She knew that stepping outside in the open had been difficult for him. She was telling him that she appreciated the fact that he’d compromised for her. It should have surprised him that she understood, but it didn’t. Sarah could read him in ways that nobody else ever had.
Hell, there was almost nothing he wouldn’t do for her, but he didn’t know how to tell her that, so he kissed her instead, giving Sarah the same type of warm embrace that she’d given him earlier, before he wrapped an arm around her waist and took her back into the house.
CHAPTER 13
During the next week, Sarah was relieved that Dante had actually started to loosen the reins a bit on letting her be seen occasionally outside. Yesterday, he’d walked her to Brew Magic so they could get a latte. Of course, he had her shackled to his side with a powerful, muscular arm around her waist, and she knew he was well armed. Still, it was progress. And for the last several days, he’d let her take a few more laps up and down the driveway on her bike, teaching her how to make turns and improving her skills. And then, of course, there were the nights.
Sarah sighed happily as she thought about those incredible nights, with another one on its way. Neither of them could wait beyond five minutes before they were naked and in the shower together after work, each of them ravenous for the other. They usually woke up aroused and ready in the morning, too. Sarah thought her desire would settle down at least a little after she’d been with Dante. It didn’t. If anything, it made her need even more acute, more urgent.
Her cell phone rang just as she was exiting Dante’s truck after work that day, and she cringed as she dug into her purse and saw her mother’s number.
“Who is it?” Dante asked curiously.
“My mother,” she replied unhappily. It had been over a month since she’d heard from Elaine Baxter, and although some part of her wanted to talk to her mother because she was her only family, she knew how the conversation would go, how it always went.
Sarah answered it before she could decide to ignore the call. She knew that once her mother had decided she wanted to talk to her, she’d keep calling back.
“Hello,” she said apprehensively.
“Sarah?” her mother asked abruptly.
“Yes, Mom. It’s me.”
“I’ve found the ideal man for you,” Elaine said without preamble. “I met him in one of my Mensa meetings. He’s perfect. His IQ is similar, and he’s a brilliant neurosurgeon, so you’d have a lot in common. He’s older, and ready to settle down now. I need you to come back to Chicago.”
Nothing had changed a bit. “I can’t,” she replied, not mentioning that she had no plans to leave Amesport, a place where she’d never been happier in her life.
“Are you still not working in the hospital?”
“No, Mother, I’m not,” Sarah replied flatly as she followed Dante into the house.
“You’re going to have to conquer those fears. They aren’t rational,” her mother scolded. “You don’t belong in a small office, working in some town that’s hardly on the map. How are you going to keep advancing? You need to meet the man I found for you. Being older, he’ll be more stable. But I’m not sure he’ll understand your phobias.”
Sarah was pretty certain that he wouldn’t. If he was a friend of her mother’s and she liked this man, he didn’t deal in anything that couldn’t be proved with scientific evidence or mathematical formulas. “I’d prefer to pick my own husband, Mom,” she answered flatly.
Dante swung his head around at Sarah’s comment, frowning at the cell phone in her hand like it was an actual person.
Sarah continued. “And there was an incident here that indicates that the man who attacked me might be coming after me. I’m working with the police to try to apprehend him now.” Sarah desperately hoped her mother would show just an iota of concern.
“That’s all the more reason to get on a plane and come back here. Chicago has a much better police force to protect you,” her mother said with a sniff of disgust.
And John Thompson would have a big city to hide in. Just for once, Mom, ask me if I’m doing okay. Ask me what happened and if I’m safe. Ask me if I’m scared. Be a mom instead of a teacher.
“You’re wasting your potential there, Sarah. I want you on a plane and home by the end of the week, young lady,” her mother added.
Deflated, Sarah sat down in one of the dining room chairs. Dante moved a chair beside her and sat, taking her hand as though he knew she was upset.
Who am I kidding? I’m wishing for a relationship that never has and never will exist.
Her mother was more of a disciplinarian, an instructor whom Sarah could never please and never had, no matter how hard she tried. “I’m twenty-seven years old. I can make my own decisions now. And I’m never going back there. Ever,” she told her mother emphatically.
For Sarah, the words meant so much more than just location. She was starting to live, finding friendships after going so long without anybody, and she had a man who was right beside her, lending her support when she needed it. Dante might not be in her life forever, but she was going to appreciate what she had right now. No . . . she was never going back to the sterile, lifeless existence she’d known in Chicago. Not now that she was learning that life could be so much . . . more.
“After all I’ve done to promote your education, you’re just going to throw that away?” her mother asked angrily. “You’re horribly scarred, Sarah. Have you forgotten about that? But an intellectual man who can see beyond sex won’t mind as much about your scars.”