Fearless to Love Read online

  I gave him a small smile and a nod before Dante helped me off the table and kept his arm wrapped around me as we made our way back to his car. I dozed off and on as he went inside to pick up my prescription and our soup. It wasn’t until he opened my door that I peeled my eyes open to see that we were at his place.

  Stepping inside, he handed me the pill bottle and took the large container of soup into the kitchen. “Are you hungry or do you want to go upstairs and sleep for a little while longer?”

  I definitely wasn’t hungry, but my medicine said it shouldn’t be taken on an empty stomach. I pointed to the pill bottle and then my stomach hoping he’d understand. It seemed as if he did since he pulled out two bowls and filled them with soup before ushering me over to sit on the couch. While normally I wouldn’t eat at the couch, I had no energy to hold myself up, so this was perfect.

  We ate in silence and after, Dante rinsed our bowls and put them in the dishwasher. He then carried me upstairs and placed me in his bed. Pressing a kiss on my forehead, he let his lips brush against me as he spoke. “Is it weird that I already miss your voice?”

  No, I mouthed. I missed talking, especially to Dante.

  “Get some sleep, and I’ll come back up in a little bit to check on you.”

  I was exhausted after only eating a bowl of soup. Hopefully, when I woke up, I’d be feeling better; this certainly wasn’t how I imagined the first time I stayed at Dante’s going. One thing I was learning was that he was a very sweet caretaker.

  One minute it was light outside and the next time I blinked my eyes open it was dark. The house was silent, making me wonder if Dante had been called into work. The good news was that I was feeling slightly better. Padding down the stairs, I noticed the sliding glass door to the balcony was open and a soft light was illuminating a table out there. As I made my way over to the door, I spotted Dante reclined on a lounger reading a book. For a moment, I stood there watching him read. There was nothing sexier than a man reading a book.

  Without looking up from his book, Dante held out his hand, and I quickly shuffled outside into his waiting arms. “Are you feeling better?”

  I nodded my head, and let out a croaky, “Yeah.”

  His grip tightened on me as he said, “Good, I was worried about you when I tried to wake you up and you only rolled over.”

  “I’m sorry I worried you.” My raspy voice scratched my throat, making me wince.

  “Let’s get you inside. I’m sure the cold night air won’t help you get better. How about some soup or some hot tea?”

  “Tea would be nice.”

  11

  DANTE

  Lily and I got into a routine after the few days she spent with me while she was sick. We admitted that we didn’t want to be apart, which was scary in itself, and went back and forth to each other’s places for the last few weeks. We essentially lived together after only a matter of days. Franca thought I was crazy, but I thought it was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

  “Do you know why Franca told me to not come in until tonight?”

  “Why would I know?” Lily asked, barely containing a smile.

  “Because I think you have something to do with it,” I stated simply. For the last few days, she had been unusually secretive and on the phone every time I came into the room.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe she knows how hard you’ve been working and thought she’d give you some time off to spend with your girlfriend now that she’s finished her book.”

  While Franca liked Lily, she wasn’t that giving. There was more going on than either of them were willing to tell me. Leaning against the kitchen counter, I watched as she kept cleaning her already pristine kitchen and trying her hardest not to look at me. “What would happen if I went into Flux right now?”

  Spinning around with wide eyes, Lily looked about ready to cry. “You’d ruin the surprise we’re having for you.”

  It all hit me then. Lily and Franca were planning a surprise birthday party for me.

  “Please don’t tell your sister. If she finds out that I told you, she’ll kill me. She’s scary when she wants to be.”

  She wasn’t telling me anything that I didn’t already know.

  “I promise I’ll act surprised.” Or at least try. Franca knew I’d be pissed, and she was using Lily as a buffer, so I didn’t kill her for throwing me a party.

  Tears filled her eyes as she wrung the towel in her hands. “Are you mad at me?”

  Striding over to her in two steps, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me. “Not at all. My sister knows I don’t like parties or celebrating my birthday.”

