Page 101 of Knocked Up by My Dad's Mafia Boss

I glance up at Dante. It’s almost unconscious. He’s still standing at the top of the stairs, but Papa’s with him. Papa’s talking, but Dante’s staring at me. I meet his eyes and for a moment I stop dancing.

“Samantha?” I tear my eyes away, looking at a different pair of blue eyes. It’s almost jarring.

“Lost you for a second,” he says softly, smiling. He reaches out and brushes a curl back from my face.

It’s all too much, suddenly. Too big. All the oxygen seems to go out of the room. “Sorry. Just need to… grab some water…”

He stands there, his smile turning to a frown, as I rush over to the water table. I take one of the small bottles, sipping it slowly. Reese and Sofia make their way over to me. Sofia looks a little more present. Reese must have gotten some water into her.

“Are you okay?” Sofia asks quickly, her own heartbreak forgotten.

I gasp in air. “I don’t know. I just suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe.”

“You can breathe,” Sofia says firmly, taking hold of my shoulders. “Just look at me and keep breathing.”

My breath hitches as I remember getting grazed by a bullet. Dante’s voice.“Breathe with me.”

I take in breaths through my nostrils, letting them out my mouth, and slowly, my heart stops trying to gallop out of my chest. “I think I need some air.”

Reese nods. “The balcony’s empty. We’ll wait right here for you.”

I nod and hurry out of the balcony doors, looking down over Mama’s garden. Papa insisted on keeping it up. I breathe in, smelling honeysuckle and the spring air. It calms me.

I stiffen as footsteps sound behind me. I smell him before I even turn around, soap and gun oil and the sandalwood aftershave he uses. He walks up behind me. Places his hand next to mine on the railing. I breathe him in, let my heart flutter.

“Why are you doing this?” Dante murmurs against my ear, not quite touching me, but so close that I could lean back and press my back against his broad chest.

I don’t know how to answer. It’s not like I can tell him.

“I have my reasons,” I say finally.

“Are you trying to hurt me?”

I flick my eyes up at him. His face is contorted, mouth twisted, brow furrowed. He’s breathing hard, as if he’s fighting something.

“No.”

He breathes out shakily against the back of my neck and drops his head. Plants an open-mouth kiss there that makes my knees weak. “You know it’s killing me, don’t you,tesoro?”

I squeeze my eyes shut and then open them again, trying to fight burning tears. I tremble as his fists tighten on the railing next to mine. Then he lifts himself off the railing, straightens up with a ragged breath.

He heads back inside.

Tears start to slip down my face, and I can’t stop them. I just stand there at the railing, sobbing, until I slowly start to calm down.

Great.I’ve cried off all my makeup. I head back inside and grab Sofia, pulling her into the downstairs bathroom with me. She frowns when she sees my face.

“What happened?”

“Dante,” I choke out. “But don’t make me talk about it, I’ll never stop crying.”

“Okay,” she says softly, and places her big bag in the sink, digging out makeup products. By the time she’s finished, I almost look normal. My face is slightly puffy, but I can blame that on champagne.

I breathe out a sigh of relief, smiling at my reflection. “Thanks, Sof.”

“You’re welcome.”

Her phone starts to buzz in her purse and she tugs it out and looks at it, her eyes widening before she silences it.