Divine Party Read Online Free PDF Page B

chatting while the music played. Waiters with what appeared to be appetizers and drinks floated casually around the tables and passed out goodies.
    “Kenshin?” Dante couldn’t believe he’d done all of this on his own.
    “Yes?”
    “I appreciate this, but…”
    Kenshin took her hand and led her away from her mother and Ms. Mitchell. A waiter appeared and led them to a secluded table. He held the chair out for her, and she sat down. He sat across from her and smiled.
    “This is for you, Dante. Think of it as a launch party.”
    Everyone wanted to try the tasty food brought out from the kitchen. She’d heard of this place. A swanky place with world-renowned chef Marco Riggoni. Secretly, she’d followed his career to food celebrity.
    “This is Marco’s place…”
    Kenshin nodded.
    “All of these customers…”
    “Are your friends…” Kenshin finished.
    Dante’s throat closed around the emotional knot lodged there. He rented out the entire Signature Room on the ninety-fifth floor of the John Hancock Building for her. For this. Ren and Rob walked around the restaurant talking to people she hadn’t seen since childhood and others since she launched her Divine freak parties.
    “Your life has started anew. These people were part of your life before, but they will be a support for your future.”
    Dante chuckled. “How do you know? You don’t know anyone here except those twins and my momma, which you still have to explain.”
    Kenshin reached for her hands across the table and squeezed them. “Ah, that’s Erin Edwards over there in the green-sequin dress. She’s the branch manager over in the Gold Coast neighborhood. She also went to your high school and is willing to give you a business loan when you’re ready.”
    She knew Erin but how did he?
    As she looked around, she realized that no one from her freak parties had come. Only people she’d known before that life and Ren and Rob remained. A few cousins had been sprinkled in. It amazed her that Kenshin had managed to get all of these people here.
    “My next business?” Dante snorted. You can’t know what that is when I don’t.”
    “I can’t know for sure; you’re right about that. But two years ago, you told me you wanted to own a restaurant. Marco ’ s is one of the best businesses in the area. These people all agreed to invest in your goal—of starting your own restaurant.”
    “What?” The hot prick of tears gathered in her eyes. Yes, that had been her dream, and he’d remembered something she’d casually mentioned while drinking too much on a balcony two years ago. Most men couldn’t even recall her last name let alone her dream.
    “And you did all this…” She coughed to clear her throat of the enormity of Kenshin’s actions but found herself unable to do so, because now it was clogged with tears.
    “Yes.”
    There. He got up, yanked her to her feet, and hugged her to him. He kissed her cheek.
    “I love you.”
    Her heart felt like it was inching up to her throat. It burned in protest, and she closed her eyes. Tears slipped from beneath her eyelids.
    “Dante?” Kenshin’s voice sharpened with concern.
    “I-I’m fine. Really.” She opened her eyes to find his warm ones on her.
    “Don’t mess up your makeup because I’m not done.”
    Lordy. He has more?
    Kenshin kissed her cheek and waved at Rob, who stood talking to her momma by the kitchen doors.
    “I love you, and my life would not be complete without you. I’m tired of simply existing in a vacuum, only half breathing. I want to breathe, to grow, to flourish, and I need you, Dante, my oxygen, to keep my life from being one long inferno of misery.”
    She gripped the tablecloth because she felt faint. No one, let alone a man , had ever cared about her goals and secret dreams. They’d all been takers. Those had been before—in her former life.
    But thanks to Kenshin, she had been reborn. She met Kenshin’s almond-shaped eyes and found fierce determination and love.