Dante’s Girl (The Paradise Diaries #1)(50)
Author: Courtney Cole

I close the lid to my laptop and make my way to the back terrace.

And Dante is already there waiting for me.

The sun is starting to sink over the horizon and Dante stands directly against that backdrop.  And I can’t decide what is more beautiful. The sunset or him.

He’s wearing black slacks and a short sleeved grayish-blue v-neck.  And it hugs his chest and makes his eyes look slightly gray and is striking against his blonde hair.  Can he get any more beautiful?  Seriously. Couldn’t God have given Dante just a tiny little imperfection so that he didn’t distract me quite so easily?

He sees me and smiles and greets me with a sweet kiss on the forehead, which of course makes my heart automatically melt. I can practically feel it dripping into my ribcage.

“Did you have a good day?” Dante asks politely.

I nod. “Yep.  A little slow. You?”

“A tortoise could have crawled faster than today passed,” he tells me.  “I couldn’t wait to see you.”

My heart picks up because this mirrors my feelings exactly.  And boys back home wouldn’t ever say such a thing even if they thought it.  Dante is so different.

And could Marionette be right?  Is it possible that this beautiful, perfect boy likes me as much as I like him?

“Your carriage awaits,” he tells me.

He gestures with his arm and I look and there is an honest-to-god carriage sitting at the steps leading to the terrace.  With an honest-to-god beautiful white horse pulling it.

I stare at it in shock.  How did I not see that when I first walked outside?

“I thought that Caberra doesn’t have horses?” I ask, scrambling down the steps to pet the huge horse’s velvet nose.  It huffs a pant of hot air against my cheek and I stroke its soft neck.  “Yes, you’re a pretty baby,” I murmur to it.  

“We didn’t.  I had this one brought in for you.  You seemed to miss riding,” he shrugs casually, like it didn’t cost a ton of money to do this incredibly thoughtful thing for me.

I’m speechless. For the first time in… ever.  And I tell him that.

“I doubt it will last long,” he says wryly and then laughs.  And I slap at his arm.  And his arm is like a rock.  Working out in the fields with Darius has made him even more muscular if that is even possible.

Gulp.

He holds out a hand.

“Would you like to go for a drive?”

Would I ever.

He moves to take my hand and because his eyes are locked with mine, he doesn’t see the giant pile of horse poop sitting in front of him.  And he steps in it.

We both freeze and he’s horrified and I’m horrified and I don’t know what to do.

But laugh.

Because it smells so bad.

And he looks so perfect and refined and beautiful and his foot is covered in fresh horse manure and it’s even funnier because he’s never been around a horse before.  It’s too hilariously insane.

I start cracking up and then Dante laughs.

He kicks off his black loafers into the grass, and I’m sure they are Italian leather and very expensive, and now one is completely covered in horse poo. The thought of it sends me into a new and fresh fit of giggles.

Dante rolls his eyes at me as he bends down and rolls up his slacks.

“Aren’t you going to get another pair of shoes?” I ask when I can finally breathe.  He shakes his head.

“Nope.  I don’t need them.  Where we’re going, I don’t need shoes.”

I stare at him, my curiosity freshly piqued.

“Hmm.  A riddle,” I murmur.

And I take the hand that he offers me once again.

This time, it goes off without a hitch and he helps me into the beautiful little carriage without incident. And I feel sort of like a princess.  With a barefoot prince.  Dante nods towards someone that I can’t see and a groomsman emerges from the edge of the house.  He’d been waiting for Dante’s signal.  He climbs up to the driver’s seat and looks back at Dante.

“Where to, sir?”

“To the docks,” Dante answers.

I’m busy looking at the carriage.  It could honestly have been taken directly out of a fairy tale.  It’s roundish and plush. And pretty large on the inside, actually.  There are a couple of folded up jackets, a picnic basket and a bouquet of flowers sitting on the seat across from me.

Dante picks up the flowers and hands them to me.

“You look beautiful this evening,” he tells me.  His eyes are sparkling again.  “Do you like your surprise?  You’ll be able to ride him now, whenever you’d like. And you can teach me, too. If you’re willing, I mean.”

Oh, I’m willing.

Oh. Wait.  He meant willing to give horse-back riding lessons.

I’m willing to do that too. Of course I am.  He can have anything he’d like.

But I don’t say that.  Instead, I nod.

“Of course.  I’d love to teach you.”

Dante settles back into the seat and stretches his arm out on the seat behind me. I lean into it, into his warmth.  I’ve never been more comfortable in my entire life.  I tell him that and he laughs.

And life is officially perfect.

The horse’s hooves clip-clop on the road and cars pass us.  The Caberrans inside of them gawk at us because it’s definitely not a common thing to have horses strolling along the highway.  I don’t see Dante’s security detail, but I’m sure they are following us somewhere. But I don’t mention it.  I don’t want to bring up anything annoying tonight.

Because tonight is perfect.

The sun is really setting now and it’s beautiful.  The oranges and reds and golds are shining over the horizon and onto our skin and everything is romantic and dreamy.

It’s like a dream, actually.

I lean up and kiss Dante’s cheek and he smells like the ocean and the salt and the sun.  And maybe the woodsy scent of the olive groves.  I sigh.  There’s no way that life gets any better than this.  I settle back into his side for the drive and he wraps his arm around me.

I know when we are close to the docks because I see sails peeking up into the sky.  Sails of every color- white, blue, red, orange, yellow.  Boats of all sizes are docked in neat slips along the various piers.  The carriage pulls up to a quaint little boardwalk and stops.

Dante climbs barefoot down the little steps with the picnic basket and waits with his hand outstretched to help me down.  And then he leads me onto a pier.  At the end of this pier, I can see his boat.  I know it is his because the name Daniella is huge and gold on the stern and I can see it from here.