“I figured you wouldn’t make it into the air before you realized you wanted to stay.” Jared pushed off the wall and walked the few feet that were separating them.
“How did you know?” Hell, Dante hadn’t even known that himself. If he had, he would have stayed home in bed with Sarah. Why had he been such an asshole? Why hadn’t he reasoned all of this out before he’d gotten on the plane?
Jared shrugged. “You love her, don’t you?”
“More than anything,” Dante answered honestly. “I didn’t tell her.”
“Let’s go. I’ll take you home,” Jared told his brother blandly, but his lips were twitching, partially turned up in a small smile.
Dante fell into step with Jared, who was making his way to the outside entrance, still perplexed as to why his brother was here but grateful that he was. Right now all Dante wanted to do was go home to the woman he loved, and Jared would get him there as quickly as possible.
Sarah halfheartedly packed a few things into a suitcase in Dante’s guest room with a sigh. He’d wanted her to stay here in his home, but she didn’t really want to be here when he wasn’t. It didn’t feel right. She decided to put some clothes together and head back to her own cottage. Maybe she wouldn’t miss him as much if she wasn’t staying in his house. There were just too many memories here.
I have to quit moping. I’ll see him in a few months. Missing him already isn’t even logical.
Smiling sadly, she dropped a pair of shoes into the suitcase and wandered down the hall to Dante’s room, knowing the old, analytical Sarah was gone. Loving Dante hadn’t affected her IQ, but it had changed her priorities. Love wasn’t at all reasonable. It was a complicated, messy emotion that robbed her of all sensible thought. The problem was, she didn’t care, and she didn’t even try not to feel it. She’d much rather feel alive and burn in Dante’s arms than to go back to being the woman she was before: a woman of reason who felt . . . almost nothing.
She curled up on Dante’s bed and pulled his pillow to her face, taking a long, deep, intoxicating breath of his scent until his essence made the sensitive flesh between her thighs start to pulsate with need.
Startling as Coco launched herself onto the bed, Sarah laughed when she saw the little canine and pulled the dog against her chest. “You miss him, too, don’t you?” She scratched the top of Coco’s head the way that Dante usually did and hugged her warm body, grateful that she wasn’t the only one already pining for Dante.
The door slammed downstairs, and Sarah sat up, alarmed. She hadn’t locked the door or set the alarm system. She’d only planned on being here for a short time, and the imminent danger was over. Dropping Coco gently to the floor, she rolled out of the bed and cautiously walked into the hall, taking the steps slowly. Maybe it was Jared or Grady. It could also be the lady who cleaned his house once a week, although she usually cleaned on Mondays.
Don’t panic. It could be someone Dante knows. It most likely is.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she stopped and looked around.
Nobody.
The sliding glass door was ajar, and she wondered if someone had gone out the back. Moving closer to it, she nearly had heart failure as a large body emerged from the kitchen.
“You didn’t lock the door,” the large form said in an angry, guttural tone.
Dante!
Sarah’s heart stuttered for just a second before it kicked in and started beating again. “Dante. Oh my God. You scared me,” she told him breathlessly.
“You were here alone and you didn’t lock the damn door,” he grumbled.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, still stunned.
“I got your message,” he said huskily, his intense, hazel eyes like liquid flames as he scanned her face.
He hadn’t left yet? “You weren’t already gone?”
“Almost. We were delayed, but I was already planning on coming back.”
“Why?” Sarah asked, her eyes roaming covetously over the handsome, beloved face that she hadn’t expected to see again for quite some time. “Did you forget something?”
“Yeah,” he answered gruffly. “You.”
Sarah’s heart fell. “Dante, I can’t leave right now—”
“I don’t want you to leave. I want you to stay here with me.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I mean I’m not leaving, Sarah. You belong here, and I belong with you. I want us to stay here. I want you to marry me.” Dante continued to watch her expression anxiously.
Sarah tried to clamp down on the elation she felt coursing through her veins. Dante couldn’t stay here. She could practice anywhere, but he had a career to worry about in Los Angeles. “Your job—”
“I can take a job here. God knows Joe Landon reminds me about the detective vacancy he has every time I see him. My job won’t be the same anymore without Patrick. I think it’s a good time to move on with everything, including us. I need you, Sarah. We’re happy here. If you’d marry me, I’d be even happier,” Dante rumbled, his expression pensive.
“We’ve never talked about marriage,” she replied, dazed and overwhelmed. There was nothing she wanted more than to be with Dante forever, but he’d never mentioned marriage. He hadn’t even told her what he’d thought about her declaration of love.
“I don’t want you to resent me later, once the thrill of a new relationship wears off and you realize that you gave up a career you worked very hard for.” Would he hate her later if he gave up his job in Los Angeles?