He arched a brow. “You think I’d ever do that?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I’ve never let anyone take me to a hotel before. I’ve never been touched like this.” She swallowed the sentence, lips pressing together. “Do you want me to stay?”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said, not possessive but certain.
She fellasleep on his chest, still naked, still warm, her dog tags caught between his fingers and her name echoing in his head like something unspoken and irreversible. Dante kept his eyes open a while longer. Because she was his now. And everything had changed.
SEVENTEEN
Dante pressed kisses along her shoulder. Shannon’s breath caught the moment he rolled her beneath him. There was no sound in the room but the soft shuffle of their sheets and his long, slow exhale as he looked down at her, his body half-shadowed by the moonlight curling through the blinds. Her legs fell open for him without a word.
He braced himself on one forearm, the other hand slipping along the side of her neck, down the curve of her shoulder. He watched her face closely, as if waiting for her to say something, but she didn’t. Her eyes locked on his, wide and lucid, and that was enough.
When he kissed her this time, it was nothing like before. His fingers skimmed down over her ribs, her waist, her hips. Every inch of contact dragged fire through his skin.
Shannon ran her hands along the sharp lines of his back. When her thighs curled around his hips, his breath shifted. He pressed his forehead to hers and held there a moment, unmoving.
Without a word, he moved inside her again. The sound that left her was raw, cracked open. Dante stayed still for a heartbeat before rocking into her with a deliberate slowness, his eyes neverleaving hers. This wasn’t the same as before. It was heavier now, emotion filling every move.
Shannon’s nails dug into his skin. His jaw clenched, but his movements stayed measured like he was controlling something wild just beneath the surface. The muscles in his back flexed as he moved. Every stroke was full, deep, slow, and impossible to separate from the heat building between them.
Her fingers found the back of his neck, pulling him down to kiss her again. He made a low guttural sound in his throat as he pressed into her, kissing her harder now, messier, deeper. Between them, the room dissolved. No clock, no night, no outside world. Just skin, shadows, and breath.
Dante’s hand slid between them, fingers slowly circling her clit as he moved faster now, still silent, still watching her. Shannon’s legs tightened around him. A long, thin line of moonlight sliced across his shoulder.
When her eyes fluttered shut, he said, “Look at me.”
Her eyes opened and didn’t leave his. Not until she broke apart underneath him with a sharp gasp, and he dropped his head against her neck with a shudder that racked his entire body.
For a long time after, neither moved. Not a word passed between them, just breath. Just skin cooling in the night, his weight still half on her, half beside her. One hand holding hers. Their legs tangled. Chests rising unevenly.
Shannon’s voice was scratchy, half lost. “Okay. That one was dangerous.”
Dante didn’t laugh, but his mouth twitched with the barest smile before he kissed her shoulder. He didn’t move away. Didn’t get up. Just stayed exactly where he was.
His arm layheavy over her ribs, warm skin cooling against her shoulder. Their bodies were still pressed close, the quiet between them no longer the soft lull of desire but something denser. There was a truth waiting to be spoken.
The bed creaked when Shannon shifted to reach her phone on the nightstand. The screen lit the room in a cold blue glow. 3:04 a.m.
1 missed call: Dad.
Her jaw tightened, but she said nothing at first. She hadn’t called home. Hadn’t texted. Hadn’t bothered to say she wasn’t coming back after lunch.
Dante’s voice came low behind her, sleep-rough, “Dad?”
“Yeah.” She kept her voice steady. “At 12:09.”
He shifted but didn’t lift his arm from around her waist. “He probably thinks I dragged you off somewhere.”
“You did.”
“You walked,” he said flatly.
Her lips twitched, not quite a smile. She let the phone fall back to the mattress. “I was supposed to go home.”
“I know.”
“I’m due at Fort Novosel Monday morning.”
