get in

ard the tree line, va

in a cheap motel on the edge of the

didn'

nt a

e home when you're done

t this wa

s maneuvering f

of a world where I wasn't

s from my cramped

creaming about the c

event of

te was rumored to ann

ve settled in the

oing to hi

let him believe

f my emergency ca

t, elegant black numbers D

was

as b

declarati

e hotel ballroo

he scent of expensive pe

d the silence r

s tu

red behind ma

exactly

I was Dant

never seen

him across

im like a second skin, a glass of

arm was

fi

f flawless beauty that o

as porcela

was a pris

ed like

ke the devil comin

e sa

narrowed

appy to see me;

g to Sofia and began

ed for him lik

inches fr

e heat radiatin

his," he hissed, his voice pitched

te?" I asked, forcing m

re. Trying to

pped m

ug painfully

nges anything? You're sti

ed," I sa

lau

l, dry sound

om this family. You

rifted

into Dante's free han

d at me w

worse t

you told me about,

ght, airy, and l

ks... di

dn't loo

her, and his eyes

t her, Sofia. She

loser to me, in

's sweet, really. But some people are born to lead, and some are

tanding near

heat rise i

in front of the enti

ke I was a stray dog that

aised h

he boomed, addr

ion of our

a close and ki

in polite, thun

there,

erasi

oing it

ing it wi

ked a

ed to

veryone about the

blood on

I di

ep, shudder

champagne from a pa

ulations

e didn'

ooked s

ected

ected

t expect

my glas

u deserve

k in one swallow

out of th

ad wa

was st

e, I was

into the co

the wors

s wr