Dante’s Girl (The Paradise Diaries #1)(7)
Author: Courtney Cole

Hey, it’s my daydream.  I can dream what I want to. 

The thing is, Quinn’s face keeps getting replaced in my head by Dante’s.

Since I’ve had a mad crush on Quinn from the time we started kindergarten all the way through our junior year last year, that’s saying something. 

Every daydream I’ve had for eleven years has been of him.  I’m a very loyal daydreamer.  And I suddenly feel like I’m cheating on my imaginary boyfriend, a boy who happens to be real, but who has been dating my best friend Becca for the past two years.  And no.  Becca has no idea that I’m secretly in love with her boyfriend.  It’s the one secret that I’ve kept from her.

I clear my head from cluttered thoughts and instead focus on emptying it.  I focus on blackness and feel myself drift to sleep.

I’m not sure how long I sleep.  But my eyes flutter open to find Dante watching me. I’m instantly self-conscious and seriously hope that I haven’t done anything gross in my sleep.

“I like the name Reece,” Dante says randomly, as though he’d been thinking about it.  Once again, everyone in the helicopter is listening since we’re all on the same frequency.  My blush comes back with a vengeance, fiery hot.

“Thank you,” I answer, not looking at him, trying to will my cheeks to not be pink.

“How did your parents choose it?” he asks, staring at me with interest.  I straighten in my seat and once again look at him in the glass.  I find it is safer to look at his reflection, rather than into his startlingly blue eyes.  It helps me to keep my wits.

And I need every wit that I have.

“My father has always had a man-crush on the baseball hall of famer, Pee Wee Reese,” I tell him.  “He played for the Dodgers a long time ago. My father has a signed Pee Wee Reese baseball that his grandfather gave him.  Do you watch baseball?”

He shakes his head. “No.  But I played it when I was a kid.”

“Well, it is one of the things that my dad lives and breathes for, when he isn’t working,” I explain.  “So, naturally, he named me after his hero.  But like I told you earlier, he was expecting a boy.  I was quite the surprise.”

Dante looks at me seriously and I can’t help but turn to meet his gaze.  As a result, my heart thumps so loudly that I’m afraid my mouthpiece will pick it up and give me away.

“Yes,” he agrees. “You are quite the surprise.”

What the hell does he mean by that?

But I don’t have any time to ponder it because Dante looks out his window and begins giving me a blow-by-blow tour of the scene below us.  And as I lean into the window and look, I gasp at the beauty below.  It is so gorgeous that it effectively takes my mind off my fear of flying.

“Where are we?” I ask in awe.  This is so much better than being in the dreary rain of London.

The landscape is beautiful.  There are so many white sandish-colored buildings and I can see, even from here, that they are ancient.  Houses dot the countryside which is filled with green grass and rock.  The ocean looms huge and blue around it and I’ve never seen such a lovely place.

“This is the land of the gods,” Dante tells me. “Greece.  Look there,” he points.  “That’s the Acropolis. And that there?  That’s the Pantheon, a temple made for the goddess Athena a couple of thousand years ago.”

“Wow,” I breathe as I stare at the history sprawling beneath me.  “The United States doesn’t have such history.  We’re such a baby country compared to Greece.”

Dante nods, apparently satisfied with my reverence.

“It’s an amazing place,” he agrees. “To walk here, among the buildings where the gods are said to have walked, it is the most incredible feeling in the world.”

“How far are we from Caberra?” I ask.  “Is it near here?”

“Very near,” he confirms.  “Less than twenty minutes by plane.”

I settle back into my seat and stare absently at the turquoise water beneath us.  It is almost hypnotic as we race above the glass-like water.  And honestly, before I even know it, the helicopter descends for a landing.

We hover above a building for just a moment before we shudder to a stop.

I straighten in my seat and find that we’d just descended into paradise.

“Wow,” I breathe again, as I stared at the bright blue sky, quaint old buildings and shops and lush greenery below the helipad.  “It’s beautiful here.”

Dante nods again.  “Yes.  I’m blessed to call this my home.”

“Where are we?” I ask as I stare around us in wonder.  We’re clearly on the roof of someplace, but beyond that I don’t know.

Dante smiles.  “This is my home.  They call it the Old Palace because that’s exactly what it is.  Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago, Caberra was a monarchal society with a royal family.  This was their palace, but it has been turned into the prime minister’s home now, as well as housing a few governmental agencies.  Since its royal family days, Caberra has evolved into a parliamentary representative democratic government with my father currently serving as prime minister.”

“Yikes.  Say that three times quickly,” I challenge him.

Dante smirks slightly. “You should try living it.”

Turning to Buzz Cut, he asks, “Where is my father?”

“He’s in London,” the security guard tells him.  “He decided to finish his meetings there and he will then depart for home in a day or two.”

“Fine.  We’ll need to show Ms. Ellis to a room so that she can freshen up and she will need to call her parents.”

Buzz Cut nods as he helps me out of the helicopter.  “Very well.  Your father has already been apprised of the situation. We’re under instruction to give Ms. Ellis a proper welcome.”

Dante stares at him. “You were already under that very same instruction,” he points out. “From me.”

Turning his back on the burly security guard, Dante guides me away from the helicopter and through the doors leading into the Old Palace.

Once inside, I suck in my breath, trying not to say something stupid or act like the country girl that I am. The interior of this ancient building is dazzling.  Amazing.  Like nothing I’ve ever seen.