Dante’s Girl (The Paradise Diaries #1)(63)
Author: Courtney Cole

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I’m running.

I’m in Dante’s arms.

And he’s kissing me.

He smells like smoke and fire and carnage.  And he’s dirty and his clothes are torn.

But he’s here.

And he’s alive.

Dante is alive.

“You’re alive,” I whisper over and over.  He’s still got his arms wrapped around me and he’s not letting go.

He pulls away slightly and looks down at me.

“I’m alive,” he confirms.  “And you’re a hard person to catch.”

I stare at him.

“It’s your fault,” I tell him.  “You designed my evacuation plan.  What the hell is an evacuation plan, anyway?  And you were supposed to have the security detail taken off of me.  And what the hell happened?  How are you alive?  Everything was on fire.  And is your dad alright?”

We realize that we are once again impeding the flowing traffic, just like we did when we met here the first time.  Dante leads me to a nearby seat and we sit and he explains.

“My father is fine. He’s in the hospital with bruises and minor burns.  The explosion threw us far away from the boat, so when it burned, it didn’t hurt us.  Elena is in the hospital with burns, also.”

“Are you burned?” I immediately begin checking his perfect body for signs of injury.  But there is barely anything there for a few little scrapes and a lot of soot.

“I’m fine,” he tells me.

“What happened?” I ask in confusion.  “I don’t understand.”

“Nate paid Vincent to rig the yacht to explode.  Nate’s father is the Deputy Prime Minister. Do you know what that means?  It means his father would be the interim PM if anything should happen to mine.  And then more than likely, if he did a good job, he would be appointed the permanent PM.  And Nate knew that.  At this point, it doesn’t look like his father knew anything about this.  But the investigation is ongoing, of course.”

I am appalled. I knew that there was something about Nate, something off, but I had no idea that he could be so cold and calculating.  And poor Mia. She had really been into Vincent and he was just using her to get to Dimitri.

I mention that to Dante and he nods.

“Yes.  Remember that night on the Daniella?  Vincent was the one who suggested to Mia that they sneak onto my boat.  He was just casing it out to see where to implant the explosives.  And my car accident?  I was driving my father’s car.  They think that Vincent probably rigged the brakes.  That’s why I couldn’t slow down on the curves.”

And I feel sick.

What a cold and calculating thing to do.

And then after that, Vincent sat there and had dinner with Dante even though he knew that Dante would die with Dimitri if all went according to their plan to blow up the boat.

OhMyGod.

“That’s horrible,” I murmur.  I am curled into Dante’s side, clinging to his arm and I doubt that I am ever letting go of it.

“You’re alive,” I say again in wonder.  I look at his hand and it is long and real and strong.  “You’re alive.”

“I’m alive,” he nods.

And my heart is singing. It’s singing Caberran songs that I don’t know the words to. It’s singing my favorite songs from when I was a kid. It’s singing bubblegum pop nonsense from the radio.  It’s singing anything it can think of to sing because it is just that happy.

Dante is alive.

And that is truly all that matters.

“What do we do now?” I ask him.  “Are we going back to Caberra?”

He stares at me.

“No.” And he hesitates.  “We aren’t.  Reece, you’re going to Kansas, just like you were planning.  I’m going to return to Caberra because there are going to be investigations and trials and whatnot because of this whole mess. So I have to be there.  But I don’t want you there right now. We aren’t completely sure that Nate and Vincent were the only two people involved.  I can’t risk your life.  You’re going somewhere safe.”

I freeze.

My heart stops again.

“Without you?” I whisper.  “No.”

I just got him back.  There’s no way in hell that I am going to fly to Kansas when Dante is alive and well and sitting next to me holding my hand.

No.

Way.

In.

Hell.

“Reece,” and Dante’s voice is firm.  “I’m not risking your safety.  I was frantic earlier when I couldn’t find you.  I’ve never been as scared as I was today.  And not for myself—I was scared for you.  And I disobeyed my own evacuation plan to get to you.  Russell is furious.”

I finally notice that Dante’s security team is situated at strategic locations around us.  And Russell is only a stone’s throw away.  And Dante is right.  Russell doesn’t look happy.

But then, Russell never looks happy.

“But Dante,” I begin but Dante is already shaking his head.

“No buts,” he tells me.  “We’ll figure something out later, but you can’t be in Caberra right now.  It’s not safe.”

And I know that’s it.  His decision is final and he’s not going to change his mind.

“This is not goodbye,” Dante adds.  “It’s just goodbye for now.  I love you and you love me.  We’ll figure something out.”

“We’ll figure something out?” I ask dubiously. “Like what?  I’ll be thousands of miles and an ocean away.  You’re going to forget about me.”

And now I sound pathetic.

But hey, my boyfriend almost just got blown to pieces and I thought he was dead.  I deserve a little latitude.

“Reece.”

Dante is looking into my eyes and there is dirt smudged on his cheek.  I reach up with shaking fingers to wipe it away and he grabs my hand and kisses it. 

“I love you.  I love everything about you. I love the way you laugh and your American accent and the way you never doubt that you can do something. You just always assume that you can.  I love that.  I love you.  And we will make this work. There is no one for me in the entire world but you.”

How can I argue with that?

“Okay,” I whisper.  And I lay my head on his broad shoulder and soak him in because I’ve only got him for a couple more hours.