.”
He doesn’t budge. “You got two choices. You can haul your pretty ass to the café—”
“Language!” I snap.
“Sorry, kid,” he says in a way that makes clear he’s not sorry at all. “Or I can pick you up and carry you there.”
“I — you — you’re outrageous!”
“Yeah. So which is it gonna be?”
“You can’t do this.”
One dark eyebrow wings up. “Wanna bet?”
Days of strain, fatigue, and fear take their toll. Tears prick behind my eyes, and I have to close them as I fight to keep it together.
Suddenly, a large, warm hand curls around the back of my neck, inside my hair, right against my skin. It shocks me, but somehow steadies me at the same time, as if it’s rooting me to the earth, keeping me grounded in reality. “Hey, now. Hey.” His voice has gentled. “You’re gonna be okay.”
I don’t believe it. But I have to be okay, for Sophie’s sake. I open my eyes to see him bending down, his big body looming over us. It should feel threatening, from a man I met less than five minutes ago, but instead it seems protective.
“We can’t go to the café,” I whisper, afraid my voice will break if I try to speak normally.
“The café is the waiting room. Everyone hangs out there.” His voice is still gentle. “And you’ll get the customer discount.”
“But I’m not a customer. I just need water for my radiator.”
“You might need oil. That makes you a customer.” He turns and guides me toward the door, his hand still on my neck.
“I can get there.”
“If I let you go,” he says in an easy, conversational tone, “you’re gonna leave. Drive away in a car that ain’t working right, and break down a few blocks away, or worse yet, on the road outside of town somewhere. Not happening.”
I hate that he’s right. If it were just me it wouldn’t matter, but I can’t risk that happening with Sophie in the car, not on a day like this. He pulls the door open, and we go out into the muggy morning.
When we reach Gilda, I stop. “I need to get her diaper bag.” The man waits while I unlock the car and retrieve the bag from the back seat, and then we set off again across the parking lot, his big form moving with surprising grace. At least his hand is off my neck now.
As we near the café, Sophie catches the scent of food. She’s been quiet and watchful through all this, as is her way, but now she pats me with one chubby hand. “Mama, pantate?” Which means pancake.
My heart melts, and I smile at her. “Yeah, baby. We’ll get you a pancake.” I glance up to see the man watching us, and something in his dark eyes makes a shiver run down my spine in a way that has nothing to do with fear.
He’s the most infuriating man I’ve ever met, bar none. I don’t even know his name. What is wrong with me that I keep wondering what he looks like naked?
When we reach the café, he holds the door for us and then follows us in. The coolness of the interior is a shock after the oppressive warmth of the parking lot. The place is packed, and the waiting area is full. My heart sinks.
It can’t be the only place in town, so its popularity must mean it’s good … and therefore expensive. Or it could be popular because it’s barely adequate but has good prices. The decor, though, doesn’t say greasy spoon; it says upscale family restaurant.
On top of all that, with how crowded the place is it’ll take us forever just to get seated. We need to go somewhere else, maybe walk to a park if there’s one close by. But before I can tell my determined escort that, a young woman in slacks and a smock top hustles over to us.
3
Drive You Wild
Her top has the Revved logo — a car with flame detailing — on one side, and her name on the other. Caitlin. “Hi,” she says, smiling at me, but her eyes go to the man.
“Car’s overheating,” he says. “Make sure they’re taken care of.”
“You got it.” She grabs a regular menu and a kids’ menu. “Follow me, please.”
“But—” She’s already on her way, as if there weren’t a bunch of people in line ahead of us. Unless I want to make a scene, I’m stuck.
The man hasn’t left. He jerks his head in the direction Caitlin went, as if to say Go on, now. I shoot him a dirty look and then hurry after the hostess.
She’s waiting for us by what seems to be the only empty booth in the place. “Look,” I start, but I don’t get the chance to finish.
“I’ll be right back with a booster chair,” she says, and hurries off. With a sigh, I slide into the booth. She’s back as quickly as she promised.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” I say in a low voice before she can take off again. “But why did you seat us in front of all those people?”
Caitlin’s smile is warm. She’s cute, and petite, with long brown hair and brown eyes. “You’re traveling, you have a baby, and it’s a hot day. None of them will begrudge you going ahead of them.”
“Really?” I squint at her. “Is everyone in this town unnaturally nice?”
She throws back her head and laughs. “It is a pretty nice town, now that you mention it. Gina will be with you in a minute.”
With that, she’s gone, but I’m still getting Sophie buckled into the booster chair when a curvy redhead comes over. “Hi. I’m Gina.”
Restaurant guests don’t normally introduce themselves to their waitresses, in my experience, but maybe in this town they do. “I’m Heather, and this is Sophie. Nice to meet you.”
“Hi, Sophie.” She smiles and wiggles her fingers at my baby, who ducks her head.
“Don’t take it personally; she’s shy with strangers.” Except for the cranky, overbearing man who brought us here.
“No worries. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Just water, please.” When she’s gone, I ignore the regular menu and look at the kids’ menu. The prices aren’t too bad, and Sophie won’t eat an entire pancake. I can have a bite or two of hers. Relieved, I set the menu aside and take Sophie’s sun bonnet off.
Gina comes back with a huge glass of water for me, and a small one for Sophie (“In case you want to put some in her sippy cup”).
“Thanks.” I appreciate her thoughtfulness.
“Are you ready to order?”
“Yes, the children’s pancake breakfast.”
She scribbles it on her pad. “And for you?”
“I’m just here for the air conditioning.”
There’s a pause, and then Gina slides into the booth opposite me. I’m too startled to say anything, and when she leans forward, I automatically do the same. In a low voice, she says, “Dante won’t be happy if you don’t eat.”
This is such an extraordinary statement, on multiple levels, that it takes me a moment to respond. In that time, my brain seizes on the least relevant bu
t most tantalizing bit of data. “Dante? Is that his name?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
She rolls her eyes. “Men. Yes, his name is Dante.”
“Tell me his last name isn’t Alighieri.”
Gina grins. “Not quite. Adamo.”
“Dante Adamo.” It suits him, somehow. And I should not be thinking about that man at all, let alone pondering his name.
“Ton-tay,” Sophie repeats happily. I cut my eyes toward Gina, who’s now trying to hide her amusement and failing completely.
She doesn’t seem the type to be easily offended, so I just come right out with it. “Is he always dictatorial?”
Gina laughs. “Eye of the beholder, I guess.”
“You don’t think he’s ridiculously bossy?”
“Oh, he totally is. But Adamo men are like that.”
“Adamo men?” I repeat. “There are enough of them to be a type?”
“Oh, yes. The Adamos are the biggest clan in this whole state, and I mean that in terms of both numbers and influence. With very few exceptions, Adamo males are stubborn, bossy, and hot as —” her eyes slide toward Sophie “—heck. They will drive you crazy, but they’ll also drive you wild, if you know what I mean.”
4
Keep Dante Happy
“It sounds like you’re pretty well acquainted with them.”
Gina smiles. “I’m engaged to one of them. Dante’s cousin Carlo.”
“I see. Are they a close-knit family?”
“Very.”
