No Ordinary Billionaire (The Sinclairs) (R) (28 page)

“They’re all about to be scooped,” Sarah told him, her voice slightly amused. “Elsie is breaking the story in the morning. I’m sure it will all die down.”

Dante chuckled, the thought of the curious elderly woman finally getting her big news article amusing him. “Your idea?” It was actually brilliant. If Elsie scooped the story, the media
would
die down.

Sarah shrugged. “It’s big news. Elsie will be talking about it forever. I’m sure it will go syndicated.”

“Media or not, I’m going home in the morning,” Dante grumbled.

“You’ll go home when Dr. Samuels says you can go home,” Sarah retorted sharply.

“Bossy woman,” Dante replied grumpily.

Sarah lifted her head to look at him. “I can actually go back to my cottage now. I didn’t think about that.”

“No. Not yet.” Dante couldn’t stand the thought of Sarah not being with him, and he tightened his grip around her reflexively. Hell, he was even getting fond of her pathetic little dog. “Coco?” He hated the thought that the dog might be at his house with no food and no way to get outside.

“She’s with Emily. No doubt she’s spoiling her with human food as badly as you do.”

“Stay with me for a while,” Dante demanded. It was going to take him a long damn time to reassure himself that she was okay.

“I have to go home eventually.”

No, you don’t.

Dante had a hard time keeping that thought to himself. As far as he was concerned, she belonged with him. He stayed mute but was determined she wasn’t going anywhere. She needed to be someplace safe, somewhere that she could get over the trauma that she’d been through. And that place was with him. “Not now,” he settled for saying. They hadn’t talked about the future because they’d been too busy trying to survive in the present. But they would be talking about it. Soon. There was no way he was going to live without her.

Dante heard her sigh softly. “Not now,” she agreed sleepily.

He held her, satisfied for the moment, still running calming strokes over her back and hair until she finally slept.

CHAPTER 18

Dante was discharged the following afternoon, much to the relief of every person working on his unit. It hadn’t been long enough for the town to settle down, and much of the media still remained, hoping for an interview. But Jared and Grady managed to get him home without incident, and the gates to the peninsula were locked and guarded by some of the local police force. After dropping Dante and Sarah off, the men headed back to the gate to make sure no one could enter, and to let the press know they weren’t doing any interviews. They were going to make an official and brief statement, hoping it would satisfy the reporters enough to just use Elsie’s account for their story.

Sarah and Dante were greeted at the door by an excited Coco, Emily having returned the dog earlier in the afternoon.

“Damn dog,” Dante grumbled as he reached down and scooped the canine up and held her gently in his beefy arms, giving the pup more than a token amount of affection. He stroked Coco’s quivering body and scratched the top of her head.

Sarah tried not to smirk as she watched the exchange between dog and man. Coco had made Dante’s home and its owner part of her territory. Coco adored Dante, and Sarah knew her big, tough guy loved the little dog, no matter how much he tried to deny it.

She’s going to miss him so much when he’s gone.

Her little dog had gotten as attached to Dante as Sarah had. Now they were both going to pay the price for loving a man who didn’t belong in Amesport.

I love him. I really do love him.

Although she’d probably fallen for Dante way before today, admitting it to herself made her feel shot through the heart. She couldn’t go on denying it. She’d fallen completely and irrevocably in love with this strong, dominant man who was also capable of such gentle tenderness that it made her want to weep.

He’s going back to Los Angeles. I knew he wouldn’t be here forever.

She
had
known. Still, it hadn’t kept her heart safe. Dante Sinclair had been an irresistible temptation for a woman like her, a man who made her feel safe and adored after a lifetime of being alone. He’d held her tightly while the dam had broken and her emotions had overwhelmed her last night, something that had never happened to her quite like that before. Now that everything had escaped, she was fairly certain she’d never be able to put every feeling she had back in a safe place again, buried beneath logic and reason. But honestly, she didn’t really want to. Living a life without emotion might be easier, but it would never make her happy.

I’m going to be alone again.

That thought made her want to run back to her own little cottage, where she could nurse her broken heart in private.

It isn’t going to help.

Sarah sighed as she walked to the kitchen and leaned back against the counter, needing a minute to sort out her emotions. Even though seeing him go was going to be unbearably painful, it wouldn’t make it any less painful if she parted from him now, or a week from now. Right now Dante didn’t seem to want to discuss anything, preferring to live in the moment.

I’ve never really done that before.

Except for the few times she’d lost herself in Dante, she’d never done anything spontaneous or without thinking of the future consequences.

“Walk with me,” Dante’s husky voice demanded from the kitchen entrance.

Sarah turned and looked at him, his outstretched hand waiting for her to grab it.

Take this time with him. Live in the moment and take whatever happiness you can get.

Looking into his turbulent gaze, Sarah knew he wanted to go out for a walk simply because they could. John was dead; the threat was over. They could go walk out on his private beach without worrying about constantly looking over their shoulders.

She didn’t debate the right and wrong of what she was doing, thinking only with her heart as she took his hand.

