‘Thanks,’ Dante said.
‘Will you come and tell me how it went before you go to the board meeting?’
‘I’ll try,’ Dante said, and then rolled his eyes, not so much at her, more at the grim morning he faced.
Mia showered and she rolled her eyes when she realised the dress and shoes were the ones she had worn the very first day she had met Dante.
She should have run a mile! Mia told herself, but knew that she lied.
Was it worth it? She asked Dante’s question.
Yes, because she loved him.
It was a relief to stand there in the still silence of his office and admit it out loud.
‘I love him.’
But she learnt something else as she started his Newton’s cradle and watched the balls go clack, clack, clack: love made you brave.
She would not be his casual lover, neither would she be seen on his arm until he grew tired and moved on to the next woman.
Dante Romano had better raise his game.
Love was love.
It hadn’t ended because Rafael had died.
If anything, it made it more precious, and Dante watched as his siblings choked out the same regret he held.
‘Why couldn’t he tell us?’
And love was love, because although he was angry at his mother, Dante chose not to judge or reveal her part in all this. Instead he borrowed Mia’s words. ‘Perhaps he didn’t want his sex life brought up in a meeting.’
‘But why go through all that with Mia?’ Ariana asked.
‘He was dying,’ Dante said. ‘Mia gave him a chance to hide in the hills and live out his life in some peace.’ And he would be grateful for that for ever.
Ariana’s heart was torn and she was angry at her mother too, aghast that the perfect image that her family had portrayed had now collapsed like a house of cards.
‘So Stefano and I were just produced to keep up the charade...’
‘Ariana.’ Dante stepped in when again his mother could not respond. ‘It wasn’t like that. They were different times, and they did the best they could.’
‘By lying to us?’ She turned accusing eyes on her mother.
Ariana was not, Dante knew, upset about her father being gay. She was upset about the nest of lies and her own part in things, for she turned on her mother. ‘You told me how to behave, and I did it. You told me to hate Mia and so I did.’ Ariana started to cry. ‘You told me we were a happy family until she came along...’
‘Ariana,’ Dante said. ‘It is a shock, I know, but now we know the truth we can start over again.’
But it was going to take more than a few words of comfort, Dante knew. Ariana’s world had been built on lies, and she was rocked to her very core.
‘What about Roberto?’ Stefano asked. ‘Is that why he was too ill to attend the ball?’
‘I believe so.’ Dante nodded. ‘There is something I want to run by you.’ He didn’t have to, given that the Romano residence was legally his, but it was something else he had spoken about with Mia on the drive here. Dante wanted to things put right, hopefully with his family’s support. ‘I would like the Romano residence to go to Roberto,’ Dante said. ‘He loves the vines, the stables. Really it was their home. They were together for fifteen years.’
‘Yes,’ Ariana said after a moment’s thought. ‘He should have it.’
‘I agree.’ Stefano nodded.
‘But he left it to you,’ Angela fretted. ‘It’s worth a fortune...’
‘Not everything is about money,’ Dante said, and tried to keep the bitter note from his voice when he spoke to his mother. ‘It’s about the home going to its rightful owner.’
And, after a long, silent moment Angela nodded. ‘Yes...’ She cleared her throat before going on. ‘I want to apologise to all of you for my behaviour throughout the divorce.’ She looked over at Dante. ‘And I would like to apologise to Mia too.’
Dante nodded. ‘Thank you. I am sure Mia will appreciate it.’
‘So do I,’ Ariana said, and her eyes filled again with tears.
‘Come on,’ Dante said as he glanced at the time and saw that soon the meeting was to commence. ‘Let’s get it over with.’ But as they headed out Dante remembered he’d said he’d try to drop in on Mia. ‘Tell them I’ll be there in a short while. Mamma, do you want to be invited into the meeting as an observer?’
‘You’re not going to tell them about your father?’ Angela asked anxiously. ‘I don’t think he would want that.’
‘Of course not,’ Dante said.
‘So how are you going to explain the photos?’
‘Go,’ Dante said without answering, ‘I’ll be there soon.’
The truth was he still had no idea.
He was worried about Ariana, though not just because of today. He saw clearly now his mother’s manipulation of her, and knew Ariana faced it most days. As well as that, with Stefano and Eloa soon to marry, he was sure Ariana felt shut out, and she didn’t have the diversion of work to distract her.
But there was far more than Ariana on his mind today.
Mia would bear the brunt of the fallout from the photos so he took the lift down and headed for his office rather than the boardroom.
There was so much riding on this meeting. He’d never given a damn what the press said about him, but Mia did, and she was worried too about the effect the salacious headlines might have on their baby in later years.
There was a lot to get right.
As he walked into his office, there stood a sight for sore eyes.
Mia, in stilettos and wearing the gorgeous lavender dress she’d had on the day they had met and with her hair worn back from her face.
‘Who are you?’ Dante said, just as he had on that long-ago day.
‘A different person from the one I was then.’ Mia smiled. ‘How did they take it?’
‘Fine.’ Dante gave a tight shrug. ‘Sort of. Ariana is upset with my mother.’
