Page 124 of Twisted Temptation

Her T-shirt is already soaked through and clinging to her body, her hair flattened against her skull.

"Let go of me."

"No. Not until you listen to what I have to say. "

I grip both her arms. She's shaking from the cold and the anger.

"I don't want to listen to you."

I know I only have seconds before she shoves me away again, so I rush to get all the words out.

"The idea of you being afraid kills me. When I found out what he did, I sat in my office, and I couldn't breathe, Sunny. Because the woman I’m crazy about was hurt.”

Her chin is trembling. Her lips are pale. But she isn’t walking away.

"And you're right," I say, rain streaming down my face and off my jaw. "You're right that I should have talked to you. You're right that it was your story. But I couldn't live in a world where that man existed and you were afraid."

She presses her closed fists against my chest.

"That’s why I brought him back here." My hands move from her arms to her face, cupping her jaw. "I am giving you your choice back. You get to choose what justice looks like."

"Dante, please…"

"Because I love you." The words rip out of me. Torn from a place I didn't know existed until she broke it open. "I love you, Sunny Di Zaro. I fucking love you. And I know that doesn't fix what I’ve done to you. I know love doesn't excuse it. But that's the reason. Not ego. Not possession. Just you."

Rain hammers down on us. Her hair is plastered to her face, and her T-shirt is almost transparent now. Her eyes are wide and wet as they search mine for the lie.

But she won't find one because this is me cracked open wide for her to see everything.

"You can't just do things like this," she whispers. "That's not how this works."

"It's exactly how this works. It's how my world works. And you're in my world now."

"I didn't ask to be."

"No. You didn't. And I'm sorry for that too."

Her fists loosen against my chest, and her fingers flatten against my soaked T-shirt. She softens against me.

"You love me," she says.

"Yes."

"You kidnapped a man for me."

"Yes."

"I don't know what to do with that."

"I know."

Her lips tremble, the rain running down her face in rivulets.

I lean down and press my mouth to hers, and I thank God she doesn't pull away. I don’t know what I would do if she walked away. If she didn’t want me anymore.

The kiss is soft. Just my lips against hers, tasting rain, tasting the cold.

"Say it again," she whispers, and her fingers tighten in my hair.