Unbridled Temptress (18+) (COMPLETE)

| 4 | Tending Wounds | |

"I don't need your help!" Bridget whimpered when her sore injured side betrayed her.

Dante' stepped back and leaned on the door jamb.

"Do you have to hover?" She snarled and avoided his gaze.

"Il mio amore, mi ha aiutato. You need help, let me help." His voice was gentle. The foreign tongue sent a shiver down her spine conjuring up memories of him whispering in her ear while he slid inside her. Her body didn't seem to care the length of time that separated her now from their then. Was it so long ago? It felt like a century, and yet only just yesterday.

She seemed to ignore him still struggling to get free of her blood stained shirt. "You think you're a savior, but you're not." She bit out holding on to the anger she harboured for so long. SHe was terrified of might be if there wasn't anger.

"I've made no such claim." His voice was calm, measured, showed no emotion, no inflection. He took a couple steps into the bathroom, pulled a switchblade from his pocket and flicked it open. He grabbed the bottom of her t shirt and caught her eyes. She exhaled and let him cut the shirt open and ease the fabric over her sore shoulder.

His dark eyebrows pierced together when he saw the damage the past decade had on her. He started grumbling angry incoherent words under his breath in his mother tongue. Her insides slowly moved while she watched him under her lashes. Distraught over her. As if...as if... no she dare not venture down that road. It didn't matter if he still had feelings. They weren't strong enough then; so, they had no place in her life now.

He turned off the running water for her bath and brought his attention back to her. He reached around her and placed his hands at the hooks for her bra. He paused and found her eyes, speaking while still holding on to his silence. She nodded swallowing the lump in her throat and watching his face as he worked the clasps easily and pulled the bra off her shoulders. His breath caught when her breasts tumbled from the confines of their cage.

He swallowed noticeably. She felt absurd as he pulled her pants and panties down her legs and she stepped out of them. He was still fully dressed in his black tailored suit and sky blue tie that made his startling eyes seem to glow. The designer shoes hugged his slender long feet.

He held her by the waist and supported her weight while she stepped into the tub then helped her sit. The hot water was a welcome intrusion circling her body. The salts that he added to the bath made her skin tingle in a way that was most enjoyable. She leaned back sanking further into the tub.

He perched on the toilet seat his elbows resting on his knees. "I know I agreed things on your terms, but he wasn't going to take the money and leave you alone. I wasn't going to stand around and watch him slap you around. Fucking coward hitting a woman. Codardo. Debole Codardo!"

"Why were you there to begin with?" She tried to hold onto her anger, his betrayal and loss of their relationship ten years ago. Her resolve wavered with him so close, with his concern, with the care that he took with her. His presence, his energy pulling her to him like a magnet. She just wanted to hold him, be held by him. It was annoying an inconvenient truth.

Dante's furrowed brows and blue eyes met her brown ones. "I know men like Aiko. Cowards, no code, no honor."

"Oh, and you're the poster child for honor."

Dante turned his head away from her his face impassive. "I know you're hurt, and angry. You have every right to be, but the only reason why I left you was because of honor. A debt that had to be paid." He found her face again his displaying an emotion she couldn't decipher. "I know I have no right to ask anything from you, but here I am. Amore, mi serve. I. need. you."