Page 92

God, he’s so beautiful.

He’s dressed in a black shirt and black suit, with his hair pushed back from his face. The sharp angles of his jaw and cheekbones catch the lights hanging above him, and the effect is so devastatingly beautiful that my feet stop moving.

My body can't walk and process this at the same time.

His eyes find me across the garden, and I feel them slowly travel down the yellow silk of my dress, and I see the shimmer of emotion on his face. It’s as if he’s seeing all of me for the first time, and I feel that look so deeply it brings tears to my eyes.

I turn back to Charles, who is standing by the elevator with his hands clasped in front of him. “Go on, Mrs. Di Zaro. Your husband is waiting for you.”

He gives me a small, encouraging nod before stepping into the elevator and disappearing.

I turn back to Dante. Now it’s just me and my husband, with the magical sky garden twinkling around us.

I walk toward him, my heart pounding like a drum and those butterflies soaring in my belly.

"You look beautiful," he says when I stop in front of him.

His voice is low, stripped of command, control, and all the sharp edges I'm used to.

"So do you," I say.

And I mean it. He looks so good it hurts.

Handing me a glass of champagne, our fingers brush, and I feel the electricity roar through me.

"What should we make a toast to?" I ask.

He considers. "To you. Breaking into my library."

My chest flutters, and I smile as we clink our glasses. “To disobeying my husband.”

He smiles. Nothing on this earth is as attractive as Dante Di Zaro’s smile.

I'm falling. I know I'm falling. Every day I tell myself to slow down, to remember what he is, to remember that it’s all very new and I should proceed with caution, but every day he comes home early and undoes all my common sense with his mouth and his tongue that know no limits.

As I sip the cold champagne, the night darkens around us, and the roses become silhouettes.

“I was worried about you,” I say.

He brushes his thumb across my cheek. "Baby, nothing out there is more dangerous than what I'd become if it tried to keep me from you."

Emotion swirls around us. It feels like some imaginary wall between us has tumbled. I’m getting carried away, but I don’t care. I don’t care if I’m falling in love with a monster. All I care about is this moment right here, with the roses and the stars and the way Dante is looking at me right now.

I don't want to leave.

But we have a gala to get to, and the world will want him back soon.

But damn it, I don’t want to give him back.

"I have something for you," he says.

He removes a velvet box from his breast pocket and opens it.

Inside is a diamond cuff bracelet. Rows of flawless diamonds set in white gold, blazing with so much fire they look alive.

It's the most beautiful piece of jewelry I've ever seen.

He lifts it from the velvet and clasps it around my wrist.