‘It will take time,’ Mia said.
‘Yes.’
‘Say whatever you have to to the board,’ Mia said bravely. ‘I’ll be fine with it.’
‘You’re sure?’ Dante checked.
Mia nodded. ‘You’re right. It is foolish to try and hide it when I’ll soon start to show. We are where we are.’
‘You sound like one of Luigi’s presentations.’ Dante found that he was smiling.
He looked at her sapphire-blue eyes and saw her cheeks flush pink as they had on the day they’d first met.
‘I wish we could go back to that day,’ Dante admitted. ‘I wish you really had been my father’s PA, with terrible Italian.’
Mia smiled.
‘I’d have given you lessons,’ Dante said.
‘I’d have learnt a few choice words then.’
‘Probably.’ Dante smiled.
‘Would you have asked me out?’
‘Mia, I wanted you on sight. I wasn’t thinking about going out, believe me.’
‘You’re too honest sometimes.’
‘I know I am.’
And she loved him for it, Mia honestly did, and so she walked over to him and she looked right into his black eyes and decided that this was the last time she’d be weak. While Dante had been in with his family, Mia had made the only decision she could live with if she had to co-parent with an eternal playboy, and so this might well be goodbye.
And though this was in all likelihood their last ever kiss, she was grateful for this man who had helped her get over her shyness.
It felt so good to kiss him, to slip her tongue between his strained lips and to press herself against his tense body, to hold his head and kiss him as she never had before, for his mouth was barely moving yet she could feel how turned on he was.
‘I wish you had done that the first d
ay we met,’ Dante said.
‘So do I.’
She kissed him again and now he kissed her back, so thoroughly that they were up against his door and making noises that did not sound like just a kiss. And then, because it was Dante, of course there was the intrusion of his phone.
‘I hate your phone.’
‘I hate it too,’ he admitted as he very reluctantly took the call and told Sarah he’d be in shortly.
‘Except I can’t go in like this,’ Dante said. He took her hand and held it there where she could feel him hard through his trousers. But when he released his hand, Mia’s remained.
‘That’s a little more how it goes,’ Dante said in a voice that incited disorder, ‘when I think of that day.’
‘Here?’ Mia frowned. ‘You want to have sex with me here?’
‘No.’ He proceeded to give her her first private Italian lesson, and watched her blush and the nervous swallow in her throat as he told her what he wanted, and it served only to further turn him on.
‘Here?’ Mia checked, a little stunned but feeling sick with excitement too.
Dante could be selfish at times too. He held her eyes as he unzipped his trousers because, yes, he wanted Mia on her knees.
The sound of his zipper, the ragged edge to his breathing had her thighs turning to liquid as she all too readily sank down, but then nerves hit.
‘I’ve never...’ she attempted.
‘I know.’
Mia wanted to, though.
She kissed the shaft and perhaps did not quite meet the mark, but his moan was one of pleasure, and so she inhaled his soapy scent and tentatively kissed higher.
‘Mia,’ he said when she reached the top, and breathed on him a while. Now his voice made her feel dizzy and she tasted him with the tip of her tongue and then ran that same tongue over her own lips to know his taste.
She looked up and met his eyes and asked, ‘Is this filthy of me?’
He gave her his stunning smile, the one that went straight to her heart. ‘Dirty girl.’
And it freed her.
He made her laugh, even as she went down on him.
He turned her fears and shame to small hits of pleasure because he just loved the feel of her mouth so much that it didn’t matter that she had no idea what to do. She tasted him slowly at first, taking him in a little way and then, braver, she took him in deep.
He stroked her hair, fighting not to press her head down with his hands.
His phone was ringing but neither cared, for Mia was lost in the moment. And when he started to thrust, Mia felt as if her dress was on fire, so desperate was she to rip it off, and her mouth gaped open, stunned as she started to come.
And for Dante, who was trying to hold back and not hold his hand to the back of her head and thrust harder, the pause in proceedings, the gasping noises of her orgasm tipped him over the edge. ‘Mia,’ he warned, but then he swelled and she got her wish to taste Dante properly. She knelt back on her heels, heady with the rush of her own lost inhibitions.
He helped her to stand and Mia found there was something about being brave that made her even braver.
‘Dante,’ she said as he tucked himself in. She checked his tie and he was back to his usual perfect self—apart from the bruise on his cheek. ‘You need to come up with something better.’
‘What?’
‘Better than tucking me away in the hills. I’m past all that and I’ll never be your occasional mistress.’
He gave her a smile that said, We’ll see.
‘Oh,’ Mia said as he opened the door, ‘I meant what I said. I’m no longer hiding.’
‘Good,’ Dante said, and then frowned, because he wasn’t quite sure what she getting at, though there was no mistaking the warning in her tone. ‘Is it?’
‘It is for me. I’ve decided that I want to be dated, and I want romance.’
‘I bought you flowers,’ Dante said, ‘chocolates, earrings...’
