This Vicious Grace (The Last Finestra #1)(74)

“Dante, it’s fine.”

He raked a hand through his hair. “It is not fine.”

“You were asleep.” She hugged her knees to her chest.

He let out a string of curses. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not okay. I’ll leave right now, and you’ll never see me again.” He began gathering his things, leaving a trail of dropped items behind him.

She clenched her fingers. “It was my fault.”

“It’s your fault I groped you?” He shook his head. “No.”

“I didn’t wake you. Not right away.” A mortified heat crept up her neck. She’d melted under his touch, while he’d been dreaming of someone else, and she couldn’t even salvage her pride by denying it, or he’d leave, consumed by guilt.

He bent to retrieve a dropped sock. “You can’t blame yourself for panicking, waking up with someone pawing at you—”

“Dante, I wasn’t asleep!”

He froze so long she thought the silence might shatter.

“I—I thought, maybe you were awake, too.” Alessa hugged her arms to her chest, which felt about to cave in. “I’m sorry. It was wrong. I was wrong.”

Dante sighed so deeply his lungs had to be completely empty. “I told you I’d keep my hands to myself.”

“You were asleep. I wasn’t. Blame me.”

“It was my—”

“Can we just agree we both screwed up and promise never to touch each other again without making sure it’s okay first?”

He looked at the door.

“Dante, if you disappear, I’ll have to tell them why you left. Please don’t make me do that.”

He didn’t want her, but she didn’t want him to go.

He bit his lip. “I’m still sorry.”

Not as sorry as she was.





Thirty-Four


Molti che vogliono l’albero fingono di rifiutare il frutto.

Many desire the tree who pretend to refuse the fruit.

DAYS BEFORE DIVORANDO: 15


Dante and Alessa ignored each other as much as two people could while trapped in close proximity, but the morning was so tense she was eager to start training. Nothing like a day of torturing friends to get a girl’s mind off the sting of rejection.

For their last day of training before Carnevale, however, Crollo blessed Saverio with a blistering heat wave, and the temperature plus the looming deadline meant tempers were short when she arrived in the training room.

The room grew stifling as the temperature ticked higher by the minute. Alessa and Josef teamed up to cool the room, but he couldn’t withstand her efforts long enough to provide much relief, and Saida’s attempt to cool everyone merely buffeted them with air so thick it felt like being thumped by a hot blanket.

“I can’t take a whole day of this.” Kaleb groaned. “It’s like trying to breathe boiling water.”

“There’s nowhere to go,” Kamaria said. “The whole island is scorching.”

“There’s the ocean,” Kaleb said.

“We can’t go to the beach,” Alessa said. “We need to practice, and they’re all crowded.”

“Not every beach,” Dante said. He shrugged. “I know a place.”

Alessa should have objected, or at least hesitated, before agreeing, but the thought of spending their final training session together on a beach instead of the stuffy training room was too tempting.

An hour later, a train of lanterns bobbed through a tunnel growing dustier the farther they went.

Kamaria hung back with Alessa as they neared the far side of the island and got their first taste of fresh air. “So, did that wrestling match continue in your room last night? Tell me everything.”

Alessa laughed nervously.

“Not everything. I’m not asking why he’s different. But since he is … did he kiss you?”

Alessa bit the inside of her cheek. “No.”

“But he wants to.” Kamaria lowered her voice as they caught up to the others.

“That’s the problem. He doesn’t.”

“Oh, please,” Kamaria said. “That boy wants you so bad his pants might catch fire.”

Alessa shielded her face against a sudden glare of sunlight as Kaleb and Dante wrenched open the rusted gate at the end of the tunnel. “I mean, if that’s the only way to get them off.”

At Kamaria’s burst of laughter, Dante turned back, glowering.

Alessa blushed as Kamaria leaned so close her lips nearly brushed her ear. “And that, kid, is what jealousy looks like.”

Alessa stifled a laugh, hoping the sudden change in lighting was enough to disguise her fluster.

“Watch your step,” Dante called back. He kicked a rock to prop the gate open, then another for good measure.

By the time Alessa and Kamaria stepped onto the narrow ledge beyond the gate, Kaleb was half-running, half-tumbling down the narrow steps carved into the cliffside, sending rocks clattering ahead, while Josef, Nina, and Saida followed more carefully.

When Alessa had asked Dante to name the most beautiful place he’d ever seen, this had been his answer. Now, it was hers, too. The beach below was a natural harbor, a triangular slice carved from the coastline, framed by high cliffs. Cerulean water kissed white sand in a spray of prosecco bubble waves below a few determined trees and shrubs hugging the cliffside. Where the cliffs notched, grass carpeted a small clearing, perfect for a cozy beach cottage where a girl could watch for a rowboat silhouetted against the sunset.