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read her body language even when she thought she wasn’t giving off any signals.   Right now she was undressing him with her eyes, remembering the feel of his skin against hers and the sheer ecstasy that rippled through her as their bodies moved together in flawless rhythm.  
    Dante remembered it too, but for him it was a memory that brought a bitter taste to his mouth because he’d never been able to reach that state of utter euphoria with any other woman.   Not that he hadn’t tried, and not that sex with other woman hadn’t been good, it just wasn’t the same.   With Paige it had been like soaring to the heavens when they’d made love, but it wasn’t just the act of sex that had taken him there.   He’d held a piece of heaven merely by being with her.  
    Even something as seemingly insignificant as holding her hand or listening to the melodious sound of her laughter had brought joy to his heart.   He hated it that he no longer found pleasure in those simple things, and he hated it that he wanted to reach across the table and take her hand to find out if that soft warm glow would still pulse through him just as it used to.   Dante mentally shook himself.   He had to get her out of his system, and the sooner the better.
    “Tell me about your daycare center,” he said as their dinner dishes were taken away and replaced with dessert.
    Paige dipped her spoon into the bonèt , a pudding made with amaretti and cocoa which was another favorite of hers.   “I started thinking about it a few years ago and liked the idea of being my own boss and running the center the way I wanted it to be run.   Too many daycare centers are simply glorified babysitters but I wanted something more for my child…children.”   Paige glanced at Dante and breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t noticed her blunder.  
    “What is so different about your center, cara ?”
    “There’s a lot more structure for one thing.   Children need to learn how to follow rules so they’re prepared when they enter the school system.   A certain portion of the day is dedicated to learning, mostly in the form of games because with kids that young their attention span is pretty short.   And they get a lot of personal attention, which is so important at this stage in their lives.”
    “How do you manage that?”
    Paige shrugged.   “I keep the groups small.   It helps to eliminate stress on my assistants and the children don’t feel like they’re lost in a crowd.   In today’s society it’s almost necessary for both parents to work in order to survive which means they’re away from their children more than they’re with them.   And once they do get home in the evenings, there’s dinner to cook and baths to take, household chores, grocery shopping, basically a million and one things that rob the children of even more time with their parents.”
    “That is not something you can resolve no matter how much you want to, Paige.”
    “I know.   But what I can do is make sure my children get a lot of love and attention while they’re in my care.   I also have what’s called special time which both the children and parents simply love.   I recognize that most of the parents have very little time to spare during the work day but all I ask for is three minutes.”
    Dante was genuinely engrossed.   “And what happens during this three minutes of special time?”
    “The parents get to talk to their children through the use of a web cam.   You should see the children, Dante.   Their little faces light up when their mommy or daddy miraculously appear on the screen, and the parents are just thrilled to take a few minutes of their day to see their babies.”
    “As much as you love children, I’m surprised you haven’t married and had a few of your own by now.”
    Her chest tightened and for a few minutes all she could do was feign interest in the pudding which suddenly tasted like sawdust.   What would he say if she told him she