‘Yes, we’ve established you’re a generous lover. I’m quite sure you’ve bought all your women similar gifts.’ Her eyes flashed. ‘You give everything you’re willing to on the very first night. Well, guess what, Dante? I want a relationship that progresses.’
‘I only found out about the baby yesterday.’
‘This has nothing to do with the baby,’ Mia said. ‘It’s been three months since we slept together, and more than two years since we met. If you can’t give me what I want, then I’ll find someone who can.’
‘While pregnant.’ He gave a slight scoffing laugh.
‘I can wait,’ Mia said. ‘But I won’t wait it out in bed with you, and neither am I hiding in the hills on tap for you. I will get the relationship I want.’
‘Good for you,’ Dante said, for he’d had women make the same demands too many times before and he wouldn’t be coerced. ‘It won’t be with me.’
‘I understand that.’
Dante refused to back down. ‘So go for it.’
‘Thanks,’ Mia said. ‘I’m glad I have your blessing.’
He turned to go then suddenly changed his mind. ‘What was that for then?’ He pointed to the door where she’d knelt just moments ago.
‘I fancied it.’ Mia shrugged, and then gave him a smile. ‘I have a to-do list now.’
Sarah suddenly called his name from outside the office. ‘Dante!’
His face was black as he turned and saw a harried-looking Sarah coming down the corridor towards him. ‘I’ve been calling you; the mood’s not exactly great in there.’
The mood wasn’t great here either, but Dante shot Mia a look and then strode off to face the hostile board.
‘How could you?’ Luigi was red in the face and so livid that Dante would not have been in the least surprised if he were to jump over the desk and attempt to strangle him with his tie. ‘How could you besmirch your father’s memory and shame the Romano name?’
Dante ran a worried hand over his forehead, but it had nothing to do with their angry, reproving faces.
What the hell had Mia been saying?
He could not go there in his head.
He knew she’d been goading him.
Yet it was more than goaded he felt, for he felt ill at the thought of a future without her, and summers and weekends and evenings with his child—minus Mia.
‘Dante!’ Luigi tried to command his attention. ‘He is barely cold in the ground. You disgust me, Dante. There is no coming back from this. We are a family business...’
‘Perhaps...’ Ariana offered a suggestion. ‘Perhaps you can say you were comforting Mia.’
‘Yes,’ Angela said, completely incapable of simply observing and clearly liking the sound of Ariana’s suggestion—anything to cover up the truth. ‘You could say Mia was crying for Rafael, and you were merely offering support.’
‘By pressing her against a column with his hips?’ Stefano said with a generous dash of Romano sarcasm. ‘No, I think we just have to ride it out.’
There had been no innuendo meant, but when he glanced up at his brother both men did share a slight smile.
And when the rest of the board had had their say, when they had all vented their emotions, and given their exceedingly low opinion of him, Dante stood and walked to the window, sorely tempted to say, To hell with the lot of you, for he knew he could walk away right now and be completely fine.
But, famiglia, famiglia, famiglia...
No, they weren’t the perfect family, but they were his and he loved them.
He gazed out towards the dome, to the Basilica dei Santi Pietro e Paolo, only he wasn’t searching his mind as to how to answer the board.
Mia had just warned him she would be dated and if not by him, then...
‘Go for it,’ he had said, as he always did, refusing to be railroaded or backed into a corner, refusing
even to consider a future. Yet here he stood, in the middle of a board meeting, and was deeply considering one.
‘Dante!’ Luigi said, but to Dante his uncle’s voice sounded like it came from underwater; instead it was Mia’s voice that rang clearly in his head, and her response to his suggestion that she annul the marriage.
‘I would never do that to your father and neither would you.’
That was having someone’s back.
That was family.
And at that precise moment the idea of love crystallised for Dante, and instead of a burden pressing even more heavily down on him, it felt as if one had been lifted.
It was more than just a thought, it was more certain and real than anything he had felt in his life.
All that he had for more than two years denied and resisted flew into him now. He turned and faced the board and offered his response.
‘I’m not going to discuss our relationship with you.’
‘Relationship?’ Luigi thundered. ‘Since when did you do relationships?’
But Dante refused to clarify. ‘I give enough of myself to the company without having to explain my personal life.’ But this time he did not give his usual rant about being single and sleeping with whoever he chose. ‘I will tell you only this: nothing took place while my father was alive, and it is my belief that I would have his full support.’
Dante turned in surprise as his mother then spoke. ‘You would have Rafael’s support, Dante.’
His mother could be difficult and self-serving at times, but she had his back now and he was grateful for that. ‘Thank you,’ Dante said. ‘Do I have the board’s support?’
‘You have mine,’ Ariana said.
‘Thank you.’
‘You always have mine,’ Stefano replied, and Dante thanked him too.
There was silence from everyone else.
‘Feel free to walk,’ Dante offered, though of course no one did. Instead, they sighed their passive-aggressive sighs and nodded their judgmental heads because the fact was they needed him, far more than he needed them, and they knew it.
‘Then that’s that,’ Dante said. ‘And from now on, if you can’t be nice to Mia, you will be polite or God help you when you have to answer to me.
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