Dial a Stud: Dante's Story (15 page)

He opened the doors, and helped us both inside before coming around to the driver’s side. Once he started driving, I found myself suddenly plagued with an attack of nerves. I was going to see Dante, the man who had invaded my dreams, and I had no idea what the outcome would be.

“Well, this is it.” Alex’s voice dragged me away from my thoughts, and back to the present.

I glanced out of the car’s window, to see where we were, and was surprised to see we were in a residential area. For some reason, I’d pictured Dante living in an apartment, not a house.

It was a nice looking house, no doubt about that, but it was just in a normal street, in what appeared to be typical suburbia.

“Dante lives here?” I asked and Alex turned to me from the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, this is one of his places. You thought he’d live in some big flashy apartment or something did you?”

I blushed at his words. Alex could read me just a little too well. “So, I just knock at his door?”

He flashed me one of his dazzling smiles. “That’s what a person usually does, when they want to get someone, to come to the door, isn’t it?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Smart ass.” I muttered under my breath, as I opened the car door, and climbed out.

Alex climbed out too, and walked around to me. “It’ll be fine sugar. Just listen to the man ok?”

“You make sure you look after Mel. She’s my best friend and if you do anything to her, if you hurt her, I’ll come after you.” I told him, my tone low, so Melanie wouldn’t hear me. “Got that?” I smiled sweetly at him.

“Yes ma’am.” He lifted a hand, as if to tip an imaginary hat. “She’s a sweet little thing. I won’t do anything she doesn’t want me to do.” He winked, and I rolled my eyes again. With all the bloody eye rolling I was doing, I’d be telling people to call me Anastasia Steele at this rate.

I refrained from rolling my eyes again. His reassurance that he wouldn’t do anything, Mel didn’t want him to do, wasn’t much of a reassurance. She was as hungry as I’d been, for some mind blowing orgasms. I doubt there’d be anything he could do to her that she’d say no to. It might be him that ended up screaming for ‘time out’ or begging for mercy, not the other way around.

“Just remember what I said.” I reminded him before going to the car window to say goodbye to Mel. “Have fun.” I told her, giving her the big thumbs up.

I turned towards Dante’s home and was relieved to see lights on in the house. Not many, most of the house appeared to be in darkness. There was a car parked under the carport too, so he was home.

“Off you go sugar, time’s a wasting.”

“You’re sure he’s not going to mind?”

“Trust me. He looked so miserable the day after we’d been to your house. Be gentle with him. There’s more to Dante than meets the eye. You might be surprised. Don’t let the exterior dazzle you. Look inside to the man. He’s not just a sexual object you know. Women complain about sexist behaviour, but you ladies can do exactly the same thing to men. That was one of the shitty sides of being a stud, being treated like a dick on legs.”

“Yeah but you got well paid for it.” I pointed out.

“You got that right Gracie, but once the job kills your emotions, and leaves you feeling like an empty shell, the money doesn’t mean much. It did more damage to Dante than me. He...he has...trouble…oh hell, it’s not my place to say.” He said quietly. “Now get the hell out of here and go see him.” He tipped his head towards the house, and with a final look to him and Mel; I headed for the front door.

With my heart pounding violently in my chest, I knocked on Dante’s door and waited. I waited and nothing. I knocked again and when my knocking was still unanswered, I turned back to the car where Alex and Mel waited.

I suppose I should have been happy they didn’t drive off, since it was beginning to look like Alex was wrong, and his friend wasn’t in fact home.

“One more time for luck.” I muttered, and knocked again. This time, I finally heard footsteps, and some muffled cursing before the door was yanked open so abruptly, I jumped and nearly fell off the step.

When my brain caught up with what my eyes were seeing, I actually felt surprised, that my tongue didn’t roll out like they did in the cartoons, or my eyes bulge out on stalks, when I saw how Dante was dressed. Actually, he wasn’t dressed. Well not unless towels had become a new fashion statement?

