Indebted to the Mafia King

Eleni

"Go to the driveway, Sebastian," Dante says without even looking at me.

"Of course," he replies. "But my car-"

"Tony is waiting there to drive you to your nonna's. You're both expected in the city for a family dinner." Slowly, like the action pains him, Dante drags his gaze over to me. My smile dies on my lips.

"Cool." Seb starts jogging away, leaving me alone with the fire-breathing dragon, then stops. "Uh, is Eleni gonna be safe? Am I coming back?"novelbin

Dante grits his teeth. "I'll make sure she's safe. Go."

Seb shoots me a quick, apologetic shrug and leaves. I cross my arms and stare up at Dante.

"Safe how?" I ask.

"I'll be staying here tonight." He turns away without another word.

I gape at the space he left for a moment, then race after him, through the back door. He has to know that he can't avoid me for a whole night. The house is bigger than anywhere I lived before Dante, but it's not that big. Maybe he's ready to give me answers. I find him in the kitchen, unpacking three full grocery bags. The food startles me. If he's only staying for a night, why did he bring so much? Seb was talking about stocking up soon, but Dante struggles to fit another bottle of milk next to the one already in the fridge. I open my mouth to ask.

"What were you and Sebastian doing?" he asks icily.

"Going for a walk." I grab the two different boxes of cereal and put them in the cabinet next to the one Seb and I had been sharing.

"How far?" he asks.

"Just the property line." I glance at Dante to see him turning quickly away from me with a scowl on his face. "We weren't running away together. Seb's devoted to becoming a capo."

Dante's scowl deepens. "I didn't think you were running away together. That would be ridiculous. I've only been gone three days."

I give up on the groceries and cross my arms. "What would you being gone have to do with me attempting to escape exile?"

"Not you," Dante says testily. "You and-"

I stare at him for a long moment. "Are you jealous?"

"No." He keeps putting groceries away with robotic precision, like I'm not even in the room, he won't even look at me. "There's nothing to be jealous of. You said it yourself. You're not important to anyone in the mafia."

I grit my teeth against the sting. I'm starting to learn the rhythms of fighting with Dante. If he's lashing out like that, I've hit on something. My heart flutters. If he's jealous that means-

That means nothing. He could just want to sleep with me again, maybe exclusively, and not anything else. But I still want to know.

"Seb took me shooting." I watch Dante closely.

His whole body stiffens, though he forces himself to keep moving. "Is that what he was going to...regret?"

"Part of it." I take a step closer. "Why do you care?"

"I like to know what the people in my organization are up to," he bites out.

“Uh-huh.” I lean against the counter. "And what does that have to do with pathologically denying yourself any emotions?" He whips his head up to look at me. "What are you talking about?"

"You're jealous," I whisper. "Admit it."

"Why do you insist on throwing yourself at every dangerous thing in a five-mile radius?" he mutters as he turns away.

I bristle. "I wasn't throwing myself at Seb."

"I'm sure he'll tell a different story." Dante shakes his head.

I pluck at the front of my shirt, pulling it away from my body, as old hurts run through my head. I should've known Dante would think I was easy too.

"I get it," I spit. "You like me as long as I'm the innocent little virgin, swayed by your bad-boy charm. If there's another bad boy, forget about it."

"No, I" Dante grimaces.

"Newsflash, I'm a real person." I start walking away from him. "I'm not just a toy you can pick up and put down whenever you feel like. You have to decide what you want from me, Dante, because I know what I want. I broke up my family to get this revenge. I'm all in."

"El "

I turn back and glare at him. "What do you want?"

He runs a hand through his hair. "I want to know why revenge is so important to you that you'd throw your life away."

My breath catches. All of the coldness is gone from his eyes. He's burning up like the night we spent in bed together.

"Today was very nearly the first time I've seen you smile." He takes a step closer to me. "You've smiled drunk. And on the verge of orgasm. Nothing else. And I—"

I bite my lip. My heart pounds out of time.

"I am trying to protect you because I hate that you're in this situation." He takes another step closer, mere feet away. "But I hate even more that I'm glad you're here. That I didn't want you in Greece with your mom, I wanted you next to me, in life-threatening danger, because I'm selfish, El."

He looks at me with those burning eyes again, and all of my higher brain functions shut down. I don't think about the days he's been away, about my anger or my isolation. I don't even think about how smelly I must be after that hike. My legs start moving even before I've given them the order, and I launch myself at Dante. My mouth crashes down onto his.

Dante puts his hands on my hips, and for one terrible moment, I'm certain he'll push me away. Then, he slides one arm fully around my waist, crushing me close to him, and flicks my mouth open with his tongue. The world stops turning around us. He kisses me so intently that I bend backward before I even think to break away.

Finally, he pulls back for air. He's panting, his eyes already half-lidded, and I can feel him hardening against my leg. I want to see more, to have the next time he promised. But my heart skips a beat, and I have to be sure. "Last time we did this," I murmur, "you left."

"I don't want to leave." He lifts me up and kisses me again.

I wrap my legs around Dante's trim waist, and his suit slides between us. He carries me, step by step, through the kitchen. I have no idea where he's going, and I don't care. He's not leaving. That's all I need.

The backs of my thighs meet cold stone as he pushes me up onto the counter. I don't release my legs. I can't give him the space to step back, can't lose any point of contact with him. I even wind my fingers into his dark hair to pull him closer as my lungs start to ache. Breath comes second on my list, right after inhaling Dante.

He cares. I wasn't just making everything up, misreading his signals, pursuing a man who'd throw me away like garbage. He cares, and I've finally gotten him to admit it.

Dante fights my grip to escape my kiss, but gently, like he doesn't really want to go. My lungs are screaming, the feeling tingling down between my legs, but I draw the moment out a few seconds longer before letting go. My chest heaves as I suck in fresh air.

"Breathe." He nods. "Maybe another day. For now, I want to know how I can make this up to you."

I open and close my mouth a few times. I just want him. He knows all the sex terminology, the code words and methodologies. But he just lets me flounder.

"I want what you promised me," I say finally.