I barely hadtime to gasp before my feet left the floor, the world flipping upside down as Dante tossed me over his shoulder, as if I weighed nothing at all. A startled yelp burst out of me, my fingers grasping at the back of his shirt as he headed for the stairs, cracked plaster walls blurring.
“Don’t you dare drop me, Dante,” I warned. “Slow down.”
Never one to listen, he took the steps two at a time, his bare feet soundless, my hair nearly brushing the steps as they flashed by.
My heart was pounding, adrenaline pumping; this felt reckless and dangerous and forbidden… and right.
This is what being alive wassupposedto feel like.
Real.
Like all the pretend, glossy façades had been stripped away, leaving only base desire behind.
Want. Need. Touch.
Dante shoved the bedroom door open with his shoulder, tossed me on the bed, and stood over me, chest heaving. Muscle coiled as his hands landed on either side of my hips, caging me in. The expression on his face stole the air from my lungs.
Yes. This was what I wanted. Someone to look at me like I was the only thing they saw. The only thing they cared about. The only thing that mattered.
Sunbeams raked through the dimness, Dante’s powerful wards humming, keeping us safe. This house was a refuge. Nothing could touch us here.
I stared up at this male whose eyes smoldered with yearning, who I had every right to hate, and knew, deep inside, I could never hate again.
“We need to take this slow. That means we don’t rush into…anything.” His searing gaze branded me from head to toe. “I really should be somewhere else right now,” he muttered, nostrils flaring. “I still have that little job to do for Rocco, and he’s getting impatient.”
Scratch that whole hating thing.
Maybe there was still a chance I’d stab him.
“Impatient? Really?” I raised an eyebrow, and before I lost my nerve, I slowly dragged the shirt off my body, skin prickling as I tossed it back in his face. I lay back on the bed, bared completely to him, and stretched my arms up over my head.
“Well, you don’t want to keep him waiting then, do you?”
A vein pulsed in his forehead, and the tendons stood out in his neck. He looked like he might stroke out as I smiled, skimming my fingers down my breasts, my stomach, landing between my legs.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll findsomethingto keep me busy while you’re gone.”
“Godsdamn it, Emberline… I’m trying to do the right thing here.”
“You never struck me as the noble type, Dante, but you always manage to surprise me.” I spread myself open, letting my knees fall apart so he could seeeverything, sliding my fingers up and down through my wetness.And gods, was I wet for him.
“Go on, then.” I nodded toward the door. “Don’t let me hold you back,marito mio,I’ll just be…”
He pounced, the weight of him pressing me down into the mattress, hand gripping my wrist as he brought my fingers to his mouth and sucked, tongue feverishly working between every digit with dizzying thoroughness that sent another wave of lust straight to my core.
I threw my head back and laughed as he growled, moving from my fingers to my throat, then down to my breast, nipping and licking and sucking like he couldn’t stop.
Every inch of me was on fire, every piece of me wanted his big, male body, muscled and firm in all the right places. His cock was heavy against my bare thigh, only the fabric of his sweats between us now.
“Get these off.” I yanked at them with my free hand. “I want to see all of you.I mean it, Dante.”
“My little impatient wife,” he muttered, dragging off his pants. Both of us groaned when he pressed his hot, hard length against my stomach, finally skin to skin, his eyes slightly hazy as he stared down at me, lips parted, panting.
He was going to eat me alive.
I was going to let him.
“So greedy, so wet, you smell so good… like sweet, ripe fruit, and I am going to fuckingfeaston you.”
