Dante's Honour-bound Husband

“Definitely real.” She held up the bag of food. “And extra delicious. Can you spare a few minutes for dinner?”

His smile grew. “Maybe you can feed me while I work.”

“Now you are dreaming.”

He chuckled. “It was worth a try.” He eyed the blanket she carried. “Cold?”

“Nope. I thought we’d have a picnic.” She slipped out of her heels. “Kick off your shoes and relax for a few minutes.”

He hesitated, shook his head. “I don’t kick off my shoes.”

That gave her pause. “Seriously? Never?”

“Seriously. Never.” His expression darkened. “You can’t be ready to go at a moment’s notice if you’re not wearing your shoes.”

She blinked. That never would have occurred to her. “I’m not sure what might happen in the next half hour that you’ll need to be ready to go at a moment’s notice, but I’ll take your word for it.”

“Thanks.”

Now she knew something was off. Thinking back she realized that even when she and Constantine had been their most relaxed during evenings at her row house, he’d never taken off his shoes. He’d also kept his possessions neatly gathered so all he had to do was pick them up on his way out the door.

Not the least like her. Half her possessions were scattered across every Dante home in the Bay Area. The Italian version of mi casa es su casa. She’d have dismissed Constantine’s obsessiveness as a personality quirk if she hadn’t caught that telltale darkness flitting across the hard contours of his face. Something was up there and she made a mental note to explore it at a future date. Until then, no point in making a big deal about it or attempting to involve him in a heavy discussion. Not when he was in the middle of a work crisis.

Keeping the mood light and easy, Gianna offered a cheerful smile and shrugged. “Oh. Okay. Keep your shoes on if it makes you more comfortable.” She held up the bag of goodies. “Hungry?”

“What did you bring for us?” he asked, only too happy to go along with the change of subject.

She grinned. “Everything.”

The next half hour turned out to be a brief moment of enchantment. They spent the time together eating and laughing, using the chopsticks that came with their meal to feed each other tidbits from the selection of cartons. The office setting faded into the background while they sat on the butter-soft blanket she’d liberated from his apartment. The light from his desk barely reached them, illuminating their impromptu picnic with a muted, distant glow.

“Will it always be like this?” she asked at one point while she refilled their wineglasses.

He paused, chopsticks lifted halfway to her mouth. “Like what?”

“Fun. Romantic.” She shrugged. “Wonderful.”

Raw pleasure shot through his gaze. “Considering who I have to be fun, romantic and wonderful with, it shouldn’t be too difficult,” he replied, much to her delight. “Have you thought about what you’d like to do this weekend?”

She hesitated. “There’s one thing…”

“Name it.”

“My family owns a place about three hours north of here. It’s on a good-size lake. Great fishing and sailing. Over the years we’ve acquired all the property around it, so it’s pretty private. Maybe Ariana mentioned it to you?” she asked uncertainly. “The entire family goes each summer for a huge Dante blowout.”

“Sounds like fun. Is this weekend the family blowout?”

“No, not for another few weeks.” She hesitated. “I thought we could go ahead of time, just for the weekend.”

“I’m not sure this is what Primo had in mind when he gave us a month to get to know each other better.”

“True.” She caught her lip between her teeth. “Even so, I’d like to go.”

He studied her for a moment and she wondered if he could read the truth in her face, if he could tell she had an ulterior motive. “If that’s what you’d like, of course we can go to the lake. Do we need permission from Primo?”

She shook her head. “My brothers and cousins and I all have carte blanche to visit anytime we want. We can either stay at the main house or in one of the cabins by the lake. You can decide which you prefer when we get there.”