“Very,” I admit quietly, my voice unstable, still trying to gather my thoughts and calm my racing heart. Our eyes are glued to each other, and it is like he is looking right into my soul, before we are startled apart by a clearing throat behind us.

Dante is whip-fast as his head flies up and he immediately pulls me behind him, keeping one hand on me as the other reaches for his gun. But he doesn’t need it because the man at the door must be one of his men. He’s leaning casually against the door frame, his arms crossed across his chest as he chuckles.

“Asshole,” Dante grits out, and my mind slowly reconnects to my body.

What the hell just happened?

“Little Red, this is Carter, my brother,” Dante says with a wave of his hand, and I look at the man, already knowing he isn’t brother by blood. They look completely different.

“Hi, Annie, pleased to meet you. Sorry to interrupt...” Carter says my real name instead while offering me his hand to shake, a cheeky grin on his face. So, he already knows me, then…

I blush at being caught kissing Dante, our tender moment now all but gone. “Hi, Carter.” I shake his hand quickly. “You’re just as stealth as he is, I didn’t even hear you come in,” I say by way of making conversation, because I was too enthralled with Dante to notice anything else.

“Yeah, well, looked like he was sweeping you off your feet there…” Carter says before Dante interrupts, startling us both.

“Little Red, why don’t you head back out to Leo and enjoy your lunch. I have some work to do,” Dante says to me softly, and I nod and walk past him and his brother. I stop at the door and look back at him, noticing Dante’s eyes still firmly on me as he leans back, his hands gripping onto the desk on either side of his body. A mix of admiration, protectiveness, and perhaps a sparkle of something more flashes in his eyes, and I give him a small smile. One that I am surprised he returns before I walk away, back down the hall, to the safety of the antipasto platter with Leo.

13

Dante

She has been in my house only a few weeks and already Leo is responding to her better than he has anyone else. Even Maria, the same housekeeper I have had since he was born, hasn’t been able to sit down for a meal with him, yet when he is with Little Red, he looks… happy.