  Tilting her head back, Lily looked up at me. “Why don’t you celebrate your birthday or like parties?”

  Letting out a breath I’d held in for far too long, I guided her into the living room and down onto the couch. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that Franca and I don’t talk about our parents. When you told me about your parents, I should have said something, but I haven’t talked about mine in so long…it’s so incredibly hard.”

  Lily gasped, wrapping her arms around me and hugging me with all her might. “Dante, you don’t have to talk about them if you don’t want to.”

  “No, it’s about time I remembered them. They deserve to be remembered.” Leaning my head back against the couch, I looked up at the ceiling. “For my sixteenth birthday, my parents threw a huge party for me. Franca drove me around the city all day long so I wouldn’t know what they’d planned for me, but when a big storm came in, she took me to the hotel where they’d rented out a banquet hall. We were only a few minutes early, but when we got there my parents weren’t there. Unbeknownst to me, while I was having fun with my friends, Franca was repeatedly trying to call them.” I tried to blink back the tears that had formed, but I couldn’t push them back any more than I could push back the memory of them any longer. As a tear caught on the edge of my jaw, I continued. “When the police showed up, I knew something was wrong. The music was so loud, preventing me from hearing what the cops were saying as I made my way over, but I saw Franca’s face when she learned the news. I saw her scream even when I couldn’t hear it.”

  Wiping the stream of tears from my face, Lily climbed onto my lap. Burying my head in her hair, I couldn’t get the image of my eighteen-year-old sister falling to her knees as her world broke apart. “I’m so sorry, Dante. I don’t blame you for not wanting to have a birthday. When she mentioned when your birthday was, I only wanted to do something special for you. Even though you don’t like your birthday, I wish you would have told me when it was. Didn’t you think I’d eventually wonder?”

  Resting my cheek on the top of her head, I answered. “In all honesty, I’m so used to ignoring the first day of August every year, I didn’t think about it. When’s yours?” Now that she mentioned it, I was surprised we’d never told each other when our birthdays were, and I wanted to know Lily’s. I’d do something special for hers.

  “March twenty-sixth so that makes me an Aries. I don’t know a whole lot about zodiac signs, but I do know that Leo’s and Aries are very compatible.” She rubbed her nose along mine and made a little sound that was almost a purr.

  “I know absolutely zero about them so I’m hoping I’m a Leo.” I ran my hand down her back to cup her ass.

  “You most definitely are,” she said with amusement.

  Pulling her closer, I nipped at her chin. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Let me show you.” She turned to sit sideways on my lap as she pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jean shorts. I loved it when she wore them around the house. They were short. Daisy Duke short and cupped her ass perfectly. When she wore them, I was constantly hard.

  She pulled up traits of a Leo and clicked on a picture. “Right here. It says you’re a lover at heart, a great kisser, born to rule, headstrong, and loyal to a fault.”

  “Are you saying I’m a great kisser?” I kissed along the side
of her neck.

  “Better than great. The best.” Her hand skated up underneath my t-shirt. I loved the feel of her touch. The way her nails scraped along my skin driving me wild with want for her and only her.

  Lily’s phone vibrated between us. Looking down, I saw it was Franca. For a brief time there, I’d forgotten what she’d planned. I only hoped I didn’t ruin it for everyone tonight. I wasn’t sure how I was going to react, and I was thankful for some time to get my head around it before I made an ass out of myself.

  “I don’t know what Franca was thinking.”

  Pulling back, Lily cupped my stubbly cheek with her tiny hand. “That she loves you and wants your birthday to be a positive experience from now on.”

  I smiled down at her. Somehow, Lily made thinking about my parents bearable. “With you in my life, I can’t imagine it being any other way.”

  “It’s a good thing she didn’t wait until you were turning forty and went with the whole over the hill theme. It might have backfired on her.” She laughed.

  Yeah, that probably wouldn’t have gone over well.

