Page 47 of Bound By A Promise
My cheeks rose. “You love Jano.”
Pressing her lips together, Mia nodded. The tips of her lips curled upward. “You and Dante have an advantage over Janoand me—over Dario and Catalina. You two know one another. Not intimately…?” She let the word hang in the air.
I shook my head.
She sighed. “Good. I’m glad my brother didn’t break that tradition.”
“We’ve kissed.”
“Aléjandro and I kissed before we were wed and while it was passionate” —she lifted her hands— "lightning didn’t strike.” She lowered her hands to her sides. “You two know each other and want to be married. That’s why I’m helping you. I’m sick and tired of the men on both sides making decisions for women without their consent. I love Aléjandro now, but the night we wed, I never thought I would.”
“I think I love Dante,” I confessed. “Catalina said it was lust.”
“There’s nothing wrong with lust, Camila. Lust is a very important part of your relationship.” She placed her hands on her stomach. “That twisty feeling down low that makes you squirm. The way your skin warms at the sight of the man you want beside you. And the tightness that beads your nipples when you know he’s watching you.”
I nodded. “That’s the way Dante makes me feel.”
“Rei?” she asked.
My smile faded. “No. I hate that this will hurt him, but I don’t feel that way when I’m with him.”
“There’s no way to know how a marriage between the two of you would have worked. If I know Rei, he’ll be understanding. Somewhere out there, there’s a woman who will feel all those things for him. You lost your heart to Dante. That wasn’t a conscious decision. Love shouldn’t be ignored.”
“I still can’t believe that Dante wants me. He used to refer to me as a little girl.”
“He wants you,” she said. “If you ask me, the little girl comment was a way to remind himself that you were off-limits.”She grinned. “By the way he was looking at you downstairs, he’s no longer thinking of you as a little girl.”
“And after our vows, I’ll no longer be off-limits.”
“Are you ready for that?”
Warmth filled my cheeks. “I think I am.”
“Some sisterly advice?”
“Okay.”
“You’re not ready. That’s not a bad thing.” Mia scrunched her nose. “The first time isn’t the best, but it gets much better.”
“Your first time with Jano?”
Mia shook her head. “I was married before.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’d like to forget that marriage too.” She scanned me up and down. “We need to get you downstairs so you can be a married woman by the stroke of midnight.”
“At midnight, will our car turn into a pumpkin? Because I feel like I’m in a fairy tale.”
“And Dante is Prince Charming.” Mia went to the large bouquet of fresh flowers on a table in their suite and pulled an assortment from the vase. She trimmed the stems and wrapped them with a white ribbon. “Your bouquet.” As she handed it to me, her eyes widened. “Oh, I have something blue for you.”
“You do?”
She hurried into one of the closets. A few moments later, she returned with a garter. “It was mine, when I married Aléjandro. You can borrow it, and it will be your something borrowed and something blue.”
I took a seat in one of the plush chairs. Slipping my foot out of one of the high-heeled shoes, I slid the garter up to my thigh. “My dress is old.” I slipped my foot back into the shoe.
“My shoes you’re wearing are new.”