It seemed important to Dante that she’d been well cared for, that someone had been there to understand her mental state and comfort her. Sarah sighed. “She tried. I guess you have to know her. Her world revolves around education. When I was injured and anxious, she didn’t really understand. I think she expected me to revert back to the same daughter I’d been before. But I couldn’t please her anymore. She wanted to pick me the perfect man and see me married someday to another academic and have brilliant kids. She’s still trying. We don’t talk very often. She’s usually too busy. When she does call, it’s usually because she’s found me a man with a similar gene pool.”
Dante stretched his arm out and turned off the lamp on the bedside table, plunging the room into darkness except for the faint moonlight shining through his window. “You do realize the way you were raised wasn’t normal.”
“I do now. I don’t think I ever really knew what normal was when I was younger. My mother was all I had, and I wasn’t exactly a normal kid.” She yawned, her body starting to feel relaxed and lethargic.
“You need sleep,” Dante observed.
“Do you want me to go back to my own bedroom?” Maybe Dante liked his space when he slept, but she was hoping he didn’t. She wanted to stay with him tonight.
“Hell, no. I wouldn’t sleep all night, even if you were just next door. I want you to stay here with me.”
He let go of her hand after a final squeeze, then turned on his side and wrapped his arms around her waist. She turned and let him spoon with her. “I’d feel better staying here. I guess I’m a little spooked after what happened.”
“You have every right to be. And I want you in my bed.”
Right at that moment, that was exactly where she wanted to be, too. She felt . . . safe. With Dante’s arms wrapped protectively around her, she slept.
CHAPTER 10
“I’ve never owned this many clothes in my life.” Sarah stared at the seemingly mile-high stack of clothing that occupied every inch of the bed in Dante’s guest room. “What was he thinking?”
“Hey, I picked you out some very nice stuff,” Emily Sinclair protested, picking up another hanger from a stack on the floor. She cut off the tags from a brand-new pair of jeans before she hung them in the closet. “I had a very large budget to work with,” she told Sarah in an amused tone.
Randi sighed as she folded some sinfully soft lingerie and put it in the dresser drawer. “I think I want a Sinclair brother,” she whined jokingly.
“Take Jared. Please,” Emily cajoled, taking another garment from the pile. “Maybe he’ll settle down and date a woman more than once.”
Randi wrinkled her nose. “Not my type.”
Sarah started putting shoes away, dismayed by the designer brands. She might be a doctor, but she was on a strict budget, paying off student loans her first priority. Randi and Emily had arrived at Dante’s home with several teenage boys, all of them carrying boxes and bags. Having canceled their get-together at Brew Magic, Emily and Randi decided to just move the location of the party to Sarah, bringing along a new wardrobe Dante had asked Emily to select, and lattes from Brew Magic. Sarah had wanted to go meet Randi and Emily, but Dante had refused. Adamantly. Even though they hadn’t seen any signs of John still being in the area in the last several days, he was being cautious.
“Do I even want to know how much he allotted for the clothing?” Sarah asked hesitantly. She was going to have to pay him back. They’d stopped at a discount store the day after the incident—one of the few places Dante had allowed her to be in public—and she’d picked up some essentials and a few outfits before he’d hurried her out the door. He’d mentioned that he’d have Emily pick her up some more clothing, but this was ridiculous. It looked like her friend had bought out several stores.
“Probably not,” Emily replied with a mischievous smile. “He’s clueless, and threw me the same kind of budget Grady would. In fact, I’m wondering if the two of them consulted.”
Sarah’s head started to spin, knowing exactly how generous Grady Sinclair could be. If Emily wanted anything, Grady was likely to give her a small fortune for a new pair of shoes. “Was it a lot?” Sarah squeaked, not quite certain that her friend wasn’t drunk or on latte overload. How much could it cost for some new clothes? Her knees got weak, and she sat down in the chair beside the dresser. “Please tell me you didn’t spend everything he gave you. I’ll have a hard time paying it back.”
“You’re not paying it back. Dante didn’t even want me to tell you how much I spent. It’s a gift from him. He wanted to do it. And believe me, he’s loaded. He won’t even miss the money,” Emily said conspiratorially.
“Oh, God,” Sarah groaned. “Tell me you didn’t spend everything he gave you.”
“I didn’t.”
Sarah released a sigh of relief.
“She had enough left to buy the coffees tonight. It was Dante’s treat,” Randi added chirpily.
“You spent a small fortune on clothes?” Sarah was having palpitations. How anyone could spend that much on something to cover their body, she definitely didn’t understand.
“I told you it was nice stuff,” Emily replied, the grin on her face growing larger. “Sarah, stop stressing. Dante and his brothers are incredibly rich. I didn’t live in that kind of world, either, but I’m getting used to it. I still don’t go out buying anything I want, but after what happened to you, you deserve this.” Emily put her hands on her hips and stared at Sarah. “He insisted that I spend every penny, and I did. The only other thing he insisted on was that there is at least one beautiful red dress in the wardrobe. I didn’t quite get that. But I got a lot of red. I know you like it, and it will look gorgeous on you.”