VITTORIO'S MISTRESS (The Vittorio Series) (4 page)

“Okay, I’ll go out with you, but it will have to be tomorrow or Saturday.”

Dante smiled, envisioning how her glorious mane of hair would look splayed across his pillow.
 
“Saturday it is then.
 
You will not be sorry,
cara
mia
, I promise you that.”

But
he
would be sorry, Paige thought ruefully as he leaned down to kiss her.
 
She was finally going to be alone with Dante and the only thing she’d be able to do is insure he had a rotten time.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
***

“
Have you lost your mind?
”

“I know, I know,” Paige said with a grimace, “but I didn’t really have much of a choice.”

Chantel
propped her hands on her hips.
 
“You and I have been best friends since the first grade.
 
We’re supposed to tell each other
everything
and you’re just now informing me you made out with Dante Vittorio in the park?
Two days in a row!
”

“We didn’t make out…exactly.
 
At any rate, that’s not the point.
 
You have to help me come up with ideas on how to ruin our date tonight.”

“Paige, listen to me.
 
You cannot go out with him.
 
No matter what you say you’re going to do, we both know that all he has to do is touch you and you’ll turn into liquid goo.”
 
Chantel’s
expression softened.
 
“I was there, remember?
 
For months after you left him you cried at the drop of a hat and it wasn’t until Daniella was born that you were able to pull yourself out of it.
 
I know you’re still in love with him, Paige.
 
How are you going to keep from falling to pieces again if you end up sleeping with him?”

“Haven’t you been listening to me?
 
I have no intention of sleeping with Dante.
 
I’m simply going to have dinner with him and do everything I can to bore him to tears.
 
Once he realizes we no longer have anything in common, he won’t be able to retreat fast enough.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

Paige didn’t bother to hedge the truth.
 
Chantel
knew her too well.
 
“No, but there’s no other way.”

“There
is
another way,”
Chantel
contradicted
her,
“you just don’t want to do it.”

“
There’s
too many risks involved.”

“Like what?”

“Like, what if he
sues
for custody?”

“So what if he does?
 
You’re a wonderful mother, Paige.
 
No court in the world would take Daniella away from you.”

“But he might get shared custody,” Paige countered, “and I don’t think I could handle seeing my daughter for half the week or giving her up for the whole summer.”

Chantel
crossed the room and sat down beside her on the sofa.
 
“He’s
Daniella’s
father, doesn’t he deserve to know?”

Paige rubbed her temple.
 
“I suppose he does, but there’s a flip side to the coin too.
 
What if I tell him and he doesn’t want anything to do with her?
 
It would break my heart,
and how would I explain something like that to Daniella when she gets older?
 
How devastating will it be for her to know her father didn’t want her?”

“How will you explain why you never even gave her father the
chance
to know her?”

“Whose side are you on anyway?”
 
Paige said tersely.

“I’m on your side and you damn well know it so don’t get snippy with me Paige Spencer.
 
I’m just playing Devil’s advocate to make sure the decision you make is the right one for everyone concerned.”

“I don’t care about anyone but Daniella right now.”

“I understand you want to protect her,”
Chantel
said, being the voice of reason, “but you have to consider
all
the players here and what will be lost or gained by the direction you take.
 
Dante cared deeply for you once and it seems to me that he’s pretty anxious to get into a relationship with you again.
 
Maybe you should give him a chance.”

“
What?
 
Not two minutes ago you were adamant about me not even going to dinner with him and now you’re telling me I should go with the flow and see where it leads?”

Chantel
laughed.
 
“You see what you’ve done?
 
I’ve become as
wishy
washy as you are!
 
Seriously, Paige, I think putting all the options out there has made me question my original stance.
 
On one hand, I know how crushed you’ll be if things don’t work out between you and Dante, not just for yourself but for Daniella too.
 
On the other hand, if you never give him a chance you’ll spend the rest of your long, lonely days wondering if you let the love of your life slip through your fingers.”

Paige scowled at her.
 
“You’re not helping much.
 
Regardless of your somewhat valid arguments, I think I should stick to my original plan.
 
I’ve done just fine without Dante Vittorio so far, I’m sure I won’t die if…if I never see him again.”

“Maybe not physically,”
Chantel
said solemnly, “but what about inside?”

Paige thought about the past four years.
 
She’d felt like a hollowed out shell all during her pregnancy but that had changed the moment the nurse had placed Daniella in arms.
 