  “Soo,” I drew the word out, “what time are we supposed to be at the club for my big surprise?”

  Lily’s eyes watched me for a few moments. Probably checking to see that I was okay with the knowledge of what she and Franca had been scheming. “At seven. She has the whole upstairs reserved for us.”

  “Us? Who all is coming?” If it was only the three of us, we definitely didn’t need the entire floor.

  She shook her head and smiled at me. “I’ve already ruined one surprise at least let the guests be a surprise.”

  “Fine, but I don’t really have any friends,” In college, I was the weird guy with the accent everyone made fun of, and after Michael, my ex-business partner fucked me over it had been hard to let people into my life. That was until Lily.

  Resting her head on my shoulder, she nuzzled into my neck. “Well, it’s safe to say you’ve got some now. I think you’ll be happily surprised to find out who all will be showing up for you.”

  “As long as you’re there, that’s all I care about.”

  “I will most definitely be right by your side for the entire evening, but right now I need to go answer your sister’s message and start getting ready.” Giving me a chaste kiss, Lily sprung up out of my lap and was up the stairs before I could blink. Did she really need three hours to get ready?

  “Act natural,” Lily said out of the side of her mouth. Her hand that was wrapped around my bicep tightened.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re the one that’s not acting natural. My sister’s going to know you spilled the beans the moment she lays eyes on you.”

  Her head jerked up to look at me. “Are you serious?”

  “Probably. She’s really good at reading people. From day one she told me not to trust Michael, and I stupidly didn’t listen to her. You better put on your game face because here she comes.”

  I was actually somewhat excited to see how this was going to play out.

  “Didn’t you get my message?” Franca swatted me on the arm. “I’ve been calling for almost an hour.” She looked over at Lily and her eyes lit up. “You look gorgeous tonight.”

  “Thank you, Franca. What seems to be the problem?” Lily asked in a stilted voice. She was the worst at acting. At least I knew she would never be able to lie to me and pull the wool over my eyes. Not that I thought she would.

  “Someone locked themselves in the bathroom upstairs and won’t come out. I don’t have the keys and didn’t know what to do.” She feigned distress, but she was a much better actress than the woman on my arm.

  “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m here now then, isn’t it?” Lily squeezed my arm tighter. I guess I wasn’t that good of an actor either. “Do you know if whoever’s in there is hurt?”

  “Just drunk and can’t figure out the lock.” Franca shook her head like it was a sad thing. I wanted to laugh, but I knew if I did, I’d be giving away that Lily had told me all about the party.

  I followed behind, letting Lily use me as her anchor. She’d gone all out with a pair of red high heels I wanted to rest on my shoulders while I fucked her all night long. Her dress was short and tight, hugging her in all the right places. The combo made it difficult for her to navigate the stairs, and it made me hard every time I looked at her. I couldn’t wait to get her alone so I could ravage her.

  As we walked past my office, there was no one in sight. Either we were early, or no one had shown up. I told Lily I didn’t have any friends and I was right. Pulling out my master key, I unlocked the door to the bathroom and was shocked to find all of Lily’s friends from her dinner party hiding out in the bathroom.

  “We got him good.” Taylor cackled as she came up to me and gave me a hug. I hugged her back awkwardly. I didn’t know we were at that stage of our friendship yet.

  One by one, the girls wished me a happy birthday as they left the bathroom and gave me a hug. The guys gave me a pat on the back or shook my hand as they went by.

  Once the bathroom was cleared out, Franca wrapped her arms around me and gave me a long hug. “I know you hate celebrating your birthday, but I thought it was time to change that. You’ve got amazing people in your life who care about you and it’s time to start living.”

  Hugging her back the words barely slipped passed the lump in my throat. “You’re right.” Stepping back, I kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you for doing this. I love you.” Blinking away a tear, she whispered she loved me too before trailing after the guests.

