Broken Hart (The Hart Family) (16 page)

He doesn’t look too happy with my response, but he nods.  “I’m playing hooky from work to take care of you because I was worried.  Isn’t that what a good
friend
would do?”

I giggle at the idea of Dante playing hooky from work.  He’s so serious about work that I can’t imagine he’s ever done it before. 

Quirking his eyebrows, he asks, “What are you laughing at baby… umm… Rina?

Completely ignoring his ‘baby’ slip, I poke him in the side.  “I’m laughing at the very idea of you playing hooky.  It’s so not something you would normally do.  So… thanks for being a friend.”

Grabbing the television remote from my bedside table, I toss it across the bed at him.  “I think I can watch TV now.  Choose something to watch.”

He spends the next few minutes going through the guide, finding nothing to watch.  We decide to throw a DVD in, and I choose Back to the Future.

We spend the rest of the day in bed, watching the entire trilogy of Back to the Future movies.  In between movies one and two, he makes us macaroni and cheese.

After the third movie is over, it’s after seven.  We order dinner from a local diner.  I need to get out, so I take the car ride with him to pick it up. I all but inhale my open faced turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, a sure sign that I feel much better, although I am still tired. 

I’ve just laid my fork down on the table when Dante hoists me up and walks me back to the bedroom.  Spluttering I say, “What are you doing?  I feel better.  I can walk.”

“I know you can walk honey.  But you’re yawning like crazy and your eyes keep closing.  You’re exhausted.  It's time for you to get some real sleep.”

I’m still dressed in the pajamas I wore today, so he’s able to drop me in to bed.  I raise an eyebrow as he starts to get undressed.  “Dante, what are you doing?”

“I’d like to stay the night.  Don’t fight me on this.  You do seem better, but I’ll feel much better knowing for sure that you’re fine and that you sleep through the night with no more headaches and no sickness.”

Good lord.  When did Dante become Florence Nightingale?  I wind up nodding my head at him, deciding that I’m just too groggy and worn out to even have this discussion.  “Fine, you can stay.”

“Good girl.  Will you mind if I answer some emails on my iPad while you sleep?  I know the light could be a problem for you.”

“No problem, go ahead.”  Turning on to my side, I make myself comfortable.  I try, hard, not to put too much notice in to Dante as he takes his clothes off and climbs in to bed, wearing only a pair of briefs. 

He’s just so damn hot.  I long to rip the briefs off and ride him, but I know that can’t happen again.

Rolling on to my other side, I count backwards from one hundred, deep breathing as I exhale in and out.  I got to number twenty-two, and then I fell in to a deep sleep.

CHAPTER TWELVE

My dreams are dark and sad.  I’m running through the floors of Hart International, searching for Dante, but all I ever saw of him was his shadow. I opened door after door, every time entering a different hotel bedroom where I’d find one of Dante’s women laying on the bed waiting for him.

Each time I’d open a door and find a woman on the bed who would laugh at me, which would cause me to run on.  I ran and ran, trying to scream out for him, but my mouth refused to say his name.  I could only whimper. 

I woke up around two in the morning, wrapped in Dante’s arms, my head cradled against his naked chest, our legs intertwined, his deep and even breathing indicating that he is asleep.

I don’t immediately pull from his embrace, probably because I am a glutton for punishment.  This is where I want to be every night, wrapped in Dante’s arms.  But I can never have that, and my heart is shattered all over again.

I need to blaze a new path forward for me.   Lying here in his arms, I realize that path can’t include working for him every day for years to come.  I need to make a plan and explore my options. 

I think I have just enough strength to get through the next few months, but beyond that, I would be destroying myself by staying. 

Wiggling my way out of his embrace, I make my way to the bathroom.  After I take care of that, I wander to the kitchen and pour a glass of iced tea, and then head back to my bedroom. 

Climbing in to the bed, I curl on my side.  I’m on the edge of sleep when I feel the bed shift as Dante pulls me back in to his arms.  “Rina, don’t leave me.  Need you so much.”

My heart leaps and my eyes fly open, only to find that his eyes are still shut because he’s still asleep. 

Jesus.  What a mess.  For one second, I’d thought he was telling me really telling me how he feels.  What a letdown.  I roll away from him again, needing space. 

I’m on the other side of the bed for less than two minutes before he pulls me back in to his arms, settling me up against his chest.

I wait another few minutes and then slowly wiggle myself away from him again, further across the bed this time.  I’m practically on the edge at this point, so I think this should be far enough away that he won’t reach for me.

Taking a deep breath, I start my deep breathing again.  I’m just starting to relax when he moves, pulling me across the bed and into his arms again.  This time he wraps his legs around mine. 