Maybe having Dante’s baby hadn’t completely filled the void in her heart but it had certainly pulled her out of the dark depression she’d fallen into and given her a reason to live.
 
Chantel
was right about one thing; if she let things progress as Dante obviously wanted them to and it didn’t work out, she’d be crushed.

“I’ll be fine,” Paige said, but she knew she wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all herself.
 

“I have a suggestion.
 
Just listen before you shoot me down,”
Chantel
insisted when Paige rolled her eyes.
 
“Instead of deliberately ruining your chances with Dante or trying so hard to make it work, why don’t you just…wing it?”

Paige arched a brow.
 
“
Wing it?
 
That’s the best advice you could come up with?”

“Let me rephrase that.
 
What I’m trying to say is that you should play it by ear and just let things happen naturally.”

“Easy for you to say,” Paige said with wistful sigh.
 
“What comes natural for me is to melt like a pat of butter in a hot skillet whenever Dante kisses me.”

“In that case, I only have one more suggestion.
 
It may sound a bit odd but I guarantee it will keep you from hopping into bed with him.”

Paige eyed
Chantel
warily.
 
“I know I’m going to regret this, but tell me anyway.”

“Wear the oldest, holiest pair of underwear you own.
 
I’m totally serious,”
Chantel
said when Paige started giggling.
 
“Think about it.
 
There you are getting all hot and heavy and he starts to peel off your clothes.
 
All you have to do is imagine the look on Dante’s face when he sees in you a pair of tattered white cotton panties and a shapeless bra and you won’t have any problem turning him down.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
***

Dante was a little piqued when Paige came outside and soundly closed the door behind her before he’d even had time to get out of the car.
 
Was she afraid to let him inside?
 
Even as forceful as he’d been at the park, surely she didn’t think he’d try to make her do anything she didn’t want to.
 
Or was it possible she didn’t trust herself to be alone with him?
 
He liked that idea a whole lot better than believing she was worried he’d press her into having sex with him before she was ready.
 
He’d have to be doubly careful to make sure he didn’t do anything that was even remotely threatening.

He strode casually up the walkway to meet her and brushed a light kiss to her cheek.
 
“You look incredible,
cara
.”

Paige thanked him in a breathless whisper because incredible didn’t even begin to describe how good Dante looked.
 
He’d worn black slacks and a crisp white shirt that made his natural tan stand out even more.
 
If he had a jacket, he wasn’t wearing it and he’d also gone without a tie but she couldn’t imagine any man looking more devilishly handsome than Dante did.
 

He’d left a few buttons undone on his shirt, just enough so that a few dark tufts of hair peeked out, and it made her want to slip her hands into the opening to feel the corded muscles beneath.
 
Already Paige could feel her skin beginning to tingle as if a soft electrical current was flowing through her bloodstream and if he hadn’t taken her hand and led her towards the car, she probably would have bolted back up the walkway and locked herself inside the house.
 
How was she supposed to keep her wits about her if her insides shook anytime his eyes grazed over her or he lowered his voice in that soft seductive manner?

“I am taking you some place very exclusive for dinner,” Dante told her once they’d pulled away from her house.
 
“I put a lot of thought into where we should dine tonight because I wanted to make it special for you.”

“I hope it’s not too fancy,” Paige said, looking down at the simple but elegant black dress she’d worn.

“You are exquisite,
carissima
,
there is no place I could take you that you would not outclass.”

A warm blush stained her cheeks.
 
“I’m sure you’re used to dining with women who are much classier than I could ever hope to be.”

“You do not give yourself nearly enough credit, Paige.”

“I’m a daycare provider, Dante.
 
I doubt anyone would cast me in the same league as the models and high society women you’ve been out with.”

“You should not put yourself down,” he said with a frown.
 

“I’m just being realistic, that’s all.”

“Then you have a very jaded sense of realism because there is not one among the lot of them who could hold a candle to you.”

She glanced over at him, a happy smile lighting her face.
 
“I’ve really missed that about you, Dante.
 
You always made me feel as if I was the most beautiful woman in the world when I was with you.”

“You are,” he said simply.

For a moment their eyes locked before Dante looked away.
 
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel as he fought the need to reach over and touch her smiling lips.
 
This was going to be much more difficult than he thought because his plans for the evening called for subtle touches that were meant to entice Paige and make her ache for more.
 
A slow seduction over a period of a few weeks or a month seemed like such a grand idea when he’d first come up with it but he hadn’t considered the strain it would put on his own will power.