  Once my sister was out of hearing distance, Lily stood in front of me with wide eyes. “I had no idea you were such a good actor.”

  “I wasn’t acting. When I didn’t see anyone up here, I thought no one showed up. I didn’t think they’d all wait for me in a bathroom.”

  Leaning into me, she smiled up at me. “It’s a very nice bathroom so I’m sure it was no hardship. Plus, I let them know we were downstairs, so they weren’t waiting in there for long.” Lifting up she kissed the corner of my shocked mouth before grabbing my hand and pulled me toward the party.

  Franca was behind the bar when we found everyone sitting around on a few couches that had been rearranged to make a ‘U’ with a table in the middle. Lily sat next to Alex and immediately they were giggling together while I sat at the end with my arm around her waist.

  Luke leaned around the girls. “Your club is great. It’s like being in LA or Vegas.”

  “Thanks, man. I appreciate that.” Hearing him say that made me realize all my blood, sweat, and tears had been worth it.

  “Were you surprised?” He had a twitch to his lips like he knew I’d been in on the secret.

  I didn’t want to lie, so I went with what truth I could tell. “I didn’t expect all of you to be hiding in the bathroom.”

  He looked over to where Franca was finishing up with drinks. I probably should have helped her, but I knew she would have told me to go have fun. “I have to say it’s not the first time I’ve hidden in a bathroom or been pushed in one, but it was strange.” He laughed.

  Gabi swiveled her head and scrunched her brows. “Who’s pushing you into bathrooms?”

  He looked down at Alex and we all let out a laugh.

  She shrugged. “All rooms are equal opportunity as far as I’m concerned.”

  Seeing all the drinks lined up on the bar, I went over to help deliver them. All the guys followed suit, grabbing their girls’ drinks and delivering them to the women sitting together on one couch. We spread out on the other two couches with our drinks in hand.

  Jax gave me a chin lift. “When are you going to move to Fairlane?”

  It felt like a test and one that I wanted to pass.

  “I want to say soon, but it all depends on this new manager I hired. I’m trying to get him up to speed to handle things here at night so I can have some semblance of a normal life. I hate Lily having to hop from place to place each night just to spend a l
ittle bit of time with me.”

  All at once, the girls jumped up, their drinks gone. “Let’s dance,” they yelled in unison.

  Alex came to stand in front of Luke and held out her hand. “I want to dance.”

  Taking her hand, Luke pulled her around to the second-floor dance floor. It wasn’t as big as the first floor, but it was fun with the see-through area and the people below. I had to say I was surprised when Jax and Holden joined the girls. I wasn’t sure when they were going to warm up to me, but I understood why when Lily explained their stories to me. Holden lost his leg while in the military and still had plenty of bad days. Jax had a scar on one side of his face and had stayed secluded from almost everyone until he met Gabi. He kept his hair a little long to cover the scar, but it was barely noticeable. If anything, it made him look like a badass. Luke was who I thought would be the most standoffish, and he happened to be the one who tried to include me and talked to me. Jack was cool with me and we got along well, but I knew he took his cues from the other guys.

  Lily’s hand slid up my thigh. “Is the birthday boy going to dance with me?”

  “I’d love to do nothing better.” Pulling her up, I slapped her ass before hitting the dance floor with her friends. Maybe my friends too.

  With her arms around my shoulders, Lily wrapped one leg around mine and ground against me like she was reenacting a scene from Dirty Dancing. It was the hottest thing I’d ever experienced. My dick ached at the way she ground herself all over me. After a few songs, the girls all started to dance together. All we could do was stand there and watch our women. It was like being in a dream.

  After a couple more songs, we all decided to get another round of drinks. Once the girls had theirs in hand, they ran back out onto the dance floor and stood staring at us. Franca, who’d been missing, came around the corner with a cake lit up like the Fourth of July. When the guys started pushing me out into the middle of the dance floor and everyone started to sing happy birthday to me, Lily wrapped her arms around me.