Dante was starting to lose himself to her when the hinges of a door creaked open. Cassidy pulled away from his grasp. When he lifted his head, he spotted her brothers in the doorway of her apartment. The light behind them emphasized their silhouettes as it spilled down the stairs to the sidewalk.
He braced himself for a confrontation while he waited for them to charge down the stairs at him. He was not in the mood for a fight, but since he intended to keep Cassidy in his life, he would not back down from them. They’d have to get used to seeing him and having him in her life as he didn’t plan on going anywhere unless she told him to get lost.
Instead, her brothers remained where they were. Their mouths parted as they gazed back and forth between them. And then their disbelief vanished and something like sadness came over their faces.
“Are you okay?” Kyle asked.
“I’m fine,” Cassidy said for what felt like the hundredth time tonight. “I’ll be inside in a minute.”
They both hesitated before retreating into the building and closing the door. Dante stared after them in confusion. After the difficult time Kyle gave him every time he entered the bar, he expected a lot worse from them.
“They took that well,” he muttered.
Cassidy gave him a half-hearted smile. Once she got inside, she’d be facing an inquisition, but they wouldn’t interfere if they suspected Dante might be her mate. And since they’d never really seen her with any other guy, that was probably exactly what they suspected. She was still uncertain about everything, but she was grateful for the reprieve from her brothers.
The sound of a window rising drew Cassidy’s attention back to the building as Aida poked her head out from their kitchen window. Her best friend beamed and waved at them. Cassidy rolled her eyes as Aida ducked back inside and closed the window.
“I should get inside,” she said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dante said.
Clasping her chin, he lifted her face and kissed her again. Reluctantly, he pulled away and turned to leave. With every step, he told himself not to look back, but he couldn’t resist when he reached the corner.
Cassidy stood in the glow of an oncoming car. When she lifted her hand to wave, he waved back and watched as she jogged up the stairs to her building and vanished inside. He felt as if she’d taken a piece of him with her.
Chapter Nineteen
It wasn’t Kyle and Julian, who met her inside the door, but Aida. Her friend’s golden-brown eyes sparkled as Aida practically pounced on her. Pulled back in a ponytail, Aida’s black hair bounced against her shoulders as she followed Cassidy down to the laundry room and waited as she bought some detergent, removed the stakes from her coat, and tossed it in. She added more detergent than was suggested, but it was going to take a lot to get the smell of the fire out of it.
“What, were you in a fire?” Aida asked as she hopped onto a washing machine and swung her legs back and forth.
“Yes.”
Aida stopped swinging her legs to gawk at her. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, and it sucked.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really, but I’m sure my brothers will be looking for some info, so why don’t we discuss it then?”
“Fair enough. Wasn’t that the same guy who was in the bar a couple of weeks ago and last night?” Aida asked.
Was that really only last night? Cassidy dragged a hand through her hair as exhaustion nearly overwhelmed her. She turned and leaned against the washing machine as she folded her arms over her chest. “It is.”
Aida’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ve been holding out on me.”
“No, I haven’t. When he came into the bar again last night I… well, I… kinda invited myself into his life.”
“I have a feeling he probably didn’t put up too much of a fight about it.”
“He wasn’t thrilled in the beginning. You know that whole ‘must keep me safe’ thing and all.”
Aida rolled her eyes. “Oh, I know. So, what did you do? Where did you go? What happened?”
“You’re as bad as my brothers.”
“I can guarantee your brothers don’t want the details I do.”
Cassidy laughed and then cringed at the idea of discussing sex with her brothers. “We went to a bar… and I’ll fill you in more on that with Julian and Kyle. Then we went to his place, and now I’m here.”
“That can’t be it.”
“I hate to disappoint you, but there aren’t many juicy details to reveal. Come on, I’m exhausted.”
Aida jumped off the machine; she walked beside her as they left the basement and trudged up the stairs toward their apartment.
“I saw that kiss; there is definitely more to reveal,” Aida said.
“That’s all we did.”
“Uh-huh.”
“If there were more to reveal, I would tell you.” Cassidy linked her arm through her sister-in-law’s. “How bad are my brothers?”
“They’ve been unbearable asses all night. When they saw you walking down the street with him, I thought they were going to tear him apart. I chased them down the stairs to stop Julian from acting like an ass, but once they saw you kissing him, they decided not to become complete, barbaric morons. I think they suspect he might be important to you.”
Cassidy glanced down to find Aida’s eyes twinkling mischievously as she grinned.
“I may or may not suspect the same thing myself,” Aida said.
“You’re so subtle.”
“Always. So, spill! Do we suspect he’s something more?”
Cassidy considered everything that transpired between her and Dante and the way he made her feel. There was no denying he was completely different from any other guy she’d ever known, but…
“I don’t know him well,” she said. “He’s a good man.”
Of that, she was certain. No one spent their lives tracking down missing loved ones for people and relentlessly tried to pump life back into someone they didn’t know if they didn’t have