“Cara? I mean, Grace?” He croaked, blinking at me as if confused. It was then that I really saw him. He was gorgeous, there was no denying that, but I could see a fine sheen of perspiration on his skin, and when I looked at his face, he looked pale under his olive complexion. It was obvious to me then, that Dante was sick.

I turned my head to the car, and gave them the thumbs up, which was the signal that they could leave. When the car pulled away, I turned back to the man standing, and swaying slightly in the doorway. Rushing up the stairs, I stepped over his threshold and into his home, slipping an arm around him. I gasped when I felt the heat radiating off his body. God, he was burning up. He was like a furnace.

“Did you get out of bed to answer the door?” I asked him, and he nodded. “Fine, you’re going back there then. Where’s your bedroom?”

Leaning heavily on me, he began to walk, and I struggled to keep us both upright, as we headed to his bedroom. I tried to sneak a peek around me at his home, but it was hard, since it was taking all my concentration, to help keep Dante on his feet.

We finally walked into a room which was obviously his bedroom. The bed with the tangled looking sheets on it; was proof of that. It was a quite masculine looking room. Three walls were painted, a kind of pale brown or tan colour, but the fourth wall, the feature wall, behind the bed, was a deep chocolate brown.

The two large, floor to ceiling windows, were covered in cream curtains, with brown drapes over them. The carpet was a beige colour, but it was the bed, I had trouble looking away from.

It was huge, a massive four poster bed, with very heavy, solid looking posts. It had to be a king size, it was that big. It looked like it needed a change of bedding, but one look at Dante and I wasn’t so sure, he’d be able to stay upright long enough, for me to change the bed for him.

The best I could do, was help him back to bed; pull the sheets and quilt over him, before tucking him in. I could see him shivering despite the fact he was sweating and knew he must have a fever.

“Dante, have you taken anything to break your fever?” I asked him, keeping my voice soft and gentle, in case he was in pain.

“No, I’m ok. I’ll be fine.” He mumbled; his eyes closed as if the light hurt them.

I jumped up, and switched the overhead light out, turning on one of the bedside lamps, instead.

“You’re not fine, you’re sick. How long have you been like this?”

“Not long, since…since…yes…yesterday.” He rolled his head in my direction, but still didn’t open his eyes.

“You need to take something. Do you have a thermometer? I need to take your temperature.”

“Bath…bathroom.” He murmured.

I hurried into the en-suite bathroom, skidding to a halt when I saw it. It was huge, like his bedroom. He was a big man though so he’d need a lot of space.

The bathroom had a large spa bath in one corner that looked like it could hold four or five people in it. The walls were tiled in tiny dark brown tiles. The floor tiles were a lighter shade of brown but all the fittings were white, like the spa and vanities. It had two of them, his and hers. The mirror over the vanities wasn’t just a mirror, it was a medicine cabinet and I opened it to look for anything I could give Dante to help him.

I found the thermometer, and a packet of Aspirin. They were a relief to see as they’d help break his fever. I just had to get them in him first.

I poured him a glass of water, from the glass near the electric toothbrush, and armed with it, two Aspirin, and the thermometer, I headed back to him.

At first I thought he’d fallen asleep, but when I touched his forehead, he groaned, and seemed to turn into my hand.

“Dante, I have some Aspirin, I need you to take them for me. Can you sit up a bit?”

The best he seemed to be able to do was lift, his head, so I wrapped an arm around him, to hold him, and told him to open his mouth. Once I got the pills into him, I prompted him to take a mouthful of water. When I heard his noisy swallow, I was relieved. Hopefully they would help him.

Somehow I got him to take the thermometer into his mouth, and when it finally beeped to indicate it was done, I was alarmed at how high his temperature was.

“Dante, you should see a doctor.” I told him, but he surprised me, by shaking his head, and throwing one arm wildly in rejection of my suggestion.

