Dante swore under his breath as he watched Annabelle freeze.

Her body stiffened.

Just as her wide eyes filled with a swirl of emotions that he didn’t understand.

It wasn’t fear.

He definitely knew what fear looked like on her.

It was something else.

Shock.

Confusion.

Pain.

He cursed himself again.

How the fuck did he blurt that out when he had not even fully admitted it to himself?

He hadn’t meant to say it like that, hadn’t planned on saying it at all.

Not yet.

But it had slipped out.

Raw and unpolished, in the heat of the way she affected him.

I love you, Mia Bella.

“So much...