Peeking up at him, I see that he’s still sound asleep, but somehow he knows each time I move away.  I can see he’s going to keep this up all night.  Resigning myself to the inevitable, I settle in to his arms and close my eyes.

When I wake up Dante is sitting on the edge of the bed getting dressed, the light from the bathroom the only illumination in the room.  As if he senses I’m awake he turns and gives me a thorough visual check. 

“Your coloring is back, thank god.  Do you feel up to working?  Because you definitely don’t have to if you still feel ill.”

I yawn and nod.  “I feel much better.  I will be there.”  Turning my head to glance at the clock, I let out a groan.   “Shit Dante.  It’s after eight!  Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”

“I didn’t wake you because I literally just got up too.  I never oversleep.”  He looks surprised, and I chuckle.

“It was probably the room darkening blinds.  It makes it much easier to sleep, and sleep well.”

Giving me a smile he stands and looks around to find his shoes.  “I’ve got the darkening shades at home too, so that’s not it. But I didn’t sleep very much the night before after… Um.  Yeah.  I guess I was just tired.”

Hmm.  I guess he was up all Sunday night too.   A thought occurs to me, and I blurt out, “Shit.  Where does everyone think we were yesterday?  Both of us calling in sick on the same day might have caught Damien’s attention.  He definitely saw the overnight bag.  I think I covered with the swim story, but...”

Shaking his head at me, he chuckles.  “I told him the truth, that you had a migraine and were vomiting and needed someone to take care of you.  He would have done the same for you, so he understood.”

I pop out of bed and go in to my closet to find something to wear.  Dante comes in to tell me that he needs to run home, shower and change.  Following him down the hall, I see him off then get myself ready for the day.

We’re both at work by nine thirty.  Having so much to focus on and deal with is a blessing, and the morning flies by. 

Damien heads in around lunch time to check on me.  “Hey you, Dante said you were sick as a dog yesterday.  How are you today?  Seems you’re alive… or are you a zombie?”

I smile at him and chuckle.  Damien is a nut.  “Don’t worry; I don’t want to eat your brains.  I’m feeling much better.  What’s up?”

“I came to see if you wanted to go to lunch with me.  I’m starving, and I don’t want to eat alone.  We can go wherever you want, as long as it serves food.  You in?”

Grabbing my handbag I nod.  “Heck yes! I’m hungry too.  Let me tell the boss I’m going to lunch.”

“No need.  I’m right here,” Dante says as he wanders in to the outer office.  “I’m actually going to have lunch with Sandra, so I’ll catch you guys later.”

Damien and I head out and decide on a local Thai food restaurant.  I order Pad Thai and he orders a shrimp dish, and we split both.  We’re enjoying lunch, shooting the breeze when he says he needs to tell me something.

“Sabrina.  I know you might not appreciate this, but please know that I’m saying this because I really love you.  You’re family to me. “

Oh shit.  Oh shit.  I really hope he hasn’t figured out that I had sex with his brother.  Giving him an anxious look, I motion for him to continue. 

“That guy, the one you were dancing with at the competition?  I recognized him.  He goes to the same clubs I do.  That guy is a player.  It’s been bothering me since I saw you dancing with him, but on Sunday night I saw him putting on a serious PDA show with two girls. You’ve been different lately.  Happy and content… not that you weren’t happy before.  Lately you definitely had a glow about you.  But on Sunday, you looked upset.  You didn’t come in yesterday, and today your smile isn’t real.  Something is wrong.  Did that asshole upset you?”

The relief I feel is palpable.  He has no clue about Dante and me.  “Damien, I’m barely friends with Marcus.  He calls all the time, and I know he wants it to be something, but I’ve no interest.  Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh thank god.  Spence and I were plotting some serious revenge on that asshole for upsetting you.  If it isn’t him, who are you seeing?”

Damn.  He’s good.  I tried to draw him away from that question, but now he’s doubled back to it.  I shake my head at him.  “I’m not seeing anyone.  You probably just noticed that I was happier once I stopped dancing twenty-four seven, and got back to sleeping more than a few hours a night.  Sunday, I was getting a migraine and today I’m dealing with the after effects.”

The look he gives me lets me know he is dubious about this at best.  Damn.  He’s pretty sure I just lied to him, I can tell. Being the gentleman he is, he takes my words at face value and nods, but I know him, and I know he will be watching.  I need to do a much better job of hiding my feelings.

Saying no more about it, we finish lunch then head back to work.  Dante gets back about twenty minutes after I get back to my desk, and we spend the next few hours answering emails and setting up meetings.

It’s difficult to sit with him all day, and by six I’m completely exhausted.  It took all of my energy to maintain this facade around him all day, and now I’m ready to drop. 

Noticing that I’m starting to space out, Dante calls it a day. Getting in to the elevator, we head down to the parking garage.  “Do you have any plans tonight Rina?”