Dante heard her sigh softly. “Not now,” she agreed sleepily.
He held her, satisfied for the moment, still running calming strokes over her back and hair until she finally slept.
CHAPTER 18
Dante was discharged the following afternoon, much to the relief of every person working on his unit. It hadn’t been long enough for the town to settle down, and much of the media still remained, hoping for an interview. But Jared and Grady managed to get him home without incident, and the gates to the peninsula were locked and guarded by some of the local police force. After dropping Dante and Sarah off, the men headed back to the gate to make sure no one could enter, and to let the press know they weren’t doing any interviews. They were going to make an official and brief statement, hoping it would satisfy the reporters enough to just use Elsie’s account for their story.
Sarah and Dante were greeted at the door by an excited Coco, Emily having returned the dog earlier in the afternoon.
“Damn dog,” Dante grumbled as he reached down and scooped the canine up and held her gently in his beefy arms, giving the pup more than a token amount of affection. He stroked Coco’s quivering body and scratched the top of her head.
Sarah tried not to smirk as she watched the exchange between dog and man. Coco had made Dante’s home and its owner part of her territory. Coco adored Dante, and Sarah knew her big, tough guy loved the little dog, no matter how much he tried to deny it.
She’s going to miss him so much when he’s gone.
Her little dog had gotten as attached to Dante as Sarah had. Now they were both going to pay the price for loving a man who didn’t belong in Amesport.
I love him. I really do love him.
Although she’d probably fallen for Dante way before today, admitting it to herself made her feel shot through the heart. She couldn’t go on denying it. She’d fallen completely and irrevocably in love with this strong, dominant man who was also capable of such gentle tenderness that it made her want to weep.
He’s going back to Los Angeles. I knew he wouldn’t be here forever.
She had known. Still, it hadn’t kept her heart safe. Dante Sinclair had been an irresistible temptation for a woman like her, a man who made her feel safe and adored after a lifetime of being alone. He’d held her tightly while the dam had broken and her emotions had overwhelmed her last night, something that had never happened to her quite like that before. Now that everything had escaped, she was fairly certain she’d never be able to put every feeling she had back in a safe place again, buried beneath logic and reason. But honestly, she didn’t really want to. Living a life without emotion might be easier, but it would never make her happy.
I’m going to be alone again.
That thought made her want to run back to her own little cottage, where she could nurse her broken heart in private.
It isn’t going to help.
Sarah sighed as she walked to the kitchen and leaned back against the counter, needing a minute to sort out her emotions. Even though seeing him go was going to be unbearably painful, it wouldn’t make it any less painful if she parted from him now, or a week from now. Right now Dante didn’t seem to want to discuss anything, preferring to live in the moment.
I’ve never really done that before.
Except for the few times she’d lost herself in Dante, she’d never done anything spontaneous or without thinking of the future consequences.
“Walk with me,” Dante’s husky voice demanded from the kitchen entrance.
Sarah turned and looked at him, his outstretched hand waiting for her to grab it.
Take this time with him. Live in the moment and take whatever happiness you can get.
Looking into his turbulent gaze, Sarah knew he wanted to go out for a walk simply because they could. John was dead; the threat was over. They could go walk out on his private beach without worrying about constantly looking over their shoulders.
She didn’t debate the right and wrong of what she was doing, thinking only with her heart as she took his hand.
They walked out onto the beach with Coco following behind, talking about absolutely nothing important. Both of them laughed as Coco approached the lapping waves warily, as though they were the enemy, and then watched them retreat with a brave bark every time the water moved backward, as though the canine had scared the enemy away. Dante helped Sarah make a sand castle, a first for her, which ended up looking more like just a big pile of mud than anything resembling a fortress, but Sarah was proud of it anyway . . . until Coco decided to run across the top of the pile, throwing both her and Dante into a fit of laughter.
Sarah’s heart ached every time Dante gave her a lingering kiss. Some of his caresses were meant to brand her, and some were just cherishing strokes of his lips against hers, as though he was still trying to assure himself that she was beside him. Sarah saved up every one of those embraces, fixing them in her memory and keeping them close to her heart.
Dante shared some of his more amusing stories about growing up with his siblings, tales that didn’t include his abusive father or emotionally vacant mother.
They all protected each other.
Every story concluded with one sibling bailing another one out of trouble. They might have teased the hell out of each other, but they’d always come to the rescue in the end.
“I always wished that I had a brother or sister,” Sarah told him wistfully as they stumbled back into the house, wet and caked with sand.
“Your mother never came close to getting married again?” Dante asked curiously.
“No,” Sarah replied thoughtfully. “She never even dated. Everything was about my education.”