“No, no doctor. I’ll be alright.” He fell silent, but I could see, just the effort it took for him to speak to me, had him almost out of breath. “I’m cold.” He announced suddenly, sounding like a petulant child.

He was still shivering despite his clammy skin. I had to find blankets to add to the bed, to warm him up. There was a large wooden chest at the foot of it, and I prayed it was a blanket box. When I lifted the lid, I could see several blankets inside, so I pulled out a couple and began to arrange them over Dante.

Once that was done, I knew I’d have to go on a bit of a snoop. I had no idea how long I was going to be in his house, but one thing was for sure, I couldn’t leave him alone as he was now.

I glanced at the bedside clock, and was surprised to see it was already, after midnight. That might explain why I was starting to feel tired. The wine, then finding him like this, had me feeling exhausted all of a sudden.

I left Dante alone and began to wander through his house. It was a beautiful home, and he was a neat freak too, going by the look of the place. There was nothing lying around, and even in the kitchen, no dirty dishes cluttered up the sink. He did have a dishwasher though, so he really had no excuse, for collecting dirty dishes.

I hunted for a glass and poured myself some water, before exploring a little more. The house was tastefully decorated, but there weren’t a lot of personal things, that usually made a house, a home. 

I found photos of people that I could only guess, were family or friends, but that was about it.

I made use of one of the other bathrooms I found, before heading back to see how Dante was. He was tossing and turning, his hair soaked with sweat. He’d kicked the blankets off, and the sheet that still covered him, was only just doing the job.

It was wrong to ogle the man while he was sick, but damn he was living art. His body was perfection, and I was so tempted to touch him, but I couldn’t. Not only was he sick, but he might not like me touching him. We hadn’t talked, nothing had been resolved, and even if we had talked, he still might not want anything to do with me.

I yawned, ready to sleep myself now, but I was going to have to find something of Dante’s to wear. I couldn’t sleep in the dress I was wearing.

I headed into a long walk in robe and began to rummage. I finally found a t-shirt which smelled faintly of him, so I stripped out of my dress and pulled it on.

I hung up my clothes, since I’d need them again, when I finally went home. I was just about to walk out of the robe, when an article of clothing caught my eye. I reached up for it, pulling it down, and saw that it was a t-shirt, but although not as long as the one I was wearing, it was much wider. It was huge in fact, and I briefly wondered who owned it. It was too big for Dante, despite him being a tall, wall of muscle. I stared at it curiously, before carefully folding it up, and placing it back on the shelf, where I’d found it.

“Cara.” The broken cry sent me rushing from the walk in robe, to Dante’s bedside. He was thrashing around violently. Sweat ran off his skin in rivulets, and soaked into the sheets. I managed to get a hand onto his forehead, and noticed he felt a bit cooler, so the Aspirin were working, but he was drenched, as they worked on fighting, whatever was wrong with him. “Cara, don’t leave.” His cry drew my eyes to his again, but his were still closed.

I reached for him, touching his face, but he took me by surprise when a hand shot up, latching onto my arm. Before I could do anything, he’d dragged me down on top of him. I managed to roll off him, but he flipped over, and wrapped himself around me, effectively keeping me pinned to him.

I wasn’t too sure what to make of that. He was still asleep, I could tell, and being in his arms, didn’t entirely suck, despite how sweaty he was, but a part of me still thought, I should move away. If he woke in the morning, and was well again, he might wonder what the hell I was doing.

Still, I was tired, it was nice to be held, and I could always get out of the bed, before he woke anyway. Satisfied with my internal debate, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I was hot, no, I was more than hot; I was burning up. I felt like I was in a furnace unable to escape the relentless, all-encompassing heat.

I tried to roll over but couldn’t move, so not only was I on fire, I was being restrained, forced to endure this terrible heat.

With a gasp, I woke, momentarily disorientated. I tried to sit up to see what the time was but I still couldn’t move. It was only when my foggy, sleep brain began to clear, that it registered with me, I was in Dante’s bed.