“Come here.” Dante pulls me against his chest and wraps his coat around me. “You’ll freeze to death.”
I rest my cheek against the hard expanse of his breast where I can hear the strong, steady beat of his heart beneath his expensive suit jacket. Unable to help myself, I splay my cold fingers over the hard ridges and well-cut muscles that map out his torso. “It’s not that cold.”
Not when I’m bundled up in his coat and arms.
Pins and needles shoot up my hands. My fingertips tingle like when I warm them over a fire after having been out in a blizzard without gloves.
When the lengths of our bodies press together, he stills. His hold tightens marginally on me, his fingers curling in on my sides, and I swear his heart beats faster and harder.
“Let me buy you a cup of coffee,” he says in my hair, his voice strangely tender and simultaneously strained. “It’ll warm you up.”
He sounds like a man practicing enormous self-constraint. And then I know. He’s doing his best not to grow hard against my belly… and failing.
My pulse goes into overdrive. The cold evaporates. My body burst into flames, a different kind of heat soaking into my skin.
I nod against his chest, burrowing closer to absorb his warmth and the incredible sensations that set every nerve-ending in my body alight.
Pedestrians flow around us and move on, but we’re isolated in our beautiful little snow globe, untouchable from the rest of the world.
He pulls away without letting me go, compelling me to look at him. When I do, I find him peering down at me with a dimpled smile.
“Do you know my name, Tatiana?”
My cheeks heat as the arrow of that smile hits me straight in the heart. If my voice sounds hoarse, it’s not from crying. “Dante.”
Possessive satisfaction heats his tone. “Good girl.”
His approval is almost predatory. Selfish. As if he wants to keep me all to himself. It speaks to a part of me that likes that.
Scooping me up into his big, masculine arms as if I don’t weigh more than a kitten, he carries me in a bridal hold. “You’re going to tell me what happened.”
It’s a command, not a request.
Savage intentions blaze in his eyes as he makes me a solemn promise. “And then I’ll fix it.”
Chapter
Two
Tatiana, almost one year later
* * *
It’s been a day since Dante kissed my hands and climbed from my window to disappear down the fire escape into the night, a day since he promised he’ll find a solution for us to be together, that instead of the stolen moments, we’ll have forever.
He’ll fix this.
I just have to be patient.
And before that, tonight still, I’ll sleep in his arms the whole night long.
My father has been weirdly housebound lately. Roughly a year ago, he stopped going to the office and meetings. He’s become paranoid about setting foot outside the condo. All his business is conducted at home. If he absolutely has to go out, like tonight, he does it with utter secrecy.
It’s not easy to smuggle your lover into your room when your parents never leave the condo. I can sneak out for short periods of time without raising their suspicions but never for a whole night. My father is way too protective of my chastity to let me sleep over at a friend’s house.
Dante and I have been planning this night for months. My father is attending the birthday party of the pakhan at his vacation house outside of town. The pakhan demanded a private audience with my father, so he doesn’t have a choice but to go. Refusing will be disrespectful. As it’s too far to return after the meeting, he’ll have to stay the night.
My mom always sleeps in. As soon as she goes to bed, I’ll slip out and meet Dante down the street. We’ll spend the night at a guesthouse. Dante has this sweet notion that taking me to a hotel will make me feel cheap. He’ll smuggle me back into the condo before my mom wakes up.