They walked out onto the beach with Coco following behind, talking about absolutely nothing important. Both of them laughed as Coco approached the lapping waves warily, as though they were the enemy, and then watched them retreat with a brave bark every time the water moved backward, as though the canine had scared the enemy away. Dante helped Sarah make a sand castle, a first for her, which ended up looking more like just a big pile of mud than anything resembling a fortress, but Sarah was proud of it anyway . . . until Coco decided to run across the top of the pile, throwing both her and Dante into a fit of laughter.

Sarah’s heart ached every time Dante gave her a lingering kiss. Some of his caresses were meant to brand her, and some were just cherishing strokes of his lips against hers, as though he was still trying to assure himself that she was beside him. Sarah saved up every one of those embraces, fixing them in her memory and keeping them close to her heart.

Dante shared some of his more amusing stories about growing up with his siblings, tales that didn’t include his abusive father or emotionally vacant mother.

They all protected each other.

Every story concluded with one sibling bailing another one out of trouble. They might have teased the hell out of each other, but they’d always come to the rescue in the end.

“I always wished that I had a brother or sister,” Sarah told him wistfully as they stumbled back into the house, wet and caked with sand.

“Your mother never came close to getting married again?” Dante asked curiously.

“No,” Sarah replied thoughtfully. “She never even dated. Everything was about my education.”

She and Dante stepped back outside the door, deciding to shed their jeans to keep from dropping mud through the house.

They ran upstairs to shower, Dante grumbling when Sarah sent him to his own bathroom. “No stress today,” she told him sternly as she walked toward the guest bathroom. “That includes any type of exertion,” she called back over her shoulder, knowing he’d understand that “exertion” equaled sex.

He didn’t follow, but she felt his eyes on her as she went to the guest room and closed the door.

The window of Dante’s bedroom was open, but the soothing sounds of the ocean weren’t helping him tonight. Sleep was eluding him, and he knew exactly why.

I can’t sleep without her.

Dante rolled over onto his back with an annoyed grunt. Knowing Sarah was sleeping in the guest room right down the hall was making him nearly insane.

There’s nothing worse than being obsessed with a female who’s a damn doctor!

She’d insisted, lecturing him about the need for sleep and recovery time because of his head injury.

I have a head as hard as a damn bowling ball. I don’t need to sleep alone and I don’t want to sleep alone.

Granted, he probably could have seduced her, made her want to come to his bed, but he hadn’t done it. She’d threatened to leave his ass and go back home if he didn’t behave.

Like hell she will.

However, just the thought of not having her close to him was enough to make him back off. After dinner, they’d spent a lazy evening together, Sarah eventually wandering to the piano to play. Dante wasn’t that familiar with classical music, but he didn’t need to be. He picked up on her emotions immediately: everything she played was broody and dark. Something was bothering her and he didn’t know how to fix it. She’d nearly killed him with her open sobs of fear and pain last night in the hospital, and he’d tried to absorb every bit of it as she wept, hoping he’d never see her that upset again. But it was something different this time. She didn’t appear frightened, but Dante couldn’t seem to put a finger on what exactly was causing her to appear so unusually fragile. He didn’t like it.

She seemed . . . almost sad, melancholy. He shouldn’t have left her alone, but he’d been afraid that she would bolt, and he couldn’t really object to her leaving anymore because her life wasn’t in danger.

She’s free to do whatever she wants.

While that fact should make him happy, it actually scared the shit out of him. Yeah. Okay. He was glad that she was out of danger and wasn’t stuck indoors anymore because it made her unhappy. But the thought of her actually leaving, going back to a life without him, made him completely crazy.

So, here he was, staring up at the ceiling while a woman he wanted more than anything else in the world was sleeping in the guest room down the hall. Dante figured having her close was better than having her gone completely.

It’s bullshit.

He’d never been the type of guy to settle for anything, and it was irritating the shit out of him that he was doing it now. Truth was . . . the thought of losing her shook him to the core.

So I’m going to lie here all night and stare at the damn ceiling?

What he really should have done was fuse her to him so completely that she’d never be able to shake him off. When had he ever let fear stop him?

When have I ever had this much to lose?

He hadn’t. Not ever. Honestly, he was a hell of a lot more comfortable chasing murderers than dealing with the possibility that Sarah might leave him and never come back.

Not happening!

Dante rolled out of bed with a combination of apprehension and determination. His stubbornness and persistence weren’t going to allow him to just lie here anymore. If necessary, he’d be the biggest pain in the ass Sarah Baxter had ever dealt with before. She wouldn’t be able to ignore him.

Dante grinned wickedly as he opened the door and headed down the hall to Sarah’s room, where he grasped the handle and let himself into the bedroom. After closing her door quietly, he leaned back against it. Her bedroom windows were open, illuminating the figure on the bed with a dim glow. What he saw made him freeze instantly in place, unable to tear his eyes from the sight in the middle of the mattress.

Sarah was awake, her head thrown back, eyes closed, and her hand between her thighs. Dressed in a short baby doll nightgown, she looked like a fiery seductress in red and black, the minuscule panties that matched the ensemble on the floor beside the bed.